October 25, 2006 - I just came back from a very interesting lecture on medical physics and brain diseases. I was amazed at the progress being made in that field, and it has made me seriously consider eventually retraining in medical physics. It was a very interesting seminar!
October 12, 2006 - With my defence and graduation coming up soon, I need to find a post-doctoral research position soon. Unfortunately I also still need to be near Victoria to tend to my parents, so I hope to find a position in Vancouver or Seattle. If anyone knows of anything like that, please let me know!
September 21, 2006 - It looks like the theory group is going to have some very interesting lectures and discussion groups this year. It is quite an improvement over when I started here!
September 3, 2006 - There has been an interesting advance in the study of dark matter in the last few weeks. A team of astronomers have determined that the luminous part of the bullet cluster has separated from the most massive part through the use of gravitational lensing. That strongly implies the existence of a dark matter halo, and therefore the existence of dark matter. The paper announcing it can be found here. Of course as with any discovery of this magnitude, there is immediately a rebuttal from the theory community, showing that some forms of modified gravity can do the same thing. That paper can be found here.
August 27, 2006 - In spite of my plans for the summer, it looks like I have to head back to classes now without taking any time off. All summer things kept happening...
April 22,2006 - It feels like I didn't get a long weekend at all this year - in order to finish my dissertation and my latest research paper I have been working sunrise to sunset every day. But at least I am closing in on graduation day.
April 13, 2006 - After many years of repairing and nursing along my old computer, I finally had to put it down. On the upside, I got a shiny new computer today (which I again built from components) and it has a lot more multi-coloured shiny lights on it!
April 12, 2006 - As I expected, the hospital system still won't provide any assistance with my parent's home care. The individuals at the meeting were empathic and did listen to my concerns, but ultimately the administration is cutting budgets everywhere and there is nothing that can be done.
April 4, 2006 - I will be away from my office for most of the day today with meetings. After seven years of trying to get some assistance with my parent's care, the hospital has finally agreed to discuss options. I don't have much hope, but at least they are finally talking!
March 29,2006 - At last the theory group at UVic is really getting active. We are getting good lecturers lately, and today there was even a graduate student meeting with the guest lecturer, noted theorist Lee Smolin.
March 21, 2006 - It looks like the new WMAP data that has been released only increases the evidence that we don't understand the Universe. The new data still indicates that over 95% of the energy in the Universe is in unknown forms - called dark matter and dark energy. The paper can be found here. This is a great time to be a theoretical physicist!
March 8, 2006 - I am quite disappointed today. Joe Polchinski was supposed to be giving a seminar on string theory on campus today, but for some reason it has been cancelled.
March 5, 2006 - I have finalized revisions of my last paper, and it has been accepted into Modern Physics Letters A for publication.
February 20, 2006 - As part of a research project, I just completed a three day crash course on FORTRAN-90 programming. I am not sure that it is used anymore, but some of the old programs I have been working with lately have not been converted to C or C++.
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