We’ve continued plugging away at the optical excitation experiment discussed in the Week in the Lab series last year, and have finally managed to get a decent metastable signal out of the thing. The signals are at pressures that are considerably higher than I would like (and quite a bit higher than the turbopump is… Continue reading Vacuum Technology is Black Magic
Bad Graphs
The silliest graph I’ve ever seen presented in public looked something like this: It was an after-dinner talk at a DAMOP meeting a few years back, and the speaker was somebody associated with the Hubble Space Telescope. I don’t recall what was being plotted, but he talked for a while about ho proud they were… Continue reading Bad Graphs
Something for the Humanists in the Audience
“Imperialism” “Colonialism” I have a vague sense that these two terms are not interchangeable, but I can’t for the life of me explain what the difference is. But there seems to be one, at least based on listening to colleagues from the other side of campus talk about their research. So, what’s the difference? (Some… Continue reading Something for the Humanists in the Audience
Mmmmmm…. Sacrilicious!
I’m inordinately amused by this Overheard in New York entry. Quite possibly because it reminds me of the Jesus Bread-Golem Project, or maybe just for the suggested headline “If Jesus Wanted Us to Eat Him with Salsa, He’d Be Appearing on Tortillas…. Oh… Wait.” I’m a Bad Person. Also, I miss Fafblog. Update: See also… Continue reading Mmmmmm…. Sacrilicious!
The Efficient Part of Campus
There’s an academic joke that says that the job of a university president is really pretty simple. To ensure happiness on campus, all he or she needs to do is make sure that there’s sex for the undergraduates, food for the graduate students, and parking for the faculty. It’s certainly true that parking enforcement has… Continue reading The Efficient Part of Campus
Give the Rubes Some Credit
Kevin Drum and Mark Kleiman both pick up on the new book from Dennis Kuo saying that the “faith-based initiatives” program was a political scam. The MSNBC piece contains a few colorful quotes about the shenanigans Kuo is reporting, which sound pretty bad. Kevin cites them, then asks: Like I said a few days ago,… Continue reading Give the Rubes Some Credit
I Keep Trying to Get Out, but They Keep Pulling Me Back In
I’m pretty thoroughly disgusted with the string theory arguments at the moment, so I told myself I wasn’t going to say more about the subject. And then, they post a detailed explanation of what strings have to do with RHIC over at Backreaction…. Given my preference for layman-level science blogging over dense technical science blogging,… Continue reading I Keep Trying to Get Out, but They Keep Pulling Me Back In
Thoughts on the LHC and ILC
Back in late July, I got email from a writer for Physics World magazine (which is sort of the UK equivalent of Physics Today), asking my opinion on a few questions relating to particle physics funding. The basis for asking me (as opposed to, you know, a particle physicist) was presumably a post from April… Continue reading Thoughts on the LHC and ILC
Understanding vs. Mathematics
Over at Crooked Timber, Daniel picks up the Harry Collins thing I talked about last week, and asks an interesting question about the role of math: We don’t want to make “understanding the subject” mean “being able to do calculations about the subject”, unless we have some reason to believe that this is a necessary… Continue reading Understanding vs. Mathematics
Open Letter to Scientific Equipment Manufacturers
I know I have said this before, but it obviously didn’t take, so I’ll do it again. Allow me to explain a basic principle of economics. You make high-quality technical instruments. I am interested in getting my hands on some high-quality technical instruments. In fact, I am sufficiently interested that I will write grants to… Continue reading Open Letter to Scientific Equipment Manufacturers