>> why
The bald and not excessively bald and not excessively smart hamster
obeyed a terrified and not excessively terrified hamster.
>> why
To fool the tall good and smart system manager.
>> why
The rich rich and tall and good system manager suggested it.
>> why
He wanted it that way.
>> why
The programmer suggested it.
>> why
Barney suggested it.
>> why
To satisfy some programmer.
>> why
Damian wanted it that way.
>> why
Can you rephrase that?
>> why
Because Damian wanted it that way.
>> why
How should I know?
>> why
Because they asked the terrified and smart and tall and tall programmer.
>> why
To fool a young tall hamster.
>> why
For the love of a bald and terrified mathematician.
>> why
It's your karma.
>> why
Some terrified and rich system manager knew it was a good idea.
>> why
Don't you have something better to do?

Travels with Herodotus Ryszard Kapuściński
I’m halfway through it now, having held it in my list of books to read for over two years…and it’s a delight. The author writes about his experiences as a journalist on the international beat in communist-era Poland. But that’s not what Travels with Herodotus is really about, as you might guess from the title. At first glance you might think it’s a travel narrative punctuated with apt musings on selection from Herodotus’ Histories at strategic moments…but it turns out to be the other way around, philosophical introspection, deeply meaningful and moving, on the ancient Greek traveler’s tales, with snippets of Kapuściński’s own travel narratives interspersed throughout. Kapuściński dwells on the character of Herodotus, making him real, while exploring the only thing he left behind for us, his historical writings. And in doing so he finds deeper, universal truths about the nature of humanity and history. I highly recommend this.

But it’s sad.

Rock music is cool.

How did I start making my way through the vast ocean of rock music? With the Beatles, of course. “Paperback Writer,” “Yellow Submarine,” and “Norwegian Wood” were favorites, and “Eleanor Rigby,” too, for the string quartet. And so it rested.

My sophomore year of college I discovered Simon and Garfunkel. Even now, hearing “Bleecker Street” brings me back to my dumpy bedroom overlooking a courtyard full of snow at the apartment complex I lived in then. Okay, that doesn’t really sound like such a great memory, but I was happy listening to Simon and Garfunkel in my dumpy room, what can I say? I stuck safely with these two for a long time.

Last winter I discovered Zveri. Normally one doesn’t listen to Zveri unless one is Russian, 14 years old, and into boy bands, but I fell in love. And NOT with the lead singer (for crying out loud, I’m too old to have crushes on pop stars, not that I ever did back when it was excusable). Because I can’t speak Russian, their rather dopey lyrics don’t bother me, and I’m free to rock out unhampered by the clumsy turns of phrase that become so irritating in my native tongue. It was after this discovery that I began my (thus far unsuccessful) hunt for the English-speaking (singing?) Zveri. Actually I am embarassed by my passion for Zveri, partly because of the boy-band ethos, and partly because, except for a few songs, they really aren’t that good. But I like them too much to stop listening. It’s a guilty pleasure.

Finally making it mainstream I discovered Coldplay next, listening enraptured to X&Y during my 30-minute commutes, having selected that particular album because there was no waitlist at the library. On the one hand, I like smashing guitars and angry loud banging noises, but Coldplay is my comfort music. I actually own all four of their albums now, purchased secondhand at Half Price Books.

The explorations continue. I’m a big fan of U2, and I went through a Death Cab for Cutie obsession as well. Since I’m completely new to this type of music I am free to listen to whatever I feel like without feeling stupid. So what’s in my playlists now? Here’s just a sampling:

• Coldplay: “High Speed,” “Green Eyes,” “Til Kingdom Come,” “Viva La Vida,” “Strawberry Swing”
• Zveri: “Dozhdi-Pistolety” (Rain-guns), “Tramvai” (Tram), “Lapami Vverkh” (Paws up), “Napitki Pokrepche” (Stronger Drinks)
• The Killers: “Human,” “Goodnight, Travel Well”
• Travis: “The Last Laugh of the Laughter,” “Driftwood,” “Why Does it Always Rain on Me?”
• Death Cab for Cutie: “A Lack of Color”
• Guster: “Satellite”

And, finally, if you’d like to sample some of this, here are some links and videos (just click on the song title for the link):

Zveri – Tramvai

Travis – The Last Laugh

Death Cab for Cutie – A Lack of Color

Guster – Satellite

Coldplay – Til Kingdom Come

Frou Frou – Flicks

Coldplay – Strawberry Swing

As you can perhaps hear, I’m in a calm, contemplative mood these days. Not too long ago I was pounding away to the Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day…but there’s music for every mood!

I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Finals are through. Papers are written. Presentations are (nearly) past. Graduate school applications have not been completed. But they will be.

