One of the NCAA pools I’m in has a copy of Obama’s bracket entered, and the last I checked, I’m a couple of games up on him. This means I’m as qualified as anyone else to offer a plan to fix the financial crisis, and I have just the plan we need. On the question… Continue reading Physics Can Fix This
links for 2009-03-24
Ten photons per hour « A Quantum Diaries Survivor "The small speck of light shown in the upper left of the picture above, labeled as MGC 10-17-5, is actually a faint galaxy in the field of view of NGC3690. It has a visual magnitude of +15.7: this is a measure of its integrated luminosity as… Continue reading links for 2009-03-24
Now Intersecting Elsewhere
Chris and Sheril announced today that The Intersection has gone over to the Dark Side moved to Discover‘s growing collection of high-quality science blogs. They’re now available at http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection. This is not entirely unexpected, but I wish them well in their spiffy new digs. They’re the second blog to move from ScienceBlogs to Discover (after… Continue reading Now Intersecting Elsewhere
Academic Poll: Drop It Like It’s Hot?
I handed in my final grades for the term this morning, and am now on “Spring Break” which is the misleading term for the week of frantic preparation for next term’s classes that our schedule allows. Here’s a poll question for you, though: We operate on ten-week “trimesters.” How late into the ten-week term should… Continue reading Academic Poll: Drop It Like It’s Hot?
Definitions
My computer is starting to run slow in that way that indicates that either Microsoft has released an important update, or it’s just been on too long without a reboot. Either way, I need to clear some browser tabs before restarting, and there are a bunch of articles that I thought were too interesting to… Continue reading Definitions
links for 2009-03-22
The Mid-Majority: Respect, Resilience, Joy and Despair  "This must be a lot of fun for you, this March Madness. It must be pleasant to rally behind something until you have no use for it anymore, to adopt and dispose the efforts of a team, to judge its efforts without any real consequence. But the… Continue reading links for 2009-03-22
First Round Thoughts
The good news is, I’m solidly ahead of Barack Obama in my NCAA pool. The bad news is, the success rate of my serious picks is distressingly close to that of the Physics Grad Programs backet… Various and sundry thoughts on the first two days of NCAA tournament action: — Not that many big upsets,… Continue reading First Round Thoughts
links for 2009-03-21
weir3 / Instant Mentor / Advice / Home – Inside Higher Ed "Unless youâre a botanist or geologist thereâs no pedagogical reason to teach outside. The first gorgeous day of spring semester will bring a clamor to meet underneath the spreading maple students spy from the window. Donât do it! That hour will pass with… Continue reading links for 2009-03-21
Twenty Years Ago This Week
I carry some of my gear to and from the lunchtime basketball game in a red and white canvas-and-mesh bag. The zipper doesn’t work, and hasn’t for years, and the logo on the side is almost worn off, but if you look closely, you can still make out the New York State Public High School… Continue reading Twenty Years Ago This Week
Hugo Nominations Announced
The nominees for this year’s Hugo Awards were announced last night. The most important category is, as always, Best Novel: Anathem by Neal Stephenson (Morrow; Atlantic UK) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury UK) Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Tor Teen; HarperVoyager UK) — Free download Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit… Continue reading Hugo Nominations Announced