Bits and pieces

Sorry for the comparatively slow rate of posts - it's an extremely busy time of the semester, and travel last week threw me off.  Here are a few odds and ends:

• There is about to be a new edition of Kleppner and Kolenkow, an advanced freshman physics text that I really value.  (Unsurprisingly, when I was taking a class out of it 24 years ago my opinion of the book was not nearly so favorable.)  I'm very much looking forward to seeing the revisions and new problems.  While I like the mathematical sophistication a lot, I think it's superior to most generic freshman books by not trying to distract you on every page with glossy color illustrations and three different kinds of call-outs, text boxes, or tables.  Many modern omnibus books look like they're actively trying to encourage attention deficit disorder.  If they could use the html blink tag and have rotating animated gifs on every page, they would.
• There is also a new edition of Purcell, a fantastic E&M book.  I've written about Purcell before, and Morin has done the community a great service by revising this book so that the presentation is in what has become the mainstream MKS system of units.   I haven't had a chance to teach out of this new version, which contains more exercises and worked examples, but anything that introduces Purcell's lucid explanations to more students is good.
• There is going to be a new edition of Horowitz and Hill as well. 
• The US government took time out from its complete dysfunction last week to address the looming problems related to the strategic helium reserve.
• I hope the majority party in the US House understands that a US sovereign debt default would be an incredibly bad idea.