Asymptotia

Revisiting Old Haunts

Clifford — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:06:28 +0000

Since you asked, here's an update on The Project. I was a bit quiet on it the last two weeks with the end of semester duties taking up lots of time (setting finals, grading them, extra homeworks and so forth - see several recent posts). Just before that however, I did a bit of a push to finish some pages that I wanted to include in my presentation to the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities (I mentioned that to you before - see here. It went very well by the way, with lots of enthusiasm from lots of those who were kind enough to attend.) Over the four or five days I've started on a new aspect of the project that has led me in an interesting direction - revisiting some of the original pages I did, two years ago. I decided then that the best thing to do to learn what I needed to learn about production of a graphic novel is just to... produce one. So I set upon a prototype, learning lots of techniques along the way, making lots of twists and turns in developing the methods that worked best for me, and so forth. I've refined the route I take from pencil to final product over the time (I've described it to you a number of times here on the blog), and in addition, my basic drawing skills have moved along a lot too... Anyway, looking back, I see that the first few pages especially are quite dreadful, a combination of bad drawing and also the struggle with digital inking techniques that I decided to abandon in favour of old school nib pens and ink. (It is actually satisfying to see just how far I've come in a short time... fixing various things took a relatively short time compared to how long I'd have agonized over them back then...) So since I want to show this prototype to people, I've decided to re-draw and [...]

Happy Mother’s Day!

Clifford — Sun, 13 May 2012 13:47:47 +0000

I've got a lot of roses blooming in the garden, just in time for (US) Mother's day. Well, a week earlier, actually. This was good timing, allowing me to make a card (as I always do) to send over to the UK to my mum and my sister for their Mother's day greetings. I hope they got them in time... Happy Mother's Day to all! -cvj

Heaven’s Parameters

Clifford — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:18:21 +0000

Oh... I forgot to get around to letting you know the result of designing the universe required in a previous post. The result is that it is a radiation ("light") filled universe with positive cosmological constant [tex]\Lambda[/tex](and so space wants to expand due to negative pressure - much like ours seems to be doing). The radiation density wants the thing to collapse. There's a balance between the two, and it turns out that it is when the two densities (radiation, and vacuum energy) are equal. This is only possible when there is positive curvature for the universe (so, not like ours), as you can see from the Friedman equation if you were that way inclined. So the universe is a 3-sphere, and if you work it out, the radius of this 3-sphere turns out to be [tex]a=\left(\frac{3}{2\Lambda}\right)^{1/2}[/tex]. The temperature of the radiation is then computed using the usual Stefan-Boltzmann relation. The equality of densities turns out to result from the fact that the effective potential of the equation is at a maximum, and so this universe turns out to be unstable... It is a radiation-filled version of Einstein's matter-filled static universe, which is also unstable. It is larger than Einstein's by a factor of [tex]\sqrt{3/2}[/tex]. Einstein was said to have arrived at his static universe on the grounds of what he thought was observationally clear - the universe was unchanging (on large scales). [...] The equality of densities turns out to result from the fact that the effective potential of the equation is at a maximum, and so this universe turns out to be unstable... It is a radiation-filled version of Einstein's matter-filled static universe, which is also unstable. It is larger than Einstein's by a factor of [tex]\sqrt{3/2}[/tex]. Einstein was said to have arrived at his static universe on the grounds of what he thought was observationally clear - the universe was unchanging (on large scales). Hubble [...]

Flying Robot Band

Clifford — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:39:15 +0000

This film is simply delightful, although in the context of the article I read about it* in (in the May 14th 2012 New Yorker, "Here's Looking at You" by Nick Paumgarten - about domestic use of unmanned drones and all that is in store of us there), also a

Project Heaven

Clifford — Sat, 05 May 2012 21:46:48 +0000

This is an extra homework that some students of the General Relativity class did to make up for one that did not count earlier in the semester. While writing it, I realized that this universe is in fact, Heaven! You know, we become beings of light, and live forever, etc... I thought it would be fun to share its final form: "You work in the design section of the company that manufactures universes. (This is [...]

Fractal in Progress…

Clifford — Thu, 03 May 2012 03:06:46 +0000

So last week we had a visit from Kelly Stelle (he's part of the high energy theory group at Imperial College) who gave us an excellent talk about aspects of supergravity. His work connects to the fascinating ongoing story about finiteness, and the new techniques being used to do the multiloop computations (see a recent Scientific American cover story about some of that - it is misleadingly packaged by the magazine, as usual (preview here) , but the article itself, focusing on the computational issues, is nice). After his talk, I gave him a tour of the campus, and as we passed through the Doheny Library to view the lovely interior, we stopped by the ongoing construction of the Mosely Snowflake Sponge fractal that I told you about here. They're making a lot of progress. We spent a few minutes folding some business cards to contribute some component cubes to the construction, and I took a snap (see photo on left) of Kelly at work. We made two or three cubes each... Here's a shot of one of the completed modules [...]

