Back to the Future

This weekend I took some time off from working and some amazing things happened.

First, I went on an all day hike on Saturday. This brought me back to the memories of hiking with my friends in Yosemite and Santiago Peak. This time I hiked in the San Bernardino mountains, which included many switchbacks, a river along the valley, and some cabins along the way. The peak wasn’t the most grandeur I’ve seen, but it was a good journey, and that’s all that matters. Here’s a picture:

Hello

It was an all day hike, so I was pooped by the time I got back.

The next day wasn’t entirely a break either. I drove to Hollywood and saw…Wicked! It was really good. I loved it for its funny moments, and took great satisfaction in its story (it’s helpful to have a small background on the Wizard of Oz – for instance, who’s Dorothy? Who are her three companions that accompany her?). I’m willing to see it at least 2 more times. I’ve already convinced a few friends to see it in the first week of December. It goes away from Los Angeles in mid-January, so I’ll probably just have a chance to see it 1 more time.

I have also learned that I’m leaving for France in March. I’ll be living in France, but working in Switzerland. At first I thought I’d live there for 3 months, or at the most, 10 months. However, it turns out I’ll be living there for two years.

I intend to travel as much as I can. I’ve already started asking around for the best deals on transportation. I also haven’t really been in snow before, and there’s lots of snow in the nearby mountains at CERN in the winter, at a place called the Jura mountains.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, I’ll be at the LHC, which will be my main attraction. Learn as much as I can and explore as hard as I can. I hope to extract a statement or two from nature.

I have 3 or so talks within this month. I’m preparing for these. Department of Energy talk is next Tuesday, at which I will present all the research I’ve done so far since July.

I don’t intend to stop hiking when I get to Europe, either. Or write.

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 around him.

I was really curious on seeing my opponent’s stance on the issue, because frankly, I don’t see how there’s a strong argument against it. I understand why some people feel uncomfortable with marriage between same-sexes, because I felt this way when I was younger (trained by society to think this way), but the bottom line is that banning marriage for same sex couples is removing a basic freedom they deserve to have: A freedom to marry whoever they want. Since this freedom is not harmful to you, except by disgust (in which case, you ought to be more reflective) you ought to allow it.

So I looked at the website that supports banning same-sex marriage: http://www.protectmarriage.com/about/why

and I came across this nifty passage:

By saying that a marriage is between “any two persons” rather than between a man and a woman, the Court decision has opened the door to any kind of “marriage.” This undermines the value of marriage altogether at a time when we should be restoring marriage, not undermining it.

This is perhaps their strongest argument.

Except, it’s not really a good argument at all. How does same-sex marriage “undermine” marriage? One possible explanation is that people want to feel high and mighty by limiting the rules on who is allowed to marry, and one is included in this “elite” club.

It is understandable to fear the loss of opposite-sex romantic movies and so forth, but we will never “lose” this, and it’s easy to just create another genre for same-sex.

And then there are the religions that forbid same-sex coupling. I have a feeling that the majority of supporters for denying same-sex marriage stem from religious reasons. Let me be brutally honest while at the same time have the fundamental love of one human being to another: if you are part of a religion that forbids same sex marriage, get over your religion. Remember there was a time when the Sun was a God? Your religion these days is getting closer to being just as ridiculous.

To my opponents:

Gay people are people, just like you and me. Don’t treat them as any less. They may be more human than you’ll ever be- that is, ensuring equality for people like you.

But instead of saying “they” and “them,” the correct term is “us,” since we’re all equal.

One day, when we look back on these days, we’ll think of disallowing same-sex marriage to be on the level of being fine with slavery. No, we’re not physically binding gay people, but we’re denying them basic freedoms.

I think the solution is that everyone should have a gay friend. We are afraid of what we don’t know, which (now this is a huge generalization) is probably the case for all the people who are voting against same-sex marriage.

Yikes, New People

So tomorrow I will be moving into my house with 4 new people. 2 of the 6 people in the house are a couple.

I hope I’ll be able to live peacefully and happily. That’s important to stay focus on what’s really important. Home is more a place for me to sleep, as I’ll be spending very little time there. However, I still want it to feel good when I come back.

Something tells me I’m in for an adventure…hang on…

First Observer at LHC

I felt I should comment on what I mean by “being the first to see something at the LHC.”

By no means will the person who can discover something new be the only pioneer. It was through the hands of the massive effort of all people involved. From the designers, to the information organizers, to the builders, to the obscure coffee houses in unknown alleys that gave physicists a chance to work until the midnight oil burns out. It was the bee that annoyed a physicist at lunch time so much that he had to move inside, where he met one of his colleagues and where they then engaged in an intense conversation about where to go next on their respective projects.

With an experiment and collaboration of this size, there will be no one who stands out. Everyone plays a part, everyone works long hours, and everyone works hard.

So, if I’m the first to see the type of analysis I set out to do, it’s because I’ve stood on thousands of shoulders. There is no such thing as “discoverer” of this particle, or that. Or one main person who confirmed this theory or that.

Here, everyone’s to blaim for any type of success.

What we all hope for is that each of us does our part, and works hard at it.

