As part of the library cull that accompanied moving our books to make room for SteelyKid, Kate and I are giving away some of our duplicate/ unlikely-to-be-read books. On Saturday, whatever is left will be donated to our local library book sale, but if you’d like to spare us the work of carting all those… Continue reading Last Chance for Free Books
Month: August 2008
Tell Me a Story
Via Alex, WNYC’s Radiolab podcast features a wonderful commencement address by Robert Krulwich to the Caltech class of 2008, making the case for the importance of telling stories about science to the general public. This fits in wonderfully with what I said last week about science popularization. He comes at it from a different angle… Continue reading Tell Me a Story
Reader Request: Career Options
A while back, after handing in my manuscript and before SteelyKid, I asked readers to suggest blog topics. I got to a few of them already, but there’s one more that I’ve been meaning to comment on, from tcmJOE: I’m a physics undergrad about to begin my final year, and while I’m still thinking of… Continue reading Reader Request: Career Options
Olympic Comments
I am generally not hugely enthusiastic about the Olympics, and I really wasn’t following the run-up to the Beijing games this year. The games turn out to be great mindless distraction while SteelyKid is between feedings, though, so I’ve ended up seeing a fair amount of them. I know you’re dying to hear my comments,… Continue reading Olympic Comments
I Love It When a Plan Comes Together
OK, I know, I said I was going to stop posting SteelyKid pictures every day, but, ummmm…. She made me do it! She’s an evil genius, I tell you! Can’t you just hear her saying “Eeeeexcellent….. Everything is unfolding according to my plan for household domination…”? Stewie Griffin, watch your back.
links for 2008-08-17
nanoscale views: Cryptophysicists "I think that we need to coin an official term, "cryptophysicist", to describe people who do physics research outside the mainstream." Hey to "Uncle Al." (tags: science physics stupid blogs) Built on Facts : Temperature of a Microwave What is the temperature when you nuke food? Does the question even make sense?… Continue reading links for 2008-08-17
links for 2008-08-16
Five Secrets to Publishing Success :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s Source for News, Views and Jobs Not so much for the scientists, but a good look at the process for the humanities. (tags: publishing journals humanities social-science academia) If One Professor Gropes, Does Everyone Need Training? :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s… Continue reading links for 2008-08-16
You Are What You Eat
I’ve seen this a bunch of places, but the most recent was Skwid’s LiveJournal: below the fold is a big long list of foods (exotic and otherwise), with ones I’ve eaten marked in bold face. The standard instructions call for striking out anything you won’t even consider eating, but I can imagine circumstances in which… Continue reading You Are What You Eat
Sex, Engineering, and the Difficulty of Satire
We live in a difficult era for satire. It’s not that there’s a shortage of targets deserving a humorous skewering, but the obvious candidates are so quick to dive headlong into self-parody, as with this recent gem from the anti-sex movement: It’s been linked in all sorts of places, but I think Matt Yglesias has… Continue reading Sex, Engineering, and the Difficulty of Satire
Global Baby
I did a bit of running around yesterday, including one stop to drop off a rather large check to secure a day care spot for SteelyKid starting in January (Kate’s taking a bunch of time off, obviously, and I was able to arrange my teaching schedule so I have no classes in the fall term,… Continue reading Global Baby