All My Loving…

Clifford — Tue, 01 May 2012 01:06:12 +0000

On the Red Line on Saturday (on my way to test out the Expo line - see earlier post) there was an unusual spectacle in one of the carriages. This woman had some headphones halfway on, and was singing Beatles songs at the top of her voice! She was at the start of "All My Loving" when I got on (I've written some of the lyrics down to remind me of the moment). After their initial surprise, people were doing that typical "I don't see anything unusual" look, trying not to notice her by looking everywhere but in her direction. I imagine they thought she was crazy. Perhaps she was, or perhaps she was just having an odd day, but for sure she was also just enjoying herself immensely, not [...]

Now Arriving…!

Clifford — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 06:09:04 +0000

The new line rocks! I went down there with my Brompton on the earlier side of things, this morning. I took the Red Line and changed seamlessly to the Expo Line at Metro/7th, and it was an excellent ride. I really do think (as I said in the previous post) that this is part of a major transformation for the city. This is a transformation with regards things like energy usage, congestion, community, air quality and all those wonderful things public transport helps with. Of course, at the outset there is something truly right, to my mind, about being able to easily connect from downtown to Exposition Park and the Science and Natural History Museums, the African American Museum, and of course USC - All major Los Angeles institutions clustered together and now connected back to the newly beating heart of it all. From USC, I can now easily connect to the music center, LA Live, MOCA, any number of my favourite restaurants, bars, cafes, and other places I love downtown, and then float on home on the Red Line, or off to Pasadena or Boyle Heights on the Gold Line. This is so exciting to see come to pass. I've been dreaming of trains running along Exposition Boulevard between USC and the Museums and the Rose Garden for many years now, and it is now a reality. Stepping off the train today at the Expo Park/USC stop was just magical. I recorded some footage of my travels on it today for you and edited it all together into a ten minute film. You can see it in the embed below. Consider it an invitation to [...]

Only Ten Hours…

Clifford — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:44:05 +0000

Only ten hours until the Big Transformation! The Expo line will open to the public at 5:00am tomorrow (Saturday). I think that this first major thrust to the West, connecting downtown to USC, Exposition Park and the Museums, and points West to Culver City, should be truly transformational for not just the locations involved, but the city at large. I hope it will change minds about what is possible for public transport in Los Angeles in a huge way (the old "it doesn't go anywhere" complaint will be heard a bit less maybe?), and connect and enrich all the neighborhoods involved. (And yes, on the personal side of things I hope it ends up, in combination with the Red Line, being better than just sitting on the bus all the way. We shall see.) There'll be a special schedule for this opening weekend, with the line (free to travel on for the two days) stopping at 7:00pm. I was a bit scared by this for a moment, [...]

CicLAVia April 2012

Clifford — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:52:11 +0000

It was a perfect day for cycling, back on April 15th when the 4th CicLAVia took place. (Sorry it took me a while to report on it.) A lot of people turned out, and it was as good as it has ever been! We set of from the HelMel area again and went to Bolye Heights and back, breaking for an excellent lunch at Guisados again. Just like last time. The photo below featuring the 4th Street bridge over the LA River is my favourite single photo of the event this time: Of course, there's not just the one photo for you. I took hundreds of other great ones [...]

Sidewalk Colours

Clifford — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:39:27 +0000

You see such lovely things along the side of the street if there's time to notice. (Click for a larger view.) This is one of the many reasons I often walk each day to and from the bus stop or subway station. You miss this stuff in a car (or sometimes even when on a bike). By the way, I've updated my earlier post with photos from the LA Times Festival of Books, as promised. -cvj

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Higgs Boson Explanation, by PhD Comics

Clifford — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:47:42 +0000

This is rather nicely done*... Stay with it beyond the opening bits, and enjoy the breakdown! Click on the embed after the fold: [...]

National Physics Day

Clifford — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:53:56 +0000

Er... it is National Physics Day today, apparently. National Science Foundation says so, so it must be so. Bad me for not knowing. In my defence, I try to live every day like it is National Physics Day. International, even. [...]

Happy Birthday Hubble!

Clifford — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:38:28 +0000

It is the 22nd Anniversary of the launch of the Hubble space telescope today! As you know, this instrument has produced a wealth of scientific information over the years, as well as lots of wonderful pictures for everyone that broadened and deepened our sense of wonder about this remarkable universe we find ourselves in. The Hubble site is here. Phil Plait has re-posted his 2010 post “Ten Things You Don’t Know About Hubble”, [...]

