(Now that I look at the title, that sounds like an incredibly tepid harness-team command. “On, Moderation! Forward, with prudent speed!” I could clear that up by adding “Comment” in the middle, but I kind of like the image…) Over at Boing Boing, Teresa Nielsen Hayden has posted a long explanation of the comment moderation… Continue reading On Moderation
UNC-Louisville
North Carolina beat Louisville last night to reach the Final Four, in what was the first good game in a couple of days. Xavier never seriously challenged UCLA in the early game, and while it’s nice to see Davidson win, there wasn’t much drama in their whomping of Wisconsin on Friday. That Times link is… Continue reading UNC-Louisville
links for 2008-03-30
The 6 Cutest Animals That Can Still Destroy You | Cracked.com Oh shit! Run! (tags: animals biology psychology video science silly) Asking a Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More – New York Times Crazy people seek an injunction to keep the LHC from destroying the universe. (tags: physics science stupid)… Continue reading links for 2008-03-30
The Benefits of Tenure
Over at Reassigned Time, “Dr. Crazy” offers a remarkably sane post on what tenure means to her: Ultimately, this is the allure of tenure for me, and it’s what I think is most positive about the way I see tenure working at my institution. This is not to say that the tenure process at some… Continue reading The Benefits of Tenure
Soft Equals Death
As noted many times, FutureBaby is due in July, which means we’re at the point in the process where we need to start acquiring, or at least registering for, Stuff. Of which there is a frightening amount. Kate’s big on consumer research, so we picked up the Baby Bargains book that several people recommended (this… Continue reading Soft Equals Death
Strings and Philately
Over at Evolving Thoughts, John Wilkins pokes string theorists: Ernst Rutherford, the “father” of nuclear physics, once airily declared “In science there is only physics. All the rest is stamp collecting”. By this he meant that the theory of physics is the only significant thing in science. Such mundane activities as taxonomy in biology were… Continue reading Strings and Philately
links for 2008-03-29
Anachronista: The Simpsons Bayeux Tapestry Couch Scene It’s missing the comet… (tags: silly television video) Good Math, Bad Math : Introduction to Linear Regression The basics of data fitting. (tags: science math) Quantum Decoherence Reduction by Increasing the Thermal Bath Temperature A counter-intuitive result. (tags: physics quantum science theory articles) Condensate Fraction in a 2D… Continue reading links for 2008-03-29
Manual Links for 3-28-08
There are fewer of them this time, so I’ll keep them above the fold. Graphene makes for better optical displays – physicsworld.com “According to the same group of researchers that first fabricated the 2D sheets of carbon nearly four years ago, graphene has the ideal optical properties to form the transparent electrodes in liquid crystal… Continue reading Manual Links for 3-28-08
On the Suckitude of Office 2007
My sabbatical is coming to an end, so I’ve begun prepping my class for the term that starts Monday. I’m teaching the honors section of introductory E&M, and for the intro classes, I lecture off PowerPoint. We’re starting an entirely new syllabus this year, and I plan to use my spiffy tablet PC to do… Continue reading On the Suckitude of Office 2007
Semi-Comfortable Question: Personal Particle Accelerator
Back in the comments of one of the “Uncomfortable Question” threads, Matthew Jarpe asked (as background research for a new novel): If someone were to hand you the keys to your own particle accelerator and you could do any experiment you wanted, what would it be? Well, if somebody just gave me the keys to… Continue reading Semi-Comfortable Question: Personal Particle Accelerator