Monthly Archives: November 2008

Breakfast Babble

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breakfast thingsSome reflections over breakfast – at least breakfast part II. Well, elevenses, really. Today is, I hope, a day to spend mostly on thinking about research issues. There’s a project I’m still unhappy with, in terms of where I’d like it to be, and I want to try to move things on. I had a new idea on the bus yesterday that I’ll be testing out today. Since I’m giving a seminar about this project on Friday, I’d also rather like to get it all uploaded back into the more active buffers of my brain, as it were.

Tuesday is a welcome day, being between my two biggest teaching days of the week, days that usually completely drain me. I try to use it to remind myself that I’ve a ton of other activities besides teaching that I should be getting on with. Research is one of them.

This morning began with something else, however, and I thought I’d update you on […] Click to continue reading this post →

Physics Can Change the World!

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colbert lhc obamaLast night, Stephen Colbert suggested that the Large Hadron Collider is responsible for Obama’s victory on Tuesday! When it switched on back in September, it kicked us into an alternative universe in which everything was the same except that McCain’s position in the polls had been eroded, and, well, you know the rest.

(Apparently it also explains the World Series result, but as I know nothing about baseball, I cannot tell if that is really supposed to be an anomaly or not.) Clip here, and item in question is about 2 minutes in.

Hey team, run and cover… he’s on to us!

-cvj Click to continue reading this post →

Apollo

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I’ve been running around so much today I forgot to actually mention the event for which I’ll be acting as host tonight, here at USC. This is how I quickly described it to my colleagues, but bear in mind that it is open to all:

apollo poster
I’d like to remind you one last time about the Apollo Visions and Voices event today. Whether it interests you or not, please encourage your students to go. It is the College Dean’s V+V event for the semester, and was chosen to have a focus that would attract science and engineering students and faculty to sit with our friends and colleagues from the arts and humanities. It is at 7:30 pm in Bovard, with a reception at the end. I think that it will be very interesting and enjoyable.

Information about it is here.

It should be fun!

-cvj

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Opportunity Knocks!

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Wonderful result!

This is, it seems, the long-awaited return of reason. The return of an atmosphere where ideas, and careful, thoughtful, nuanced argument and persuasion can become the centerpiece of how we go about solving our collective problems and shaping and reshaping our world. So among all the great things said yesterday about the meaning of it all, it is worth noting that it was a good day for Science.

Well, the initial phase is over, and now it is time to start the restoration work, the strengthening of the foundations, and then the true building anew.

-cvj Click to continue reading this post →

Hollywood Halloween

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hollywood halloweenHollywood Halloween. How about that…. two perfectly matched words side by side like that, and in context. Well… last night’s West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval confirmed my faith in Los Angeles (in the broader sense) as a city where people can indeed come together in vast numbers in if there’s enough will to do so. And boy do I mean vast. I’ve never seen this many people in good spirits in such […] Click to continue reading this post →