Archive for the 'fun' Category

Page 2 of 7

Retreat

Published on April 25, 2011 in academia, fun, Los Angeles, science and work. 5 Comments

photo1_output_smallSome of this weekend was spent in the mountains a few hours East of the city, where we had a departmental retreat for a short while. It was fun – lots of fun. There’s a lot to be said for going off to some other place with your work colleagues, being together with them for meals, business, and recreation, and getting to know people you had not met before, or getting to know better people you’d already known.

There were several short talks from people sharing a bit about what they or their research group have been up to, with coffee breaks and meal breaks. The latter were signaled by a nice gong, and we were served tasty vegetarian food that everyone seemed to enjoy (even those who eyed longingly the In ‘N Out Burger in the town at the bottom of the mountain before making the trip up – you know who you are!) with wide ranging conversation among ourselves and occasionally with the Buddhist monks and volunteers who run the centre. (Hence the sitting cross-legged on mats in the above picture…)

photo3_output_smallThe evening had a few more talks and then was free for socializing. A large game of trivial pursuits broke out and hilarity ensued in one corner, along with chatting, guitar strumming and drawing (me) in other corners.

After what was a cold and windy night outside (I was glad of the extra layers I brought), Sunday had an early start for breakfast, 7:30am, and then a large group headed off for a hike. I decided that I needed to get some work done on The Project and stayed by the toasty fire in the dining room and did some drawing and inking, listening to Continue reading ‘Retreat’

Glimpses of CicLAVia

Published on April 12, 2011 in cycling, energy, energy policy, environment, fun, Los Angeles and personal. 1 Comment Tags: .

ciclavia_april_11_cvj_1
CicLAvia this weekend was wonderful! Again, just like the inaugural one last year (see my post ciclavia_april_11_cvj_5with lots of pictures) it felt like it was as perfect an event as can be expected. There were droves of people out again enjoying themselves and connecting, plenty of great food, great weather, and lashings of good will.

I focused on hanging out with some friends, and so took fewer pictures this time, but there are a few. To the left is one of my favourites. It has City Hall nicely fragmented in a reflection in the new LAPD headquarters, with cyclists passing by on the route running along 1st street downtown.

Continue reading ‘Glimpses of CicLAVia’

Weekend Poetry and Cycling

Published on April 8, 2011 in cycling, fun, literature, Los Angeles, personal, words and work. 0 Comments Tags: .

cicLAvia picture from 10-10-10For those of you located in the area, I should mention two events close to my heart that are taking place this weekend. One is the Dead Poets’ Slam, this Saturday at 7:00pm at the excellent Skylight books. This is one of the always great Smart Gals events, organized by Christine Louise Berry. She’s got together an excellent collection of readers to throw down against each other under this year’s theme, “Monarchs vs. Minions”.

You should know that these annual slams are slammin’. They are not simply people sitting around reading poetry, but animated passionate people really breathing living flame into the poetry and throwing it at each other for points and glory! There’ll be judges* giving out these points, famous victories, and fragments of the defeated left Continue reading ‘Weekend Poetry and Cycling’

Bad Project

Published on February 10, 2011 in biology, film, fun, humour, Los Angeles and science. 1 Comment

bad_project

I’m guessing that a lot of you (especially those doing graduate work in Biology Labs) will just love this video*, because you can relate to it. It’s about that frustrating feeling that (for one reason or another, or several) you’re stuck doing the endless project from hell… We’ve all been there. Oh, and it is done in the style of a Lady Gaga video I am told (not having ever seen or heard a Lady Gaga video, as far as I am aware, I can’t attest to this). Video after the fold:

Continue reading ‘Bad Project’

Drum Conversations

Published on January 18, 2011 in fun, Los Angeles, personal and work. 0 Comments

little_drummer_girlAfter working for most of the day on various things (finishing penciling, then inking, and partly painting a panel for one of the pages of The Project, writing a letter of recommendation, answering various emails, etc.,) I decided to go out and enjoy the wonderful day that we were having here in LA for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I opted to head to Leimert Park and check out one of the primary (post-parade) celebrations going on in the city. That part of town is regarded by many as a cultural center for the African American community in LA, and a lot of great celebrations and other gatherings are held there from time to time (there’s also good music to be found there sometimes). As I walked along in observer mode, I noticed a group of drummers. Every now and again they’d get a groove going and people would gather around and some would start moving to the sounds, some swaying in place, some dancing outright. Young and old, male and female, black and white, etc. It was good to watch. I caught a snippet for you and it is linked below. Continue reading ‘Drum Conversations’

