Chad Orzel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Union College in Schenectady, NY. He blogs about physics, life in academia, ephemeral pop culture, and anything else that catches his fancy.
You may start seeing these little icons showing up on your favorite science blogs. So, what's the deal?
Dave Munger of Cognitive Daily has been marking posts that discuss published articles in detail for quite a while now, but there was mroe general interest in having a service to tag and vet such…
I've never been one for costumes, but if you lean that way, and still don't know what you're going as tomorrow, Jennifer Ouellette offers some physics-themed Halloween costumes: Schrödinger's Cat, Maxwell's Demon, and BEC:
If you're looking for something a bit less mainstream, how about dressing…
Aspie-quiz
Do you have an autism-spectrum disorder, or are you neurotypical and just kind of an asshole? (via Scalzi)
(tags: science psychology society blogs)
The Dragaeran Cycle of Houses by ~Silversaff on deviantART
So... A lyorn is a Labrador Retriever with a horn?
(tags: books art SF)…
An anonymous donor asks a tricky question, namely:
how apparently successful research faculty ... can best make the transition to a small
teaching/research institution?
This is a tricky question not only because anything relating to academic jobs is tough, but also because I don't have a great…
Hey,
I just wanted to drop you all a note to say sorry about that football game yesterday. I know I've already admitted that rugby is a superior game, but honestly, the NFL can do better.
You see, the thing is, the Miami Dolphins are a really bad team this year. And the New York Giants, much as I…
The ScienceBlogs DonorsChoose challenge event runs through the end of this month, which means we'll take new contributions through the end of Wednesday. The Uncertain Principles challenge stands at $3,412 at the moment, which is terrific-- more than I realistically expected to get (I set the…
The Washington Monthly
Paul Glastris goes on the Colbert Report: "[I]t's a bit disconcerting to be twelve inches away from a guy who's doing a very believable impression of a total lunatic."
(tags: politics silly television)
Whatever: Football With Jesus
Why you shouldn't let Christ in your Pop…
With my Giants having done their part to ensure that the NFL never catches on in Europe, here's a college football play that ought to appeal to the rugby fans out there. Trinity vs. Millsaps, two seconds to play, Trinity needs a touchdown to win, and has the ball on their own 39:
All it…
On Thursday last week, the Schenectady weather forecast I have in my Bloglines feed called for "Tons of Rain," which I thought was amusingly unprofessional. I mentioned this to Kate yesterday (after it had, in fact, rained quite a bit), and she said "I wonder how much rain you would need to make a…
Back in August, somebody from Night Shade Books contacted me and asked if I would like a review copy of the forthcoming book by Nathalie Mallet, The Princes of the Golden Cage. I almost never turn down free books, so I said yes (actually, both Kate and I were contacted, and she replied first, so we…
The Times today has an article on famous scientists who have nutty ideas, inspired by the James Watson kerfuffle of the last couple of weeks. Of course, they had to mention at least one kooky physicist, leading to this wonderful set of paragraphs:
Sometimes the wandering from one's home turf…
NIST demos industrial-grade nanowire device fabrication
A method that produces nanowires in specific places with specific orientations.
(tags: physics materials experiment science news)
Video shows buckyballs form by 'shrink wrapping'
Graphits sheets wrap around and shed pieces, eventually…
Via Physics Buzz, a Mechanical Aptitude Test for diesel technicians. It's fifty basic physics questions, covering a wide range of material from introductory physics: basic concepts of force and torque, a little bit of electrical circuits, and even some thermodynamics.
I got 45/50, which is a…
Bora has tagged me, and nagged me in comments for this "Happy Hallowmeme" thing where people post links to clips from their favorite scary movies. The problem with this is that I really don't have that much interest in horror in general, or scary movies specifically.
I do, however, retain some…
slacktivist: Gay-hatin' Gospel (pt. 4)
Blogdom's best writer on religion and politics continues his series on why evangelicals are so hostile to gays.
(tags: religion society politics gender)
It Is Written - Books & Culture
Christianity Today reviews The Year of Living Biblically
(tags:…
They're too cheap even to donate to DonorsChoose, and--
Oh. Wait. They are, aren't they?
This is the worst fundraising idea ever.
(I have no great love for China Mieville, either, and found that piece kind of annoying, on the whole, but I couldn't resist the joke. This may indicate that playing the…
As part of the "Buy This Blog" incentive for the DonorsChoose fundraiser, Ewan McNay asks for a post on
the superiority of Commonwealth sports (cricket, football) over the
US-favoured kind (baseball, american football) ;-). Oh, OK, then; I'll
setle for cricket.
Cricket? You want me to talk up…
Over at Neurophilosophy, Mo links to an article by a physicist, posted on the arxiv, that claims to explain visual perceptions using quantum mechanics:
A theory of the process of perception is presented based on von Neumann's quantum theory of measurement and conscious observation. Conscious events…
Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed :: 'Inside Greek U.'
Surprisingly sensible comments about a new book on fraternities and sororities
(tags: academia education books)
Books: The Musical Mystique
"The discourse supporting classical music so reeks of historical…
This was a topic yesterday on Mike & Mike, but I already had a full slate of blog posts. I like the question, though, so I thought I'd put it up here:
If you're a fan of a team in a sport with a championship playoff, who do you root for when your team is out?
This was brought up because some…
I was most of the way through a long post in response to a donor request, when the power went out. It is, in fact, still out at home, and the power company's web site lists an estimated restoration time of 1pm. As you might imagine, this puts something of a kink in my morning.
I'm too dispirited to…
Welcome to Syracuse University News.
"Andrea Farina, a senior communications design major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts' School of Art and Design, won the World Rock Paper Scissors (RPS) Championship"
(tags: silly sports)
Cocktail Party Physics: just an ordinary man
Celebrating…
Dave at the World's Fair has an idea for a "meme":
[Y]ou will attempt to find 5 statements, which if you were to type into google (preferably google.com, but we'll take the other country specific ones if need be), you'll find that you are returned with your blog as the number one hit.
This was,…
Mark Kleiman has rediscovered a semi-clever approach to the problems of smart kids:
So here's the puzzle: is there any justification for not treating high-IQ kids as having "special needs" and therefore entitled to individualized instruction? Yes, yes, I know that in the South "gifted" programs…
Here's the crew I spent this past Saturday morning with:
The guys who are younger than I am are a bunch of students from the local chapter of Sigma Phi. The one guy older than I am is from a volunteer group who help maintain the local bike path. The stone wall behind us is part of a lock from the…
One of the odd things about blogdom, and the commentariat in general, is the way that people will all seem to latch on to some particular idea at about the same time, despite the lack of any obvious connection between them. I keep having days when I scan through my RSS feeds, and find the same…
slacktivist: Gay-Hatin' Gospel (pt. 3)
Part three of Fred Clark's look at why evangelicals are so anti-gay.
(tags: religion politics blogs US gender)
The Big Three
How important are the major SF magazines, anyway?
(tags: SF books literature)
Evolving Thoughts
A taxonomy, of sorts.
(tags:…
I was standing in the back of the Taiko Ensemble concert tonight, when two students I didn't know came in, carrying large, elaborate Nerf guns. They had a certain... hunted look about them.
"Hey," I said, "Who's winning?"
"Oh, man," said one, "The zombies are kicking our asses. They're multiplying…
The DonorsChoose fundraiser is winding toward its conclusion, which means I need to find some new way to raise money for a final push. So, here are two new offers, one for high rollers, one for small donations:
Incentive 1: Guest Post: Taking my cue from the Seed overlords, we'll add a random…
