Links Dump
drorzel | December 30, 2008
Auto Destruct
"[F]or all of Detroit's mistakes, it is also a victim of something it did right: ensuring a middle-class lifestyle for bluecollar workers. When the carmakers, pushed by unions, agreed to provide workers with a steady level of purchasing power, comprehensive health benefits lasting into retirement, and various forms of workplace rights, they were promising something that all Americans covet. And, while the financial costs and managerial constraints associated with that effort have helped bring domestic carmakers to the edge of collapse, ultimate responsibility for this…
drorzel | December 29, 2008
The Quantum Pontiff : A Curmudgeon's and Improv's Guide to Outliers: Introduction
"Gladwell's books are fun, but I find myself often disagreeing with his analysis, so I thought it would be entertaining to take my time reading his latest and jot down my thoughts as I progress. "
(tags: science social-science society culture medicine books)
Throwing a football with air resistance - angle for maximum range | Dot Physics
"When throwing a football, there is some air resistance this means that 45 degree is not necessarily the angle for the greatest range. Well, can't I just do the same thing as…
drorzel | December 27, 2008
nanoscale views: What does it mean for a material to be an "insulator"?
"We broadly lump solids into two groups, those that conduct electricity and those that don't. Materials in the latter category are known as insulators, and it turns out that there are at least three different kinds."
(tags: science physics blogs education materials condensed-matter)
Mr. Faraday's (most excellent) experimental researches in electricity (1831) « Skulls in the Stars
"I started to investigate Faraday's writings while working on a post about Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Coming Race, which quotes…
drorzel | December 22, 2008
The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media » Far from the Peer-Reviewed Journal,Scientists Confront How-Tos of Op-Eds
"So how can scientists strategically convey their messages to a broad audience without losing the nuances of their field? "
(tags: science politics writing journalism)
Christmas, please, but hold the treacle: 42 holiday entertainments that don't make us want to claw our eyes out with rage | The A.V. Club
Does not include Pratchett's Hogfather, probably because it's too British, but it's better than almost anything that did make the list.
(tags: culture television…
drorzel | December 20, 2008
Sciencewomen : Thoughts on my AGU experience
Don't tell my university administrators, but sharing my latest science results is only a tiny fraction of the reason to go to a conference like AGU. Even hearing the latest and greatest science is not the entire reason. This is a lesson that is taking me a long time to learn.
(tags: science academia jobs meetings)
Respectful Insolence: Your Friday Dose of Woo: When a mad mathematician meets quantum homeopathy
Oh, Lionel Milgrom, no!
(tags: science blogs stupid medicine)
Minimal Advice to Undergrads on Programming
"You should treat "Thou shalt…
drorzel | December 19, 2008
EzraKlein Archive | The American Prospect
It's possible there are other solutions than EFCA. But it needs to be solved, one way or the other. EFCA has its problems, but pretending that it's somehow a perversion of workplace democracy as compared to a world in which 25 percent of organizing campaigns see a worker fired is absurd.
(tags: politics economics US class-war)
Stop picking on the Newbery Medal, the premier award in children's literature. - By Erica S. Perl - Slate Magazine
Is a Newbery winner right for every kid? No--but what book is? Some kids will give the tougher tomes a try…
drorzel | December 18, 2008
The Art of SATergy - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com
"Consider the following question for the GMAT (the test given to MBA applicants). Unfortunately, issues of copyright clearance have prevented us from reproducing the question, but that shouldn't stop us. "
(tags: science education academia psychology social-science)
Op-Ed Contributor - It's a Narnia Christmas - NYTimes.com
"That I'm not a Christian doesn't much hinder my enjoyment of either the holiday or the book, but the presence of Father Christmas bothered many of Lewis's friends, including J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien, whose Middle-…
drorzel | December 16, 2008
Confessions of a Community College Dean: "It's Just a Job" vs. "We're All in This Together"
"[T]here's been a fascinating exchange in blogland between Tenured Radical and Dr. Crazy. Both addressed the ways that budget issues are being discussed at their respective colleges. Stipulating upfront that neither was really arguing with the other, and that they're working at two very different kinds of institutions, they really staked out two very distinctive positions."
(tags: blogs economics academia society culture jobs)
Easily Distracted » Blog Archive » A Sale of Two Doorstops
Negative…
drorzel | December 13, 2008
nanoscale views: Manhattan and Apollo project metaphors
"Relatively regularly these days there are calls for a Manhattan or Apollo style project to address our energy challenges. While this may sound good, it's worth considering what such a project would actually mean."
(tags: science economics energy environment US politics blogs)
Brandon Sanderson: Sanderson's First Law
"For a while now, I've been working on various theories regarding magic systems. There's a lot to consider here. As a writer, I want a system that is fun to write. As a reader, I want something that is something fun to…
drorzel | December 12, 2008
Introduction to conservation of momentum and collisions | Dot Physics
"This is an introduction to objects that interact. To describe this, I will need to pull several different ideas together (that you have probably already looked at)."
(tags: physics science blogs education)
Spot the math errors! « Skulls in the Stars
The ins and outs of some famous fake proofs
(tags: math blogs education silly)
Perimeter Scholars International | Welcome
A new Master's degree program for people who want to learn theoretical physics from the very best.
(tags: academia physics science education)
...My…
drorzel | December 11, 2008
Mike the Mad Biologist : Why Aren't U.S. Toyota Workers Paid Better?