Rain, Dear. Games. (2)

Published on December 23, 2010 in fun, Los Angeles and personal. 0 Comments

chinese_checkers_funLater in the early evening of rain, rain, rain yesterday I broke open the tin of ten games I bought on a whim in K-mart a few days back.

While the rain continued to fall, chinese checkers provided some good, easy-to-learn fun for us all, with a span of about 75 years in the age gap from youngest to oldest. (Yes, some physics thoughts crossed my mind fleetingly once or twice as we played. This time I Continue reading ‘Rain, Dear. Games. (2)’

Rain, Dear. Games. (1)

Published on December 22, 2010 in fun, Los Angeles, nature, science and work. 3 Comments

double_rainbow_small So today’s rain-storm-driven activities involved staring out of the windows at various impressive downpours and marveling at the lightning and thunderclaps. This latter formed an interesting coincidence since I was reviewing grant proposals this morning, and one of them was about the science of certain types of high energy phenomena associated with lightning bolts. They were good to see, since Southern California (at least the LA part) has relatively few and relatively lame offerings in the way of thunderstorms. I miss them terribly.

In the early afternoon, we finally decided to go off to a museum. A good indoor activity. However, we got caught in a downpour between parking and museum and decided that, despite the two giant umbrellas we had deployed, our coverage was wanting and we were all too damp to continue. So we returned home. It was a good Continue reading ‘Rain, Dear. Games. (1)’

Entropy at Play

Published on December 18, 2010 in fun, Los Angeles, personal, science and work. 1 Comment

entropy_demoWhile out and about this rainy Saturday I thought I’d buy a set of dominoes with which to play with my young visitor. During such play, since he started to count the numbers of dots on them spontaneously, and since as we unpacked them he exclaimed “zero!” excitedly at the one with no dots on (I found this impressive), I figured I’d encourage him to place them in order. This went along fine until he discovered that he was finding numbers he’d found before. I encouraged him to lay them next to each other when they match (this shows what we’d call “degeneracy” in my area), and carry on. Eventually, he found the nice shape in the picture. I decided it was a bit early to explain to a four year old that he’d just illustrated Continue reading ‘Entropy at Play’

The Project – 1

Published on December 10, 2010 in academia, art, astronomy, books, fun, humour, literature, Los Angeles, personal, research, science, science and society, science education, science in the media, words and work. 10 Comments

It is midnight and I really should get to sleep in order to wake up and work some more on editing the final exam for my class so that it can go to the printer by noon. But I’ve got several pokes from people clamouring to find out what The Project actually is, and I promised yesterday I’d start to spill the beans. Thanks for the interest! I think I’d better get at least some of it out there or I’ll have an angry mob by morning! So here goes. I will drag out the draft I sketched yesterday and beat it into shape:

So, as you may have guessed, The Project, which I’ve been mentioning here since a post way back in February, is a writing project, but it is somewhat different from what you might expect. The bottom line is that I hope that at some point into future you will be able to purchase a copy of your own, and that you will find it instructive, exciting, and enjoyable. At least.

Yes, it is a book about science. However… Well, here’s the thing. Over many years, people (friends, colleagues, potential agents and publishers, blog readers, etc) have been asking me when I am going to write my book. You know, the popular-level book that every academic who is interested in the public understanding of their field (as you know I am from reading this blog) is expected will write at some point. To be honest, I have given it some thought over the years, and it has been something I figured I might do at some point. In fact, several different ideas have occurred to me over the years, and I may well implement some of them at some point.

