Between graduation yesterday and a trip to Williamstown Saturday (to see the Clark brothers exhibit, which was very cool), I didn’t actually get to watch much soccer over the weekend. I caught most of the second half of the ancestral homeland’s humiliating loss to Ecuador, and most of England’s one-nil victory over Paraguay (though not… Continue reading World Cup Update
Last of the Firsts
Today was Commencement at Union, and a cold and miserable morning for it. Normally, the faculty are grateful for our spots on the Library collonnade, where we’re out of the sun, and able to enjoy a slight breeze, but today, it was about twenty degrees colder than normal, and the breeze was more of a… Continue reading Last of the Firsts
Switching Into Research Mode: Priceless
By the numbers: Exams graded: 16 Mean exam grade: 64% Mean final grade for Physics 121: B- Papers assigned: 17 Papers received and graded: 16 Mean final grade for Physics 311: B+ Students receiving grades of Incomplete: 1 Large bottles of Scottish ale drunk while watching “Dr. Who”: 1 And another academic year is in… Continue reading Switching Into Research Mode: Priceless
Falling Rock Zone
Large meteorite hits northern Norway: A large meteorite struck in northern Norway this week, landing with an impact an astronomer compared to the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima. The meteorite appeared as a ball of fire just after 2 a.m. Wednesday, visible across several hundred miles in the sunlit summer sky above the Arctic Circle,… Continue reading Falling Rock Zone
The Big Kick-Off
A big event took place at noon Eastern time today. That’s right, the soccer World Cup has started, and as I type this, Germany leads Costa Rica 2-1. Oh, yeah, and because the science nerds need something to do while the sports fans are all obsessing over soccer, the new, improved ScienceBlogs front page launched,… Continue reading The Big Kick-Off
True Lab Stories: Maybe You Should Ask a Rocket Scientist
It’s been a while since I did a True Lab Story, and it seems like an appropriate sort of topic for a rainy Friday when I have grades to finish. I’m running out of really good personal anecdotes, but there are still a few left before I have to move entirely to hearsay. And who… Continue reading True Lab Stories: Maybe You Should Ask a Rocket Scientist
New Frontiers in Alternative Dispute Resolution
Kate mentioned this story to me yesterday, and today, it’s made the New York Times: Fed up with the inability of two lawyers to agree on a trivial issue in an insurance lawsuit, a federal judge in Florida this week ordered them to “convene at a neutral site” and “engage in one (1) game of… Continue reading New Frontiers in Alternative Dispute Resolution
Friday Dog Blogging
It’s very, very hard to be the Queen of Niskayuna:
Best Novels of the 1990’s
Over in LiveJournal Land, James Nicoll (SF reviewer and walking True Lab Story) is discussing the best novels of the 1990’s. He doesn’t have the “SF” in there, but it’s sort of implicit, because that’s what James does. Keeping up the literary/ pop culture bent of the last couple of weeks (there’ll be science stuff… Continue reading Best Novels of the 1990’s
The ScienceBlogs Diet, Mid-Year
Because it’s not science without graphs: (Click for larger image.)