Uncertain Principles Archive
Physics, Politics, Pop Culture; formerly on ScienceBlogs
Kate and I spent last week in Rome, to attend the wedding of a friend of mine from college, who was marrying an Italian woman. I’ve always wanted to see Rome, so this was a great excuse, and of course I took a lot of pictures– over 1,600 all told. This happens in part because […]
There’s a sort of Internet tradition of posting photos of hotel-room views when traveling, so here’s a very slightly artsy version of same: The first time I looked out the window, there was a big-ass truck parked directly in front of it. I like this version a little better, though. Kidding about the accommodations aside, […]
I spent Tuesday flying to Champaign, Illinois, which was probably a big mistake. I should’ve booked a Southwest flight to Midway Airport in Chicago, and rented a car to drive down to Champaign, but I decided that might be annoying on the way home, so opted to fly the whole way. Which meant a United […]
I’m in Newport News, VA, to give a talk tonight at Jefferson Lab, and they’re putting me up at the on-site Residence Facility. The rooms at this are apparently sponsored associated with institutions that use the facility, with big signs on all the doors. Here’s mine: So, I guess my stay is in some sense […]
Having mentioned in yesterday’s post that I’ll be on sabbatical for the next academic year, this would probably be a good time to point out that this means I’m somewhat more flexible than usual in terms of going places and giving talks. And I enjoy going places and giving talks. About
I mentioned last week that I’m giving a talk at Vanderbilt tomorrow, but as they went to the trouble of writing a press release, the least I can do is share it: It’s clear that this year’s Forman lecturer at Vanderbilt University, Chad Orzel, will talk about physics to almost anyone. After all, two of […]
I keep forgetting to mention these, but I have two talks coming up: 1) Tonight, March 17, I’m talking about Eureka to the Mid-Hudson Astronomical Association on the campus of SUNY New Paltz. This is a version of the talk I gave in Bristol, UK over the summer, but with the soccer content replaced with […]
As mentioned briefly here and on Twitter, I spent the past week at the Renaissance Weekend in Charleston, SC. This is a biggish smart-people festival, running for 30-odd years now, bringing together a wide array of people from politics, finance, science, and the arts. Bill Phillips has been going to it for years (though he […]
Matt “Dean Dad” Reed has a post about the issue of academic conference travel, which is expensive and often the first thing cut out of college budgets. Which leaves faculty either disconnected from their field, or paying out-of-pocket to attend meetings that they need to demonstrate their scholarly productivity. This, in turn, tends to skew […]
Small observations of things that have struck me as weird during our UK stay to this point: — There is no alarm clock in our hotel room. — There are no drinking fountains in public spaces. — The travel-on-the-left thing would be easier if it were consistently applied. About one stairway in three asks people […]