Synopsis: I investigate a mystery about rising conference costs and reach a different conclusion than expected. (From 2019; a January 2022 update is at the end.) A few days ago I was registering for the American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting, the major yearly gathering of Physicists, and noticed that the registration fee is quite … Continue reading The Case of the Rising Conference Registration Fee
Nothing about science today, and not even a drawing or painting — just a photo I took while biking home yesterday that reminded me that I have one of the best commutes on the planet. It rained yesterday, perhaps marking the start of the wet season in Eugene and the end of the typically dry, … Continue reading Yesterday’s traffic report
Days and weeks often go by in a blur, packed with meetings and emails, leaving my “to do” lists perpetually unfinished. Where does the time go? Why is there so little time for learning new things, reading papers, working in the lab, and other activities that one might naively think would be part of a … Continue reading Where does the time go? Let’s see…
As I briefly mentioned in my end-of-year book recap, one of the best books I read in 2015, and one of the best popular science books I’ve read ever, is Oliver Morton’s The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World. Geoengineering refers to the intentional manipulation of climate, usually in the context of combatting … Continue reading How I learned to stop worrying and love geoengineering
Correction Jan. 2, 2014: My ‘received email’ count was actually the sum of the number of sent and received emails. (My ‘sent’ folders are inside my local received folders, hence the double-counting.) I’ve fixed the numbers and graphs. I’m far from the first person to note that emails are an incessant and almost overwhelming burden. … Continue reading Jetpacks? No. Flying cars? No. Thousands and thousands of emails? Yes. That’s 2014.
The Eighteenth Elephant 