Angry Physics

It's hard out here for a physicist

2012-01-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

"Trying to write a pseudonymous blog that wouldn't be immediately identifiable as me would require an awful lot of effort, more effort than would be worth it for the sake of blowing off a little steam."
Chad Orzel

So true, so true. It's darn hard. And what are the rewards? I get
no credit, no acclaim. Heck, I hardly get any readers. It all started
with my reviews. I actually take reviewing seriously which makes me an
attractive ~~mark~~ reviewer for editors. Here I was
tsk-tsking the elders of the field on sloppiness, and then running
into them just a few weeks later. Anonymity wasn't enough to protect
me...so I'd use different "voices" in my reports. There was the uptight
grammarian
who never ended a sentence with a proposition, no matter how awkward
things might get. Then there was the folksy neighbor using non-words
such as "ain't" and beginning sentences with "And another thing..."

So for this blog, it's tough. I'd love to tell stories about meeting
famous physicists, or casually bring up some invitation to speak. Or
even just pointing out interesting papers on the arXiv. But this
community is small. I was chatting about someone's research last week
and wanted to make fun of what a certain physics blogger we all know
and love would think of the work. Just an hour later, looking at some of
this guy's previous papers, he's published with that same physicist!

Anywho, I'm a complainer. I go through financial institutions pretty
quickly. I know this. However, I still maintain that, no matter how
trivial they might be, my complaints are still legitimate. So having
gotten nowhere with one such institution, I closed my accounts with them
and subsequently posted to a finance forum, explaining what happened.
I had heard stories of customers doing similarly and actually hearing
back from institutions trying to make things right in fear of such
social-media-complaints.

So what did I get? Tons of pity, sympathy, advice, consolation? Oh no.
There was some biting, albeit funny, jokes speculating what kind of
curmudgeon I was. But mostly it was people lambasting me expecting
good service and for complaining. Indeed, they just assumed
I had yelled at the CSR on the phone despite the fact that I neither
yelled nor mentioned yelling in my post. People were mean and, I was actually
a bit surprised that it had any effect on me. Here I was, anonymously
posting, and people's hurtful comments about an issue that was done
and over with were bothering me. It's hard for me to even extrapolate
what some teenager might go through with non-anonymous trashing in
social media.

So I concluded that people pretty much suck. They litter, they smoke
near entryways, they drive slowly in the passing lane, and they
perpetuate annoyances such as Rush Limbaugh and Nigerian email scams,

Anyway, one of the things I struggle to communicate concerns the drive
in this profession. I'm friends with a wide range of physicists. The
spectrum pretty much spans the range from those content to teach a few
classes and who do no research...to those who have many pots in the fire,
students working on all manner of things, running from collaborative
meeting to another. I say it's a spectrum, but if one actually introduced
a measure on it, I doubt they're many in between the extremes. I
suspect it's a pretty bimodal distribution. Me? I'm special. Neh, rare!

I always maintain a few pots in the fire, but I'm pretty laid back. I
have a competitive drive to compete with peers. But at the same time,
I want to enjoy the trip. And really I'm not sure where the drive
comes from. It's not that I enjoy the competition.

Everyone gather round to read a solipsist's blog!

2011-09-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

Great title: Static Patch Solipsism: Conformal Symmetry of the de Sitter Worldline...but can you use such a great word in the title without also including it in the text?
By now most everyone has heard about the new FTL result of OPERA. It's really such a shame, but it was fun while it lasted. I mean the climate scientists have long since begun to lose their stranglehold on the AGW conspiracy, so it was only a matter of time until the entire edifice of modern physics is torn down. Of course relativity and quantum mechanics was a snow-job to fool the common person! I mean if Joe-schmoe can't understand it, then it must be wrong. And if it's wrong and more than one person says it, then it is, by construction, a conspiracy. It's now only a matter of a few years until this nightmare of "modern science" is completely ripped asunder and we'll entire a utopia ruled by complete gun and religious freedom. That is to say, the freedom to be white, armed Christians (preferably no Catholics) in the unquestioned greatest country on Earth.

...removing tongue from cheek now.

where's Blogger's preview button?

Hello New Students

2011-09-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

This is introductory physics. The goal for this course is three-fold: (i) better understanding of how the universe works at a pretty fundamental level (in other words, this is not biology or chemistry), (ii) better problem solving ability, and (iii) increased quantitative awareness and ability. Students are often intimidated coming into a course such as this. I do not wish to make it hard, but you have to demonstrate some achievement in these three goals.

