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Infinite loops September 9, 2006

Posted by dorigo in Blogroll, humor, internet, mathematics, physics, science.
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A funny T-shirt on cow gone mad’s web site… I know several theoretical physicists who would be glad to wear it.

Check it out in http://cow-gone-mad.blogspot.com/ - it is even shown with Cow himself as a model!

Who wants to be the right arm (and the left one too) of a world-class scientist ? September 9, 2006

Posted by dorigo in news, physics, science, travel.
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Riqie, the Evangelical Atheist (see http://riqie.iblogs.com/ ) points out the following ad seeking a graduate student to assist Professor Stephen Hawking in his scientific activities - which include traveling abroad, helping with the computer system, handling media, and the like:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060907/ap_on_sc/britain_hawking_assistant

Interesting job. I wonder if the ad fails to mention one very important point for Prof. Hawking: whether, that is, the graduate student has to be a female.

I am sorry if this looks like a sexist remark - it indeed is, objectively. It is Riqie who stimulated my cynism…

Ideology in social and physical issues September 9, 2006

Posted by dorigo in news, physics, politics, social life.
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On Thursday evening I had a pleasant dinner with three colleagues who had attended the conference and like me had decided to spend one more day in Ponta Delgada. Along with the food of the hotel buffet and an astute red wine, we had a quite interesting discussion centered on the ideas and implementation of socialism in the Soviet Union and in western countries. 

Sitting on my left was Misha Shifman, with which I had had a discussion about my blog and the fashion of physics blogs in general, a few days earlier. As a former citizen of the Soviet Union now living in the United States, he of course had a lot to tell us about the unavoidable drift of socialism into a society where everybody is deprived of any stimuli to improve, and eventually ends up living on welfare. We agreed that it is not easy to implement the idea of a redistribution of wealth without falling in that vicious circle, although I defended the way some socialist ideas are applied in a few western countries, such as Sweden or even Italy, where indeed at least a few basic needs of the population are free of charge - or nearly so: health care and education.  

The discussion was lively and pleasant, since we discussed the matter from many different sides. At one point we were drawn to make a parallel between social technology based on pure ideology - which is bound to fail, although it may take a long time to do it (the Soviet Union lasted for 70 years after all) - and the development of physical theories which have no possiblity of experimental testing - which are also a recipe for disaster. Shifman did not react to my pointing out of that analogy, when I mentioned string theory. But he did not object to the general problem. 

What can I say… I hope it’s not going to take us 70 years before we switch to a more testable theory of the subnuclear physical world!

Stuck in Frankfurt September 9, 2006

Posted by dorigo in personal, travel.
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The trip back home from Ponta Delgada took longer than anticipated, due to a combination of delays to the Lissabon-Frankfurt flight. The plane was due to leave Lissabon at 16.35, but left the airport an hour later, because of a technical problem to the front door, which forced the personnel to change the gate and make us board from the rear, when boarding procedures had already been initiated. It also looked as if the usually efficient Lufthansa personnel took much longer than usual to board the passengers.

I was by no means worried by the delay, since the connection in Frankfurt was a loose one. But when after landing in Frankfurt at 20.55 the doors of the plane did not open and minutes started to flow away, I did grow concerned. My flight to Venice was leaving at 21.20, and it was not announced as one of those serviced by a direct connection, contrarily to three other flights - to Manchester, Berlin, and Budapest. Sure, Lufthansa flights usually wait for late passengers if it is a matter of a few minutes for a connection, especially if they are responsible of the delay of the former flight. But this time something went wrong.

It took almost exactly thirty minutes before we finally were let out of the plane, which had stopped in a parking position far from the terminal. By that time, the Venice flight had gone, as I discovered as soon as I reached my gate.

It was then that I discovered that the Frankfurt airport is not too friendly for people needing a rebooking. All the transfer desks I found were deserted, and despite my knowledge of the place, it took me a while to find the correct place to ask for a new ticket.

In the end, I was booked on the first flight of the morning, and was given a voucher for a supposedly 5-star hotel near the Airport. The hotel was by no means as good as the stars pictured it, but at that point I was too tired to bother… I ate a quick dinner and went to bed.

This morning things went smoother, and at 11.20 I was home, for the happiness of my kids (and mine). A long trip!