Asymptotia http://asymptotia.com Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:25:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 Cassandra Wilson http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/08/cassandra-wilson/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/08/cassandra-wilson/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:22:39 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5930 cassandra_wilsonTime for a little music with my nostalgia. I remember my days in Princeton (where I was a postdoc at the Institute for Advanced Study and, later, at the University) particularly well when it comes to certain special things, and one of them was the music I was discovering, and venturing up to New York or down to Philadelphia to see live. The wonderful Cassandra Wilson had just firmly settled into her astonishingly good Blue Note phase at that time, and the (then) newly released album "Blue Light 'Til Dawn" was pure magic to me (and remains so), and was considerably inspiring to me during that time of intense work and during a key period of career and personal development. I went to see her sing at the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philly one wonderful evening. Here she is, (from around that time, I think, or at least it has the right feel), singing the opening song from the album in a slightly shaky live recording. It is a bit [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/08/cassandra-wilson/feed/ Bad, but ever so Good http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/07/bad-but-ever-so-good/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/07/bad-but-ever-so-good/#comments Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:23:25 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=6151 bakes_squidThe other day I had a moment of nostalgia and made some of what we called bakes when I was a child, growing up (for some years) in the Caribbean. Bakes are known as Johnny cakes in the US, as far as I understand, and used in much the same ways that we used them. This is certainly not something you should have every day, since they involve fat (vegetable shortening, or lard as we called it, although elsewhere the term is used for a kind of pig fat), flour, salt, and a pan half full of oil to deep fry it all in. Definitely sinful. I have very happy memories of having bakes with tasty oily fishy goodness of some sort. Salt fish (salt dried cod) would be a typical thing (bacalao as the Portuguese and [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/07/bad-but-ever-so-good/feed/ Categorically Not! - Grand Challenges! http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/06/categorically-not-grand-challenges/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/06/categorically-not-grand-challenges/#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:28:20 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=6147 Frank Oppenheimer book. Well, it is back on the calendar, and I probably should have mentioned it earlier, but the next one is tomorrow, so I thought I'd remind you. Remember that the series of events is held at the Santa Monica Art Studios, (with occasional exceptions). It's a series - started and run by science writer K. C. Cole - of fun and informative conversations deliberately ignoring the traditional boundaries between art, science, humanities, and other subjects. I strongly encourage you to come to them if you're in the area. Here is the website that describes past ones, and upcoming ones. See also the links at the end of the post for some announcements and descriptions (and even video) of previous events. The theme this month is Grand Challenges!. Here's the description from K. C. Cole: [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/06/categorically-not-grand-challenges/feed/ Essence http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/04/essence-2/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/04/essence-2/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:02:56 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=6135 Transcendence, was here. I thought I'd reproduce some of the Correlations post, called Essence, here. The back story was that I was working up a contribution to SEED magazine (the December 2007 issue I think) which was doing a cover story on Science and Art, and... well, I'll let the 2007 me tell you the rest:
While working on the contribution, I was hugely conflicted, for many reasons (variety of themes, variety of pieces, art forms, only 100 words, etc...) and another major theme struggled for dominance - "essence". How both science and art strive to identify the essential truth about a subject. My original contribution that I submitted to the editors to get their feedback on whether I was on the right track for what they were looking for therefore had a bit more of this in it, and referred to two pieces of art (I eventually chose one and focussed on developing and rewriting around that, using the "transcendence" theme). The piece I used that did I did not use for the final article is perfect for illustrating the "essence" theme, and so to provoke some thoughts in you [...] I include it here, along with some fragments of the paragraphs I was playing with at the time:
