Links Dump
drorzel | December 21, 2011Molly Grades the Charts: The Top Ten of 2011 - Hollywood Prospectus Blog
A Grantlad writer's personal top ten songs out of Billboard's top 100 for the year. Notable primarily because I only recognize one of the ten songs.
Our favourite pictures of 2011 - physicsworld.com
Much as we enjoy reporting the complex and intriguing advances made in physics each year, we do love an interesting picture to go with it. Here are 12 of our favourite images of 2011, in no particular order. These range from the beautiful and historical to pictures that show how science affects the world we live in. We hope…
drorzel | December 20, 2011Charles P. Pierce on the religion of Tim Tebow - Grantland
If we're going to have a real discussion about the place of public religion in our public spectacles, then let's have one instead of some mushy, Wonder Bread platitudes about how great it is that Tim Tebow talks about Jesus and doesn't get caught doing strippers two at a time in the hot tub. If religion comes into the public square, it is as vulnerable as any other human institution to be pelted with produce. Ignorance does not become wisdom just because you gussy it up with the Gospels. If we keep faith with those American values,…
drorzel | December 19, 2011Fun games for science-y kids. | Doing Good Science, Scientific American Blog Network
Any game where you have to make choices about what to do involves some sort of strategy, and formulating or refining strategies is a work-out for your brain. This means that games, in general, tend to be brain-friendly giftables. It's worth noting that many of the games which connect to qualities of mind that are useful in scientific problem-solving are fun for kids (and adults) who don't think of themselves as having any special interest in science. I'm not saying you should use such games to launch stealth…
drorzel | December 16, 2011Mellowmas | Popdose
Your go-to guys for Christmas songs that DO suck...
The 20 Unhappiest People You Meet In The Comments Sections Of Year-End Lists : Monkey See : NPR
7. The Self-Punisher. "I always hate your tastes, so I knew this would be a miserable and useless list before I decided to click on it and read the whole thing, and now I know I was right."
[1112.3004] Time in the 10,000-Year Clock
The Long Now Foundation is building a mechanical clock that is designed to keep time for the next 10,000 years. The clock maintains its long-term accuracy by synchronizing to the Sun. The 10,000-…
drorzel | December 15, 2011A Muscular Empathy - Ta-Nehisi Coates - National - The Atlantic
It is comforting to believe that we, through our sheer will, could transcend these bindings -- to believe that if we were slaves, our indomitable courage would have made us Frederick Douglass, if we were slave masters our keen morality would have made us Bobby Carter, that were we poor and black our sense of Protestant industry would be a mighty power sending gang leaders, gang members, hunger, depression and sickle cell into flight. We flatter ourselves, not out of malice, but out of instinct. Still, we are, in the main,…
drorzel | December 14, 2011How to Rescue Education Reform - NYTimes.com
We sorely need a smarter, more coherent vision of the federal role in K-12 education. Yet both parties find themselves hemmed in. Republicans are stuck debating whether, rather than how, the federal government ought to be involved in education, while Democrats are squeezed between superintendents, school boards and teachers' unions that want money with no strings, and activists with little patience for concerns about federal overreach. When it comes to education policy, the two of us represent different schools of thought. One of us..., is an…
drorzel | December 11, 2011Tom Stites: Taking stock of the state of web journalism » Nieman Journalism Lab
The buzz about how bloggers and citizen journalists will save the day, once almost deafening, has died down to a murmur, although the buzz about Twitter, Facebook, and cellphone video cameras saving the day has picked up thanks to their powerful contributions to coverage of major breaking stories, from the Arab spring to Occupy Wall Street. But the triumphant march to the digital future, at least when measured in terms of original reporting, has yet to lead anywhere near triumph. Yet the picture is not entirely…
drorzel | December 9, 2011Print - What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447 - Popular Mechanics
Human judgments, of course, are never made in a vacuum. Pilots are part of a complex system that can either increase or reduce the probability that they will make a mistake. After this accident, the million-dollar question is whether training, instrumentation, and cockpit procedures can be modified all around the world so that no one will ever make this mistake again--or whether the inclusion of the human element will always entail the possibility of a catastrophic outcome. After all, the men who crashed AF447 were three…
drorzel | December 8, 2011Catching Up To the Future: An Appreciation of William Gibson | Tor.com
William Gibson is one of those writers whose name is in the process of becoming an adjective--consider Kafkaesque, Ballardian, Pynchonesque: words for which the meaning has become osmotically absorbed even by people who haven't necessarily read the authors' books. Now we have Gibsonesque (or perhaps "Gibsonian"? The jury remains out). As with all such things, it's not necessarily easy to define--if it was, we wouldn't have needed to adjective-ize the name to begin with.
Vishnu Parasuraman on the problems with the BCS -…
drorzel | December 7, 2011You Khan't Ignore How Students Learn | Action-Reaction
People's reactions are not indicators of effectiveness. Pre/post testing is needed to indicate effectiveness. Ah, but perhaps there is a relationship between people's reaction and effectiveness? The research indicates otherwise. In the very research study that Khan says is valid (and then dismisses), student actually did better after watching the videos they described as confusing, and made no gains after watching the videos they described as easy to understand. Additional research indicates that when an instructor switches over to IE…
drorzel | December 6, 2011How Doctors Die « Zócalo Public Square
It's not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don't die like the rest of us. What's unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little. For all the time they spend fending off the deaths of others, they tend to be fairly serene when faced with death themselves. They know exactly what is going to happen, they know the choices, and they generally have access to any sort of medical care they could want. But they go gently.
