I appear not to have booklogged Naomi Novik’s earlier books, which is something of an oversight. I think they got lost in the transition between the old booklog, and posting booklog entries here. At any rate, Empire of Ivory is the fourth book in the Temeraire series, which starts with the Hugo-nominated His Majesty’s Dragon… Continue reading Naomi Novik, Empire of Ivory [Library of Babel]
links for 2007-10-21
…My heart’s in Accra » Pop!Tech 2007 More interesting conference blogging posts than I can link individually (tags: gadgets society science computing economics education) The Prize That Even Some Laureates Question – New York Times Nobody likes the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (tags: economics Nobel)
Online Dialogue About Nanotechnology
While I’m passing on announcements from my email, there’s an online event scheduled for Tuesda and Wednesday about nanotechnology and the consumer: Nanotechnology–the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture things between 1 and 100 nanometers (1 billionth of a meter)–is seen as the driver of a new industrial revolution emerging with the development of… Continue reading Online Dialogue About Nanotechnology
Phyiscs Pictures Wanted
As noted a little while ago, ScienceBlogs has recently redesigned the channel pages on the front page, and they now include images supplied by the bloggers. For example, the doomsday weapon photo that currently graces the Physical Science page is a picture of my lab. Now, any idiot can take pictures of cute fuzzy animals,… Continue reading Phyiscs Pictures Wanted
Concerned About Science
The Union of Concerned Scientists emails me fairly regularly with news items and calls to action– one of the benefits of being a C-list blogger, I guess. This week’s is a “Call your Senator” item opposing Executive Order 13422: Government agencies need to use the best available science to protect our health–setting standards that limit… Continue reading Concerned About Science
links for 2007-10-20
Terra Sigillata : News Flash: Unathletic Kids Unpopular and Lonely Also, bad at sports. (tags: education silly sports) slacktivist: Gay-Hatin’ Gospel (pt. 2) Part two in Fred Clark’s series attempting to explain evangelical gay-bashing (tags: politics US religion) Optical Dilution and Feedback Cooling of a Gram-Scale Oscillator to 6.9 mK Blogged a while back, now… Continue reading links for 2007-10-20
Secrets of Academic Survival: The Secretary
I’m not going to explain exactly what prompted this, but I want to remind my readers of one of the absolute essential rules of life in academia: The most important person in any academic department is the secretary. Naive outsiders often think that the department chair is the most important person, or possibly the most… Continue reading Secrets of Academic Survival: The Secretary
Atheists Are Like a Series of Stupid Analogies
For those keeping score, the DonorsChoose Challenge stands at $3,262 right now. Only hours remain before this week’s incentive deadline, so act quickly: For another $290, I’ll stab myself with a fork. For another $540, I’ll read and respectfully review Richard Dawkins’s book, or some other atheist screed For another $2,737, you’ll get one blissful… Continue reading Atheists Are Like a Series of Stupid Analogies
DonorsChoose Payoff: Homework vs. Google
An anonymous donor cashes in a $30 donation to ask: Homework solutions from intro physics through grad school physics are available online, and while working through Jackson and Goldstein problems can be miserable without some guidance, the temptation is there to plagiarize. When you teach, do you use book-problems or write your own? Do you… Continue reading DonorsChoose Payoff: Homework vs. Google
An Open Letter to the Presidential Candidates
To the men and woman campaigning for the President of the United States: Hey, how’s it going. Boy, I bet it seems like this campaign has been going on forever, huh? All those pancake breakfasts and rubber-chicken dinners… I don’t know how you guys manage it. But here’s the thing: the campaign season is really… Continue reading An Open Letter to the Presidential Candidates