In the wake of the debate the other night, there’s been a lot of talk about the disparity between the way tv pundits “scored” it– most of them thought McCain did well– and post-debate polling of actual voters, which gave a huge edge to Obama. Kevin Drum, Mark Kleiman, and Steve Benen all comment on… Continue reading The Pointlessness of Punditry
Haven’t You Always Wanted a Monkey (Dance)?
I have to say, I had no idea that offering to dance like a monkey would be quite so appealing. Apparently, though, it’s a big hit– John Scalzi proclaimed it “the comedy highlight of 2008.” This, from a year featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. In the two days since Scalzi’s post, donations have jumped… Continue reading Haven’t You Always Wanted a Monkey (Dance)?
links for 2008-10-17
Physicists set new entanglement record – physicsworld.com "Researchers in China and Europe have entangled a record-breaking 10 quantum bits — an important breakthrough in the quest to develop practical quantum computers." (tags: physics quantum computing science news experiment optics) Ananova – Rabbit wins half marathon Don’t tell Emmy. (tags: animals silly dog sports)
Thursday Baby Blogging 101608
SteelyKid is ten weeks old today! To celebrate, here’s the weekly picture with Appa for scale, with a special bonus Kate for additional perspective:
DonorsChoose Payoff: The Capital District
Another DonorsChoose incentive claimed: Ewan asks for a blog post about “the neatest attractions in Albany and the surrounding area.” “Neatest” is in the eye of the beholder, of course, and as is the case with any area, the worst people to ask about local tourism are local residents (ask a Manhattanite how often they… Continue reading DonorsChoose Payoff: The Capital District
The Teleporter’s Dilemma
One of the annoying things about trying to explain quantum mechanics to a general audience is that the weirdness of the theory forces you to use incredibly convoluted examples. Pop-science books about quantum physics are full of schemes that the producers of the Saw movies would reject as implausibly complicated. I wish I was posting… Continue reading The Teleporter’s Dilemma
Cynicism and the Debates
Once again, God help me, I watched the entire debate last night. I don’t quite know why, as it wasn’t that great as spectacle, and it’s not like there was any way it would change my vote… I wound up being struck by something, though. The last eight years have made me pretty cynical about… Continue reading Cynicism and the Debates
links for 2008-10-16
slacktivist: Racism and litigation "[N]o, it’s not an overstatement or an uncharitable characterization to say that anyone swallowing this ACORN-scapegoating is insane and a racist bastard. This is a baseless assertion that begins with the argument that poor people and black people are the powers that be in America — that they run the show.… Continue reading links for 2008-10-16
DonorsChoose Payoff: The Time Machine
Today, we have the first claimant of a donation incentive, from Sarah, who asks: If you could go back in time to any lab and be there as X discovery was being made, which lab/when/where would you go? I figure this could be spun a couple of ways, either to talk about some really cool… Continue reading DonorsChoose Payoff: The Time Machine
The Monkey Dance (DonorsChoose Incentives)
First and foremost, thank you to everybody who has donated to my DonorsChoose challenge this year. At the time of this writing, we’ve raised just over $1,700, temporarily good enough for first place on the ScieceBlogs leader board. If you haven’t contributed yet, we’ve got lots of incentives to try to get you to contribute.… Continue reading The Monkey Dance (DonorsChoose Incentives)