To give you some sense of how I see the grading in this course a metaphor is in order. Let's say that I'm here to teach you all basketball. You all come in with very different abilities. My tests will have a range of questions...some will be like free throws. An example would be: How much force would one have to exert to accelerate a 2 kg ball at a rate of 3 m/s^2? Some may have no numbers and might be comparable to asking someone to evaluate what kind of defense an opposing team is running. For example, I could ask: What force is responsible for holding a bag of concrete on the back of a flatbed truck as it drives down the highway? More difficult problems might be something like having you carry-out a give-and-go. All of this is definitely teachable, though some will have no problem at all. You all can do this. And, just like in basketball, it will take practice.

Some more involved problems will challenge nearly everyone. They are more akin to looking for you to demonstrate court-awareness and the ability to break-down a defense. You will have to introduce variables not given in the problem, determine a number of equations, and use your math skills to solve them. This can be taught, but is fairly advanced.

In any case, please be aware that you may make a habit of "hiding" in other classes, hoping that the instructor isn't particularly aware of how little one might know. This class doesn't really allow this. I will have a very good idea of both your ability and your understanding, regardless of how little you may participate in class. I want you all to succeed, but you have to do your part. Good luck!

Hurricane Denial

2011-08-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

If you look at the models of the meteorologists for the track of hurricane Irene, one can see a huge amount of uncertainty and a lack of agreement. One can also see that these meteorologists benefit immensely from these dire forecasts...afterall, to whom will local governments turn the next time one of these so-called storms appears on the 'radar' screens? I can believe that the East Coast is going to get some rain and wind, but I bet the Sun will peak and all will be well.

My First Scientific American paper...

2011-08-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Since it's beyond a paywall, let me just give the essentials:

Title:
Needle in a Haystack: Our improbable Universe

About the author:
A former collegiate athlete, the author has been recognized by the APS for his long record of NSF-funded research. Outside of physics, he enjoys skiing, and the occasional glass of wine. A dutiful and doting father, he is generally as much of a prick in person as you might expect from this obnoxious blurb.

Abstract:
Have you ever eaten at a brand new restaurant, and wondered what its chances of success are? More than a metaphor, I establish a correspondence between such a probability and the measure problem of cosmology. Based on how one rates the restaurant, one can thereby deduce a proper normalization to establish the probabilities that others will similarly patronize the establishment. With this insight, I compute the most likely value of the cosmological constant and remarkably find that it occurs with the standard measurement to within 2.31 significant deviations without resorting to any anthropic principle.

Questions

2011-08-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

If I put lots of mouthwash in my mouth is it better than a little? With lots, perhaps I get more cleaning if the wash gets "used up" at all. However, if I go with a little bit, I can really swish it around well and probably get it where it needs to go.
Pandora is really finding some good music today. It's hindering my ability to work.
I orphan lots of my work. I can't remember how many I truly have abandoned, but right now there are two that I'll talk to people about and they ask when the papers are coming out. But they're just not high priority and I only work on them once a year or so. I have two papers to review, an invited talk to prepare, a review to write, and a regular research paper I'm working on. And then in September I've got two proposals to write. But of course, to all my non-physicists friends, I'm somehow "off from work" during the summer!
Why don't European hotels have alarm clocks (or at least some form of clock) in the rooms? Even the crappiest hotel in the U.S. has a clock.
I get that Europeans tend to think of Americans as dumb, uncultured, spoiled babies, and perhaps some of that is deserved. However, if you're going to group me in particular with them when you make fun of them, I'm going to take some offense. Especially when you hardly know me and I've given no particular reason for the grouping. And whatever criticism Americans deserve, this hardly means that Europeans are particularly well-behaved or cultured. On the whole, they can be as rude and crass. Of course, by necessity they're very likely going to be more aware of the world.

Cosmic Deviants

2011-08-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

Why doesn't the U.S. get the Honda Civic Type R?
Gosh, thanks for the compliment!
This is one way to get physics/physicists into the mainstream media. Speaking of famous atheists, what do atheists, in general, think about the idea of right and wrong? I would think (and actually do) that with no divinity, that right and wrong can have no essential meaning. And so, even the most heinous of activities (say killing for the fun of it) can't be wrong. I imagine this is well established within the entire ethics versus morality difference, but just wanted to make sure. Anyone?

