Janet D. Stemwedel
Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an associate professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.
jstemwedel
Posts by this author
September 6, 2006
A real nerd can combine love of math and poetry, like so:
{(12+144+20+3(4)^0.5)/7}+5(11) = 81 + 0
It's a true equation. And, it's a limerick. Read it out loud and you'll see:
A dozen, a gross, and a score
Plus three times the square-root of four,
Divided by seven,
Plus five times eleven,
Is nine…
September 6, 2006
Let's start with a song:
Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall,
Aleph-null bottles of beer.
Take one down, pass it around,
Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall!
When you're done with that:
Q: Why do computer geeks get candy-corn in their stockings?
A: Because OCT 31 = DEC 25.
Q: Why is six…
September 6, 2006
As the nerd-off rages on (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) I turn to the sprogs as evidence of my madly nerdy parenting skillz.
Elder offspring (whose mousing skills my better-half feared might not be on track, developmentally, when elder offspring was about a year…
September 6, 2006
Other ScienceBloggers may think they're nerdy. They haven't spent time with me at a party.
Fun activity when standing around with your Solo cups of beer or wine:
(Taught to me by a mathematician friend; always a hit with the geekerati.)
First nerd tilts Solo cup gently from side to side. "Ahh,…
September 6, 2006
This was asked on a listserv I'm on, and I decided that the question is interesting enough to share here -- largely because I'm interested in how you would answer.
In an article titled "What is a Generally Educated Person?" in the Fall 2004 issue of AAC&U's Peer Review, Jerry G. Gaff asks…
September 6, 2006
Perhaps not every ScienceBlogger is hot, but almost all of them are nerds. The time has come to see just how high those geek flags fly.
It's time for a nerd-off.
My opening volley after the jump, starting where one does: my momma.
The nerd apple doesn't fall far from the tree. My momma programs…
September 5, 2006
Hottest sciencebloggers.
But come on, you already knew this was a blog of ideas, right?
Personally, I think the non-human primates were robbed.
September 5, 2006
Sadly, this makes me think more kids should have been watching M&M commercials in December of 1999. As reported by the Gainesville Sun:
Proofreaders at the University of Florida appear to have failed the Pepsi challenge.
UF has called off a massive giveaway of Gator T-shirts, paid for by Pepsi…
September 4, 2006
I am, as usual, late to the party reacting to the news that UCLA neurobiologist Dario Ringach has given up research on primates owing to "pressure put on him, his neighborhood, and his family by the UCLA Primate Freedom Project". As reported by Inside Higher Ed:
Ringach's name and home phone…
September 2, 2006
It is true I found the phone wait-time to even talk to a service representative to be rather long -- even when I got up early on a Sunday morning to call you precisely because I wanted to avoid horrendous wait-times. And, your hold music was unnaturally cheery.
It is also true that I question the…
September 1, 2006
Since Julie blogged about a call to her home from a student who wanted to add her class, I thought I'd add a story of my own, from waaaay back:
I was in the second year of my chemistry graduate program, TAing the thermodynamics course for chem majors. One of the students in the class had been a…
September 1, 2006
This morning, the Free-Ride family heard the news that McDonald's had finally capitulated to hedgehog campaigners and redesigned the container for its McFlurry ice cream so that it is no longer a hedgie death-trap.
Elder offspring: What was the problem?
Dr. Free-Ride's better half: The hedgehogs…
September 1, 2006
Younger offspring: I drew this picture of what we saw at the Monterey Bay Aquarium with Duke and Super Sally last weekend.
Dr. Free-Ride: Cool! I guess you really were paying attention to the exhibits when I thought you were just running around.
Younger offspring: (rolling eyes) Of course I was…
August 30, 2006
A couple years ago, I taught a freshman seminar class called "Matters of Life and Death". In the course, we looked at philosophy, anthropology, medical ethics, literature, and film to try to get some insight to how our awareness that our lives are finite influences how we live those lives and how…
August 30, 2006
Suddenly your inbox is overflowing with messages from people you've never met expressing their intense interest in your subject.
