Fatherhood and Academia

SteelyKid at soccer practice.

Via a whole bunch of people on social media, there’s a new study of gender roles in academia, which the Washington Post headlines “Study: Male scientists want to be involved dads, but few are”. This is not inaccurate. Some quotes that jumped out at me: “Academic science doesn’t just have a gender problem, but a… Continue reading Fatherhood and Academia

On Productivity

One of the weirder experiences I had at the Nordita Workshop for Science Writers a couple of weeks ago was having people ask me “How are you so productive?” (or the equivalent). That caught me off guard, because I don’t feel like I’m especially productive– in fact, I tend to feel like I’m falling behind… Continue reading On Productivity

Pubs in London

While I kill time waiting for it to be a reasonable time to call Kate and the kids back in the US, a list of most of the pubs I’ve visited during this trip to London. Because why not? In more or less chronological order: The Victoria in Lancaster Gate. Or maybe Paddington, going from… Continue reading Pubs in London

Throwback Thursday

Me by the entrance stone to the Newgrange passage tomb. Photo by Kate Nepveu.

OK, the photo above is a recent picture of me– yesterday, in fact. But the spiral-carved rock I’m standing next to was carved that way a bit more than five thousand years ago, so that ought to count as a throwback… We’ve been in Dublin the last few days, and on Thursday we took a… Continue reading Throwback Thursday

It’s the Little Things…

Small observations of things that have struck me as weird during our UK stay to this point: — There is no alarm clock in our hotel room. — There are no drinking fountains in public spaces. — The travel-on-the-left thing would be easier if it were consistently applied. About one stairway in three asks people… Continue reading It’s the Little Things…

Eureka! It’s a Talk!

Me, speaking at the Bristol Festival of Ideas at the IOP Publishing offices. (Photo by Kate Nepveu)

Kate and I had a very nice time doing touristy things in Bath yesterday during the day– old church, very old hot spring, Georgian architecture– then went on to Bristol where I gave a talk on the forthcoming book, as you can see in the picture above. I would ordinarily include a SlideShare link to… Continue reading Eureka! It’s a Talk!

Hello from London

St. Paul's Cathedral from the Tate Modern. With bonus ominous clouds.

I figured I probably ought to post something to let the wider world know we made it safely to London, and have been engaging in tourism. So, please take the above photo of St. Paul’s with a backdrop of the ominous dark clouds that have been chasing us around the city as proof of our… Continue reading Hello from London

The Social Event of the Season…

SteelyKid's birthday party invitation.

…if you’re a first-grader in Niskayuna, anyway. We’ve got 10-15 elementary school kids who are supposed to descend upon our house a bit before lunchtime. Morituri te salutamus… Kidding aside, it’s worth it, because SteelyKid is awesome, and she’s super excited to have a whole mob of her friends over. I just hope the rain… Continue reading The Social Event of the Season…