In LA (Louisiana, that is)
I'm in Louisiana! (I'm not sure how warranted that exclamation point is, in retrospect). I've been here for the past four days, and I've been doing pretty much nothing but physics for those four days. I started with the inspiral group face to face meeting, and we've now moved on to the LSC group meeting. It is, as you can tell, thrilling.
In the time I've been here, I've learned a few things about the south, or at least Louisiana. First of all, every has at least one gold tooth, which probably serves sort of like eye spots. In the event that an alligator, anaconda or neighbor should attack, you can simply flash your gold tooth to disorient and confuse your would be attacker. Second, Louisiana is a just a huge swamp. Words like "bayou" and "front lawn" are just pretty words for "stinky bog." I found lizards in the physics building, and what surprised natives was not that there were lizards in a science facility, but that it took me so long to find, as they called them, "science geckos." Not in the sense that these are pets, or a common occurence. There is actually a little ecosystem in the physics building, and a new breed of reptiles has emerged that feed off of leftover donut crumbs and water dripping from vacuum chambers. I hate the swamp.
Despite the fact that just about everything at the conference is way, way over my head, the experience has still been pretty good for me. I gave a presentation on the first day of the face-to-face meeting, and my presentation went very well. I also got a feel for what it is like to be in a physics group, what conferences can be like, and a little be of what it's like to be a professional physicist.
I've met a lot of new people here (all of them science folk), and I'm reminded eerily of so many other people I've already met. A whole lot of the people I've met are foreign, which I suppose is not that surprising. But it is surprising how many foreign physicists seem to have come to the United States. Maybe this is not unusual for LIGO, since all of the detectors are in the United States, but even still I was surprised. Because of this large foreign representation, I've felt like I was in a bad joke a number of times. For example, last night I was in a car with an irish man, an indian and a german. Insert punchline.
Once I get back to Madison, there's gonna be a couple of days of furious activity, and then I'll probably be off to Northfield. Hitching a ride from Patrick is looking more and more attractive, so maybe I should ask him how feasible that will be. Regardless, I'll be seeing my buddies and a special lady in no time at all.
Also, I would like to recommend Snow Crash to anyone who is looking for a book to read. It's got a pretty interesting story line and some nice commentary, as well as a cool crash course in Sumerian lore (or at least a crash course in made up Sumerian lore). The writer also has a nice style, with a lot of backwards references that slip into place very nicely. Read it!
OUT
In the time I've been here, I've learned a few things about the south, or at least Louisiana. First of all, every has at least one gold tooth, which probably serves sort of like eye spots. In the event that an alligator, anaconda or neighbor should attack, you can simply flash your gold tooth to disorient and confuse your would be attacker. Second, Louisiana is a just a huge swamp. Words like "bayou" and "front lawn" are just pretty words for "stinky bog." I found lizards in the physics building, and what surprised natives was not that there were lizards in a science facility, but that it took me so long to find, as they called them, "science geckos." Not in the sense that these are pets, or a common occurence. There is actually a little ecosystem in the physics building, and a new breed of reptiles has emerged that feed off of leftover donut crumbs and water dripping from vacuum chambers. I hate the swamp.
Despite the fact that just about everything at the conference is way, way over my head, the experience has still been pretty good for me. I gave a presentation on the first day of the face-to-face meeting, and my presentation went very well. I also got a feel for what it is like to be in a physics group, what conferences can be like, and a little be of what it's like to be a professional physicist.
I've met a lot of new people here (all of them science folk), and I'm reminded eerily of so many other people I've already met. A whole lot of the people I've met are foreign, which I suppose is not that surprising. But it is surprising how many foreign physicists seem to have come to the United States. Maybe this is not unusual for LIGO, since all of the detectors are in the United States, but even still I was surprised. Because of this large foreign representation, I've felt like I was in a bad joke a number of times. For example, last night I was in a car with an irish man, an indian and a german. Insert punchline.
Once I get back to Madison, there's gonna be a couple of days of furious activity, and then I'll probably be off to Northfield. Hitching a ride from Patrick is looking more and more attractive, so maybe I should ask him how feasible that will be. Regardless, I'll be seeing my buddies and a special lady in no time at all.
Also, I would like to recommend Snow Crash to anyone who is looking for a book to read. It's got a pretty interesting story line and some nice commentary, as well as a cool crash course in Sumerian lore (or at least a crash course in made up Sumerian lore). The writer also has a nice style, with a lot of backwards references that slip into place very nicely. Read it!
OUT
posted by Sean at 6:57 AM
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