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Proud to hail from the Garden State
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Normally I try to finesse my origins and claim to be a New Yorker, but today I am proud to have grown up in New Jersey: Death Penalty Repealed in New Jersey — New York Times: “Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law a measure repealing New Jersey’a death penalty on Monday, making the state…
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On the Bush Presidency
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This is the Nixon Administration without the competence. –Senator Joe Biden, This Week with George Stephanopoulos , December 9, 2007.
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UK Physics on the chopping block
Today we heard that the (bizarrely agglomerated) UK Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills will be significantly cutting the physics budget that comes through the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). STFC was formed earlier this year out of PPARC (Particle Physics and Astrophysics) and the CCLRC (which ran big facilities like the Rutherford Appleton…
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More PhD goodness
Congratulations to Joe Zuntz, recipient of Imperial Astrophysics’ latest Doctorate for successfully defending his entertainingly-titled Ph.D. Thesis, “Cosmic Microwave Background Power Spectrum Estimation and Prediction with Curious Methods and Theories”. Joe had been my student since 2004, working on topics from hard-core data analysis with the MAXIPOL team to exploring the repercussions of exotic theories…
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Cosmic Rays
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A few weeks ago, the Auger Project published results (with a news story here) from searching for the properties of the very highest-energy Cosmic Rays, determining that they seem to have come from nearby “Active Galactic Nuclei”, which are believed to be Super-Massive Black Holes at the centers of galaxies, surrounded by discs of accreting…
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Faith in Science
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Paul Davies had an op-ed in the New York Times, comparing scientists’ reliance “on the the assumption that nature is ordered in a rational and intelligible way” with religious faith. He wants to eschew both in favor of regarding “the laws of physics and the universe they govern as part and parcel of a unitary…
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selling off the nj turnpike.
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Puryear’s Ladder
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Here in New York for a collaboration meeting and, soon, Thanksgiving. Aside from old friends, fine food (and the exchange rates), a highlight was MOMA‘s Martin Puryear exhibit, and, particularly, “Ladder for Booker T. Washington”: Next up, the Auger observatory, cosmic rays, and the GZK Cutoff. And maybe Sesame Street and my new iPhone.
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Magazine article title of the year
“Ezra Pound — From Fascist to Fabulous” –Fine Books & Collections magazine
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