On the plane I got quized by a neighboring passenger about tsunami dynamics (“oh, you’re a physicist?”) Here is what I recall from Physics 12:
The waves created by tsunamis are very long wavelength. While typical ocean waves are around a hundreds of meters long, tsunamis produce wavelengths of up to a hunderds of kilometers. Since the wavelength of the tsunami is on the order of the depth of the ocean, tsunami waves are shallow water waves (most ocean waves have wavelength of hundreds of meters and are so are different beasts called deep water waves.) The speed of this type of wave (if you want to be fancy you say “celerity” here) is around the square root of the accleration due to gravity times the water depth (typically a few kilometers). This is why tsunami waves move at speeds of a few hundred meters per second and is also why tsunamis which hit the land aren’t moving at this speed (because the ocean depth gets shallower as you approach land and so the tsunami slows down.)
Merry Christmas
Quoteth Saint Lennon:
And so this is Christmas, and what have you done?
Another year over, and a new one just begun.
And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun,
The near and the dear ones, the old and the young.
A very Merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year.
Let’s hope it’s a good one,
Without any fear.
And so this is Christmas, for weak and for strong,
For rich and for poor ones, the war is so wrong.
And so happy Christmas, for black and for white,
For yellow and red ones, let’s stop all the fight.
A very Merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year.
Let’s hope it’s a good one,
Without any fear.
So this is Christmas, and what have you done?
Another year over, and a new one just begun.
And so happy Christmas, I hope you have fun,
The near and the dear ones, the old and the young.
A very Merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year.
Let’s hope it’s a good one,
Without any fear.
Turn Your Back
I am a sucker for all creative protest tactics.
A Holiday Present
From a New York Times article:
After a bitter and protracted recount fight in the Washington state governor’s race, elections officials announced today that the Democratic candidate, Christine O. Gregoire, was now leading her Republican opponent by a miniscule margin of only 10 votes, a stunning reversal of the Nov. 2 election results.
Physicists Are Crazy
Best title of the year on quant-ph? Or Worst title of the year on quant-ph?
Is Quantum Suicide Painless? On an Apparent Violation of The Principal Principle
Chances of Being Saved
According to the Book of Revelations, 144,000 is the total number choosen by the Lord for the Tribulation. The current world population is 6.4 billion people. Hence the chance I will be saved is around 0.002 percent. Better than winning the lottery, but about the same odds as dying by exposure to a sharp inanimate mechanical object.
The Sixth Seal
Arrived in Seattle yesterday afternoon, just in front of Seattle’s notorious traffic.
As many of you may know, Washington is in the middle of a huge fight over recounting ballots for their governers race. Currently the Republican, Dino Rossi, is in the lead by 42 votes.
Anyway, I’m fairly convinced that the governor of Washington being a Republican is the sixth seal. Or is the 14th?
Pink Shasta
Yesterday: Santa Fe->Las Vegas->Sacramento->Yreka. Winter sunsets in the state of Jefferson make Mt. Shasta look incredible.
Today: Yreka->Portland.
Perspective
If you were a quantum computer, would the mystery you be working on not be the mystery of quantum theory but the mystery of the classical world?
Santa Fe Institute 2005 REU
RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES AT THE SANTA FE INSTITUTE
SUMMER 2005 PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT
Description:
Undergraduate students work with faculty mentors on an individual research project focused on some aspect of complex systems. SFI’s broad program of research is aimed at understanding both the common features of complex systems and at comprehending the enormous diversity of specific examples. Possible focus areas include adaptive computation; computational aspects of complexity; energy and information in biological computation; scaling laws in complex phenomena; network structure and dynamics; robustness and innovation in biological and social systems; and the dynamics of human social interactions including state and market formation, economics as a complex system, and the evolution of language.
This program is highly individualized. Each student works with one or more faculty mentors on a specific, mutually selected project. The project may be based on a suggestion from the SFI mentor, an idea from the student intern, or a combination of the two. The initial weeks of the program will be devoted to meeting potential mentors and determining the choice of project.
Participants are expected to be in residence approximately 10 weeks, within an early-June to mid-August time frame.
Support:
Housing and a partial board plan will be provided, at no cost to the student, in single-occupancy rooms with shared bathrooms at St. John’s College. Modest living stipends will also be provided to interns during their stay, along with some support of round-trip travel expenses from the home institution. Because Santa Fe lacks a full public transportation system, autos are provided to participants on a shared basis. Those interns who can bring their private transportation are urged to do so.
Eligibility:
Undergraduate students who are citizens or permanent residents of the US are eligible to apply under the guidelines of the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program. In addition, thanks to modest level of funding from SFI’s International Program, some internships for students who are citizens of selected international regions are also eligible to apply.
For the purposes of this program, an undergraduate student is a student who is enrolled in a degree program (part-time or full-time) leading to a bachelor’s degree. Students who are transferring from one institution to another and are enrolled at neither institution during the intervening summer may participate. College seniors graduating in 2005 are not eligible for this program; nor are graduating high school students who have not yet enrolled as undergraduates.
Mathematical or computational skills or experience (particularly knowledge of the rudiments of the Unix operating system and/or a programming language, such as C) are favorably considered.
To Apply:
For further details about SFI’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program, including full eligibility and application requirements, please visit our website at http://www.santafe.edu/reu05.html.
Deadline:
All application materials must be received at SFI no later than February 18, 2005.
Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply.
For further information about the program, please e-mail , or call (505)-946-2746.