Links for 2009-11-05

"Physicists, when they do philosophy, often do it badly. They're often confused about the conceptual foundations of their own physics, because sometimes you can compute and get the right results even if you don't understand conceptually very well what you're doing. That's a criticism that not only philosophers but also mathematicians make of physics. Because I'm half a mathematician I respect that criticism too. So it's absolutely true that physicists often make a botch of the conceptual foundations of physics, especially when it comes to quantum mechanics, because quantum mechanics is simply much harder than any other physics we know. Everybody makes a botch of it because we don't really know what's going on.

"I think there is also something in physicists' complaints about philosophers that often what they do is so sterile that it's of virtually no relevance to any working scientist, even at the level of conceptually clarifying important things in their fields."

"In more recent years, the number of positions advertised in English has hovered around 1600-1700. This year, one of my students told me that she'd heard the number would be something like 250. "WTF," I calmly replied. "Where did that number come from?" It came from a wiki of some kind, which is apparently what These Kids Today use when they're not twittering on the FaceSpace. "That would be a Depression-era number," I said, "because I don't believe there's been a time since the MLA started keeping stats when the number was below 1,000." Well, it's now looking like 250 is indeed a very low estimate. But it's quite possible that the number will wind up being below 1,000, which is a problem, because all the MLA charts run from 1,000 to 2,000, so that 2009-10 might require the MLA to redesign the things or face the prospect of publishing one of those cartoon-charts where the plummeting line runs right off the page."

"East Georgia College has dropped an unspecified sexual harassment charge against an English professor who, ironically, had openly criticized the lack of protections for the falsely accused in its sexual harassment policy.

Two weeks ago, Thomas Thibeault was informed in a letter from John Black, president of East Georgia, that "the evidence" in the mysterious complaint filed against him in August "does not warrant the charge of sexual harassment" and that he was reinstated to his position, ending a nearly two-month suspension. Black and other East Georgia officials did not respond to requests for comment regarding this about-face. "

"A visiting colleague and I recently discussed a perennial topic of obsession among some academics: how our departments/universities assign teaching loads.

Some departments (either by choice or by requirement from an external source) have rigid teaching loads that are the same for all faculty. Some departments assign different teaching loads to different faculty as a function of seniority; in recent years, I have seen some departments assign less teaching to assistant professors and more to associate and full professors, but in days of yore, it was the other way around (and may still be in some departments). Some departments assign different teaching loads to different faculty as a function of faculty research activity."

"Sportswriting has long played host to some of the most glorious, along with the most cliché-ridden, exercises in journalism. As anybody on a sports beat can tell you, making game stories interesting day in and day out can be a brutal challenge, but for those with lesser ambitions, it can be something that you do in your sleep. Now some kids at the Intelligent Information Laboratory at Northwestern University are suggesting that an average game day story can be bolted together without human intervention. "

"Here's a handy travel tip: be sure to pack sufficient reading material for your six-hour return flight to Los Angeles. After whipping through a new (forthcoming) biography of reclusive mathematician Grigory Perelman, I found myself at loose ends halfway through my flight home, even after perusing the in-flight magazine detailing glorious three-day vacations in exotic locales I could never afford. So I found myself browsing the Skymall catalog in desperation. You know the one: it features merchandise you never realized you needed, from a variety of outlets, all readily available for order on the in-flight phone. It also features no small measure of Science!"

"You might be an alumnus of one of the 251 colleges and universities below the Red Line. You might even be attending one now, and living in that pleasant time-window before the student loan bills start coming. If you didn't go to a small college, or if you didn't go to college at all, it doesn't matter -- you can still join in. But this -- right now -- is the time to jump on board, when the slate is clean and opportunities seem boundless. Even if you've never heard of these schools and don't know where they are, this is the time to adopt. Choose your allegiance now, and definitely not later.

But who's going to believe you five months from now? Don't worry. For the first time ever, TMM has a way for you to prove that you were here, at the beginning. It's fast, fun... and unlike most of the stuff on this site, free. You will be a confirmed and certified fan, with a document as real as anything Price Waterhouse has ever issued. "

""As evidenced by his epic run on Swamp Thing #21-64, Moore's deft hand with both sociopolitical commentary and metaphysical violence makes him an ideal choice to chronicle my time in office," Obama said of the author of Watchmen and From Hell, whom he reportedly chose over others on a short list of potential biographers that included Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, and Bob Woodward. "