The main news coming from the LHC is that it will not see beam until Spring ‘09. This is disappointing to those who depended on 2008 data in order to move to the next step in their careers.

For me, I may get a chance to be at the LHC when first data starts. This would be a great privilege.

LHC SetBack

The LHC setback for 2 months is unfortunate for the engineers who’ve waited so long to see this thing on and running. However, not to make light of the situation, it gives people like me, who are just starting up, more time to prepare for first collisions.

When you first start working on the project, you have to learn the tools, which can take several months. Then you have to learn how to make good analysis with these tools, which can take even longer. You make these analysis on simulated data.

Right now, I’ve just finished learning the tools and I’m about to begin my simulation analysis. After I’m confident that the analysis somewhat works, then I can transfer the tools to real data.

The good news is that, perhaps by the time the LHC is actually ready to make first collisions, and after calibration (which can take several more months), I’ll be ready.

In other words, if it’s going to be seen, I’m going to be the first to see it. This may not be true in practice, but that’s the goal to reach.

Ambition may or may not be on one’s pallette of how to live life, but in this field, it’s necessary to have alot in order stay alive.

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 all. There was a problem that engineers wanted to hide for a week so as not to embarrass themselves.”

The real honest to God truth is that science is not all dramatic and showy. It may come across that way, sometimes, to capture the public’s imagination and interest for reasons like funding, but it’s a slow, long, and tedious process. The fact that there is actually just this glitch already says volumes how efficient the team has been doing to get this machine working.

I would probably cut the first half of the article out, and present the second half. It’s only because the journalists wanted to engage its readers that they present this oh-no! scenario.

Oh well. Celebrities have to live with this all the time which goes to show that other people have it worse.

Artistic Sense

I’ve just been reminded, by indirect means, how far downhill my artistic endeavors have fallen. In other words, I have not been creating art for quite some time. My blog posts these days are usually a direct translation from thought to prose, with little effort to evoke emotion.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. I am only bothered because I used to see myself as an artist. Nowadays, I hardly create my own art.

Part of it comes from restless working. Putting in 14 hour work days is the norm, and it’s required in the field I do. This is definitely not a complaint, just an observation. Still, even with this schedule, all the days seem so short. I genuinely am excited about what I do. Even if there is some stress at for-the-moment unsolvable problems, I find at least an hour a day to lose it off to the gym.

So reason #1: I’m less bored.

When I’m bored, the first thing I think of is to create art. I’m no good at music, but I know a beautiful song when I hear it. I’m no good at drawing, but I can feel all types of emotions by looking at good works.

I think the mediums I like best are writing and filming. If I had more time, I would develop both of these fields. This blog is an example of writing when bored. I jump to it when I’m bored, but there’s never that much effort.

Another thing that might hinder my art creating abilities is that so much of what I do throughout the day strives to rely on almost no human emotion. Science itself is not a dry field- the people who do science are capable of emotions like everyone else. Even the things they study can be dramatic. Right now, we are all waiting for what Nature has in store for us at new energy scales.

However, it’s the methods of study that can sometimes be dry, and lack emotion. When I do analysis, things must be done in detail and in a very logical order. Even though the goal or the general picture is full of wonder, surprise, and excitement, the means can sometimes be less so.

That is reason #2 why I’m creating less art: The act of doing my job leaves no room for developing the craft of evoking emotion.

We shall have to remedy this. But how?

Here’s a start. (Don’t ask me how).

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 fun.

One scientist put it best – it’s offensive that people would think people who dedicated their lives trying to enrich humanity have the possibility to be seen as destruction mongerers.

For those who still grasp onto logic – the scientists working on these machines are the very ones who coinied and created the model of Black Holes. You are fascinated by what they do, as evidenced by countless sci-fi movies. How dare you claim to know more than them about Black Holes and the creation of it being the demise of the Earth.

Instead of talking about being annoyed at black hole alarmists, I should have been talking about the amazing achievement of such a machine, and the fruits it will bear. But, as probably the journalists figured out, this isn’t as interesting.

But some quick tidbits: this machine has been in the works for 20 years. It is the biggest machine ever created, and the biggest scientific project ever imagined. All this money, time, effort, and people-power for the sake of truth.

For the sake of truth.

Collaborators from all over the world combine for this single purpose. For this machine. For understanding our universe.

Hail the LHC!

I salute all the builders and those who made it happen. And I hope I myself will be able to contribute towards finding its fruits, and towards opening new horizons for knowledge.

Beam Day is Sept. 10th in Europe. The history channel will have a special  program the night before.

Humans, we are about to embark on exciting journey through truth and knowledge!!!!

Deadwood

Just finished this 3 season HBO series today. One of the smartest and captivating works of television I’ve ever seen, and I can’t praise it enough.

One of the themes of the last episode is that most of us end up going with our hearts rather than our heads.

“Right or wrong, you go with your feelings.”

I can never describe great works of art. The only way is to experience it.

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 dedication and sacrifices that makes me want him to get his justice.

There’s many quote opportunities one could take from his interview with Matt Lauer about Beijing. His answers are just spot-on too. It’s not just abilities either, it’s how he graces the room too.