I’ve hit a point in the book-writing where I’m sort of spinning my wheels: waiting for beta-reader comments, fiddling with figures, looking at dog pictures for potential illustrations (my contract calls for me to provide some number of reproduction-quality pictures of the dog). This would be the perfect time to do some blogging.
The problem is, there’s nothing jumping out saying “Blog me! Blog me!” at the moment. I’ve got some longer-term ideas, and I may start those over the weekend, but there’s nothing coming to mind for immediate blogging.
So, let’s throw this open to the wisdom of crowds:
What should I blog about?
Leave your suggestions in the comments. I don’t promise to respond to all (or any) of them, but if anything sparks a response, I’ll write about it.
If there’s anything that you’ve been dying to know my opinion about, here’s your chance.
If you haven’t got anything to say, don’t say it!
In keeping with the Red Books, can your canine be captured playing the bongos?
Can you speak to Michael Nielsen’s post on collaboration in the sciences? It’s been generating a lot of traffic over on his FriendFeed page, but I’d like to see what some of the Sb community has to say about his thoughts.
A list: “5 SF/F novels or series that you should read, but probably haven’t.” Similar for movies, TV shows, music.
When in doubt, pop culture.
You should blog about some new, badass physics research!
Well, in the books thread, I did wonder why you didn’t finish some of the books you didn’t get through, particularly A Christmas Carol and Sherlock Holmes. I assume that different books had different reasons and it might be enlightening to hear some of them.
It’s not deep, and it probably belongs in that thread, but it’s a better request (in my own opinion) than either of the two (at this writing) respondents so far.
Triadophilia: A Special Corner in the Landscape
A plot of the Hodge numbers of the Kreuzer-Skarke list. ….. populate
the tip is to seek Calabi-Yau manifolds that are free quotients, with
a nontrivial …
“Looking at the tip of the landscape it is hard not to speculate that there may be a physical mechanism allowing transitions between what appear classically to be different vacua thereby permitting the
universe to trickle down to a very special corner of the landscape, an oasis where only very few Calabi-Yau manifolds reside.”
I’m sure there aren’t many others who will agree with me on this, but I’d love to see a sort of “Basic Concepts”-series style approach to the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, specifically as it was described in Feynman and Hibbs. Although it might be somewhat niche, I personally love the stuff; it’s like the other quantum mechanics, and on first seeing it, it’s nothing short of black magic. But maybe that’s just me.
As I understand it, crackers have become popular lately.
How about threatening to desecrate a tasteless snack?
@Colin M and Bob O’H:
C’mon. That was amusing for a while, but I for one am enjoying a cracker-free feedreader for a while.
You should blog about some new, badass physics research!
Yes, but what?
I haven’t seen anything recently that seemed exciting enough to post about, but I’ve been preoccupied, and might’ve missed something.
As I understand it, crackers have become popular lately.
I can quite honestly say that the whole “cracker” episode has not changed my opinion of any of the participants one bit. Other than that, I don’t think I have anything to add to what I already said to the dog.
How about blogging about a study in some field of science that you’re unschooled in but still interested as an outside observer?
Pictures! It’s science, it’s art! It’s what you’re supposed to deliver with your dog!
More seriously, what do you as a physicist consider a good (as opposed to merely illustrative) science picture? And not astronomy (that’s too easy), but in hard to imagine fields?
If we talk about general publication, when does a journalist cross the line – when the colored gels show up, when you’re asked to wear a lab coat?
Or to take a different tack, what constitutes an honest, truthful image in a journal paper, and what is fraudulent?
tell us how you really feel about Dick Vitale, or how the ACC is overrated…..
You should have a baby and then tell us lots of funny baby stories. Or maybe a post wherein you explain to The Queen where said baby came from …
I’m a physics undergrad about to begin my final year, and while I’m still thinking of physics grad school, I’m starting to feel less and less inclined to go into academia. Would you talk some more about career options for physics students outside of academia/pure research?
I’d like to hear what you think we’ll learn (if anything!) when the LHC comes online next month.
You should have a baby and then
That would be another thing where we’re sort of spinning our wheels . . .
I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on becoming a father. Both before and after the actual event. And, of course, you *will* post baby pics as soon as humanly possible.
MKK
So, what do you think about graphene? the next big thing, or just the latest fad?
“So, what do you think about graphene?” — be sure to write down your answer with a #2 pencil.
I come to this blog for the dog stories. I expect to enjoy the baby stories, too, so I hope there will be some. I had some babies once. One of them is a physics student now!
On a different topic, let me take this opportunity to say that I received my books from the fabulous book giveaway. Thanks very much, Kate!
Should negative results be publishable? Where?
If you don’t have anything to blog about then don’t! It’s all about being yourself, and its not you if you force yourself right? But if you insist, why don’t you blog about fundraising/benefit events. You could do some good in this world by joining and promoting fundraising events for a good cause. You not only have a blog post, but you also get to help other people!