There have been a number of responses to my Science Is Hard post over the last several days, and I’ve been trying to come up with something to say about them. This is the second of two posts responding to comments by some of my fellow ScienceBloggers. Turning to Steinn’s first post on the subject,… Continue reading Science Is Not a Path to Riches
Author: Chad Orzel
Cranky Poll: When Did MTV Lose It?
Today is the 25th anniversary of the launch of MTV, back in 1981, with “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Blogdom is, appropriately enough, full of people offering tributes and soliciting fond recollections of the days when they played music videos on MTV. See, for example, posts by Abel and Scalzi. Just to be contrarian, here’s… Continue reading Cranky Poll: When Did MTV Lose It?
Science Is Tedious
There have been a number of responses to my Science Is Hard post over the last several days, and I’ve been trying to come up with something to say about them. In particular, Steinn points out that science is easier than digging ditches, while in comments, “revere” of Effect Measure says that science is tedious,… Continue reading Science Is Tedious
They’ll Blog Anything These Days
Here’s a link for Ed Brayton, who does a fair bit of poker blogging: via Dave Sez, Brian at MGOBlog is playing the the World Series of Poker, and blogging about it. You may or may not regard the WSOP as the beginning of the end for ESPN, but the broadcasts are weirdly hypnotic. I’ve… Continue reading They’ll Blog Anything These Days
Looking Where the Light Is (for Dark Matter)
Via Victor Revelles (among other sources), news of a proposed experiment to follow up an earlier experiment that reportedpolarization shifts of photons in vacuum in a strong magnetic field. There’s a similar news story about the new experiment. The idea here is to try to nail down the cause of that earlier rotation, which isn’t… Continue reading Looking Where the Light Is (for Dark Matter)
Handicapping the Hugos
There’s a comment to the most recent Open Thread at Making Light asking why there isn’t more handicapping of the Hugo Awards. The commenter, Kathryn from Sunnyvale, makes reference to a comment on John Scalzi’s “Please Vote” thread, that suggested there was a clear favorite in the balloting: There is a certain book on the… Continue reading Handicapping the Hugos
Family, Academia, and Rock Stars
The academia and family life discussion continues on ScienceBlogs and elsewhere, and continues to be fascinating (at least if you’re fascinated by this stuff…). The Female Science Professor has two more posts on the topic since I last linked her, one on awkward interview questions (though nothing to compare to this anecdote), and another on… Continue reading Family, Academia, and Rock Stars
Before and After
The internal distribution of picture of the ScienceBlogs get-together in NYC (referred to here) prompted several calls for me to update my picture. I have, after all, lost rather a lot of weight since the picture in my profile was taken. Thus, I had Kate take a new picture of me post-weight-loss: For the sake… Continue reading Before and After
Sunday Times Round-Up Addendum
One item I forgot to mention in the previous post: The Times Book Review section today features an article on backlist books and the so-called “Long Tail” exploited by on-line sales. It has some interesting stuff on the business of publishing and the sales of backlist books. As with the medical story referenced in the… Continue reading Sunday Times Round-Up Addendum
Sunday Times Round-Up
Miscellaneous stories that caught my eye in today’s New York Times: First, on the science sdie of things, a long article about how people are living longer, not to mention bigger and healthier, than their ancestors. It compares medical records for Civil War veterans with people of similar age today, and finds amazing reductions in… Continue reading Sunday Times Round-Up