So bing, Microsoft’s latest search engine, is up and running the tech word is a twitter. I checked it out and…well. On google when you search for “pontiff” my blog comes up as hit number five, after a few silly things like wikipedia entries and dictionary definitions (but no actual links to the *ahem* real pontiff. Sadly the days when I was number one on google are gone. But I will someday tell my grandkids…) But on bing, what happens? I’m down at number nine. Nine, Microsoft, really? I live in Seattle you know: shouldn’t this give me extra rank in your algorithms? And among the related searches, none of these are for “quantum pontiff.”
(I’d like to conclude that this is a good thing for how the search engine works except for the fact that bing gives the number three spot to a real estate agent. And we all know that real estate agents are actually all devils responsible for the collapse of the financial system and probably also for things like Mondays and gum stuck on the bottom of your shoes.)
The Weird Pope
Via his squidiness, a test on which pope you are. Me?
Seek help now!
You are a giddy combo of the weirder Popes, Stephen VI, Benedict XVI and St Peter
But we knew that already, no?
A Trip Down Nostalgia Lane
A song we (Steve, Elwyn, and ??) wrote while at Caltech. I write it down here because last night I struggled with reconstructing all the verses.
Continue reading “A Trip Down Nostalgia Lane”
Adiabatic Paper Dance
Yes, it’s a slow dance:
Through the hourglass I saw you, in time you slipped away
When the mirror crashed I called you, and turned to hear you say
If only for today I am adiabatic
Take my pulsed gates away
arXiv:0905.0901, “Adiabatic Gate Teleportation” by Dave Bacon and Steve Flammia(As seen on arXiview)
Too Few Wrong Papers?
After watching Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk* it occurred to me to go back and look at my own scientific papers and try to assess them for how creative they were. Some things you should just never do, I guess, but it did lead me to an interesting question.
* The first 2/3 of the talk is excellent, ending not as great. I’m heartily in support of his cause, but it felt to me like he was implying that this was the one and only problem with the education system, which I find hard to swallow.
Continue reading “Too Few Wrong Papers?”
Many-Worlds Critique
For the bus ride home, I’m going to check out “One world versus many: the inadequacy of Everettian accounts of evolution, probability, and scientific confirmation” by Adrian Kent (arXiv/0905.0624) Nothing like ending the day with some against many-worlds reading. That and a fun TED talk should make the ride go by fast
Spottings of arXiview in the Wild
ArXiview, my iPhone app for surfing the arXiv, spotted in the wild:
- One of my graduate students is using the app which feels….odd.
- James Dacey says incredibly nice things over at Physics World.
- MyOpenArchive tweets
just download #arXiview to my iphone. http://dabacon.org/arxiview/ I ♡ #arXive, I ♡ #arXiview. 🙂
- Three diggs, heh, not much.
SciBlogging: A Roundtable Discussion on Science Blogs
Wednesday, April 29, 6:30 p.m I’ll be participating in a panel discussion of science blogging sponsored by the Northwest Science Writers Association:
Join local science bloggers, including Alan Boyle from MSNBC.com’s Cosmic Log, David Bacon the Quantum Pontiff, Sandra Porter of Biology in a Digital World, Julianne Dalcanton of Cosmic Variance, Eric Steig of Real Climate, and Keith Seinfeld from KPLU, for a lively discussion about the state of the art (or is it science?) of science blogs. If you are a sciblogger or like the idea, join NSWA at the UW Paul G. Allen Center in the Gates Commons (top floor) for this event. RSVP to mikeb (put an @ here) seanet.com. Free for members, $5 for non-members.
Come join us, it should be fun (and the view from the Gates Commons is worth the trip!)
Catch Up
Catching up with places I’ve been.
Friday Random
Random cell phone photos.