But a major thought began to enter my mind well over ten years ago. In my field, there is a rather narrow range of models for the shape of such books, usually involving about 80% of it being a series of chapters covering all the standard introductory material (some relativity, some quantum mechanics, and so forth) for the lay reader, before culminating in a chapter or two of what the researcher really wants to tell them about: some aspect of their research. This is a fine model, and it is great that people continue to write such books, and I will no doubt use that model one day, but to be honest, I don’t think there is any urgency for me to add to the canon yet another one of those books. Moreover, if you line examples of that type of book up against each other, you see that the Continue reading ‘The Project – 1′

Practice

Published on November 3, 2010 in fun, humour, Los Angeles and work. 2 Comments

During idle moments, when nobody is looking, we professors of the Dark Arts are known to practice various techniques. Just for fun, and to stay sharp, you understand. This was during the wait for the USC Presidential inauguration march to begin a couple of weeks ago. (See posts here and here.) As you can see, Nick Warner (right) and I (middle) are engaged in trying different approaches to a remote influence technique as Krzysztof Pilch (left) looks on at the results, somewhat amused. (Click for slightly larger view.)

inauguration_antics

All in good fun.

-cvj

CicLAvia Report

Published on October 12, 2010 in cycling, energy, energy policy, environment, fun, global warming and Los Angeles. 4 Comments Tags: .

ciclavia2010_4Well, it is not often I get to say this, but Sunday’s CicLAvia event was, for me, completely perfect. It was simply about community, family, and enjoying the streets. It did not have an overtly political or activist vibe to it (as is often the case when you try to do some things a little differently from others in this town, like ride the bus or walk to the grocery store), and I saw a lot more people simply enjoying (and remarking on it out loud) the fact that they were out on the streets of the city than I saw people proclaiming rabid anti-car sentiments, as I’ve seen at bike-centric events before. I think the former feeling will go a lot further in making lasting change than the latter in the long run. There was some political content around, but it was largely confined to the steps of City Hall, where (when I passed) there were endearingly naive chants being led by a bloke with a microphone about “LA saying no to oil!’ and “no to coal!”. Don’t get me wrong – naive is not necessarily used as a derogatory term here. Noble dreams begin with a heavy dose of naivete, I believe. Hope, against the odds, for significant change, and so forth. (I could use the fully decorated version, naïveté, but it looks a bit pretentious to me today…)

So the event was mostly about people getting out there and enjoying the city streets, and sharing their enjoyment by doing it together. I was impressed with the turnout Continue reading ‘CicLAvia Report’

Off to CicLAvia…

Published on October 10, 2010 in energy, energy policy, environment, food and drink, fun, global warming, Los Angeles and personal. 1 Comment Tags: .

Getting ready to disappear off to explore the route. Should be fun, although it is a tad too hot a day for it to be perfect for cycling and wandering long in the sun. On the other hand, that will bring a lot of people out to enjoy their Sunday outdoors, I hope, walking, cycling, rollerblading, skateboarding, running, etc.

Continue reading ‘Off to CicLAvia…’

Quark Constituents

Published on October 4, 2010 in food and drink, fun and humour. 8 Comments

quark_cheeseNoticed this on the shelves in a supermarket yesterday. (I was hunting for clotted cream, but that’s another story.) I can’t recall if I’ve known before that “quark” was also a kind of cheese.

I suspect that this might have potentially amusing physics joke uses in the future.

To further my education, I looked up quark cheese on Wikipedia. All very interesting. Continue reading ‘Quark Constituents’

Glow

Published on September 26, 2010 in art, fun and Los Angeles. 2 Comments

glow_festival_5_bannerLast night, Glow, the biennial evening to late night gathering down on Santa Monica beach, was fun. There were even some interesting exhibits to look at and interact with, as sort of a bonus! Below (and above) are a few images I took while down there. Click for larger view. Look at the guide on the website to figure out which piece you might be viewing, and go here for links to more photos and so forth. The piece captured in the photograph above, Day for Night, (Santa Monica pier and the carousel in the background) was one of my favourites. See description and information about its creators here.

Continue reading ‘Glow’

Inception, Abridged!

