science will be stimulated

After our lively discussion of what if about the proposal to cut science funding from the stimulus package, you may want to know what happened. The Republicans gave up substantial ground, but some cuts were secured. The NY Times story didn’t have the specifics I was looking for, but ScienceDebate2008 sent it in an email: [...]

reactions that shake a person’s confidence

“You’re crazy. You’re crazy. Don’t do it. I’m usually very cautious in the advice I gave about these things, but, in this case: You’re crazy. Don’t do it.”

what of academic funding?

Uh oh. Zero dollars for the NSF? That can’t be right.

what of academic freedom?

This article doesn’t have near enough information about the events that led to a tenured professor’s dismissal, but it is shocking to hear that a university is taking such aggressive action against a tenured professor. It’s clear that he refused to give grades, and he’s clearly outspoken: But by abandoning traditional marks, Prof. Rancourt apparently [...]

dieting pool?

Anyone want to bet about who can lose the most weight before ASA? I’ll let Jeremy determine “fair” rules – % of BMI, or whatever. $20 to play. I guess it works better than most diets. It just feels wrong.

another reason to treat animals humanely: profit

A study finds that something as simple as giving each dairy cow her own name can reduce stress and increase the amount of milk she produces.

well, i’m glad someone noticed

E-mail received a few minutes ago: It is ultimately the responsibility of the [the American Sociological Association] to ensure journals reach subscribers on time. However, we have just learned in response to our concerned inquiries (and those from subscribers) that the December issue of [the American Sociological Review] was not delivered to the post office [...]

i think this is my favorite stats joke, ever.

Special thanks to the incomparable xkcd for producing such wonderful comics.

okay, seriously, is that your final answer?

Coming hot on the heels of Shakha’s good points about government spending- and the GOP opinion thereof- comes this report about what Republicans think went wrong over the last eight years. Hint: Probably not what you expect.

government waste

The GOP put out a list of government waste in the stimulus plan. I was expecting things like $2000 toilets. Nope. Oddly, just about all of these things sound very reasonable. Indeed, many are good ideas! (I’ll admit some of the first on the list are bad, but after that…). Funny how far away from [...]

to my ridiculous frozen pipes

First of all, it’s not even that cold. It’s only -4C, and yesterday, we were up above zero all day. Last month, we had that week-long stretch of -20, and you didn’t freeze then. You didn’t freeze at all last winter, even when we were away. We’re not on vacation, the furnace has been on [...]

ask a scatterbrain

Here’s a question submitted for our “ask a scatterbrain” feature: A friend  who is teaching this semester got an email from a student explaining that the student has a disability center visa which states, among other usual things like extra time, small room test taking, note takers, etc., that she gets to have “alternative testing,” [...]

i play like a girl

I play ice hockey. I’ve been playing for 13 years now. Back in the day, when I was a grad student learning how to play hockey, I was so lucky to learn the game from some of the best hockey coaches I can imagine. I sucked so much back then, but even when I couldn’t [...]