November 7, 2007
Becky Hirta is thinking about exams:
For the giant calculus class I'm starting to write multiple choice questions. For a class like that, really the only issues for me to consider about the final are how to avoid cheating (change the order of the MC questions and the numbers in the long-answer),…
November 7, 2007
Mark P. comments on particles and waves:
I think it can be argued that a particle is a "thing" while a wave is a "behavior", so it's like asking: bicycle or running?
Yes, and? Why wouldn't that work as a poll question? Here's let's try:
Bicycle or running? Pick only one, and leave your answer in…
November 7, 2007
I really, really did not like Glasshouse, Charlie Stross's Hugo-nominated novel from last year. I enjoy his "Laundry" books, though (The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue), and at Worldcon I had a conversation with Robert Sneddon, who recommended the forthcoming Halting State as closer in…
November 6, 2007
The Claim: Zinc Can Help You Beat a Cold - New York Times
Old joke: With our product, you can cure a cold in just seven days, but left untreated, it could linger for a week!
(tags: medicine science)
Tara Parker-Pope on Health - Teenagers and Sex - New York Times
"The lesson for public health…
November 6, 2007
Boggling discovery of the week: ESPN will be broadcasting from my alma mater:
Williams College will play host to archrival Amherst College in football at noon in the 122nd meeting of "The Biggest Little Game in America" on Saturday, November 10th.
ESPN's College GameDay Built By The Home Depot with…
November 6, 2007
Today was Election Day in most parts of the US, and while there aren't any big national races going on, there were a number of local contests-- town boards, county legislatures, state judges, and so on. I stopped by the local elementary school on my way home, and did my bit for representative…
November 6, 2007
You can only pick one. Leave your answer in the comments.
November 6, 2007
This is somewhat belated, as it's no longer active, but I had a bunch of other things to do last week, and never got around to posting about Blog My Wage:
HOPE asked Houston City Council member Peter Brown to spend a week living on the wage of a city worker. Council Member Brown took the challenge…
November 5, 2007
Gesturing helps grade-schoolers solve math problems
Hand-waving is the key to any calculation.
(tags: academia education math)
Easily Distracted » Blog Archive » In Which I Pick Some Nits
A historian reads Novik's Temeraire books.
(tags: books SF)
slacktivist: Gay-Hatin' Gospel (pt. 5)
The…
November 5, 2007
Dave Bacon has been assimilated. He only has one post up at the moment, but I'm sure there'll be more soon. Update your bookmarks and RSS readers, and go visit his new digs.
November 5, 2007
I'm suffering muscle twinges in my neck and shoulder that are usually linked to excessive typing. As I have a grant proposal to review, a senior thesis to help whip into shape, and a book under contract, this means that blogging will be substantially reduced while I ration my typing to those things…
November 5, 2007
I realized that last week's scavenger hunt posts neglected half of my favorite genre fiction, so here's a post to make up for that:
What items should appear on a Science Fiction Novel Scavenger Hunt?
Some suggestions to get things started:
One Big Dumb Object
One improbably brilliant genius…
November 4, 2007
Recommendations of SFWA Copyright Exploratory Committee
How... distressingly sensible. Where's the train wreck I've come to expect from SFWA?
(tags: SF books)
Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » Unparadox Contest
"[T]he Birthday Unparadox: 'If you put three people in a room, chances are no two…
November 4, 2007
Here's a picture of the haul from the World Fantasy Convention:
(We got two of the bright blue bags with the odd aspect ratio, but I only put one in the picture.)
The small pile on the left is a collection of samplers and free magazine issues (if I read them all, I'll have a really good idea of…
November 4, 2007
The Patriots are playing the Colts this afternoon. And they're both undefeated.
Why doesn't anybody tell me these things? You'd think a story like this might merit a mention or two on ESPN...
I fully expect this game to suck, as games receiving this absurd level of hype almost always fail to live…
November 3, 2007
"Hey, dude, what's in the box?"
