Guest Bloggers:
Many thanks to Aaron and Nathan, my guest bloggers over the past few weeks-- they did a great job, and if anything probably raised the tone around here. If you've got an academic job opening, and aren't afraid of those...
Posted on September 10, 2007 6:48 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Well, Chad's back, and I guess that means that this guest-blogging stint has come to an end (free! I'm free!). I want to thank Chad again for the opportunity to play in his sandbox for a few weeks. I didn't...
Posted on September 9, 2007 11:49 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I remember the last time I saw the milky way. I was at my aunt's house in the foothills of the Sierras, and late at night the dense river of stars emerges. But that is still not the true milky...
Posted on September 8, 2007 6:40 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Ah, what loyal citizen of California doesn't remember singing the state song, I Love You, California, every morning. Or was it saying the Pledge...my memory's hazy. The reason I bring up state songs is not to bring up the ill-fated...
Read on »
Posted on September 7, 2007 3:06 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I should probably sneak in a few posts before Chad gets back. It's been a hectic week, as the time came for my current experiment (as it does for all experiments) where one stops futzing around trying to make things...
Read on »
Posted on September 7, 2007 11:29 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Now that I'm back in College Station, it's time to start getting applications ready for the great job search. I don't know how it is in other fields, but in math/physics, this generally involves three to four letters of recommendation,...
Posted on September 6, 2007 4:01 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Steinn reports that the NRC has made its recommendations for NASA's Beyond Einstein program. The winners appear to be LISA, a gravity wave observatory, and JDEM, a competition of dark energy focussed satellites. Steinn has lots of links to the...
Posted on September 5, 2007 5:05 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Well, I'm back in Texas and just in time for Steve Jobs to introduce new toys I can't afford. At the risk of turning Chad's blog into an Apple advertisement, every time I pass an Apple store, it takes significant...
Posted on September 5, 2007 2:22 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Happy Labor Day to everyone. I'll be traveling back to Texas, so no blog for me for a day or so....
Posted on September 3, 2007 12:15 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Because my team, the Forty Niners, aren't. Neither apparently is Michigan. On the other hand, my co-guest blogger is surely happy....
Posted on September 2, 2007 11:33 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Principles proprietor is currently at WorldCon where the Hugo awards are given out. This year's winners are available (among many other places, I'm sure) at Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden's blog. I wasn't a huge fan of Rainbows End...
Posted on September 1, 2007 1:50 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Taking a break from all this physics, I thought I'd talk a little about music and some related mathematical coincidences. One of the fundamental concepts of music is that of consonance and dissonance. Consonant things sound nice when played together...
Read on »
Posted on September 1, 2007 11:20 AM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A little while ago, intrepid reporters from the Baltimore Sun dropped by my lab to investigate the newsworthiness of a paper (also on the ArXiv) that had just been published, about which I might talk a little bit before Chad...
Posted on August 31, 2007 8:47 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
If you're on the west coast tonight and are willing to stay up late or wake up early, you have the chance to see the Aurigid meteor shower. This shower is fairly unique because it arises from a comet with...
Posted on August 31, 2007 9:39 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A long time ago, all you needed to think about and record the data you were interested in was a pen and some vellum, and maybe a few candles and a trusty manservant. Somewhere along the line, the chart recorder...
Read on »
Posted on August 30, 2007 6:02 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I'm here to depress you a little. First off, we have the upcoming anniversary of Katrina, about which Jane Dark has a tough tale to tell: The abandonment of a great city to time and tide is indeed both symptom...
Posted on August 29, 2007 11:30 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks