News: Duncan Challenges NCAA to Change – Inside Higher Ed “Education Secretary Arne Duncan pulled no punches in a high-profile address here Thursday at the annual convention of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, proposing a series of policy changes that he said could rid college sports of the “tiny minority” of bad actors that “stains”… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-16
Travel Poll: Excess Baggage
I’m just about finished packing up, then I’m meeting a former student for lunch, then heading off to the airport to spend the next eight hours or so making my way home to Kate and SteelyKid and Emmy. Which is a good excuse for a non-dorky poll: Are you checking any bags today?(answers) (Bag fees… Continue reading Travel Poll: Excess Baggage
Links for 2010-01-15
Pondering a Ponderous Pendulum : Built on Facts “Why the long discussion about the period of a pendulum yesterday? Because we’re actually going to take a look at a particular pendulum today. This one hangs in the central atrium of the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, which constitutes… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-15
Thursday Substitute Parent Blogging 011410
Kate here: Since Chad’s out of town, you get Substitute Parent Blogging today. It’s with my non-DSLR camera (and also taken very fast before she decided she wanted the camera more than what she had), it’s with something other than Appa, and it’s eloquent of “I miss Daddy and want to be just like him.”
The Visual Misrepresentation of Quantitative Information: Wages and Debt
Regular readers will know that I have a bit of a Thing about bad graphs used in the media and on blogs. When people use stupid presentation tricks to exaggerate features of data to make their argument look stronger, it bugs me. But what really irks me is when people use stupid presentation tricks to… Continue reading The Visual Misrepresentation of Quantitative Information: Wages and Debt
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Even when I’m on the road, I continue to be obsessed… A nice review at Lean Left that really gets Emmy’s role in the book: The dog asks clear questions and Orzel uses those interjections well. They very often serve as a way to clarify, or to bring up questions that the readers probably has,… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Links for 2010-01-14
“There was a lot of smoke.” « Quantum Moxie That is how my son, who is in 3rd grade, described a class science experiment gone awry. The experiment involved electrical tape, a battery, lightbulb, and a piece of insulated wire with the insulation stripped off on the ends. Yes, amazingly simple, but it’s 3rd grade.… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-14
I Wasn’t Made for These Times
As I’ve mentioned before, I have a cell phone that’s just a cell phone– no data plan, no camera, no nothing. It’s also a few years old, so the battery life isn’t what it could be. I was a little concerned about that, so I made a point of plugging it into the charger last… Continue reading I Wasn’t Made for These Times
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Miscellaneous book-related items for you to read while I spend most of the day in transit to Austin: While I have yet to see a copy in a Barnes and Noble store locally, it’s selling well enough in the national chain for them to have ordered more copies. Yay! Relatedly, the publisher has just ordered… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Links for 2010-01-13
Official Google Blog: A new approach to China “These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-13