Best Picture at Today’s Oscar’s

Slumdog Millionaire.
I was on the verge of tears when the camera zoomed to one of the kids smiling.
That win is for you, kids. For you, who have not experienced a life outside deep poverty. For you, who must face the daily hardships that we privileged find so unbelievable.
Then again, you weren’t acting all that much, [...]

Proposition 8

Proposition 8 is a really big thing in California right now. It boils down to allowing same-sex marriage.
I can’t lie and say I was always tolerant or comfortable around gay people. But one of my good friends is gay, and I’ve experienced first-hand the revelation that society was wrong to train me to feel uncomfortable [...]

Atom Smasher Glitch

I immediately wanted to write this post after reading this article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_eu/eu_big_bang
When you’re so involved with a project that comes under media scrutiny, you realize how dishonest the media can become in order to claim readers. This article presents itself like this: “The mighty LHC, with all its glory and success, actually is not working after [...]

Beam Day

Kinda annoyed at how pretty much every major media outlet has presented Black Holes when talking about the turning on of the LHC.
Yes, the public has a right to know that there are people out there worried about the Black Hole – but upshot is that everyone is becoming scared of it as well.
Alarmists…are no [...]

Michael Phelps

Watching some interviews of him on youtube, I’m convinced he’s extremely modest. He also has a very strong drive, which is very admirable.
There’s something that’s hard to resist about rooting for someone who dominates a field. It does help he’s American.
I’m pretty happy he won the 400 M, and hope he does more.
It’s all his [...]

Dreamin’ High

Last night I had a dream about high school friends. We were all where we currently are at the stage in our lives, but we just had lunch at a picnic bench somewhere on the high school grounds in some random less-crowded area.
Some of the people I never talked to, I never really was able [...]

Before the World Blows Up

Recently there was a shooting at Northern Illinois University. It would take awhile to gather my thoughts on the subject, so I won’t say much – except that most of my thoughts would have to do with how the nation reacts to shootings at academic insitutions.
Why I mentioned the shooting is because the topic of [...]

Why It’s a Bad Idea to get a Ph.D in Particle Physics

I wanted to write about this since the summer. At the time, I thought it would be a good way to organize my thoughts and help me decide what to do. Now I finally have the motivation to write about it! Although I’ve already decided, it’s still fun to write all of it down.
To start, [...]

Religious Groups’ Outrage at “The Golden Compass”

I haven’t seen this movie or read the book. I haven’t read any of the thoughts coming from the “religious groups.”
But to the outragers I say, “Give it a rest.”
Suppose all the comments from the “outrage” were correct. Can we not co-exist peacefully with people that have different beliefs than us? And even if the [...]