Late Night Review

Clifford — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:10:48 +0000

You know, I'd love to pretend that I've just come in from hanging out at the Edison, or the Blue whale, or some other fun place, feeling a bit concerned about my morning class on how to write equations for the shape of the universe (we do some cosmology in the General Relativity class tomorrow)... but instead I'm up at almost 1:00am because of a persistent dry cough, indigestion, and a noisy mockingbird in a tree just outside. Are these connected? I do not know. All I know is I cannot sleep. So I blog. It has been, once again, a crazy week. There are times when I wonder if this has become the norm, which usually leads me to valiantly fight a bit to ensure that is not the case, resulting a a withdrawal from a lot of stuff to regroup. I hope to do that soon. Although I've said yes to so many things, it is looking like July or August before that can happen. That's bad. Right now I can only remember back as far as Wednesday, where the day began with a last check of the midterm I wrote for the GR class (second midterm for them) before setting it at 10:00am. (Perhaps the most interesting thing on it was perhaps the computation of the surface gravity of a static black hole, working in Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates...) At 10:25 I snuck out of the classroom to meet with a screenwriting student who is working on a screenplay featuring a physicist character. She was seeking some advice and wanted to exchange some thoughts about the work she's doing... I got to gripe a bit about my pet peeves about scientist characters (not just the scarcity of well drawn ones - although things have gotten better in recent years) in TV and film. Somehow the rest of Wednesday (after the seminar ended at 1:40) is a bit of a blur, but I think it did involve me leaving campus to head home to hide and do a bit of finish work on a page I mentioned in the last post. Maybe. (Oh, there was also the official opening party for Umamicatessen (new restaurant downtown) in the evening, that kept me out to almost midnight. I've been meaning to blog about the place since the official "soft" opening party about two months ago, but had not got to it yet.) Thursday saw me start the day way too early (as described in that post), and the [..]

Making it Real

Clifford — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:02:51 +0000

I'm supposed to be writing a talk, but it's too early to start on it. I've been woken up early (5:00am) and kept awake by ideas swirling around in my head, and a mockingbird's singing - it is nesting in a tree near the house, and I think I may be doomed to listen to it every night until the Fall... Tuesday of last week saw me hiding and working on The Project. This time, it involved a bit of stalking. Last year I wrote a story which mostly takes place in a family home, between a brother and sister. I had a very particular shape for the house in my mind. They move from room to room, and spend a bit of time on a patio at the front. This time, I decided to build the entire house and populate it with all that I needed so that I can use it as reference to design the backgrounds for the story. Some weeks before I'd started looking a bit more closely at some houses I'd seen in the area as models. It is almost like the house which existed in my head was out there somewhere in the city, and I just had to find it. Somehow it was intended to be a typical smaller Los Angeles single family home, and if I looked for it, there it would be. I saw a number of houses on my walks that looked suitable enough, and was going to choose one of them and make modifications... and then one day I found it. I'd been walking past it every day for several weeks, and had not really been in the right mode of thought when doing so, and so had not looked at it in the right way. Also, I'd been distracted by a rather larger and grander (too grand) house almost across the street from it. As soon as I thought about what I'd designed last year, and so rejected the house across the street, I realized that this one was the house I'd been looking for all along. So I took a couple of hurried surreptitious reference photos (while walking past pretending to be fiddling with my phone), and went home and laid out some of the dimensions I'd guessed for it. I worked up some made up floor plans (based on my story's needs and my memory of the interior of houses like this that I remember, and then I decided to build it [...]

Graphic

Clifford — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:08:01 +0000

This was a fun assignment. I'm giving a talk ("Graphic Adventures in Science Outreach") on Friday to my colleagues and friends at the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and they asked me to send a graphic to them to use for the poster. So I spent a bit of time digging into my database of drawings for The Project and threw something together pretty quickly. I rather like it. (You will maybe recognize that drawing from an earlier post - I added in an earlier stage, and then a drawing of a hand I'd done for something else...) By the way, it is not an event open to the general public and is by invitation only, so just showing up won't get you in. -cvj

The Mayor Listened to Me!

Clifford — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:12:56 +0000

Ok… probably not to me, but I have been banging on about the idea for some time, since my 2007 post on Paris’ Velib, so maybe mine was one of the many voices that came to his ears eventually… So they are going to finally start a bike sharing program in Los Angeles! News story here, and the Mayor Villaraigosa will be talking more about it at the start of today’s CicLAVia. This is fantastic news!!! With this, the opening of the Expo line in a couple of weeks, and a number of other things, it feels like a lot of my dreams for LA are coming true…. -cvj

Don’t Forget CicLAVia!

