Take a look at Google circa 2001. Yes that’s right you can search like it’s 2001! Oh my: apparently I was everything and nothing: 2001 Google search for “Dave Bacon”.
DonorChoose Challenge: Pseudo Physicists Unite!
DonorChoose, an organization which matches teachers requests for funds with donors, is running their annual blogger challenge. Already Cosmic Variance is trying to harness their vast resources of physicists, The Optimizer is appealing to the base nerd in everyone, He of Uncertain Principles is offering up his dog’s services for donations (does the dog know?), and the moral Mathematician is offering solutions to math homework problems (err I mean blog posts on a chosen topic.) But I think you shouldn’t fall in this trap and support those blogs….
Because, of course instead you should support my “Pseudo Physicists Unite!” DonorsChoose challenge!
Okay so why should you choose my projects to donate to over all the others out there in the great vacuum of the blogosphere? Reasons: my favorite things to give!
Continue reading “DonorChoose Challenge: Pseudo Physicists Unite!”
Quantum Rugby
A quantum physics spotting in….rugby? An article about rugby player Jonny Wilkinson:
The experiment was conceived by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödin-ger to demonstrate a conundrum at the heart of quantum physics: that a sub-atomic particle exists in two states. However, the act of measuring it effectively forces it into one particular state, rather as England’s discounted second-half try in the 2007 World Cup Final appeared to many fans to be both a try and not a try, until the referee called for a video replay.
Quantum Postdocs
Two quantum postdoc advertisements crossed my desk this week, from two fine institutions. Good postdocs if you can land one! The first advertisement is a double wammy from Caltech
CENTER FOR THE PHYSICS OF INFORMATION
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Postdoctoral Research Positions
The Center for the Physics of Information at the California Institute of
Technology will have postdoctoral scholar positions available beginning
in September 2009. Researchers interested in all aspects of the
interface between information science and physical science are invited
to apply. The appointment is contingent upon completion of a Ph.D.
Please apply on-line at
http://www.ist.caltech.edu/joinus/positions.html#postdoc.
Electronic copies of your curriculum vitae, publication list, statement
of research interests, and three letters of recommendation are required.
The deadline for receipt of all application materials is December 15,
2008.
INSTITUTE FOR QUANTUM INFORMATION
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Postdoctoral Research Positions
The Institute for Quantum Information at the California Institute of
Technology will have postdoctoral scholar positions available beginning
in September 2009. Researchers interested in all aspects of quantum
information science are invited to apply. The appointment is contingent
upon completion of a Ph.D. Please apply on-line at
http://www.iqi.caltech.edu/postdoc_opening.html. Electronic copies of
your curriculum vitae, publication list, statement of research
interests, and three letters of recommendation are required. The
deadline for receipt of all application materials is December 15, 2008.
and the second is from the Perimeter Institute (application here)
Postdoctoral Researcher
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics invites applications for postdoctoral positions in the areas of quantum gravity, string theory, quantum information, cosmology, quantum foundations and particle physics. We will consider applications in all of these areas. Exceptional applicants in related areas, such as condensed matter physics, are encouraged to apply. The postdoctoral positions are normally for a period of three years. Outstanding candidates may also be considered for a senior postdoctoral position with a five-year term.
The deadline for applications is November 15, 2008. Qualified applicants will be invited to Perimeter Institute to attend the Young Researchers Conference, December 8 – 12, 2008.
Please email pdfrecruitment [at] perimeterinstitute.ca with any questions or concerns.
Perimeter Institute is located west of Toronto, in Waterloo, Canada and opened in September 2001 as an independent institute supporting research in foundational areas of theoretical physics. The Institute offers an exceptional research environment and is currently staffed with 20 full-time and part-time faculty members, 45 Postdoctoral Researchers, and 17 Graduate Students, and hosts hundreds of visitors and conference participants throughout the academic year.
Perimeter Institute is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents will be given priority.
The Homeless Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
The New York Times has an article about Chongo Chuck. Chongo is a legendary homeless rock climber who lived in Yosemite for years. He is also the author of The Homeless Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Anyone ever seen a copy?
DARPA Math Challenge
DARPA math challenges. My favorite is “Mathematical Challenge Nineteen: Settle the Riemann Hypothesis.” I’m guess that’s one where you can’t follow the age old strategy of writing a grant proposal for work you’ve already figured out 😉
Analyzing Games
Yes, it’s all finance all the time, here at the Pontiff. Where else can you go to get your daily dose of extralusionary intelligence?
Once again it’s a New York Times article Maybe Short-Selling Isn’t So Bad, After All. Now I don’t know much about how the changes in shorting stock (the removal of the uptick rule, where one could only short the stock on an up move in the stock, and the banning of shorting of a large group of stocks) effect trading, but I think I’ve plaid enough games in my life to know that the following argument is a good way to spot a sucker:
Has the rule’s removal been an important contributor to the bear market of the last year? Professor Reed doubts it. Before scrapping the uptick rule, the S.E.C. ran a pilot program to test the possible consequences. In the test, the rule was lifted from hundreds of stocks that were part of the Russell 3000 index. The trading patterns of these stocks were exhaustively analyzed in a number of academic studies, all of which concluded that the rule had no significant impact on those stocks’ price movements, Professor Reed said.
Let me get this straight, you site as evidence that the removal of the uptake rule didn’t have any effect during a pilot program in which announced securities which were exempted from the uptick rule as evidence that the uptick rule once unleashed on the entire market doesn’t have an effect? Suppose that you are a player in such a game, and it is true that you could use the removal of the uptick rule to your advantage. What would you do during the pilot program? Nothing at all, of course! Why spoil the upcoming fun? Maybe I’m missing something, but pilot changes in rules of a game don’t necessarily reveal how the players will act when the pilot goes full scale, do they?
Continue reading “Analyzing Games”
Picking on the Quantum Physicists
From this Sunday’s New York Times in an article entitled Wall Street, R.I.P.:
In search of ever-higher returns — and larger yachts, faster cars and pricier art collections for their top executives — Wall Street firms bulked up their trading desks and hired pointy-headed quantum physicists to develop foolproof programs.
Quantum physicists? Come on media get it right. I’m pretty sure those were string theorists who ruined America 😉
Personally I think we should use the association of Ph.D. physicists as the cause of the Wall Street mess to lobby for higher science funding. “Sure you could cut science funding, but then all those Ph.D.s are going to end up on Wall Street and the next thing you know everyone will be on the street stuffing newspaper in their shoes to keep warm.”
Burning Out His Fuse Up Here Alone
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I’m a rocket man
New Word for Friday
The prime number theorem is a statement of a quantuplicity: there are about N/log N prime numbers in the first N numbers.
quantuplicity noun. The quantitative relationship between two amounts. Usually referring specifically to the case when this is expressed as a ratio giving the number of times that one contains another (or vice versa.)
Calculating quantuplicities for different sociological quantities can lead one to a very complicated poset.