Are You Still Reading NY Times online?

I have read the NY Times in print and online for over twenty years even though I have never lived in New York City. I read it for the national news coverage, the opinion pages, business, science, and technology news. When I lived in Ithaca, NY we got the regional price which is lower then [...]

Brian Greene on the Colbert Report

The Colbert Report had several bits about science, including Stephen settling the debate between science and religion once and for all with a coin toss. He also interviewed the string theorist Brian Greene, the author of the Elegant Universe.
Greene tried to explain what strings are in his five minute segment, but he has some trouble [...]

Identity Theft

There is an interesting post on identity theft at Political Animal. The argument that Kevin Drum makes is that the cost of identity theft should be put on the business that lose the information by forcing them to notify those who have had their personal information stolen. This seems very sensible to me. The businesses [...]

What Can Popular Science Books Teach Us?

I have a background in physics, including a Ph.D., 20 years of research experience, and 10 years of university teaching. Despite all of that background, I can still enjoy and learn from a well written popularization of physics. A good example is Brian Greene’s, Elegant Universe, which attempts to explain the beauty and possibilities of [...]