Swans on Tea

Every so often the powers that be™ decide that a reorganization would be a good idea, and that some people should change offices. A few years back this was stimulated by one group of people vacating some desirable office space in the main building (they were ordered to relocate to Crystal City by [...]

Success!
The rough headcount for the Open House was about 9,000 visitors. This was the first one I had worked (there hadn’t been one of these since 2001) and the expectation from the earlier events was that we could get “a few thousand” people, so I’d have to say that we exceeded expectations. The [...]

For the (statistically speaking) fraction of a reader within commuting distance of Washington, DC. Tomorrow (Saturday) is the Naval Observatory Open House
Though it is raining today, the weather looks like it’s going to be great tomorrow. Which means that no meteorologists will need to be strangled.

I don’t really partake of April Fool’s Day; I find it too confining. It’s always open season, as far as I’m concerned.
Here’s one from my days in khaki, with me on the giving end (I was the recipient of several good ones, too). One of my shipmates, let’s call him Brian, was teaching [...]

U.S. Naval Observatory IYA 2009 Open House
In celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first use of the telescope, the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO have declared 2009 to be the International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009). As part of a world-wide celebration of this event, the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) will be sponsoring a [...]

Entitled, which points to an article in the NY Times
I have an inbox filled with student email saying “I studied really hard for the quiz..” (so why didn’t I get an A?).
This post might sound cynical, but I must not be completely cynical because this surprised me:
Nearly two-thirds of the students surveyed said that if [...]

Russia: 20 dead from poisoning in sub accident
The fire safety system on a new Russian nuclear-powered submarine malfunctioned on a test run in the Sea of Japan, spewing chemicals that killed at least 20 people and injured 21 others, officials said Sunday.
The majority of the students I taught were destined to serve aboard submarines, and [...]

How to be a good TA over at Built on Facts.
Disclaimer: I never did recitations as a TA in grad school, though I did tutor students (for a whopping 8 bucks an hour). I had just gotten out of the navy, where I had logged somewhere around 2500-3000 classroom teaching hours, so it’s [...]

A side comment by Matt about quizzes triggered a thought (so many of these interactions are induced rather than spontaneous)
I have all my old lecture notes and materials so the only real thing I have to do is make up new quizzes. Students are good at nothing if not gaming the system and they’d notice [...]

Evaporative (Swamp) Coolers
I was discussing this with our resident mechanical systems guru just a few days ago — really hot, humid weather had some of the HVAC systems gasping, and if you can’t reject heat anymore, the system stops cooling (a basic bit of thermodynamics lost on some people). He was reminiscing about [...]

“I’ve Lost My RIO”
I told the Captain that after the G-awareness maneuver, we would do a quick inverted check to verify cockpit security. Looking back, I should have recognized his anxiety when he mocked me and said, “Just a quick inverted check?” then laughed. I didn’t realize hanging upside down with nothing but glass and [...]

Dr. Pion’s blurb about exam design and grading reminded me of a few things. I taught for the Navy in the nuclear power program, long ago, when the school was in Orlando, Fl; physics, which included applications to plant operations whenever possible, and a class on principles of reactor operation. There are some [...]