drorzel | August 15, 2006Also in the Times today is an opinion piece by Lawrence Krauss on why the Kansas school board election isn't the end of the fight. He quotes some damning things from the chairman of the school board, and then observes:
A key concern should not be whether Dr. Abrams's religious views have a place in the classroom, but rather how someone whose religious views require a denial of essentially all modern scientific knowledge can be chairman of a state school board.
I have recently been criticized by some for strenuously objecting in print to what I believe are scientifically inappropriate…
drorzel | August 15, 2006There's an interesting article in the Times today about Grisha Perelman and the Poincare conjecture:
Three years ago, a Russian mathematician by the name of Grigory Perelman, a k a Grisha, in St. Petersburg, announced that he had solved a famous and intractable mathematical problem, known as the Poincaré conjecture, about the nature of space.
After posting a few short papers on the Internet and making a whirlwind lecture tour of the United States, Dr. Perelman disappeared back into the Russian woods in the spring of 2003, leaving the world's mathematicians to pick up the pieces and decide…
drorzel | August 15, 2006You might think that, being a sciene blogger and all, I would have sources of science news that aren't available to the average person on the street. You would be right, though they're not as useful as you might think... The source for today's news teaser is actually a thank-you email from a prospective student I talked to on Friday.
So, anyway, those little scamps at NASA are playing all coy with some sort of announcement regarding dark matter:
Astronomers who used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 21, to announce how dark and normal…
drorzel | August 14, 2006This isn't the usual story about lab mishaps, but I'm not quite sure what other category to put it in. It is a true story about my lab in grad school, though, so we'll call it a True Lab Story.
The mid-90's was not a great time to be working in a government lab, particularly NIST. I mean, it was better than being out on the street, but funding was kind of tight, and the "Contract With America" Republicans of '94 were making noises about massive spending cuts, and threatening to eliminate the Department of Commerce altogether (mostly because they hated Ron Brown, the first Secretary of…
drorzel | August 14, 2006As Kate and I set out to run errands the other day, the "Service Engine Soon" idiot light came on in my car (a 1999 Ford Taurus LX). This may or may not mean anything-- Kate got one of those in her Prius a while back and it was nothing-- but if it's actually an indicator of anything serious, I'll be in the market for a new car. I was already planning to unload this car in December, because the warranty on the rebuilt transmission runs out not long after that, but if I'm facing more than $1,500 in repairs, we'll bump that up.
So, my question for the bloggeratti is this: What kind of car should…
drorzel | August 14, 2006When I switched over the ScienceBlogs, I did so intending to keep my booklog separate. In the last several months, though, the book log has been languishing, in large part because I feel obliged to keep up the quantity and quality of the posts here. Which means that I end up not writing booklog entries because that would take time away from writing ScienceBlogs posts, and I don't have time to do both.
So, I'm going to face facts, and just move the booklog posts over here. This also offers the advantage of allowing spoiler cuts (the current set-up for the book log does not), which is nice. So…
drorzel | August 14, 2006Beer is wonderful stuff. Not only is it the subject of the oldest known recipe, some have argued that agricultural civilization started in order to brew beer-- see, for example, the comments in this article. And, remarkably, despite the inclusion of both "alcohol" and "carbonated beverages" in the list of things that people with heartburn should avoid, beer is one of two things I've found that consistently make my stomach feel better-- if I have a beer or two, nothing else seems to really cause problems.
(The other consistent solution, for those who care, is physical exercise. Even when my…
drorzel | August 13, 2006Not a lot in the Times this week (other than, you know, depressing news about the Middle East), but I did find their piece on couples arguing over audiobooks amusing:
[L]ately an unwitting group has been parachuting into the matrimonial crossfire: authors. As more couples discover how an audio book breaks the monotony of a road trip, writers who once enjoyed sovereignty on respective night tables are now fighting for air time in the family car.
"While I like business books, or nonfiction, or maybe science fiction," said Mr. Wollborg, who rents from Simply Audiobooks, which is set up like…
drorzel | August 13, 2006Well, it's as good a guess at a collective noun for "kerfuffle" as any other...
There have been three moderately heated bloggy controversies that I've been following over the past week, that I haven't commented on. Mostly because I don't really have that much to add to any of the arguments, or at least, not enough to merit a blog post.
I do want to note their existence, though, and maybe by combining them together, it won't feel so much like a pointless fluff post. So if you're dying to know my opinions on the crimes of fanfic, Oliver Stone's casting decisions, or Hooters, click on through to…
drorzel | August 13, 2006Via Making Light, Aasif Mandvi on The Daily Show delivers a blistering yet deadpan assessment of American Middle East policy to date.
I deeply resent living in a world where the only worthwhile political commentary comes from a comedy show.
drorzel | August 12, 2006That last post is really kind of a downer topic for a Saturday morning, especially after a fun Friday. Sorry about that. Here's a picture of pretty flowers to lighten the mood:
These are on some tall bushes outside our back door, growing around the base of some pine trees that look like fifty-foot mutant bonsai. The flowers were identified as a rose of somebody or another, and when they flower, they don't hold back. Below the fold is another picture, showing a little more of the context.