Global warming denial

2011-07-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

The NYT has a good opinion piece expressing an argument I couldn't quite formulate. For me, I suppose, it comes down to the difference in the following two examples:

I believe in ghosts and it's no surprise that scientists can't prove their existence because...
I don't believe in global warming or mankind's contribution thereto because the pro-warming crowd is self-motivated to predict dire things, and I read these retired engineers and meteorologists who have good arguments against aspects of the pro-warming case. And just because there's consensus, the scientific truth of the matter doesn't come down to a vote.

The latter case does not dismiss science, but rather selectively chooses the science they "believe" despite the fact that they have no expertise with which to make such choices.

Electromagnetic wave generation

2011-07-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

I like to think of myself as something of a radical, yet pragmatic, progressive in the U.S. I say 'radical' because I try not to get too hung up on things others might hold dear, and pragmatic because whatever I advocate for has to work. So, for example, I'd be fine with applying the death penalty for a huge variety of crimes, except for the fact that the justice system is just too flawed and unfair. In terms of medical care, in general I wouldn't be too bothered by no universal health care. But if our country is going to allow poor people to use emergency rooms and hence we have to pay ultimately, let's do it in a sane way with preventive care.

And so I really can't understand how so many conservatives expect any sane person of taking them seriously when they go crazy about restrictions on light bulbs. We have so many restrictions in our homes, from our toilets (water conservation) to fire alarms (safety). And jeez, candles are still allowed. Anyone know the efficiency of a candle relative to an incandescent? This seems like a good Fermi-type question and so I'll leave it at that.

Lisa Randall

2011-07-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

Umm, not sure what compels Lisa Randall (of Warped Passages fame) to publicly comment on the musical The Book of Mormon, but she's very much a public figure so why not.

Turning the tables

2011-07-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Dear Editors,

We unfortunately wish to inform you that your journal has not been accepted for our manuscript. Although your journal is very well-respected (perhaps, because of this reputation), the evaluation of our own anonymous referee indicates serious problems with your publication process. In particular, as is clear from the reports you provided, you received seriously flawed reviews of our manuscript, one indicating total incompetence and the other sheer pomposity. However, our referee also faulted the acceptance process itself. In particular, as editors, one of your roles is to actually edit the paper instead of delegating such work back on the authors. Fine details, picky formatting rules, and simple tweaking should not be passed onto the authors.

We have decided instead to simply note on the arXiv record for our manuscript that, ultimately, it was accepted by your publication. If you would like to appeal this decision, please contact the first author. We hope that perhaps in the future you will consider receiving another of our manuscripts.

Respectfully,
the authors

Judging People

2011-06-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

I like to think I'm not a really judgmental person. Certainly not in terms of one person being "better" than another. If someone lingers just outside the entrance to a building smoking and then tosses the cigarette on the ground, I'll certainly think ill of them, but not in terms that I'm somehow better than they.

In any case, when it comes to physics you must judge, in terms of ability. You need to find out if you might want to work with them, or what particular knowledge/experience you can take advantage of with questions and which questions you might as well not ask.

So when I google people after seeing them at conferences, you can usually find out their pedigree (education, advisors, etc). It's usually better to judge by asking them questions, but sometimes you use shortcuts. So when I find paragraphs written by them online and they're horribly written, that's not a good sign. When I then see that they were English or other liberal art majors at one point and they have grammatical errors, I judge them harshly.

And then there's the issue of what schools they've attended. Despite the fact that I attended a very elite school, I try not to count this much. But if they've attended some non-elite school and follow that up with a non-elite grad school, it's hard not to feel that they've essentially got to prove their worth to you.

Physics in Fiction

2011-06-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

I saw the movie Rabbit Hole recently. Pretty decent and not terribly long. Not a fun movie though. The reason I mention it here is that the idea of parallel universes makes an appearance (as in the universes associated with eternal inflation, not quantum mechanics; or are they the same thing (see Sean's recent discussion]). Anyway, I thought its mention was largely sensible and reflects a bit how physics shapes ones worldview. This contrasts sharply with the physics one often sees as something else...something bad (as in weapons) or geeky (e.g. a Seth Green type role) or hard (e.g. Breakfast Club [one of the best ever]).

Give a man a fish...

2011-06-13T17:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of recent posts, one by Chad and the other by the Female Science Professor, have me thinking about what we owe to our students.

For starters, I share with Chad an unbroken streak of graduations, but with the opposite polarity. That is, I've never attended my school's graduation ceremony. I don't like crowds, and don't relish having to make small-talk with seldom seen colleagues from across the University.

