Electromagnetic wave generation

I like to think of myself as something of a radical, yet pragmatic, progressive in the U.S. I say 'radical' because I try not to get too hung up on things others might hold dear, and pragmatic because whatever I advocate for has to work. So, for example, I'd be fine with applying the death penalty for a huge variety of crimes, except for the fact that the justice system is just too flawed and unfair. In terms of medical care, in general I wouldn't be too bothered by no universal health care. But if our country is going to allow poor people to use emergency rooms and hence we have to pay ultimately, let's do it in a sane way with preventive care.

And so I really can't understand how so many conservatives expect any sane person of taking them seriously when they go crazy about restrictions on light bulbs. We have so many restrictions in our homes, from our toilets (water conservation) to fire alarms (safety). And jeez, candles are still allowed. Anyone know the efficiency of a candle relative to an incandescent? This seems like a good Fermi-type question and so I'll leave it at that.

Lisa Randall

Umm, not sure what compels Lisa Randall (of Warped Passages fame) to publicly comment on the musical The Book of Mormon, but she's very much a public figure so why not.

Turning the tables

Dear Editors,

We unfortunately wish to inform you that your journal has not been accepted for our manuscript. Although your journal is very well-respected (perhaps, because of this reputation), the evaluation of our own anonymous referee indicates serious problems with your publication process. In particular, as is clear from the reports you provided, you received seriously flawed reviews of our manuscript, one indicating total incompetence and the other sheer pomposity. However, our referee also faulted the acceptance process itself. In particular, as editors, one of your roles is to actually edit the paper instead of delegating such work back on the authors. Fine details, picky formatting rules, and simple tweaking should not be passed onto the authors.

We have decided instead to simply note on the arXiv record for our manuscript that, ultimately, it was accepted by your publication. If you would like to appeal this decision, please contact the first author. We hope that perhaps in the future you will consider receiving another of our manuscripts.


Respectfully,
the authors

Judging People

I like to think I'm not a really judgmental person. Certainly not in terms of one person being "better" than another. If someone lingers just outside the entrance to a building smoking and then tosses the cigarette on the ground, I'll certainly think ill of them, but not in terms that I'm somehow better than they.

In any case, when it comes to physics you must judge, in terms of ability. You need to find out if you might want to work with them, or what particular knowledge/experience you can take advantage of with questions and which questions you might as well not ask.

So when I google people after seeing them at conferences, you can usually find out their pedigree (education, advisors, etc). It's usually better to judge by asking them questions, but sometimes you use shortcuts. So when I find paragraphs written by them online and they're horribly written, that's not a good sign. When I then see that they were English or other liberal art majors at one point and they have grammatical errors, I judge them harshly.

And then there's the issue of what schools they've attended. Despite the fact that I attended a very elite school, I try not to count this much. But if they've attended some non-elite school and follow that up with a non-elite grad school, it's hard not to feel that they've essentially got to prove their worth to you.

Physics in Fiction

I saw the movie Rabbit Hole recently. Pretty decent and not terribly long. Not a fun movie though. The reason I mention it here is that the idea of parallel universes makes an appearance (as in the universes associated with eternal inflation, not quantum mechanics; or are they the same thing (see Sean's recent discussion]). Anyway, I thought its mention was largely sensible and reflects a bit how physics shapes ones worldview. This contrasts sharply with the physics one often sees as something else...something bad (as in weapons) or geeky (e.g. a Seth Green type role) or hard (e.g. Breakfast Club [one of the best ever]).

Give a man a fish...

A couple of recent posts, one by Chad and the other by the Female Science Professor, have me thinking about what we owe to our students.

For starters, I share with Chad an unbroken streak of graduations, but with the opposite polarity. That is, I've never attended my school's graduation ceremony. I don't like crowds, and don't relish having to make small-talk with seldom seen colleagues from across the University.

As for the FSP's commitment to students, for some classes I'll make a PDF of slides available, usually just a half-hour before class and I certainly don't print them out for students. In general, I severely limit how much time I spend on classes. With that said, I do feel a commitment to them, but generally prioritize avoiding diminishing returns. Talking with them, helping them understand, all that stuff I do without hesitation (except in rare cases where I can't stand a student). Elaborate preparation I avoid. Some of my best classes arise when I'm least prepared (though I don't think this should be taken as any sort of advice).