Published on September 21, 2010 in film, fun, humour, Los Angeles and movies. 4 Comments

So have you seen Inception yet? Recall my discussion of it in an earlier post. I thought it was excellent. Ok, so if you have not seen it, scroll on to another post. If you have, then you might love this**. I found it hilarious and quite brilliant. It’s a very funny idea worthy of wider recognition, and so I thought I’d share it with you and hope you share it with others. Now, it is sort of important to know that you have to bear with the video quality and also let yourself get used to Steven Beacon (the performer) and his somewhat frenetic delivery for several minutes so that the actual Inception part (and how he performs it) that comes later is properly appreciated. So stick with it (and you don’t have to understand all he says in the leading up parts of the act)… it’ll be worth it. (Jump to about 07:30 if you are really busy…) Remember, it probably won’t make any sense or seem the slightest bit funny if you’ve not seen the film.

Ok. That’s enough intro. The video is just after the fold. Enjoy!

Continue reading ‘Inception, Abridged!’

Perseids Galore!

Published on August 12, 2010 in astronomy, fun and Los Angeles. 2 Comments

perseidmap_stripThe Perseid meteors are reported to be really good viewing this year.

As I said a few years ago in anticipation of a similar nice Perseid meteor shower:

Concerned that you don’t know enough astronomy? No idea in any amount of detail where these constellations are? Don’t worry! Basically, all you really have to do is find a place where the sky is reasonably dark, look [North] East, and wait. As your eyes acclimatise to the dark, and with a bit of luck, you’ll see some, and zero in on where to look.

There’s more at the NASA news site, from which I borrowed the image above. The peak is around these few nights (12th August or so) and there’s no moon, so if you’ve got some dark (ish) skies and a bit of patience, you should see some. Yes, this includes viewers in cities. Don’t be pessimistic. You might be able to find patches of dark enough sky, especially if you can go near to an edge of the city, or a park, and look away from the bulk of the lights. It does not have to be perfect viewing Continue reading ‘Perseids Galore!’

Revisiting Shine a Light

Published on August 12, 2010 in film, fun, science, science education and work. 0 Comments

One of last year’s crazy Big Projects was filmmaking, you may remember. I just noticed that a little over a year has gone by since I premiered the first of the short science films I wrote, directed, co-produced… etc. Doesn’t hurt to look at it again. If you have a good connection, go to YouTube and select the option to watch it in HD and blow it up to full screen, and crank up the volume for the fun music!

Here’s Shine a Light:

It was brought to you by the NSF and USC’s iOpenShell Center. Visit the latter to learn more!

Don’t forget to share it! (Lots of people have viewed it (over 16,800 to date) shared it, and used it in their teaching, etc. It has been translated into a number of other languages, etc.)

Now, back to working on this year’s Project….

-cvj

Come On LA!

Published on August 1, 2010 in cycling, energy, energy policy, environment, fun, Los Angeles, personal and travel. 17 Comments

p-2048-1536-5f4d380e-a365-44ad-9eb7-fc7a9f2c2bf3.jpegPerhaps ironically, since I tune into BBC Radio 4 every day when in Los Angeles, I’ve not been listening to it or any other UK radio or news source while here in London at all. So imagine my pleasant surprise on Thursday when I came across what clearly looked like a docking station for bikes (as opposed to super-fancy bike racks, which I thought it was at first)! Sure enough, once I got closer I confirmed it – a bike sharing scheme was starting in London. By the next day I saw some more stations on my walks, and a truck driving along full of the bikes, presumably going to load up the stations. As it turned out, I learned later that the scheme started that very next day, and today I saw several people out riding on them!

I am a little disappointed about one thing. I wanted to try them out and be out there seeing the streets of the city from one of these bikes instead of on foot (as I have been doing a lot in the last several days), but guess what? Continue reading ‘Come On LA!’

Ten

Published on July 24, 2010 in fun, gadgets, Los Angeles and personal. 10 Comments

five_finger_shoes_in_actionWell, I got some. I recall blogging about seeing these some time back, and am impressed with them now that I’ve been trying them out for a week. Let me say however a couple of things. I’m not going to spout all the stuff being said about how this is all so much more “natural” than shoes, and so on and so forth. There’s a lot of that being said and I find myself generally deeply suspicious of the way the word “natural” is used to sell products, especially to a certain type of crowd who falls for this stuff. What does “natural” even mean, anyway?

