From the first invention of human language right up to the present moment, there has never been an instant when “He did it first” was a winning argument. Counterexamples?
A Question of Ethics
Is this video a deplorable example of cruelty to animals, or an entertaining way of dealing with bushy-tailed vermin? (It’s unquestionably the work of somebody with way too much free time. It’s much simpler to just let the dog out back, and let her chase the squirrels out of the yard. Though she might enjoy… Continue reading A Question of Ethics
Science Showdown: Orbit Region First Round
Announcing the first round games of the Orbit Region of the 2007 Science Showdown: These games match central physics concepts against one another, in a bid to determine the greatest physics idea, which will eventually face and humiliate ideas from other fields of science. I’ll be announcing the winners on Friday, but ehre’s your chance… Continue reading Science Showdown: Orbit Region First Round
Harry Potter and the Labrador Retriever Problem
The BBC has done a poll about unread books, and found some results that at first might appear surprising: Some 35% of those who bought or borrowed Vernon God Little, DBC Pierre’s story of a US high school massacre, admitted not finishing it. The figure was 32% for the fourth instalment in the Harry Potter… Continue reading Harry Potter and the Labrador Retriever Problem
A Bracket for Everything, and Everything In Its Bracket
Posting has been basketball-heavy of late because, well, there isn’t much else going on that I find all that interesting at the moment. More importantly, though, it’s the Season of the Bracket… I’m not the only one affected, of course, though many people who don’t care about hoops have to find other outlets for the… Continue reading A Bracket for Everything, and Everything In Its Bracket
Ficlets
John Scalzi is announcing the launch of a new “collaborative short fiction” site, Ficlets: What does “collaborative short fiction” mean in this case? Simple: You, as a writer, post a very short (not more than 1,024 characters) piece of fiction or a fiction fragment on the Ficlets site. People come to Ficlets to read what… Continue reading Ficlets
Let’s Hear it for Young Nerds!
The winners of the 2007 Intel Science Talent Search have been announced. First prize goes to physics, as is right and proper: Mary Masterman, 17, of Oklahoma City, submitted a physics project to the Intel Science Talent Search describing the spectrograph system she built for $300 at home (commercial units can cost $20,000 to $100,000).… Continue reading Let’s Hear it for Young Nerds!
The Crucial Question of Our Time
Funny. But only once.
Even the Liberal New Republic…
… is blogging about basketball. Of course, this was inevitable, because college basketball is inherently a liberal sport. There’s no sports analogue for welfare and affirmative action better than the “atuomatic bid” system that allows small conference champions into the NCAA tournament, giving them the same chance at the title as teams from the power… Continue reading Even the Liberal New Republic…
Worst. Bracket. EVER.
As threatened in passing earlier, I went through the NCAA Tournament field, picking the games based on the ranking of Ph.D. programs in Physics (I set the “Scholarly quality of program faculty is high” weight to 5, and left everything else off). I entered it on Yahoo, which provides a spiffy PDF version for those… Continue reading Worst. Bracket. EVER.