Ted Corcovilos
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corcoted.bsky.social
Ted Corcovilos
@corcoted.bsky.social
370 followers 660 following 63 posts
Physics and such in Pittsburgh, PA
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In case you were wondering, 100 mol of moles has about the same mass as the Earth.
Happy Mole Day to all who celebrate! 🧪
If Harvard is slashing PhD admissions by more than half, what does this foretell about less-resourced institutions? Will my graduating seniors be able to continue their education?
The solution here is obvious. We all need brain implants, so we don't have to talk out loud. /s
Sure, it's environmentally catastrophic, inaccurate, and built on mountains of stolen IP, but also: who wants to work in an office full of people talking out loud to their computers at the same time, that sounds like an actual nightmare
This is the future of Windows. Microsoft wants to rewrite Windows to turn computers into AI PCs that you talk to. It's now bringing AI features to all Windows 11 PCs today, in a bid to convince you to talk to your PC and let AI control it. Full details 👇 www.theverge.com/news/799768/...
Reposted by Ted Corcovilos
Congratulations to John Clarke, Michael Devoret, & John Martinis
Nobel in Physics "for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling & energy quantization in an electric circuit" in 3 PRLs
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...
Reposted by Ted Corcovilos
I have been trying to get this published as an op-ed, but I am going to post it here since I think it is timely in light of the "consent" extortion events.

Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

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jeremymberg.github.io
Anecdotally, instructors feel that the loss has negatively impacted student learning. The students have requested more contact time in their course evals. But we lack hard data. So, I thought I'd ask here to see what others can share! 3/3
We lost them a few years ago by administrative fiat. Can't get into specifics here, but it boils down to a belief that recitations weren't a cost-effective use of resources. 2/
In ages past we had one hour per week marked as "recitation" with faculty running them (no grad TAs in our dept). Usage varied by instructor. Some used them as office hours, others as extra lecture time, and some as problem-solving sessions. 1/
Currently we have no discussion or recitation sections, hence the question.
Question for the #ITeachPhysics crowd: Does anyone know of a paper where they measure the effectiveness of recitation sections for university intro physics (calc or non-calc)? Trying to build a case that we need recitation, but need data to back it up.
Feeling this right now as I grade exams. Also see students mixing x and y components within the same step. I'm a big fan of data tables to make it clear what goes where (columns for x, y, and magnitude.), but few write the table on exams.
I was thinking about your comment in the top of the thread that just contributing to the non-writing part of the project should not qualify one for authorship. For these truly large collaborations we see in physics, only a few hands actually craft the paper. How do we credit everyone else?
Scale matters, too. I take your point, but in a field like high-energy physics, having hundreds of authors on a paper is seen as necessary to acknowledge all of those who contribute. Any idea of how to condense the author list without harming junior team members or technical staff?
Finally got into a CVS. Had to wait for them to restock and update their website. Thanks to everyone who passed on tips!
We couldn't schedule children, at least at the locations near us. Adults were okay.
Where can kids get a COVID shot in Pittsburgh? CVS and Walgreens turned us away.
Reposted by Ted Corcovilos
Happy 4^ / 3^2 / 5^2 day!!! (3^2/ 4^2 / 5^2 for us weird Americans) Not too many days satisfy the Pythagorean thm. @amermathsoc.bsky.social @austms.bsky.social @stevenstrogatz.com @monsoon0.bsky.social ht Peter Baxter for noticing. Looking forward to coming back to the US for joint maths in Jan.
Reposted by Ted Corcovilos
“The pace of oppression outstrips our ability to understand it. And that is the real trick of the Imperial thought machine. It's easier to hide behind 40 atrocities than a single incident”

Every day this line feels more and more relevant.
I'm not saying we should sympathize with those who hate. But letting them speak is better that silencing them until they kill.
I condemn political violence. I don't think polarization is the cause. We must realize that violence becomes more likely when people feel disenfranchised, feel that they have no other way of being heard, feel that the only power they have left is the power to destroy.