Comments for Life and Physics

Comment on Is there any such thing as “nothing”? by crosswordbob

crosswordbob — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:29:04 +0000

Nothing springs to mind…

(sorry)

Comment on Black holes and falling objects by Vicus Scurra

Vicus Scurra — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 09:42:59 +0000

Thank you, that was most risible. I studied physics for five years at school, and don’t remember laughing once; I may have occasionally smirked, in a pubescent lascivious manner, at times when my concentration was distracted by the female class members.

Not that my concentration was much to begin with; concentration could not accurately be described as being one of my behaviours.

And, in deference to my new found fondness for scientific accuracy, I need to say that I did not “study” physics, I merely attended physics lessons. I learned nothing, but it was marginally preferable to sitting outside in the snow.

Do you know Ian Smith? He was my physics teacher in the second year. He was totally devoid of humour. He probably won’t (and I now understand from your article that even if he has passed on to the great LHC in the sky it will not preclude the possibility of his so doing) even laugh when Thatcher dies. If only he had included some clerihews, I might have learnt summat.

Comment on Conducting Cable by Insulating Cable | To the left of centre

Insulating Cable | To the left of centre — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:18:21 +0000

[...] I should be annoyed by his speech, but really can’t bring myself to be too worked up about it. It seems to be a typical example of a simplistic sense of how we should fund research. John Butterworth’s Life and Physics Blog (that I’ve only just noticed is being hosted by the Guardian) illustrates this wonderfully well with a post called Conducting Cable. [...]

Comment on Notes from Chicago by Mario

Mario — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:14:15 +0000

Hi Lily! I did not realise you had no driving licence! well, I guess it is now on your priority list in Chicagoland!
Yes, everything is huge over there, even Binny’s (there was one close to Fermilab as well
I would surely talk to the soldiers. a thing that long periods in the US gave me was the opportunity of meeting people with radically different visions from my own, and finding out that (at least some of them) were not as crazy or fanatics as my prejudice would have suggested.
More Chigago tips: go up to the top of the Hancox building, it is for free (even if drinks at the top bar are a bit overpriced); take the architectural river cruise.

Comment on LHC High Energy Physics Start by Supersymmetry – the end of the line? « Life and Physics

Supersymmetry – the end of the line? « Life and Physics — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:29:12 +0000

[...] seems alive and well and ready to face the challenge from the LHC. But what is supersymmetry? And what is so super about it? Why are we so taken with it, even [...]

Comment on Self Reference by max

max — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:06:21 +0000

Explain to me a wave, why there is an elastic undulation through a “zero”line. Why is there a frequency and amplitude? You showed up in a LHC driftnet so you’re caught and now have to answer a curious uneducated dimwit.
What is the repulse and the draw. Shake a bedsheet and a wave is apparent, but it exists as a connect of fabric and the source energy.
why does light travel for billions of years and yet sound waves fade?

Comment on Notes from Chicago by Michael Omer

Michael Omer — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:32:33 +0000

Just found this on your Twitter feed. Made me laugh! Glad Jessie taking to everything well – Hoping to meet up with Max next week – Have had some enlightening corresp with Paul at UCL – and Richard has gone into outreach overdrive.

Look forward to the next installment! Regards, Michael

Comment on The Spiegelei Incident by Mike Seymour

Mike Seymour — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:21:22 +0000

I laughed so much when I read this! The swimming pool episode was new to me, but the egg incident is so familiar that I really had to think carefully to realize that I wasn’t there at the time. When the story was told to me, by one of those who was, it painted such a vivid (and hilarious) picture in my mind that it became an almost-real memory. I remember re-telling the story to others on several occasions, adding to its realness. Reading it again after, what? fifteen years? it really confused me that this part of the story was so real, but others didn’t sound familiar. Surely my memory of the rest of the evening could not be so far wrong? And then, only slowly, the memory of being told the story, on a somewhat similar Sunday morning, came back to me. I guess this is what they mean by collective memory.

Comment on Brain Drained by Notes from Chicago « Life and Physics

Notes from Chicago « Life and Physics — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 06:36:59 +0000

[...] the one who thinks she can find the Higgs boson by listening to it. Thanks Jon for letting me play on your blog. It's a walk in the [...]

Comment on The Physics behind the paper behind “Colliding Particles” by Europe by Physics and Train « Life and Physics

Europe by Physics and Train « Life and Physics — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:56:14 +0000

[...] * Any diehard fans can find a video of the almost identical talk I gave in Paris here (Friday session). The idea behind it is essentially the idea behind this. [...]