I grew up in Broome County, NY, down by the PA border, and my parents still live in scenic Whitney Point. Broome County is one of the areas affected by a huge environmental controversy, because it sits on top of the northern bit of the Marcellus Shale formation, which contains huge amounts of natural gas. […]
Month: February 2011
Living in the Future
My talk yesterday at AAAS went well, if too long (the person who was supposed to be flagging the time got distracted, and never gave me any indicators that I was going on, and on, and on… But that’s not really what I want to post about. The thing that triggered this is the speaker […]
Links for 2011-02-20
What Watson Can Learn From the Human Brain | Wired Science | Wired.com “Watson won. That set of microchips will soon join the pantheon of machines that have defeated humans, from the steam-powered hammer that killed John Henry to the Deep Blue supercomputer that battled Kasparov. Predictably enough, the victory inspired a chorus of “computer overlord” […]
What I’m Saying at AAAS
Since I had to have the slides for my AAAS talk ready well in advance, I might as well let you look at them more or less as I give the talk. So, courtesy of SlideShare, here’s the presentation I’ll be giving right around the time this is scheduled to post: What Physics Knowledge Is […]
Links for 2011-02-19
DISCOURSES OF THE DIGITAL NATIVE – Information, Communication & Society “Teenage delegates to the Blast workshops rarely validate interest based on technological facilities, enthusiasm or competency. Instead, it is peer groups and social alignments which shape declarations and, more importantly, enactments of interest. This suggests that while the concept of the ‘digital native’ may be […]
Hugo Nomination Recommendations?
I’m leaving today for the AAAS meeting in DC, where I’ll be through the weekend. The AAAS works much differently than the physics conferences I’m used to, most notably requiring speakers to upload their presentation several days ahead of time. This means that my usual night-before-a-talk process of fiddling with my slides is right out. […]
Links for 2011-02-18
News: How Class Dictates Delay – Inside Higher Ed “A new study to be published in the upcoming issue of The Review of Higher Education examines more closely the root of the reality of who delays going to college, and why. Not only are high school graduates of lower socioeconomic status more likely to delay […]
Thursday Fox in Socks Blogging 021711
Look, sir, look, sir, Mr. Knox sir! Let’s do tricks with bricks and blocks, sir! — Dr. Seuss Sadly, the only trick SteelyKid has really mastered with bricks and blocks is piling them into a gigantic obstacle in the middle of the floor. Well, that, and building tall narrow towers then knocking them down. And, […]
What Grade Do You think You’re Getting?
We had an education talk yesterday afternoon, because today’s colloquium speaker, Ann Martin from Cornell, has strong interests in that and wanted to talk to people about it. A lot of the discussion had to do with teaching students to write, and getting them to accept feedback. Martin spoke very positively of a writing-intensive introductory […]
Links for 2011-02-17
Career Advice: Why We Said No – Inside Higher Ed “My department has run a search for at least one faculty member every year for the last 10 years. I literally cannot remember how many search committees I have served on, let alone how many candidates I have interviewed. A few years ago I was […]