Ostensible

Yesterday, was a slow day. Certain things had kind of wound down, and I wasn't sure what tasks to do. So I took it easy, caught up on reading some arXiv papers that were clogging up the tabs on my browser. I thought about starting up one of my unimportant (to anyone else), side projects, but I knew things would pick back up...I'd have an idea for the project that's finishing, I'd get a couple emails from folks needing help with their aspects, etc. And now I'm busy, or rather I should be busy, but figured I'd get out this post first.

One other thing, if you're interested in good photography of nature, you might checkout these winning photos. In any case though, you presumably have an interest in physics, so you should definitely checkout the picture of the ocean wave at the beach. One sees these...well I'm not sure what one would call them. Perhaps one would call them vortex lines or just vortices. In any case, pretty cool and dramatic.

Research Projects

Scott wishes he had a list of research projects for when students come to him wanting to do research. It must be that time of year, because I'm meeting with two students next week about summer research projects. I do have a list of projects, but as Scott mentions, some are trivial and some are incredibly difficult. It's hard to come up with a good project, and even when you do, you've got to match a project to a student's skills and inclination. So no real advice for anyone, but maybe someone has advice for me?

Leaving Academia?

I was surprised to hear that Dave Bacon is leaving UW. And leaving for Google. I hope it works out well for him. Google might be a nice place to work, and I hope he blogs about what he thinks of his new job. I'd also like to hear about how he got the job.

Did you see the most recent episode of "The Office" where they're interviewing various candidates for a the manager position, just vacated by Steve Carell's character? In it, Ray Romano talks himself out of the job, saying that if he were to get it, he would stay in the position for the rest of his life and die there. That's how I felt when I got tenure. I really like my job, I just worry that I'll simply, but slowly and imperceptibly, decay into an unproductive researcher and complacent teacher.

Bueno

It's been another long while. I continue to get older. I've little problem in terms of my vanity...graying hair, diminished physical prowess, etc. Instead, I'm saddened by the ever increasing bodily intrusions by doctors. Gotta run but will hopefully post more soon.

Ran Dom

• Cars have come a long way in a hundred years, right? Smart, adaptive cruise control, air bags, pretensioning seatbelts, etc. Contrast that with plane landings. In the decades I've been landing in planes, they don't seem to get any smoother or nicer. It's still essentially a semi-controlled collision. Why does it seem that there hasn't been any progress?
  
• Things I had right when I was a young teenager:
  
  
  
  • My parents really suck at parenting.
    
  • You can't argue with solipsism.
    
  
  
• Things I had wrong when I was a young teenager:
  
  
  
  • I can't separate the logical rational me from the evolved animal that I am.
    
  • Just being smart means nearly nothing. The game of trying to do the least while being the best is a silly one. Life's about "doing."
    
  • Everyone is insecure. Even famous physicists.
    
  
  
• A Nobel-winner discusses the implications of relativity on interstellar trade...the economics of it, anyway.
  

A Little Light Blogging

• OLD: A nice video of an optical illusion that includes the resolution of the illusion in the video.
  
• OLD: I definitely agree that too many kids are going to college: NYT and the AP.
  
• Blogging has been light lately :)...I've had a few things to say, but just with as busy I've been, I never could exceed the threshold. But when someone people miss you, you can't just let them down.
  
• I've been doing lots of traveling. It's ridiculous how much time I spend either booking travel or assembling receipts/forms to get reimbursed for it.
  
• For all you US taxpayers, however, the travel definitely contributes to my productivity. I won't go into details, but I got some ideas and possible collaborations going. One of these ideas actually came from attending a talk.
  
• I've been pretty disgusted with a variety of organized religions lately. But it occurred to me where the last vestiges of the supernatural remain in my psyche. A crying kid in the backseat while driving through a major metropolitan area and I find myself praying to the gods of traffic...there must be more than one to produce such assorted effects.
  
• A couple NYT pieces I should read, but won't: on tenure and a donation of Jim Simmons.
  
• I hadn't been on an NSF panel in at least a couple years, so I'm happy to see that they refrain from showing panel members the mailed in reviews before you submit your own. Definitely a good idea.
  
• So I was told I look young and that I am old all at the same conference. I take both as compliments. However, I am noticing more and more of the truly older people are appearing less and less.
  
