Miscellanea
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My Namesake, R.I.P.
I was saddened, and, I admit, a little freaked out, to learn that a namesake, one of the several other Andrew Jaffes out there, has died. This Andrew Jaffe was a journalist who covered the advertising business: he was an executive and editor at AdWeek magazine, from where he also ran the Clio advertising awards.…
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Andrew Lange, Huan Tran
The cosmology community has had a terrible few months. I am saddened to report the passing of Andrew Lange, a physicist from CalTech and one of the world’s preeminent experimental cosmologists. Among many other accomplishments, Andrew was one of the leaders of the Boomerang experiment, which made the first large-scale map of the Cosmic Microwave…
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Bayes and Blake at Bunhill
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One of my holiday treks this year was across town to visit Bunhill Fields, final resting place of two of my favorite Londoners: William Blake and Thomas Bayes. Blake is of course one of the most famous poets in the English language, but most people know him only from short poems like The Tiger [sic]…
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Lev Kofman
I was saddened to hear this morning that Lev Kofman, a friend and fellow-cosmologist, died yesterday. Lev has been at CITA in Toronto for a decade, and has had a huge impact on the field, scientifically and personally. He will be missed. He is already. I’m sure there will be more remembrances to come, but…
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Sorry…
I’ll be back online soon, promise.
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Born to Run (for donations)
I feel a bit guilty about using the blog for this sort of thing, but… if you’re one of the lucky people feeling flush this season, and not otherwise philosophically opposed, you might want to consider donating to the UK Blue Cross (“Britain’s Pet Charity”) in support of my attempt to run the London Royal…
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Back to Life, Back to Reality
While I’ve been galavanting across Europe and the USA, the ongoing UK science-funding crisis has entered a new, possibly even grimmer, phase. The STFC itself is so strapped for cash it will only be issuing grants lasting until October 2010, instead of the usual two or three years. This is rumored to be engendered by…
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Going Underground
In further London-based excitement, I was forced into something that most Londoners never get the chance to do: walking in a Tube tunnel. I was taking the Picadilly Line train down to Kings Cross, and, just after leaving the Caledonian Road station, the lights in the car dimmed and the train stopped — nothing particularly…
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Pride and Science
Central London featured two important events this past weekend. First was the annual Gay Pride Parade, a riotous and joyful procession of rainbow flags, pink clothing, and (mostly) ill-fitting dresses on very large people. Sadly, the only thing that marred the good-natured, family-friendly event were the stupid protesters. But it was wonderful to see that…
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Planck Plonk
One of the perks of the project. (Don’t worry, not paid for by your tax dollars.)