Behold, the end of the world is at hand! They said I was mad– mad!– but now they’ll pay… Well, ok, it’s not actually a doomsday weapon. It’s a shot of the main experiment chamber in my lab, taken in very low light in an attempt to capture the orange glow of the ion gauge… Continue reading Lab Porn: Doomsday!
Month: March 2008
Happy Easter
Today is Easter Sunday, which I will be celebrating in the traditional manner: by, um, driving across half of New York and Pennsylvania… OK, maybe that’s not the usual tradition… I’m giving a talk tomorrow at Bucknell, so I need to get to Lewisburg, PA tonight. This will allow me to stop through Scenic Whitney… Continue reading Happy Easter
Young and Photogenic
Ladies and gentemen, one of the three worst pictures ever taken of me: There is, of course, a story behind this. It’s not a particularly good story, but there is one…
links for 2008-03-23
Relativity: Measuring the speed of light « Skulls in the Stars A history of experiments through the ages. (tags: precision-measurement experiment history science) Nanocrystals could help recover waste heat – physicsworld.com “[T]he thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) for the ingots increased to 1.2 at room temperature (from a value of 1.0 previously). Moreover, they found… Continue reading links for 2008-03-23
Tampa Madness!
I got a late start this morning, and had to run some errands today, but I would be remiss if I didn’t post something to commemorate the wackiness in the Tampa subregional of the NCAA Tournament. They played four games yesterday in Tampa: the first two went into overtime, with Western Kentucky beating Drake on… Continue reading Tampa Madness!
links for 2008-03-22
Security Beat The DHS gets security advice from Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and David Brin. I feel safer already. (tags: stupid SF war US politics) States’ Data Obscure How Few Finish High School – New York Times “Like Mississippi, many states use an inflated graduation rate for federal reporting requirements under the No Child Left… Continue reading links for 2008-03-22
Small Colleges Represent!
Congratulations to Davidson, who just knocked off Gonzaga. It’s a 7-10 game, so not that big an upset, but there aren’t a lot of liberal arts schools winning NCAA games, so let’s hear it for the Wildcats.
God and Fraternities
There was a faculty-student happy hour event last week for St. Patrick’s Day, and I spent a bunch of time drinking Irish beer, listening to Irish music (one of the English department faculty is an accomplished piper, and brought a bunch of other local musicians in to play for the party), and talking to some… Continue reading God and Fraternities
Basketball Game of the Day (Syracuse-Maryland)
There was a lot of basketball played yesterday, and a lot more will be played today, but the most important of these games was unquestionably Syracuse’s victory over Maryland last night in the Carrier Dome. What? Yes it’s an NIT game, not an NCAA game. So what? They’re the two teams I root for, and… Continue reading Basketball Game of the Day (Syracuse-Maryland)
Hugo Nominees 2008
The Hugo Award nominees for this year have been released. The category I care most about is Best Novel, where we have: The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate) Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr) Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor; Analog Oct. 2006-Jan/Feb. 2007) The Last Colony by John Scalzi (Tor)… Continue reading Hugo Nominees 2008