Buried in a “Quick Takes” post a few days ago, Inside Higher Ed had a link to a set of suggestions for improving public education: Education Sector is offering the following eight education ideas for the 2008 presidential campaign. They cover the educational spectrum, from preschool to higher education. They range in scope from big… Continue reading Education Wonkery
Coming Soon to a Presidential Address Near You
Two American physicists are reporting the discovery of nearly perfect quasicrystal patterns in the decorative tiles of a certain type of Islamic art: Penrose tiling is very reminiscent of “girih” – the elaborate patterns used in Islamic architecture. While travelling in Uzbekistan, [Harvard physicist Peter] Lu noticed motifs with 10-fold rotational symmetry, which is a… Continue reading Coming Soon to a Presidential Address Near You
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Fade In: The dining room of Chateau Steelypips, at dinner time. “Can I have a piece of chicken?” “No.” “But I really like chicken.” “That’s nice. The answer is still no.” “But I really like chicken. Pleeeease?” “For the last time, no.” “OK.” Pause “Can I have a cookie? Pleeeease?” Fade out
New Developments in Science Blogging
Two exciting new developments in the Seed-o-sphere: 1) Rob Knop’s Galactic Interactions has joined ScienceBlogs. It’s nice to have another physical science type around here, along with all these damn biologists. If you’re so inclined, go say “hi.” 2) The Powers That Be have also unveiled a new RSS feed option: Scienceblogs Select, through Feedburner.… Continue reading New Developments in Science Blogging
Those Who Can’t Teach, Teach About Teaching
My father taught sixth grade in the public schools for thirty-odd years, and always griped about the teacher training workshops that they were periodically subjected to, in which some expert would be brought in to talk about the wonders of the latest fad in pedagogy, while all the teachers in the school struggled to stay… Continue reading Those Who Can’t Teach, Teach About Teaching
Spooky Action at a Distance
This is an approximate transcription of my physics talk from Boskone, titled “Spooky Action at a Distance,” in which I attempted to give a reasonable explanation of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (“EPR” hereafter) paper and Bell’s Theorem. This was sort of a follow-on from last year’s “Weird Quantum Phenomena,” meant to highlight a specific class of weird… Continue reading Spooky Action at a Distance
ACC Update
Maryland beat Florida State last night, and moved over 0.500 in the ACC for the first time. This is also their 21st win on the season, and Jeremy Gold has gone round the bend: MD could rise as high as #2 seen in the NCAAs should they finish 10-6 in the ACC and win the… Continue reading ACC Update
Extrasolar Planetary Atmospheres
The only reason I’m not going to hunt and kill James Nicoll for pointing me at the Conservapedia thing is that he also provides a link to the latest results from the Spitzer telescope. Not the one that Kate’s former boss uses to keep an eye on the New York State Legislature, but the one… Continue reading Extrasolar Planetary Atmospheres
Alexander Pope Was Right
I was busy yesterday at work, so I managed to avoid looking at the “Conservapedia” until James Nicoll, the bastard, drew my attention to the entry on Relativity: Unlike most advances in physics, the theory of relativity was proposed based on mathematical theory rather than observation. The theory rests on two postulates that are difficult… Continue reading Alexander Pope Was Right
Comprehensible Is the New Black
John Scalzi is being railroaded into heading a new movement in SF: The New Comprehensible. He disdains manifestoes (“people who issue literary manifestos should be thrown into jet engines”), but does offer a set of precepts for people seeking to write in the New Comprehensible: 1. Think of an actual person you know, of reasonable… Continue reading Comprehensible Is the New Black