Clive Thompson on Why We Should Learn the Language of Data | Magazine “Statistics is hard. But that’s not just an issue of individual understanding; it’s also becoming one of the nation’s biggest political problems. We live in a world where the thorniest policy issues increasingly boil down to arguments over what the data mean.… Continue reading Links for 2010-05-03
Month: May 2010
Last Call for Laser Smackdown Voting
With over 700 votes cast in the Laser Smackdown poll in honor of the 50th anniversary of the laser, laser cooling has opened a commanding 20-vote lead in the race to be the Most Amazing Laser Application of All Time. If you prefer one of the other options, you have only six hours left to… Continue reading Last Call for Laser Smackdown Voting
The World Doesn’t Need More Promotional Blogs
Over at the Book Publicity blog, Yen takes up the question of Internet publicity (via SF Signal): Yesterday I spoke at an AAR / Association of Authors’ Representatives panel together with Connor Raus (who runs digital advertising agency CRKWD) about understanding social media and how to use it effectively — as you know, a favorite… Continue reading The World Doesn’t Need More Promotional Blogs
Links for 2010-05-02
tongodeon: Fun With Secret Questions & Answers “My new bank, Ally Bank, configures a security question and answer for customer service calls. In addition to your SSN, date of birth, and mother’s maiden name they also ask you the question you specify and wait for the answer you’ve provided. This is good, because many standard… Continue reading Links for 2010-05-02
“Subtle Is the Lord…” by Abraham Pais
The APS now gives out an Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics, which gives you some idea of how influential his work was, in particular “Subtle Is the Lord…” The Science and Life of Albert Einstein, which won prizes and sits in a prominent position on the bookshelves of many physicists. Like a lot… Continue reading “Subtle Is the Lord…” by Abraham Pais
Eat My Dust, Richard Dawkins
A college classmate sent me this picture of a library display in the Boston area: That’s How to Teach Physics to Your Dog prominently displayed on the top shelf. Just below it, you can see Physics for Future Presidents, and to the right, you can just make out Richard Dawkins’s book on evolution. Pretty good… Continue reading Eat My Dust, Richard Dawkins
Links for 2010-05-01
slacktivist: Empathy and epistemic closure “The stupidity of the tea partiers has nothing to do with innate intelligence or with acquired intelligence. It has nothing to do with smartness or brainpower or where anyone falls on the bell curve of Stanford-Binet test scores. It is, rather, a moral stupidity, a moral imbecilism that produces simple… Continue reading Links for 2010-05-01