This sentence cracks me up: The first problem they encountered was that the sample was contaminated with a significant amount of californium, as making pure einsteinium in a usable quantity is extraordinarily challenging.
One of the most influential nuclear physicists of the 20th century, professor Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997) was a determined advocate for women in science and made enormous contributions to the physical sciences, altering modern physical theory forever.
During a career that spanned more than 40 years in a field dominated by men, Wu established herself as the authority on conducting precise and accurate research to test fundamental theories of physics.
Working on uranium enrichment and radiation detectors for the Manhattan Project during World War II, Wu made invaluable contributions to the experimental process of splitting and harnessing the power of the uranium atom, making possible the production of the world’s first atomic bomb.
The stamp art features a detailed portrait of Wu wearing a black-and-white high-collared traditional Chinese gown known as qipao. The illustration was first drawn in graphite, then rendered in egg tempera paint. The background was painted with the pigment lapis lazuli, a highly valued color historically used in artistic depictions of angels, nobility and the Virgin Mary.
Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with original art by Kam Mak.
The Chien-Shiung Wu stamp is being issued as a Forever stamp in panes of 20. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1‑ounce price.
The U.S. Postal Service will honor Professor Emerita Chien-Shiung Wu, one of the most influential nuclear physicists of the 20th century, with a commemorative Forever stamp.
News of the stamp is being shared with hashtags #ChienShiungWu and #ScientificWomen.
Who:
Kristin Seaver, chief retail and delivery officer and executive vice president, U.S. Postal Service
Jada Yuan, granddaughter of honoree and reporter for The Washington Post
Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics, Columbia University
When:
Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, at 11 a.m. EST
Where:
The virtual stamp event will be hosted on the U.S. Postal Service Facebook and Twitter pages.
Here is the story about how "Madame Wu" (that's how she's usually referred to) made her famous discovery by forgoing her Christmas vacation plans (though it's kind of more questionable whether these kinds of stories should be shared because one doesn't want to accidentally pressure the students into working overtime and create a bad lab culture). Her weak interaction experiment is really the precursor to a whole bunch of present-day experiments, including pretty much every experiment that I have worked on in neutrino physics.
Wu grew up in China, and after college, she did some work at Academia Sinica before moving to the US to pursue her PhD.
Point of interest 1: When the KMT fled China, they took with them many artifacts that probably would have been destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. Later, they built and re-established the National Palace Museum in Taiwan to house these artifacts. They also re-established institutes of scholarly work in Taiwan, including Academia Sinica. Today, Academia Sinica is the national academy of Taiwan (and I worked there for 2.5 years).
Point of interest 2: Wu intended to do her PhD in Xichigan, but she first made a stop in San Francisco and visited UC Berkeley. She decided to stay here and did her PhD with EO Lawrence and Emilio Segrè!
and yet, he passed the empire on to his son, Commodus, and broke the chain of "good'" emperors, arguably starting the decline of the Roman empire (at least in the west). So not so wise after all
i am reading this interesting book _Uneasy Street_ which interviews 50 NYC people that are wealthy but not ridiculously so. it is an interesting take on how wealthy people like to think of themselves as "normal", "hard working", "good people" and shy away from talking about privilege and what got them there.
Sherman upends images of wealthy people as invested only in accruing and displaying social advantages for themselves and their children. Instead, these liberal elites, who believe in diversity and meritocracy, feel conflicted about their position in a highly unequal society. They wish to be "normal," describing their consumption as reasonable and basic and comparing themselves to those who have more than they do rather than those with less. These New Yorkers also want to see themselves as hard workers who give back and raise children with good values, and they avoid talking about money.
1) sometimes i read the descriptions and say "wow, these people don't seem to get it, how their privilege helped them get ahead and have all this financial freedom" and i am much more OK w/ it and acknowledging of it and i live in fancy NYC suburb as well.
2) but sometimes an interviewee will say something like "i don't buy $5000 fancy watches like those Wall St fat cats" and i can imagine myself saying the same thing as a way to prove to myself that i have my priorities straight.
