West Coast Trip #11 (from Panza man)

So we had a nice photo opp on this lil day hike above Lost Lake. The only problem was that this was during the hottest week of the summer out here. It was ~100F out, and some humidity, and we were sweating balls.



This is in Portland, OR probably the coolest city I've ever been in. It has tons of green spaces, and a very chill atmosphere. I think we went to see a movie this night, but I can't remember because we got all drunk. God what did we see? There's this book store, which is the biggest book store in the world, and honestly, I think it is.

Problems with String Theory

Recently, String Theory has gotten alot of press. There was a Nova special on PBS about it among other shows and books on the subject. The public has become aware of it, so when I tell people I'm in physics, often they'll ask me about String Theory. Now personally, I'm not really smart enough to understand what String Theory is really all about, except to say that it is a GUT (Grand Unification Theory) that tries to link up quantum and relativity. Basically, I tell people that I think it's a load of shit that has no real reason to be called physics. Physics has to be testable, which is why physics is an empirical science and not philosophy or mathematics. String Theory has been around for about 30 years now, and no one has come up with a way to test it. Einstein came up with special relativiy in 1905 and general realtivity a little later and I think the theory was tested for the first time in 1927 or 22 years later. So as far as I'm concerned, the deadline for string theory is about up. I mean there hasn't even been a POSSIBLE experiment proposed, like something that COULD be done, but CAN'T be done today because of technological immaturity- something that relativity DID have around the time of it conception.

Here is an article that does a good job of summing up my beef w/ string theory:
Why String Theory Sucks

The End

So, I just found out the results of my qualification exam, and I happen to have failed them. It looks like this is the end of my academic road, and that I'll be getting a 'real' job in the next year. I'm a little bit upset by this, considering the time and energy I have invested in physics and specifically the quals. Most of the knowledge I gained these past couple of years is completely useless in the 'real' world, which is frusterating. On the brightside, this means that I am free from the shakles of academia, and OH NO! I have to go make 50-70k a year....what am I gonna do? Time to start building that bank rool.

Israeli Madness

Am I the only one who thinks this seems a little bit fishy?

Israel Seize Palestinian Funds

I mean maybe they are telling the truth, and this was the bad guys bank- how can I tell? One other thing, there's a comment about them raiding some people's homes and discovering some pistols and hunting rifles. Go raid a random home in Alabama and see how many guns you get.

On a final note, what the fuck is up with Israel's whipping out their cock out and waving it around lately. Are the just fed up, or are they trying to prove something? Is it because of the US actions in Iraq? Can any country go blow shit up in another country? Is that what Bushy has done? How long until the next nuke, 5-10 years?

Geeky Heroes

This is the kind of stuff I wanna do when I grow up:

One Laptop Per Child

Quals are Finished: Am I...?

So the quals are done. I'm happy. That technically means I don't have to take another exam in my life. Wow! I think I did well on two, and bad on one. Oh well. After the bad one (Monday's Classical Mech) I was so bummed, but I thought about it and digested it, and I was ok with getting the masters and being done. So when I took the second and third, I was mentally ready for them, because I basically didn't care anymore.

The thing I'm most proud of is the fact that I've seen improvement in my performence over the three years of taking this stuff. I can honestly say I know more physics right now than I ever have before. I hope this is the most I know, I'm ready for a new subject.

Intermission

Ok so you all may be wondering wow, that's alot of pics fast. Well its all so I can get the my BM06 pics. Ok just a few more from the trip and then on the the transdimensional pictures, muaaahhaaa!

West Coast Trip #10 (from Panza man)

Ok so this is a very fun crazy thing to do.
What you need:
1 digi camera that has a descent long exposure time
1 headlamp- preferably w/ some color filters
2 creative people

Adonis the Cat

So I don't know whom I've told this, but I got a cat! He is no ordinary cat, with the typical cat issues. He loves attention, and not in the I'm a cat so I love attention when I want to love attention way. He will let you rub his head over and over, and pretty much as rough as you want, and still come back for more. He's follows me all around the house, and even goes into the bathroom with me in the morning, to sorta do his own bathroom stuff (eat, drink, piss) and then chills out on the edge of the bathtub while I take a shower, while batting at the shower curtain. Another very, un-cat like thing is that he sleeps in my room w/ a closed door all night. Cat's hate closed doors, and immediately want to know why they can't go through them, or at least, hey what's going on behind the door, and should I be involved. So, all and all, I'm very happy that Erica talking me into keeping some extra pussy around the house.

West Coast Trip #8 (from Panza man)

West Coast Trip #7 (from Panza man)

So these are some of my favorite road trippin pictures. The behind the wheel pics turned out really nice, especially this first one w/ Erica in the back. She's soooo cute! So these were all taken enroute from Seattle to the Columbia Gorge. Erica thought these pics make me look like Ceasar Chavez....





Gay love stick handholding (Nick is gay).

West Coast Trip #6

So we headed out of the Seattle area (some of that trip will be in the next post). This is the last of my pictures (except one more) and I wanted to keep mine and Nick's seperate. We met up w/ Katie G. on the northern, Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. All of us camped out on the top of a ridge with a beautiful view of Mt. Hood.

West Coast Trip #5

Erica and I went backpacking in Olympia Nat'l Park, WA along this temperate rain forest river valley called the Hoh Rvr. It was beautiful, and massive with lots of lush greenage and slugs. When we first got to the trail head we saw these elk. After hiking 7 miles or so in, it started getting dark, and we found this awesome little tree shelter to setup camp. The following morning these girls w/ llamas showed up just after breakfast. The last night slept on the river bed.

West Coast Trip #4

Picking up Nick in Portland, and then after we get him to Seattle, we went our own way.