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Rob Knop's Blog -- ramblings and rants about astronomy, cosmology, science education, general nerdism, and anything else.
Rob Knop earned a PhD in Physics from Caltech in 1997, and did a 5-year post-doc with the Supernova Cosmology Project, and contributed to the discovery of the accelerating Universe. He was an assistant professor of Physics & Astronomy at Vanderbilt for 6 years before scattering out of academia. He now works for Linden Lab, the producers of Second LIfe. (Note: this is not an official site of Linden Lab! Although I work for Linden Lab, all content in this blog is posted without the review or approval of Linden Lab. All statements and opinions expressed here are my own.)
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Category: Big Bang & Cosmology
Hello from England! Last night was the award ceremony for the 2007 Gruber Prizer in Cosmology. It was good to meet up with the members of the SCP again, many of whom I haven't seen in several years. Picture below...
Posted by Rob Knop at 10:50 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Astronomy Science
This is mostly just an MLP ("Mindless Link Post"), and it's nearly two weeks late, but there's a post by Julianne over at Cosmic Variance that I think is of crucial importance. People who are outside the field of science...
Posted by Rob Knop at 9:15 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Academia
A couple of years ago, I went to a meeting for junior faculty at Vanderbilt about the tenure process. The ostensible goal of the meeting was to help us feel more comfortable by letting us better understand the process. The...
Posted by Rob Knop at 12:29 PM • 9 Comments •
Category: Academia
Loved the teaching. Loved the science. Couldn't take the politics. Couldn't take the tenure stress. That about sums it up. I am sending off today a signed offer letter for employment with Linden Lab, the folks who create and run...
Posted by Rob Knop at 12:35 PM • 67 Comments •
Category: The Business of Astronomy
Before I say this, let me preface my remarks with the statement that I understand the reasoning of the Time Allocation Committtee (TAC), and it's not an insane decision. It's as I predicted; they're worried that the observations are too...
Posted by Rob Knop at 12:32 PM • 7 Comments •
Category: The Business of Astronomy
I suggest that perhaps the way we fund ground-baesd astronomy right now is inefficient, in addition to other flaws it has. I suggest an alternate model that would have a number of advantages.
Posted by Rob Knop at 10:22 AM • 16 Comments •
Category: Science & Culture
In a recent post, I expressed frustration with the observation that those who sometimes question the tactics and language of some fighting for gender-equality then get lumped in with "everybody else who is clueless and oppressive," even if we care...
Posted by Rob Knop at 12:30 PM • 17 Comments •
Category: Academia
In this post at the blog "This Week in Evolution", R. Ford Denison hits the nail squarely on the head. Why should you go to grad school? Because you want to do grad school. If you are viewing grad school...
Posted by Rob Knop at 4:24 PM • 9 Comments •
Category: Science & Culture
On being attacked from all sides.
Posted by Rob Knop at 12:25 PM • 70 Comments •
Category: Academia
Chad just posted a bit of pre-tenure advice, including the very important advice to take all advice with a grain of salt. I would say that also applies to the rest of his advice, because I'm about to post contradictory...
Posted by Rob Knop at 12:05 PM • 10 Comments •
PZ Myers 11.19.2009
PZ Myers 11.19.2009
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