(1.18) Before there was iPod, there was . . . Compaq Personal Jukebox! The PJB was the first hard-disk-based MP3 player made available on the market. This picture is from the “Interesting Items” section at the Rhode Island Computer Museum website. Good stuff. The Providence Geeks will be holding the first Geek Dinner of 2017 […]
(1.14) Tickets are still available for an evening with John Cleese (seen here on the right) this Saturday at PPAC. First there will be a screening of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” followed by a conversation, and audience Q&A, with John Cleese. I personally would never be able to ask Mr. Cleese (rhymes with
Congratulations to Professor J. Michael Kosterlitz for winning the Nobel Prize in Physics, for “theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter.” Colleagues and well-wishers at Brown University spoke with the modest professor today; he is currently on sabbatical in Finland. He said the phone call from the Nobel committee came as
(9.16) Theoretical physicist Katherine Freese will deliver a lecture titled “The Dark Side of the Universe.” Freese — author of “The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter” — will recount the hunt for dark matter from the discoveries of visionary scientists like Knut Lundmark and Fritz Zwicky, the astronomers who coined the term “dark matter”
Dark Matter, Where The Hell Is This Stuff — Lecture At Brown Read More »
We expect this regressive thinking from the Republican party, but for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to still be treating “atheist” as a pejorative term in 2016 is downright depressing. (NYT 7.22.16) This is why atheists need to speak up, use the word casually in conversation, and normalize the concept. Because if we ever needed
You think you’re so smart? Head over to Pizza J Wednesday nights when ‘Geeks Who Drink RI’ test your trivia knowledge at the weekly pub quiz. (Facebook event page.) Join Quizmaster Jonpaul for eight rounds of Geeks Who Drink pub quiz. Things academic, pop, and everywhere in between. Eat the signature pizzas and sandwiches, and
(4.20) Gunther Uhlmann may or may not be in this photograph. Mathematician Gunther Uhlmann will deliver a lecture titled “Inverse Problems and Harry Potter’s Cloak,” sponsored by the Institute for Computational Experimental Research in Mathematics. The idea of invisibility has been a subject of fascination since Greek mythology. Uhlmann will discuss several problems associated with
This seems to be the proper term for explosives in the realm of scientific research. It’s never good news when URI professor Jimmie Oxley is being interviewed on television, still it is worth noting that the energetic materials experts in the chemistry department at URI have long been the go-to source for national news outlets
The untimely death of Cool Moose Party founder Robert J. Healey Jr. has blown a hole in the fabric of Rhode Island politics. Brilliant, funny, and an overflowing tank of good sense, Healey’s perspective will be sorely missed. And it was a testament to the genuinely high regard enjoyed by this perennial candidate that as
(3.16) Temple Grandin, world renown autism spokesperson and consultant to the livestock industry, will speak Wednesday at 11:35am as part of the Johnson & Wales “Cultural Life Series.” With the help of a determined mother, Grandin overcame an early diagnosis of autism, going to college and ultimately earning a doctoral degree in animal science from
For many Patriots fans the highlight of the AFC championship game was the TurboTax ad featuring a local yokel. And yes, Michael L. Littman is a bona fide professor of computer science at Brown University. Of course if you are into cross-language information retrieval and predictive representations of state you knew this already. His wiki
A special Sherlock episode will premiere this Friday, January 1st, on PBS, followed by a two-day theatrical release at the Providence Place Mall on January 5th and 6th. ‘Masterpiece’ and PBS today announced that Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, a 90-minute special, will premiere Friday, January 1, 2016, on ‘Masterpiece Mystery!’ on PBS at 9:00pm ET,
(11.2) And what better way to celebrate Bat Week than with this image of a bat wake taken over at Brown University’s Breuer Lab, part of the Aeromechanics and Evolutionary Morphology Lab. Somewhere in the BioMed Building an eclectic team of undergrads, grad students, post-docs, and visiting scientists are flying bats through wind tunnels and
(10.23) The crown could be yours but the star of the night will be beloved Beemaster Matthew Lawrence who announced earlier this year that he was winding down operations at Not About the Buildings and would be holding one final spelling bee for local beer-loving orthographers. (It must be noted that bee finalists are never
And it’s a good one because it reflects well on all of us. According to The Wichita Eagle, The most-followed Democratic presidential candidate has the least grammatically correct Facebook supporters, according to a new online study from Grammarly. Hillary Clinton’s supporters made the most grammatical mistakes, while supporters of Lincoln Chafee, the former governor of
On this date 25 years ago the Hubble telescope was launched into orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery and it has been beaming back this spectacular van art ever since, although a minor repair had to be performed first. “Hubble’s primary mirror, polished so carefully and lovingly over the course of a full year, had