As for the FSP's commitment to students, for some classes I'll make a PDF of slides available, usually just a half-hour before class and I certainly don't print them out for students. In general, I severely limit how much time I spend on classes. With that said, I do feel a commitment to them, but generally prioritize avoiding diminishing returns. Talking with them, helping them understand, all that stuff I do without hesitation (except in rare cases where I can't stand a student). Elaborate preparation I avoid. Some of my best classes arise when I'm least prepared (though I don't think this should be taken as any sort of advice).

Ostensible

2011-06-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, was a slow day. Certain things had kind of wound down, and I wasn't sure what tasks to do. So I took it easy, caught up on reading some arXiv papers that were clogging up the tabs on my browser. I thought about starting up one of my unimportant (to anyone else), side projects, but I knew things would pick back up...I'd have an idea for the project that's finishing, I'd get a couple emails from folks needing help with their aspects, etc. And now I'm busy, or rather I should be busy, but figured I'd get out this post first.

One other thing, if you're interested in good photography of nature, you might checkout these winning photos. In any case though, you presumably have an interest in physics, so you should definitely checkout the picture of the ocean wave at the beach. One sees these...well I'm not sure what one would call them. Perhaps one would call them vortex lines or just vortices. In any case, pretty cool and dramatic.

Research Projects

2011-05-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

Scott wishes he had a list of research projects for when students come to him wanting to do research. It must be that time of year, because I'm meeting with two students next week about summer research projects. I do have a list of projects, but as Scott mentions, some are trivial and some are incredibly difficult. It's hard to come up with a good project, and even when you do, you've got to match a project to a student's skills and inclination. So no real advice for anyone, but maybe someone has advice for me?

Leaving Academia?

2011-05-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

I was surprised to hear that Dave Bacon is leaving UW. And leaving for Google. I hope it works out well for him. Google might be a nice place to work, and I hope he blogs about what he thinks of his new job. I'd also like to hear about how he got the job.

Did you see the most recent episode of "The Office" where they're interviewing various candidates for a the manager position, just vacated by Steve Carell's character? In it, Ray Romano talks himself out of the job, saying that if he were to get it, he would stay in the position for the rest of his life and die there. That's how I felt when I got tenure. I really like my job, I just worry that I'll simply, but slowly and imperceptibly, decay into an unproductive researcher and complacent teacher.

Bueno

2011-05-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

It's been another long while. I continue to get older. I've little problem in terms of my vanity...graying hair, diminished physical prowess, etc. Instead, I'm saddened by the ever increasing bodily intrusions by doctors. Gotta run but will hopefully post more soon.

Ran Dom

2010-10-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

Cars have come a long way in a hundred years, right? Smart, adaptive cruise control, air bags, pretensioning seatbelts, etc. Contrast that with plane landings. In the decades I've been landing in planes, they don't seem to get any smoother or nicer. It's still essentially a semi-controlled collision. Why does it seem that there hasn't been any progress?
Things I had right when I was a young teenager:
- My parents really suck at parenting.
- You can't argue with solipsism.
Things I had wrong when I was a young teenager:
- I can't separate the logical rational me from the evolved animal that I am.
- Just being smart means nearly nothing. The game of trying to do the least while being the best is a silly one. Life's about "doing."
- Everyone is insecure. Even famous physicists.
A Nobel-winner discusses the implications of relativity on interstellar trade...the economics of it, anyway.

