(This is the second of two background posts for a peer-reviewed research blogging post that has now slipped to tomorrow. I started writing it, but realized that it needed some more background information, which became this post. And now I don’t have time to write the originally intended post…) Making a quantum computer is a… Continue reading What Do You Need to Make a Quantum Computer?
Political Indoctrination by Faculty
An ad-lib from yesterday’s lecture about interactions between electric fields and neutral matter, paraphrased: So, we can divide macroscopic objects into two categories, based on what happens when you bring large numbers of atoms together. In materials that are insulators, the electrons aren’t free to move. The atoms hold onto their electrons very tightly. They’re… Continue reading Political Indoctrination by Faculty
Vitale in the Hall of Fame
The world’s best known shrieking basketball analyst was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame yesterday, and event which ESPN is understandbly hyping to no end. I’ve written before about how Vitale is, in my opinion, one of the very worst color commentators in the business, so you might be wondering “What do you think… Continue reading Vitale in the Hall of Fame
Rock, Chalk, Championship
When I went to bed last night, I thought the crucial moment of the NCAA men’s basketball championship game was Bill Self’s mystifying decision to go to a box-and-one on Chris Douglas-Roberts in the middle of the second half. That’s because I went to be lat night with two minutes to play and Memphis up… Continue reading Rock, Chalk, Championship
links for 2008-04-08
Administrating « Confused at a higher level “Why did I say yes to the Dean when he asked whether I would take on this position? He made the request/offer to me a week after calling me to let me know I had tenure — he claimed that this gave me a fair shot at saying… Continue reading links for 2008-04-08
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
Having brought in a huge new audience at the end of last week– partly through the “framing”/”screechy monkeys” things, but mostly because my What Everyone Should Know About Science post hit the front page on Reddit– I figured I should take this opportunity to… Well, drive them all right the hell away again with a… Continue reading Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
Moderation, Not Apathy
I had planned to let the current round of screechy-monkey-bashing die, but I woke up this morning to an accusation from commenter Andrew that I don’t want to leave unanswered: As for the blog – I’m not sure you are actually moderate really, it sounds more like vaguely apathetic. Or more accurately (and without the… Continue reading Moderation, Not Apathy
We’re All Gonna Freeze!!!
When I was talking to my parents on the phone last night, my father told me about a guest op-ed in the Press and Sun-Bulletin that might be of interest to some ScienceBlogs readers and bloggers: As if there aren’t enough problems in the world, we are now on the verge of a phenomenon that… Continue reading We’re All Gonna Freeze!!!
links for 2008-04-07
In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop – New York Times “To be sure, there is no official diagnosis of death by blogging, and the premature demise of two people obviously does not qualify as an epidemic. “ (tags: blogs writing journalism society culture computing internet) Calorimeters for High Energy Physics… Continue reading links for 2008-04-07
Hoisted from Comments: Moderate, or Linearly Independent?
Stealing a post-generating method from Brad DeLong, Bill Tozier posted and interesting comment that I wanted to highlight: I’ve often wondered why people place me (a moderate in a lot of polarized debates) “in the middle”. I think I’m orthogonal, not “in the middle”. I’m concerned about plenty of things; they’re just not what’s being… Continue reading Hoisted from Comments: Moderate, or Linearly Independent?