Weekly Wordle
Wed Feb 18 2009
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Generated from the text of Science and Education. by Thomas Henry Huxley.
Powerpoint Presentation Tips
Tue Feb 17 2009
Post a commentDear presenters at every seminar, conference, lecture and other venue:
You’re brilliant. You know it, and we, your audience, know it. That’s why we’re here. But umm, here’s the thing… it’s about your presentation skills: they suck. Seriously. They’re awful. Not all of you of course, but enough of you so as to make the prospect of sitting quietly and attentively through yet another 2 hour session, before we get a chance to grab a coffee or use the bathroom or take a walk to blow off some steam, utterly unbearable.
But fear not, there is hope! Don McMillian’s got some views on how (not) to use Powerpoint (also valid for PowerPoint alternatives, of course) that may be of great use to you. Please check them out.
Sincerely,
Your Audience
Quoted
Tue Feb 17 2009
Post a commentJust in time for that new movie about the Stone of Scone:
– Joseph J. Ellis, apparently taking a shot at Hamilton’s Scottish origins in his excellent Pulitzer Prize Winner, Founding Brothers — The Revolutionary Generation.Their respective genealogies also created temperamental and stylistic contrasts. […] John Adams, who despised [Alexander] Hamilton, once referred to him as “the bastard brat of a Scotch pedlar.” While intended as a libelous description, Adam’s choice of words was literally correct.
Hamilton had been born on the West Indian island of Nevis, the illegitimate son of a down-on-her-luck beauty of French extraction and a hard-drinking Scottish merchant with a flair for bankruptcy.
Understanding Underwater Submarine Collision Scenarios
Mon Feb 16 2009
Post a commentThe internet is abuzz today with the news that two nuclear submarines recently collided in the Atlantic Ocean.
The HMS Vanguard (S28) of the British Royal Navy is the lead boat of her class of Trident submarines and is based at HMNB Clyde, Faslane.
Le Triomphant is the French mirror of the Vanguard, also lead of her class.
Incredibly, both lead ships from each class are reported to have collided earlier this month, while submerged and apparently invisible to each other’s state of the art sonar systems. This is almost certainly partly because, of course, both ships also have state of the art anti-sonar systems. The collision is said to have occurred at very slow speed (which suggests to me a collision driven by the massive ship inertia involved). The British sub apparently suffered mere scratches (though some reports state the visibility of ‘dents’ on her side — which would be quite surprising), while the French submarine suffered considerable damages to the sonar dome (on the front of the ship). In typical top-secrety fashion the French released a statement earlier this month (February 6th) stating that the damage had probably occurred upon hitting a “submerged object (probably a container)”. This could be perceived as an inside joke about secondary containment, I suppose.
While there’s understandably some concern associated with this story, as there legitimately should be, there’s also some people saying some pretty silly things, either to deliberately sensationalize the event, or because they don’t know any better, or possibility some combination of both the above. So let’s go over what concerns that you may hear today and in the weeks to come so you can identify which are legitimate and which are not.
1) Risk of nuclear explosion?
Almost none. Nuclear explosions are very hard to achieve, and this is one reason why building such weapons is a challenge. Basically, they won’t go ‘off’ unless everything goes right in their engineered detonation sequence.
A (Very) Little Monday Humour…
Mon Feb 16 2009
Post a commentA physicist and engineer and a mathematician stuck at the same poorly planned conference were sleeping in a lodge when a fire broke out in one corner of the lodge, near the engineer.
The engineer wakes up and sees the fire. Quickly, he runs to the kitchen, grabs a mop bucket full of water and throws it on the fire until it goes out. He then proceeds to fill the bucket up twice more and threw two more bucket fulls on the ashes as a safety factor. Secure in the knowledge the fire has been properly dealt with, he falls back to sleep.
A little later, another fire breaks out near the physicist’s room. Predictably, the physicist is the first to wake. He goes over to measure the intensity of the fire, studies which materials are burning and then goes over to the kitchen. He proceeds to carefully measure exactly the required 0.67 bucket fulls he has calculated will extinguish the fire. He walks back to the fire and distributes the water carefully on the fire which, sure enough, is perfectly put out.
A little later another fire broke out in the mathematician’s room. This time the mathematician is the first to rouse. He goes over and scrutinizes the fire. He dashes to the kitchen, and notices that there is a mop bucket with no holes in it. He tests the faucet and sees that water is available. He therefore concludes there is a solution to the fire problem, so he goes back to bed.
