Links for 2009-12-18 : Uncertain Principles

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You've read the blog, now try the book: How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is published by Scribner, and available wherever books are sold.

"Uncertain Principles" features the miscellaneous ramblings of a physicist at a small liberal arts college. Physics, politics, pop culture, and occasional conversations with his dog.

"Prof. Orzel gives the impression of an everyday guy who just happens to have a vast but hidden knowledge of physics." (anonymous student evaluation comment)

Emmy is a German Shepherd mix, and the Queen of Niskayuna. She likes treats, walks, chasing bunnies, and quantum physics.

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Links for 2009-12-18

Category: Links Dump
Posted on: December 18, 2009 7:25 AM, by Chad Orzel

Creating Citizen Scientists § SEEDMAGAZINE.COM

"A few days ago, sitting in my office, I contributed to peer-reviewed scientific research in biology, astronomy, and psychology. Even though I don't hold degrees in any of these fields, my contributions will help advance science: I was doing real investigative work, not the prosaic replications of classic experiments that are typically taught in introductory lab courses. I was taking part in a blossoming "citizen science" movement occurring across a wide swath of scientific fields."

(tags: science seed computing astronomy biology psychology)
Dragon and Tiger: 4- The way of the formally educated.

"The monks of my temple get liberal arts degrees."

(tags: academia silly comics blogs philosophy)
Tipping the Spherical Cow

The Many-Worlds Interpretation, in convenient comic form.

(tags: science physics quantum comics philosophy silly)
nanoscale views: Physics and Industry

"I'm 100% certain that if the industrial R&D jobs were there, we would fill them - the problem is that US companies overall have decided that investing in physics doesn't give them a quick stock price boost."

(tags: science physics industry academia education society politics blogs natelson)
Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » Hopefully my last D-Wave post ever

"Onlooker: Whoa, awesome! So we're back to square one then. As long as D-Wave's demos only involved 4-by-4 Sudokus, the skeptic's arguments almost had me persuaded. But 5-by-5? I don't know what to think anymore. Skeptic, where are you? What's your reaction to this latest development?"

(tags: science physics quantum computing blogs shtetl-optimized)
Kevin Carey for Democracy: A Journal of Ideas

"[T]he biggest problem with American higher education isn't that too many students can't afford to enroll. It's that too many of the students who do enroll aren't learning very much and aren't earning degrees. For the average student, college isn't nearly as good a deal as colleges would have us believe. "

(tags: education academia economics society politics culture US)
Laredo could be largest US city without bookstore - Yahoo! Finance

"The final chapter has been written for the lone bookstore on the streets of Laredo. With a population of nearly a quarter-million people, this city could soon be the largest in the nation without a single bookseller. The situation is so grim that schoolchildren have pleaded for a reprieve from next month's planned shutdown of the B. Dalton bookstore. After that, the nearest store will be 150 miles away in San Antonio."

(tags: books society culture economics business)

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Comments

I have a general-thread kind of question. Would anyone be able to recommend any current science books which would be a good Christmas gift for someone? I was thinking about something that would serve as kind of an introduction to the things the LHC might be looking for, and so was thinking of Oerter's "The Theory Of Almost Everything" which is sort of an intro to the standard model, but that book is like two or three years old and I don't know if something more appropriate or explicitly LHC-centric might be out by now. (Also it's cheap now so I was wondering if I could find something to pair it with.) I should note the person I'm thinking of giving this gift to has like a master's in earth sciences so it's safe to give something math-heavy.

Posted by: Coin | December 18, 2009 8:47 PM

Well, I've got a couple of boxes full of author copies of a really good book on quantum mechanics...

If you're looking for something more particle-centric, Oerter's book is excellent. As nothing significant has changed since its publication, go with that.

Posted by: Chad Orzel | December 18, 2009 9:00 PM

Chad, thanks.

I don't think the dog conversations book would be appropriate in this particular case but I'll definitely try to remember it in future... :)

Posted by: Coin | December 18, 2009 9:43 PM