Pretty!
And now, off to run errands...
drorzel | August 12, 2006This year marks 25 years since the identification of AIDS as a disease, and Seed is going with blanket coverage. The latest print issue is devoted to AIDS coverage, there's a temporary group blog covering the International AIDS conference, and this week's Ask a ScienceBlogger is AIDS-related:
To what extent do you worry about AIDS, either with respect to yourself, your children, or the world at large?
As this is very much outside my area of expertise, I don't expect to have much of anything to say on this topic this week, but I'll give a partial answer to the question below the fold.
On a…
drorzel | August 11, 2006I'm getting a little sick of the current rotation on iTunes, which means it's probably time for another shopping spree. I've got a couple of albums on my list to buy already (the new Tom Petty, the new Richard Thompson), and I've heard a couple of good tracks on KEXP that I'll check out (new songs by Midlake and the Long Winters), but I'm always interested in new music.
So, what's new in the music world that I ought to buy? Ideally, these should be tracks available through iTunes, though I will buy physical CD's if I have sufficiently good reason.
My tastes are somewhat eclectic, as you can…
drorzel | August 11, 2006As noted in a previous post, I'm teaching the senior seminar this fall, which means I'll be meeting weekly with our senior majors (13 of them!) to discuss topics of interest to them. Which will involve a fair amount of discussion of graduate school, because that's one of the options, whether people think it's a good idea or not.
These days, it seems like everybody has their own college rankings (the Washington Monthly just came out with a new version of theirs, for example), but very few people provide what's really important: realistic ratings of physics graduate programs. So let's see what…
drorzel | August 11, 2006I usually try to post some lighter material on Fridays-- dorky polls, random tracks, that sort of thing-- and this week, I thought of three different topics that are all basically hooks for comments. So, I'm declaring it a theme for the day, because, well, I can do that. I doubt this will become a regular Friday feature, as I'm not organized enough to commit to that sort of thing, but it might be fun for a day. Or it might be a complete flop-- tough to say.
First up: Who are you people, and where are you coming from?
OK, that deserves some more background. We use Google Analytics for the…
drorzel | August 11, 2006Well, OK, you might want to wait until after work. But if you're into wine, you might be interested in The Naked Vine, a wine-recommending blog started by a guy from a mailing list that I'm on. The origin in explained in the mission statement:
The August 2006 issue of Gourmet magazine has a sidebar - "Best Wines for Grilling." Don't get me wrong - I enjoy that magazine. I leaf through it every month. I'm an amateur foodie - and I love new ideas. That said, when the cheapest recommended selection on a rack of pinots to accompany your freshly flame-caressed breaded pork chop is close to $30,…
drorzel | August 10, 2006Since dogs are superior to cats, and she's the best Emmy ever, here are some dog pictures a day ahead of the usual pet-blogging schedule.
This one shows Her Majesty in her element, basking in the back yard in a little hollow under a bush.
(More after the cut)
Her little den provides an excellent view of the back yard. This one was shot from behind the bush, while I was waiting for the house sparrows to settle down and be photographed.
Of course, the increased bird activity does occasionally force her to get up and re-assert control over the yard. Here she is after chasing off a bunch of…
drorzel | August 10, 2006The discussion surrounding the recent post about jobs continues to bubble along nicely, both in the original post, and the follow-up. I love it when a plan comes together.
There's been a lot of discussion of following the advice in the Katz letter and seeking non-academic careers, but Jeff F. (who I know from my post-doc days) puts his finger on a major problem with this plan: The faculty who advise students on career choices don't know, well, much of anything:
Unfortunately, I was mostly on my own in making the jump from academics to industry. I chose to do a postdoc on a project with my…
drorzel | August 10, 2006Well, OK, it's really another of those stories about a cut-up judge, who, in this case, issued an order compelling Defendant's counsel to accept the Plaintiff's counsel's lunch invitation:
There are a number of fine restaurants within easy driving distance of both counsel's
offices, e.g., Christopher's, Vincent's, Morton's, Donovan's, Bistro 24 at the Ritz-Carlton, The
Arizona Biltmore Grill, Sam's Café (Biltmore location), Alexi's, Sophie's and, if either counsel
has a membership, the Phoenix Country Club and the University Club. Counsel may select their
own venue or, if unable to agree,…
drorzel | August 10, 2006I'm not sure if this is really new, or just new to me, but via a mailing list, I learned that the National Archives of the UK has made the Domesday Book available on-line. What is the Domesday Book, you ask?
At Christmas 1085 William the Conqueror commissioned a great survey to discover the resources and taxable values of all the boroughs and manors in England. He wanted to discover who owned what, how much it was worth, and how much was owed to him as King.
It was a massive enterprise, and the record of that survey, Domesday Book, was a remarkable achievement.
If you know what you're…