If you listen to people talking about (or read people blogging about) new ways of doing things, you’ll frequently hear references to Science or Academia as if they were vast but monolithic entities existing in their own right. Statements like “The culture of Science does not reward open access…” or “Modern Academia does not reward… Continue reading We Are Science
Month: September 2008
Reading On-Line and in College
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article about online literacy this week (time-limited link, look quickly), and I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that the author is pessimistic. The article cites distressing findings from new research: In the eye-tracking test, only one in six subjects read Web pages linearly, sentence by sentence. The… Continue reading Reading On-Line and in College
Virtual Science Debate
As you might have guessed from yesterday’s tease, the folks at ScienceDebate 2008 have now managed to get answers from the McCain campaign (to go with Obama’s froma few weeks ago). Which means that while you may never see them answering science questions on a stage together, you can put them head-to-head on the Web,… Continue reading Virtual Science Debate
We Have a Gene for That
Via Brian and John, John Cleese’s take on genetic determinism: All the best social commentary comes from comedians, these days.
Correlation Equals Causation, NFL Edition
I started watching the Giants-Rams game today with SteelyKid on my lap. The Giants marched right down the field, and scored a touchdown, and seemed to have the game well in hand. It was lunchtime, though, so Kate took SteelyKid upstairs, and the Giant offense sputtered after that, producing only two field goals. In the… Continue reading Correlation Equals Causation, NFL Edition
Congratulations, Dr. Ken
… for a successful defense. And excellent taste in celebratory beer.
Secret History of Quantum Physics
Kate and I were talking about Garrett Lisi’s utopian idea of a time-share netowrk for scientists (about which more later, maybe), and I mentioned the fine tradition of great discoveries being made while on vacation. It occurred to me, though, that there’s a secret history story begging to be written about one of these. Erwin… Continue reading Secret History of Quantum Physics
David Foster Wallace, RIP
One of my favorite writers, David Foster Wallace, apparently hung himself yesterday. His thousand-page novel Infinite Jest puts the magnum in magnum opus, but it’s a spectacular piece of work, and in some ways, his nonfiction was better than his fiction. Wallace was always a dangerous writer for me– one of those people whose style… Continue reading David Foster Wallace, RIP
links for 2008-09-14
Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator: Make Your Own Palin Baby Name "Chad Orzel, if you were born to Sarah Palin, your name would be: Bush Gator Palin" (tags: politics US internet silly) Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts / A Chance to Show Off: the first line game "Not long after I… Continue reading links for 2008-09-14
A Longitudinal Study of Blogging Traffic
Back in March, I noted that I had inadvertently done an experiment to see what kinds of posts bring the most hits. That week, I posted one peer-reviewed post every day, along with a bunch of other articles, and I looked at the traffic stats to back up my contention that hard-core science blogging is… Continue reading A Longitudinal Study of Blogging Traffic