• What's up with the earthquakes? I think I've been in "the neighborhood" of one three times in just the past few years (none of them while at home).
  
• There's something about the Bourne movies that really captures me...whenever I see one on cable I just get hooked. I have no spy-skills, but somehow I see myself as a lone warrior against the larger powers that be. My skills are probably more aptly described as clown-skills (juggling, unicycle, etc).
  
• I like cars, and so people buying new cars often ask me my opinion. But sometimes it's hard not to show some of my disgust. I'm mostly fine with people getting what they want (but I think people should pay more to register and use large, truck-like vehicles). But it's so annoying the rationalizations and brainwashing people have.
  

  I want something with three rows.
  

  How about a minivan?
  

  No, I need lots of space and often have the third row down.
  

  You can do that with a minivan.
  

  Uhhh...., no. I am looking at this crossover.
  

  "Crossover"? It comes with a tow package and the manufacturer compares it on the webpage to the Honda Pilot. Wake up, it's an SUV.
  

• I've given three talks in recent weeks. All but one went very well. The exception wasn't just not good, but it was bad. I just never hit my stride. Strange.
  

Pure Pedantry

• Ahh, ignorance is bliss and intelligence is depressing.
  
• More disingenuous stupidity about science from our favorite law professor. Scientists make mistakes, so let's throw out science. Heck, doctors make mistakes, so let's abandon Western medicine. Science and medicine continue to progress.
  
• A funny picture over at Gizmodo.
  
• An pedant's worst nightmare (anyone get the allusion?):
  
  Should I correct the grammatical mistake in a scrawl written on a bathroom stall?
  
  
• I just came up with a great alliterative blog title Pure Pedantry, but of course one already exists with that title. Thing is, apparently it has ceased being updated, so perhaps some could take up the call to service. Perhaps, something a bit more alliterative, such as: Pure Physical Pedantry. How 'bout a contest for the most alliterative title for a physics blog? I can't seem to get more than three repetitions of a sound...Into the Photon-Phonon Forest
  

I'm so egalitarian, I'm an elite

• A good idea from the Freakonomics Blog to help restrict corporate corruption of our democracy in the face of the Supreme Court's blatant activism.
  
• In a related story, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas defends their ruling by arguing with some well-reasoned zingers like:
  
  "I found it fascinating that the people who were editorializing against it were The New York Times Company and The Washington Post Company," Justice Thomas said. "These are corporations."
  
  and
  
  "If 10 of you got together and decided to speak, just as a group, you'd say you have First Amendment rights to speak and the First Amendment right of association," he said. "If you all then formed a partnership to speak, you'd say we still have that First Amendment right to speak and of association."
  "But what if you put yourself in a corporate form?" Justice Thomas asked, suggesting that the answer must be the same.
  
  This is just overly simplistic rhetoric that should convince no one who thinks for more than a split second (along the same lines of "you can yell `fire' in your home playing at war, but what if you put yourself in a crowded theater?"). Not impressive that Thomas is stooping so low, but of course I don't expect much better from him.
  
• Another failed test of our missile defense.
  
• With these tax-prep programs, it feels a bit like a game. You click on "Review Deductions" and scroll through hoping to come up with more to decrease the "Federal Tax Owed" number in the corner.
  
• What physics book did Glenn Beck read?
  
• Elite status conflicts with my pervading egalitarian attitude, but it sure is addicting, what with getting your bags off-loaded first, special, shorter lines, etc. But recently I'm sitting in the "Quiet Zone" of an airline club and am bothered by two different people having loud cell-phone conversations. One of whom is doing so right next to a "cell phone free zone" sign. Clearly, low-class low-lifes.
  

Corporate Entity

• I read Instapundit every now and then just to get an updated glimpse of what some real loons think. It's a bit disturbing that this guy has the following he does, but every once in a while I get a good laugh. Like this one decrying the loss of trust of science because of ``climategate.'' Really? People read this nonsense and think they're being informed? As if these people believed the scientists before these emails?
  
  
• I cringe whenever I see/hear someone using "whomever" incorrectly. It's one thing failing to use "whom" when called for, but if you're going to go through the trouble of using "whom," you'd better get it right. There's got to be a good analogy here, but I'm not coming up with one.
  
