So, in the previous post about symmetry and the difference between bosons and fermions, I threw in a bunch of teasing comments about how the requirement that quantum particles be indistinguishable has surprising and interesting consequences. Of course, I never quite explained what all that was about. Which, I suppose, means I’m obliged to pull… Continue reading Two Fermions Walk Into a Bar…
Month: October 2006
You Gotta Believe
A couple of weeks ago, when I bought the new Hold Steady album, I also picked up Sam’s Town by the Killers. I bought it in spite of some pretty harsh reviews, but in the end, I think that The Onion’s AV Club got it right: The Killers have created a batch of easily digestible… Continue reading You Gotta Believe
Jack Chick Was Right About Halloween
At least, that’s the obvious conclusion to draw from today’s Medium Large…
If It Has “Science” in the Name, It’s Not
The Times this morning has an article on the future of computer science: Computer science is not only a comparatively young field, but also one that has had to prove it is really science. Skeptics in academia would often say that after Alan Turing described the concept of the “universal machine” in the late 1930’s… Continue reading If It Has “Science” in the Name, It’s Not
Fearful Symmetry
I’ve had a chance now to read through the new papers mentioned in the Wolfgang Ketterle post last week, and there’s some interesting stuff there. The second item on the list from the AIP news article, “First observation of Mott insulator shells,” is particularly interesting, as I did some early work in that area when… Continue reading Fearful Symmetry
Polling for Dummies
Because I’m a Bad Person, I no longer remember who pointed me to Halfway There’s primer on polling, but it’s really an excellent of the effects of sample size, and why it’s legitimate to project results based on small numbers of interviews. Some important notes from the conclusion: Second, even a poll that is supposed… Continue reading Polling for Dummies
Toys of the Monster Dogs
In honor of Halloween tomorrow, a menacing picture of Emmy, Queen of Niskayuna: Caption: “Don’t even think about trying to take my Kong.”
Give the Fat Kid a Break
Gina Kolata in the New York Times today reports on new attempts to blame obesity for the problems of the world: Last week the list of ills attributable to obesity grew: fat people cause global warming. This latest contribution to the obesity debate comes in an article by Sheldon H. Jacobson of the University of… Continue reading Give the Fat Kid a Break
You’ve Come a Long Way, Doctor
The Day the Earth Stood Still was on tv yesterday, and we watched most of it because it’s a classic, and because the alternative was bad college football. Kate had never seen it before, and was surprised to find that it wasn’t campy. There is, however, one scene that has become unintentionally hilarious over the… Continue reading You’ve Come a Long Way, Doctor
Foreign Publication
I got a comment to my recent “Classic Edition” post on peer review asking permission to translate the post into French, and put it on a French-language blog. Needless to say, I was kind of flattered that anybody would think it was worth that much work, so I agreed, and now it’s appeared. Cool stuff.… Continue reading Foreign Publication