Links Dump
drorzel | May 26, 2008
A Misunderstood Monument - WSJ.com
"French worked hard to make his huge Lincoln a man and not a god. This is one rumpled icon. The imperfections are hard to miss. His hair is uncombed. His tie is askew. His hands betray a fidgety disposition, and his eyes aren't quite symmetrical."
(tags: history US art society culture)
Observatory - Steep-Headed Canyons May Have Been Formed by Massive Floods - NYTimes.com
"Box Canyon was not formed by seepage over time. Instead, they say, a massive flood about 45,000 years ago carved it violently and much more quickly." No sign of an Ark, though.
(tags:…
drorzel | May 25, 2008
New tests of the Copernican Principle proposed - physicsworld.com
""I would bet my house now that the results will come out null so the Copernican Principle is valid on the scales we observe," says Paul Steinhardt a cosmologist at Princeton University, "But I think the experiments should be done.""
(tags: science astronomy physics theory news)
The New Cult Canon: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang | The A.V. Club
"Not every project allows writers to examine the clichés they're generating--in that way and others, the film is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Black, and one he's earned"
(tags: movies…
drorzel | May 24, 2008
Mark Batty Publisher/ Books/ Description
Bedtime reading for future font geeks.
(tags: books silly language publishing)
Where to Watch Phoenix' Landing - The Planetary Society Blog | The Planetary Society
"There are a bazillion sources of information on what's up with Phoenix as its landing approaches on Sunday, so here's an attempt to round up some of your options."
(tags: science space planets internet television news)
The Quantum Pontiff : Doggy Dogs
German Shepherd mixes: the official dog of physics bloggers.
(tags: dog pictures blogs)
Primer: Steven Spielberg | The A.V. Club
"…
drorzel | May 23, 2008
Easily Distracted » Blog Archive » In My Day...
"[I]t would help, if you want to complain about the declining quality of the humanities, to not be a historical dunderhead on a fantastic scale, to demonstrate some degree of erudition."
(tags: academia humanities history society culture education)
drorzel | May 22, 2008
Thoughts from Kansas : Hurray for the primaries!
"Good Lord, they've all gone crazy. It isn't just Lanny Davis any more."
(tags: US politics video youtube silly)
Astronomers watch as star dies - physicsworld.com
"The source, now identified as SN 2008D, marks the first time a star has been caught turning into a "type-Ib" supernova"
(tags: astronomy science news space)
slacktivist: Look at their shoes
"No one smart enough to be capable of tying their own shoelaces is stupid enough to really believe what they're saying when they invoke [Neville Chamberlain]."
(tags: politics religion…
drorzel | May 21, 2008
Izzle! Izzle pfaff!
"In the Name of the King is neither good nor bad, and yet it is both at once. In the Name of the King is the Schrodinger's Cat of garbage movies; until watched, it remains in a state of quantum superposition, and then when it is watched, the waveform coll
(tags: movies review stupid)
Your Review is Hereby Summarily Rejected « nOnoscience
"It is with extreme poignancy I write to inform you that the authors, after sitting on your review for an year, have summarily rejected your review report for want of better content worthy of publishing consideration with us."
(tags:…
drorzel | May 20, 2008
FemaleScienceProfessor: The Five Stages of Proposal Writing
Six, if you live in a trailer park.
(tags: academia science economics)
slacktivist: Bacchanal
"I haven't seen Prince Caspian yet, but since it was the "No. 1 Movie" this weekend, let's revisit what that wonderful little book was about: Prince Caspian is about beer."
(tags: books movies literature religion politics food)
Phoenix Lander Is Ready for Risky Descent to Mars - New York Times
"Although the Phoenix lander, a conglomeration of parts from two earlier failed missions, has been tested and rechecked to correct all known…
drorzel | May 19, 2008
New family of quaternary iron-based compounds superconducts at tens of kelvin - Physics Today May 2008
"Last year it looked as though high-Tc superconductivity takes place only in CuO2 planes. Now that LaOFeAs has broken the cuprates' monopoly, what other superconductors wait to be discovered?"
(tags: physics materials energy science news)
The Twin Paradox
A collection of explanations
(tags: physics relativity science education)
Wired Science . Education | PBS
The semi-finalists in Wired's contest for student videos explaining science.
(tags: science education internet video)
Cocktail…
drorzel | May 18, 2008
ruhlman.com: Flour, egg, milk
Really simple popovers.
(tags: food blogs)
Dynamics of Cats : grade inflation
"I had been worrying that my "curve" was tipping too far, too many As and Bs, but [threats are] not why - in fact student whingeing, if anything, would tip me towards harsher grading."
(tags: academia education society)
Grits for Breakfast: Are crime lab reports "testimonial" documents? SCOTUS will decide
"Considering lab reports anything but written expert testimony seriously misunderstands modern forensic science, which is not "objective" science but a results oriented,…
drorzel | May 17, 2008
California's gay-marriage decision reflects the difference between judicial activism and, um judging. - By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate Magazine
"Even though the majority did what it was supposed to do and offered up a rigorous close reading of state law and precedent, it will be defended and also criticized solely in terms of judicial elitism and overreaching."