3) while i might not buy fancy watches, there are plenty of luxuries, big and small. that we can afford that makes me pause a second and think that my priorities are different but equally frivolous, as in a Italian carbon fiber road bike.
other things too .. but i dont want to explicitly talk about $$. it seems strange and self-serving, which i guess is part of the point
It's a lot more things like - I never had to worry about not having enough food to make it through the month or looking in my bank account and seeing a number bigger than the bills coming at the end of the month.
3 - did you get a pinarello? I really hate the way the forks have that negative rake - but there was a guy in my cycling group who bought a fully loaded F10 and man. Man. man.
i have a Wilier Trestina GTR. it is not quite entry level carbon, but it is nowhere near the top of the line either.
all Campy components and i recently got a set of carbon wheels that have been amazing too. there is a niceness to having something different than all the mass marketed bike, even if in the end the bikes are mostly all good at that price point.
it has been great. super fun to ride. i dont race, so it is all about being able to enjoy a nice long ride.
overall as healthy and in "good shape" as i have ever been if i look at endurance and power meter readings while riding my bike.
on the other hand, in the last few months i have been playing tennis for the first time in many years and i have been experiencing all sorts of new aches and pains in knee and heel and plantar fasciitis.
currently taking a break from tennis for a couple weeks so i can enjoy the ski trip to MT in a few weeks.
For the first time in a long time, I suddenly realized that I need a mental health day. Dropped nearly everything. Gonna do some physical therapy, do some meditation, and then finish up my taxes. In other words, I'm taking care of my body, my mentals, and my chicken.
I took 2 half days Monday & Tuesday. Wasn't feeling great, so I kept an eye on work email etc. but leaned into the fact that the old circuits weren't firing.
Just a general comment. There are so many cases of COVID now that when I see a celebrity posting on social media about testing positive for COVID, my first reaction is a cynical thought about if that's just some legal liability waiver for contact tracing purposes. [I guess I don't really understand how contact tracing is being done right now; it's likely very regionally diverse.]
There are contact tracing apps that use bluetooth to determine distance from someone that tested positive. It's all anonymous. All they know is that someone with a random ID was within bluetooth distance of someone else with a random ID. When you use the app all they do is push that you were near another random ID that had tested positive. Obviously it assume people that test positive let the app know so it can notify others that were detected nearby.
The ones in China don't do person to person (I think!) but they do block by block. So when a case pops up, anyone who has been in the vicinity of that block's app goes medium risk.
For those interested in the Clay Helton watch, it looks like their recruiting class includes a 5* defender, 9 4*s on defense, + 2 4*s on the defensive side that transferred in.
Oregon RB Cyrus Habibi-Likio (rising athletic Junior) puts Cal in his top 3 transfer targets. He went to HS about a mile away from 'furd. Oregon burned his freshman redshirt by playing him in six games for only 1 or 2 carries each game. As a sophomore, he was used in triple rotation with fellow sophomores CJ Verdell and Travis Dye. As a junior, he was relegated to a short-yardage back, so his stats took a hit. Frankly, I think Habibi Likio would be a welcome addition as we need a sturdy RB to take the pounding off of the injury-plagued CBJr. He has up to two years left of eligibility.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is setting up an office in Arlington as he transitions from his time in the White House.
“Pence announced Wednesday that the Office of the Former Vice President will handle correspondence, scheduling requests, public statements and official activities for him and his wife, Karen,” the Associated Press reported. “The office is located in Arlington, across the Potomac River from Washington.”
Pence previously lived in Arlington, most recently in the East Falls Church neighborhood, and his daughters attended Yorktown High School. Pence sold the home on 28th Street N. for $725,000 in 2012. Before that public records suggest that Pence, during his time in Congress, lived in homes along Military Road and in the Arlington Ridge neighborhood.
The AP reports that the Pences are currently living in Northern Virginia, but a more precise location was not given.
Last summer Pence dropped by the Trump re-election headquarters in Rosslyn, to visit campaign staff. The visit was criticized after Pence tweeted a photo showing dozens of maskless staffers gathered around him.
