Lance Mannion: Do video game avatars dream of digital sheep? or How Pac-Man can help prepare you to save the world "From the Ghostbusters quote that opens the first chapter onward, hardly a page gets turned that doesn’t include at least one 80s-themed Easter Egg. Cline takes some of the fun out of this by… Continue reading Links for 2011-09-05
Sing Along Time
Twinkle, twinkle Have you any wool? H I J K L-M-N-O-P Up above the world so high One for the little boy who lives down the lane Now I know my A-B-C’s Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full
Links for 2011-09-04
Atlas Mugged: The Ayn Rand Six Step | Common Dreams "Imagine your landlord coming to you one day and saying, “It’s everyone for himself. We’re not going to supply heat or water or electricity any longer, and we’re not going to conduct repairs.” Of course, you and the rest of the tenants wouldn’t stand for… Continue reading Links for 2011-09-04
Links for 2011-09-03
Smartypants: What it means to be the first African American President…getting your buttons pushed "We have probably all grappled with the experience that has been labelled "getting our buttons pushed." What we tend to mean by that is that there are people who know our sore spots…those places where we tend to react (in anger)… Continue reading Links for 2011-09-03
The Evitability of History
As mentioned earlier in the week, I recently read Charles C. Mann’s 1493 (see also this interview at Razib’s place), which includes a long section about the colony at Jamestown. Like most such operations, the earliest colonists were almost comically incompetent, managing to nearly starve to death several times, despite being in an absurdly fertile… Continue reading The Evitability of History
Links for 2011-09-02
How where you live affects the life you prefer. Or not. | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network "How do people value a better life? The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently released the Better Life Index, an interactive graphic that lets you rank 11 different dimensions (income, environment, life satisfaction, etc.) to… Continue reading Links for 2011-09-02
Thursday Baking Blogging 090111
Our next-door neighbors are awesomely nice, and helped Kate move all the breakable stuff in the back yard out of harm’s way before the big storm this past weekend (since I left town before it was clear that Albany would get hit). as a thank-you, Kate and SteelyKid baked cookies for them. But you don’t… Continue reading Thursday Baking Blogging 090111
Academic Poll: Essentials of Physics
While I was out in Denver, Joss Ives had a nice post asking what courses are essential in a physics degree?. This is an eternal topic of discussion in undergraduate education circles, and I don’t really have a definitive answer. It’s an excellent topic for a poll, though, so here you go: Which of the… Continue reading Academic Poll: Essentials of Physics
Poor Man’s Clickers, or Re-Inventing the Flat Tire?
As previously noted, I’m planning to do more active-learning stuff in my intro mechanics courses this fall (starting next Tuesday), and as a result have been reading/ watching a lot of material on this (which, by the way, includes far too many slickly produced sales videos and not nearly enough “here’s an example video of… Continue reading Poor Man’s Clickers, or Re-Inventing the Flat Tire?
Links for 2011-09-01
How to read academic research (beginner’s guide) Some basic tips on finding useful information, and the rudimentary statistical knowledge you need to make sense of it. Most applicable in the social and life sciences, but worth knowing for anybody. A Quick Look at How Our Kids Are Doing | Mother Jones "I’m pretty sure I’ve… Continue reading Links for 2011-09-01