November 27, 2009
A few other people got the same email I did, promoting a list of the 50 Best Physics Blogs put together by Accredited Online Colleges Dot Org. It's a fine list, with one glaring problem: They didn't include Matt Springer's Built On Facts. As you can probably tell from its frequent tagging for the…
November 27, 2009
Windows MovieMaker has inexplicably decided to work again, today. Maybe it can only produce useful output on odd-numbered Fridays. Whatever the reason, I was finally able to edit down and paste together a couple of really cute video clips of SteelyKid playing in her babypod:
We can (and do) watch…
November 27, 2009
Here's yesterday's turkey a la Good Eats, a little while after coming out of the oven:
As in past years, we brined it overnight. Unlike past years, we didn't have any of the plastic roasting bags, so instead we took advantage of the spiffy new roasting pan (a Christmas gift after the liquid turkey…
November 27, 2009
Spins spotted in room-temperature silicon - physicsworld.com
"Physicists in the Netherlands are the first to show that spin-polarized electrons can be injected into silicon at room temperature. The team injected the electrons into both p-type and n-type silicon and measured how long the…
November 26, 2009
We hosted Thanksgiving this year, and SteelyKid was the life of the party. When she saw Grandpa make the unwise decision to sit down on the couch with a glass of red wine, she came running, and spilled it all over him. To make up for it, she graciously decided to include him in this week's Baby…
November 26, 2009
Chiefly, this:
Also, this:
Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers; the rest of you, have a lovely Thursday.
November 26, 2009
The Mid-Majority : Assistant Coach for a Night
"[Northwestern State Coach] McConathy did things a little differently than most coaches -- he subbed his players five-in, five-out, ran an offense that was almost as old as the NCAA Tournament itself. He often allowed coaching friends and local…
November 25, 2009
The Onion kindly provided this Patton Oswalt demolition of the "Christmas Shoes" song. while it's funny, it is a reminder that we have reached the time of year when radio stations across the country will begin inflicting holiday "cheer" on their listeners. which seems like an excellent subject for…
November 25, 2009
Thony C has a post about the Great Man theory of science spinning off some thoughts about Darwin by ex-ScienceBlogs silverback John Wilkins. As Thony writes:
Now you may ask why I as a historian of Renaissance mathematics should comment on a blog post about a 19th century work of biology and its…
November 25, 2009
Confessions of a Community College Dean: Teaching Governance
"As an administrator, I'm constantly struck by the unacknowledged contradiction among many faculty between "consult us in all things" and "back off and leave us alone." It's not that I don't understand the impulse; depending on local…
November 24, 2009
I've been a little too busy to participate, but His Holiness and Eric Weinstein on Twitter have gotten into an interesting exchange about the structure of academia, and the appropriate number of Ph.D.'s in science. As usual, I suspect I'm not fully understanding the majesty of whatever Eric is…
November 24, 2009
The official release date for How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is exactly four weeks from today. So here's a dramatic reading of Chapter 3 to mark the occasion:
I've put this up before, but I edited it to remove the URL, which was apparently a deal-breaker for booksellers. And yes, I will post…
November 24, 2009
During this year's DonorsChoose fundraiser, I promised books as prizes to people who contributed to my challenge. Now that the finished books are ready, it's time to congratulate the winners.
Lauren Uroff wins one copy for giving the largest individual donation of the people who forwarded me…
November 24, 2009
CHART ATTACK!: 11/20/76 | Popdose
"I keep trying to figure out what this song is really trying to say in its subtext -- but no, I'm pretty sure it's actually about two muskrats courting. I know I said this a few songs ago, but WHY? Why did we need a song about two muskrats on a date? And even…
November 23, 2009
I have a whole slew of grading that I need to do, so here's some baby video to keep you entertained:
While it may not sound that way, this is SteelyKid in a very, very good mood. The high-pitched dinosaur shrieks are happy shrieks. And the silly baby running is very cute.
