Seed is running an essay contest with a $2,500 prize, so if you like science, and think you write well, take a whack at this question: What does it mean to be scientifically literate in the 21st century? How do we measure the scientific literacy of a society? How do we boost it? What is… Continue reading Write Essays, Win Money
Gender Balance of SF Awards
John Scalzi is asking for discussion of the Hugo Award nominees, noting that other than a brief controversy over the fact that only one nominated work in the fiction categories is by a woman, there hasn’t been much discussion. This reminded me that it would be good to put in another plug for the foolproof… Continue reading Gender Balance of SF Awards
A Bunny Made of Cheese
A commenter in the “Bunnies Made of Cheese” thread points out a graphic that’s too good not to put on the front page (click for the original large image): Nobody tell the dog, ok?
Framing Science: Look Inside the Sausage Factory
A bit over a month ago, “framing” was the hot argument in these parts (see here, here, and here, and links therein), with zillions of comments about how difficult it was to understand what Mooney and Nisbet were advocating. Today, Matt Nisbet appears to endorse a suggestion made in a letter to Science, namely that… Continue reading Framing Science: Look Inside the Sausage Factory
Guess-the-Lyrics Hints
Only four songs from the Memorial Day music post remain unguessed, so here are some additional hints: 1) “So, she said it’s time she goes, but wanted to be sure I know she hopes we can be friends.” 2) “And as we sort out the who said, you said, who said, I said, I only… Continue reading Guess-the-Lyrics Hints
You Gotta Admit
There’s a nice article in Inside Higher Ed today by a faculty member suddenly working in admissions: Whole sections of the admissions and recruitment process might not even be part of the division of academic affairs, but part of an enrollment services division, staffed by people who are experts in marketing, admissions, financial aid and… Continue reading You Gotta Admit
The World of Wide Sports
Ethan Zuckerman offers a recap of the latest developments in sumo: The May basho at Ryogoku Kokugikan ended yesterday with a clash between two profoundly talented rikishi. One was Asashoryu, who has been the sole Yokozuna – grand champion – of the sport since Takanohana retired in 2003. The other was Hakuho, who held an… Continue reading The World of Wide Sports
Open Source Musical Interpretations
While poking around to double-check the lyrics for several of the songs in the previous post, I stumbled across SongMeanings.net, which turns out to be fairly entertaining. As the name suggests, it’s a site where you can find a pretty comprehensive list of song lyrics by different artists, with notes attached regarding the meaning of… Continue reading Open Source Musical Interpretations
Memorial Day Nostalgia Tunes
For most people in the US, this is a day off. For most academics in the US, this is already summer. Not so for us– we’re on trimesters, so we’re still in session, and have classes scheduled. This tends to undercut the solemnity of the occasion. There’s also an Admissions event today, and then I’m… Continue reading Memorial Day Nostalgia Tunes
Memorial Day
It’s Memorial Day in the US, which is the official public tribute to the dead of our various wars. This is marked with parades, and ceremonies at cemetaries in towns all across the country. When I was a kid, we always went to the parade in town, which went from the center of town out… Continue reading Memorial Day