I like these because they are like being barefoot without the pain and discomfort that often comes with it (stubbing toes, icky or sharp things underfoot, etc). I do not think these “five-finger” shoes (as they are called) will replace shoes for me in most circumstances. Apparently people are running in them, hiking, even mountain climbing. Good for them. I want much more support on my feet when I’m doing those things and that is why shoes were invented. Marvellous invention, shoes. Not clear to me shoes are any less “natural” than these are. They’re just different. Like cycling is not “natural”, but is a rather splendid thing humans came up with that I see nothing wrong with on the “natural” vs “non-natural” front.

See also shirts, pants, skirts, etc. Same thing.

But, in short – these are great. I was told by the fellow in the shop that they are becoming hugely popular now, although I am not sure I believe that since I’ve only ever seen one person out there wearing them, and that was a while back. (It is in shoe-sellers’ interest to make these claims.) I got them because I’ve a bit of a heel Continue reading ‘Ten’

Proof

Published on July 19, 2010 in books, food and drink, fun, Los Angeles and personal. 0 Comments Tags: .

lemon_chocolate_cupcakes_8The experiment seems to have been a success.

Some of our best people were on site working on diagnostics. Here’s one of them engrossed in their work. (Photo on the left. Click to enlarge.)

In short, they vanished like, er,… Hot cakes.

-cvj

.
.
.
.

Tales From The Industry XXXII: A Matter of Time

Published on July 11, 2010 in fun, Los Angeles, science, science and society, science education, science in the media, television and work. 6 Comments

patzcuaro_clocksHere are some clocks I saw at the House of Eleven Courtyards (Casa de los Once Patios) in the historic town called Pátzcuaro (at the aforementioned lake of the same name). It was a convent, and is now a place to go and see lots of arts and crafts in action, as well as buy some. The clocks, housed in copper, mark the entrance to an entire room of copper workmanship in various forms.

The clocks have reminded me to give you an update on something else. Through some of May and June, I did a lot of work for the show The Universe, which airs on the History Channel (as you probably already know from reading here over the years. See here.). There will be, as usual, several topics covered over the upcoming season, and it will be interesting to see how the various filmmakers put together their episodes. It is worth noting that the History Channel have done something remarkable here. This is now the longest run that any cable channel has had for a science show. They built an audience with a solid show, and kept producing good episodes and gathering more (and it is worth saying, an admirably diverse set of) viewers over the years.

In fact, the show has been so successful that they are going to, I predict, pay an Continue reading ‘Tales From The Industry XXXII: A Matter of Time’

Laserfest Videos

Published on June 15, 2010 in film, fun, movies, science, science education, science in the media and work. 0 Comments Tags: .

laser_beamI think I mentioned a while back that as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Laser, there was a video competition on Physics Central to make a fun video about the Laser. They were put on YouTube (tag is laserfest, I think) and then there was voting at some point (I imagine), and winners were chosen. You can see them here. Congratulations to the winners!

Actually, I think the whole playlist of Laserfest video entries is here, and you can jump through them by clicking the link to the next one in the top right hand area.

Are you aware of Laserfest, by the way? Go and check out the website and join in the celebrations of the Laser!

I should mention that the competition has all meant good news for my work as well. I Continue reading ‘Laserfest Videos’

Alternative Synopses

Published on May 26, 2010 in fun, humour, Los Angeles and movies. 5 Comments

Will is annoyed by the Karate Kid (2010 version, not the 1984 version), not the least because with Jackie Chan involved, you’d be expecting… Kung Fu right? Weren’t we supposed to have stopped confusing the forms back in the 70s or so? People are up in arms about this all over the web it seems. I’ll lay off the whole thing since I’m not an expert in the etymology of the terms anyway, but more to the point I’m just tired of having my childhood memories cynically smacked around by pointless remakes, if the truth be told.

