drorzel | February 11, 2008Via Inside Higher Ed, the Boston Globe reports that the Pentagon opposes increasing GI Bill funding. Why? Because if they gave them full tuition, eligible soldiers might not re-enlist:
Now, five years into the Iraq conflict, a movement is gathering steam in Washington to boost the payout of the GI Bill, to provide a true war-time benefit for war- time service. But the effort has run headlong into another reality of an unpopular war: the struggle to sustain an all-volunteer force.
The Pentagon and White House have so far resisted a new GI Bill out of fear that too many will use it - choosing…
drorzel | February 10, 2008
Clothes Make Working for the Man Easier
A better take on academic dress.
(tags: academia society)
Gotta do this « Confused at a higher level
I want those flip books...
(tags: physics education academia science)
Deltoid: Bed Nets and artemisinin dramatically decrease malaria
Good news from and for Africa.
(tags: biology drugs society disease)
On being a scientist and a woman : Alice's late-nite pointers to writing conference papers
Good advice from a new blogger
(tags: academia education meetings social-science humanities science)
ESPN - No scholarships, no fanfare, UNC's JV squad…
drorzel | February 10, 2008Kate and I will be attending Boskone agains next week, and the preliminary program has been posted. Kate's posted her thoughts on what looks interesting, and mine are below the fold:
Friday 7pm Otis: The Rise of Modern Science
What happened in the Middle Ages which led to the rise of modern science? Why did it happen first in Europe and not elsewhere? How did science grow if the Middle Ages were really an "age of faith" without reason?
Guy Consolmagno, John Farrell, Michael F. Flynn
Could be interesting, if we're there. We may be visiting family that evening.
Friday 8pm Consuite: Death to…
drorzel | February 9, 2008
Book Vs. Film Special Mega Bonus Edition: I Am Legend | The A.V. Club
An exhaustive discussion of four movie adaptations of Richard Matheson's novella.
(tags: books movies SF)
5 Retro Commercials Companies Would Like You to Forget | Cracked.com
"Come with us on a magical adventure of sexism, racism and fun!"
(tags: gender history television politics race video youtube)
How to Get an eBook of Old Man's War -- Free!
Free as in beer, free as in speech, from the nice folks at Tor.
(tags: books publishing SF literature)
drorzel | February 9, 2008In the middle of reviewing the top ten songs from Feb 7, 1987, which includes the Georgia Satellites at #7, Jason Hare offers us a list:
Artists I'd Like To Hear Cover "Keep Your Hands to Yourself":
Andrea Bocelli
Barbra Streisand
Anita Baker
Smokey Robinson
Tom Waits
Beverly Sills
Glass Tiger
Maybe it's the cold pills talking, but I find this inordinately amusing. And, of course, the obvious question is who else should be on the list? The Old 97's are probably too obvious. The Afghan Whigs/ Twilight Singers/ Greg Dulli are my default "Who should cover this song?" artist, because I'm always…
drorzel | February 8, 2008
Pure Pedantry : Friday Rants: People
Bill Hicks: "We're a virus with shoes."
(tags: blogs society stupid silly)
YouTube - Gnarls Barkley Crazy Theremin Jam
A cover of "Crazy" with the vocals replaced by a theremin.
(tags: music video youtube)
A Call for Professional Attire :: Inside Higher Ed :: Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education
I hope this is satirical.
(tags: academia stupid)
Stanford researchers hear the sound of quantum drums
"Using a tunneling scanning microscope and two roomfuls of equipment to move around individual carbon monoxide molecules on a copper surface,…
drorzel | February 8, 2008Henry Farrell is doing some substantive political science blogging over at the Monkey Cage, looking at a paper by his co-blogger Eszter Hargittai and her colleagues. They did a really imprssive amount of work to look at the linking habits of liberal and conservative bloggers, and Henry zeroes in on one of the findings in particular:
Straw-man arguments account for 43% of the 42 links from conservative blogs to liberals in our sample, and 54% of the 63 links from liberal blogs to conservatives in our group of entries that include cross-ideological linkages. ...Posts that concretely address the…
drorzel | February 8, 2008I'm currently serving as one of the faculty members involved with a new-ish residential life initiative aimed at raising the intellectual tone around campus. A big part of this is trying to get faculty members to do things in the campus housing spaces. This has all the logistical hassles you would expect, as so we're always in the market for low-key options.
After a conversation with a colleague, I've been kicking around the idea of a low-key sort of film festival-- asking individual faculty members to come to the house one night, and show one of their favorite movies. The idea here would not…
drorzel | February 7, 2008
birds are gross - rosemary mosco
The awesome turkey vulture.
(tags: comics biology science silly)
nanoscale views: Combined single-molecule electronics and optics
"The two-sentence summary: we can do simultaneous electronic and optical measurements on single molecules (!) by using our electrodes as optical antennas. This opens up lots of science to be done as well as some very intriguing technological possibilities
(tags: physics science articles materials experiment)
Friends' school achievement influences high school girls' interest in math
"Girls in high school take as many math…
drorzel | February 7, 2008"Hey, whatcha doin'?"
"Making breakfast."
"I don't know if you know this, but I like toast."
"Really? You don't say."
"Was that sarcasm? I'm not so good with sarcasm."
"No, I just never would've guessed from the way you gaze longingly at the counter every morning..."
