At my 15th class reunion this past June, I agreed to become the class secretary for the next few years, writing up little news updates for the Cult of the Purple Cow Quarterly, so my classmates can read about the achievements of their fellows. In that spirit, I feel I should note an accolade that… Continue reading Alumni News Update
Month: September 2008
Science Bailout Needed
In email this morning from the American Physical Society, a call for a financial bailout: Congress has not passed any FY 2009 appropriations bills and is now finalizing a Continuing Resolution (CR) that will keep the government operating when the new fiscal year begins on October 1, 2008. The House is expected to consider the… Continue reading Science Bailout Needed
Thursday Baby Blogging 092508
Behold, the incredible expanding baby: The “Smart Cookie” onesie she’s wearing was also featured in the Week 4 picture, and now, it basically doesn’t fit her any more (it’s not fully buttoned under the blanket). We’ve already had to retire a couple of boxes of little-baby clothes, and she never did get to wear some… Continue reading Thursday Baby Blogging 092508
links for 2008-09-25
Dynamics of Cats : how to buy a house A first-order approximation. (tags: economics society US politics) Good Math, Bad Math : Bad Probability and Economic Disaster; or How Ignoring Bayes Theorem Caused the Mess "One of the big questions that comes up again and again is: how did they get away with this? How… Continue reading links for 2008-09-25
Everything is Relative in the Magic Closet
The dog marches up to my computer as I’m checking my morning email. “What the heck is the deal with relativity?!?” “Well, good morning to you, too. How are you this fine morning?” “I’m fine, but I’m confused about relativity.” Sarcasm is totally lost on her. “What are you confused about?” “Well, you’ve got Special… Continue reading Everything is Relative in the Magic Closet
Earth Saved Until Next Year
So, the LHC has been shut down until next year, after a major helium leak in on section. This means it will be March or April of next year before collisions in the ATLAS detector create dragons that will eat us all. Now you know why I didn’t make a big deal of the “start-up”… Continue reading Earth Saved Until Next Year
links for 2008-09-24
Playing the odds at the LHC: the luminosity frontier « Shores of the Dirac Sea "The chances (odds) of one proton hitting another in such tight conditions… are almost as bad as having to win a lottery three times in a row." (tags: physics particles science blogs education math) The Best of YouTube – bestofyoutube.com… Continue reading links for 2008-09-24
Bandwidth and Community Expectations
Derek Lowe has posted an article about X-ray lasers in chemistry, which amused me because of the following bit: Enter the femtosecond X-ray laser. A laser will put out the cleanest X-ray beam that anyone’s ever seen, a completely coherent one at an exact (and short) wavelength which should give wonderful reflection data. This is… Continue reading Bandwidth and Community Expectations
Science21 Highlights: Inclusive and Exclusive Definitions
One full day of the Science in the 21st Century meeting wound up being devoted to what might be characterized as defining what we mean by Science. This started off with a talk by Harry Collins (microblogging, video), a sociologist of science who has done a great deal of work on the nature of expertise,… Continue reading Science21 Highlights: Inclusive and Exclusive Definitions
The Blogging Papers
Two new articles appeared yesterday on the topic of science blogging and academic science: GrrlScientist posted the text of an article she wrote titled “Science Blogs Can Advance the Academic Process”. ScienceBloggers Shelley Batts, Nick Anthis, and Tara Smith have a new article in PLoS Biology, titled “Advancing Science through Conversations: Bridging the Gap between… Continue reading The Blogging Papers