Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts / Goodbye, Dortmunder: Donald Westlake’s Get Real “There couldn’t really be a conclusion to these books — what could it possibly be? The gang will just keep on forever looking for one more job to keep them going. The regulars in OJs will keep on having… Continue reading Links for 2009-08-23, 2009-08-24
Karl Schroeder, The Sunless Countries [Library of Babel]
Jo Walton has a very nice review of Karl Schroeder’s Permanence over at Tor.com, which contains a terrific summary of what makes Schroeder great: The problem with talking about Permanence (2002), or any of Schroeder’s work really, is that it’s too easy to get caught up in talking about the wonderful ideas and backgrounds and… Continue reading Karl Schroeder, The Sunless Countries [Library of Babel]
What’s Missing From This Art Project?
Via Bora on FriendFeed, a cute little art project from MIT that takes a name, scans the Web for mentions of that name, and produces a color-coded bar categorizing the various mentions of that name. Here’s what you get if you put my name in: You can click on it for a bigger image, that… Continue reading What’s Missing From This Art Project?
Links for 2009-08-22
Dan Brown tops Oxfam’s chart of most-donated books | Books | The Guardian “But as secondhand bookshop shelves flood with battered editions of Angels and Demons and Digital Fortress, Brown can comfort himself with the fact that he’s also Oxfam’s second most bought author: there are, apparently, still readers out there who have yet to… Continue reading Links for 2009-08-22
How to Choose a College
It’s that time of year again, when the US News rankings come out (confirming my undergrad alma mater as the Best in All the Land) and everybody in academia gets all worked up about What It All Means. There are always a few gems in there with all the pointless hand-wringing, though, and Timothy Burke… Continue reading How to Choose a College
Let’s Hear It for the Staff
The Dean Dad had a great post about staff yesterday: Politically, hiring office staff is a harder sell than hiring faculty. Faculty are conspicuous, and the tie to the classroom is obvious. Back-office support staff are inconspicuous, and show up in public discussion as ‘overhead’ or ‘administrative bloat.’ But their work is necessary, as anyone… Continue reading Let’s Hear It for the Staff
Quantum Mechanics Is Not Magic, No Matter What Google Ads Says
So, I was checking to see that last night’s Baby Blogging post had posted properly, when I noticed something unpleasant in the right column: I recognize that this is the price we pay for being ad-supported, here at ScienceBlogs. It’s unreasonable to expect every ad company on the Internet to perfectly screen all their content… Continue reading Quantum Mechanics Is Not Magic, No Matter What Google Ads Says
Links for 2009-08-21
Liberal Arts Rankings – Best Colleges – Education – US News and World Report The annual clown show begins anew. Williams is #1, Union #43, for those who care. (tags: academia education silly us-news) Francis Collins’ “Five Themes” for the NIH : Respectful Insolence “In the end, I don’t give the proverbial rodential posterior what… Continue reading Links for 2009-08-21
Thursday Baby Blogging 082009
This week’s Baby Blogging breaks new ground: Outdoor Baby Blogging! SteelyKid says “Stop mugging for the camera, Daddy! This is about me!”
Dorky Poll: Newton’s Laws
I have a bunch of errand-running to do today, so I will leave you with a Dorky Poll question for entertainment, this time regarding the work of the great Sir Isaac Newton: Which of Isaac Newton’s Laws is your favorite?(trends) We’re still dealing with classical physics, here, so superpositions of results are not allowed. Pick… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Newton’s Laws