Anyway, to help himself vent, Will wrote some amusing synopses for other remakes Hollywood might do where the details are… modified. Here are a couple I liked: Continue reading ‘Alternative Synopses’

Cloudy with a Chance of Spaceballs

Published on May 8, 2010 in fun, humour and movies. 3 Comments

yoda_cloud_bablogThis cloud’s shape is rather incredible, at least in the context of a certain small green character from Star Wars. See it? Have a read of Phil’s post (where I spotted this) and be sure to have a laugh at several of the hilarious comments from readers!

-cvj

Summer Fun…

Published on May 5, 2010 in fun, Los Angeles and movies. 0 Comments

Ah, now that Springtime is firmly settled in (been several weeks now), it is time for the next major season. What is that? Summer Blockbuster season! It’s already been underway, the highlight so far (in my opinion) being the clever and tongue-in-cheek “Kick-Ass”, which I suspect will be the best of the bunch of the (dismayingly rapidly growing) superhero movie genre for this year.

kick_ass_vistaOne of my favourite movie theatres, the Vista (a classic old movie palace that has not been chopped up into bits, like so many criminally have, but instead kept in excellent condition with great seats, huge screen, and wonderful sound) always has a treat when showing the superhero-type movies: The manager dresses up in a (sometimes charmingly saggy) costume to match the title character. Here he is (on the right – click for larger view) as the character Kick-Ass, where the (forgive me) lameness of the costume is this time actually appropriate (you have to watch the movie to understand fully why). See an earlier one here.

Enjoy!

-cvj

Art and Science

Published on May 4, 2010 in art, biology, fun, science and science education. 1 Comment

e.coli image by shardcoreSome time back I wrote a post concerning E.Coli, and illustrated it with an image that I found on the web. The other day I learned more about the actual source of the image. The painting (click on image to enlarge) was from someone working under the name shardcore, and you can visit their site here. Notably, there are several pieces of work there, and a number of them are of science subjects, and scientists. Shardcore writes interesting notes for some of the work too.

The work is overall quite fascinating, striking, and often very aesthetically engaging. I recommend having a good long look around. To tease you to go there, let me point out a (topical) one for some of us with eyes on the LHC. A painting of Peter Higgs:

Continue reading ‘Art and Science’

Prizes

Published on April 24, 2010 in books, fun and Los Angeles. 0 Comments

mazzuchelliWell, indeed there were no chocolate fountains. But the event was good nonetheless. It was a pleasure to be in the LA Times building for real, (instead of gawping in the lovely lobby as I’ve done on previous occasions), and it was an excellent ceremony. The Continue reading ‘Prizes’

The Festivities Begin!

Published on April 23, 2010 in books, fun, literature, Los Angeles, science and words. 2 Comments

LA Times Festival of BooksSo this weekend the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books takes place. This is a two day celebration of books that takes place on the UCLA campus that is a joy to attend each year. I’ve blogged about it many times in the past and you can look at previous posts from the list below. The website for the festival is here.

As you may recall, the night before the festival – that would be tonight – there is a ceremony to announce the winners of the LA Times Book Prizes, with a great reception at the end with lots of interesting people and (often) great conversation. The list of nominated books can be found here, and it is interesting again this year. Here, for example is the science and technology list:
Continue reading ‘The Festivities Begin!’

She Blinded Me With Science…

Published on April 6, 2010 in fun, science in drama, science in the media, television and women in science. 4 Comments Tags: .

The funny video below* is good for a bit of nostalgia for the time of the Thomas Dolby song, the song itself, and perhaps for the X-Files TV show (but not for me, I saw only a few episodes). Scully fans will love this, and although I never regularly watched the show, I did appreciate her character. Strong skepticism, insistence on using the scientific method, etc. Excellent. Good character overall, and broke a lot of ground as a female lead with these characteristics too.

chloe_obrian_24Now here’s an idea. Would someone please do such a video for 24′s Chloe O’Brian? (Pictured left.) She’s definitely one of my favourite technical expert engineer/scientist types on a major show, and Mary Lynn Rajskub does an excellent job giving her life, depth and likeability even though she’s fighting against all the geek/nerd stereotype characteristics they’ve endowed her with. In essence, she does it by embracing them. Her attention to detail regularly saves the day (world, city, state, whatever), and the lives of her colleagues, and in the last episode they even had her supposedly determining that light in a video was daylight by Continue reading ‘She Blinded Me With Science…’

Awesome

Published on April 5, 2010 in fun, humour, miscellany and science education. 0 Comments

obama_light_sabreI’ve never been one for the naive Obama-gushing, you may have noticed, but I can’t resist this lovely tribute. It is the site called “President Obama Looking at Awesome Things”, a collection of “photos”, and the example to the left is one of my favourites. (Click for larger view.)

