Category: science
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Looking for hive mind help on a course
Actually, on two courses. The school I’m at (Newark Academy) ends the year with a nine-day “June Term”, wherein students take one class for six hours a day. June Term classes are supposed to be experiential and rigorous, and maybe a bit weird. All teachers are supposed to suggest courses; I made three idea proposals and…
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re: Sexism in science: Peer editor tells female researchers their study needs a male author – The Washington Post
Apparently the study was so flawed that only a man could fix it. Just ’cause, you know, it isn’t science without at least a trace amount of testosterone spilled on it. Or — and this seems more likely to me — the editor is himself hard up for papers with his name on them, and…
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One sentence can pull you out of an entirely fine essay
I actually agree with most of what Fareed Zakaria writes in his Washington Post op-ed “Why America’s Obsession with STEM Education is Dangerous“. We need balanced, robust, well-rounded education, not narrow business-driven training. It will take many different vantages points to see solutions to the problems we face in this hardest century of human history. Students…
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Lunacon 2014 (1b): Alternate Technologies in Historical Fiction
Panelists: Russ Handelman, James Cambias, Paul Calhoun And here he is, That Annoying Guy From One Seat Over. This archetype shows up at every con, like a restless spirit. One of the panelists pointed out that, more or less by definition, this would actually have to be about alternate historical fiction. Examples of a missed…
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The Political Asymmetry of Weather
So, the East Coast is in the middle of a record heat wave. How come we haven’t heard any hyperventilating media types announce that this “proves” global warming is true? After all, when we had a little snow in February, it was declared “snowmageddon” and offered as the final nail in the coffin of the…
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Shouting in the wind
I know I’m not going to convince anybody, and this is far from the most important place to make this point, but I feel like I have to weigh in: Record snowfall does not “disprove” global warming. To advance the opposite proposition seriously, you’d have to do one or more of the following: Fail to…
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Joking about Science
I regret the simple me-too-ism of just posting a link to an article, but this piece over at Project Syndicate is a nice, short reflection on how jokes scientists make (about their own profession) illuminate the two distinct views we hold of science (as relating to truth and utility). Short, easy to read, and worth…
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Throwing Out the Textbook (Part II)
(Part I gives the background.) Since the date to order a textbook has long since passed, I’m pretty committed to not going with one for “Space Science & Astrophysics”. I’ve taken the plunge. The problem is, I don’t know exactly what the course should look like now. Most especially, I don’t know of a good…
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Throwing out the Textbook (Part I)
(You can skip to Part II.) Some of you might remember that this is nominally a blog about education. It’s time again to shunt aside all the personal and political things I like to blog about, and to instead post about my classes. I do this in part because school starts soon and I am…
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Old nuggets
Anyone checking the frequency of blogging for this site need not be told that I am not a natural diarist. I keep trying to start a regular compilation of my thought but never quite get in the habit. I have a journal I’ve carted from DC to Stanford to Bensalem to Princeton. With my recent…