"OK, that's definitely sarcasm."
"Or the way you lick the floor to pick up spilled crumbs..."
"OK--"
"Or the way you shove your head into my lap when I'm eating breakfast. Or, for that matter, the way that we have the 'I Like Toast' conversation every morning. What could possibly give you the idea that I don't know about your…
drorzel | February 6, 2008
John Cleese | The A.V. Club
"The A.V. Club recently had a loose, freewheeling conversation with the comedy icon about the flaws in Monty Python films, roles accepted and rejected, James Bond, the shortcomings of organized religion and studio executives, and why he doesn't much care
(tags: movies silly society culture)
Dark matter may not be so dark - physicsworld.com
If dark matter particles have magnetic moments, they may produce a polarization signature in the cosmic microwave background.
(tags: astronomy physics science news)
drorzel | February 6, 2008The good news: the first UNC-Duke game of the year is tonight. It's a little less interesting than it might be, as Carolina guard Ty Lawson has a sprained ankle and the Tar Heels are nowhere near as good without him, but it's still likely to be a good game, and the atmosphere is always great.
The bad news: Dick Vitale has recovered from throat surgery, and will call the game for ESPN.
I wonder how annoying it would be to stream the radio call on the tablet...
drorzel | February 5, 2008
WD5 most likely missed Mars, but we may never know - The Planetary Society Blog | The Planetary Society
The asteroid is now officially lost.
(tags: astronomy planets space science)
Saint Gasoline » Blog Archive » The Allegory of the Trolley Problem Paradox
Or, Why You Shouldn't Major in Philosophy
(tags: comics humanities silly)
My Own Kind of Freedom: A Firefly Novel by Steven Brust -- The Dream Café
Steve Brust's Firefly novel, under a CC license. It's more Firefly than Brust, but still quite good.
(tags: books SF television)
Letters from the Past, A PRL Retrospective
"As part of…
drorzel | February 5, 2008I'm going to be giving a bunch of presentations in the coming year, mostly using PowerPoint on my Tablet PC. One of the awkward things about using it in class is that I have to keep walking back across the room to change slides (I prefer physically pointing at the screen to waving a laser pointer around). Thus, I am considering buying a presentation remote-- one of those wireless clicker things that lets you move back and forth without being at the computer.
This being the Internet, I'm sure people have Opinions about this. So, what sort of presentation remote should I buy?
Terms, conditions…
drorzel | February 5, 2008I'm registered as an independent, so I can't vote in either of the primaries today (and I like it that way). If you are an American registered with one party or the other, though, and in a state holding a primary today, go vote.
End of civic duty nag.
drorzel | February 5, 2008The Paper of Record reports on a science debate, of sorts:
On one side of a vaunted cultural divide were Doug Liman, director of the coming movie "Jumper," about a young man who discovers he can transport himself anywhere he wants just by thinking about it, and Hayden Christensen, the film's star.
On the other were a pair of the institute's physics professors, Edward Farhi and Max Tegmark, experts on the type of physics the movie was purporting to portray, who had been enlisted to view a few scenes from it and talk about science.
On the one hand, I find this Physics of Star Trek sort of…
drorzel | February 5, 2008It's Hugo nomination season again, which means that I need to come up with a list of works to suggest for SF's premier fan-voted award. It also means that there are lots of publications out there putting out lists of recommended works to help potential Hugo voters narrow their ballots.
Last year, there was a bit of a fuss kicked up because the list of nominees was almost all white males. Looking at my potential list of nominees (more detail below the fold), I would say at least my ballot is headed in that direction again. If you are a person who would like to see more books and stories by…
drorzel | February 4, 2008
Acephalous: At the Single Happiest Moment of My Professional Career ...
"Please snap the most unflattering photograph of me possible. "
(tags: football silly pictures)
The knights who say "nerd": 20 pop-cultural obsessions even geekier than Monty Python | The A.V. Club
"20. Fanfic: Because cartoonist Jim Davis will probably never tap the raw, unspoken sexual tension between Garfield and Odie, diehard fans are obliged to write their fan-fiction version of the steamy scene, post it on the Internet, and insecurely encourag
(tags: silly culture internet SF comics games)
Hidden art could be…
drorzel | February 4, 2008I'll be on programming at Boskone again this year, and got my preliminary schedule over the weekend:
Satur 10am Tunguska at 100
Guy Consolmagno, Jeff Hecht, Chad Orzel
On June 30, 1908, an exploding asteroid leveled 2000 square kilometers of Siberian forest, producing a fireball from the sky which knocked pine trees over like matchsticks near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Russia. Such an explosion today over more populated areas could lay waste an entire city. What was it? (Do we know, yet?) What are some of the older theories, and why were they discredited? How likely…
drorzel | February 4, 2008Pro:
1) THE GIANTS WIN THE SUPER BOWL!!!!! w00t!
2) Michael Strahan and Amani Toomer get championship rings, which is particularly sweet, because they suffered through some really awful teams.
3) Eli Manning drinks for free in the tri-state area. This'll buy him at least six months of peace and quiet from the New York press. That was one of the all-time great fourth quarters. I have no idea how he got away from that one sack, and Tyree's catch was amazing.
4) This breaks up Boston's sports hegemony for the year, which couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of fans.
5) THE GIANTS WIN THE SUPER BOWL…