While I was out of town for the holidays, Bora announced that he’s putting together an anthology of high-quality science blogging to go with the
Ask a ScienceBlogger: “Maybe You Should Cut Your Losses”
I’ve been kind of bad about responding to the “Ask a ScienceBlogger” questions lately, but they’ve had a lot of stuff up there that I just don’t have a response for. The most recent question is something I probably ought to post about, though: What’s a time in your career when you were criticized extremely… Continue reading Ask a ScienceBlogger: “Maybe You Should Cut Your Losses”
Frank Portman, King Dork [Library of Babel]
I’ve been thinking about doing some best-of-the-year posts this week, and trying to come up with a reasonable list of best books. Frank Portman’s piss-take on Catcher in the Rye, the much-praised-by-Bookslut King Dork is one of the books that might well figure in a “best books of 206” post, which made me realize that… Continue reading Frank Portman, King Dork [Library of Babel]
Can We Hit It and Quit?
We’re back in town, and I’ll schedule some science stuff for later today, but first I want to take a moment to note the passing of the hardest working man in show business. Much as we’d like to see him shake the cape off and run back to the mike one more time, James Brown… Continue reading Can We Hit It and Quit?
Theology on the Tree
I can’t really come up with any scientific significance for this one, but it amuses Kate to no end to have an elephant angel on the tree. And why not? It’s supposed to be a season of miracles, and what could be more miraculous than an elephant with butterfly wings shooting stars out of its… Continue reading Theology on the Tree
Christmas Songs That Don’t Suck
We’re off to do our annual holiday trek all over New England. We will have sporadic Internet access, but don’t expect any blogging before next Wednesday. Not that anybody’s going to be reading blogs over the weekend, anyway… If you’d like some seasonal music, below the fold is a list of the 21 songs from… Continue reading Christmas Songs That Don’t Suck
The Good, the Bad, and the Mellow
The problem with the holiday season is that it just flies by so fast– it seems like you’ve barely finished clearing away the Thanksgiving dishes, and then you find that you’ve already missed Mellowmas. Haven’t heard of that one? Well, it’s a new holiday invented by jefitoblog and Jason Hare, explained by jefito thusly: For… Continue reading The Good, the Bad, and the Mellow
Theorist for Sale or Rent
Scott Aaronson is offering his services to the highest bidder in the String Wars. His prices may be a little steep– a well organized review article will set you back $2 million, though a sloppy and poorly sourced one is probably cheaper– but really, isn’t it worth it to have the second funniest physics blogger… Continue reading Theorist for Sale or Rent
NBA Brawl Conspiracy Theory
The big NBA story of the week is, of course, the brawl that broke out between the Knicks and Nuggets a week ago, and the big suspensions that followed. In particular, Denver star (and former Syracuse player) Carmelo Anthony was suspended for fifteen games for slugging the goon from the Knicks whose flagrant foul touched… Continue reading NBA Brawl Conspiracy Theory
Press Release Bursts
One of the fun things about following science news through the Eurekalert press release aggregator is that work done by big collaborations tends to show up multiple times, in slightly different forms. Take, for example, the gamma-ray-burst results being released in Nature this week, which show up no less than five times: one, two, three,… Continue reading Press Release Bursts