I like “Numb3rs”. Not just the kind that let you do math, but also the TV show that attempts to popularize the life and minds of scientists. Centering on the stories of Charlie, a math prodigy and the youngest full faculty member at “CalPoly” (clearly modeled on CalTech), and his […]
The International Linear Collider, a cornerstone of future progress in physics, is many years away. But as I am constantly reminded, the seeds of groundbreaking experiments are planted in one decade, to be harvested in another. BaBar, the experiment I work on here at SLAC, is an example. Conceived of […]
This has been quite a set of seasons for me and Jodi. The whole thing started for us just before the summer, as we were getting ready for our variety of shifts and analyses. I popped off to Moscow, then we headed to Minnesota for my vacation and her shifts, […]
When I was a senior at Yale, I decided to see how much I had really learned in junior year quantum mechanics by taking solid state physics. Solid state physics is the study of crystalline structures. It is an exercise in applying quantum mechanics – you have to have a […]
Yesterday, a number of us congregated in an office at SLAC and did some hard earned slacking off. One of the issues that came up was the egotistical masturbation called “blogging”. The statement was made, in effect, that everybody who blogs should be lined up and asked to get a […]
Jack and Jill, went up the Hill To pass some legislation, Jack fell down, in Germantown, and Jill hit “Face the Nation” I just returned from a fall trip to Washington D.C. on behalf of users of SLAC, Fermilab, and the U.S. LHC community. There were six of us, and […]
Tonight was the first and only debate between Phil Angelides and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the two candidates for governor of California. It was a one-hour debate, with about 7 questions asked of the candidates. The format was meant to be a conversation between the two men, but it degraded IMMEDIATELY into […]
There’s a lot of great music out there. I’ve had the good fortune to be part of a few bands, on and off, in my life, exposing me to some pretty music-saavy folks. I am largely grateful for the exposure to all kinds of music this has given me, crossing […]
“Is there anything you can do on the space station that you can’t do by locking yourself in your car for a few days?” That was Tom Bodett’s quip this morning on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” (the NPR news quiz) following a story on the recent space tourist’s reports […]
**Mettle to Meddle** *By Stephen Sekula* He stepped atop the atoll, was it four years to the day? A little dog set near the shore, a shore that tasted both the ebb and flow of time and waves He spoke of bird, of beak, of barnacle, collected by the shore, […]
Crazy times, crazy times. I thought the summer would be busy, but it seems that I misjudged the autumn. There is a real press to get a bunch of analyses out the door and into publication, some of which I have my hands in. The batch system at SLAC is […]
Not so long ago, my father asked, “When *was* the last time it rained where you are?” The fact that it hasn’t rained a drop on the peninsula since about April doesn’t surprise me, but always surprises folks from other places. Well, today the long dry spell is broken – […]