A Buzzcock Conjecture

Just give me an excuse to make music-lyric (or certain other pop culture) jokes — any excuse at all.

You can also take a look on Twitter.

RIP Carrie Fisher (1956–2016)

It's gotten a bit ridiculous how many iconic people (especially 1980s icons and people who are way too young to go) who we've lost this year. (George Michael died just two days ago, for example, and the list was already long before that.) And now we add Carrie Fisher (best known as portraying Princess Leia in the Star Wars films) to the list. She died today after suffering a heart attack on a flight four days ago.

Last week, I arrange plans to (finally) see Rogue One today, and it feels very weird to be seeing it on the day that Princess Leia has died.

Update (12/28/16): And one day later, her mother (actress Debbie Reynolds) died of a stroke. Ugh.

A Magical Land Called the 70s

Tonight, at dinner, I accidentally invented a new euphemism for death: "He went to a magical land called the 70s."

(I needed to think quickly when a child asked me a question following something I was discussing with another adult, and that was what I came up with. A couple of us had been talking about our grandfathers.)

Santa Barbara Physics, Entrepreneurship, Paranormal Activity, and Music in "The Long 1970s"

The September 2013 issue of Physics Today has a very cool article on a few Santa Barbara physicists in "the long 1970s", with a surprise guest appearance by the band Toad The Wet Sprocket.