How Wrong We Are

As many of you know the Nobel Prizes were recently awarded. I decided last night to read through some of the papers that Nambu (who won half of the physics prize) wrote. These papers helped to understand the origin of mass in protons, neutrons, and similar objects and informed our current understanding of how fundamental masses of electrons and quarks are generated.

For me what was stunning though was how wrong the paper is. It was written based on the views of the particle world that were dominant in 1961 with no real concept of quarks or that protons and neutrons are compound particles. This makes the paper rather clunky compared to the current understanding and how the same principles might be presented in a modern textbook.

Perhaps it is a lesson to us. He was not awarded the prize for an extremely accurate prediction but rather for an insight that fueled our undertanding of the masses of subatomic particles. He wasn't the first to have the idea; he borrowed it from theories of superconductivity. He didn't put the finishing touches on it. But he did apply the insight in a new way that has shaped theoretical physics for 50 years. I think that deserves a prize.

What's in a signature?

We'll try this out in the public forum.

I was filling out Perry's Scout registration and I got into a discussion with Staci about what is actually meant by a signature. In specific, I want my signature to mean that Perry and I will abide by scout rules and attempt to uphold the scouting tradition. I do not want my signature to mean that I support the scout policies forbiding openly gay and atheist leaders and scouts.

I wanted to simply add a brief note after my signature stating this. It would not be a loud or public protest, simply a statement of my belief that scouts should be for all boys and that while I am straight and believe in God myself, I don't believe that being gay or basing your moral grounding outside of the belief in deity makes you unworthy or dangerous as a part of scouting.

So here are my questions.

To what extent does silence imply consent? Does signing it without an adendum make me morally responsible in some small part for actions that I think are wrong?

What would be a more productive form of protest? I don't believe that my note alone would do anything except maybe cause a hangup in Perry's registration (which I don't want). Nor do I want to protest from the outside or cause scouting embarassment or hassle. However, I do believe that if everyone that wanted to be a part of scouting but disagreed with this policy voiced that opinion, the scout counsel would reconsider their decisions.

Thoughts and opinions welcome.

Boat Parade II

I think I've come up with a plan to enter the boat parade. I'm going to simply paddle it like a canoe and decorate it with glow in the dark sticks like kids wear at Halloween. This should cost less than $20 for the paddles (my big one broke a few months back and my little ones won't do for the whole parade) and maybe $10 more for the light sticks. So now the question is, anyone interested in joining me? I need at least two others (I figure it is best to have at least two people paddling and one steering) and can probably take at least 6 (including me).

Where's My Application?

I thought a long time ago that a good way to assign congresional districts would be to require that they each have the same population and then minimize the length of the boundaries. In essense this would push the districts into the most square shapes possible and make them geographically localized. For example, Dana Rohrbacher's district stretches along the Southern Califoria coast from Palos Verdes to Hunington Beach, which in my mind is clearly Gerrymandered to be a safe republican seat. (Though Debbie Cook gave him a good run for his money this time.) This would not stand up in my system because the long boundary would be intollerable.

Until yesterday the idea that I could ever advance this idea to anywhere that it might make a difference was unthinkable. Now with the passage of proposition 11 it is only preposterous. I know it is just for state legislature districts, but the idea is the same. So I really do want to apply for the citizens panel and try to promote this idea. I don't think I'm very likely to be chosen, but what can it hurt to apply.

I'm also wondering if I should reregister to drop my party affiliation. I believe my approach is very non-partisan so I would like to be one of the independent panel members.

So the real question is: How do I apply?

What's wrong with this Picture

I saw this banner on my email login page. I don't know about anyone else, but I swear the before picture is way more attractive than the after picture. The before looks like a warm cuddly hourglass shape. The after looks like a semi-emaciated adolescent boy. If that's what a woman wants out of weight loss she is NUTS. (And if that's what we (men and/or society) are telling her she needs, then we have a problem too.)

Fringe Benefits

As many of you know I am currently working several part time jobs teaching at three different community colleges here in the LA area. Two of the positions are near my home so I drive, but the other one (and the one which pays the best and where I have the most hours) is about 30 miles away beyond downtown LA. Because gas is expensive and I don't like fighting traffic, I ride the metro train there. This costs me a whopping total of $27 for a month pass so it is a big savings in gas even with a fuel efficient car.