Paris Review - Document: The Symbolism Survey, Sarah Funke…
drorzel | December 4, 2011The 45 Most Powerful Images Of 2011
The year in photojournalism.
How Beer Saved the World | Watch Free Documentary Online
Did you know that beer was critical to the birth of civilization? That's right - beer. Scientists and historians line up to tell the amazing, untold story of how beer helped create math, poetry, pyramids, modern medicine, labor laws, and America. If you think beer is just something cold and filling to drink during sporting matches or in the kind of bars that you probably shouldn't order wine in, then, boy, are you ever in the dark. It turns out beer is responsible for,…
drorzel | December 3, 2011AMNH | Master of Arts in Teaching Program
Learn to teach Earth and Space science in New York City through the Master of Arts in Teaching Urban Residency Program at the American Museum of Natural History; the first urban teacher residency program offered by a museum. *Full-time 15 month program with benefits and stipend *Small class sizes and one-on-one mentoring *Science coursework at a world-class museum *Learn to teach in a supportive nurturing environment *Work alongside scientists and urban teachers *Graduate with real-world teaching experience *Ongoing professional support following…
drorzel | December 2, 2011Tailgating Recipes: Puff Pastry Samosas - NYTimes.com
I'm dubious, because the texture of the outside would be way different than a real samosa. But it looks relatively simple, so maybe it'd be worth a try.
The Deepening Paradox -- KarlSchroeder.com
If the Fermi Paradox is a profound question, then this answer is equally profound. It amounts to saying that the universe provides us with a picture of the ultimate end-point of technological development. In the Great Silence, we see the future of technology, and it lies in achieving greater and greater efficiencies, until our machines approach…
drorzel | December 1, 2011The 5 Best Toys of All Time | GeekDad | Wired.com
1. Stick What's brown and sticky? A Stick. This versatile toy is a real classic -- chances are your great-great-grandparents played with one, and your kids have probably discovered it for themselves as well. It's a required ingredient for Stickball, of course, but it's so much more. Stick works really well as a poker, digger and reach-extender. It can also be combined with many other toys (both from this list and otherwise) to perform even more functions.
We Are All 'Closing Time': Why Semisonic's 1998 Hit Still Resonates - Hollywood…
drorzel | November 30, 2011Science Experiments for Unimpressed Kids: Surface Tension | Live Granades
How to Demonstrate Surface Tension This easy and fun experiment will be sure to captivate absolutely no one. Equipment Glass of water Needle A piece of toilet paper One or more kids who will be unimpressed by your experiment
Coilhouse » Blog Archive » Mr. Mead's Menagerie
"Edward Gorey doing The Fantastic Mr. Fox" was the first description that entered my head when I saw these, but that's not quite right. Maybe if The Fantastic Mr. Fox had been the book written by HP Lovecraft instead of The Dream-Quest of Unknown…
drorzel | November 29, 2011"They've traded more for cigarettes / than I've managed to express"; or, Dives, Lazarus, and Alice
"Let us consider a simple economy with three individuals. Alice is a restaurateur; she has fed herself, and has just prepared a delicious turkey dinner, at some cost in materials, fuel, and her time. Dives is a wealthy conceptual artist, who has eaten and is not hungry, but would like to buy the turkey dinner so he can "feed" it to the transparent machine he has built, and film it being "digested" and eventually excreted. To achieve this, he is willing and able to spend up to $5000. ... Huddled…
drorzel | September 6, 2011STAR WARS : The Solo Adventures (HD) - YouTube
There's a little Uncanny Valley thing going on with the characters, but this is still better than anything Lucas has put out in about twenty years. I'd definitely watch more of this.
The Chicago Blog: Playing poker with Parker: An interview with Brian Garfield
"Donald E. Westlake was a twentieth-century master of crime fiction. Under the name Richard Stark, one of his many pseudonyms, he penned the legendary Parker novels, including three just brought back into print by the University of Chicago Press this week: Butcher's Moon (1974), Comeback (…
drorzel | September 5, 2011Lance Mannion: Do video game avatars dream of digital sheep? or How Pac-Man can help prepare you to save the world
"From the Ghostbusters quote that opens the first chapter onward, hardly a page gets turned that doesn't include at least one 80s-themed Easter Egg. Cline takes some of the fun out of this by not letting us pick up the references on our own. He drops them whole into sentences and announces what they are right away. There are few "Oh, I get it" moments for us. It's like playing Trivial Pursuit the Eighties Edition with someone calling out the answers before you've finished…
drorzel | September 4, 2011Atlas Mugged: The Ayn Rand Six Step | Common Dreams
"Imagine your landlord coming to you one day and saying, "It's everyone for himself. We're not going to supply heat or water or electricity any longer, and we're not going to conduct repairs."
Of course, you and the rest of the tenants wouldn't stand for such a thing . You'd kick him out if you could and move out if you couldn't.
But suppose, over the years, he cuts the part of the portion of your rent that goes to utilities and repair work. Year after year, he'd stop by and announce his cuts with great fanfare, telling you how much money…