Retired Physicist
A place where really distinguished older physicists went to retire -Robert Calderbank describing quantum computing prior to Shor’s algorithm
What Would You Do?
Me: W.W.F.D.? Person: What would who do? Me: What would Feynman do? Person: Oh. Is Feynman like some kind of California Jesus? Me (with an evil Mr. Burns-ish tapping of the fingers): Yeeees.
Drunk Free Will
Suppose you are told to attempt to produce a sting of zeros and ones which is completely random. Of course, one would like to believe that one could act totally random. But it is easy to write a computer program which gets as input a sample of some of the random sequences you produce and …
Wagering Pascal
Today I decided that I wanted to calculate the probability that the god of christianity exists. If I took a poll of the average citizen of the United States I’d get something like a 75% probability that he exists. But wait, you object, the United States is not a fair representative sample from which to …
Heaven is a Job in…
One of the most frustrating aspects of living in the groves of academe (not a typo, my friends, look it up) is the lack of control one seems to have over the eventual institution where one gains long term employment. I mean, who in their right mind really wants to teach at the University of …
The R stands for Renormalization
R. P. Feynman characterized his work in QED as a scheme for pushing a great problem under the rug. Maybe it will stay under the rug and, then again, maybe it won’t. If this quote doesn’t fill you with a nagging desire to go look under the rug, then don’t become a theoretical physicist. If …
Totally Recalled
The voting pamphlet for the California recall has a few choice entries. My favorite is definitely: Trek Thunder Kelley Dear Voters, Please vote for me, thus breaking the Seventh Seal and incurring Armageddon. I will legalize drugs, gambling, and prostitution… Then there is the guy who has the following astounding qualification: Ralph A. Hernandez …adopted …
As seen on I-5
Today I passed a nun driving a SUV with a big JESUS bumper sticker who was drinking a super sized soda from McDonalds.
The First Great Era of Physics
Edward Teller is dead. The first great era of physics has ended.
Because I could not stop for Death
Is it heartening, or scary, to read Emily Dickinson’s views on “publish or perish.” Is the end result of demanding quality over quantity to die agoraphobic but be discovered brilliant? Publication – is the Auction Of the Mind of Man- Poverty-be justifying For so foul a thing Possibly-but We-would rather from Our Garret go White-Unto …