When I’m in the right mood, I’m a sucker for really awful sci-fi movies. For example, Saturday night I stayed up far too late to watch the end of the tv-movie version of The Andromeda Strain, based on the book by the prolific and recently deceased Luddite Fiction writer Michael Crichton. It’s been twenty-plus years… Continue reading Strain to SEE
Category: Society
The Importance of Temperment
Kevin Drum is amused by a historical comparison: THEN AND NOW….In 2004, everyone complained that John Kerry was an old-media plodder who didn’t react quickly enough to conservative attacks. What a dunce! In 2008, everyone is praising Barack Obama for keeping his composure and not letting conservative attacks knock him off his message. What a… Continue reading The Importance of Temperment
The Rich Get Richer, Internet Edition
Via FriendFeed, an interesting analysis of Internet traffic at compete.com. They set out to test the assertion that the “Long Tail” of low-traffic sites account for more traffic than they used to, and found exactly the opposite– the share of all pageviews for the top ten domains increased from 29% to 40% between 2001 and… Continue reading The Rich Get Richer, Internet Edition
Weird Windows by Various Authors
I tagged Ethan Zuckerman’s post abpout video “windows” to other places in a links dump recently. The idea is to put big video screens and cameras in fast-food restaurants around the world, and provide virtual “windows” into other restaurants in other countries. In talking about the idea, Ethan threw out a great aside: (If I… Continue reading Weird Windows by Various Authors
Optimism and the Depression
This week’s department colloquium was Roel Snieder of the Colorado School of Mines on The Global Energy Challenge. I have to admit, I was somewhat rude, and spent a lot of the talk futzing with my tablet, but really, while his presentation of the material was very good, the material itself wasn’t new to me–… Continue reading Optimism and the Depression
Science Escape 2008
Chris Mooney visited Union on Wednesday, talking to two classes (one Environmental Studies class, and one class on presidential politics), and giving an evening lecture titled “Science Escape 2008.” He’s an excellent speaker, so if you’re looking for someone to give a talk about science and politics, you could do a whole lot worse. I… Continue reading Science Escape 2008
Cheaper Than Graduate Students
Lots of people talk about “Science 2.0” and “crowdsourcing” and the like. EurekAlert provides a story about taking it to the next level: Nalini Nadkarni of Evergreen State College currently advises a team of researchers who sport shaved heads, tattooed biceps and prison-issued garb rather than the lab coats and khakis typically worn by researchers.… Continue reading Cheaper Than Graduate Students
Innumeracy on Parade
Via Physics and Physicists, a breathtaking blog at the Washington Post proudly proclaiming the author’s ignorance of algebra: I am told that algebra is everywhere – it’s in my iPod, beneath the spreadsheet that calculates my car payments, in every corner of my building. This idea freaks me out because I just can’t see it.… Continue reading Innumeracy on Parade
The Bright Side
Throughout the unfolding financial meltdown, I keep finding myself thinking that there might be one small, positive effect to come out of this: namely, a much-needed dose of realism and humility for market advocates. Because, really, after reading this Steven Teles post: All through the financial crisis, governments have failed to act in a powerful,… Continue reading The Bright Side
The Science Blogging Bubble Ends?
Over at Nature Networks, Timo Hannay has posted a conference talk in which he questions the future of science blogging: “Science blogging is growing” I confidently wrote in an essay a few months ago. Then, like any good scientist, I went in search of evidence to support my prejudice. But I couldn’t find any beyond… Continue reading The Science Blogging Bubble Ends?