And I am going to have some FUN!!!!!!!!

The following is a list of things I want to do over Christmas vacation:

• Finish my Norwegian book.
• Pick a new language to learn.
• Read some awesome new books!
• Play lots of Civilization II (I have had this one game running since September, and I’m on track to do better than I’ve ever done in my life!).
• Learn to sight-read hymns on the piano.
• Solve the Rubik’s cube consistently in under a minute. (I’ve done it twice now!)
• Ignore the Internet as much as possible.

Merry Christmas, friends! I’ll be back.

The week of November 7 was not a fun week. In fact I can probably blame the tension of that week for this blog’s unintended death (I have other excuses for the weeks since then). That was when I learned how I should have been studying for that beast of a standardized exam all along. Unfortunately, it’s too late to wallow in regret. I don’t think I did that badly, but that remains to be seen. Time to move on, kick myself to write that “Statement of Purpose” and put together a CV for grad school applications, and hope admissions committees don’t notice my GRE score. Finally, I just want to put out there the things that were most helpful to me in studying for the physics GRE. If I had to do it all over again, how would I study? Here’s an approximate plan.

In the summertime (The GRE is in November, if you don’t know.)

• Read your general physics textbook. The GRE doesn’t cover really advanced topics, so you should worry more about getting the basics back. Memorize the important equations…and probably some of the unimportant ones. Maybe make a list. Put them on Post-It notes around your living space. Don’t let lack of memorization get in your way. Make sure to cover a bit of everything.
• Doing a practice run of the GRE will be a good motivator. The four old exams available can be found at the bottom of this page. I think I scored in the 400′s (out of 990) the first time through.

2 months in advance

• Pick one of the practice GRE tests, doesn’t matter which. Get a clean notebook. Open up to problem 1 and try to solve it. Then visit this site. See if you were right. If you weren’t, read carefully through the problem solution until you understand it. In your notebook, copy down the solution. Then write any equations involved in that problem that you would have to memorize, or any concepts used that would allow you shortcuts, and put a big box around them. Then go on to problem 2 and do the same thing. When you’ve gotten through all 100 of the test problems, you will have a notebook filled with most of the things you’ll need to know, and some great time-saving tricks. Study the things you’ve boxed in this notebook.
• Working assiduously, I got through one exam in a week in this manner. Unfortunately, I didn’t even think of this until 6 days pre-exam. That’s why you should give yourself a huge buffer time. I was studying for an E&M exam the day before the GRE. I think both suffered. In any case, if you start early enough, you should be able to get through ALL FOUR practice exams. These are the most useful resources you can get your hands on.

Exam day
Don’t panic, you’ll do fine.

Update: Scores are in, and I got a semi-respectable 670, which is in the 48th percentile. I’m seriously kicking myself for not following my own advice.

Created by OnePlusYou

Oh, and I should probably apologize for the horrible translation of the title. It sounded so much better in Norwegian.

Girl! Write your real choice!

Technology and science is still more or less a guys’ subject. But some girls go agains the flow. In the contest “Write your choice,” girls who have entered male-dominated science subjects are invited to say why.

“We want to find out more about who these girls are, what has inspired them to choose an education within technology and science, and how they think about a future as scientists,” explains Marianne Løken.

She is a fellow at the Natural Science Center, and the writing competition is a part of the data-gathering for her doctoral project about girls and science. The doctoral project is also a part of the greater research project Vilje-con-valg [not sure what that means].

Like most girls?

Fresh finds from Vilje-con-valg make up part of the background material for Løken’s project. Beforehand, Løken had a hypothesis that girls generally share values such as: doing something meaningful and useful to society, self-realization, cooperation, and well-being.

The hypothesis mostly agrees with the tendencies in the data material.

“It can seem that girls who choose science have more in common with other science girls than with the boys in the same study program. Are science girls like most girls – with the exception of their choosing to study science?”

Important knowledge

Løken wants to study this more closely through narrative analysis and follow-up interviews.

“This is knowledge that politicians and learning institutions need in order to develop good recruitment resources – to get more girls to choose science, to fulfill their studies, and to choose a scientific career path, within or outside of academia.”

“But it’s also about raising the knowledge level in society generally in order to work against long-lived myths and break through prejudices and stereotypical opinions about gender and science,” she says.

“This isn’t because biology girls are uninteresting, but because they are the majority. There has been good recruitment of girls into biology for many years. So far it has been difficult to recruit girls to math-heavy subjects like physics, chemistry, information technology, mathematics, engineering and civil engineering fields.”

“I’m curious as to what it is about girls that choose math-heavy subjects in higher education. What possibilities do these girls see, that other girls with equally good character and academic qualifications don’t see?”

