In these two videos [1,2], prominent non-believers [1] Neil deGrasse Tyson and Sam Harris reject the denomination “atheist” as not only inaccurately portraying their views on the (non) existence of God, but also, according to them, of little content or use, and even potentially pernicious. The Oxford Dictionary defines Atheism
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Exponential Book: Absence of evidence and evidence of absence
It has been a while since my last blog post (yes, I love euphemisms). I have not been writing for the simple reason that I ran out of things to say, a fate that I am told few, very few amateur bloggers escape. So, what am I doing here now? Well, I have
Continue readingExponential Book: 2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 25,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 6 Film Festivals Click here to see
Continue readingExponential Book: What do you look for (part two)?
Having expounded in my previous post what kind of person I look for, when serving on the search committee for a tenure-track hire, now it is time to list the criteria that I adopt to try and spot my ideal candidate, as I go through application packages (APs). I am
Continue readingExponential Book: What do you look for (part one) ?
I am a faculty member in a university physics department, who finds himself periodically involved in faculty searches and hires. How do I evaluate the curriculum vitae of an applicant for a tenure-track position? What do I look for, and what are the red flags? Does it really boil down
Continue readingExponential Book: Binomial distributions and multiple choice tests
Readers of my blog know that I generally regard multiple choice tests (MCTs) as an adequate tool to assess student knowledge of, and proficiency with, a given set of topics. I have written about this subject here and here. No, I do not think that MCTs are perfect, nor do
Continue readingExponential Book: Google Docs: one-year review
About a year ago, my institution made the campus-wide transition to Google electronic mail. Concurrently, Google’s suite of office applications known as Google Docs also became available, as it comes essentially integrated with electronic mail. It includes word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, among other things. I started using the word
Continue readingExponential Book: Who’s really obsessed with Impact Factor ?
What brings more prestige to a scientist, an article which receives hundreds of citations, even if published on a relatively minor, or even obscure journal, or one that is published on a high profile, glamorous publication with a high Impact Factor (IF), but whose citation record is modest ? Most
Continue readingExponential Book: In praise of failure
“In 2004, Kim and Chan (KC) carried out torsional oscillator (TO) measurements of solid helium confined in porous Vycor glass and found an abrupt drop in the resonant period below 200 mK. The period drop was interpreted as probable experimental evidence of nonclassical rotational inertia (NCRI). This experiment sparked considerable
Continue readingExponential Book: Mountain Lion and stuff
Between work and home I own eight Apple computers — four iMacs, two MacBook Air, two Mac Pro. So, like any respectable user, I promptly upgraded the operating system to the new version, OS 10.8 (aka Mountain Lion), which has now been available for a few weeks. Around this time
Continue readingExponential Book: On confirmation bias
Doug Natelson has done an outstanding job at debunking a ridiculous charge of confirmation bias allegedly affecting a recent study of climate change. Such a charge is put forth in an article published in the popular press (on a very prominent venue). While ostensibly aimed at educating the general public
Continue readingExponential Book: Online notes
Why do students who take courses with me (but colleagues tell me of similar experiences) routinely insist that I scan and post online my very own notes, the hard-to-read, disorganized and sketchy gibberish that I use for lecturing, whereas if I post a neatly put together summary of the basic
Continue readingExponential Book: Disappearance of blogs
I do not have the time to read regularly all the blogs to which I have established links, on my own blog. As a result, sometimes months go by without me reading them, and when I finally decide to catch up, I find out that they no longer exist, or
Continue readingExponential Book: Letter from the trenches
I have received a letter from a student who obtained his doctoral degree with me a few years ago, and after one postdoctoral appointment decided that their heart was really into teaching. They wrote me to let me know how things are going, and gave me permission of posting their
Continue readingExponential Book: Whither scientific publishing ?
I come back to one of my favorite subjects, prompted by a recent comment asking for my opinion on the proposed boycott of Elsevier, a company publishing a number of scientific journals. In the eyes of many, some of Elsevier’s practices are incompatible with the ultimate goal of achieving the
Continue readingExponential Book: Independent and original
I doubt if I can offer any deeper insight or more pointed advice to a tenure track assistant professor in the sciences, than what anyone can find on a number of reputable science blogs. Often times, however, as I go through posts describing the “dos and donts” of young scholars
Continue readingExponential Book: Mend it, don’t end it (email, that is)
I blissfully went through the first half of my life without electronic mail, and yet I cannot imagine living without it now. There are specific tasks for which mail (narrowly defined here as the transmission of text written by the sender, to one or more recipients) is simply irreplaceable. People
Continue readingExponential Book: Education disadvantage
If a cash-strapped province or state had to make painful cuts to public services, the immediately noticeable effect would be the outright elimination of some of them. One would not think of, say, laying off a fraction of all bus drivers and asking the remaining ones to work longer hours,
Continue readingExponential Book: Double whammy
We all understand that, sometimes, financial hardship is simply a fact of life. And I do believe that most of us are willing to endure painful sacrifices, in the pursuit of a common good. What exasperates people, is the perception of a general lack of vision, of a concrete, well
Continue readingExponential Book: 2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 29,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11
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