Weekend Family Blogging

I had hoped to get the next Ten Years Before the Blog post queued up for today, but what with one thing and another, that didn’t happen. It probably won’t happen before Monday, either, as the weekend will be full of family-type activities– taking SteelyKid to soccer this morning, and her summer camp orientation tomorrow,… Continue reading Weekend Family Blogging

She Said Songs

In which I list some pop song lyrics for you to guess, because it’s Friday and I’m tired. ———— The other night, on Twitter, Patrick Nielsen Hayden posted a snippet of song lyrics with the hashtag “#greatestalbumsofalltime.” I was bored and looking to kill time, so I followed up with a couple of my own,… Continue reading She Said Songs

Higgs Rumors Are the Price of Success

In which celebrity culture comes to particle physics. ———— It’s been about six months since we had a big flurry of Higgs Boson stories, and as enjoyable as the relative quiet has been, it means we’re due for another run. And, predictably enough, the usual suspects are stoking speculation about what, exactly, will be officially… Continue reading Higgs Rumors Are the Price of Success

Links for 2012-06-21

In which we look at the failure of elites, and the international language of bad dancing. ———— Why Elites Fail | The Nation A pure functioning meritocracy would produce a society with growing inequality, but that inequality would come along with a correlated increase in social mobility. As the educational system and business world got… Continue reading Links for 2012-06-21

Published
Categorized as Links Dump

Links for 2012-06-20

In which we look at failures of academic collegiality, the allocation of resources in the liberal arts, teaching as a big grey area, advice for new teachers, common misconceptions about education, an ambitious plan to reform jury duty, and a former member of Fred Phelps’s hateful Westboro Baptist Church. ———— Confessions of a Community College… Continue reading Links for 2012-06-20

Published
Categorized as Links Dump

The Towering Interferometer: “Testing General Relativity with Atom Interferometry”

In which we look at a slightly crazy-sounding proposal from my former boss, the experimental realization of which is getting close to completion. ———— I spent more or less the entire first day of DAMOP a couple of weeks ago going to precision measurement talks. Most of these were relatively sedate (at least by the… Continue reading The Towering Interferometer: “Testing General Relativity with Atom Interferometry”