Mark Thoma's Other Blog

Economist's View

My economics weblog is here:  Economist's View

Part of My Garden

Hiking at the Dunes

My Students

John is first from the left, Sean is third.

Derrick Thoma: Senior Enologist

An email sent to empoyees at King Estate Winery, where my son Derrick works (his first job out of college):

...Derrick Thoma also joined us in the summer of 2008 and worked as Lab Intern for the 2008 vintage. After the lab internship the production team was quick to recognize that he was a nice asset and we wanted to keep him around. So the very next vintage we decide to try him out in the cellar. Derrick performed and soon advanced his role to Enologist. I am honored to report that Derricks’ diligence, positive attitude, and hard work have him entering into a new position, Senior Enologist here at KE!  Derrick has the perfect combination of a strong chemistry background and an enthusiasm for wine that indicates to me an incredible potential for winemaking in the future.

Derrick keep up your incredible development – you are already a leader in the cellar and one of King Estate’s most loyal ambassadors. Kudos to you on your rapid progress here. ...

I couldn't resist bragging. I'm pretty lucky -- all of my kids are doing really well.

The View from the Hyatt on The Avenue of the Stars

The View from My Window

Bretton Woods, NH

Last Week's View from My Window

Kansas City

A Bit of Snow Today

The View from My Window

They Kept Muttering About Getting Even for Thanksgiving

A couple of the visitors I had yesterday

A Stroll through the Streets of New York

Long walk today. For those who know the area, after walking to Wall Street, I headed back to my hotel across the street from where they are constructing the new World Trade Center towers, then walked to Central Park via Broadway. I came back via 5th Avenue, Thompson, and then Church Street (for those who don't know the area, here's a map). It was rainy, cold, and generally miserable weather, but still worth it. Here's a few (iPhone) pictures I took along the way:

The View from My Window

World Trade Center construction (click on the picture for a slightly clearer version). One tower is up to 55 stories, but it's too dark to show up in a picture -- I'll try again when it's light (the room came with ear plugs as the contruction is noisy -- stayed here becasue it's close to the NY Fed where I'm attending a conference in the morning).

Burns Night for the Economics Department

I am so glad I was taking the picture instead of being in it.

What's That Yellow Thing in the Sky?

It was actually kinda sorta nice today. In January. In Eugene. Wow.

Kid at Work

Amy at "our GIANT press conference."
[This is the day after Carly Fiorina was released from the hospital.]

Frantic Remote Control Button Pushing

Larry King interviewing Ben Stein. I couldn't change the channel fast enough.

The Purpose of a Dissertation Defense

The real purpose of a Ph.D. dissertation defense is to ensure that three people will actually read it.

Email Repellent

When someone gets angry about something on the blog and begins sending me email after email, hitting reply and writing the following in the subject works way better than I would have guessed:

Notice: This email address has been blocked - email was not delivered to addressee

I had to do it a second time in one case, but every other time once was enough.

Moral Hazard

I managed to trash the screen to my laptop today. It turns out that it doesn't like to have objects in the way when you shut it:

(The background is a picture of part of my backyard)

I'd like to be upset, but it's usable with an external monitor, it can be fixed, and best of all, it may be just the excuse I need to get a new one.

Missed Connections

At my class reunion, I found out that the pilot of the Northwest Airlines flight that made news when it flew 150 miles past the Minneapolis airport where it was supposed to land was someone I knew pretty well in junior high school.

By Ferries

Blocked

I got blocked from using the Internet at the first motel I stayed at on this trip.

Apparently, if you try to open way, way, way, way, way too many tabs in a browser, open an e-mail program at the same time, then open a feed reader looking at several hundred feeds, the surge in traffic in the system generates an automatic block.

I called the tech people and got unblocked, but then it happened again right away and I gave up. iPhone tethering saved the day.

Lost and Not Found

I somehow lost the packet of Ph.D. core exams that I need for our meeting later today. That's not good. Not good at all. I've retraced my steps several times and can't find them. I sure hope I left them at home. Grrr.

Truth in Advertising

Ron Paul says he has to hide his true intentions from voters -- he can't be forthright about his desire to cut government programs -- in order to win the election:

“After the primary, I really wanted to jump right into the national debate,” he says. His civil-rights remarks, he admits, “have made doing that a little more difficult.” However, “No one [in the GOP] is forcing me to do anything. I do exactly what I want, but I am also realistic about what it takes to run a campaign and get elected.” For instance, instead of calling for the elimination of many federal departments — as his father, Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican congressman and former presidential candidate, regularly does — Paul says he is trying to “nibble around the edges,” to “not be the person who says he will eliminate every department in the federal government. My dad freely will say that, that he would eliminate at least half of the departments, but he is just more forthright.”

Candidates don't usually admit that they have to mislead people about their beliefs and intentions to have a chance of winning.

"Proton Smaller Than Thought—May Rewrite Laws of Physics"

If this holds up, I wonder if physicists will become more humble about their abilities. But I already know the answer:

Proton Smaller Than Thought—May Rewrite Laws of Physics, by Kate Ravilious, National Geographic News: All atoms are made up of nuclei orbited by electrons. The nuclei, in turn, are made of neutrons and protons, which are themselves made of particles called quarks.

For years the accepted value for the radius of a proton has been 0.8768 femtometers, where a femtometer equals one quadrillionth of a meter.

The size of a proton is an essential value in equations that make up the 60-year-old theory of quantum electrodynamics, a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics. The Standard Model describes how all forces, except gravity, affect subatomic particles.

But the proton's current value is accurate only by plus or minus one percent—which isn't accurate enough for quantum electrodynamics, or QED, theory to work perfectly. So physicists have been searching for ways to refine the number.

In a ten-year experiment, a team led by Randolf Pohl of the Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany, used a specialized particle accelerator... The team knew that firing a laser at the atom before the muon decays should excite the muon, causing it to move to a higher energy level—a higher orbit around the proton. The muon should then release the extra energy as x-rays and move to a lower energy level.

The distance between these energy levels is determined by the size of the proton, which in turn dictates the frequency of the emitted x-rays. But based on the accepted proton radius, the experiment failed to produce x-rays at the anticipated frequency.

In the summer of 2009 the team decided to widen their search to include other possible proton sizes. To their astonishment, the scientists detected x-rays at an assumed proton radius of 0.8418 femtometers—4 percent smaller than expected.

"We were totally surprised and don't have any explanation for it currently," Antognini said. The proton finding won't impact most people's daily lives. But if it proves correct, it means something fundamental is wrong in particle physics. ...

Over the coming weeks physicists all over the world will be scrutinizing the experimental setup and complex calculations, making sure that there are no mistakes. Assuming no errors are found, the scientists may have to get to work rebuilding the Standard Model.