The question for the week from the Seed overlords is: “Will the ‘human’ race be around in 100 years?” This is basically a Singularity question, and as such, I think it’s kind of silly. But then, I think the whole Singularity thing is sort of silly– as a literary device, it makes for some good […]
Month: May 2006
True Conference Stories
Every year, or nearly every year, I go to the meeting of the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society (which revels in the acronym “DAMOP” (pronounced “day-mop”), but at least we’re better off than our Canadian brethren, who are just the Division of Atomic and Molecular Physics). A few […]
Old Tune Pimpage
For those who care, there’s a list below the fold of what I bought from iTunes last night based on recommendations in the previous thread. For those who don’t care so much about that, let me just note that trying to buy classical music on iTunes really is as annoying as everyone says– as dozens […]
Pimp Me Old Tunes
My lightly tossed-off shot at classical music snobs, and subsequent confession that classical music fails to make much of an impression has led to various people calling me an uncultured barbarian, but also to a surprisingly vibrant comment thread that has included some recommendations of music to try. I might as well roll with that […]
The Nature of the Job
On one of the occasions when I called the gastroenterologists to complain that my heartburn wasn’t getting any better (there were a couple of rounds of such calls, before I went back to my regular doctor), the woman I spoke to asked “Are you experiencing stress at work?” “Yes,” I said, “and before you say […]
You Can’t Tell the Players Without a Program
Via Jim Henley, a handy guide to the key denominations, terms, and concepts in Christianity: Catholics Catholics are the New York Yankees of Christianity. They are the biggest and wealthiest team, and their owner is intensely controversial (this makes St. Francis of Assisi the Derek Jeter of Catholicism: discuss). Catholics all wear matching uniforms, and […]
I Am Become a Suburban Yard Monkey
So, after noting that yesterday morning was grey and dismal, I headed over to work to take care of some grading and other sutff, and the clouds lightened up a bit. I went out to run some errands, and the sun came out. so I headed home, and what did I do? Yard work. Rather […]
Honey and Vinegar
A study in contrasting approaches: Scott Spiegelberg says sensible things about introducing people to classical music. A. C. Douglas makes me less likely to listen to classical music any time soon.
This Is Not the Blog You’re Looking For
It’s a grey and rainy weekend morning, and I’m facing a day at work trying to put things in order before I leave for DAMOP on Tuesday, so I’m not in a big hurry to get moving. Of course, I’m not feeling all that inspired, blog-wise, either, so I’m going to fall back on one […]
Woo-Hoo!
The approval for the second year of my NSF grant just came through. This wasn’t really in doubt, but it’s nice to have confirmation that the thirty-odd thousand dollars I was counting on to run the next year of the experiment will actually, you know, be available when I start sending purchase orders out for […]