A Little Light Blogging

2010-07-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

OLD: A nice video of an optical illusion that includes the resolution of the illusion in the video.
OLD: I definitely agree that too many kids are going to college: NYT and the AP.
Blogging has been light lately :)...I've had a few things to say, but just with as busy I've been, I never could exceed the threshold. But when ~~someone~~ people miss you, you can't just let them down.
I've been doing lots of traveling. It's ridiculous how much time I spend either booking travel or assembling receipts/forms to get reimbursed for it.
For all you US taxpayers, however, the travel definitely contributes to my productivity. I won't go into details, but I got some ideas and possible collaborations going. One of these ideas actually came from attending a talk.
I've been pretty disgusted with a variety of organized religions lately. But it occurred to me where the last vestiges of the supernatural remain in my psyche. A crying kid in the backseat while driving through a major metropolitan area and I find myself praying to the gods of traffic...there must be more than one to produce such assorted effects.
A couple NYT pieces I should read, but won't: on tenure and a donation of Jim Simmons.
I hadn't been on an NSF panel in at least a couple years, so I'm happy to see that they refrain from showing panel members the mailed in reviews before you submit your own. Definitely a good idea.
So I was told I look young and that I am old all at the same conference. I take both as compliments. However, I am noticing more and more of the truly older people are appearing less and less.
What's up with the earthquakes? I think I've been in "the neighborhood" of one three times in just the past few years (none of them while at home).
There's something about the Bourne movies that really captures me...whenever I see one on cable I just get hooked. I have no spy-skills, but somehow I see myself as a lone warrior against the larger powers that be. My skills are probably more aptly described as clown-skills (juggling, unicycle, etc).
I like cars, and so people buying new cars often ask me my opinion. But sometimes it's hard not to show some of my disgust. I'm mostly fine with people getting what they want (but I think people should pay more to register and use large, truck-like vehicles). But it's so annoying the rationalizations and brainwashing people have.
I want something with three rows.
How about a minivan?
No, I need lots of space and often have the third row down.
You can do that with a minivan.
Uhhh...., no. I am looking at this crossover.
"Crossover"? It comes with a tow package and the manufacturer compares it on the webpage to the Honda Pilot. Wake up, it's an SUV.
I've given three talks in recent weeks. All but one went very well. The exception wasn't just not good, but it was bad. I just never hit my stride. Strange.

Pure Pedantry

2010-03-06T07:29:00.000-08:00

Ahh, ignorance is bliss and intelligence is depressing.
More disingenuous stupidity about science from our favorite law professor. Scientists make mistakes, so let's throw out science. Heck, doctors make mistakes, so let's abandon Western medicine. Science and medicine continue to progress.
A funny picture over at Gizmodo.
An pedant's worst nightmare (anyone get the allusion?):

Should I correct the grammatical mistake in a scrawl written on a bathroom stall?
I just came up with a great alliterative blog title Pure Pedantry, but of course one already exists with that title. Thing is, apparently it has ceased being updated, so perhaps some could take up the call to service. Perhaps, something a bit more alliterative, such as: Pure Physical Pedantry. How 'bout a contest for the most alliterative title for a physics blog? I can't seem to get more than three repetitions of a sound...Into the Photon-Phonon Forest

I'm so egalitarian, I'm an elite

2010-02-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

A good idea from the Freakonomics Blog to help restrict corporate corruption of our democracy in the face of the Supreme Court's blatant activism.
In a related story, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas defends their ruling by arguing with some well-reasoned zingers like:

"I found it fascinating that the people who were editorializing against it were The New York Times Company and The Washington Post Company," Justice Thomas said. "These are corporations."

and

"If 10 of you got together and decided to speak, just as a group, you'd say you have First Amendment rights to speak and the First Amendment right of association," he said. "If you all then formed a partnership to speak, you'd say we still have that First Amendment right to speak and of association."
"But what if you put yourself in a corporate form?" Justice Thomas asked, suggesting that the answer must be the same.

This is just overly simplistic rhetoric that should convince no one who thinks for more than a split second (along the same lines of "you can yell `fire' in your home playing at war, but what if you put yourself in a crowded theater?"). Not impressive that Thomas is stooping so low, but of course I don't expect much better from him.
Another failed test of our missile defense.
With these tax-prep programs, it feels a bit like a game. You click on "Review Deductions" and scroll through hoping to come up with more to decrease the "Federal Tax Owed" number in the corner.
What physics book did Glenn Beck read?
Elite status conflicts with my pervading egalitarian attitude, but it sure is addicting, what with getting your bags off-loaded first, special, shorter lines, etc. But recently I'm sitting in the "Quiet Zone" of an airline club and am bothered by two different people having loud cell-phone conversations. One of whom is doing so right next to a "cell phone free zone" sign. Clearly, low-class low-lifes.

