Category: Links Dump

LIGO: the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory A comprehensive review article on LIGO, free online for a limited time. (tags: articles science gravity astronomy physics relativity precision-measurement) Never build a relationship on books | Books | guardian.co.uk "I don’t know if Borders will actually be making recommendations for dates in the same way as they recommend… Continue reading links for 2009-07-08

Star Formation "This blog is for the Physics and Astronomy Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR, the sort of acronym that takes some real self esteem to embrace) to communicate with CUR members, the wider scientific community, and the general public." (tags: science academia education blogs) Salt Office Life » 10 Ways to… Continue reading links for 2009-07-07

Field-sensitive addressing and control of field-insensitive neutral-atom qubits : Abstract : Nature Physics "Here, we demonstrate the selection of individual qubits with external fields, while the qubits are in field-insensitive superpositions. We use a spatially inhomogeneous external field to map selected qubits to a different field-insensitive superposition, minimally perturbing unselected qubits, despite the fact that… Continue reading links for 2009-07-06

slacktivist: The short straw "Tony Perkins looks nervous, unsure if he should be glad he gets to go first. He reaches out and makes his choice. Grinning broadly, he holds up the long straw for the others to see and, chuckling to himself, makes his way to the back of the room. “It’s not fair,”… Continue reading links for 2009-07-05

Charlie Rose – An interview with David Foster Wallace A 1997 interview, when Wallace was promoting A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, covering a wide range of topics. (tags: video writing books literature movies humanities academia society culture) In Which Your Host Witnesses a High-Speed Chase : Built on Facts "Conservation of momentum… Continue reading links for 2009-07-04

Setshot: Basketball for the Aging and Infirm: Rosters: Managing the list "Overall, I like administering the list because I can virtually guarantee that any time I want to play, there will be others to play with. I also like the fact that I have some control over who gets on the list, and more importantly,… Continue reading links for 2009-07-03

Newton, P.I. | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine "Happily, Tom Levenson (of The Inverse Square, and one of our honored guest bloggers) has provided us with a fascinating peek into a telling episode in Newton’s later life — his career as a criminal investigator. Not really “P.I.”, as Newton was acting in his capacity as… Continue reading links for 2009-07-02

Acephalous: Infinite Summer: Morbid? Culturally Imperial? Morbidly Culturally Imperial? "In the end, what’s interesting about the 25-year-old Klein’s post about the 46-year-old Foster Wallace’s novel is the notion that someone who was 18 years old when the Clash first performed in America and someone who was 18 years old the year Joe Strummer died can… Continue reading links for 2009-07-01

Physics Buzz: A day at the International Submarine Races "Last weekend, travelers at a rest stop in Minnesota became alarmed when a group of college kids pulled up in a U-haul truck, carefully unloaded a large, sleek object from the back, and set to work on it with power tools. About the length of a… Continue reading links for 2009-06-30

Cocktail Party Physics: dial-a-scientist "It all started Wednesday, when I got an email from Brandon Webb, who handles PR for the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at UT Dallas. He wanted to know if I could talk to a reporter who wanted to know whether a Styrofoam cup could break a windshield. (That’s an… Continue reading links for 2009-06-29