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galois
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Location: Wisconsin, Tonga
Gender: Male
Interests: Hmm...Apparently,
I have no personality.
Expertise: Making pink soaps.
Occupation: Artist
Industry: Art
Message: message me
Member Since:
12/8/2003
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| I just gave a departmental colloquium. Now, I am exhausted, but must start packing for moving...Ah, endless amount of work... | | |
| As NYTimes editorial says today George W. is still insisting on his administrations claim that Hussein has a tie to Al Qaeda despite independent commission reported otherwise. I don't know what to say. Either he is lying, having religeous belief, or have some inside information - maybe he heared it from Bin Ladden himself over the family dinner. | | |
| And death shall have no dominion
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.
Dylan Thomas
Last night I saw The Weight of Water. That was one of better movies in long time, which has several quotes from Dylan Thomas.
Christian armendariz-Picon visited from U of Chicago yesterday. He and I became a fairly good friend since our first meeting at Cosmo 02 conference. He is now moving to Syracuse University as a new assistant professor. Before I move to India I wanted to see him so I invited him. He gave a wonderful blackboard talk on "Liberating Inflaton": The title of the talk resonate wonderfully with current political environment. A set of data that modern cosmological theories should be able to answer is : Our universe is homogeneous, isotropic and spatially flat in lowerest order of approxiamtion. Then, in the next order there are some fluctuations, which generates cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). Data shows that CMBR is adiabatic, gaussian, and scale invariant.
It is usually believed that scale invariance requires deSitter phase of inflation at the very early epoch of universe. So, in usual inflationary scenario inflaton potential is fairly flat (slow-roll). Christian argued that it doesn't need to be. He showed an example that generates scale invariant CMBR with any reasonable potential. The key ingredient is time dependent mass term, which can be mimiced by things like non-minimal coupling or string dilaton.
After the talk he finally convince me on one issue which bugged me forever: difference between Einstein frame and String frame. Since the post is getting too long I will come back to this later.
I think I am wasting too much time on internet today, but can not help this.
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| The following note was posted at
rec.music.classical.* newsgroups
by an orchestra percussionist.
Some of these are hilarious.
They're certainly observant!
===
From: alanwatkinsuk@aol.com (Alan Watkins)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.recordings,
rec.music.classical,rec.music.opera
Subject: Out of the mouths of babes
Date: 27 May 2004 14:33:41 -0700
A few more interesting questions, all of
them from children attending one of our many
"in school shows" after which there is
"discussion time" with the musicians.
"What happens if you want to go to the lavatory
when you are playing. Do you have to put your
hand up?"
(To a trombonist): "It sounds like my father"
"Do you get paid for banging these?"
"What happens if you bang in the wrong place.
Do you get fined?"
"How do you get the timpani in your car?"
"Miss says musicians are very special people.
Are you special or just ordinary?"
"Are you paid more money because your instrument
is bigger and makes more noise?"
"Why didn't you want to play a nice instrument?"
"If I keep playing the guitar will I become a musician?"
"Do you have to think of dead people when you play?"
(We had done Fossils from Carnival of the Animals)
"Why do composers have funny names?"
"What do you do in your normal life?"
"Are you able to get married if you play in an orchestra?"
"The teacher said the timpani had an important part.
I didn't think it was important." (It was Overture: Russlan
and Lyudmilla)
"Why was that man over there (pointing to oboe player)
making funny squeaking noises before you began?"
(reed testing ritual)
"What would happen to a girl if she played the drums?"
"Why do you keep hitting yourself in the chest with the cymbals?"
"Is it fun to do or is it just a job like driving the tram?"
"Did your parents want you to do this?"
"Why don't you play music like there is on the radio?"
"Could you play for someone really famous?"
"If everyone else stopped would you just go on without them?"
"Does the conductor matter or could anyone do it?"
"Don't you go deaf?"
"Why did you smile at the conductor?" (He'd given me a nice
cue with a smile to which I had responded)
"Why do your eyebrows keep going up and down when you play?"
"Why were you doing funny things with your fingers?" (It's
my check during long rests).
"What happens if you drop your sticks?"
"It looks a bit boring to me. Is it?"
"I didn't like the first piece. It kept doing the same
things." (Said of Marriage of Figaro Overture).
"What did you try before you did this?"
"Our teacher said it would be wonderful. I thought it was
a bit boring."
"Did you have to go to school?"
"How do you manage to keep up?" (Sabre Dance)
"Do you cry if it upsets you?"
(Concert included Pavane: Ravel)
"Why are all the composers dead?"
"Can you play Like a Virgin?"
"I didn't expect anyone to be normal"
"If I can't be a doctor can I be a musician?"
"Why didn't you want to do something like other people?"
"Why isn't there any lightning?" (Said of Thunder and
Lightning)
"Are you any good at anything else?"
My favourite is not any one of those comments but of a
little girl who wrote in her essay about the visit to her
school: "I liked the man playing the very big drums who was
enjoying himself but everyone else didn't enjoy it" and
which was duly forwarded to the orchestra:):)
Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins
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