Twisting the question

In Norway, six out of ten students are women. The growth of women in higher education began around 1960, and appears to be continuing. But this growth does not seem to hold for the sciences.

Researchers, educational institutions, and authorities have long asked the question “Why not?”, but the answers don’t seem to have helped the recruitment of girls to such fields.

“Maybe it’s time to ask other questions, look at girls’ choices in a little different light, dare to shift the meaning of gender, and listen to the girls’ own stories?” asks Løken.

“It’s not because science girls sit with all the answers, but because their histories and reflections over their choices can contribute to new questions. I can’t think of anyone better to defend their choices than the girls themselves!”

–Pål Flodin Andersen
Sunday, September 13, 2009

And here’s an interesting comment left by a reader, “Knut”:
In Norwegian schools, those with scientific talent learn that science is boring, unimportant, and a little challenging. This hits girls the hardest, since boys adapt in lesser degree to the school, and are more motivated by role models and parents. More boys in any case get compensated for the stimulation lacking at school, through free time interests like computers, programming, Lego, etc. My opinion is that if the cleverest got the chance to learn math in elementary school, the gender difference would become less.

What do you all think? I’m inclined to agree that by now, whatever is being done to get more girls into science isn’t working. And as the reader Knut stated, most of the damage is done in the early grades, while all the effort is directed at college-age students, way past when it should be. I’m all for more girls in science, but even more I’d love to see young kids get interested, boys or girls. In the end, it’s not about gender; it’s about science.

On the subject of physics:

• I am an utterly hapless child in a lab. Do not let me mess with your lasers. They will never again work the way you want them to. Also, I am inclined to break whatever it is you are measuring, or switch samples, and generally screw things up.
• Computers are fun. It was a joy to learn a bit of LabVIEW and make dorky little lab instruments, and I’d love to be involved in computer work in the future.
• I got to find out what areas of physic interest me the most. Plasma physics, solid-state physics, semiconductors, and even a bit of electrical engineering stuff caught my eye.
• Optics, however, is not for me. Yuck.
• The physics GRE is going to be a beast.
• On the other hand, knowing physics for research purposes and the kind of physics you learn for a test are two totally different animals. Given a choice, I’d take the former any day.
• I re-learned all the E&M I failed to learn in General Physics II due to coming down with mono.
• Really old physics books are fun to read, and anyway it’s nice to find more than one author’s explanation of any certain subject. Sometimes, they’re even humorous, heaven forbid!
• No one memorizes everything. That’s what physics books are for!
• Graduate students and sometimes even professors don’t always know what they’re talking about. Sometimes they’re wrong, or clueless, or break things. No one is perfect.
• German would be a useful second language for a physicist.
• I don’t know very much.
• And yet, I know more than I think I know. I can do more than I think I am capable of. Physics is fun.

Other things I learned:

• I can now play Mario Kart on Nintendo 64 with some level of success. I didn’t die too many times playing Super Smash Brothers or GoldenEye. I got halfway through Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, thanks to the expert guidance of some friends and a lot of little pink fairies. And it makes me glad I never played video games as a kid, because they are WAY more fun when you’re almost grown up. Seriously, these games are awesome.
• I learned the rules of ping-pong and a few nasty, devious tricks. Though I still can’t win.
• As a member of a 6-person cooking guild, I learned to cook normal food for normal people. Amazing!
• I discovered that I enjoy being able to make nerdy physics jokes and not be stared at as though I have 8 heads.
• Long-distance bus rides are not fun.
• According to one of the grad students, everyone who goes into science does so either for space or dinosaurs. ‘Twas definitely space for me.
• I’m tired of living on a hill.
• I enjoy playing the violin.
• Physicists are fun.

One final note: Now that my physics REU is over, I’m going to stop posting links to each new post on Facebook, but please do check back every so often if what I write interests you! Thanks.

Here’s a link to the article: http://www.forskning.no/artikler/2009/juni/223557

Not quite like other women

Siri Lindstad

Female physics students think they are different from “normal” or “traditional” women, according to researcher Anna T. Danielsson.

“Many of the female students I have interviewed set a boundary by ‘normal’ or ‘traditional’ women and say they aren’t like that. They are different.”

So says Anna T. Danielsson, who in her thesis looks at how one turns into a physicist.

“Lisa” is one of a handful of physics students whom physics pedagogue Anna T. Danielsson at Uppsala University has interviewed in connection with her doctoral thesis Doing Physics – Doing Gender.

Danielsson has researched how physics students and doctoral candidates relate to the identity of “physicist” and how they make that identity their own.

