Author Archives: Clifford

Philosophia Naturalis #6

By | |
Comments Off on Philosophia Naturalis #6

the brainI just learned that the blog carnival Philosophia Naturalis #6 is underway. It is hosted at Science and Reason. Several city blocks have been shut down to make room for the revelry you get at carnivals.

The monthly collection of recent posts on physics and related topics from around the blog world is very good, and I bet that there are several that will catch your eye. Go and look!

Don’t forget to ask the Brain (click right) a question!

-cvj Click to continue reading this post →

Not Nominal

By | |
7 Comments

sea launch platformThe Sea Launch organization is a private satellite launch company. This is arguably the shape of the future of a lot of space activity, so it is interesting to keep an eye on them. They launch, using their Zenit-3SL rocket, from a latitude near the Equator, out in the Pacific ocean, from a platform that looks a lot like an oil platform (it is a converted one, in fact). The whole thing sails out from near here, at Long Beach, and steams along to the launch site, like some super-villians’ outfit. It’s all rather James Bond. More about them here.

sea launch zenit rocketIt’s strangely fascinating to look at the videos of past launches. (The October 30th 2006 XM-4 launch video, for example. Their archive is here.) They have a sort of old-fashioned feel to them that is riveting, although utterly boring at the same time since there’s not actually a lot going on, and the video quality is not so great. If I’m honest, I think the attraction for me is the slightly mechanical Eastern-European-accented female voices saying things like “we have lift off”… “separation phase complete”… “propulsion system nominal”… “pitch angle nominal”…. “auxiliary control nominal”….. Most of the videos are pretty much these people saying stuff is nominal, with occasional bursts of chatter layered above and below. It was strange entertainment for me last night while cooking. Go and have a look. Their whole site is worth a browse.

They had a bit of a bad day yesterday, though. Definitely not nominal. News story here. Spectacular video on YouTube here: […] Click to continue reading this post →

Sabine Hossenfelder: My Inspiration

By | | , , , ,
28 Comments

Sabine HossenfelderToday, a guest post. I’m excited, because it’s from one of my favourite bloggers, Sabine Hossenfelder, or “Bee” as you may know her from her comments here, and of course her blog Backreaction.

Bee giving a guest post here on Asymptotia originated in a suggestion I made in the comments of an earlier post of mine. Bee had asked me to do a post on her blog as part of her excellent series of guest posts about what made her guest choose to go into physics. Pressed for time, and not sure whether I’d really have anything new or interesting to say about myself, I stalled for time (I thought) by saying I’d do it in exchange for her doing a post here on a similar subject. She rapidly came up with the post. And of course it’s a great one. I’m so on the spot now.

Anyway, here’s Bee! -cvj
___________________________________________________

I just sat down with the best intention to write a lengthy blah on Clifford’s question what inspires me. Now that I sit here, hands above the keyboard, I am facing a problem. It’s not that the question is too difficult, it’s too easy to answer. I get inspiration everywhere. Reading books, seeing movies, taking a walk – ah yes, also from scrolling through blogs. Most of all by talking to my friends and colleagues. The problem is now that I’m too inspired not to shamelessly use the opportunity of writing a guest post for Clifford 😉 So let me redirect the question to your opportunity to use your inspiration.

Had you been born some thousand years ago, your life […] Click to continue reading this post →

Hubble Trouble

By | | ,
6 Comments

hubble graphicAs you can tell by putting “hubble” into the blog’s search engine on the right, the Hubble Space Telescope has been a strikingly successful eye on what’s going on (and what went on) in the universe, and very powerful tool in lots of research. A lot of that research is done with the instrument called the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which have been the instrument in most heavy demand by researchers since it went online in 2002 (Hubble was launched much earlier, in 1990 of course). The instrument stopped working a few days ago (see e.g. stories here and here, [update: and especially here]), and is not expected to become operational again without direct intervention. Given that the Hubble orbits some 360 miles above the earth, this is not an easy thing to do.

There are other instruments on board too, but the loss of use of this one is a heavy […] Click to continue reading this post →

Talk about the Talk

By | | , ,
8 Comments

charles stevensChuck Stevens’ visit went very well indeed. The talk was excellent, and well attended by faculty and students from both Physics and Astronomy Department, and the Neurosciences Research Institute. I’ll tell you a bit more about what he said in a subsequent post, along with pointing to video and slides from the talk, I hope. (Click on left for larger view.)

By the way, when I got to the Steve Reich concert venue, there was a huge line of people waiting to get in. They eventually turned a lot of us (myself included) away due to lack of space.

So I got on my bike and cycled rapidly up Figueroa Street to downtown and found the restaurant where some of my colleagues had taken the guest for dinner. Excellent conversation instead of excellent music. A good trade.

Here’s something I passed on the way to the restaurant. Took a picture while waiting […] Click to continue reading this post →