Earlier this week, while I was buried in work, Tobias Buckell pointed to a post at the Guardian blog in which China Mieville calls for more kid-lit agitprop. It’s a nice example of why I have a hard time with Mieville. Or, quoting Toby because he puts it more concisely: I’m left of two minds.… Continue reading Agitprop for Kids?
Month: May 2007
Notes From the World’s Best Health Care System
I came home Wednesday night to find a message on the answering machine. This is somewhat unusual, as most of the people who call us are trying to get us to donate money to some cause or another, and they don’t leave messages. I hit play: Hi, this is [Name] from [Gastroenterology Practice]. This message… Continue reading Notes From the World’s Best Health Care System
Why Physics?
We were talking about student recruitment the other day, as faculty are wont to do, and our chair suggested that we really ought to have a “Why You Should Major In Physics” page as part of the department web page. As I’m currently the web page coordinator, it will fall to me to write whatever… Continue reading Why Physics?
Matters of Democracy
As mentioned previously, there was a talk on campus last night by a couple of activists, Michael Berg and Joan Mandle. Berg is an anti-war activist, best known as the father of Nick Berg who was infamously beheaded on video in Iraq. He’s also a former Green Party candidate for Congress in Delaware. Mandle is… Continue reading Matters of Democracy
Science Promotions on the Web
Two links to things promoting science on the web: 1) What’s the Greatest Innovation? Spiked online asked a bunch of famous people to describe the greatest innovation in their field, and compiled the responses. As with most of these things, there’s some interesting stuff in the responses, and a lot of predictable answers of the… Continue reading Science Promotions on the Web
Atheists and Mormons
Believe it or not, yesterday’s post started as an honest question. I phrased it provocatively because this is, after all, the Internet, but I wasn’t just poking atheists with sticks. This actually started quite a while ago, during one of the previous rounds of squabbling over Dawkins and his ilk, when I started a sentence… Continue reading Atheists and Mormons
Put Down the Duckie
No, this has nothing to do with duck genitalia. Instead, it’s about a basic principle of music: You’ve got to put down the duckie if you want to play the saxophone. Via Scott. It’s also a nice reminder of why Sesame Street was such a brilliant show (and may still be, for all I know…)–… Continue reading Put Down the Duckie
Questions for Berg/Mandle?
There’s going to be a dinner/ discussion event tomorrow night featuring Michael Berg and Joan Mandle, who I gather are anti-war activists of some standing (I’ll post some of the biographical information from the announcement below the fold). Anybody have any questions they’re dying to ask either of them? If I get any good suggestions,… Continue reading Questions for Berg/Mandle?
Positive Theism?
Are there reasons for being religious that don’t easily reduce to “God said so”? What are they?
Not-So-Casual Wednesday
Via a pseudonymous LiveJournal, an online study that combines the fun of clicking radio buttons with the thrill of doing SCIENCE! * The study URL is: http://www.homeport.org/~kcat/study3/ * It takes about 15 minutes. You listen to 8 short clips and answer questions about how the people sound. It is easily as fun as a quiz.… Continue reading Not-So-Casual Wednesday