"What has struck me throughout all of these discussions, however, is that Honda's and Toyota's current lower wages and benefits are seen as 'natural', while the Big Three's are seen as inflated. It's odd to hear progressives and liberals argue that the Big Three autoworkers really aren't getting paid that much more than Toyota's."
(tags: class-war economics politics US society blogs)
SDA Archive
A web interface to a lot of social-science survey data, if you want to kill time by making graphs.
(tags: statistics science…
drorzel | December 10, 2008
Water confirmed on distant planet - physicsworld.com
Any lingering doubts about whether water exists on a planet orbiting a star 63 light years away have been quashed by astronomers in the US. The team measured infrared light emitted by the planet, known as HD 189733b, and found distinct spectral features that, they say, can be explained only by the presence of water. Researchers had been puzzled because a previous attempt by the team to find water on the planet had failed, even though other astronomers claimed to have spotted the stuff.
(tags: science astronomy planets news)
The…
drorzel | December 9, 2008
Swans on Tea » The Migration and Herding Tendencies of Tools
"Tools are routinely used and then set aside on the most convenient unoccupied flat surface, after which they are shuffled around to create more unoccupied surface area, which eventually obscures some of the items that have been piled up. Murphy's law dictates the most critical items will be obscured the most. "
(tags: science experiment silly blogs)
A Young Mad Scientist's First Alphabet Blocks | Xylocopa
"We are pleased to announce the release of our Young Mad Scientist's First Alphabet Blocks. These lovely blocks contain…
drorzel | December 8, 2008
Hope in a box: The A.V. Club's guide to holiday gifts for the new era of good feelings | The A.V. Club
"Words like "need" or "necessary" lose all meaning around Christmas, even when the economy is collapsing. For example, does anyone actually need a flexible plastic case to prevent their bananas from getting bruised? Of course not. "
(tags: silly onion gadgets)
Fafblog! the whole world's only source for Fafblog.
So I'm headin out to the store to get some popcorn when a snowstorm hits town an freezes me in a block a ice. A coupla thousand years later I get thawed out by some friendly…
drorzel | December 7, 2008
Holiday Guide 2008: Gifts - Best Books of 2008 (washingtonpost.com)
Only three science books, but at least they have a Science category.
(tags: books review science society culture)
Mike the Mad Biologist : Framing Good Transit Policy Poorly: The Efficiency Argument
"I don't like the subsidizing of the 'burbs by the urbs either, but, if you're talking to someone who is subsidized, you better come up with some good, specific--and 'bite-sized'--examples of how these policies will help them specifically and immediately."
(tags: blogs environment economics class-war society social-science…
drorzel | December 5, 2008
The Intersection: Announcing Unscientific America
A new book, from Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum, coming to fine bookstores everywhere in May
(tags: science books writing politics society)
PLoS Genetics: Taken to School: An Interview with the Honorable Judge John E. Jones, III
The judge in the Dover "Intelligent Design" trial, in case you don't recognize the name. A good interview, hitting a lot of good points about how the law works.
(tags: science law education biology politics religion us articles)
Christmas tree lights and series circuits | Dot Physics
"So, why are christmas…
drorzel | December 3, 2008
Back to Reality - Olivia Judson Blog - NYTimes.com
"President-elect Obama already has a long to-do list. But here's another item for it: to restore science in government."
(tags: science politics us blogs)
Built on Facts : Gas in a (very small) box.
Air is denser than you think.
(tags: science atoms physics blogs education)
EEGs show brain differences between poor and rich kids
Evidently, Fitzgerald was right.
(tags: class-war education science psychology news)
Dynamics of Cats : The 1% Perspective
"Several individual institutions, any one of which is redundant in its function, have…
drorzel | December 2, 2008
A Blog Around The Clock : The Open Laboratory 2008 - all the submissions fit to print
Some light reading to fill your infinite free time.
(tags: science blogs writing)
Pay Bankers Much Less - Finance Blog - Felix Salmon - Market Movers - Portfolio.com
"I've now reached the point at which I simply don't believe people when they say that lower pay for bankers will result in worse performance -- especially since it looks very much as though it was higher pay for bankers which was at least partly responsible for much of the present crisis. Let's bring down pay, a lot, and see whether…
drorzel | December 1, 2008
Schneier on Security: Lessons from Mumbai
"If there's any lesson in these attacks, it's not to focus too much on the specifics of the attacks. "
(tags: news society security blogs)
Does the broken windows theory hold online?
"Does the aesthetic appearance of a blog affect what's written by the site's commenters?"
(tags: culture internet blogs psychology society)
Good Math, Bad Math : Public Key Cryptography using RSA
How to encrypt and decrypt with RSA, with a worked example.
(tags: math science blogs computing)
Follow the Leader :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education's Source for…
drorzel | November 26, 2008
slacktivist: Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?
"Part of the answer to that question is that our newspapers are being asked to do something they were never designed to do and something they are fundamentally and structurally incapable of doing: they're being asked to provide shareholders with double-digit and ever-increasing profit margins."
(tags: journalism economics stupid slacktivist blogs social-science society culture)
Boing Boing's Holiday Gift Guide part one: Kids - Boing Boing
A directory of wonderful gifts.
(tags: books comics literature kid-stuff)
Adventures in…