But perhaps even better are the fringe benefits. I know you're thinking of things like reading or grading in the train and these are all nice, but the benefit I'm talking about is all the great conversations with CRAZY PEOPLE.

To be sure, I'm not refering to the crazy people who smell bad and wander around swearing under their breath at themselves. The ones I'm refering to usually start coming off about like my Uncle Bernell. (For those that don't know Bernell is a delightful man who loves to be the center of conversation. He is an excellent story teller and really only needs you to nod occasionally to keep the conversation going.)

Well, fairly often someone on the train or in the station comes around and just starts some conversation. Usually pretty benign and often interesting. This is no big deal as I do it too. (Of course I may be one of the crazy people.) But occasionally it takes a turn that I would never expect.

For example, last week I got to talking with a guy who seemed friendly enough, and when I asked him what he did he said he was a father figure for the USC football team. I assumed he was a retired coach who still hung around or something along those lines. The next thing I know he's explaining to me that the reason USC lost to Stanford (when I don't remember) was that he had gotten upset with the quarter back and walked out. Without him there the quarterback was so distraught he couldn't play. Before I know it he's explaining to me how Troy Aikman would never have made it in the NFL if he hadn't flown out at his own expense to give him a pep talk. He continued with these stories and complaining about how they never paid him anything out of gratitude until one of us had to get on or off of the train.

Yesterday was even more fun. Some guy comes and starts talking about Amtrak and some monthly pass they were offering. He said it stretched the entire continental US including Maine and Florida so I commented that it would take about a month to get from her to Maine and Florida on Amtrak. (Only a slight exageration. I think San Francisco to Chicago is about a week.) He kept on talking and then asked if I knew anything about nano-technology. I do in fact know a thing or two so I started to talk with him. Suddenly he is talking about how he signed a release for the government to implant a nano-chip in his brain to help with his manic-depression. At this point I'm cautious but not entirely certain that he is crazy. I don't claim to know about all therapies and a small chip that delivers microscopic shocks seemed like a conceivable experimental therapy. But when he started talking about how it was a "really good" "military quality" chip and that they had put micro-cameras in his eyes and he was filming everything he saw for a documentary, I knew he was over the edge.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that he probably had schizophrenia not bipolar and I mostly listened quietly as he told his stories. When he started asking about black holes I though maybe we could talk sense, but he mostly wanted to talk about time travel. (For the record, the evidence is getting stronger and stronger that no, you can't time travel, even with a black hole. Though Michio Kaku might say otherwise, I think he's a little out there himself.)

When he realized I wouldn't bite on the time-travel business, he asked the burly tatooed guy who he had originally started talking to and was now ignoring us. He actually had a good comment that in quantum mechanics nothing is impossible only ridiculously improbable. (In addition to crazy people you also meet people who know a lot more than you would expect at first blush. Riding the train is a good way to smash a lot of predjudices.)

A Project!! The Long Beach Boat Parade, Help Needed

I'd like to enter my boat in the Long Beach Boat Parade this Christmas. I just have to figure out how. There are a lot of small boats in the parade, in fact there have to be to go around the small island in Naples, so that isn't the problem. The problems are

1. How will I propel it? It is a sailboat and under sail power it can't stay in a nice straight line. Besides the parade is at night and the wind will have died down by then. A small trawler moter ought to work. They cost about $100, but maybe I can get one off of Craigslist, or better yet, borrow one for the night. (I'd need a battery too, so maybe I could borrow that.) Otherwise, we could move it with the small oars I have, or get new ones, but that is a lot of rowing for a boat not built for it.
2. How will I light it. Again, I'd need batteries for that. LED lights would last longer on battery power but would be more expensive to purchase. I might need an inverter to ramp the voltage up too. What would happen if we capsized? Would it short at the battery or at the high voltage end. Or is there a safety device. (Acording to what I've read, lots of people use 120 V lights.)
3. If I want to go on the small boat inner loop, I'll have to lower the mast. I could just leave the mast off, but it would be the prettiest thing lit up and lowering it shouldn't be that bad. Or I could just stay on the outside loop. (Come to think of it, leaving the mast off is harder than I thought.)

So if ANYONE has any ideas, or any of the necessaries (old strings of lights for example, I'm looking for the cheesy colorful ones so if you switched to the classier whites your old ones would be great), please let me know.