On this day remembering the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , I performed my annual ritual of listening to his “I Have a Dream” speech. This year, I tried for focus my attention on one of the early themes of the speech: the bad check. King […]
In a lifetime, your chance of dying from heart disease is 1 in 5. Your chance of dying in a car accident is 1 in 272. Your chance of dying while walking is 1 in 623. Your chance of dying due to drowning or accidental submersion is 1 in 1073. […]
After years of colorful verbal expressions regarding the quality of Microsoft Windows Vista, dad is upgrading his desktop from Vista to W7. Here is a live blog of the process. 7:15 pm: Dad has already tried upgrading once. The upgrade tool sat for about 10-15 minutes, then told him he […]
In the last two parts of this essay, I discussed my thoughts on the veil protecting private inquiry from public scrutiny and I discussed the meaning of stolen e-mails made public. In this last part, I discuss my thoughts on the handling of conflicting data. Quotes extracted from the stolen […]
It was Christmas, and from many lands far away The family convened to mark Christmas Day. A year or more since the last time we had been a family together, united as kin. “Where is Sister?” asked Brother upon his arrival. “She is busy at church; it’s her organ recital. […]
It’s the end of 2009, and time to have a little blog fun. Here are my tech recommendations for things I’ve discovered (or re-discovered) in the last year. Ubuntu Linux 9.10 (Karmic Koala!): it seems that each time Ubuntu releases a new version of their Linux/GNU/open-source remix, they out-do themselves. […]
There is more to discuss about “Climate-gate.” There is the release of e-mails from the scientists. There are the choices scientists make when faced with data. While no doubt it relieves many climate science detractors that the veil was lifted on climate research, they also should stop to wonder what […]
SMU imposed a new requirement on faculty starting this year. We are now required to take and pass a multi-hour web class on research practices and ethics. Over several months, in short shots, I took the class. The first half of the material focused on things like pressure, plagiarism, gift […]
In the movie, “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” author Audrey Niffenegger explores the relationship between a husband, who unpredictably travels through time, and his wife, who must deal with his disappearances and harrowing experiences. But what if it was the wife whose life had become unpredictable, and the husband who had […]
It’s being tired, because you’ve been cramming information about jets, electrons, muons, photons, and all manner of other things yet unidentified in your head. It’s the swelling in your eyes because you’ve been staring at code, a sheriff and an outlaw locking eyes on a dusty main street, each knowing […]
The Blackberry goes off at 6, playing a jolly little electric piano tune. In the dark of a room in Hostel 41 – a room I have affectionately taken to calling the “Monolith Apartment” (see Stanley Kubrick’s “2001”) – I dismiss the alarm and swing myself out of bed. Thus […]
This has been a whirlwind week for me. Ever since I arrived in Geneva last week, I’ve been keeping myself as busy as a grad student so that I can be a more effective professor. I truly need to understand something of ATLAS before I can lead a group of […]