And, driving across town in the morning takes twice as long as it did just a month ago.
And, your laptop takes a tumble and breaks a hinge.
Plus, the photocopier at work…
August 25, 2006
Thanks to all readers who responded with suggestions as to what my students should call me. As a number of you pointed out, what I choose here isn't just a matter of local custom (there seems not to be a unified custom on this at my university), nor of personal comfort (for me or my students).…
August 25, 2006
It seems the IAU ruling on what counts as a planet has stirred a little controversy in the Free-Ride home.
Dr. Free-Ride: You heard what happened with Pluto, right?
Younger offspring: It's not there any more.
Dr. Free-Ride: Uh, it's still there, just as big as it was and pretty much where it was…
August 24, 2006
OK, it's the time of the semester when I get a bazillion emails from students enrolled in my classes, and students trying to enroll in my classes, and assorted others. And, the emailers each choose a manner of address out of thin air, since usually they haven't met me yet and have no idea how I…
August 24, 2006
Because Shelley asked (and Josh, Mike, Chad, Nick, PZ, and John have all posted answers), I'm going to chime in.
Shelley asks:
Are you for or against the death penalty, or (if it's conditional), in what cases? Furthermore, do you believe that societies that sanction war are hypocritical for…
August 23, 2006
Like a bunch of my ScienceBlogs SiBlings, I read Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard's book, Coming to Life: How Genes Drive Development. As I am not a trained biologist of any stripe (and haven't been enrolled in a biology course since the 1980s), I'll give you my impressions of the book from the point…
August 18, 2006
As I noted earlier, the population density in my office at school decreased enough to free up some room for a couch. The original plan had been to adopt an ugly orange love seat from a colleague's apartment, but it looks like the UOLS will be going in his office, since the couch he was planning to…
August 18, 2006
Robert Fludd, "The Great Chain of Being", 1617
Maybe you're familiar with the classical notion of the "great chain of being", the hierarchical relationship between all the stuff in the universe. It was meant to show the connections between animals (including humans), vegetables, minerals, and the…
August 18, 2006
Elder offspring: Blood is cool.
Younger offspring: (Covering head with blanket) I hate blood, because I hate owies!
Dr. Free-Ride: But your blood does all sorts of good things for your body. You know that you're filled with blood, right?
Elder offspring: Actually, your body is two-thirds water.…
August 17, 2006
That Julie and her challenges!
A few days ago, Guy [Kawasaki] wrote a post called Everything You Wanted to Know About Getting a Job in Silicon Valley But Didn't Know Who to Ask. Having spent several years in the mid-90s being a contractor, meaning every six or eight weeks I was off on an interview…
August 17, 2006
From field reporter Andy, proof that the Flying Spaghetti Monster supports our troops.
August 17, 2006
Because Julie tagged everyone:
The rules: "Go here and look through random quotes until you find 5 that you think reflect who you are or what you believe."
I'll add: Go with the first five that work for you (i.e., don't worry about getting global optima). It took me two bundles of quotations with…
August 17, 2006
*Updating syllabi to reflect the coming semester's actual meeting days and assignment due dates? Really, really boring. The boredom further propagates when it requires updating a kazillion webpages, then uploading the updates to your site (one at a time, since Fetch thinks it's cute today to "…
August 17, 2006
Interverbal has turned the 41st meeting of the Skeptics' Circle into Awards Night. (Is it too early in the day for black tie?)
August 16, 2006
David at The World's Fair has posed another, "Ask a ScienceBlogger, Sort Of" question:
Essentially, as scientific types who tend to analyse, over-analyse, supra-analyse things, and who like to categorize and follow empirical trends, I'm interesting in hearing what you think it is that sparks these…
August 16, 2006
So, in the Free-Ride house we're pleased as punch that Pluto hasn't lost its planetary status. (No, we don't consider the "plutons" lesser planets. Eccentric in their orbits, perhaps, but there's nothing wrong with that.)
As well, we are pleased that the "tenth planet", whose local fans call it…