One of the odd things about the C-list celebrity life of a semi-pro blogger is that I get a bunch of requests to review books on physics-related topics. Some of these take the form of a book showing up out of the blue, others are preceded by a polite request from the author. Aaron Santos’s… Continue reading How Many Licks? or How to Estimate Damn Near Anything by Aaron Santos
Month: September 2009
Service Reform
The Dean Dad and the Tenured Radical are having a really good discussion of service responsibilities, or as TR puts it, the “Just Say No” problem: The Just Say No (to everyone but me) issue is a problem that, frankly, untenured people, adjuncts and visitors are not responsible for managing; and that achieving tenure can… Continue reading Service Reform
Dorky Poll: Explosive Elements
We did the far right column of the periodic table, so here’s one for the left: the coolest-chemistry-demo-ever column, the alkali metals: What’s your favorite alkali metal?(surveys) While you can make heteronuclear alkali dimers, at least in a transient way, we’re talking atoms here, not molecules. Choose only one.
Links for 2009-09-09
slacktivist: Same to you, buddy “A $100 account with no fees costs the bank more in paperwork and tellers’ time than it’s worth. In the long-run, such accounts can help depositors develop savings habits and savings balances, developing into the sort of customers banks can and do make money from. But neither the executives nor… Continue reading Links for 2009-09-09
Beauty’s Just Another Word I’m Never Certain How to Spell
Like every other blogger with a political opinion, I read Paul Krugman’s essay on economics last week, and tagged it for Saturday’s Links Dump. And while I appreciate Eric Weinstein calling me out as part of the “high end blogosphere,” I’m not sure I have much to say about it that is useful. But, since… Continue reading Beauty’s Just Another Word I’m Never Certain How to Spell
The Endnoting of Michael Pemulis
Via the Infinite summer roundup, Infinite Detox has a post about the novel’s treatment of my favorite supporting character, whose title I have shamelessly stolen: The problem I have is that from a dramatic standpoint, the wave of Pemulis-bashing that gathers force on p. 774 and crests in endnote 332 isn’t convincing to me. For… Continue reading The Endnoting of Michael Pemulis
Links for 2009-09-08
Sunday Function : Built on Facts One of the most useful functions in math isn’t really a function in the usual sense. (tags: math physics blogs built-on-facts science) Hitler finds out about another Downfall parody from dawsonbros – Video “Maybe we should just make one of these ourselves. Do our own clip.” (tags: video silly… Continue reading Links for 2009-09-08
Labor Day Blogging Is for the Birds
It’s Labor Day today in the US, and Emmy and SteelyKid have both categorically refused to work on the holiday. So here’s a picture of some pretty yellow birds.
Holiday Weekend Dog Blogging
“Dude, we need to talk.” “About what?” “Your priorities are all out of whack. I mean, everything is about your puppy these days– puppy blogging, taking the puppy on trips, buying the puppy toys. You need to get back to basics.” “Meaning what, exactly?” “Well, more me, obviously. Don’t get me wrong, I like the… Continue reading Holiday Weekend Dog Blogging
Bonus Baby Blogging
We’re headed out for a last road trip before the start of classes, taking SteelyKid to visit her great-grandmother and great-great-aunts. Why? Because she’s this cute: If you had a baby that cute, wouldn’t you take her on the road? I thought so. Normal-ish blogging will resume Tuesday. I’m scheduling a few other pictures to… Continue reading Bonus Baby Blogging