tingilinde

ahem

This is a completely non-scientific poll.  If it reflects reality .. well .. perhaps America's failure is assured.

(a tip of the hat to Jim)

when donald taught math

explosive fun from the royal institute

a tip of the hat to Greg

fake oxford

A serious scam from 1995.  (audio or transcript)

snip

...

S2: Ian lived in the small factory town of St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania.

S4: I was so hungry to learn things I wanted to go to a place that was a bastion of learning right? And I felt like I was coming from a place that was the opposite of that. This is a great opportunity.

S2: These three students believe that studying at Oxford would be a transformative experience, that it was well worth the $21000 annual tuition.

S3: Even though I had full ride scholarships from a couple of colleges that I had to give up in order to do it, we thought this is an academic institution that has enough prestige that it would be worth it.

...

 

clearing up a misconception

Usually people don't appreciate how electric energy flows until they take and Electricity and Magnetism class in college. I've found teaching it to be challenging unless you do some drawings and serious handwaving..    Derek Muller does an excellent job!   This is a great non-mathematical discussion.  (a bit of a quibble with the question he poses up front, but that gets into the weeds)

a new phd in physics

He's 89

and it's not his first PhD

 

the milky way

An up-to-date Nova on our galaxy and its evolution.

 

on cancelling student debt

What can be done and where things may or may not stand,

 

don't go to hogwarts

Rating the school

 

patrick stewart's first mentor

Cecil Dormand started him in acting.  A remembrance. 

snip

...

Had I sat that test, I might never have met Cecil Dormand, a teacher at the secondary modern where I ended up, who would change my life when I was 12, by putting Shakespeare into my hands for the very first time. It was The Merchant of Venice. He gave copies to most of us and told us to look up Act 4 Scene 1 (or the famous trial scene, as I was to learn). He cast all the speaking roles and told us to start reading. We all did, but silently. “No, no, you idiots, not to yourselves!” he yelled. “Out loud! This is a play, not a poem. It’s life. It’s real.”

The first words – “I have possessed your grace of what I purpose” – was the first line of Shakespeare I ever read. I barely understood a word, but I loved the feel of the words and sounds in my mouth. A 400-year-old writer reached out a hand in invitation to me that morning. I felt a sense of an internal, private me being released and connecting with something mysterious, alien and exciting. I was hooked.

...