The democratic national convention has now officially nominated Obama as the democratic nominee for POTUS. Earlier in the week Willie Nelson performed. Tonight Vanity Fair and Google throw a shindig. As it happens, I could have finagled to hang out with Willie Nelson backstage. And it is not inconceivable that I could have swung an invite to the VF/Google party. (A long complicated story involving poker, kiteboarding, and an indolent brother). So, you may be asking yourself, am I now in Denver hanging out with all the politicos? Actually, no. I’m sitting in Waimea, Hawai’i. For years I have been wanting to go observing, but for some reason observers are hesitant to allow theorists to play with their $300M toys. But why should Julianne have all the fun?
Alison Coil and Ben Weiner have been kind enough to let me tag along on one of their observing runs. We’re looking at outflows from post-starburst galaxies at high redshift. We’d like to understand whether winds from starbursts or AGNs might have inhibited subsequent star formation. (More details in a future post.) We’ll be using the Keck observatory on Mauna Kea, arguably the world’s premier (Earthbound) telescopes. Our nights were allocated months ago. Apparently this is not the sort of thing you can switch at the last minute because you want to go to a party. Even a Google party.
So a difficult choice had to be made. After much soul-searching, science won out. Instead of socializing with movie stars and shaking Obama’s hand (again), I’ll be standing on a 4200 meter summit in the middle of the Pacific.
August 28th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Not much of a choice there, Mauna Kea or convention antics? Enjoy your visit to the Mountain.
If I see you in the dining room at Hale Pohaku, I will have to wander over and say hi!
August 28th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Sorry for this interjection, Daniel, but I must draw attention to this sad article in Wired about the final demise of basic research at Bell Labs (now owned by Alcatel-Lucent). I guess a post on this topic would have to be called “The triumph of business over science”.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
PS: I should have said “demise of fundamental physics research”. Someone more informed than I will have to comment on the current status of all basic research at Bell Labs. I don’t imagine it’s all that good.
August 28th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
You’re in Waimea (observing remotely), so I imagine you won’t be standing on the 4200 meter summit, right?
In that case, if I were you, I would have chosen the Google party…
August 28th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Wow, you could have hung out with Willie Nelson, and you passed up *that* once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? You could have told your grandchildren, “Hey kids, I associated with the man who was then the Least Cool Living Human!!”
August 29th, 2008 at 9:01 am
[...] The triumph of science over politics [...]
August 29th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Brian, I did spend some time up on the summit yesterday! Even helped setup the newly-aluminized tertiary mirror for Keck 2 (though I’m observing with Keck 1). But, yes, we’re observing from Waimea. Andrew, I was up at Hale Pohaku yesterday, but am now down in Waimea. Maybe next visit?
August 29th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Remember to keep breathing deeply. Atmospheric pressure there is about half that at near-by sea level. You can’t cook food by boiling it up there, legend says raw eggs in the shell will explode, if you try to sleep you will wake up gasping for air, stuff like that… But without a doubt, its all worth it. Good choice.
August 29th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I would love to see more scientists involved in politics as candidates…
I think we would get better policy out of them than ex soldiers or former business execs…
Scientists of the World Unite!!!
September 1st, 2008 at 3:23 am
i know i’ve posted this link before on this forum, but it’s the one political bit of info that directly states a candidates intent towards science so…
http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=40