[...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/04/essence-2/feed/ Gunslinging Bohr http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/03/gunslinging-bohr/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/03/gunslinging-bohr/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:22:02 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=6124 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: [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/03/gunslinging-bohr/feed/ Crazy Al http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/02/crazy-al/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/02/crazy-al/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:43:41 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=6105 einstein_imagesI tried to begin to explain that we don't sit around thinking about quantum mechanics all day any more than a tailor sits around all day thinking about needles. (Or how many angels or demons can fly through the eyes of said needles at the same time.) No, we're mostly getting on with using the needles in the making of new suits and so forth. (To continue the allegory.) But I did not get to that analogy, because another thing came up. She went on to say "...like Einstein, with crazy hair...", to invoke her primary example of the crazy quantum scientist. Now, given that she was talking to me (er... no crazy hair, in case you are wondering), she was clearly joking, but in my view, at the core of all that is a serious image problem that science has to deal with - bizarre cliches about who we are and what we look like. So I thought I'd point something out. The most famous image of the crazy/eccentric scientist is largely based on a lie (or [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/02/crazy-al/feed/ Mathematics in Your Business http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/02/mathematics-in-your-business/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/02/mathematics-in-your-business/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:13:04 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=6101 Thorp and the people who use such systems have come to be known as "quants" — it's a reference to the quantitative-analysis techniques they employ — and their stories are told in Scott Patterson's new book The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It. You can hear the interview here, and read an extract from the book. Very interesting are the questions about what they think really went wrong in the market crash of [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/02/02/mathematics-in-your-business/feed/ You Don’t Need Magic To Use Energy Wisely http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/31/you-dont-need-magic-to-use-energy-wisely/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/31/you-dont-need-magic-to-use-energy-wisely/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:42:39 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=6089 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 [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/31/you-dont-need-magic-to-use-energy-wisely/feed/ Gone East, Looking West http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/28/gone-east-looking-west/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/28/gone-east-looking-west/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:55:02 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=6050 atlantic_stationThere's something deeply satisfying about seeing a prominent public works project of such obvious value to the community finish the construction phase and begin regular service. I was away in Europe at the opening of it in mid-November and so today was my personal little inauguration ceremony. It runs South and then East from downtown's Union Station to Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. Yes, you can take it all the way from Pasadena to East LA without changing trains (and similarly in the other direction) and so there's an incentive to explore. (I'm hoping this will motivate some of the people I know in Pasadena who rarely leave it to actually get out and explore Los Angeles for real...) I wandered the streets a little bit at one or two of the stops and of course I also sat on the trains looking out of the window and at the people around me. As with many [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/28/gone-east-looking-west/feed/ Get Down To It http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/27/get-down-to-it/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/27/get-down-to-it/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:18:41 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=6040 New Yorker with a brilliant cover that says it all. It is called "First Anniversary", and is by Barry Blitt. Click for larger view: new_yorker_obama_cover -cvj]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/27/get-down-to-it/feed/ Meteorite Men! http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/27/meteorite-men/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/27/meteorite-men/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:45:26 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=6031 meteorite_men Did you watch Meteorite Men last week? If not, you can probably catch a repeat. It is a new series, airing 9pm ET/PT Wednesday nights, on the Science Channel about two guys who search for meteorites. Check your local listings for times. (Photo cheekily snapped from their site. Copyright aerolite meteorites.) I learned about it from Bob Melisso, my producer/filmmaker friend (and occasional collaborator: see here, here and here) who made the pilot and is the supervising producer for the series. From [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/27/meteorite-men/feed/ Gaiman in the New Yorker http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/25/gaiman-in-the-new-yorker/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/25/gaiman-in-the-new-yorker/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:56:22 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5984 http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/25/gaiman-in-the-new-yorker/feed/ On Art, Fairy Tales, and Creativity http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/22/on-art-fairy-tales-and-creativity/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/22/on-art-fairy-tales-and-creativity/#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:10:01 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5996 grimms2 "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Do you know who said that? I'll break the post here to give you a moment to think about it. I'm not going to ask for the answer in the comments since you have Google on your side, but you can, if you like, share in the comments whether you knew or guessed it right before you moved to the