Culture
Category archives for Culture
The Problem of the Humanities
Posted by Chad Orzel on November 23, 2010 I’ve probably gotten a dozen pointers to Gregory Petsko’s open letter in support of the humanities, addressed to the President of SUNY-Albany, over the last couple of weeks (the link is to a reposting of the letter at Inside Higher Ed; it was originally on Petsko’s own blog). I haven’t linked to it or commented…
Rock Stars of Science
Posted by Chad Orzel on November 17, 2010 So, if you look at this picture: You might be asking yourself “Why does Debbie Harry rate Secret Service protection?” But no, this isn’t a photo from some alternate universe where the lead singer of Blondie went on to become leader of the free world, it’s part of the Rock Stars of Science campaign by…
Bakery Poll: The _____ on the Cake
Posted by Chad Orzel on November 10, 2010 Having posted not one but two snarky political entries in recent days, I feel like I owe the Internet a couple of ResearchBlogging posts to make up for it. It’s the last week of classes here, though, which means I have a lot of frantic work to do. Thus, a frivolous poll inspired by the…
Pop Culture Poll: Wedding Music
Posted by Chad Orzel on September 1, 2010 Prompted by an off-line conversation, a question about the magnum opus of Jim Steinman and Marvin Lee Aday: Playing “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” at a wedding reception is:online surveys I’m sure you can come up with lots of songs that would be even less appropriate. Feel free to leave them in the comments.
Links for 2010-05-27
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 27, 2010 Confessions of a Community College Dean: Thoughts on DIY U “Eleemosynary institutions have real and serious flaws, but they exist to empower the weak. They are necessary to empower the weak. If you rend them asunder, you will expose the weak to the predations of the strong. This is so fundamental that I’m surprised it…
Non-Dorky Poll: Vote Reporting
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 4, 2010 As James Nicoll is fond of saying, context is for the weak. So here’s a context-free poll regarding the reporting of election results: Releasing a rank-ordered list of candidates with vote totals after a contested election is:online survey If you’d like to explain what context you might imagine this to have in the comments, that…
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Festive Update
Posted by Chad Orzel on April 9, 2010 There’s no rest for the wicked, as last weekend’s hectic running around is followed by another busy weekend, with some on-campus stuff on Sunday as part of our annual Accepted Students Days. More importantly, though, I will be on a panel at the Empire State book Festival on Saturday from 12:45-1:30 pm: BLOOK: Going from…
Academic Poll: Hail, Stranger
Posted by Chad Orzel on January 21, 2010 I’m getting considerably more email from people I don’t know these days, which has me wondering about the ways people address one another. Hence, a poll: You are writing an email to a person you have never met before, who you know to be employed by a college or university. What salutation do you use?(survey…
The Ethics of Santa
Posted by Chad Orzel on December 23, 2009 Janet has a post grappling with the ethical implications of telling children about Santa Claus. SteelyKid is too young for this to be an issue yet, but on this issue, like many others, I turn to my favorite literary philosopher, Terry Pratchett: “All right,” said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying humans need… fantasies to…
The Death of Sincerity
Posted by Chad Orzel on December 21, 2009 Paul Krugman had a post today calling Obama the WYSIWYG President: There’s a lot of dismay/rage on the left over Obama, a number of cries that he isn’t the man progressives thought they were voting for. But that says more about the complainers than it does about Obama himself. If you actually paid attention to…
