Given the academic circles I run in, it’s not surprising that one of the most repeated stories crossing my social media feeds yesterday had to do with the changes to the SAT. Starting in 2015, the essay section will no longer be mandatory, and they’re going to reconfigure the reading and math sections to emphasize… Continue reading The New SAT, Reading, Gaming, and Jargon
Category: Pop Culture
Struggling With Sincerity
In October 1988, I trashed my parents’ basement in order to get into college. OK, the causal connection is a little indirect, but it’s there. I was applying to college that fall, and needed to write an essay to go with my application. I’ve always been able to write stuff with very little effort, so… Continue reading Struggling With Sincerity
Friday Miscellany
I got book edits this week, gave an exam on Thursday, and pre-registration for our spring term classes is just beginning, so I have a parade of students begging to get into this course or that one to deal with. So I have no more time for detailed blogging, but will do a bit of… Continue reading Friday Miscellany
Least Physics-y Physical Activity?
I’m running errands today, so here’s a quick post picking up a question from last week’s Olympic physics hangout: What sport involves the least physics? One of the kids in the classes we were video chatting with asked that, and I really like the question, though it was a struggle to answer. It’s one of… Continue reading Least Physics-y Physical Activity?
Olympic Physics Chat
I spent a while on Friday morning talking about the physics of the Olympics with a couple of science classes in Tennessee and Lawrence Norris from the National Society of Black Physicists, organized by Adam “@2footgiraffe” Taylor. This was done via a Google hangout, so the video is recorded on YouTube: The recording seems to… Continue reading Olympic Physics Chat
On the Steering of Sleds
In the previous post about luge, I mentioned that there was one thing that came up when Rhett and I were talking about this, namely why there are differences in times between racers. The toy physics model I set up last time suggests that the difference between riders is only a matter of aerodynamics– two… Continue reading On the Steering of Sleds
On Irony and Ivory Towers
The outrage of the moment in academic circles is this Nick Kristof column on how academics need to be more engaged with a broader public. And it’s really impressive how he manages to take an idea that I basically agree with– I regularly give talks on the need for scientists to do more outreach via… Continue reading On Irony and Ivory Towers
The Physics of Crazy Sleds
In the Uncertain Dots hangout the other day, Rhett and I went off on a tangent about the physics of the Olympics, specifically the luge. If you’re not familiar with this, it’s basically psycho sledding: people riding tiny little sleds down a curved track at 80mph. The “featured image” above shows Erin Hamlin of the… Continue reading The Physics of Crazy Sleds
The Social Construction of Gravity
One of the more annoying points of contention back in the days of the Sokal hoax and the “Science Wars” was an argument over social construction. This is, loosely speaking, the idea that our understanding of the world is not strictly rational and objective, but is heavily influenced by interactions with other people, and the… Continue reading The Social Construction of Gravity
Work. Finish. Publish.
A couple of days ago, John Scalzi posted a writing advice open thread, asking people to share the best advice they’d gotten on the craft of writing. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, much of it fairly specific to fiction writing– stuff about plotting, the use of synonyms for “said,” how to keep… Continue reading Work. Finish. Publish.