rest of the post below to learn the answer. (Image above is an illustration by Walter Crane for ‘Snow White’ (1882).) Continuing... [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/22/on-art-fairy-tales-and-creativity/feed/ Cameron and Avatar http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/21/cameron-and-avatar/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/21/cameron-and-avatar/#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:00:52 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5985 article by Dana Goodyear in the New Yorker on James Cameron, creator of so many giant films you may know of, and of course, of the recent juggernaut Avatar. It is definitely worth a read, as is Goodyear's related chat online with readers here. I went to see Avatar in its proper setting (late night showing in the Dome at the Arclight of course) a fortnight ago and can report a few things of interest: * The cheeky alternate name Smurfohantas (I heard this name on Kermode and Mayo's BBC Radio 5 show) is not far off the mark if you are in a cynical mood. It's a very standard story, rather straightforwardly told, but using striking tall blue people. (There is nothing wrong with re-telling stories, by the way, so don't get me wrong. Arguably, most stories are in large part old stories). I just don't see this version as particularly well told, just merely functional. There's a slightly more interesting angle buried under there somewhere about the whole idea of avatars, and maybe even something about disability, and so forth, but only if you really really dig for it. * It is not a great film, but it is an interesting and entertaining film to watch. I have a soft spot for Cameron's work since I do like his use of strong female characters in the genre as well as his anti-war, suspicion-of-corporation, and environmental [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/21/cameron-and-avatar/feed/ News From The Front, VIII: One Down… http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/21/news-from-the-front-viii-one-down/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/21/news-from-the-front-viii-one-down/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:40:01 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5944 ...more to go. I've finished one of the papers I've been writing (this one co-authored with my student, Tameem) after delaying on it for months. I'm not sure how things got quite this backed up in terms of things I have to do, but they have. I meant to start on a new, long project last week, and all my efforts these days have been toward clearing away all those things I want to get done and dusted before focusing on that. It is taking time, but gradually the clearing is happening. Two more manuscripts to complete. This paper reports on the continuation of the work we've been doing over the years in understanding the physics of various model systems in an applied magnetic field. This is in the context of holographic models of important strongly coupled phenomena that are of considerable interest in lots of fields of physics (particle physics, nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, atomic physics). (Since I don't want to explain holography and so forth every time I talk about it, see a post I did about some of that here, and related posts in the list at the bottom of this one, if not sure what I'm talking about.) (Hmmmm, I see from my SPIRES listing that I've got seven papers mentioning magnetic field explicitly in the title in the last three years, and three or four more of the rest are occupied in large part with the issue too. No, really, I'm not obsessed.) The issue here is the study of structures that suggest themselves as earmarks of Fermi surfaces in strongly coupled systems. It has been a goal for a long time in the context of gauge/gravity duals to understand what the signals of a Fermi surface would be. Would it be some geometrical object in the dual gravity theory, perhaps? Access to a computationally tractable description of such an object would be rather [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/21/news-from-the-front-viii-one-down/feed/ Grin and Bear it! http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/21/grin-and-bear-it-2/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/21/grin-and-bear-it-2/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:52:45 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5945 Yes, 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: [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/21/grin-and-bear-it-2/feed/ Stormy Weather http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/20/stormy-weather/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/20/stormy-weather/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:04:59 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5934 rain_fullWe've been having wonderful storms here the last few days, and it is expected that it will remain like this through Sunday. It has been great. There's something wonderful to me about torrential rain pouring down outside through the day while I'm inside working, glancing out of the windows from time to time, and making endless cups of tea. In the afternoon there usually is a break in it all. The sky clears a little, [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/20/stormy-weather/feed/ Eric Lewis http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/18/eric-lewis/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/18/eric-lewis/#comments Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:30:22 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5922 eric_lewisI went to a friend's birthday party last night and... Eric Lewis was there, playing the piano throughout the night! He's a master in all styles, it seems, including classic and contemporary Jazz, through Happy Birthday to masterful renditions (and deconstructions) of pop, R&B, and soul tunes (there was a lot of spontaneous gathering and singing around the piano). I found some videos on YouTube for