December 4, 2008
There's a kind of tradition in theoretical physics of wacky "what if" papers. The whole "wormhole" thing is an example of this in action-- somebody noticed that the structure of General Relativity would allow you to make tunnel-like structures between points in space, and then asked what you would…
December 4, 2008
Via Matt Yglesias, another example of why I have a hard time taking economists seriously, talking about a measure of stock prices:
[T]he "Q" ratio [is] the value of the stock market relative to the replacement cost of net assets. The basic logic behind "Q" is that capitalism works. If the "Q" is…
December 3, 2008
Back to Reality - Olivia Judson Blog - NYTimes.com
"President-elect Obama already has a long to-do list. But here's another item for it: to restore science in government."
(tags: science politics us blogs)
Built on Facts : Gas in a (very small) box.
Air is denser than you think.
(tags: science…
December 3, 2008
Last year, around this time, I posted a rant about the lack of science books in the New York Times's "Notable Books of 2007." While I was out of town last week, they posted this year's list. So, have things improved?
Yes and no. They do, in fact, have two books that are unquestionably science books…
December 3, 2008
One of our 2008 Physics majors is currently in Uganda, working at a clinic/ school in a place called Ddegaya (Google doesn't recognize it, but it's somewhere around here). He's there as part of a program started by the college last year, which sent eight students abroad to work in impoverished…
December 3, 2008
The Daily Show nails the lessons of the Plaxico Burress fiasco:
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The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Jon Stewart Touches Kids - Plaxico Burress
Barack Obama InterviewJohn McCain Interview
Sarah Palin VideoFunny Election Video
Sweatpants, for God's sake.
December 2, 2008
A Blog Around The Clock : The Open Laboratory 2008 - all the submissions fit to print
Some light reading to fill your infinite free time.
(tags: science blogs writing)
Pay Bankers Much Less - Finance Blog - Felix Salmon - Market Movers - Portfolio.com
"I've now reached the point at which I…
December 2, 2008
SteelyKid is a genius in training.
How can I say that so confidently? Well, just look at this:
Still not convinced? Well, check out the original.
I rest my case.
(She's recently started sticking her tongue out all the time, or at least when she's not trying to jam one or both fists into her mouth…
December 2, 2008
A while back, Kate started doing a chapter-by-chapter re-read of The Lord of the Rings on her LiveJournal. Life intervened, though, and the project fell by the wayside.
She's re-started it, this time as part of the Tor media empire. So far, there's an introductory post and a discussion of the…
December 2, 2008
Via Ezra Klein, Adam Serwer takes dim view of conservative attempts to blame the Mumbai attacks on Indian culture, specifically the relative lack of guns among the geenral population:
This is a really strange and immature coping mechanism that manifests on the right in times of high profile tragedy…
December 2, 2008
This caught my eye at the library yesterday, because it looked like a compact survey of kookery, and I wasn't disappointed. Indeed, it's probably the most blog-like book I've read in quite some time-- bits of the chapters could easily be posted at Orac's place, and nobody would think it odd. The…
December 1, 2008
Schneier on Security: Lessons from Mumbai
"If there's any lesson in these attacks, it's not to focus too much on the specifics of the attacks. "
(tags: news society security blogs)
Does the broken windows theory hold online?
"Does the aesthetic appearance of a blog affect what's written by the…
December 1, 2008
Colicky baby:
Like snow blown by the wind, her
Shrill cries fill the air.
