He was that rarity among physicists, one who could write in a clear, persuasive and entertaining way. His “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems,” in which three noblemen, Salviati, Sagredo and Simplicio, meet in Venice to argue over the relative merits of Ptolemy’s ancient Earth-centered cosmos and the newer Sun-centered Copernicanism, may be the…
I have stage-fright. Teaching starts today, you see. I have stage-fright far worse than when I present a paper in front of a few hundred people at a conference, even though I taught all last semester, and loved it, and the stuff I’m planning on doing today is based on a recipe I’ve used three…
Inspectors from the TV Licensing Agency patrol neighborhoods using wireless detectors to attempt to pick up the “local oscillator” signal from a television in use. Anyone caught using a TV without a license is subject to a fine of up to $1,600. It doesn’t matter if you watch TV once a month; it doesn’t matter…
Why should my child work on a Mac in class when most people use PCs at home and in the office? I’ve heard this lament time and again in my son’s schools over the years. To listen to these parents, you’d think the schools were forcing children to use a history book that says the…
With a bachelor’s in chemistry, a Ph.D. in history (with a concentration in the history of science) and publications in hand, I applied for the job. The director never interviewed me. He hired a 22-year-old communications major but promised me work as a landscaper and all-purpose cipher as long as I wanted it. | He…
Alas, the searches prove fairly elusive. But boynton found Sylvia Plath Engineering so intriguing and poetic a concept that she thought the only thing for it was a Googlepoem. Here are some edited couplets freshly compiled: plath sylvia plath on engineering engineering, accounting, working Nonfiction Technical Romance Sports the engineering part poets own sketches the:…
“NOAA today posted online satellite images taken before and after… the historic blackout of the Northeastern United States, which plunged millions of people into darkness.” —Satellite Images of Northeastern US Blackout (NOAA) Similar:More than a million people die on roads every year. Meet the man determined to prevent the… Imagine a society that engineers its…CultureMale Microsoft…
One day in the future all the lights in the city go out. The turbines stop, the telephones become quiet, the traffic lights shut down, TVs dim and computers download, and elevators wedge between the office towers’ floors. Hospitals with battery-run backup supplies stay functional, but the banks and the stock exchange with their E-Money,…
“Many had wondered beforehand if there would be any foul play involved in the rematch. But Pirates first baseman Randall Simon, who made national headlines on July 9 after hitting the Italian Sausage in the head with his bat during a race at Miller Park, promised Friday afternoon not to get involved with the race.”…
In lieu of a truly good design, often people on the team will accept any design that makes the specific feature they care about (because they like it, because it‘snew, because they work on it, etc.) discoverable, regardless of it‘srelative importance compared to other features (note that this corollary is often applied without knowledge of…
“In solitude, he continued his mathematical and physical studies, but also embraced alchemy and esoteric biblical scholarship. He felt himself to be seeking ancient knowledge that had been lost or hidden in the dark centuries of the more recent past. Today’s scientists tend to be embarrassed by Newton’s religious and alchemical studies, but Newton was…
—I Feel Faint (Weblogg-Ed) Will Richardson finds a third NYT article on blogging, and a whole page in Technology and Learning magazine. Now we have more dead trees to hand to faculty members who shift uncomfortably and ask, “What is this ‘weblog ‘ of which you speak?” Similar:Measuring Humanities Degrees Misses Much of Their Value“I don’t…
“I always wanted my work to be read by someone else, someone out there who would grade me seriously, a regular person,” [10-year-old Raya Allen] said. “With a teacher, it’s their job. When someone else is reading it, they are doing it on their own free will.” —A Young Writers’ Round Table, via the Web (NY…
Weingarten shifts uncomfortably in his chair and stares at the glittering gems on his dining room table. “Unless they can be detected,” he says, “these stones will bankrupt the industry.” —The New Diamond Age (Wired) Long but interesting deconstruction of the diamond industry. See also “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?“ Similar:Prosecutor praises newspaper…
A letter has been sent to a woman who died three years ago ordering her to tidy up her own memorial plaque. Leeds City Council mistakenly gave Moira Thoms 14 days to remove two vases, each containing a single white rose, from around the plaque at Lawnswood Cemetery where her ashes are scattered. —Dead Woman…
“One of the younger guys had been a prison guard and thought this would be less demanding; another was finishing a computer science degree and needed a part-time job in his Queens neighborhood. The military man listened to the rest of us and declared, ‘I wanted to serve my country.’” Beth Pinsker —Confessions of a…
UK online centres are for people who have limited or no access to skills in using new technologies. The centres will help people to develop the skills to use the Internet to access information, send email using a PC, mobile phone, digital television or games console; (please note not all centres will have the same…
“The purpose of this study is to further investigate breadcrumb usage by evaluating the following research questions: Do users choose to use breadcrumbs as a navigational tool? Does breadcrumb usage improve navigational efficiency? Does the location of the breadcrumb trail on a page effect usage? Does a breadcrumb trail aid the user’s mental model of…
“The social scientist Ray Oldenburg talks about how humans need a third place, besides work and home, to meet with friends, have a beer, discuss the events of the day, and enjoy some human interaction…. In creating community software, we are, to some extent, trying to create a third place. And like any other architecture…
“What we need is a C-SPAN for science: a cable science network (CSN). This network would carry live lectures by knowledgeable scientists on topics ranging from climate change to biological warfare, as well as debates on issues from the biological basis of aggression to missile defense.” Terrence J. Sejnowski —Tap into Science 24-7 (Science) Similar:Taking Harassment…