I suppose I have to say something about the Great Pepsi Blog Controversy, because it’s sucking all the oxygen out of science blogging right now. I’ll try to keep this short and self-contained. At this time, I have no intention of leaving ScienceBlogs over the paid PepsiCo blog. I’m very sorry to hear that several… Continue reading Sodamageddon: Why I’m Not Leaving
Links for 2010-07-08
slacktivist: The Indignant Household Budget “[T]he pitiable thing is that here in reality — as opposed to the smug fantasy world of this stock speech — overtime and second jobs are exactly what many of those poor cheering fools in the audience are actually doing to try to make ends meet. The indulgent spendthrift luxuries… Continue reading Links for 2010-07-08
Are Communications Skills Holding Science Back?
Over in yesterday’s communications skills post commenter Paul raises a question about priorities: I wonder to what extent good writers, public speakers and communicators are being promoted in science in place of good thinkers – people who can challenge prevailing dogma, invent promising novel approaches to old problems, and who have the intuition needed for… Continue reading Are Communications Skills Holding Science Back?
Links for 2010-07-07
Physics – Keeping atoms synchronized for better timekeeping “Atomic clocks often have a limited coherence time due to the interactions between the constituent atoms. While it is usually very easy to use fewer atoms to reduce the interactions, this leads to lower signal-to-noise and less precise measurements. This tension between strong interactions and noise seems… Continue reading Links for 2010-07-07
Semi-Final World Cup Open Thread
I was under the impression that the World Cup semifinals didn’t start until tomorrow, but I was wrong about that. So here’s a hastily-posted Open Thread for discussion of the games. Will Uruguay manage to carry the honor of South America into the final game? Or is South America doomed to be the Big East… Continue reading Semi-Final World Cup Open Thread
Communication Skills for Scientists
As I am still getting lengthy comments at the Chris Mooney post accusing me of making unreasonable demands on scientists, I thought I should spell out as explicitly as possible what skills I think scientists ought to have. This probably won’t solve the problem, but it’ll give me something to point to the next time… Continue reading Communication Skills for Scientists
Links for 2010-07-06
YouTube – Look Around You – Maths (With download) “I happened upon this inspired bit of British comedy after watching Goodness Gracious Me (hit and miss). I was curious why there would be a ten minute show on TV. At first, I actually thought it was a children’s instructional science program. Indeed, it is easy… Continue reading Links for 2010-07-06
Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be
SteelyKid has some molars coming in, which led to some intermittent generalized fussiness this weekend. When she gets that way, she can sometimes be calmed down using videos on the computer, such as the “Wheels on the Buss” DVD my mom has. In order to spare the sanity of the adults in her life, though,… Continue reading Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be
Fourth of July Open Delurking Thread
It’s Independence Day here in the US, where we spend the day playing with fire (grilling during the day, fireworks at night) to express our gratitude for not needing to give a damn about the British royal family. Or something like that. Since I’m going to do my patriotic playing-with-fire duty (augmented by a possible… Continue reading Fourth of July Open Delurking Thread
Scientist-Approved Beach Reading
Summer is here, which means vacations for lots of people, which means “beach reading”– trying to read a book or two while kicking back somewhere. The ideal beach read is something that isn’t so heavy as to bring you down or demand too much attention, but is also serious enough that it’s not embarrassing to… Continue reading Scientist-Approved Beach Reading