Psychology of Revenge

The New York Times has an article on how hard it for people to strike back at an offence in a appropriate way. By my reading it says that people are not perfectly empathic. People underestimate the pain they inflict compared to the pain the receive. I do not think this would be surprising to [...]

Big Physics Needs Big Trucks

The forward hadron calorimeter, called the HF, of the CMS detector is one of the smaller subdetectors. It is only 300 tons. The calorimeter arrived while was visiting. The photo below shows the HF and part of the team who built it.

This is the truck that brought it. Only half of the trailer is visible. [...]

Visiting CERN

I am at CERN, and I have spent the last three days getting a whirlwind tour of the detectors and the accelerator. Most of the detector components have been built and have arrived here for assembly. The number of people here has exploded as physicists from all over the world have arrived to install and [...]

Reducing Distractions When Working with Computers

This article by Jon Udell discusses the distractions that a multitasking computer can introduce.
Consider the effects of the graphical user interface. At hospital admitting desks, in accountants’ offices, and at video retail stores, I watch people perform tasks for which the desktop metaphor — with its cluttered surface and overlapping resizable windows — is at [...]

Odd Column on Global Warming

Robert Samuelson wrote an odd column on global warming today, which claims that recognizing warming is due to greenhouse gases is not useful to solving the problem. He claims that only technology will solve the problem.
The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral crusade when it’s really an engineering [...]