Category: Uncategorized

I need to disappear into a swamp of paper grading, exam writing, and committee meetings for a while, so here’s a comment thread topic inspired by somebody else’s typo: Librarians or Libertarians? I’m not entirely sure exactly what I’m asking for– it could be “Which of these groups have done more good for humanity?” or… Continue reading Semi-Dorky Poll: Librarians or Libertarians?

For those few readers who are really fascinated by the workings of SF fandom, Kevin Standlee has posted a map of the Worldcon membership by country, and by state for the US and prefecture for Japan. It’s interesting not just for the distribution of the actual members, but for the gaps. Africa appears only in… Continue reading Where the Nerds Are

The first weekend of the NCAA tournament wound down pretty much the way it started. There were a few good games, but almost all the higher seeds won. Only one of the top eight seeds failed to advance, and that was Wisconsin, who have looked shaky since the loss of Brian Butch. Purdue gave Florida… Continue reading NCAA Tournament 2007: Not Quite Enough

Syracuse beat Providence yesterday, in a good old-fashioned Big East game– on a critical late-game play, a Providence player got smacked across the face hard enough to turn his head, and no foul was called. He missed the shot, Syracuse got the rebound, and it was all over but the free-throw shooting. This was a… Continue reading College Hoops Round-Up

I’m vaguely relieved that I didn’t make the Top Five in the Nerd-Off. Just to prove that I’m still plenty nerdy, though, here are a few links: First, a new(ish) physics grad student blog, Tales from the Learning Curve, by Jen Fallis. I noticed her blog a while abck when she ran into everyone’s favorite… Continue reading Quick Geek Notes

Since everyone else is doing it, I’ll go along with the game, and post five random quotes that “reflect who you are or what you believe,” chosen from the randomizer at quotationspage.com. This actually took a while, because I’m not wild about most of what they throw out. I’ll throw in a bonus sixth quote,… Continue reading Random Quotes

I’m going to Vegas, baby! A good friend from college is getting married this summer, and there’s a bachelor party for him this weekend at a casino in Las Vegas. It looks to be quite the affair, with thirty-odd guys, and reservations at a bunch of cool spots, because they’re high-rolling financiers. This is going… Continue reading Statistical Physics Research Trip