Swans on Tea

I’ve read on a couple of blogs about The Amaz!ng Meeting 6, (TAM6), with some promises of summaries. A couple have been posted. (I’m still waiting on reports from some of you. Listen, I’m not joking. This is my job!)
The Bad Astronomer thinks it was the Best. Meeting. Ever.
Neurologica posts [...]

I’ve been putting up with the new Dilbert website abomination for however long, a couple of months at least, and the fact that Scott Adams is a fellow Hartwick alum doesn’t mean I’m going to cut him any slack — the website breaks the first commandment of web design.
1. Thou shalt not abuse Flash.
Adobe’s (ADBE) [...]

Jennifer Ouellette has a new blog, not the same as the old blog, at Discovery. Check out Twisted Physics. She promises shorter posts than on Cocktail Party Physics, which isn’t going away.
Rest assured, Cocktail Party Physics isn’t going anywhere. It will continue much the same, staunchly independent and wheezily long-winded.

No word [...]

Chad’s got his complete summary of the DAMOP meeting up at Uncertain Principles. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and the wrap-up.
I would have liked to have gone but my plans were thwarted. Next year the conference is in nearby Charlottesville, VA, so I’ll definitely try and make that one. I don’t [...]

Top . . . men.
No, not the Ark. It’s Indiana Jones and the Conservation of Momentum at what looks to be a new physics-y blog, Built on Facts
Haven’t seen the new movie, so I’ll just take their word for it.

The illusion business. Posting them, that is. Too much direct competition: Illusion Sciences
Illusions and explanations, by an illusion designer and psychologist
Bonus: Illusion of the year contest, top 10 finalists
via Cognitive Daily

Stepping Feet Illusion and radial version
Many other illusions at the site, including some favorites such as
Pinna-Brelstaff Illusion though I never actually call it that
Roget’s ‘Palisade’ Illusion I’ve seen a similar effect while walking past a door and seeing a crt monitor through the narrow gap between the door and jamb.
Motion Binding has a subtle demonstration [...]

Dog.
Big dog
Little dog
Big dogs and little dogs.
Big dog in action.
“Do you like my hat?”
Go dog, go!

At some point, I think solar and wind power will not be considered “alternative.’ But for the moment …
Cheap “Popcorn Ball” Solar Cells Set Efficiency Record
A record for this type of cell, though — not for photovoltaics in general.
This efficiency is only about half that of traditional silicon solar cells found on roof [...]

OK, not really, but it’s a top-10 list:
Top 10 Amazing Chemical Reactions
The neatest stuff from chemistry without actually blowing anything up. (One reaction is labeled an explosion, but nothing goes “boom,” and technically the Meissner Effect isn’t chemistry, but I’m willing to give that a pass because it’s cool.)
via Skulls in the Stars

NY Times book review
Johnson’s list is eclectic and his outlook romantic. “Science in the 21st century has become industrialized,” he states, with experiments “carried out by research teams that have grown to the size of corporations.” By contrast, Johnson (a longtime contributor to The New York Times) favors artisans of the laboratory, chronicling “those rare [...]

Not the first, not the last, just the latest local one to do it. Klaynos weighs in on What is science?