I got this book a couple of months back and have completed it today. The early chapters explain in layman terms where Physics has got to in the last 30 years. This an interesting read for me, the various unification attempts, quantum mechanics, gravity, fundamtental particles, and string theory.
The books main message is that research has followed a narrow path for too long, and it's difficult to bring new ideas to a field which do not fit with the majority view. The author is particularly dismissive of string theory because of this.
The final chapters lay out what would make the situation better. It feels like research science careers are built on backing the current research areas and there is very little room for anything else. The author makes an interesting comparison to venture capital who expect 90% of new businesses to fail, and anything less then they are not taking enough risk. He argues it would be worth having this view on research to try and stimulate new areas where current theory has stagnated.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Film: Bullet Proof Monk
I don't watch that many films but someone bought me this as a joke. I liked the name and in fairness it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Still a good versus evil battle, fairly cheesy plotline - and ok production. I managed to sit through it and avoid turning it off. Certainly not an important piece of cinema history.
A struggling 4/10.
Still a good versus evil battle, fairly cheesy plotline - and ok production. I managed to sit through it and avoid turning it off. Certainly not an important piece of cinema history.
A struggling 4/10.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Old school photo
I saw an old school photo today from my class in 1978 my first year at school. It was quite strange seeing it especially putting names to faces - some easy some needed thinking about.
There were only about 20 kids, and I remember the class was mixed ages. I think this smaller class size explained why the school closed and merged with one nearby. I remember starting there and the teacher complaining she now had 30 children!
It has to be said life was a lot simpler back then, no computers, mass communication was a thing of the future - we were still living off the last year of a failed Labour government (ring any bells?). Thatcher hadn't happened yet - and the gulf wars were still a long time away. Having said that the country didn't feel like a failure, but then a 5 year old isn't going to be on top of that sort of detail.
One sad story a boy I recognised in the photo I knew died shortly after leaving school. Of course you can never know, but to think from that photo he only had 12 short years left.
There were only about 20 kids, and I remember the class was mixed ages. I think this smaller class size explained why the school closed and merged with one nearby. I remember starting there and the teacher complaining she now had 30 children!
It has to be said life was a lot simpler back then, no computers, mass communication was a thing of the future - we were still living off the last year of a failed Labour government (ring any bells?). Thatcher hadn't happened yet - and the gulf wars were still a long time away. Having said that the country didn't feel like a failure, but then a 5 year old isn't going to be on top of that sort of detail.
One sad story a boy I recognised in the photo I knew died shortly after leaving school. Of course you can never know, but to think from that photo he only had 12 short years left.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Aircraft Carriers
The UK has just signed a big defence deal for two new aircraft carriers - the deal has been many years in the wings with initial design work already done.
It was a strange decision in the 1960s to cancel the future carrier programme. The UK made do with helicopter crusiers that were only really saved by the versatile Harrier. We've also now gone more into helicopter landing platforms - good support vessels for land force support.
With all the equipment shortatges in Iraq and Afghanistan it's a very strange decision to be placing orders for carriers. Especially when the aircraft to put on them might be beyond our budget (10 bn I heard), also the destroyer escort has been cut back to six ships. The news item I saw kept on mentioning "powerful ships" but in reality they are vulnerable in the extreme.
It was a strange decision in the 1960s to cancel the future carrier programme. The UK made do with helicopter crusiers that were only really saved by the versatile Harrier. We've also now gone more into helicopter landing platforms - good support vessels for land force support.
With all the equipment shortatges in Iraq and Afghanistan it's a very strange decision to be placing orders for carriers. Especially when the aircraft to put on them might be beyond our budget (10 bn I heard), also the destroyer escort has been cut back to six ships. The news item I saw kept on mentioning "powerful ships" but in reality they are vulnerable in the extreme.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Windows Free (Almost)
A couple of months ago I replaced by 6 year old laptop with a new one from Dell. I wasn't that keen on Vista having used it. My main complaint was just speed, I'd seen it on a good spec laptop just feel so sluggish and that was before any eye candy was turned on.
I was a big fan of Windows XP - it really was Microsoft's best go yet at a home O/S. In the end I bought a Dell preinstalled with Ubuntu (a distro I'd never used before). Overall I'm really pleased and impressed by Ubuntu - they really have simplified Linux installation and package management. I have re-installed to a newer version and there were a few issues getting wireless drivers to work.
I'm not anti-Windows by any means, but what would make me go back? I keep hearing about Windows 7 and I think they could do a lot worse than follow Apples lead of a reliable kernel (why write your own?) and shipping dev tools in the O/S to encourage development on the platform.
I was a big fan of Windows XP - it really was Microsoft's best go yet at a home O/S. In the end I bought a Dell preinstalled with Ubuntu (a distro I'd never used before). Overall I'm really pleased and impressed by Ubuntu - they really have simplified Linux installation and package management. I have re-installed to a newer version and there were a few issues getting wireless drivers to work.
I'm not anti-Windows by any means, but what would make me go back? I keep hearing about Windows 7 and I think they could do a lot worse than follow Apples lead of a reliable kernel (why write your own?) and shipping dev tools in the O/S to encourage development on the platform.
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