You Know, We Can Just Stop Consuming the News

I’ve been listening to the 80,000 hours podcast a lot recently*. On the podcast they had a discussion of why you should stop reading the news with Brian Caplan, which pointed to Rolf Dobelli’s book Stop Reading the News. I picked up the book, also read it, and promptly stopped reading (and watching or listening) Read More …

Bridging the Great Stagnation: Why Taking an Extra Decade to Master the Fundamentals Matters

In the 1800s, educated elites were expected to be proficient in Latin, Greek, classical literature, religious knowledge, moral philosophy, public speaking, writing, basic arithmetic, geometry, natural philosophy (covering fundamental physics, astronomy, and biology), music, art, poetry, classical and national history, geography, French, and social graces. Physical activities like horseback riding, rowing, and fencing were also Read More …

Obsidian

Update: After a year hosting technical in progress works via Obsidian publicly, I decided to go back to using it personally (one vault) and for work (a second vault) without using the publish feature. I find Obsidian great but the interface for browsing didn’t provide a substitute for a blog, which is what I was Read More …

When Antarctica Just Isn't Cold Enough: South Pole Telescope (SPT) Fridge Cycle

As you might have heard on my website, my newsletter, my Twitter, or, if we’re colleagues at Caltech, at work, I am currently working on the South Pole Telescope (SPT) onsite at the South Pole in Antarctica for January-November 2016 (I am employed by the University of Chicago). I have taken a sabbatical from my NSF Astronomy Read More …

Durham University Institute for Computational Cosmology visit

Visit to the Durham University Institute for Computational Cosmology I spent last week hosted by the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University, staying in “Castle” one of the historic colleges of the university, an actual, honest to goodness Castle and a World Heritage Site. Durham University has a lot to offer, a huge cosmology and astronomy department, Read More …

Population III stars were fusing hydrogen before it was the hot thing to do

featured image credit: M. Kornmesser/European Southern Observatory Sobral et al. in recent work slated for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, claim observation of a galaxy, CR7, likely hosting a large contingent of Population III stars. The New York Times also has good summary; you know it’s important when actual stars get the movie star treatment. While I’m not in a position to Read More …