… to write a guest post at the Science and Entertainment Exchange blog. So I did, on science communication: I was asked to write a guest-blog post about “increased incentives for scientists to develop their communications skills.” I’m happy to oblige, but in typical ornery-blogger fashion, the first thing I want to do is take… Continue reading The National Academy of Sciences Wants Me
Why Are You Publishing a Comment, Anyway?
I tagged Steinn’s post on publishing a comment a few days ago, because I thought it was pretty funny. In the interim, it’s been picked up by the usual suspects as more evidence of the need to completely discard the current publishing model in favor of something more blog-like. None of the subsequent discussion has… Continue reading Why Are You Publishing a Comment, Anyway?
Links for 2009-08-20
Cosmological Gravitational Radiation : Dynamics of Cats Steinn explains what the LIGO null results mean (tags: science astronomy cosmology blogs cat-dynamics) PaulCornell.com: Thirty Comics for Hugo Voters “The Hugo Awards for 2009 are going to be presented at the World Science Fiction Convention in Melbourne in September next year. The Best Graphic Story category is… Continue reading Links for 2009-08-20
The Importance of Distraction
Kate recently signed up for Facebook, and I was talking to her earlier about some of the options for wasting tons of time entertaining yourself with Facebook, and mentioned the ever-popular trivia quizzes and “personality tests” and the like. Of course, I had to caution her that most of the quizzes are really lame, because… Continue reading The Importance of Distraction
Barney Frank Is Not Amused
The results, however, are amusing for the rest of us: It’s nice to see somebody in a safe district taking advantage of essentially having tenure. We could use more of this.
Links for 2009-08-19
Regifting Robin. How does it work? | Dot Physics The simple math behind a silly game. (tags: science blogs math silly dot-physics) As 81-year-old Mubarak heads to Washington, Egyptians wonder about their leader’s health — latimes.com An update from Uncertain Principles Senior Middle East Correspondent Paul Schemm. (tags: news politics world) Making graphene in a… Continue reading Links for 2009-08-19
March of the (Wooden) Penguins
One of SteelyKid’s birthday gifts from my parents was a wheeled wooden penguin on a stick. If you roll it along the ground, the wings flap, with a very satisfying clacking noise. It took SteelyKid a little while to get the hang of it, but she’s got the idea now: Really, I don’t have anything… Continue reading March of the (Wooden) Penguins
Dorky Poll: Maxwell’s Equations
One of the blogs I hyped at the science blogging panel at Worldcon was Built on Facts, Matt Springer’s blog explaining introductory physics concepts. You might not think that you want to read a blog that goes through freshman physics problems in detail– I would’ve been dubious on the concept, had you explained it to… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Maxwell’s Equations
CSI: Ambiguous Sentences
The New York Times yesterday had a story with the dramatic headline DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show, explaining that, well, there are nefarious tricks you can pull to falsify DNA evidence, provided you have access to a high-quality biochemical laboratory. The story is a great boon to conspiracy theorists everywhere, especially with this… Continue reading CSI: Ambiguous Sentences
Links for 2009-08-18
slacktivist: The IndigNation “That’s an example of what’s often missing today in dealing with the IndigNation. These people are offended and outraged and so politicians and journalists respond by trying not to further offend or enrage them. As though that were possible. Indignation is their raison d’etre. They will take offense whether or not it… Continue reading Links for 2009-08-18