November 5, 2013 - In response to the requests of some former students of mine, I will be offering a couple of group tutorial sessions in physics and mathematics over the reading break next week. I (probably) won't be offering individual tutoring this year as I have a very busy schedule with other work right now. Contact me if you wish to join the group sessions. (UPDATE: Due to the number of requests, I have added another session this month, but once that is full, that is it for the mid-term season.)
November 1, 2013 - It has just been announced that the University of Victoria (my old alma mater) has been name the top comprehensive university in Canada once again. Congratulations!!
October 31, 2013 - HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
October 26, 2013 - With the arrival of Halloween next week, I have once again had inquiries into my pumpkin artwork and photography. For those who are interested, two great sources of patterns and templates are PumpkinGlow and Zombie Pumpkins. I have had a lot of success in past years with their designs (interested viewers can see my own artwork from 2001-2005,2005-2011, and 2012-2013. Some, but not all, of these are based on Zombie designs).
October 22, 2013 - Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration of Open Access to Sciences and Humanities. This was an international agreement declaring that the signatories would respect the right of all people to view scientific research and work in the humanities without barriers and obstacles, and together with the internet marked a true advancement in the development of human knowledge.
October 16, 2013 - For those who are interested in physics and not living in Switzerland near the LHC, the lectures from the CERN Open Days events are now available online, located here. Most of the lectures relate to particle physics, but there are also some great lectures on cosmology, medicine, anthropology, and computer science.
October 13, 2013 - Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and family. May you spend it with your family, or better yet with loved ones :)
October 8, 2013 - In a surprise to no one, the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert for the development of the Higgs model and prediction of the Higgs boson. Physicists searched for it for nearly five decades before the LHC confirmed its existence in 2012. Congratulations to them both, (and to the all of the other Higgs pioneers who can bask in reflected glories)!
October 1, 2013 - There is a video circulating of the University of Western Australia convocation ceremony speech by Tim Minchin. I have been to a few ceremonies, and this is one of the better addresses I have heard. It is worth a listen. The video is here and the transcript is here.
September 22, 2013 - Congratulations to my friends on the Arduvark project for successfully crowdfunding enough to being producing their prototype. I eagerly look forward to seeing it rolled out.
September 13, 2013 - Great news today for physics students everywhere - the legendary Feynman Lectures on Physics have now been released for free access on the internet! They can be viewed in glorious HTML at http://feynmanlectures.info/flp.html
September 12, 2013 - Today is the day when the annual Ig Nobel prizes are announced. Although often mocked and ridiculed for the bizarre nature of their research, much of the work celebrated by the Ig Nobels does have legitimate scientific value - and some is just silly. In either case, the ceremony announcing the winners will be broadcast over the internet at http://www.improbable.com/ig/2013/.
September 9, 2013 - Congratulations to my friend Rob and Mike for their successful crowdfunding campaign which ended this week. They have raised enough money to develop a prototype for their emergency rescue robot. Their idea is to build a remote operated vehicle that is affordable for smaller communities, which can go into collapsed building or fires and provide aid to victims. Now they have the funding, and just need to make it a reality.
September 7, 2013 - It is World Beard Day!! (A fact I admittedly would never have known had I not just seen a comment from the king of the bearded ones, Brian Blessed)
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