http://vdov.net (no longer) the 871,446th most popular blog on the tubes Tue, 06 May 2008 16:30:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en After dinner at work last night, I met a new postdoc working down the hall from my office. I said hello, attempting to overcome my social awkwardness, and asked what type of research she does in the chemistry department. She replied "I'm an experimentalist. You, ahem, must be a theorist." ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/05/703 It's 6:42 am, and polls opened 42 minutes ago here in Indiana. I was 5th in line at my polling place at about 5:51 am, just in time to watch the live news report and be on camera for a few minutes. This was my first primary vote, my first ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/05/704 In this month's Physics Today, there is an article called "Chemistry on the computer". The first major quote from the article caught my eye. It comes from Auguste Comte, a natural philosopher, in 1830. Every attempt to employ mathematical methods in the study of chemical questions must be considered profoundly irrational ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/04/701 Many (some) of you might remember my last attempt at going to Hawaii. It was after my first year of college and myself, shollen, aboone and ifriedrich (no he doesn't contribute to Vdov but I have to keep things consistent) had planned to go and stay there for about a ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/04/700 "Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty." -Samuel Adams Vdov.net is not normally prone to politicking and this post is mostly about principles rather than politics. The authors here, ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/04/699 Tonight I went to a town hall meeting with Senator Barack Obama in Lafayette, Indiana. Those of you who know me well are well aware of my feelings on the candidates, though I don't consider Vdov the appropriate venue for that kind of analysis. As such I'd rather talk about ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/04/698 I am trying to move Vdov into the times with some major updates (mostly coinciding with the release of Wordpress 2.5). Unfortunately I had the old mechanics of the site heavily customized and/or written from scratch, so now that Wordpress is actually capable of doing what it is I want, ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/04/693 Yes, today I turned 25 ... a quarter century. I can no longer fool myself, I am supposed to be an adult now. At least that's what I thought, until I talked to my Mom who said, "back in the 60s and 70s, the mantra was, 'don't trust anyone over ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/04/692 Why? has bubbled incredibly beneath the surface for far too long. They now have 3 LPs and 2 EPs without ever garnering major attention even amongst the indie crowd. With almost no "mainstream" recognition "Elephant Eyelash" was one of the best albums of 2005 that no one heard. ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/03/683 Microsoft Ultra Genius Clean complimentary laundry detergent! Made with a sprig of Galileo and a hint of Einstein. Feel the zest of your future! Has your genius lost it's zip? Need some help to restore your drive? Don't be frustrated even the brightest of the bright need refreshing sometimes. Introducing Ultra ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/03/685 I don't normally just repost something that someone has already done. However, I thought that at least someone might like this little gem about the calculation for the date of Easter. The Wikipedia article also goes into a lot of depth. I had no idea this was ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/03/684 There has been a lot of talk on the tubes lately about the traffic flow problem, specifically a part of this problem that we're all familiar with: complete stoppages that seem to have no explanation. Some recent links on the popularized tubes (aka, not the science tubes), seem to ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/03/682 Living in Chicago I've had some interesting experiences. For instance, someone tried to mug me on the train. I survived unharmed and with the three dollars I had in my pocket. Luckily the mugger only wanted an iPod from me (the muggee) and I didn't have one. I can only ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/03/681 Yesterday in my class in finite element methods my professor took a couple of minutes to talk about a really simple derivation for both the Rayleigh limit and the Taylor limit. These limits basically are a balance between surface tension (holding the droplet in its spherical shape) and electrostatic repulsion. ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/02/678 While I was studying 20th century music at the end of my music major at Bowdoin, I was shown (by someone, I have no idea who) a painting (i.e., on canvas, not a musical painting) that Shostakovich did, entitled "Self-Portrait". Or at least I think it was called "Self-Portrait", regardless ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/02/676 UPDATE: There has been a briefing by the Pentagon which has video of the missile launch, the "kill," and a brief analysis. The launch occurred on time with no delays due to weather (only 2-3 foot seas). It looks like the shoot down was successful and the hydrazine ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/02/674 Has anyone watched the Lost episode from last week? I think Teebs did if his away messages are any indication. They went back to the whole flash-forward thing again. I may be in the minority here but generally I like the idea of flash-forwards. I think they added a lot ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/02/673 Often I'll ditch a piece of software because it doesn't fit my needs. Or because it's not open source and a reasonable alternative comes along. Or because it frustrates the hell out of me. A year ago I developed all my unstructured meshes in Gmsh, which is a great little ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/02/671 You have all probably forgotten that once there was a podcast on this site. The podcast isn't coming back but something very similar is! That's right, the Rt. Rev. Fischer, like Lazarus himself, has risen from the tomb. I am now an official DJ for Brown Student ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/02/669 Tonight I was surfing around the internet trying to find something interesting to read (one of my favorite activities) while the pseudo-sweet sounds of Amunblane and the Electrocustics (Lucas & Nate playing everything under the sun on what has become a 6-guitar collection in my house) wafted through the hallways ... http://vdov.net/index.php/2008/02/668