Also in the Times today is an opinion piece by Lawrence Krauss on why the Kansas school board election isn’t the end of the fight. He quotes some damning things from the chairman of the school board, and then observes: A key concern should not be whether Dr. Abrams’s religious views have a place in… Continue reading What’s (Still) the Matter With Kansas
Author: Chad Orzel
The Poincare Conjecture
There’s an interesting article in the Times today about Grisha Perelman and the Poincare conjecture: Three years ago, a Russian mathematician by the name of Grigory Perelman, a k a Grisha, in St. Petersburg, announced that he had solved a famous and intractable mathematical problem, known as the Poincaré conjecture, about the nature of space.… Continue reading The Poincare Conjecture
Keeping Us In the Dark
You might think that, being a sciene blogger and all, I would have sources of science news that aren’t available to the average person on the street. You would be right, though they’re not as useful as you might think… The source for today’s news teaser is actually a thank-you email from a prospective student… Continue reading Keeping Us In the Dark
True Lab Stories: Strangest Group Meeting Ever
This isn’t the usual story about lab mishaps, but I’m not quite sure what other category to put it in. It is a true story about my lab in grad school, though, so we’ll call it a True Lab Story. The mid-90’s was not a great time to be working in a government lab, particularly… Continue reading True Lab Stories: Strangest Group Meeting Ever
Pimp Me New Cars
As Kate and I set out to run errands the other day, the “Service Engine Soon” idiot light came on in my car (a 1999 Ford Taurus LX). This may or may not mean anything– Kate got one of those in her Prius a while back and it was nothing– but if it’s actually an… Continue reading Pimp Me New Cars
Kenneth Oppel, Airborn [Library of Babel]
When I switched over the ScienceBlogs, I did so intending to keep my booklog separate. In the last several months, though, the book log has been languishing, in large part because I feel obliged to keep up the quantity and quality of the posts here. Which means that I end up not writing booklog entries… Continue reading Kenneth Oppel, Airborn [Library of Babel]
Hooray, Beer!
Beer is wonderful stuff. Not only is it the subject of the oldest known recipe, some have argued that agricultural civilization started in order to brew beer– see, for example, the comments in this article. And, remarkably, despite the inclusion of both “alcohol” and “carbonated beverages” in the list of things that people with heartburn… Continue reading Hooray, Beer!
Audiobooks of the Times
Not a lot in the Times this week (other than, you know, depressing news about the Middle East), but I did find their piece on couples arguing over audiobooks amusing: [L]ately an unwitting group has been parachuting into the matrimonial crossfire: authors. As more couples discover how an audio book breaks the monotony of a… Continue reading Audiobooks of the Times
A Squabble of Kerfuffles
Well, it’s as good a guess at a collective noun for “kerfuffle” as any other… There have been three moderately heated bloggy controversies that I’ve been following over the past week, that I haven’t commented on. Mostly because I don’t really have that much to add to any of the arguments, or at least, not… Continue reading A Squabble of Kerfuffles
When Opportunity Knocks Your House Down
Via Making Light, Aasif Mandvi on The Daily Show delivers a blistering yet deadpan assessment of American Middle East policy to date. I deeply resent living in a world where the only worthwhile political commentary comes from a comedy show.