“Many of the female students I have interviewed set a boundary by ‘normal’ or ‘traditional’ women and say they aren’t like that. They are different. Therefore, they themselves can find a place within physics,” says Danielsson.

The fortress of objectivity

On the one hand, physics belongs to the fortress of objectivity, presumably entirely uninfluenced by social structures. On the other hand, physics is very much a male-dominated subject.  Thus a tension appears which Danielsson calls “the gender-charge of physics.” [“charge” here is the same word referring to electrical charge]

“Gender becomes in a way very visible in a discipline where the gender balance is so twisted. But at the same time one also makes gender visible in small ways. When I studied history, we even had our own course in ‘women’s history.’

“But within physics one thinks the subject is uninfluenced by social structures, such as gender, for example. There are few discussions at all of the subject at a higher level.”

Visible women

Danielsson herself, however, looks at the subject from both sides. She has a master’s degree directed toward experimental physics, at the same time as she has studied pedagogy on the side and worked as a teacher.

Furthermore, she has studied history at a basic level and is especially interested in physics history. Last, but not least, she has through participation in the student society taken notice of questions tied to the uneven gender balance in the subject.

“I really think these inter-disciplinary crossings are very exciting. In any case it is so that when one is a woman and studies physics, it is understandable to be interested in the gender perspective on the topic.”

“Women make up only 20 percent of the students, so we are very visible. But it can be difficult as a student to see the social structures, because this field indeed should be neutral, where the only thing that counts is how good one is at the subject,” she maintains.

A question of class

“Lisa” doesn’t just attribute her non-traditional choice of field to her being a non-traditional woman, but also that she began her studies late.

“She doesn’t think she could have made the same choice of study earlier. Now that she is more grown up and independent, and knows herself better. That way she can to a greater degree choose what she is actually interested in,” says Danielsson.

Because even if it was gender that was Danielsson’s initial angle, age and class also became central perspectives through the students’ stories.

“It is of course the interplay between gender, class, and age that is interesting. But while many of the boys look rather uncomprehending at questions surrounding gender and physics, class and physics was something many talked about.”

“For a couple of them it had to do with coming from a working class background and entering academia in general and physics specifically.”

Nail polish and hairspray

The laboratory environment, however, gives possibilities of different ways of doing physics, Danielsson points out.

“In the laboratory there is room to be handy and have an interest in tinkering and other practical work. It made it so that boys who otherwise didn’t necessarily feel at home in academia could likewise go a long way with the knowledge, skills, and interests they already had.”

“At the same time they realized that yes, laboratory work is important in physics. But it doesn’t give status, like the analytical part does.”

Simultaneously the attitude prevails in the physics field that women as a group have fewer experiences with tinkering – playing with a building set or car, and it is looked upon as a problem. Giving this experience to girls becomes then an element in the job of getting a better gender balance in the field.

“Another method of bringing more women in is trying to change the attitude in physics. In the recognized publication The Physics Teacher there was for example an article by a physics teacher who had developed what he thought were lessons for ‘the less able female students.’”

One of his recommendations was to focus on how nail polish, hairspray, and such things work, recounts Danielsson with a smile, before she continues:

“The problem with starting such programs is that one makes women even more distanced in relation to the physics field.”

Strong requirements

Danielsson is surprised most by what strict boundaries especially introductory students set for what a physicist is, and what strong ideas they had about what it is to be a physicist. Even at the doctorate level there were many who hesitated to call themselves “physicist.”

“One would think that this is an easily defined concept, that what should happen is for example that one has a master’s in physics. But through the interviews it became very obvious that many limits are put into place.”

“Physics stands out as a very status-laden subject where one should preferably have long experience, something that can make it difficult to identify with it. Some of those interviewed expressed that they don’t recognize themselves in how med students go on about “making” oneself into a physicist.”

“In any case there is also this excitement, especially at the introductory level, over how lab work actually deals with practical work or if it is more analytic and theoretical. Many believe that the concrete and practical is not really essential in physics, but others think it comprises the core of the field.”

Discussing the physics field

Continue these discussions, but this time in the classroom. This is Anna T. Danielsson’s advice to those recruiting more women to physics, and not least, getting them to stay there.

“One has to go deeper into the question of how the students look at themselves and at the field. And then one must educate more about physics, and not just physics in itself. The important thing shouldn’t be that the students understand the contents of the subject, but also the field’s conditions, history, philosophy, and culture.”

“The students themselves have a very individualized explanation model for their own careers, the only thing that plays any role is how competent they are in their field.”

“And even if many of them at one level can point out that there are structural obstacles, formed by for example gender or class, they still think that if one is smart enough, one will manage to overcome these obstacles.”

“Therefore, I think it will strengthen these students to gain other tools in order to see their own existence as physicists.”