It is excellent use of certain looks he gets on his face when doing things like “looking interested” at things. Isn’t photoshop great?

The site is here, and be sure to look at (currently) all three pages worth, or jump to the Flickr photo set here, where I learned that Continue reading ‘Awesome’

The Onion on Science Programming

Published on March 18, 2010 in fun, humour, Los Angeles, science, science and society, science education, science in the media and television. 10 Comments

Yes, it’s very funny*, and awfully close to the truth as well, at least in terms of the final product. More seriously, it is worth noting that what they get wrong is the blaming of it on audiences. It is actually more about the channels (not just the Science Channel) themselves and the sort of business models they run. We, the scientists who care to, must carry on contributing where we can as well as encouraging and supporting the film-makers as much as we can. It’s not really their fault so much as the people who call the shots at the head of the money food chain. Most of the film-makers I’ve worked with on the many shows I’ve helped with (either in front of or behind the camera, or both) are passionate about the science, are keenly interested in understanding it more so as to tell the story to the public as well as they can, and are capable of doing so. They most often can’t get their shows past the people at the top who believe that the material is too inaccessible or not interesting to the public. (I’ve heard the same complaint from science journalists working in the print media too.) On the other hand, I get recognized and stopped on Continue reading ‘The Onion on Science Programming’

Best in Show

Published on March 15, 2010 in fun, science, science fiction and technology. 2 Comments

ion2003 (Well, in the Ion Micrograph category, you understand.)

Sometimes extreme geekery is charming. (As you may know, I do not use the word “geek” lightly.) I spotted this on Phil’s Bad Astronomy Blog. You know what shape it is trying to evoke, I presume. Know also that this structure is 8.8 micro meters across, and that the subject was magnified some 5000 times normal size to make the image. I’ve no idea how they Continue reading ‘Best in Show’

Pi Day Today!

Published on March 14, 2010 in fun, mathematics and science and society. 4 Comments

Ack! I just noticed that it is Pi Day. Late in the day, so I’ve missed the key time of day for the whole shebang. Bah. Those of you in time zones further West of me still have time. Go for it. See my post from last year for more…

-cvj

Waterfall

Published on March 3, 2010 in architecture, art, fun, movies, music, personal, theatre, travel and work. 1 Comment

My Walkabout finds me in Madrid for a little while, and I find myself reporting joyfully on rain, once again. Not because it has been raining an unusual amount here, but because of a production I went to the other night. It was primarily a dance event, celebrating and dramatizing the work of poet Frederico Garcia Lorca during his time in New York in the 1920s. The choreography was by (I’ve forgotten… will find ticket and update shortly) [update: Blanca Li. Title: ¨Poeta en Nueva York¨] with flamenco as the primary form, mixed with several other dance traditions. dance_theatre_stillThere was a lot of good and enjoyable work to see, but I’ll admit to being blown away by the theatre’s (and associated production staff’s) ability to suddenly create a rainstorm on the stage, and sustain it for a prolonged period while one of the dances (using the water, as you can see) used it to great and stunning effect. I had to sneak a (no flash and no disturbing of neighbours of course) photo for you. Click for larger view.

