Well, they’ve officially found evidence for anthropomorphic damage to the carbon cycle on Earth, reported here and the full Nature article here. This is apparently the first time the theory that the Earth has a natural cycle for dealing with carbon in the atmosphere has gained direct empirical support, and is hopefully a death blow to the people that try to argue that carbon gets eaten by all the trees in Maine or that the tooth fairy takes it away to Fantasy Kingdom. Of course, this won’t stop the people screaming about scientists are lying for whatever reason before demanding their antibiotics for their resistant staph strain, and then blogging about the experience on their semiconductor, thin film magnetism, and optics driven computers.

Posted: April 28th, 2008 under Science, Politics.
Comments: 1

Swedish band The Sounds - Painted By Numbers - http://youtube.com/watch?v=jN41MDONgOA
New one from Los Campesinos! - Death To Los Campesinos! - http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dc4GethJnBg
XTC - Making Plans For Nigel - http://youtube.com/watch?v=0C6bVckO_CM
MGMT - Time To Pretend - http://youtube.com/watch?v=XVnRzEjpUmE
Okkervil River - Unless It Kicks (Live) - http://youtube.com/watch?v=SupBhRp9xp0
Lupe Fiasco - Hip-Hop Saved My Life - http://youtube.com/watch?v=s26EEQ1_nLU
Amy Winehouse - Monkey Man (Live - Jools) - http://youtube.com/watch?v=6DSOM_8A4Nw
An oldie but goodie, love the guitar solo at the end, wish it was longer - Oasis - Some Might Say (Live - White Room) - http://youtube.com/watch?v=wmFg19xMz3I
As long as I am adding classics - The Doves - There Goes The Fear - http://youtube.com/watch?v=CRODW8Vh-MQ
Another favorite - Seu Jorge - Tive Razão (look for special guest appearances)  - http://youtube.com/watch?v=y8NgAVHegDc
Another British band - Hard Fi - Suburban Knights - http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZXwUY_T3BCM
If you like Pete and the Pirates - The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger - http://youtube.com/watch?v=TPUZqcibh4E

-AJ

Posted: April 17th, 2008 under Aakash.
Comments: none

After contemplating my place in life, and courting seriously the notion that I’d be a complete waste were it not for physics, meanwhile realizing I’ve yet to prove my mettle at the subject yet, I come to wild and idle conclusions about what I’d do in ten years. I’d like to try my hand at putting together a course on field theory geared for undergraduates to understand it. I think if I ever have children, I will repeat aphorisms from Thus Spake Zarathustra so that they will repeat them in kindergarten and I can have a parent-teacher conference in which I am asked to stop teaching my four year old Nietzsche. Maybe before I get out of graduate school I can write a review article on a subject I have no formal research background in, just to learn it. Oh, the possibilities are endless…

Posted: April 9th, 2008 under Personal.
Comments: none

I got very, very excited when I found this on sale. They’ve finally reprinted Diplomacy in the US; I was getting to where I was considering ordering it in the UK and paying to ship it over here, but this is a much, much better option. Now looking for six other people in Long Island that want to play…

Posted: April 8th, 2008 under Personal.
Comments: 1

At orientation and visitation weekends, you get to see a lot of great and exciting stuff. Everyone wants to talk to you, there’s free booze and sampler plates as far as the eye can see, and if you’re really really lucky, you will get laid (particularly if you’re going to play football at CU-Boulder). But then you get to graduate school, and reality sets in. Read more »

Posted: April 6th, 2008 under Personal.
Comments: 1