Another Thursday, another picture with Appa. And SteelyKid throws her arms wide to say “I’m this big!” She was nice and quiet earlier while I taped my half of a bloggingheads conversation that should hopefully appear on Saturday. She’s been making up for that the last hour or so, demanding all sorts of attention as… Continue reading Thursday Baby Blogging 111308
What’s the Matter With Photons?
Over at Dot Physics, Rhett has just completed a two-part post (Part I, Part II) on quantum physics arguing against the use of photons in teaching quantum physics. Part I gives a very nice introduction to quantum physics, which is why I linked it, but Part II goes a little off the rails. There’s not… Continue reading What’s the Matter With Photons?
Best Blogging of the Year
Bora’s beating the drum for submissions to this year’s science blogging anthology. He doesn’t seem to be suffering from a lack of submissions, but if you’ve got something you would like to see re-printed in dead tree form, submit it before December 1. I’m not clear whether this will be going through Lulu again this… Continue reading Best Blogging of the Year
links for 2008-11-13
The Supreme Court grapples with the primordial ooze of the Summum case. – By Dahlia Lithwick – Slate Magazine "[T]he current Third Aphorism of Religion Cases: Government establishment of religion is only impermissible when it freaks out Justice Stephen Breyer." (tags: religion politics law silly society culture) Backyard Nukes? | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine… Continue reading links for 2008-11-13
Dorky Poll: Craziest Seminar Question?
Speaking of departmental seminars, as we were, it occurs to me that this might be an amusing Dorky Poll question: What’s the craziest thing you’ve heard asked of a seminar speaker? One of the nice things about academia is that lots of educational events are put on, free and open to all. The problem is,… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Craziest Seminar Question?
Seminar Series: Threat or Menace?
The Female Science Professor is thinking about seminar series. Specifically, whether attendance should be mandatory for students: Being required to attend the departmental seminar eliminates that pesky decision-making process about whether to go to seminar or not. But then, if required to attend, you might sit there in the seminar, seething with resentment about being… Continue reading Seminar Series: Threat or Menace?
links for 2008-11-12
The Case of M. S. El Naschie | The n-Category Café I wouldn’t’ve started a blog if I’d known I could get Elsevier to give me my own journal… (tags: science publishing academia journals stupid) Backreaction: Technetium-99 "what a strange element is technetium in the first place, as without stable isotopes, it marks a gap… Continue reading links for 2008-11-12
Physics Books for Middle Schoolers?
Sometime commenter “Dr. Pain” asked, on a mailing list, for book recommendations for his son, who “wants to read up about physics, especially weird modern physics.” He adds some qualifications: Kid’s books on physics are way too elementary for him, but the typical “naive adult” book is over his head. Does anyone have any good… Continue reading Physics Books for Middle Schoolers?
Fixing Education Is Expensive
Edward Glaeser has an op-ed in the Boston Globe arguing for more education funding: The clearest result from decades of education research is the importance of teacher quality. My colleague Tom Kane finds that students who are lucky enough to get a teacher in the top quarter of the teacher-quality distribution jump 10 percentile points… Continue reading Fixing Education Is Expensive
Many-World vs. Multiverse
In the recent discussion of Many-Worlds and making universes, Jonathan Vos Post asked what science fiction treatments of the idea I like. The answer is pretty much “none,” because most SF treatments are distractingly bad. For example, last night I finished Neal Stephenson’s Anathem, a whopping huge brick of a book setting up an incredibly… Continue reading Many-World vs. Multiverse