It’s always interesting to hear from others about what set them on the path they’re on, no matter what career path that is. I just read Chanda’s guest post on the matter over at Backreaction. Chanda is a theoretical physicist in training, and so from my point of view it is interesting to hear about her choices since I chose the same career myself.
Since I’m also keen that talented women and people of colour can learn that they can choose to do science careers, and hope that it continues to become increasingly likely that they make their way in such careers with the same opportunities as everyone else, it was also interesting -and encouraging- to read her thoughts (since she is in both categories). Have a look at her post yourself, and also her post on Cosmic Variance about some of those issues.
Whether or not you read it, don’t hesitate to share with us your own recollections. What Click to continue reading this post
So imagine that you’re standing at some spot, holding a big round bulb that can shine in all directions. At a particular time, you switch on the bulb and it shines out brightly. Who has a chance to see the light from your bulb? Let’s not worry about things like buildings, cars, etc., getting in the way of the light, but just imagine it can shine free in all directions. You’ll realize that there is a whole ball of light expanding away from the bulb – light going away from you in all directions. (The edge of that ball describes what is called a sphere, a two-sphere to be precise, denoted [tex]S^2[/tex] in the trade.) The sphere expands at the speed of light. You might imagine that eventually every point in space around you would be reached by your expanding sphere (let’s stay local and not worry about the expanding universe and so forth), and you’d be right. But when? When does it get to some particular point that you might care about? As soon as it takes the light the time it takes to get there, of course. It can’t get there any sooner than that. 
EDGE here stands for “Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered” and is a term that was coined to refer specifically to certain threatened species of animal around the world. They’re not always your big marquee animals (Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!), and a great deal of them will be unfamiliar to you. (I’d not previously encountered the Golden-Rumped Elephant Shrew (Rhynchocyon chrysopygus), and I’ll admit that my life has been all the poorer for not having known about it before now. For a start, it’s soooo cute! Furthermore, it has a golden rump. What’s not to like? Apparently, it is related to an elephant, somewhat distantly. Yes, it has a trunk, but it takes more than that to detemine its relationship to elephants! Update: – Here’s a 
“..It’s pretty serious.”
Last year in early January I was pleased to see that the MTA had improved things dramatically by changing the express buses (Metro Rapid) on my route from normal buses to those lovely long spacious ones – essentially two normal buses joined together with a giant hinge to allow the bus to bend and go around corners. That’s a crude description, of course. They still come equipped with bike racks (just like the typical LA city bus), and my Brompton fits under many of the seats quite easily. There’s a whole lot of space for everyone, and the buses are very well designed indeed. One of the amusing aspects of the sudden change was watching everyone’s behaviour. For about a month or so, and markedly in the first week, people would act as thought the second half of the bus did not exist. No, really. They would walk down the bus to the hinge, and stop. If there were no seats left in the 
