physics jobs

Pretty interesting stats from AIP on physics job prospects:
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/phystrends.html

* There are only about 200 faculty jobs per year at
(PhD-granting) universities:
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/fall09d.pdf

* There are over 1000 physics PhD's granted each year, so the chances of
getting a faculty job are roughly 1/5 (200/1000):
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/fall2005c.pdf

* You can make a ton more money in the private sector than in a
university. Doh!
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/fall07e.pdf

The full listing is at:
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/allflyers.pdf

the ADD generation

Great article in the Times about the distractions of the digital age:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a2&pagewanted=print

It seems to me that the pervasiveness of technology opens a host of new concerns for parents and teachers for how to manage students' interactions with computers and cell phones.

Compared with today's youth, I'm a late-adopter of technology...I was 16 before I had an email address, 24 when I got my first cell phone. But still I notice that it has had an effect on the way that I think....web browsers mean that I can be much more easily distracted. A generation ago, TV was the only real distraction (you used it for video games too); now the computer has blurred the lines between entertainment and schoolwork. I think it's a big issue that we as a society need to pay a lot of (undivided) attention to.