November 23, 2009
The pictures I posted last night aren't really the greatest for seeing the cover of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, so here's a shot of the book jacket spread out on my desk:
This isn't the greatest, either, but it does give you a sense of the key features of the jacket design, which I like a…
November 23, 2009
Seeing Laser Beams : Built on Facts
"I have to say it's a nice job perk that I can see old science fiction tropes come to life pretty much every day."
(tags: science physics optics blogs built-on-facts lasers)
blarg? » A Note To Maya
"So according to the old joke, a fed-up student asks the…
November 22, 2009
Look! How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is a real book:
Emmy says, very seriously, "You will buy a copy, won't you?"
Of course, like everything else in this house, SteelyKid had to grab a copy:
She whipped through to the last page pretty fast:
Emmy says "What'd you think, human puppy?"
SteelyKid…
November 20, 2009
Kate and I went to the two games of the "semifinals" of the 2K Sports Classic Supporting Coaches vs. Cancer, Your Name Here for a Prince pre-season "tournament" last night (the scare quotes are because the four teams playing last night were guaranteed to be playing last night, regardless of what…
November 19, 2009
It's not often that I regret having a cell phone that is just a phone, but this is one of those occasions-- I stopped by my publisher today to talk about marketing and publicity, and record a video for the web, and got a stack of finished copies of the book, hot off the presses. If I had a cell…
November 19, 2009
Actually, this ought to be "Wednesday Morning Baby Blogging," as that's when the picture was taken. Kate and I are going to New York City for the weekend, though, and SteelyKid is spending the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa in Scenic Whitney Point. So, you get an early picture, posted late:
This…
November 18, 2009
Kate has a court appearance in New York tomorrow, and we're making a long weekend of it. I'm typing this from my parents' house, where I'm dropping SteelyKid off for some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa, and tomorrow, I'm heading down to The City. I've got some meetings scheduled tomorrow…
November 18, 2009
It's always kind of distressing to find something you agree with being said by people who also espouse views you find nutty, repulsive, or reprehensible. It doesn't make them any less right, but it makes it a little more difficult to be associated with those views.
So, for instance, there's this…
November 18, 2009
Zeroth Order Approximation: Summary dismissal
"Not every civil court case proceeds to trial. Some are settled "out of court" by the parties involved. Others are settled by the judge in a "summary dismissal" or "summary judgment". The suit is deemed to be unworthy of trial, even without a full…
November 17, 2009
As every physics-loving dog knows, the idea that electrons behave like waves was first suggested by Loius Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie (the 7th duc de Broglie) in 1923. The proper pronunciation of his surname is a mystery even to human physicists, though. So, how would you say it?
Louis Victor…
November 17, 2009
Sunday night, the Patriots lost a heartbreaker to the Colts 35-34. The talk of the sports world yesterday was Bill Belichick's decision to go for it on fouth-and-two on his own 28 yard line when he was up by six with just over two minutes to play. They didn't get the first down, and turned the ball…
November 17, 2009
There's been an independent rediscovery of the notion of using dogs to explain physics, as you can see in this YouTube video of Golden Retrievers explaining the structure of atoms:
Emmy thinks she should get royalties, in the form of cheese. But then, she thinks that about everything...
November 17, 2009
Why Wine Ratings Are Badly Flawed - WSJ.com
"[A] 1996 study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology showed that even flavor-trained professionals cannot reliably identify more than three or four components in a mixture, although wine critics regularly report tasting six or more. There are eight…
November 16, 2009
Blogging has been light of late because I was in the Houston area for the weekend, at the annual meeting of Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society (think Phi Beta Kappa, but for science nerds). Every chapter is required to send a representative to the annual meeting at least once every…
November 16, 2009
Michael Nielsen » The Wikipedia Paradox
"To determine whether any given subject deserves an entry, Wikipedia uses the criterion of notability. This lead to an interesting question:
Question 1: What's the most notable subject that's not notable enough for inclusion in Wikipedia?
Let's assume for…