Corporate Entity

2010-01-26T20:00:00.000-08:00

I read Instapundit every now and then just to get an updated glimpse of what some real loons think. It's a bit disturbing that this guy has the following he does, but every once in a while I get a good laugh. Like this one decrying the loss of trust of science because of ``climategate.'' Really? People read this nonsense and think they're being informed? As if these people believed the scientists before these emails?
I cringe whenever I see/hear someone using "whomever" incorrectly. It's one thing failing to use "whom" when called for, but if you're going to go through the trouble of using "whom," you'd better get it right. There's got to be a good analogy here, but I'm not coming up with one.
I've had it yet again with certain of my collaborators who are putting out papers with others, but letting the paper I wrote with their names on it go ignored. This kind of stuff gets to me more than it would probably to most. And it doesn't help that I somehow have this yucky habit of being like George W. Bush with friends...that is, friends are either good or evil, and once they cross the line, they ain't my friend no more. I call this yucky, because, as might be obvious to everyone but me, friends are still useful (too clinical a word, but I can't come up with a touchy-feely replacement word) even when they aren't perfect. When I was a kid, I'd go through a new best friend every year or two, having literally stopped talking to each in turn. As I became an adult, this behavior continued with colleagues who had betrayed me in some sense. So, needless to say, I'm not great at networking, but I sabotage what meager efforts I do make with this inability to appreciate the good over the bad. Even describing this, I can't really overcome it. I imagine this was a learned behavior, so maybe I should be able to overcome it?
Read a quote by Leno recently that I thought made some sense, paraphrasing:

Democrats like people in general, but no one in particular, while Republicans like people in particular, but no one in general.
If you're going to try audiobooks, I really recommend Scott Brick as a reader.
In general, I don't contribute money (e.g. charities, political candidates, etc), so I had to do a little research. As far as I can tell, the recent activities of our most-esteemed court in the land lift the limits on corporate money for political "speech." But, what about the limits on my free speech? They're still there right? So if I were a true patriot with my own very profitable company, I'd have "my people" find some real despicable candidate in some small-scale election with no shot of winning. And then I'd spend all the money necessary to get this person elected. Maybe Larry Flint reads this blog.

Wax On...Wax Off

2009-12-14T19:33:00.000-08:00

Posting a scathing comment about me to RateMyProfessor.com on the same morning that you come to my office hours to plead for a passing grade is pretty risky, especially when I subscribe to the RSS feed!
And people criticize string theory for being too pie-in-the-sky? Here's a concrete representation of it for just $90. That may seem cheap, but just remember than you need to buy something like 10 raised to the power of 500 of these to get something like our universe!
Teaching Tip #436: I've long been aware of a glaring weakness in my teaching; I'm bad at repeating things. In particular, I suck at reviewing things. I suppose it's because I'm pretty spare with my speech in the first place, and I tend to either understand something right away or I ask questions. So I've always simply expected students to ask if they don't get it. Of course, this often doesn't happen. Anyway, you might think just recognizing this defect means I could easily fix it, but not really. So here comes the tip: teaching is a bit like painting in which one needs to brush in various directions to fill in spots and establish a good covering. It may sound a bit corny, but it really helps me come into lecture each day and try saying the same things from previous lectures a bit differently.

Life Continues

2009-12-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

Haven't seen this bumper sticker at APS
It had never occurred me not to list interview talks on my CV. I pretty much agree with this comment...listing a talk as invited simply isn't very definitive in terms of what it denotes. So if you're reading the CV, you don't get deceived; you just get some vague sense of how interested people are in your work.
The last NSF panel I was on, bent over backwards to consider that a PI was a member of an under-represented group. We debated what the person could have meant and what science the person could do. Ultimately we didn't fund that person simply because the science wasn't there, but we tried.
Could this be my long sought method for making grocery lists?
I'm busy as ever, but I keep meaning to discuss the insecurity of a physicist and how it drives one. I think the best analogy I can think of is a career I couldn't ever attempt, that is acting. Of course, I know very little except from the documentary series that is Thirty Rock and the character of Jenna Maroney in particular. She is horribly insecure about other actors, and I can imagine that she feels a bit similar to how I feel when I see others get invites that could have gone to me. Or when others publish good papers. I'd much prefer it if I could be a bit more laid back, content to publish what I can and enjoy the great job that I have. In fact, I oscillate between these two viewpoints achieving some level of sanity along with some level of professional success. Maybe I'm just bipolar when it comes to professional ambition. I wonder how others would describe their professional insecurity and sanity.
I also keep meaning to address the sports world. We've got Andre showing his true colors, Tiger making non-news, Jordan showing the world what a jerk he is, and Serena being a bully. Maybe later.
Another thing that keeps me occupied sometimes is thinking about my next car (due in only 10 years or so). I want something sporty, practical, and not ridiculously priced. In the running right now: Mazdaspeed 3, Volkswagen GTI, Nissan 370z. But Honda is coming out with a hybrid CRZ that looks promising.