"You know, I've asked you to stop calling me that. You should show some respect, since I'm the only one of the two of us who has opposable thumbs."
"Whatever. What's in the box? Is it for me?"
"Amazingly, yes, it is. It's a rawhide bone."
"Oooh! People love me!"
"…
November 3, 2007
I've gotten away from posting Japan pictures, but here's what may be my favorite warning sign ever:
In case you have trouble reading the text in the image:
Stranger whosoever thou art and whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the…
November 2, 2007
In the same basic spirit as the previous post, but with a physical science slant:
What items should be on the list for a scavenger hunt through an academic physics department?
The idea here is to keep a big group of grad students occupied and entertained for an afternoon by having them find items…
November 2, 2007
The World Fantasy Convention is being held just up the road in Saratoga Springs, and Kate and I are commuting to it for the next few days. That means light blogging, which means it's Dorky Poll time.
Here's a literary Dorky Poll (a more conventionally Dorky version will follow shortly), suggested…
November 2, 2007
So, the final numbers are in, one day late thanks to that bastard Colbert. The official Uncertain Principles DonorsChoose Challenge raised $3,607 from 48 donors over the last month, good for second place among ScienceBlogs blogs, in both categories. That's better than I realistically expected to do…
November 2, 2007
Children's friendships matter in the scramble for secondary schools
"Until now, work in this area has had little emphasis on children's own experiences." Everything that's wrong with education research, in one short sentence.
(tags: education psychology society)
Jobs, News and Views for All of…
November 1, 2007
The inescapable sports story of the week has been Alex Rodriguez's decision to opt out of his contract with the Yankees and pursue more money on the free-agent market. While it amuses me to see an off-season story about the Yankees eclipsing the Red Sox winning the World Series, I find this…
November 1, 2007
Well, so are all the other Presidential hopefuls-- not one of them has responded to my offer to endorse any candidate who will play me in basketball-- but I particularly want to address Colbert. After all, he's supposed to be the unconventional maverick candidate here, tooling around in a bus…
November 1, 2007
Neanderthal Bones Make a Case for Redheads - New York Times
Make up your own Irish joke.
(tags: science news biology)
Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed :: Teaching Professors to Be More Effective Teachers
Targeted efforts to teach how to read scholarly texts…
October 31, 2007
I ordered a tablet PC a little while back (Lenovo X61, with all the options maxed out, because, well, book advance). It shipped a couple of days ago, so I've been tracking it via UPS, where it has experience some odd delays. The strangest by far is this message from today:
LOUISVILLE, KY, US 10/…
October 31, 2007
The phenomenon is familiar to anybody who plays pick-up basketball. (It might be unique to pick-up hoops-- none of the other sports I play regularly involve multiple discrete games.) You get a bunch of players together, and you play a game to 15. Then a second game to 15. And, hey, that's a pretty…
October 31, 2007
There are a couple of stories in Inside Higher Ed today talking about college graduation rates. One is a passing mention that the NCAA has released complete graduation rate data for Division I schools through its impressively awful web site (the statistics are available as a series of one-page PDF…
October 31, 2007
If you've been putting off donating for some reason, today is your last chance to contribute to the ScienceBlogs DonorsChoose fundraiser, and my challenge entry in particular. Their server appears to be getting whacked at the moment, so you might have trouble getting through to donate-- charity…
October 31, 2007
Overheard in New York | The Giant Ones Who Live in the Sewers Are Especially Nasty
A little something for the atheists.
(tags: silly religion)
Pure Pedantry : The Moral Problem of New Atheism vs. Religion -or- The Majesty of Creation
ScienceBlogs' best writer on science and religion and…
October 30, 2007
In today's New York Times Natalie Angier has a nice story about increased interest in physics:
Many people wring their hands over the state of science education and point to the appalling performance of America's students in international science and math competitions. Yet some of the direst noises…