December 1, 2008
I got email last week from the Institute of Physics pointing me to a pair of video interviews with Anton Zeilinger of the University of Vienna. Zeilinger has built an impressive career out of doing fundamental tests of quantum mechanics-- he's not only got the accent and the hair to be a brilliant…
December 1, 2008
The Yorkshire Ranter points out the similarities between last week's horrific attacks in Mumbai and Frederick Forsyth's The Dogs of War, and dubs it the "world's deadliest novel." Steinn picks up on this, and wonders if it's accurate:
The plot of Dog's of War is a coup in an African country, and it…
November 30, 2008
I've gotten out of the book-logging habit, but Spaceman Blues is good enough that I feel compelled to write about it. I had heard of the book some time back-- I believe I recall Patrick Nielsen Hayden saying nice things about it at some con or another-- but the packaging didn't really give me a…
November 30, 2008
It has been observed that my New York Football Giants are undefeated this year in games where SteelyKid was present for the game, and happy. The one game they've lost, an inexcusable thrashing by the otherwise hapless Browns, was a night game, and Kate took her upstairs for a final feeding before…
November 27, 2008
It's Thanksgiving today, which has always been one of my favorite holidays. It's not just that there's nothing more American than a holiday dedicated to overeating and football. I also like the idea of setting aside a day to be thankful for what you've got.
And I've got a lot to be thankful for-- a…
November 26, 2008
slacktivist: Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?
"Part of the answer to that question is that our newspapers are being asked to do something they were never designed to do and something they are fundamentally and structurally incapable of doing: they're being asked to provide…
November 25, 2008
nanoscale views: A (serious) modest proposal
"As part of the forthcoming major economic stimulus package, I propose that the Obama administration fully fund the America Competes initiative immediately."
(tags: science politics academia economics)
'Teaching Unprepared Students' :: Inside Higher…
November 24, 2008
FQXi Community: Articles, Forums, Blogs, News
"For the current [essay] contest, [the topic] is "The Nature of Time," including, but not limited to, the arrow of time; the emergence of time in quantum gravity; time, free will and determinism; time travel; the beginning or ending of time; and…
November 24, 2008
The Corporate Masters have decreed a new question Ask a
ScienceBlogger question, and this one's right up my alley:
What do you see as science fiction's role in promoting science, if any?
If you look over in the left sidebar, you'll see a
href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/sf/">SF…
November 22, 2008
CHART ATTACK!: 11/24/84 | Popdose
"When you're on fire like Lionel Richie in 1984, you can do whatever the hell you want. You can write a song called "Penny Lover," which is not actually about somebody who loves pennies, or even about someone who loves girls named Penny. And you can sit back…
November 21, 2008
Next Thursday is Thanksgiving, and the impending holiday and associated travel has thrown our schedules all out of whack. I'm making myself crazy trying to maintain the usual posting schedule while still meeting work and family responsibilities. Thus, for at least the next week, and possibly longer…
November 20, 2008
The End of Wall Street's Boom - National Business News - Portfolio.com
It seems I'm obliged to link to this. Apologies for the delay.
(tags: politics economics culture business books)
MPR: Challenged ballots: You be the judge
Do you like politics? And radio-button Internet polls? Well, this is…
November 20, 2008
Here we see SteelyKid modeling the very latest in baby fashion:
It's important to start the cult indoctrination early...
The fuzzy white thing over the purple cow onesie is her warm fuzzy hooded outfit, seen in more detail in this week's Appa picture:
That was taken yesterday, as Kate was headed…
November 20, 2008
I seem to have been sucked into a universe in which I'm talking about the Many-Worlds Interpretation all the time, and Neil B keeps dropping subtle hints, so let me return to the whole question of decoherence and Many-Worlds. The following explanation is a recap of the argument of Chapter 4 of the…
November 20, 2008
I flagged this Matt Yglesias post about post-mortem examinations of the financial crisis as something to respond to. Matt writes:
I was at an interesting discussion with an ideologically diverse group of people last night of the future of financial regulations. One thing that there was broad…
November 19, 2008
Swans on Tea » How (not) to Cook the Books
Fun with Benford's Law, one of those cool mathematical principles whose name I can never remeber.
(tags: science math blogs youtube statistics)
Chuck Klosterman reviews Chinese Democracy | The A.V. Club
"Reviewing Chinese Democracy is not like…
November 19, 2008
A little while back, when I complained about the treatment of the multiverse in Anathem, a number of people commented to say that it wasn't all that bad. And, indeed, they were right. Compared to last night's History Channel program on "Parallel Universes," Stephenson's book is a miracle of subtle…
