Author Archives: admin

Are imaginary friends a prima facie disqualification for a judge?

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Via Ed Cone I found one of those stories that makes me love the Wall Street Journal: “In the Philippines, Ex-Judge Consults Three Wee Friends”:

As a trial-court judge, Florentino V. Floro Jr. acknowledged that he regularly sought the counsel of three elves only he could see. The Supreme Court deemed him unfit to serve and fired him last year. …
Helping him, he says, are his three invisible companions. “Angel” is the neutral force, he says. “Armand” is a benign influence. “Luis,” whom Mr. Floro describes as the “king of kings,” is an avenger.

Oh my.

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Ask a Science Blogger: what should I pack for the collapse of civilization?

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Civilization’s imminent collapse is upon us. What’s in your survival pack?
There are many ways that civilization could collapse, so let me put my assumptions on the table: I’m considering a world where the electrical grid, phone and internet communications, and running water and waste water treatment systems are no longer operative. For sure you can’t drive to the store for a loaf of bread because the stores will have been long since looted and the gas stations have no more gas.
I am not assuming sea levels rising dozens of feet all at once (since that will put me and mine well underwater), nor bands of ravening zombies.
There are some contingencies I’m just not ready to face.
Still, take away the infrastructure of modern civilization and I think we could do OK for a while. If I were the well-prepared type, here’s what I’d want to have on hand:

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My mug has a disclaimer.

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However, it would seem that the disclaimer is ambiguous. Otherwise, why would my better half and I disagree about what the disclaimer means?
It’s not like either of us is the sort to propose an alternate interpretation just to be difficult. Honest!
Anyway, here’s the front of the mug. It’s a nice design. (And if you have a serious hankering for a mug like this one, my understanding is that they are currently being given away to folks who subscribe to Seed. I don’t know that any are available yet on eBay, but surely it’s just a matter of time.)

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Survey on the impact of blogs about science on the world outside the blogosphere.

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It has seemed to me for some time now that the landscape of news and information sources has changed since the end of the last century. Anecdotally, I seem to know an awful lot of people who rely primarily on online sources (both online versions of traditional newspapers and magazines and blogs with journalistic leanings that provide solidly researched articles and deep analysis) for their news. But I also seem to know some people who automatically equate information on the internet with the nutty website of a paranoid guy in the cellar.
And it’s really hard to assume that the people I seem to know are a representative sample of the population as a whole.
In the interests of science (what with the penchant for empirical evidence), some folks are trying to get some data on who is reading about science in the blogosphere and about what impact, if any, blogs may be having in the three-dimensional world. To that end, they’ve constructed a survey which you are invited to take. Here’s the official explanation:

This survey attempts to access the opinions of bloggers, blog-readers, and non-blog folk in regards to the impact of blogs on the outside world. The authors of the survey are completing an academic manuscript on the impact of science blogging and this survey will provide invaluable data to answer the following questions:
Who reads or writes blogs?
What are the perceptions of blogging, and what are the views of those who read blogs?
How do academics and others perceive science blogging?
What, if any, influence does science blogging have on science in general?
Please consider participating in the survey as an act of ‘internet solidarity’! It will likely take 10 minutes, and a bit more if you are a blogger yourself. We thank you in advance.

If you survive the survey unscathed, you might even email the link to a friend (although for goodness sake, don’t make a chain letter out of it!) to help build a larger and perhaps more representative sample.

The above LOLcat brought to my attention by RMD, who got to interview Cheezburger!

Friday Sprog Blogging: why school?

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We’ve already noted the prevalence of Canada geese in our area. The other day, as we were walking home, we found ourselves directly under a low-flying gaggle.
Younger offspring: Those geese are flying really close.
Elder offspring: And they’re flying in a giant check-mark.
Dr. Free-Ride: Traditionally, that formation is described as a “V”. But I guess you’re right, one side of it seems to have a few more geese than the other.
Younger offspring: Why do they fly in a “V”?
Dr. Free-Ride: That’s a good question. Any thoughts on that?
Elder offspring: In a “V”, none of the geese is completely behind another goose. There’s one leader, but all the geese can kind of see where they’re going.
Dr. Free-Ride: Hmmm, that’s true. I hadn’t really thought much about that detail. The explanation I always heard was that geese fly in a “V” because it’s more aerodynamic for the flock.
Younger offspring: What does aerodynamic mean.
Dr. Free-Ride: Well, it’s a windy enough day that maybe I can show you.

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Freedom in the classroom.

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Perhaps you’ve already seen the new(ish) AAUP report Freedom in the Classroom, or Michael Bérubé’s commentary on it at Inside Higher Ed yesterday. The report is such a clear statement of what a professor’s freedom in the classroom amounts to and, more importantly, why that freedom is essential if we are to accomplish the task of educating college students, that everyone who cares at all about higher education ought to read it.
Some of the highlights, with my commentary:

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I probably should have paid more attention to non-standard logics.

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The good news: My department chair really likes the project I’ve proposed for my sabbatical leave.
The bad news: The smart money says that my leave won’t be approved unless I cut down the amount I say I’ll accomplish during the year off.
That’s right. If you have a lot you want to get accomplished, you can’t have time off to accomplish it, whereas if you have only a wee bit to do, you are most welcome to a leave.
Cue the dinosaur with the voice of Rob Knop to remind me to stop expecting things in academia to make sense. Meanwhile, I have some cuts to make.