I think that is a good list. The only games I might add is SB I simply because it was the first one. As well as the Niners/Ravens SB XLVII. The Niners, Harbaugh, Kap were never the same after that loss.
As the saying goes, Health is wealth. My health is normal as of now which is all I can really ask for at this moment in time. It has been hard staying inside at home during college for this pandemic considering my parents are in the high risk categories so I'm just hopeful this mess ends sooner rather than later. I can like with myself getting covid had I gone to Santa Clara campus but I cannot live with myself putting my parents in danger over this, like no joke my mom would be absolutely toast if she got it so while it does get infuriating seeing all my friends at college across the country enjoying life, so hopefully it all pays out.
Some covid behaviors remind me of shooting guns in the air at New Year. It might not hurt anyone, but it certainly might, and the shooter may never find out and therefore not feel responsible.
Speaking of shooting guns in the air, I always wondered if anyone was hurt by the bullets when Keanu’s Johnny Utah emptied his pistol into the air when he didn’t have the stones to shoot Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi in Point Break...
I've heard this sentiment from many people--that they aren't as worried about themselves, but they wouldn't want to hurt the people around them. I get it and I appreciate it, but my feelings are a bit different--I don't want to hurt the people around me AND I don't want to get it myself!
I think it depends what range you are in, like in my range I'm 19 and healthy so I would feel relatively ok compared to others. Now does that mean I want to get it? Probably not but I definitely don't want to be the direct reason for 2 at risk people like my parents.
There's also a lot of non-death effects. A good friend of mine had it in April - she had to sleep sitting up for a month. and she still hasn't gotten most of her sense of smell and taste back.
there's also that and of course I wouldn't want that to happen to me but in terms of playing the odds I'd rather get it at campus and hopefully get antibodies to protect my parents as opposed to right now where its difficult to be cooped up in my home.
In case you like to look at photos of baked goods and vote on them (I don't have a cow in the race): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=subtleasianbaking&set=a.220129666470491
Discoveries at the Edge of the Periodic Table: First Ever Measurements of Einsteinium
https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/02/03/discoveries-at-the-edge-of-the-periodic-table-first-ever-measurements-of-einsteinium/
This sentence cracks me up: The first problem they encountered was that the sample was contaminated with a significant amount of californium, as making pure einsteinium in a usable quantity is extraordinarily challenging.
Nuclear Physicist Chien-Shiung Wu to be Honored on a U.S. Postal Service Commemorative Forever Stamp
https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2021/0201ma-nuclear-physicist-chien-shiung-wu-to-be-honored-on-forever-stamp.htm
One of the most influential nuclear physicists of the 20th century, professor Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997) was a determined advocate for women in science and made enormous contributions to the physical sciences, altering modern physical theory forever.
During a career that spanned more than 40 years in a field dominated by men, Wu established herself as the authority on conducting precise and accurate research to test fundamental theories of physics.
Working on uranium enrichment and radiation detectors for the Manhattan Project during World War II, Wu made invaluable contributions to the experimental process of splitting and harnessing the power of the uranium atom, making possible the production of the world’s first atomic bomb.
The stamp art features a detailed portrait of Wu wearing a black-and-white high-collared traditional Chinese gown known as qipao. The illustration was first drawn in graphite, then rendered in egg tempera paint. The background was painted with the pigment lapis lazuli, a highly valued color historically used in artistic depictions of angels, nobility and the Virgin Mary.
Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with original art by Kam Mak.
The Chien-Shiung Wu stamp is being issued as a Forever stamp in panes of 20. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1‑ounce price.
What:
The U.S. Postal Service will honor Professor Emerita Chien-Shiung Wu, one of the most influential nuclear physicists of the 20th century, with a commemorative Forever stamp.
News of the stamp is being shared with hashtags #ChienShiungWu and #ScientificWomen.
Who:
Kristin Seaver, chief retail and delivery officer and executive vice president, U.S. Postal Service
Jada Yuan, granddaughter of honoree and reporter for The Washington Post
Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics, Columbia University
When:
Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, at 11 a.m. EST
Where:
The virtual stamp event will be hosted on the U.S. Postal Service Facebook and Twitter pages.
