Quiddities and quandries from my quintessential quest

• Home
• About

Loopholes in quantum entanglement?

We have been told that experiments agree with all the predictions of quantum theory, including those that involve the impossible – the Bell test experiments, that are supposed to show totally incomprehensible effects of separated particles on each other. — Caroline Thompson In working on my thesis, I realized I wanted to be sure that [...]

Just Like My Computer Desktop…

Oh. My. Gosh. PHD Comics creator Jorge Cham knows what MY Computer Desktop looks like!! I especially liked the section entitled, “Papers you’ve been meaning to read for months.” I have five of those… :)

Research Paper MadLibs!

PHD Comics: Abstract Mad Libs I laughed out loud at the blank labelled “buzzword”. In the case of my thesis, the buzzword is “quantum gravity”. I’ve been encouraged to toss that word into grant applications more than once. It’s not really a stretch, even though my thesis has nothing to do with gravity. I am [...]

Thesis Struggles: Analyzing the Cause

If you’re filled with strong negative emotions – particularly when they don’t make sense to you, you’ll do what it takes to avoid those feelings. Hence, procrastination and paralysis when it comes to scholarly writing. So says Gina Hiatt of AcademicLadder.com. I’ve been subscribed to the free newsletter from this site for a few months [...]

Lack of Funding in Science

If lack of funding drives our most promising young people away from careers in research, the long-term damage to science could be significant,” Finneran said. To prevent this, he said, scientists may have to learn how to fight for what research dollars they can get. U.S. Bailout May Set Back Science Funding, Experts Fear. I’m [...]

Dreaming of a Six Hour Startup

It didn’t take much to get [it] up and running. Just an initial idea — which [he] couldn’t get out of his head — a domain name, and a few smart people. All told, about $30 was invested in the project, including the snacks … purchased to fuel developers during the coding marathon. Ready, set [...]

Electron Spin Visualization

Air on the Dirac Strings, by EVL: Electronic Visualization Laboratory, and posted by evltube on YouTube. Electron spin is definitely a weird property, especially because of the fact that it requires two full rotations to return to its original orientation, instead of just one. This video has some excellent visualizations to help wrap your head [...]

End of a PhD Candidate’s Day

Brilliant! Jorge Cham from PhD Comics did it again: he got inside my head, and made a comic of what life’s like as a grad student. It’s so nice to think that I’m not the only one going through this!

Time Estimates as Ranges of Possibilities

I recently discovered LiquidPlanner, a project planner based on a unique concept:  that plans are meant to be fluid, and that nothing can be planned with exact certainty. With normal planning software, this fluidity causes the need to replan and tweak and fiddle… and in my case, my tendency towards optimism resulted in me letting [...]

Thoughts on Dream Analysis

Some of the dreams I’ve been having lately seem to really be saying things that could be useful in my own personal development.  I’ve been intrigued by dreams for many many years, and have even at various times attempted analyzing symbols in dreams in order to interpret their meanings.  Recently, this intrigue has become more [...]