The past two days have been full of discussions about the B-Factories Legacy Book. This book, targeted for publication in 2012, will contain a coherent record of the work of the two B-factories: Belle and BaBar. As a member of the BaBar collaboration, I am keenly interested in seeing a […]
We are enjoying a quiet Sunday morning. This month has been extremely busy, and for at least a little while this weekend we can return to something resembling quiet. Jodi is making pumpkin waffles. “Car Talk” is on the Stevo (my MythTV box), to be followed by “Wait, Wait Don’t […]
Jodi and I have been going to SMU football games. Apart from the chilly air, it’s been fun for the both of us. Last night, we were treated to quite a special array of events at the SMU vs. Navy game. The photos below tell most of the story. The […]
Today I learned of the death of a former mentor of mine, Richard (Dick) Yamamoto [1]. I thought I would share some memories of Dick, memories which to this day still shape my own behavior as a physicist. What I have often found intriguing about my own life is that […]
Author’s forward: I wrote this not because I agree or disagree with the choice of a particular Nobel prize winner. I wrote this because I was sick to death of the tone of the discussion about why Nobel prizes, in any field, are awarded. I’ve heard a lot of horrible […]
Oh drums, you never steer me wrong. After years of neglect, I have started spending time during the week working on my drum technique. I’ve also met several people here in Dallas who seem interested in jamming. This has only made me more interested in having fun with drumming. I’ve […]
It’s a good day to look ahead to politics and science as we enter the fall. This is not only the day that Congress went “back to school”; it was also the day many kids in the U.S. did the same. The President addressed schoolkids today. We’re about to leave […]
Skype has become an invaluable tool for communicating with family and friends. PC-to-PC calls are free and PC-to-phone calls are cheap. Lately, I have been trying Skype on Linux, Windows, and Mac. As an avid follower of the (not frequently updated) “Skype for Linux” blog [1], I was pleased when […]
As part of my faculty preparations, I have been required to take a web course in research ethics. Let me begin by saying that ethics in research are the single most important thing to me in the lab, and they are things which I strive to imbue in others. I […]
I’ve been thinking some about my next laptop. I already have a great personal laptop, but I am thinking that I should buy one for work. I would then move work off the personal machine and keep the two on separate tracks. The tablet PC that is my personal machine […]
It finally happened: I setup a Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/stephen.sekula Don’t get excited. My primary means of communication, listed in order of their important to me, are still: face-to-face, phone, IM, e-mail, and social networking. That means that I won’t be spending every waking hour on Facebook, so please don’t get […]
Jodi and I went to SMU today to do some work on our grant proposals. This happens to also be moving-in weekend, though our end of campus was not at all busy. The science buildings are located on the north end of the SMU campus, behind and to the east […]