For more information, visit usps.com/chienshiungwu.
Here is the story about how "Madame Wu" (that's how she's usually referred to) made her famous discovery by forgoing her Christmas vacation plans (though it's kind of more questionable whether these kinds of stories should be shared because one doesn't want to accidentally pressure the students into working overtime and create a bad lab culture). Her weak interaction experiment is really the precursor to a whole bunch of present-day experiments, including pretty much every experiment that I have worked on in neutrino physics.
https://gizmodo.com/madame-wu-and-the-holiday-experiment-that-changed-physi-1749319896
Wu grew up in China, and after college, she did some work at Academia Sinica before moving to the US to pursue her PhD.
Point of interest 1: When the KMT fled China, they took with them many artifacts that probably would have been destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. Later, they built and re-established the National Palace Museum in Taiwan to house these artifacts. They also re-established institutes of scholarly work in Taiwan, including Academia Sinica. Today, Academia Sinica is the national academy of Taiwan (and I worked there for 2.5 years).
Point of interest 2: Wu intended to do her PhD in Xichigan, but she first made a stop in San Francisco and visited UC Berkeley. She decided to stay here and did her PhD with EO Lawrence and Emilio Segrè!
I still have to loan you "Big Science" - it's about EO Lawrence (and others) & the Berkeley Lab.
I'd love to read it!
You're already a shill for it!
The responses in this thread:
https://twitter.com/meganmuircoyle/status/1356769961910308864?s=20
@meganmuircoyle: Reaction from my kids after explaining how sex works:
“You’ve done this THREE TIMES?”
Not counting practice! Practice is important.
I appreciate this explanation of "Traditional Chinese" vs "Simplified Chinese" writing systems: https://twitter.com/karissachen/status/1356844314068873218?s=20
When I'm in Taiwan and Hong Kong I return to being 90% illiterate instead of the 60% I am in Mainland China and Singapore
That was interesting. I have the feeling that I will never understand this situation as well as a native.
Wise
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
and yet, he passed the empire on to his son, Commodus, and broke the chain of "good'" emperors, arguably starting the decline of the Roman empire (at least in the west). So not so wise after all
I thought he passed it on to Russell Crowe, only to have Joaquin Phoenix steal it bc Connie Nielsen was too soft? ;-)
Yeah that was a big mistake.
Wealthy
i am reading this interesting book _Uneasy Street_ which interviews 50 NYC people that are wealthy but not ridiculously so. it is an interesting take on how wealthy people like to think of themselves as "normal", "hard working", "good people" and shy away from talking about privilege and what got them there.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34427004-uneasy-street
Sherman upends images of wealthy people as invested only in accruing and displaying social advantages for themselves and their children. Instead, these liberal elites, who believe in diversity and meritocracy, feel conflicted about their position in a highly unequal society. They wish to be "normal," describing their consumption as reasonable and basic and comparing themselves to those who have more than they do rather than those with less. These New Yorkers also want to see themselves as hard workers who give back and raise children with good values, and they avoid talking about money.
Amen.
the part i am conflicted about is
1) sometimes i read the descriptions and say "wow, these people don't seem to get it, how their privilege helped them get ahead and have all this financial freedom" and i am much more OK w/ it and acknowledging of it and i live in fancy NYC suburb as well.
2) but sometimes an interviewee will say something like "i don't buy $5000 fancy watches like those Wall St fat cats" and i can imagine myself saying the same thing as a way to prove to myself that i have my priorities straight.
3) while i might not buy fancy watches, there are plenty of luxuries, big and small. that we can afford that makes me pause a second and think that my priorities are different but equally frivolous, as in a Italian carbon fiber road bike.
other things too .. but i dont want to explicitly talk about $$. it seems strange and self-serving, which i guess is part of the point
It's a lot more things like - I never had to worry about not having enough food to make it through the month or looking in my bank account and seeing a number bigger than the bills coming at the end of the month.
