Back when I was a grad student at NIST, we had a large frame argon ion laser that put out 10-15 watts of green light that we then used to pump a Ti:Sapph laser to produce the infrared light we used for laser cooling. This particular type of laser had a small design flaw– the… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Low-Tech Solutions to High-Tech Problems
Month: January 2008
links for 2008-01-10
Lounge of the Lab Lemming: Geophysicists moderate neutrons Estimating conference attendance by the attenuation of the cosmogenic neutron flux due to people on the exhibit floor. (tags: physics silly science) A Natural Scientist: Before You Sign Up For Indentured Servitude The three most important decisions in grad school: Advisor, Advisor, Advisor. (tags: academia science education)… Continue reading links for 2008-01-10
The Conquest of Cold
The first half of NOVA’s Absolute Zero program aired last night, and I was able to watch the whole thing. Well, more or less– it was a long day, so I was drifting off a little bit about fifteen minutes in, and didn’t get all of the Michael Faraday story, but a phone call woke… Continue reading The Conquest of Cold
Abstinence Doesn’t Age Well
I occasionally joke that some of the articles passing through my EurekAlert feed ought to be published in the Journal of “Well, Duh!”, but I think this one takes the cake: Teens find the benefits of not having sex decline with age: The study, reported in the January 2008 issue of the “American Journal of… Continue reading Abstinence Doesn’t Age Well
The Funding Issue
Gordon Watts is mad as hell about funding cuts, and blaming petty partisan politics: As far as I can tell, here is what happened: Congress just about finishes the omnibus spending bill. [Snark: exactly how late was this!?] At the last minute Bush says he will veto it unless it comes at his number. [Snark:… Continue reading The Funding Issue
Tachyon Movies
Via a back channel, the Gardner Project of EniTech Research. They have an argon laser, so you know it’s science!
links for 2008-01-09
PHD Comics: Research Diagram/Research Reality No schematic survives its first encounter with the apparatus. (tags: silly comics science experiment) Teens find the benefits of not having sex decline with age “The greatest change in attitudes was among teens who became sexually experienced during the study period. For those teens, the percentage who said that not… Continue reading links for 2008-01-09
What I Love About Engineers
Having made a snide comment or two about engineers earlier, I feel like I should relate a positive experience today: Over the Christmas break, there was a power outage in my lab. Not an accidental outage, but a planned outage that nobody told me about– a contractor cut the breakers in order to do some… Continue reading What I Love About Engineers
Amazon Freaks Out
In my email this morning, I have a note from everybody’s favorite online retailer, informing me that: We’ve noticed that customers who have purchased or rated books by Christopher Moore have also purchased Esther’s Revenge at Susa: From Sennacherib to Ahasuerus by Stephanie Dalley. OK, fine, they see a correlation, and are sending me a… Continue reading Amazon Freaks Out
Unions and Sour Grapes
One final note on the teachers-unions argument: The comments to the original post on the low regard for teachers relative to lawyers immediately jumped on the union thing. Commenter Doug Hering provided what’s probably the best statement of the causal link: I do agree that teachers must be treated as professionals. However, part of that… Continue reading Unions and Sour Grapes