you. [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/18/eric-lewis/feed/ It’s a Feel-Good Movie! http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/16/its-a-feel-good-movie/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/16/its-a-feel-good-movie/#comments Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:41:08 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5899 scene_from_the_roadI'm puzzled. Almost everything I've heard from people - even otherwise thought-provoking respected film critics - is that John Hillcoat's film of Cormac McCarthy's wonderful novel The Road is really depressing. I think that the problem might be that there's a lot of looking at the obvious images on the screen (a defeated, broken, decaying landscape) and rushing to a conclusion because there is the odd perception that the first thing that comes to mind (or the first emotion that is awoken in the viewer) must be the primary content. I find this odd, since there's so much more there, and it shows up only slightly below the surface. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that The Road is up there as one of the top three "feel-good movies" of 2009, if that term was ever worth using. Yes. Feel-good. This is a term that is mostly used for some of the (and I am being generous) often [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/16/its-a-feel-good-movie/feed/ How to Help http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/14/how-to-help/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/14/how-to-help/#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:59:18 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5891 haitiThe Daily Beast has a good list, with donation links, of many NGOs on the ground in Haiti that you can pick from to help out*. (Map right from Lonely Planet.) Please go and have a look, and make your choice. If you're really too busy, consider the texting options. You send a text message to a number and it results in a donation that is later deducted from your phone bill. A pair of examples: Text HAITI to 90999 ($10 to Red Cross) Text YELE to 501501 ($5 to Yéle, Wyclef Jean's development organization.) -cvj *Thanks Zdravka!]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/14/how-to-help/feed/ Murakami’s Birthday! http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/12/murakamis-birthday/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/12/murakamis-birthday/#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:15:33 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5881 I've spoken about Haruki Murakami, one of my favourite writers, here before (Image right by Elena Seibert). See my earlier post, which highlighted an essay of his. Well, I learned from The Writer's Almanac that it is his birthday today. Since I've been thinking a lot about great writing recently, I thought I'd celebrate by noting it here to you on the blog. Do go over there and read a bit about what Garrison Keillor and his writers say about him. Extract: [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/12/murakamis-birthday/feed/ Nine http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/12/nine/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/12/nine/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:59:19 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5873 baking. I feel a bit bad about not getting bagels from Brooklyn Bagels (on Beverly) anymore (after six years of being a regular), but there's only so much I can eat in baked goods and I seem to be in the mood to do it all myself these days. Not sure why I've never done these before: nine_biscuits Sweet potato biscuits*. Perfect for using up that left over sweet potato, and, like all [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/12/nine/feed/ The Read http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/11/the-read/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/11/the-read/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:08:33 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5850 http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/11/the-read/feed/ Back on the Trail http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/10/back-on-the-trail/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/10/back-on-the-trail/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 07:09:09 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5826 griffith_park_hike_2So have you been to Griffith Park recently? I went for a short hike there this morning for the first time in a month or so. The first time this year. (I've not been hiking much the last month due to several things, including waiting for a full recovery from my mysterious vertigo which still pops up from time to time...) Well, I had a nice hike, and cleared away some cobwebs in my head, which was nice to do. I'm in the middle of writing two research papers, and reading a great deal of material for a search committee I'm on (meeting imminent) and so a bit of clearance is good. The thing is this. The park was with teeming with people, of a broader range than is usual for the park, in those numbers. Not sure why, but it was good to see. Is it all those New Year's resolutions? People resolving to use the city's wonderful park areas [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/10/back-on-the-trail/feed/ Eye on the Sky http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/08/eye-on-the-sky/ http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/08/eye-on-the-sky/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:52:16 +0000 Clifford http://asymptotia.com/?p=5812 WISE First LightAmy Mainzer has shared and discussed the first released picture from the WISE project that was launched (you’ll recall) not so long ago. It looks marvellous. Press release here. By the way, I hope you’re following Amy’s blog to learn more about the mission now it is in full swing. She’s giving you a window into the science as it breaks and the excitement of doing the science itself, seeing a project come together [...]]]> http://asymptotia.com/2010/01/08/eye-on-the-sky/feed/