3 - did you get a pinarello? I really hate the way the forks have that negative rake - but there was a guy in my cycling group who bought a fully loaded F10 and man. Man. man.
i have a Wilier Trestina GTR. it is not quite entry level carbon, but it is nowhere near the top of the line either.
all Campy components and i recently got a set of carbon wheels that have been amazing too. there is a niceness to having something different than all the mass marketed bike, even if in the end the bikes are mostly all good at that price point.
it has been great. super fun to ride. i dont race, so it is all about being able to enjoy a nice long ride.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HvkZShgFSt2bWHsW9
I think what they don’t see is that it isn’t the fancy watches or cars that make them seem out of touch.
It’s the crying about not getting into the “good” private elementary, middle or high school that cost as much as going to college.
It’s that they have the ability to spend more time with their kids and don’t have to work a second job.
It’s the ability to not really have the stress of not being able to afford to pay all your bills and buy groceries.
It isn’t about comparing yourself to the wealthiest links in our society but recognizing your privilege over the lowest links.
Am I out of touch? No no. it's the poors.
Healthy
overall as healthy and in "good shape" as i have ever been if i look at endurance and power meter readings while riding my bike.
on the other hand, in the last few months i have been playing tennis for the first time in many years and i have been experiencing all sorts of new aches and pains in knee and heel and plantar fasciitis.
currently taking a break from tennis for a couple weeks so i can enjoy the ski trip to MT in a few weeks.
For the first time in a long time, I suddenly realized that I need a mental health day. Dropped nearly everything. Gonna do some physical therapy, do some meditation, and then finish up my taxes. In other words, I'm taking care of my body, my mentals, and my chicken.
I took 2 half days Monday & Tuesday. Wasn't feeling great, so I kept an eye on work email etc. but leaned into the fact that the old circuits weren't firing.
More broadly I am in terrible physical shape. But nothing new there.
I love that finishing up your taxes is part of a mental health day
Seems contradictory...
Where does w4c fall in those categories?
The DBD is always #1.
Today in Covid
100 year old Capt. Tom Moore, who raised so much awareness and $s in Great Britain he was knighted, died due to Covid.
Just a general comment. There are so many cases of COVID now that when I see a celebrity posting on social media about testing positive for COVID, my first reaction is a cynical thought about if that's just some legal liability waiver for contact tracing purposes. [I guess I don't really understand how contact tracing is being done right now; it's likely very regionally diverse.]
There are contact tracing apps that use bluetooth to determine distance from someone that tested positive. It's all anonymous. All they know is that someone with a random ID was within bluetooth distance of someone else with a random ID. When you use the app all they do is push that you were near another random ID that had tested positive. Obviously it assume people that test positive let the app know so it can notify others that were detected nearby.
The ones in China don't do person to person (I think!) but they do block by block. So when a case pops up, anyone who has been in the vicinity of that block's app goes medium risk.
They're probably doing their own thing rather than using the bluetooth standard. They probably came out before bluetooth created their spec.
[I guess I don't really understand how contact tracing is being done right now]
Basically it's NOT being done.
I recommend turning this on: https://canotify.ca.gov/
It's largely been abandoned as a failure in these parts unless dealing with a quasi-bubbled group.
But that Indeed commercial on TV tells me that people are being hired as "contact tracers"!
Elsewhere in college
For those interested in the Clay Helton watch, it looks like their recruiting class includes a 5* defender, 9 4*s on defense, + 2 4*s on the defensive side that transferred in.
all to be squandered
InsideUSC's Scott Wolf talks down to Cal
https://insideusc.blog/2021/02/01/usc-hires-new-hype-video-producer-from-cal/
Ignoring everything that Scott Wolf publishes ever is a good rule of thumb
Scott Wolf is the local equivalent of Skip Bayless. Seeing the byline is sufficient to determine to bypass/delete.
I'm a sports fan that lives in Southern California and I've never even heard of this guy....
I think he used to be at the OC Register?
