Month: May 2010

alt.sic.transit.gloria.mundi

Duke shut down its Usenet server yesterday, which is significant because Duke’s server was the original home of Usenet. I think this means that Usenet is now available only to about a dozen people with panix accounts. I note this here because Usenet was an important part of my life. I started reading the rec.arts.sf.*… Continue reading alt.sic.transit.gloria.mundi

Links for 2010-05-21

PHD Comics: Grading Rubric Sounds about right. Maybe a little too generous on the lower row. (tags: comics piled-higher academia education silly) Producing novel semiconductors en masse – physicsworld.com “John Rogers, working with colleagues at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a related company, offer a production method by adapting a transfer-printing technique that… Continue reading Links for 2010-05-21

Dorky Poll: Analogies

I’m home with SteelyKid today, because Shavuot is important enough to close the JCC for two days. This will mean essentially no Internet for me, as it’s difficult to type when you’re lying on the floor being jumped on by a toddler. As a filler post, let me take a cue from Making Light and… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Analogies

Links for 2010-05-20

The Virtuosi: Cell Phone Brain Damage: Part Deux “I thought I’d take another look at cell phone damage, coming at it from a different direction than my colleague. Mostly I just want to consider the energy of the radiation that cell phones produce, and compare that with the other relevant energy scales for molecules.” (tags:… Continue reading Links for 2010-05-20

Crikey, I’ve Been Anglicised!

I spent yesterday going over proposed copy edits to Anglicise How to Teach Physics to Your Dog for the forthcoming UK edition, which adds “Quantum” to the title, and will have all new cover art, etc. This means that clergy in the book are now permitted to marry, all book property belonging to the Catholic… Continue reading Crikey, I’ve Been Anglicised!

Bouncing Baby

SteelyKid’s day care is closed today and tomorrow for a Jewish holiday (happy (?) Shavuot to those who celebrate it), so she’s home all day for the next two. Of course, Kate and I are both crazy busy, so my parents are coming up to watch SteelyKid today while we’re off at work. We really… Continue reading Bouncing Baby

Links for 2010-05-19

Why just earn a degree when you can leave behind a legend? – CharlotteObserver.com “If you’ve spent significant time on the Davidson College campus the past four years, chances are you’ve at least heard of “the Name Tag Guy.” Or, less likely, Stephen Pierce. They are one. Both were among 427 seniors who graduated during… Continue reading Links for 2010-05-19

Evil Squirrels from Extra Dimensions

It’s been a very long day, so I’m lying on the couch watching “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN. They’re having a boring conversation about baseball, and I’m just drifting off into a pleasant doze when: “Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake! Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake!“ I jolt awake. “What are you barking at?!?” I yell at the… Continue reading Evil Squirrels from Extra Dimensions

SteelyKid Dance Party

I have copy edits for an Anglicised edition of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog to review, lecture notes to write, and a faculty meeting to go to, so I’m going off-line for the rest of the day (with one possible exception). To keep you amused in my absence, here’s some video of SteelyKid… Continue reading SteelyKid Dance Party