Physicist at Large

Personal blog for Alex Small, a young and cranky traditionalist physics professor.

Saturday, September 8, 2018

Educational research and the promise of easy fixes

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This article from Psychology Today discusses the necessity, temptation, and challenge of interpreting data.  It discusses a study that foun...
Monday, August 27, 2018

More from Bell's "The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism"

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(Not exact quotes, just synopses of points I want to remember.) pg. 168:  He says that cults appear when dominant religions fail.  He iden...
Friday, August 24, 2018

Bell on religion

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On page 155, Bell cites Emile Durkheim, who apparently viewed religion as dividing the world not into men and gods but sacred and profane.  ...
Sunday, August 19, 2018

Latest book: Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism by Daniel Bell

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I'm reading The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism by Daniel Bell.  Seventy pages in (out of 339) the book very much has the feel of...
Sunday, August 12, 2018

Havel: Systems seek legitimacy

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I've read about half of the Havel book so far, including the famous essay "The Power of the Powerless."  I'm linking a .pd...
Friday, August 10, 2018

Next book: Open Letters by Vaclav Havel

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The Federalist Papers were tedious.  I read the first 30 in detail, then skimmed the next 30, then read about the Electoral College and then...
Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Federalist No. 1

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An interesting point from Federalist No. 1: An enlightened zeal for the energy and efficiency of government will be stigmatized as the off...
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About Me

Alex Small
Pomona, CA, United States
I'm an associate professor of physics at Cal Poly Pomona. My research interests are mostly in biomedical applications of optics (especially theoretical limits to superresolution, and also light scattering calculations), with some side interests in percolation theory. I am using this blog to chronicle my responses to books that I'm reading, particularly books about higher education issues. It's a way to work out issues in my mind.
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