Links for 2009-12-03

"Batman takes a lot of blows to his head. These come from his fighting activities and from being routinely thrown--or leaping--onto or into hard objects like walls, floors, and moving vehicles. The issue of concussion in Batman's career is something I addressed in Becoming Batman. In examining the scientific possibility of a human training to achieve the pinnacle of physical skill of comic book icon Batman, I reckoned him having a pretty short career. The main thing to shorten Batman's career would be his accumulation of injuries, with concussion figuring prominently."

"This is a list of job interview questions I compiled when I was applying for college or university positions in American studies, history, and architectural history. Every category of question I have ever been asked at a job interview is represented below. Good luck in your job search."

""Nuts to your shy!" says Giblets. "If they were really out there in space with their space-cars and their space-guns and their metal-bikini-wearing space-babes they would totally come over here to show off all their space-stuff and make us feel like losers! That's just science!"
"Well you can't argue with science," says me.
"No you can't," says Giblets."

"Physicists in the US have become the first to use laser light to make neutral, ultracold atoms behave like charged particles in a magnetic field - even though the atoms have no charge. The set-up could be used as a "quantum simulator" to gain a better understanding of how electrons in solid materials respond to magnetic fields. "

"Legend has it that the blues guitarist Robert Johnson acquired his haunting style by selling his soul to the devil at a crossroads. West, as a "bluesman of the life of the mind," has clearly also been to the crossroads. The devil gave him a team of publicists. I don't think this was a good bargain on West's part. It left him unable to recognize that self-respect is often the enemy of self-esteem"