(tags: law marriage politics US)
Off the Kuff: Diet Coke and Mentos: The sequel
Coke, Mentos, and way too much free time.
(tags: silly video science food toys chemistry)
The Little Professor: Hazards of Academic Regalia: A Serious…
drorzel | May 16, 2008
World Science Festival Blog
Of course they have a blog-- it's 2008, for God's sake...
(tags: blogs science society culture education theater television movies art physics biology chemistry environment)
Pharmaceuticals in the Environment, Information for Assessing Risk » Home
"The database provides information on prescribed amounts, levels detected in aquatic environments, chemical structure, molecular weight, octanol-water partition coefficients, water solubility, environmental persistence, general toxicity information and sp
(tags: science environment chemistry medicine drugs)
Galaxies…
drorzel | May 15, 2008
Learning Curves: Verizon Wireless Reminds You to Silence Your Cell Phone During Class
"I'm willing to put corporate logos on my PowerPoint slides if the Math Department gets to keep a decent share of the ad revenue. "
(tags: academia education economics math silly)
Pre-K students benefit when teachers are supportive
Today's news from the Journal of Well, Duh.
(tags: academia education psychology news society culture)
Adolescents' values can serve as a buffer against behaving violently at school
Another shocker.
(tags: academia education psychology news science social-science society…
drorzel | May 14, 2008
Fafblog! the whole world's only source for Fafblog.
That's that no-nonsense down-to-business style I like about you, Hillary Clinton! You don't just talk about change. You talk about how much you don't just talk about change!
(tags: politics US silly blogs society)
How to Turn Your Vacuum Cleaner into a Bazooka : Environmental News Blog | Environmental Graffiti
Because sometimes, you just need a bazooka
(tags: science toys physics education)
Daily Kos: State of the Nation
"[Hillary Clinton's] biggest wins--the places where she beat Obama by margins of 2 to 1 or better--have come almost…
drorzel | May 13, 2008
Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » The bullet-swallowers
"Some connections are obvious: libertarianism and MWI are both are grand philosophical theories that start from premises that almost all educated people accept (quantum mechanics in the one case, Econ 101 in the other), and claim to reach conclusions that
(tags: blogs politics quantum science physics silly economics)
The Quantum Pontiff : Political Interpretations of Quantum Theory
"So if many worlders are the libertarians of interpretations of quantum theory, what political parties do the other interpretations of quantum theory…
drorzel | May 12, 2008
Confessions of a Community College Dean: False Economies
"[S]elf-defeating efforts at cost control" See also "deferred maintenance."
(tags: academia economics stupid politics)
Maths plus 'geeky' images equals deterred students
This week, in the Journal of Unsurprising Results.
(tags: math science psychology society culture education academia)
Quantized conductance seen in graphene - physicsworld.com
"This phenomenon will allow researchers to achieve various quantum effects in graphene for fundamental research and for technological applications,"
(tags: physics materials science news…
drorzel | May 11, 2008
The Neon Season: Theatre Tag
Hilarious tales of disasters on stage.
(tags: theater silly society culture)
Making Light: A new holiday, rarely celebrated
"Happy Voice of Command Day, in honor of all of those people in our lives who were irrefutably right."
(tags: culture society religion silly)
Crooked Timber » » Economic fundamentalism and the minimum wage
"What economics has done is to take the models of the supply and demand of consumer goods and apply them to the supply and demand of labor. This, I believe, is fundamentally wrong-headed. "
(tags: academia economics social-science…
drorzel | May 10, 2008
Solve Puzzles for Science | Fold It!
Protein Folding: The Game! It has to be better than listening to seminar talks about it...
(tags: chemistry games science computing internet news)
drorzel | May 9, 2008
slacktivist: L.B.: Speakerphone
"If you're a book editor, you should own a copy of Left Behind to take along to your annual performance reviews. Just open to a random page, have your boss read it, and then remind them that this is why you're worth every penny and then some."
(tags: books writing politics religion stupid publishing)
http://www.teeful.com/product_p/abc-23.htm
I judge you when you use poor grammar
(tags: language academia education silly)
drorzel | May 8, 2008
Solar System Visualizer
Look at those planets and moons go!
(tags: astronomy planets science computing internet gadgets)
Polar vortex replicated in a bucket - physicsworld.com
"The centre of the vortex is usually circular, but occasionally it assumes a triangular or even a square shape. Now researchers in Canada claim to have replicated this behaviour for the first time in the laboratory -- using nothing more than water in a c
(tags: science physics pictures news)
The Quantum Pontiff : In Probability We Trust?
"How well has classical probability theory been tested?"
(tags: physics…
drorzel | May 7, 2008
Japan Fights Crowds of Crows - New York Times
"This is the Crow Patrol of utility company Kyushu Electric Power, on the hunt for crows whose nests on electric poles have caused a string of blackouts in [Kagoshima] on Japan's southern island of Kyushu."
(tags: Japan animals travel)
Breaking Murphy's Law
"There are a lot of things that can go wrong when you're a presenter (or when you are supporting someone else's presentation). This site is going to try to help you break Murphy's Law so Murphy's Law can't break you."
(tags: meetings academia education science)