Over at Bora’s House of Round-the-Clock Blogging, we find the sensational headline Beaten by Biologists, Creationists Turn Their Sights On Physics. On seeing that, I headed over to the editorial in The American Prospect that it points to, expecting to be scandalized. When I got there, I found this: U.S. creationists have changed tactics. Though… Continue reading Deism’s Just Alright With Me
Month: December 2006
Weekend Sports Round-Up
There were several sporting events worth commenting on this weekend, none of which I saw in their entirety. Hence, the combo recap post. Maryland-BC The Terps got beat by Boston College in a game that I didn’t realize was on TV until Kate told me about it about midway through the second half. I’m still… Continue reading Weekend Sports Round-Up
String Theory Is a Bunch of Crap
At least, that’s the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the fact that not one string theory result has been nominated for either the Physics Result of 2006 or the Astronomy Result of 2006…
‘Tis the Season
A Personality Test I Can Endorse
Seen here and there around the Interwebs, the Brutally Honest Personality Test. It’s pretty much a standard Meyers-Briggs four-component personality test, except without all the happy touchy-feely crap talking up your positive qualities: Commander – ESTP 73% Extraversion, 46% Intuition, 66% Thinking, 33% Judging It’s all about action with you, isn’t it? You’re outgoing and… Continue reading A Personality Test I Can Endorse
The Christmas Tunes Experiment
As previously established, I don’t much care for Christmas music. Last year, I compiled the few holiday songs I owned, and came up with a whopping ten, and that required stretching things a bit. Based on comment thread recommendations, I expanded that to 22 songs (mostly by adding Sufjan Stevens tracks), but it’s still not… Continue reading The Christmas Tunes Experiment
Classic Edition: Why I Don’t Like Christmas Music
The AV Club (I promise I’m not actually turning this blog into theonionavclubwatch.com, but I do like their stuff) had a discussion of Christmas music a little while ago, which collides with last night’s campus holiday party in interesting ways. Let’s just say that there are few things in this world as horrible as a… Continue reading Classic Edition: Why I Don’t Like Christmas Music
Katrina Cleanup, One Year Later
One of the weird features of the trimester calendar that Union runs on is that we get a six-week break between the Fall and Winter terms– classes end before Thanksgiving, and resume after New Year’s. This is neither as restful nor as useful as you might naively expect, but that’s not the point of this… Continue reading Katrina Cleanup, One Year Later
Call for Nominations: Non-Specific Item of the Year
I’ve solicited nominations for a bunch of “Year’s Best” categories, with varying degrees of success. Best Pop Song was great (and has added a few songs to the list of things to check out the next time I hit iTunes), but I was hoping for more from the best physics results. Was it really that… Continue reading Call for Nominations: Non-Specific Item of the Year
Perceptions of Science Funding
There have been a couple of science funding items in Inside Higher Ed in the last few days, one suggestiong prizes to spur research, and the other reporting that most people aren’t convinced there’s a crisis: Generally, the public appreciates some of the message of the reports going out — that the United States is… Continue reading Perceptions of Science Funding