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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: Computers & Society
There are days when I want to stand on the rooftops and scream like Zuska. I'm no longer in academia, but as those who are longtime readers of my blog know, I became painfully aware of how sexist the culture...
Posted by Rob Knop at 12:02 PM • 27 Comments •
Category: Science & Culture
If you listened to Science Friday on NPR's Talk of the Nation today, you may have heard Ira Flatow mention a question from "Prospero Linden"— that was me. I was there, live, along with a 30 or 40 other people...
Posted by Rob Knop at 6:05 PM • •
Category: Big Bang & Cosmology
Every so often you will come across somebody who has a "killer" list of "problems" with the Big Bang. While there remain unknowns and questions about the Big Bang— just as there do with biological evolution— the basic picture of...
Posted by Rob Knop at 11:34 PM • 8 Comments •
Category: Science & Culture
Read this book. First and formost for a book review: Storm World is a good read. You will not find yourself bogged down or forcing yourself to push through a book that's "good for you." You will keep reading because...
Posted by Rob Knop at 10:45 AM • •
Category: Physics
An excerpt from the material that was in a talk I gave at a science fiction convention a few weeks ago: the motion of space fighters in Star Wars and Babylon 5, and why one is wrong and the other is right.
Posted by Rob Knop at 3:22 PM • 33 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: Science & Culture
On being attacked from all sides.
Posted by Rob Knop at 12:25 PM • 70 Comments •
Category: Science & Religion
This statement is frequently raised by those who would suggest that there is reason to doubt that evolution happened and gave rise to the species we see today (including us). While this statement is technically true, those who use it use it incorrectly and draw incorrect inferences from it.
Posted by Rob Knop at 7:57 PM • 8 Comments •
Category: Science & Culture
Uh, no. Look, we're all human, and we all have eyes and brains and things, and as such one may as well admit that if you look at the pictures that Shelly has of herself on her blog, there's a...
Posted by Rob Knop at 11:20 AM • 9 Comments •
Category: Science & Culture
Conservapedia would be funny if it weren't for the fact that it represents the complete degradation of a once-respectable political philosophy, and the only viable balance to the Democratic party in the national political debate.
Posted by Rob Knop at 9:21 AM • 25 Comments •
Neurophilosophy 11.19.2009
The Island of Doubt 11.20.2009
Greg Laden's Blog 11.20.2009
The World's Fair 11.19.2009
Laelaps 11.20.2009
