Just learned that Stephen Colbert, the TV satarist/comic, has a bunch of votes on the NASA website to name a new component, Node 3, of the Space Station after him, i.e. colbert. As he said on the Today Show, today:"Why not?". It's not exactly a measurement or measurement education topic, but it fits the Deming vs Dilbert Model quite well, in my opinion. According to NASA's web page: NASA … [Read more...]
From Digital Isolation to Global Inclusion
March 7, 2009 by ·
CyberLearning Educational Society, NGO arm of www.cyberlearningindia.com, in association with Rotary Club of New Delhi. Successfully concluded a pilot program to bridge the digital divide amongst students from disadvantaged families. This significant pilot was aimed at schools adopted by Rotary Club of New Delhi. In the last decade, the information age revolution has brought India to being … [Read more...]
Research – Measurement – Testing
July 20, 2008 by ·
While following a web lead the other day I found these most interesting measurement publications on sale at the PTB web site in Germany. Here's some of the text and an image from their pages. Monograph series of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) Braunschweig, Germany - The monograph series serves to present subjects which ensue from, or are closely related to, the activities of … [Read more...]
Deming Vs Dilbert: Teacher & Student Irrationality
July 15, 2008 by ·
Physicists are not gods, nor are they always right. I've learned that hard lesson many times over while both working for and learning from some noted and not-so noted physicists and trying to act god-like in my own encounters with geeks of any persuasion (I admit to being one, too). Doctors of Medicine fall into the same category, yet that's another story or three...later. There's a few … [Read more...]
One Laptop per Child Update
July 12, 2008 by ·
I believe one of the most ambitious and potentially rewarding International programs in Computer literacy is the One Laptop Per Child initiative that began in Boston. It has been shipping the XO laptop since November 2007 and I think their updates are worth a report, at least every now and then, to our visitors. Here's their latest From The update One Laptop per Child Vol. 4 No. 27 July 6, … [Read more...]
The Dilbert Model
July 9, 2008 by ·
For those of you who do not know Dilbert, you have been missing some of the wittiest and most humorous satire about American organization work life and technology ever published. It is the creation of Scott Adams, a talented observer and cartoonist. His website is an easy one to remember: Dilbert.com. Plus he has a regular blog that echoes many of his observations at dilbert.com/blog/ … [Read more...]
Physicists create millimeter-sized ‘Bohr atom’
July 6, 2008 by ·
I'm old enough to remember Neils Bohr (actually had the pleasure of hearing him lecture at MIT in the 1960s) but I first learned about him in my Atomic Physics course when we discussed the model of atomic structure that he first proposed early in 1913. He was one of the giants in 20th Century Physics and would be amazed at what's been done in just the past few years. From Rice University in … [Read more...]
Deming Vs Dilbert: In the Army
June 27, 2008 by ·
When I was in college, the Korean War was just ended and the Draft was still active. I joined ROTC to insure uninterrupted education. I was lucky enough to get into graduate school and worked, got married had kids and then the ARMY said "Time to Serve". Again, I got lucky. Some of the research I was helping with at Northeastern University (NU) in Boston was for a Professor who had Army … [Read more...]
