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 […]
Month: October 2007
DonorsChoose: Limping to the Finish Line
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 challenge goal too high at the start). I’d love […]
links for 2007-10-29
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 Warner league. (tags: football religion silly blogs) […]
Eat Your Heart Out, Cal-Stanford
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 […]
Tons of Rain
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 ton?” […]
Nathalie Mallet, The Princes of the Golden Cage [Library of Babel]
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 […]
Kooks With Prestigious Prizes
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 extends all the way to […]
links for 2007-10-28
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 leaving a sphere. With obligatory YouTube link. (tags: materials physics experiment science news youtube) American kids, dumber […]
Physics of Engine Repair
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 passing score. I suspect that I bombed the handful […]
Scary Movie “Meme”
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 affection for 80’s cheese, […]