It’s always a pleasure to see former students doing well, and to that end, we invited one of my former thesis students, Mike Mastroianni, class of 2007, to give a colloquium talk last week in the department. Mike went to physics grad school for a couple of years after graduation, but decided he was more… Continue reading STEM Gender Gaps and Draft Dodging
Category: War
The Physics of Finding Osama bin Laden (As Mis-Reported on NPR)
Over in Scientopia, Janet notes an interesting mis-statement from NPR, where Dina Temple-Raston said of the now-dead terrorist: [O]ne intelligence officials told us that nothing with an electron actually passed close to him, which in a way is one of the ways they actually caught him. As Janet notes, this would be quite a feat,… Continue reading The Physics of Finding Osama bin Laden (As Mis-Reported on NPR)
A Few Words from Our Senior Middle East Correspondent
I’ve been sticking to my “no Internet before writing something” quota fairly well the last several days, with a couple of exceptions: 1) writing or no writing, I read a bunch of RSS feeds on my phone when I’m putting SteelyKid to bed at night, and 2) I keep following events in the Middle East… Continue reading A Few Words from Our Senior Middle East Correspondent
None Dare Call It Treason
As usual, the most sensible commentary on the Southern organizations celebrating the 150th anniversary of secession comes from the Daily Show. Specifically, Larry Wilmore: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c The Daily Show on Facebook This whole business makes me think the British have the right idea regarding the… Continue reading None Dare Call It Treason
Invasive Searches and Underage Drinking
Kevin Drum posted an anti-rant about the TSA, which argues that the new scanners and pat-downs aren’t an outrage because they really mean well: I’m not trying to defend everything TSA has put in place. Some of the stuff they do, like the penknife and nail clipper bans, really is stupid. And maybe backscatter scanners… Continue reading Invasive Searches and Underage Drinking
Pre-Veterans Days
I usually have ESPN on as background noise in the morning, but I turned it off today because their increasingly fulsome tributes to Veterans Day were getting on my nerves. I’m all in favor of honoring the sacrifices made by members of the military, but a little decorum would be nice at the same time.… Continue reading Pre-Veterans Days
September 11, 2010
More Adult Politicians, Please
I’ve never thought of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. I haven’t had to, since I don’t live in The City, so about all I remember about him is that his choice of party back when he was first running seemed awfully opportunistic. I was really impressed with his appearance on the Daily Show this… Continue reading More Adult Politicians, Please
Where Were You When…?
I failed to write something on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall yesterday, partly because I think the other six million blog posts on the subject had it pretty well covered. Another factor, though, was the fact that I don’t have the sort of crystal-clear recollection of where I was and what… Continue reading Where Were You When…?
Notes Toward a Unified Theory of Political Blogging
Theorem: The worthiness of a blog post on a political or social topic is inversely proportional to the number of times derisive nicknames are used to refer to the author’s opponents.