(I really loathe both the longstanding practice of marking a scandal by appending “-gate” to a name and the newer version “-fail.” I don’t have a better alternative, but I hate both of those. Somebody get to work on a better scandal signifier.) So, the hot topic of the moment is the hissy-cow being thrown… Continue reading The Amazon Kerfuffle
Month: January 2010
From Eternity to the Web
The Firedoglake Book Salon with Sean Carroll last night was a lot of fun. I was generally impressed with the level of the questions, and the tone of the discussion. We went through all of the questions I had typed out in advance (I type fairly slowly, and revise obsessively, so it’s hard for me… Continue reading From Eternity to the Web
Links for 2010-01-31
Axe Cop He’s a cop, with an axe. His partner is a cop with a flute– no, a dinosaur soldier– no, an avocado. Can you tell this was written by a five-year-old? (tags: comics silly internet art kid-stuff) Malkin Grey’s LiveJournal – Why Writers Go Nuts, Exhibit Number One Million and Something. “Speaking as both… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-31
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
A few bits and pieces of news regarding How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: We got and accepted an offer for the audio book rights from one of the biggest audio book publishers. Actually, I think there were two offers for the audio rights, which is amazing. I have no idea when it would… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Links for 2010-01-30
The Mid-Majority : Assistant Palestra Custodian for a Day “I presented my credentials. “I’m non-union, I work hard and I work for free,” I told Dan. Usually, that gets me in the door every time. But not here. “Well, you’d better be pro-union,” Dan replied. I assured him that my profession had no real national… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-30
The Perverse Economics of College Construction
I’m having a little trouble typing, because the temperature in my office at the moment is around 55 F, and my hands are getting really cold. This is because of “deferred maintenance,” which means “we’re saving money by not maintaining the air-handling systems in our academic buildings (among other things).” The budget has been tight… Continue reading The Perverse Economics of College Construction
Kid-Lit Poll: Fish?
We had a parent-teacher conference this morning with SteelyKid’s teacher at day care, who confirmed that she is the cutest and cleverest baby in the universe. OK, not in those words, but that’s how I interpreted them. In honor of that, here’s a poll: Fish?(poll) There’s probably another stanza worth of choices, but unlike my… Continue reading Kid-Lit Poll: Fish?
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Hard to believe it’s been a couple of days since I posted anything with this title… Anyway, there are a couple of small updates: The vanity search turned up this mention on ScienceBase, in with a bunch of other recent science books that sound pretty good. The Union student paper, the Concordiensis, has a story… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
Links for 2010-01-29
Physics Games – online physics-based games Just in case you were planning to get something done today. (tags: games physics science education internet computing) J.D. Salinger Dead « Whatever “Somewhere Holden Caulfield is pretending he doesn’t care.” (tags: books literature news blogs) Best Science Books 2009: The top books of the year! : Confessions of… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-29
Thursday Baby Blogging 012810
Tonight was bath night, so here’s a fresh and clean SteelyKid, showing off her pink penguin pajamas: I’m pretty beat tonight, so that’s all I’ve got: cute baby, penguin PJ’s. That ought to be enough for anyone, though.