I recommend keeping it that way
Oregon RB Cyrus Habibi-Likio (rising athletic Junior) puts Cal in his top 3 transfer targets. He went to HS about a mile away from 'furd. Oregon burned his freshman redshirt by playing him in six games for only 1 or 2 carries each game. As a sophomore, he was used in triple rotation with fellow sophomores CJ Verdell and Travis Dye. As a junior, he was relegated to a short-yardage back, so his stats took a hit. Frankly, I think Habibi Likio would be a welcome addition as we need a sturdy RB to take the pounding off of the injury-plagued CBJr. He has up to two years left of eligibility.
https://twitter.com/cyri3e/status/1356814070721126400
i think he announced for Boise already
Dang. That was fast.
Lots of times, all the conversations have already happened, and the entering the transfer portal is just a formality.
Yep
Then why put Cal if he was going to Boise State anyway???
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
I may have a new neighbor.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is setting up an office in Arlington as he transitions from his time in the White House.
“Pence announced Wednesday that the Office of the Former Vice President will handle correspondence, scheduling requests, public statements and official activities for him and his wife, Karen,” the Associated Press reported. “The office is located in Arlington, across the Potomac River from Washington.”
Pence previously lived in Arlington, most recently in the East Falls Church neighborhood, and his daughters attended Yorktown High School. Pence sold the home on 28th Street N. for $725,000 in 2012. Before that public records suggest that Pence, during his time in Congress, lived in homes along Military Road and in the Arlington Ridge neighborhood.
The AP reports that the Pences are currently living in Northern Virginia, but a more precise location was not given.
Last summer Pence dropped by the Trump re-election headquarters in Rosslyn, to visit campaign staff. The visit was criticized after Pence tweeted a photo showing dozens of maskless staffers gathered around him.
PRO
JFC. Passan writes about a Giant's minor leaguer with depression.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30800732
Ten Most Consequential Super Bowls of All Time
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/10-most-consequential-super-bowls-of-all-time-revised-look-at-games-that-altered-history/
I think that is a good list. The only games I might add is SB I simply because it was the first one. As well as the Niners/Ravens SB XLVII. The Niners, Harbaugh, Kap were never the same after that loss.
CAL
Go Bears!
As the saying goes, Health is wealth. My health is normal as of now which is all I can really ask for at this moment in time. It has been hard staying inside at home during college for this pandemic considering my parents are in the high risk categories so I'm just hopeful this mess ends sooner rather than later. I can like with myself getting covid had I gone to Santa Clara campus but I cannot live with myself putting my parents in danger over this, like no joke my mom would be absolutely toast if she got it so while it does get infuriating seeing all my friends at college across the country enjoying life, so hopefully it all pays out.
Some covid behaviors remind me of shooting guns in the air at New Year. It might not hurt anyone, but it certainly might, and the shooter may never find out and therefore not feel responsible.
Speaking of shooting guns in the air, I always wondered if anyone was hurt by the bullets when Keanu’s Johnny Utah emptied his pistol into the air when he didn’t have the stones to shoot Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi in Point Break...
At least that was a very uncrowded place. I have a collection of about 40 bullets I've gathered over the years from the roof.
what about the other 999,960 that you shot from your roof?
From your roof, I assume. Where do you live? That seems like a lot.
It's a big roof (38,000 sq. ft.) over many years.
38,000 sq ft roof?!?! That’s a huge house.
Yowza....
Good comparable.
*live with
I've heard this sentiment from many people--that they aren't as worried about themselves, but they wouldn't want to hurt the people around them. I get it and I appreciate it, but my feelings are a bit different--I don't want to hurt the people around me AND I don't want to get it myself!
No 1 didn't fly back for Christmas because he didn't want to get it during traveling and give it to his grandmothers. One is 86 and the other is 80.
good decision
I think it depends what range you are in, like in my range I'm 19 and healthy so I would feel relatively ok compared to others. Now does that mean I want to get it? Probably not but I definitely don't want to be the direct reason for 2 at risk people like my parents.
There's also a lot of non-death effects. A good friend of mine had it in April - she had to sleep sitting up for a month. and she still hasn't gotten most of her sense of smell and taste back.
there's also that and of course I wouldn't want that to happen to me but in terms of playing the odds I'd rather get it at campus and hopefully get antibodies to protect my parents as opposed to right now where its difficult to be cooped up in my home.