Clifford — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 18:52:59 +0000

Don't forget (if you're in the Los Angeles area), 10:00am to 3:00pm tomorrow is CicLAVia. This is the fourth one. The weather looks like it will be perfect for cycling, and there'll be even more stops for food and drink than before. More information at their website here (click here for the expanded route that debuted last time). See earlier posts (linked below) on the previous events, and I'll re-embed one of the time lapse films I made so you can ride along with me: See you there! -cvj

Losing Control LA Premiering Tonight!

Clifford — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:08:57 +0000

Don't forget that Losing Control (a film by Valerie Weiss featuring a scientist lead - I told you about it here) premieres in LA tonight at the NoHo Laemmle. There'll be Q+A at each of the 7:40pm showings in the coming nights... Website here. -cvj

Picasso and Einstein: Face Off?

Clifford — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:24:32 +0000

I just learned from Amy French in a comment on the post on the production of the “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” play that got cancelled) that the short promo film she did for the play is on YouTube. It has two of the principals on screen. It’s short and fun! Here is is: [...]

LA Times Festival of Books 2012

Clifford — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:29:21 +0000

Don’t forget the big event of the Spring! The LA Times Book Festival is the weekend of the 21st and 22nd April, and we’ll be hosting it on the USC campus. The website is here for more information, and start booking your tickets (free) for the various panels you plan to visit. I’m also looking forward to the Book Awards on the night of the 20th. It’s always fun and interesting, with a great reception at the end. I’ve no idea if I’ll get tickets to all that this year (but I hope so, since three friends of mine are presenting [update: see here to purchase some]), but in any case it’ll be interesting to hear the results of the awards in the various categories again this year. The list of nominees is here. [...]

Sunday Roast

Clifford — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 05:55:34 +0000

Prepping for a Sunday roast (I decided to have for a few friends over for it at relatively short notice): The result (just as they were about to be carved, and the cornmeal-walnut-celery-etc stuffing removed): [...]

Inquiries

Clifford — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:25:44 +0000

9:30am, my office. Phone rings. I get it on the first ring. Hello? Oh. Is that... Professor... Johnson? Yes. Oh! I was not expecting to... Well I'm watching this program, and had some questions... I see. Well, when you say... Well, who am I talking to? Oh, I'm [name]. Hi. Hi... So, when you say millions of years, even billions of years in these programs... do you mean earth years? or, um, do you mean space years? Oh, that's a good question. I mean the regular years. Earth years, if you like. Oh. So these things are really that old. Oh, yes. They are. I have one more question. Of course, please go ahead. Michio Kaku says that the universe is full of many things and all you have to do is ask for something and you'll get it. How do you go about doing that? Uh... Well... I'm not sure I understand what that means... Well, you know we come from supernovae.... and... we're from space... and there are maybe lots of gods out there that we can ask for things...Kaku says we can just ask the universe. How does one do that? Well... I am not sure what he had in mind. It might be.... might be best to ask him.... But maybe what he meant is that the universe is a very big place, with lots of things going on, and maybe he meant that there are all sorts of things you could find out there because it is so big and diverse... But perhaps he did not have in mind that a particular person could go out and get any of those things... but you might want to ask him. I can't say for sure. Oh, ok. But I can tell you what I think. I think that while the universe is a big and exciting diverse place, it is still the case that a given individual only has limited access to all those things in it. It is a big place, and so you mostly only have access to what you can get to locally. Travelling around it takes a long time... Oh, I see. Well, thank you. And... thank you, by the way, for watching the program. I am glad you enjoyed it. Yes, I love these programs. I'm glad to hear that. I hope you continue watching and do tell your friends about them too. All the best. Goodbye. Goodbye.

I enjoyed that chat. I love it when people are inspired to step away from their [...]

Picasso and Einstein

Clifford — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:45:39 +0000

Tuesday evening was fun. My dear friend Amy French, who was hired to direct a production of Steve Martin's play "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" had been been rehearsing her cast for a few weeks. She invited two people to come along as guests one evening to talk about Picasso and Einstein - their work discussed in the play (Cubism and Special Relativity), and the impact of their work on the world. Megan Mastroianni from the Art History department (see her in the center of the photo above - you can click it for a larger view) came along to talk about the Picasso aspect, and I talked about Einstein. It was a lot of fun, and verity informative for all concerned. The cast were all assembled, and Einstein and Picasso were even in costume, as we [...]