  
• I've had it yet again with certain of my collaborators who are putting out papers with others, but letting the paper I wrote with their names on it go ignored. This kind of stuff gets to me more than it would probably to most. And it doesn't help that I somehow have this yucky habit of being like George W. Bush with friends...that is, friends are either good or evil, and once they cross the line, they ain't my friend no more. I call this yucky, because, as might be obvious to everyone but me, friends are still useful (too clinical a word, but I can't come up with a touchy-feely replacement word) even when they aren't perfect. When I was a kid, I'd go through a new best friend every year or two, having literally stopped talking to each in turn. As I became an adult, this behavior continued with colleagues who had betrayed me in some sense. So, needless to say, I'm not great at networking, but I sabotage what meager efforts I do make with this inability to appreciate the good over the bad. Even describing this, I can't really overcome it. I imagine this was a learned behavior, so maybe I should be able to overcome it?
  
  
• Read a quote by Leno recently that I thought made some sense, paraphrasing:
  
  Democrats like people in general, but no one in particular, while Republicans like people in particular, but no one in general.
  
  
  
• If you're going to try audiobooks, I really recommend Scott Brick as a reader.
  
  
• In general, I don't contribute money (e.g. charities, political candidates, etc), so I had to do a little research. As far as I can tell, the recent activities of our most-esteemed court in the land lift the limits on corporate money for political "speech." But, what about the limits on my free speech? They're still there right? So if I were a true patriot with my own very profitable company, I'd have "my people" find some real despicable candidate in some small-scale election with no shot of winning. And then I'd spend all the money necessary to get this person elected. Maybe Larry Flint reads this blog.
  

Wax On...Wax Off

• Posting a scathing comment about me to RateMyProfessor.com on the same morning that you come to my office hours to plead for a passing grade is pretty risky, especially when I subscribe to the RSS feed!
  
• And people criticize string theory for being too pie-in-the-sky? Here's a concrete representation of it for just $90. That may seem cheap, but just remember than you need to buy something like 10 raised to the power of 500 of these to get something like our universe!
  
• Teaching Tip #436: I've long been aware of a glaring weakness in my teaching; I'm bad at repeating things. In particular, I suck at reviewing things. I suppose it's because I'm pretty spare with my speech in the first place, and I tend to either understand something right away or I ask questions. So I've always simply expected students to ask if they don't get it. Of course, this often doesn't happen. Anyway, you might think just recognizing this defect means I could easily fix it, but not really. So here comes the tip: teaching is a bit like painting in which one needs to brush in various directions to fill in spots and establish a good covering. It may sound a bit corny, but it really helps me come into lecture each day and try saying the same things from previous lectures a bit differently.
  

Life Continues

• Haven't seen this bumper sticker at APS
  
• It had never occurred me not to list interview talks on my CV. I pretty much agree with this comment...listing a talk as invited simply isn't very definitive in terms of what it denotes. So if you're reading the CV, you don't get deceived; you just get some vague sense of how interested people are in your work.
  
• The last NSF panel I was on, bent over backwards to consider that a PI was a member of an under-represented group. We debated what the person could have meant and what science the person could do. Ultimately we didn't fund that person simply because the science wasn't there, but we tried.
  
• Could this be my long sought method for making grocery lists?
  
• I'm busy as ever, but I keep meaning to discuss the insecurity of a physicist and how it drives one. I think the best analogy I can think of is a career I couldn't ever attempt, that is acting. Of course, I know very little except from the documentary series that is Thirty Rock and the character of Jenna Maroney in particular. She is horribly insecure about other actors, and I can imagine that she feels a bit similar to how I feel when I see others get invites that could have gone to me. Or when others publish good papers. I'd much prefer it if I could be a bit more laid back, content to publish what I can and enjoy the great job that I have. In fact, I oscillate between these two viewpoints achieving some level of sanity along with some level of professional success. Maybe I'm just bipolar when it comes to professional ambition. I wonder how others would describe their professional insecurity and sanity.
  
• I also keep meaning to address the sports world. We've got Andre showing his true colors, Tiger making non-news, Jordan showing the world what a jerk he is, and Serena being a bully. Maybe later.
  
• Another thing that keeps me occupied sometimes is thinking about my next car (due in only 10 years or so). I want something sporty, practical, and not ridiculously priced. In the running right now: Mazdaspeed 3, Volkswagen GTI, Nissan 370z. But Honda is coming out with a hybrid CRZ that looks promising.
  

