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Author Archives: Clifford

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Why Do I Love Jurassic Park So Much?

By Clifford | August 16, 2006 - 9:27 pm |January 26, 2008 movies, science in drama
21 Comments

Well, it has been a really long day, and I have yet to finish all I need to do before tomorrow. I’ve just had dinner, and am finishing off my splash of wine while waiting for my tea to brew (making it slow in a pan with spices -chai-style-, to … Click to continue reading this post →

Twelve Planets!

By Clifford | August 16, 2006 - 8:24 am |June 7, 2010 astronomy, planets, science
46 Comments

[Update1…. Oh no it’s not official! See here.] [Update2: The vote is in… see here.] [Update3: (7th June 2010) Moved the updates 1 and 2 one sentence earlier since, bizarrely, some readers (ahem! you know who you are…) don’t seem to read further than one sentence, or check the posting … Click to continue reading this post →

Watch That Space!

By Clifford | August 15, 2006 - 4:29 pm |August 15, 2006 astronomy, cosmology, science
15 Comments

NASA is about to make an exciting announcement, apparently. On Monday 21st August there will be a press conference, and there will be actual information (they say) at several places mentioned in this link. I have not the slightest idea of the details of the announcement [but see update below], … Click to continue reading this post →

Matters of Security

By Clifford | August 15, 2006 - 4:28 pm |August 15, 2006 humour
Comments Off on Matters of Security

Can’t resist, in view of our earlier discussion: This was taken from Nick Anderson’s (Houston Chronicle’s Editorial Cartoonist) blog. Thanks, anon! -cvj

Talking Heads On Strings

By Clifford | August 15, 2006 - 4:27 pm |August 15, 2006 science, science in the media, string theory
3 Comments

Well, I had the “Aspen Physics Preview” interview for the station called “Grassroots TV” this afternoon. It was a pleasant chat with host Sy Coleman about aspects of research into fundamental physics and string theory. I don’t have a good sense of what it was like since I was focusing … Click to continue reading this post →

Aspen Talks

By Clifford | August 15, 2006 - 7:42 am |August 15, 2006 string theory, work
Comments Off on Aspen Talks

I’m going to try to tell you a bit about a few of the talks (physics and otherwise) that I’ve seen here at Aspen, but not now. I’ve got rather a lot to do right now…. But I will try later in the week. In the meantime, here is a … Click to continue reading this post →

The Last Procrastination (Today)

By Clifford | August 14, 2006 - 5:48 pm |August 14, 2006 food and drink, work
2 Comments

Ok, after procrastinating the whole afternoon, I’ve finally got around to getting down to phase one of preparing this talk. Going to give myself a few hours of sitting sifting through things I want to recycle from my database of old talks…. thinking of new themes I want to explore … Click to continue reading this post →

The Blurb

By Clifford | August 14, 2006 - 2:35 pm |August 14, 2006 academia, science, string theory
4 Comments

Well, I dashed off a lecture summary to be printed out in time for the public lecture on Thursday: Title: Strings Everywhere? Hold it right there. What is the meaning of the title? I’m riffing on two things, one physical and the other sociological. The first, vastly more important theme … Click to continue reading this post →

Hard To Avoid

By Clifford | August 14, 2006 - 9:27 am |August 14, 2006 academia, science, science education, string theory
7 Comments

Well, I have to face up to it. There’s been this embarrassing thing all around town here in Aspen that I have not told you about, but I have to get it done this week. Everywhere you go around town -and I mean everywhere- there are little piles or pinboards … Click to continue reading this post →

Top Ten Weirdest Cosmology Theories

By Clifford | August 11, 2006 - 12:34 pm |August 13, 2006 fun, humour, science
15 Comments

New Scientist has an article by Stephen Battersby on their top ten weirdest cosmology theories. My first thought, beore reading the article was that they were going to have a lot of fun with this, but they seem to be rather conservative about their definition of “weird”. This means that … Click to continue reading this post →

Digital Makeover?

