I started watching the Giants-Rams game today with SteelyKid on my lap. The Giants marched right down the field, and scored a touchdown, and seemed to have the game well in hand. It was lunchtime, though, so Kate took SteelyKid upstairs, and the Giant offense sputtered after that, producing only two field goals. In the… Continue reading Correlation Equals Causation, NFL Edition
Congratulations, Dr. Ken
… for a successful defense. And excellent taste in celebratory beer.
Secret History of Quantum Physics
Kate and I were talking about Garrett Lisi’s utopian idea of a time-share netowrk for scientists (about which more later, maybe), and I mentioned the fine tradition of great discoveries being made while on vacation. It occurred to me, though, that there’s a secret history story begging to be written about one of these. Erwin… Continue reading Secret History of Quantum Physics
David Foster Wallace, RIP
One of my favorite writers, David Foster Wallace, apparently hung himself yesterday. His thousand-page novel Infinite Jest puts the magnum in magnum opus, but it’s a spectacular piece of work, and in some ways, his nonfiction was better than his fiction. Wallace was always a dangerous writer for me– one of those people whose style… Continue reading David Foster Wallace, RIP
links for 2008-09-14
Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator: Make Your Own Palin Baby Name "Chad Orzel, if you were born to Sarah Palin, your name would be: Bush Gator Palin" (tags: politics US internet silly) Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts / A Chance to Show Off: the first line game "Not long after I… Continue reading links for 2008-09-14
A Longitudinal Study of Blogging Traffic
Back in March, I noted that I had inadvertently done an experiment to see what kinds of posts bring the most hits. That week, I posted one peer-reviewed post every day, along with a bunch of other articles, and I looked at the traffic stats to back up my contention that hard-core science blogging is… Continue reading A Longitudinal Study of Blogging Traffic
Fred Clark Explains It All
A while back, at dinner, I made my usual complaint that Slacktivist doesn’t get enough attention. Kate expressed some doubts, because he certainly seems to have a large number of readers and commenters. The problem is, it’s not read by the people who really need to be reading it, and today provides an excellent example.… Continue reading Fred Clark Explains It All
Homecoming Baby Blogging 091308
Well, I’m back… I was away for SteelyKid’s 5-week birthday, but Kate was good enough to get the bison picture for the week. I got in late last night, and only got a bleary half-hour of baby-calming in at 2:30am, but even that was enough to reconfirm that she’s the cutest baby in the universe.… Continue reading Homecoming Baby Blogging 091308
links for 2008-09-13
‘Race and Class Matters at an Elite College’ :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s Source for News, Views and Jobs "Elizabeth Aries explores the insights she gained by studying four groups of students at Amherst College: affluent white students, affluent black students, white students without a lot of money and black students without a… Continue reading links for 2008-09-13
Asking the Big Questions
The Science in the 21st Century meeting is being held at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, which is in a really nice building in the middle of Waterloo. It’s a building that was quite clearly designed with physicists in mind, as there are numerous little common spaces where people can sit around and argue,… Continue reading Asking the Big Questions