Bonjour

• There's a guy down the street from me with a black Ferrari in his garage, which I find very strange for my neighborhood. But two Veyrons is perhaps weirder.
  
• And I learned recently that "The magnetic field is sign that Mercury contains a tiny Black Hole." That's amazing...since the Earth has a magnetic field what does that mean about our core?
  
• I don't like it when I see perfectly able-bodied folk press the button which opens a door electrically, ostensibly meant for handicapped individuals as indicated by the conspicuous blue signage. How lazy can you get that you need to expend precious natural resources to open the door for you? It's just the energy to open the door but the significant increase in climate-controlled air exchange over the much shorter time period for which a manually opened door would remain open. For dual doors, the effect is even more significant since usually both doors open in unison, in contrast to the manually opened case. In any case, I was happy to read about efforts in Stockholm to fight the laziness
  
• I've been darn busy. Lots of traveling. Various proposals rejected and others submitted. Reviewed multiple papers. Readying one for submission. Got to throw together a proceedings contribution. Absolutely sick of most of my collaborators...they don't do what they say they'll do, or they'll ignore important emails. And no one is doing the work that needs to be done, instead they're off on their super-secret side projects. Got to prepare a talk.
  
• I've had a lot to say recently but can't recall it now. I'm hoping by posting this, I'll get back in the blogging-swing of things. You know because blogging is just so rewarding!
  

As Sorted

• There's hardly any food that doesn't benefit from being eaten with tortilla chips. Strange that one doesn't find these along with other chips in vending machines.
  
• My parents never knew the answers to my science questions.
  
• Chad is looking for camera advice and has lots of comments about it. I've posted before about cameras, and I don't find the case for DSLRs very compelling, despite having used a film SLR for decades. And of course that I'm terrified of dust on the sensor (something we didn't have to worry about w/ film) doesn't help at all. But, I also wanted to mention that I would look very carefully, were I buying a camera, at the Olympus E-P1. In particular, I'm excited about this camera starting a trend towards full control, excellent quality, good low-light performance, and compact cameras. You might also take a look at Canon's two latest offerings in the G11 and S90.
  
• I'm finding the "have a beer before company comes over" solution is more and more appropriate and useful. Should I be apprehensive?
  
• Simple physics demonstrations to "lure" kids to science? I can't vouch for these via Slashdot.
  
• Every hotel room should have an alarm clock. What's with European hotels (nice ones at that) lacking an alarm clock necessitating my wearing a watch while in the room?
  
• Thinking about blogging anonymously (or rather with a pseudonym)? Remaining so can take some effort and constrain what you can say and you don't get any acclaim for it. Plus, you might still get found out.
  

Complaints

• If you're organizing a conference:
  
  
  
  • make badges double sided so if that when worn on a necklace and they flap around, the name is always visible. Make the name/institution as big as practical (n small fonts).
    
  • Don't rely on an online program alone. Printed material should at least specify speaker name, institution, and *title*.
    
  
  
• Someone needs to change the NSF's Fastlane. Ever since they replaced the use of SSN's with some arbitrary ID number, I can't use my password manager since there are effectively two passwords. A major pain.
  
• A long while ago I asked for software that aids in making a grocery shopping list. I didn't get much help, nor did has anyone since let me know about this which I need to try out.
  
• If you find yourself related to an academic physicist, here are some tips
  
  
  
  • Remember at least one simple fact about the person's status (e.g. grad student, postdoc, untenured prof, tenured prof). Forgetting this is tantamount to forgetting that someone made partner if a lawyer, or if someone is an attending if a real doctor.
    
  • Mentioning vaguely some science story you read in the popular press doesn't help conversation. The physicist has to then come up with something vague as well such as, "Oh yeah, there are lots of articles on ...(e.g. slowing/stopping light, finding a black hole, etc)..." If you have some question, then by all means go ahead, but trying to impress with your general knowledge with only vague details doesn't get it done.
    
  • If you want extra brownie points, you could go for the advanced round with questions such as "How's your funding situation looking?" or "What was your latest paper about?"
    
  • For the love of all that is holy, do not say something like "So what are you doing while you're off for the summer?"
    
  
  

Bonus Link:
Nice video about the Hubble Deep Field photos via Gizmodo.