By Clifford | August 11, 2006 - 12:12 pm |August 13, 2006 fun
5 Comments

Dear Reader, I’m desperately wracking my brain to find some science in this, but I cannot. Nope, reading the article does not help either. Nevertheless, it is in New Scientist (a fact that means nothing on its own, from past experience – they’ve a technology for it’s own sake focus … Click to continue reading this post →

Kids and Chemistry

By Clifford | August 11, 2006 - 11:36 am |August 11, 2006 fun, science education
4 Comments

I’ve no idea what they were doing (I’ll try to find out and let you know), since I was at the concert, but it sure looked liked they were having fun out there in the Wednesday kids’ science picnic at the ACP: Two weeks ago, apparently they had the “Physics … Click to continue reading this post →

Last of the Wild Flowers

By Clifford | August 11, 2006 - 11:35 am |August 11, 2006 flowers, hiking
1 Comment

The wild flowers seem to have peaked a lot earlier this year, probably due to a change in the rainfall pattern. Up on the way to Buckskin Pass yesterday, there were more deadheads than blooms. Perhaps other trails were doing better (such as the Cathedral Lake trail… look at the … Click to continue reading this post →

The Anthropic Approach To String Theory

By Clifford | August 11, 2006 - 12:43 am |August 14, 2006 science, string theory
7 Comments

Since I wrote an article about this last year for the non-expert to get some idea of what the discussion was about, let me first point you to it via this link. Since in that article, by way of illustration of the “Landscape” idea, I used a picture of the … Click to continue reading this post →

There’s Music Beyond The Standard Model

By Clifford | August 10, 2006 - 11:29 pm |August 10, 2006 music, science
6 Comments

In a rather splendid development, there’s been an arrangement made between the Aspen Center for Physics and the Aspen Music Festival and School, which (you might recall from a post of mine a long time ago) are in close proximity to one another. The result of the arrangement is that … Click to continue reading this post →

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  • From Instagram

    Just in case you happen to be in San Diego tomorro Just in case you happen to be in San Diego tomorrow 2/21 afternoon at 2 PM, here’s a fun thing to do at the #ComicConMuseum in Balboa Park! We will be screening last year‘s awesome #TheFantasticFourFirstSteps movie and I’ll be talking about some of the science you see on screen and a some of my work as the science advisor while the film was being made.#marvelcinematicuniverse
    Well, this is awkward. (Walking around the amazing Well, this is awkward. (Walking around the amazing traveling Doctor Who exhibit at the San Diego Comic-Con museum, and running into myself explaining spacetime and black holes in many rooms.) #sdcc
    For my usual outdoor office for thinking through r For my usual outdoor office for thinking through research ideas, I’ve temporarily swapped Pacific for Atlantic. Worked rather well. Visiting Stony Brook U’s Simons Center for Geometry and Physics for a conference.
    @UCSBPhysics 2025 Nobel Prize winners John Martini @UCSBPhysics 2025 Nobel Prize winners John Martinis and Michel Devoret, speaking at the annual Nobel Prize Who/What/Why colloquium yesterday. See blog (or FB post) for link to recording of it.
    Maybe over-egging the pudding a bit for my SUSY202 Maybe over-egging the pudding a bit for my SUSY2025 talk tomorrow… #theoreticalphysicslife
    Elsewhere in the garden, the spheres pack themselv Elsewhere in the garden, the spheres pack themselves. #Gardening #FoodAndDrink.
    Morning sphere packing. #Gardening #FoodAndDrink. Morning sphere packing. #Gardening #FoodAndDrink.
    There’s a lot of joyful knife-work in my future. There’s a lot of joyful knife-work in my future. #bolognese #summersalad #foodanddrink #gardening
    Another one done! This time with an excellent team Another one done! This time with an excellent team: postdoc Krishan Saraswat and grad student Wasif Ahmed. In early 2024 I discovered a very fun way of computing Weil-Petersson volumes from an ODE (the subclass with one boundary, any genus). It works stunningly well, with a nice miracle ocurring along the way. Here, it is shown that it works well for extended JT supergravity and allows for rapid computation of a whole new class of volumes. I feel this is just a beginning… On the arxiv shortly.
    … today’s quick pickings. #gardening #foodandd … today’s quick pickings. #gardening #foodanddrink
    Sky over LA a short while ago… #fantasticfour Sky over LA a short while ago… #fantasticfour
    Nice to be back in LA for one of those good old fa Nice to be back in LA for one of those good old fashioned special events… #fantasticfour
    Wednesday’s “get back into the routine” run. Wednesday’s “get back into the routine” run. 80 minutes well spent. Head cleared.
    Instagram post 18075387106743893 Instagram post 18075387106743893
    Bit late for pi day, but no less tasty for it. A c Bit late for pi day, but no less tasty for it. A chicken and mushroom pie to share with a guest coming over (earlier this week). #baking #foodanddrink
    Transformation and renewal is happening all around Transformation and renewal is happening all around, and I’m trying to find the positive wherever I can.
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  • From Twitter

