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Like Space Camp, But Quantized

A friend sent me a link to QuantumCamp:

Have you ever wondered how the microscopic Universe works? QuantumCamp is a one week journey through this strange but beautiful world – seeing nothing less than how every atom in our universe is working!
We begin with Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic table of the elements. We move from Albert Einstein’s idea of quantization and end up seeing the hydrogen spectrum while contemplating the ideas of Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg.
We witness the explosive beauty and inner order of the elements which begs for deeper investigation. We dive in and immerse ourselves in a world where quantum logic guides us to an understanding of the quantum nature of the universe.
Students entering grades 7th – 12th can enroll. These activities are designed for students who plan to choose a career in science and those who have an insatiable desire to find their connection in this Universe.

A cool idea, I think. Okay, I’ll admit it. When I was a wee lad, I attended “computer camp.” Did “computer camp” change my life? Probably not. But I got to see a Mac fry, and they let me program in Pascal which was kind of cool. And who knows, maybe QuantumCamp will be a legendary source of programmers for our future quantum computers?

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Humor as a Guide to Research

Over at the optimizer’s blog, quantum computing’s younger clown discusses some pointers for giving funny talks. I can still vividly remember the joke I told in my very first scientific talk. I spent the summer of 1995 in Boston at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (photo of us interns) working on disproving a theory about the diffuse interstellar absorption bands by calculating various two photon cross sections in H2 and H2+ (which was rather challenging considering I’d only taken one quarter of intro to quantum mechanics at the time!) At the end of the summer all the interns gave talks about their work. I was last to go. In my talk, I drew (transparencies, you know) a cartoon of “photon man” (wavy line stick figure) who explained the difference between two photon absorption and absorbing two photons. No one reacted to these cartoons during the talk. But at the end of the talk, one of the other interns, trying to be cute asked me “So, what does photon man think about all of this?” I paused. Thought for a second. And replied “He was very enlightened by the whole thing!” The simultaneous groan emitted by the audience (who had sat through 8 straight talks) was, I must say, awesome. I have a vivid memory of my adviser in the back of the room giving a hearty actual laugh! And I have been hooked on trying to insert at least one bad joke in every talk I have given ever since.
Since I enjoy humor in talks, lately I’ve been wondering if there isn’t an easier way to make funnier talks. The optimizers list is a good start, but I’m lazy. Which led me to the idea: maybe I can make funnier talks by simply basing my research on things that are inherently funny? I mean, you try taking How a Clebsch-Gordan Transform Helps to Solve the Heisenberg Hidden Subgroup Problem and making a funny talk! On the other hand it is, without a question, nearly impossible to give a talk about Time Travel without (purposefully or not) uttering really awesome (and well timed) jokes.
Continue reading “Humor as a Guide to Research”

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Can You Have Open Science in the Dark?

The arXiv is a game changer for how large portions of physics (and increasingly other fields) are done. Paul Ginsparg won a MacArthur award for his vision and stewardship of the arXiv (something other institutions might want to note when they decide that someone trying to change how science is done isn’t really doing work that will impact them.) So…Given: The arXiv is great. But there is something that’s always bothered me a bit about the arXiv: transparency.
(Note: those of you who wish to complain about the fact that you can’t get endorsed on the arXiv, this article is not for you. Here is a place where that discussion will probably flourish)
Continue reading “Can You Have Open Science in the Dark?”

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arXiv.org Hacked?

Has the arXiv been hacked or is it offline? When I connect to arxiv.org it shoots me to mirror sites which haven’t been updated since Oct 08. Via @MartinQuantum. Also nanoscale views reports the arXiv down.
Since this is a blog we can easily spread rumors by including a link to an article today about cyberattacks going on right now possibly originating from North Korea.
Update 9:03 am PST: At lanl.arxiv.org you can now get papers greater than October 2008 by searching, but the “recents” and “new” isn’t working. Also the RSS feed seems to only have yesterdays posts. A comment on Secret Blogging Seminar got a response back on the problem: “technical difficulties”.
Update 8:31 pm PST: Full day of meetings, but before they started the arXiv got at least yesterday’s posts up (and I could run scirates scripts to download the day.) Anyone know if you can submit papers?

