The Female Man, Joanna Russ

Over the next five months, I’m reading and reviewing ten pioneering works of science fiction written by women. This is my first pick. Stay tuned for more. The Female Man is a science fiction novel about the interaction of four women from parallel universes, each with different gender roles. These women travel between their respective Read More …

What Makes a Good Science Fiction Story (in my humble mathematical opinion)

The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016 (Edited By Rich Horton) was the ideal selection to quantitatively examine factors which contributed to my having a high opinion of a science fiction or fantasy short story and the range and frequency of these factors considered appropriate for the short fiction market. I read all the Read More …

Back at Caltech: Supermassive Excitement

I’m delighted to be back doing numerical relativity research at Caltech after taking a year leave to deploy to the South Pole with the South Pole Telescope collaboration. I will continue to be involved with the South Pole Telescope data analysis in parallel with my work at Caltech to simulate formation pathways for supermassive black 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 …

the matter behind someone who chose to spend 10+ days in the mind of a monk

I spent the last 12 days (10 full days) at a silent meditation retreat in the southern California desert where I learned the art of vipassana meditation from S.N. Goenka and his assisting teachers. My previous post details why I went. This post goes into how it went, and followup. Going into potentially psychological surgery Read More …

the mind behind someone who chose to spend 10+ days in the mind of a monk

I spent the last 12 days (10 full days) at a silent meditation retreat in the southern California desert where I learned the art of vipassana meditation from S.N. Goenka and his assisting teachers. If 10 days sounds long, the practice used to be to teach the technique in 7 week retreats, gradually to adapt Read More …