Confessions of a Community College Dean: Science Fairs and School Boards “From looking at the other projects, this year’s theme was baking soda volcanoes. ” This year, and every year. (tags: education science kid-stuff) Physicists Claim to Have Found ‘Dark Matter’ Again – New York Times “Juan Collar of the University of Chicago said people… Continue reading links for 2008-04-17
Science Indicators: The More Things Change, the More They Don’t
Via Sheril, I see that the National Science Board has released a report on Science and Engineering Indicators 2008. It’s chock full of useful and interesting information, particularly if you start poking around with the tables and figures, which are available for download. This ought to produce all sorts of discussion around here, especially given… Continue reading Science Indicators: The More Things Change, the More They Don’t
Moment of Silence
links for 2008-04-16
Meeting Announcment HTML Email Including the classic anti-quack essay “DRIVE THE PSEUDOS OUT OF THE WORKSHOP OF SCIENCE,” by the late J. A. Wheeler, albeit in a nearly unreadable format. (tags: science stupid medicine psychology physics quantum) Fighting Gossip With Graphics :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s Source for News, and Views and Jobs… Continue reading links for 2008-04-16
Kids Those Days, Parents These Days
Back when I was a kid, and dinosaurs roamed the Earth, I spent about a week one summer staying with a great-aunt in Arlington, VA. I don’t remember exactly when– some time in the early 1980’s– and I don’t remember where my parents and sister were at the time. I recall that they came down… Continue reading Kids Those Days, Parents These Days
Mike Huckabee, Self-Governance, and Frustration
Mike Huckabee spoke on campus last night, to the second-biggest crowd I’ve seen for an on-campus speaker (the biggest was Maya Angelou, back in the fall, where a few hundred people were turned away). It was a very good speech in a lot of ways, but ultimately, the whole thing was kind of frustrating, both… Continue reading Mike Huckabee, Self-Governance, and Frustration
Questions for Mike Huckabee?
Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will be speaking at Union tonight. This has provoked the predictable huffy reaction from the usual suspects, but I expect it will be an interesting event, and certainly better than David Horowitz or Pat Buchanan, who I’m told were the first two suggestions of the students pushing to invite a… Continue reading Questions for Mike Huckabee?
John Wheeler, RIP
Going off to a rugby alumni weekend generally requires entering a 48-hour news blackout, at least for me. Of course, the outside world doesn’t stop just because I’m enjoying myself, so I emerge from my fog this morning to find that John Archibald Wheeler passed away. The New York Times obit is here, and Daniel… Continue reading John Wheeler, RIP
Six, If You Live in a Trailer Park
In honor of my weekend, here’s Larry Miller on the Five Stages of Drinking. This is one of my all-time favorite comedy bits, and it’s defintiely in the “funny ’cause it’s true” category. Details will, of course, need to remain scarce to protect the political careers of those involved, but it was a great weekend.… Continue reading Six, If You Live in a Trailer Park
Bad Toasters and Software
Seth Godin offers a parable about toasters and web sites: We recently acquired what might be the worst toaster in the history of the world. It’s pretty fancy and shiny and microprocessor controlled. And it makes toast. But here’s what I have to do to use it: [list of 10 steps] He goes on to… Continue reading Bad Toasters and Software