7 thoughts on “Congratulations!”

  3. B

    Well, they had a wireless in the hotel where the party was. Some people became nervous around 8, so I projected a newsticker with the soccer results to the wall with the beamer (which we had to let the parents show about 1 million baby photos). And while I was at it, I thought I could check my email… and while I was at it, one of my aunts wanted to know what a blog is… and while I was at it…

  4. chimpanzee

    I uploaded S. Hossenfelder’s talk a few hrs ago (148mb file), I just woke up & did the Blog post here. You can view it there, or download it over “SUSY ’06” video-podcast @iTunes Music Store (connect your video-iPod, & watch it over this mobile-media device).

    I was blogging from Frankfurt Int’l Airport on the way back from the March 29 solar-eclipse (I flew Lufthansa). They had 2 WiFi networks: T-Mobile & Voda..I used both. The 1st was a flat-charge & the 2nd was free for 30 min (the Estonia computer-whiz figured out a way of getting around the upload-block, we had a 2Mbps upload speed..I uploaded a 15mb file in like a few minutes!). This anecdote tells you how well connected Germany is (I even bought a Int’l power-adapter kit, which had a bunch of Germany-specific phone/Ethernet adapters).

    On the way back to LAX, the Lufthansa 747 had a Boeing DSL (satellite-based) Internet WiFi access! I actually blogged LIVE, as we flew over Greenland. I heard that certain European flights (known for Apple employees flying back to California) have this satellite-based WiFi access, to facilitate work-related emails. I was totally amazed during my Egypt eclipse-trip, how I was able to Blog *continuously*: my $10/night hotel in Cairo had *free* Internet DSL access, dial-up Internet @Marsa-Matrouh & Sallum (no-charge, only pay for phone-call), hole-in-the-wall Internet Cafe @Sallum (shared..over dial-up!), Internet Cafe @Marsa-Matrouh, (hi-speed DSL) Internet Cafe @Dahab (where there was a terrorist bombing 3 weeks after I left).

    In summary, everywhere I went..there was an “umbrella of Connectivity”. You can literally blog from anywhere in the World (from 3rd world Egypt to Germany), at your leisure (non-live), Live & near-Live. B’s wedding could have been blogged LIVE. I have a lot of contacts in Germany who shoot QTVR (stitching software was written by Helmut Dersch), & it would have been possible to have a QTVR pano of the wedding. Like the “wedding-cake pano” I did here. Next time let me know, & I can make arrangements.

  5. B

    Hi chimpanzee,

    yeah, it’s true, Germany is very densely covered with WLANs. I frequently see people sitting in bars and cafes with their laptop. In most cases, it’s not even the WLAN from the cafe they are using, but from someone living next door or so. I guess the reason for that is simply that Germany, and esp. the area around Frankfurt, is crowded with people. (Unlike, say, Arizona…)

    Thanks for putting up the talk. Some might have noticed that it’s a shortened version of my seminar at PI (which is also online, somewhere at this site). You can also find more details (and references) in my post about the minimal length model.

    Best regards,

    Sabine

  6. chimpanzee

    B, is your talk (& other ones at Alternatives section) about non-StringTheory models? According to this WSJ article about P. Woit’s new book (republished here BTW, there is some (useless) commentary on Slashdot.org),

    “With smart people pursuing these questions, more might have been answered,” says Mr. Woit. “Too few really good people have been working on anything other than string theory.”

    — Peter Woit

    I have some perspective in doing Theory (my PhD research was all Theory, & some simulations..no experiment). I found that certain theories were over-complicated (totally inappropriate, in retrospect), & some (mine) made the problem astonishingly simple. I can explain my solution to a high-school student, & he can do the calculations. Much like, the calculations by Politzer, Wilczek/Gross (Asymptotic Freedom) is a standard calculation that grad-students perform in their coursework.

    I like the quote from Star Trek/Scotty (engineer), “The right Tool [ theory ] for the Right Job [ problem ], what do I keep telling you!”. Einstein had the quote “In order to Solve a Problem..you first have to UNDERSTAND IT”. I.e., the best solution (theoretical model) comes after some deep understanding of the problem. Would experimental-data clue the theorists in? If StringTheory indeed has been overworked (the claim there has been limited results over the years), then I think other models have been ignored (which is indeed a mistake). Linus Pauling’s answer to how he comes up with good Ideas comes to mind:

    “I try a LOT of ideas [ theoretical models ]”

    [ R. Feynman commented once that LP often failed in certain theories, but that “goes with the territory” in trying the “Shotgun Approach”. Eventually, you will get the “right theory”. Dr. Wolfgang Haken (proved the 4-color Theorem by computer with Dr. K. Appel) is working on Cosmology models (& is frustrated by the ill-conditioned nature of the problem..multiple solutions) told me:

    “If you haven’t made a great mistake, you haven’t been a Great Scientist! Even David Hilbert was wrong.”

    I.e., the great Scientists are pushing the Limits (“Go Hard..or GO HOME!”) & do indeed make discoveries..however, there is a trail of failures as well (which only reflects their “shotgun approach” effort ]

    What is your (& the field’s) view on the sample-set of theoretical-models that should be tried? Another thing: shouldn’t one try to create a new “model” for any given problem, rather than choose from an existing library of models (which were designed generically, or specifically for other problems)

    BTW, why aren’t you Honeymooning with your Husband (“I want to be attentive to your needs”)..blogging? It was clear after talking to Lubos Motl, that he doesn’t have a woman (otherwise why would he be at work @6:30pm talking to me, updating me for SUSY ’06 for over an hr.). When I met you @reception, I was going to suggest that you call him up & develop a relationship (possibly resulting in marriage). Lisa Randall even commented in one of the articles, that “researchers [ herself ] can become obsessive”.

    “Doing research..doing research 24 hrs a day”
    — Dr. Glenn Seaborg/Nobel Laureate (Chemistry)
    “From Student to Scientist”

  7. Stefan

    Dear Sean, Garrett, and JoAnne,

    thank you very much for the congratulations and the good wishes for our future!
    Indeed, there was wireless at the hotel where we had our reception Friday evening, and Sabine surprised me be showing me the photo on her blog, taken earlier that afternoon by her mother, before the wedding ceremony…

    And to think that just this morning she sent me a copy of her SUSY06 talk…

    Yeah, we were going through our greeting cards Saturday afternoon, when suddenly she remembered that she had promised to send a file to someone, and she switched on her notebook. I can live with that 🙂

    Why aren’t you Honeymooning with your Husband

    Our Honeymoon will be later this year, in America. Just now, it’s also Sabine’s annual stopover in Frankfurt, with time to see family, friends, and so on… Time can be quite short, then…

    I was going to suggest that you call him up & develop a relationship (possibly resulting in marriage)

    Too late, now ;-)… But that seems to be a quite crazy attitude anyhow, if you allow – love rarely works that way…

    Moreover, this is now perhaps enough of such personal things…

    Best regards,

    Stefan

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