Inspired by the suggestion of a pro-science film festival, the Seed editors have launched a poll asking about science movies. They’ve narrowed it to four, all with both pros and cons: Contact Pro: Arecibo is way cool. Con: woo-woo ending is even less compelling than in the book. Gattaca Pro: Believable human interactions between characters. […]
Month: April 2008
Matter and Interactions by Chabay and Sherwood
Today’s episode of “Thrilling Tales of Physics Pedagogy” is brought to you through a comment by CCPhysicst who picks up on the implications of last week’s schedule post: You are ripping right along in that course. You do E and then B and only later get around to circuits? Yes and no. We are ripping […]
The Class Project
Lawrence Watt-Evans is reposting some old Usenet essays on the subject of class, which regular readers will recognize as a hot-button issues for me. So far, he’s up to part four of six. The list: Defining Terms Who I Am Attitudes & Money On the Job It’s excellent stuff. A sample, from Part 4: Work […]
links for 2008-04-28
Crooked Timber » » Maybe Baby In which Maria makes a dubious choice of date movies. Then again, the first movie Kate and I went to was “Hrad Rain,” so who am I to judge? (tags: movies nostalgia blogs) Physics and Physicists: Physics In Action at Theme Parks On student trips to learn “Like how […]
Truth in Error Messages
From the tablet today: Yes, oh, yes it was…
A Pro-Science Film Festival: Why Not?
Over at Shifting Baselines, Randy Olson posts a comment suggesting how to combat anti-science movies like Expelled: You want to know how to start — why doesn’t somebody run a film festival for pro-evolution films? THAT is how you reach out to tap into new voices, new blood, new perspectives. THAT is what is desperately […]
Science-and-Religion Links Dump
The big science-and-religion issue of the week has been Expelled, which The AV Club gave an F, writing: Perhaps what Bruce Chapman of ID advocacy group The Discovery Institute says about Darwinists applies best to Expelled: “People who don’t have an argument are reduced to throwing sand in your eyes.” If only this movie could […]
links for 2008-04-27
Seed: “So” A look at the most common verbal tic of scientists. (tags: science language academia education)
Beer is Not Uncultured
Every Friday (more or less) there’s a “Faculty Social Hour” on campus. They have cheese and crackers, a fairly random assortment of beer, and a couple of bottles of wine, and various faculty come by to wind down a bit at the end of the week. It’s a chance to socialize a little with people […]
What a Drag
I went for a bike ride this morning, the first real bike ride of the year (I’ve biked to and from work a couple of times, but this was the first real ride just for the sake of riding). There was some pissy drizzle at the start, but by the time I got on the […]