This past weekend, Union played host to the New York State Association for College Admissions Counseling’s Camp College program. This is a three-day summer program where students from disadvantaged backgrounds (the vast majority of this year’s students were from New York City, with a handful of local students, and one group from Philly) spend a… Continue reading Liquid Nitrogen on TV
Physics Conference Blogging
It’s not as sexy as Strings 2006, but it’s easier to understand what the talks are about: Nathan Lundblad is blogging from the International Conference on Atomic Physics in Innsbruck, Austria (the bastard). Posts so far: First day introduction. First day talk recaps. (The latter includes the announcement of the [Norman] Ramsey Prize, “to be… Continue reading Physics Conference Blogging
Exposition Across Genres
As you know, Bob, clumsy exposition, particularly in the form of lengthy “infodump” sequences in which large quantities of information are blasted toward the reader in the manner of a shotgun or a firehose, is often held to be one of the hallmarks (or, perhaps, banes) of the SF genre (where “SF” means “speculative fiction,”… Continue reading Exposition Across Genres
Times Book Review Comments
We get the Sunday New York Times delivered, because there’s something infinitely more civilized about reading an actual paper than sitting at the computer browsing news stories on the Web. The message isn’t any different, but the medium makes a difference. Also, I’m more likely to stop to read a story on paper than I… Continue reading Times Book Review Comments
Still Life With Lecture Props
In the lecture hall yesterday, from left to right: A dewar of liquid nitrogen, a tube of racquetballs, a squeaky dog toy, a handful of yellow balloons, a vase of flowers, an inflated red balloon, an insulated glove, and a 4-liter jug of liquid nitrogen. The dewars, the vase, the glove, and the dog toy… Continue reading Still Life With Lecture Props
New Physics Contest
Slow blogging this weekend, as yesterday was taken up with activities that will be blogged about later. Today promises to be a sticky and unpleasant day outside, so I’ll probably end up doing a lot of blogging in my nice, comfortable, air-conditioned home office. Of course, there’s not much point in posting lots of stuff… Continue reading New Physics Contest
Random Twenty
My plan was to spend yesterday and this morning doing deep and substantive blogging while sidelined by a medical test. That sort of fell through, which means I get to spend an extra day in the lab, but also means you get lazy blogging. And what could be lazier than the classic “Random Tracks from… Continue reading Random Twenty
Classic Edition: Stronger Than Old Hapless Gods
I was scheduled for a deeply unpleasant medical test yesterday, which I thought was going to leave me lots of time for blogging. yesterday afternoon and this morning. The preliminary test turned out to be so unpleasant (if anybody ever offers to stick a tube through your nose into your stomach, decline politely) that I… Continue reading Classic Edition: Stronger Than Old Hapless Gods
Maintenance Issues
There’s been some behind-the-scenes tweaking of the ScienceBlogs framework, which has caused some problems with commenting on other blogs (along with some other embarassing glitches, involving posts being blocked by spam filters, and fun stuff like that). I haven’t heard any complaints here, but it’s entirely possible that people have had comments blocked, and just… Continue reading Maintenance Issues
Local Economics of Higher Education
The Dean Dad, spinning off an article in the Chronicle, has some interesting thoughts on the economic benefits of colleges and universities: Apropos of my minor obsession with the economic conditions in Northern Town, the Chronicle of Higher Ed has a story noting that the University of Rochester is now the largest employer in Rochester.… Continue reading Local Economics of Higher Education