Archive for June, 2005

Jun 29 2005

Save the Fundamental Particles…

Published by steve under Random, Rant

Inspired by this insane buzz in my head (which, in turn, was inspired by “the lawsuit a Russian astrologer is bringing against NASA over it’s mission to comet Tempel-1″:http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hs4321766jun27,0,6528169.story?coll=ny-health-headlines),
I think it’s time we take this whole issue of “probing the universe with bombs” more seriously.
No, seriously.
I’ve previously reported on the horrors of the cheap [...]

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Jun 25 2005

Bai Bai, Deep Impact

Published by steve under Random

It’s a little uncouth to post twice in a few minutes, but this “second article on the lawsuit by the Russian mother in the Seattle Times”:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002347919_comet25.html
escaped my attention when last I scanned news.google.com. Wowsers. You gotta love this quote:

“If the Americans can study comets with the help of bombs, why not the Chinese?” she asked. [...]

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Jun 25 2005

After a week of invisible decays… the weekend.

Published by steve under Random

This past week was immensely fruitful for my research. It was also the week where I was really able to concretely identify the road toward solving the problem of the worst background in my research. Let’s refresh a bit.

I’m looking for invisible decays of the “Upsilon meson”:http://pdg.lbl.gov/2004/listings/mxxxcomb.html#mesonsbbbarres. Suppress your giggles! The decay of Upsilons into [...]

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Jun 21 2005

Summertime for Physics

Published by steve under Physics

It’s summer for physics. That means a “large number of physics conferences”:http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/find/conf/wwwbrief?rawcmd=FIND+DATE+%3E+MAY+2005+AND+DATE+%3C+OCTOBER+2005+AND+%28TITLE+PARTICLE+or+TITLE+LEPTON%29
and lots of results to get out the door. It also means all my MIT colleagues are right here at SLAC, instead of spread all over the place with teaching responsibilities,classes, exams, or travel. It also means that I get more time in [...]

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Jun 18 2005

Pancakes and Power Supplies

Published by steve under Random

Saturday morning is typically when Jodi and I make our weekly pilgrimage to “Stacks”, a local small restaurant chain that specializes in large “American” breakfasts – pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc. We particularly like the one in Menlo Park (corner of El Camino Real and Santa Cruz Ave.), not just because it’s a lot nicer than [...]

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Jun 15 2005

Uh-Oh. Politics turns Personal

Published by steve under Education, Politics, Random, Science

As reported by the Associated Press, “the Kansas State Board of Education has started internal personal attacks over the issue of science education standards”:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050615/ap_on_sc/evolution_debate;_ylt=Aq5Y1YhEiEiFnO2zSr2eYQUPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl.
Some personal venom is being exchanged between the subcommittee members, who held their sham hearings on the Theory of Evolution, and those who would maintain the current science standard that keep [...]

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Jun 14 2005

“Godless America” on “This American Life”

Published by steve under Random

If you haven’t already heard the program, “give a listen to the last episode of This American Life, where the program engaged the separation of church and state in public life”:http://www.thislife.org/ra/290.ram.

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Jun 13 2005

Kansas Board of Education slams it into reverse

Published by steve under Education, Politics, Science

Well, “it looks like the Kansas State Board of Education is gearing up to revise state science education standards to try to make the theory of evolution look weak”:http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/061205/sta_20050612013.shtml. The subcommittee that held the hearings has made this recommendation, and the board is set to vote on the proposal to revise the standards. The subcommittee [...]

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Jun 03 2005

Headin’ for a Weddin’

Published by steve under Random

Well, it’s vacation time for the Cooleys-Sekulas… er… Whatever that family name would be in the era of hyphenated names. Anyway, we’re on a Frontier Airlines flight over Iowa, on our way to Milwaukee. My brother-in-law’s wedding is on Saturday, and then we’re taking a few days to just travel randomly around the Midwest to [...]

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