Less; “Today I stubbed my toe, and then I saw a red chair. Here’s a picture”.

However, more fundamental than the absence of dissipation is the behavior of superfluids under rotation.

It started with that Molasses thingy(a English flavour favorite?), and of course, my mind was getting lost on the “viscosity revelations,” about the experiemental result “quark Gluon plasma,” and the strange effects attributed to superfluids that were occuring.

You got to remember I think, that scientists can be very creative too?:)

I think you were on course with posts about making ice cream with liquid oxygen, etc. Perhaps you just want to get away from abstract physics a bit when blogging? You don’t want every post you write to be about branes and the final theory, but to include stuff more down to earth?

`Surely you’re joking Mr. Feymann‘ realizes that many truly great physicists are insanely curious about the world and are intent in living life to its fullest. In fact, I would have to say that is the most common trait amongst all the physicists I know.

Some of Feynman’s colleagues thought he might have accomplished more if he had been less of a show-off and dilettante, though of course he did accomplish a lot.

Hopefully after everything has been worked out you will be able to come back at full capacity as I really did enjoy many of your posts.

I understand that in any joint endeavour there has to be a measure of consensus, so maybe the bloggers could hammer out a joint policy behind the scenes and everyone would know what the guidelines are.

I realise my post wasn’t very clear. Firstly, I meant specifically string theorists, not physicists in general. But also, and I’m not sure how to explain this, Clifford’s wider interest is different from for example Feynman’s. Perhaps it is just that I can relate to the way Clifford seems to view the world in a way that I can’t to Feynman and so the fact that Feynman wasn’t narrowly focussed on physics doesn’t make me any more comfortable with ‘becoming a string theorist’, whereas Clifford’s wider view does.

Your gut feeling is correct–it *is* neccessary to be obsessed and focused to get somewhere in physics. The people on this blog are not, and have way too much time on their hands. As a result I guarantee that none of them will lead the way to the next important advance in physics. There is an excellent reason why none of the really top people blog–you don’t see Witten, Seiberg, Polchinski, Vafa or Maldacena talking about their gardens and poems. I think this blog is a real dis-service to the public, misrepresenting physicists as little yuppies who jet around the world to schmooze with their buddies and hang out in jazz clubs. Far from it–the relevant people are brilliant and ridiculously focused, doing physics almost all the time, as they have been for centuries, from newton to einstein to heisenberg, dirac, feynman and weinberg. CV try to show the public that “scientists are normal too”–which is both condescending and completely false. Important scientists are far far far from normal, and that is what makes them great, compellng and fascinating characters.

*Tinfoil hats are no defense.

I have enjoyed your brand of ‘cutting-hedge’ physics posts, I think it has made this blog into a very nice mix of posts. I do hope you will not change your posting style too much as, for the record, I would miss it very much. It seems plenty of other would too. Also for the record, I do not find it at all hard to scroll past posts that do not interest me.

I think you and your colleagues have created a very nice blog with a surprising mix of technical content and social content. I think it works very well and think you, and your colleagues deserve congratulations and thanks.

Best wishes,
Paul

If Cliff would post only once a day I think that would go a long way towards keeping the group blog feel. Of course, it would be nice to hear more from Risa and Joanne if they can be convinced to put more time into it.

I certainly don’t want Clifford to disappear from the face of this blog — even for a limited period. He does a huge amount to keep the blog fresh, but maybe he could turn down the intensity a little?

As someone considering ‘becoming an academic’ (subject to getting a job…etc) I found Cliffford’s posts very cheering because they show that it’s possible to be a professional string theorist while being genuinely interested in the rest of the world. Most physicists that I’ve met are narrowly focussed on their research and perhaps a few hobbies, but without any wider interest. I was beginning to wonder whether being this narrowly focussed was necessary to get anywhere in string theory!

So it seems to me that Clifford’s non-science posts actually serve the very useful scientific purpose of keeping people in the field.

Hope to read you soon!

Clifford, CV seems to me like it has been becoming more and more a “vanity” blog. You are ABSOLUTELY right about people being free to choose how they spend their time, so I’ve only been accessing CV through Mixed States, skipping things I feel not worth my time. That being said, I’d say it’s high time indeed for you to take follow the fine example of a number of other popular bloggers about the web — post here “on topic” (whatever that means…), and be the star in your own domain. Then you get to pick another witty title!