Archive for January, 2007
In which I am still alive
Term starts next week. Consequently, I’ve been madly working on finishing a few projects left over from last term and forbidding myself the luxury of blogitude. Sorry bout that, world. Anyway, I couldn’t take it any longer, so here I am.
I neglected to reshift my sleep-schedule after my last observing night, so I’ve been completely [...]
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Update: Something befell one of the paragraphs. Anyway, it’s back now, so hopefully the post will actually make sense.
Call me a cynic, call me a curmudgeon, but the recent and burgeoning crop of “educational technology” programs scares the bodily substances out of me. It’s not that I have anything against technology – Youth of Today, [...]
Filed under: education | 4 Comments
Chocolate + Science = HOT
January at MIT goes by the name of IAP, for Independent Activities Period. That means we can do WHATEVER WE WANT. There are a few classes offered for credit, but most of the Activities are purely for fun & excitement & maybe some nerd cred. So yesterday I went to a chocolate lecture. It was [...]
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…but only darkness visible
That’s the sky on Mt. Hopkins right now. Woe is me, and woe is a whole list of young supernovae.
It’s hard to figure out a good sleep schedule for winter observing. I work from, say, 8 PM to 9 AM, but there’s no point staying completely nocturnal all the time, since I have things to [...]
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What does this even mean?
Via {metadatta}: Nature Publishing Group has a press release touting something called Nature Education, which is…what, exactly?
Nature Education will take a non-traditional approach to the rapidly-evolving college education market, focusing primarily on creating leading edge, digitally-based, learning solutions in biology, chemistry, and physics.
…
Instructors and students are thirsty for learning environments that move beyond traditional textbooks [...]
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The Learned Astronomer
I’m observing tonight.
Gnarly old physicists like to caution children that astronomy is not all fun & stargazing – that, in fact, nobody looks at stars these days, or at swirly galaxies, or really at anything celestial or most things on earth. There is no LOOKING. There are only COMPUTERS.
Which is not true. There’s actually a [...]
Filed under: observing | 4 Comments
Hokay.
So here I am.
I? I’m a hapless MIT undergrad – let’s say I’m a junior. I think physics is just about totally awesome. Because, well, I don’t know. It just makes me happy. Sometimes I’ll leave a lecture or enter lab with a weird visceral joy – it’s like knowing a really good secret, like [...]
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An MIT undergrad lusts after physics. Meanwhile, life happens. Excitement and high drama ensue.