A bit like the first time you saw Jurassic Park back when it was first released and utterly groundbreaking visually, I (and maybe you?) spent time thinking, “this is amazing!”, “how did they pull off this illusion?”, before concluding that maybe the Continue reading ‘Waterfall’

Night Moves

Published on February 12, 2010 in food and drink, fun, Los Angeles and personal. 1 Comment

edison_outing_artwalkSome local thoughts. I can report that the downtown Artwalk is still a great event, effectively a street party running over a wide area of the city. If in the area, I recommend that you visit it (some upcoming second Thursday of the month) soon. (See earlier posts, e.g., here.) It is all part of the steadily increasing activity that’s going on downtown that I’ve mentioned several times here. It is not just second Thursdays. More businesses are simply opening their doors and people are coming. It’s great. The other night I went with a friend and colleague to try out the beer and sausages at Wurstküche, and had a wonderful time. You can see Continue reading ‘Night Moves’

Gunslinging Bohr

Published on February 3, 2010 in biology, fun, personal, science, science and society and science in the media. 8 Comments

bohr_einsteinThis story has come along at just the right time, given that my last post was about Einstein. Seems that Niels Bohr (another giant from the same period, and another one of the founders of the quantum theory) was a big fan of cowboy movies, and thought a lot about gunfights. Yes, really! (There he is in the photo on the left hanging out with his friend Einstein in later years, perhaps 1925. Perhaps they’re at a drive-in movie? I got this photo here.)

It turns out to be all relevant to new studies about reaction time. The fastest person to draw does not necessarily win the gunfight:
Continue reading ‘Gunslinging Bohr’

You Don’t Need Magic To Use Energy Wisely

Published on January 31, 2010 in environment, fun, global warming, Los Angeles, science and society and science education. 3 Comments

energy_posterThis is a fun poster I saw at the Grove the other day. (Click for a larger view.)

The good fairy (Tinkerbell, apparently) speaks the truth!

It’s nice to see such a campaign, and aimed at the younger set (who in turn might bug their parents into thinking about it too). It is sponsored by the Department of Energy (the same people who sponsor most of my research), and you can look at the website here. Maybe you’ll direct some others to it too! There’s an energy action checklist, and lots of useful tips and guidelines for everyone (young and old) to follow in order Continue reading ‘You Don’t Need Magic To Use Energy Wisely’

Grin and Bear it!

Published on January 21, 2010 in food and drink, fun and humour. 0 Comments

giant_gummy_bearYes, it is an advertisement, but it is such a good one*. Apparently, “There is no candy more magnificent or more powerful.”

12600 calories, apparently. Have a look:

Continue reading ‘Grin and Bear it!’

Geminids!

Published on December 13, 2009 in astronomy, fun, Los Angeles and science. 8 Comments

geminid_skymap_northThe skies have cleared here in Los Angeles after a sequence of remarkably rainy days – really torrential downpours that have been very enjoyable. Happily, the clearing has taken place just in time to see the Geminid meteors, which I learned are likely to be quite striking this year*. After midnight or so ought to be good for viewing, and be sure to be looking at the right part of the sky (they originate from the direction of Gemini – see the NASA map on the right). There’s more about it on NASA’s site, and be sure to look at their tips for viewing.

Don’t forget: – don’t assume that being in a large city means you can’t see anything Continue reading ‘Geminids!’

So Much To Do…

Published on November 29, 2009 in art, food and drink, fun, personal and travel. 2 Comments

madrid_cathedral_1I spent an astonishing stretch of time in the Prado on Saturday, in an operation that experience and aesthetics have taught me to pace properly. I pick a particular artist or cluster of artists and focus on them for an hour or ninety minutes (visiting the parts of the museum that are relevant to them, not focusing on anything else, more or less), then I find the cafe, get a cup of coffee and a tasty, and relax for a bit, glowing from the experience. Then I plan the next pieces of the museum I will visit next and begin my focus on that part. The temptation with a museum the size and complexity of the Prado, with the remarkable depth it has in its collections, is just to show up and try and see everything in whatever order you find them. This results in confusion, superficiality, and major headache and backache, at least for me. I’m happy to go in and see a subset of what is there really properly and in context rather than just “see stuff”.

So of course I mostly focused on Spanish painters – several of the masters before the 20th Century – and later, other masters who perhaps were creating work in a Spanish context of some kind, and later, particular masters who happen to have examples of some of their great work housed in the Prado, whether there be a Spanish context or not, of which there are several such examples.

The collection is amazing. About 1/3 of my time was spent on Goya, in fact. (I wisely Continue reading ‘So Much To Do…’