With the department secretary switching over to the all-Christmas-songs station, and Jason Hare and Jeff Giles celebrating holiday tunes that bring the suck, it seems like a good time to re-ask the eternal question: Are there Christmas songs that can hold their own against “Fairytale of New York”? Or, more to the point, name me… Continue reading Annual Request: Christmas Songs That Don’t Suck
Month: December 2007
Is Our Schools Failing?
Kevin Drum looks at the latest story about American students lagging the world in science test scores, and notes that this has been going on at least since he was in school. This leads him to wonder whether it’s really as bad as all that: I still wonder about this. If American kids are getting… Continue reading Is Our Schools Failing?
links for 2007-12-06
Angels and Demons Frequently asked questions about antimatter at CERN. Dan Brown has a lot to answer for. (tags: books physics science stupid) Major physics breakthrough in understanding supersolidity The weirdness continues, in this remarkable uninformative press release. (tags: physics low-temperature news quantum science) Tuneable gap semiconductor is a first – physicsworld.com Applying a voltagee… Continue reading links for 2007-12-06
Dorky Poll: The View from (Outside) Your Office
The building where my office is is one of those 60’s era brick buildings with lots of basically identical little offices arranged along indistinguishable hallways. Tenured professors are known to get lost in there trying to find specific offices. To make it a little easier, some of us decorate our doors: The key identifying the… Continue reading Dorky Poll: The View from (Outside) Your Office
Lemonade from the Landscape
There’s a piece by Michael Dine in Physics Today this month with the ambitious title “String theory in the era of the Large Hadron Collider, thus combining two of my very favorite topics… I was going to give it a pass, but I was surprised to discover that it’s freely available– most of their articles… Continue reading Lemonade from the Landscape
links for 2007-12-05
Yahhhhhhh: Canadian PSAs Are Clearly Not Messing Around Canadians are terrifying (tags: video youtube television Canada) “Dinosaur Mummy” Found; Has Intact Skin, Tissue A surprisingly intact hadrosaur provides all sorts of interesting information (tags: biology dinosaurs news science) Why do high school seniors drink? “New study identifies 4 major motivators to drink alcohol — 1… Continue reading links for 2007-12-05
Career Alternatives for Physics PH.D.’s
Physics World has an interview with Alastair Reynolds, who was trained as an astrophysicist but is now a full-time SF author: How does your physics training help with your writing? Less than people imagine. I think the most important attribute for a science-fiction writer is to be fascinated by science — in all its manifestations.… Continue reading Career Alternatives for Physics PH.D.’s
Reverse Age Discrimination?
While I’m ranting about Inside Higher Ed articles that pissed me off, here’s another. Rob Weir walked uphill through the snow to his first academic job, and thinks the academy shouldn’t be hiring the spoiled kids we have these days: [J]ust about one year ago the popular media sounded alarmist notes about how “gray” the… Continue reading Reverse Age Discrimination?
The College Football Bowl Picture
Over at Inside Higher Ed, they have a piece looking at the state of college football as we enter bowl season. This is dominated by two large tables of numbers, one good, and one bad. The first table is the good one, as it explains why the college football “championship” is so messed up. It… Continue reading The College Football Bowl Picture
The Patriots Keep Me Up Late
It was not a stunning display of football, but the Patriots’ win over the Ravens was at least a tense and interesting game down to the last minute of play. New England looked awful, but pulled it together on the last drive, picking their way down the field for a game-winning touchdown with 44 seconds… Continue reading The Patriots Keep Me Up Late