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When I lived in Berkeley for my first year I had my fathers Ford Explorer SUV. One day I woke up and found a little piece of paper under the windshield wiper of the car. On this car was a long list of reasons why SUVs were bad (gas guzzling, more dangerous, etc.) Many of these points I agreed with, but what really cracked me up was the last line:

So sell your SUV!

Um, how does selling my SUV fix the problem?
Today I woke up and read that Sarah Palin had spoken:

And so as I thought about this announcement that I wouldn’t run for re-election and what it means for Alaska, I thought about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks… travel around the state, to the Lower 48 (maybe), overseas on international trade – as so many politicians do. And then I thought – that’s what’s wrong – many just accept that lame duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck, and “milk it”. I’m not putting Alaska through that – I promised efficiencies and effectiveness! ? That’s not how I am wired. I am not wired to operate under the same old “politics as usual.” I promised that four years ago – and I meant it.

and the

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New DARPA Director

DARPA, you know the people who invented the internet (“100 geniuses connected by a travel agent”), has a new director:

The Department of Defense (DoD) today announced the appointment of Regina E. Dugan as the 19th director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA is the principal agency within the DoD for research, development, and demonstration of concepts, devices, and systems that provide highly advanced military capabilities for the current and future combat force. In this role of developing high-risk, high-payoff projects, DARPA compliments and balances the overall science and technology program of the DoD.

Go MechE’s from Caltech! DARPA’s last director Tony Tether ruffled a lot of feathers as it was widely perceived that the agency was shifting to short term research at the expense of the kind of groundbreaking work that had been funded in the past (See Peter Lee for details and recommendations for changes at DARPA.) Hopefully Dr. Dugan will take a different tack. That would certainly make a lot of computer science researchers a lot happier.

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ArXiview 1.2 for iPhone OS 3.0 Out

ArXiview, my arXiv browsing iPhone app, has been updated for the new iPhone OS 3.0. New features include:

  • Search fields now accept boolean queries and exact phrase queries. Touch the little (i) icon to get info on this feature from the search page.
  • Search by identifier has been added.
  • There is now an in application emailer. So when you want to email yourself a reference the program doesn’t quit out of the app.
  • Added the cond-mat category for quantum gases.
  • The app now sorts resorts in reverse chronological order.
  • A bunch of bug fixes (search by category in particular was acting buggy.) The bugs were mostly pointed out to me by Andrew. Thanks Andrew!

In the mean time, reviews of the app have appeared in a couple places. Over at MacWorld Kate Dohe reviews the app and pointed out the lack of boolean searching. This should now be all fixed up in the new version. The one feature that Kate requests that I have yet to find a good solution to is how to transfer the pdfs stored on the device to a local desktop. Next on my list.
Another review by Ian Douglas compared all three arXiv apps out there (one is $0.99 and the other is free or $0.99 depending on what the developer decided for that day. It’s a great way to boost up your meter on the store: switch between free and paid. Free will boost your popularity meter and then you can get more from the paid! Score! Look for a “arXiview free for a day” promotion coming to this blog soon 🙂 ) Ian puts my app on top:

Dave Bacon is the Quantum Pontiff of the quantum computing-themed blog of the same name. I like the blog very much and didn’t want to give his app a bad review, which is why it was a great relief when I found it was the best of the three by quite a long way.

Woot! I think I owe him a beer.
Here is a review in French. Science librarians have also taken note: Mobile Libraries, the science librarian at Drexel physics, Science Libraries in Transition, and the Biomedical and Physical Science library at Michigan State. To name but a few.
An on the ITunes store itself there is finally a review up by ebitnet: “Of the three arxiv apps, this one is the best…” Thanks ebitnet! Does the nickname stand for entangled bit network?
On a similar note, I highly recommend Life as a Physicist who discusses issues with reading pdfs on small mobile displays. I’ve been playing around with some ideas for how to fix this for arXiv docs…we will see if this gets anywhere.