    Clifford Johnson @asymptotia ·
    31 Dec 2024

    Dear readers: I’ve begun transitioning my social media activity here over to another place, with bluer skies. I hope you’ll come too and read/follow my posts over there. There are new posts on the blog too, where I hope to be increasing activity a bit while decreasing it here.

    Clifford Johnson @asymptotia ·
    2 Dec 2024

    Dear readers: I’ve begun transitioning my social media activity here over to another place, with bluer skies. I hope you’ll come too and read/follow my posts over there. There are new posts on the blog too, where I hope to be increasing activity a bit while decreasing it here.

    Clifford Johnson @asymptotia ·
    27 Nov 2024

    Dear readers: I’ve begun transitioning my social media activity here over to another place, with bluer skies. I hope you’ll come too and read/follow my posts over there. There are new posts on the blog too, where I hope to be increasing activity a bit while decreasing it here.

    Clifford Johnson @asymptotia ·
    11 Nov 2024

    Just noticed that 4 years ago to the day I did a post about #LEGO and #LittleBits, and coincidentally today we tinkered with them for the first time in a while…

    Load More...
  • Categories

  • Pages

    • About
    • News From The Front
    • Recent Interviews
    • Scenes: Storm in a Teacup
    • Staying in Touch
    • Tales from the Industry
    • The Dialogues: A Graphic Book
  • Recent Posts

    • Nobel Prize in Physics 2025: Who/What/Why
    • Harvest
    • Fantastic Collaboration!
    • The Power of the String Equation
    • Super-Fun!
    • A New Equation?
    • Valuable Instants
    • 93 minutes
  • From Twitter

    Clifford Johnson @asymptotia ·
    31 Dec 2024

    Dear readers: I’ve begun transitioning my social media activity here over to another place, with bluer skies. I hope you’ll come too and read/follow my posts over there. There are new posts on the blog too, where I hope to be increasing activity a bit while decreasing it here.

    Clifford Johnson @asymptotia ·
    2 Dec 2024

    Dear readers: I’ve begun transitioning my social media activity here over to another place, with bluer skies. I hope you’ll come too and read/follow my posts over there. There are new posts on the blog too, where I hope to be increasing activity a bit while decreasing it here.

    Clifford Johnson @asymptotia ·
    27 Nov 2024

    Dear readers: I’ve begun transitioning my social media activity here over to another place, with bluer skies. I hope you’ll come too and read/follow my posts over there. There are new posts on the blog too, where I hope to be increasing activity a bit while decreasing it here.

    Clifford Johnson @asymptotia ·
    11 Nov 2024

    Just noticed that 4 years ago to the day I did a post about #LEGO and #LittleBits, and coincidentally today we tinkered with them for the first time in a while…

    Load More...
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