climate change activist and science communicator; photographer; mapmaker — advocate for a stable global climate, reduced nuclear weapon risks, and safe human-AI interaction
Generally musings of the day, usually accompanied by a photograph
Sunset times for London, UK (51° 34′ N, 0° 7′ W) for the 25th of each month between December 2006 and August 2007. (Y-axis reversed)
I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I prefer to experience Mie Scattering well after 7:00pm, as well as more than twelve hours of Rayleigh Scattering each day, if possible.
Without a doubt, this was the first Christmas Eve in which I:
All told, it was almost infinitely better than last year’s experience of sitting alone at my computer in Wadham College. Many thanks to Antonia’s brother Fraser: for teaching me about contact juggling, winning graciously at pool, and generally making the evening far more social than it would otherwise have been.
These photos are in addition to those that have already been posted on Photo.net and Facebook.
Goreme at night, taken while out stargazing with Ivanka.
Ussuf, the young man who beat me at basketball.
Ivanka and the special education teacher, with ping pong rackets.
Raki and backgammon.
Blue Mosque and other buildings.
To all my friends who I did not have the chance to send a Turkish postcard / Christmas card, I hope the holidays find you healthy, happy, and in the company of those who you care about. Thinking about friends and family members all around the world, I am reminded of how lucky I have been to meet such a diverse, fascinating, and caring group of people.
While the time since my return from Istanbul has certainly not been as productive as I might have hoped, I am optimistic that the sheer terror evoked by fast-approaching deadlines will soon have me churning through pages and hammering out paragraphs. As they say: “A graduate student is a device that converts coffee into research papers.”
Given that I have no plans whatsoever for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (aside from a short reception with the Warden’s family in Wadham on the 25th), I am looking for something interesting to do in Oxford during that period, aside from making calls through Skype to as many scattered friends as I can come up with phone numbers for. People have suggested to me that there are probably concerts ongoing, as well as curious and uniquely British forms of theatre. Last year, I just sat around as one of the two isolated residents of the college.
Does anyone know of anything interesting – and preferably distinctive to Oxford – that is happening on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? It would be a shame to break my excellent streak of finding things other than the thesis on which to spend time.
Today, an American court halved the punitive damages being imposed on Exxon for the 1989 Valdez oil spill from US$5 billion to $2.5 billion. Reading about it prompts a number of strands of thinking:
Firstly, it surprises me that punitive damages still have not been assigned. Chances to bemoan the slow pace of litigation in the United States (and all the problems that accompany it) are many. No doubt, a great deal of whatever settlements are reached will go to the hordes of lawyers, photocopiers, and expert witnesses who worked on the case, rather than to the people who suffered from the spill or to the rebuilding (such as is possible) of the affected ecosystems.
The second thought that comes to mind is along the lines of: “Didn’t Exxon earn record profits this year?” They earned US$10.4 billion (£5.6bn) in the second quarter of 2006. While this is a fairly natural response, it is not necessarily a very legitimate one. The damages being considered are meant to address the conduct of the company in 1989, something that is not obviously related to its present financial circumstances. At the same time, the purpose of punitive damages is to encourage a company to exercise greater caution in the future, when engaging in similar activities. Not having captains that swig vodka before heading to the bridge is a good start. Reading about that, one has feels an emotional inclination to wring them for all they are worth.
To what extent would charging Exxon $5 billion instead of $2.5 billion alter the likelihood of future spills? The purpose of such punishments is not revenge, but the inducement of desirable changes in behaviour. No punishment short of utterly bankrupting the company would actually stop them from shipping oil from Alaska to the contiguous 48 states. That said, a big punishments also catch the attention of other big oil firms who have the ability to take action to make such spills less likely, and less severe if they do take place.
A final issue to consider is that of moral hazard. If the penalty is cut in half, after seventeen years in court, it suggests to companies that they can reduce such costs just by spinning things through the legal system for as long as possible. The whole situation is like a test case from my Law and Economics course at UBC with Robert Gateman. Which outcome secures the best mix of equity and efficiency? Which establishes the best incentives for future behaviour?
Of course, I am not one of the judges in the case. I have not examined the relevant facts and laws and, as such, it is impossible to know whether this reduction is warranted or not. My personal sympathies do not lie with oil companies, but they have the same right to be treated with due process under the law as any other entity within society. Hopefully, regardless of the final amount of the penalty, mechanisms have been put into action that will prevent catastrophes like the Valdez spill in the future.
Along with thunder and lighting, fog is among my favourite atmospheric phenomena. The best thing about it is the way in which it reveals the characteristics of light: the diffusion around omnidirectional sources and the elegant linearity generated by point sources and sharp edges. The fact that it makes trees look atmospheric and intriguing is of considerable benefit.
The fog today is apparently so bad that they are canceling flights out of Heathrow. I find that a bit surprising, as I thought commercial jets had RADAR guidance systems for takeoff and landing, to use under such conditions. They are justified in being concerned about takeoffs and landings. Along with Controlled Flight Into Terrain, approach-and-landing accidents have accounted for 80 percent of fatalities in commercial transport-aircraft accidents from 1979 through 1991. Given how crowded the airspace around London must be, extra caution is probably warranted; I imagine they would not be taking huge financial knocks for canceling flights without good cause.
One unhappy matter photographic is that my Photo.net subscription expires in just over a week. Not to drive anyone too brazenly towards the donation page, but consider yourself gently nudged.
[Update: 22 December 2006] Many thanks to Tristan Laing for setting me up with another year of Photo.net hosting.
Amidst growing thesis panic (three draft chapters due in less than 30 days), I am also looking forward to the ominous period after my final exams, where I will have neither a job nor another academic program upcoming. Having decided not to apply straight into PhD programs, this amplifies the importance of finding an interesting job, and soon.
I have tried contacting the people who I know who seem best connected to the kind of organizations that I would like to work for, but have hitherto been without luck. My objective is essentially to find an interesting job in a place that is at least tolerable that will pay enough to live and to finance my existing student debts. I really want to work for an organization which I admire. Those include the following:
As a relatively unattached person, I am happy to go almost anywhere. I am limited to fluency in English and a reasonable knowledge of French (which would increase rapidly with immersion). My CV (sans menial minimum wage jobs) is here.
Anyone with more experience in these matters, or suggestions for how any of the above might be achieved, is very much encouraged to let me know.
Academic
Web / Photographic
Employment related
Time remaining for completion: 27 days. Probability of having time for another trip this break: low and falling.
I watched Amadeus with Claire tonight, and the film is really quite spectacular. It is impossible to walk home after seeing it and not get caught up in some of Mozart’s more dramatic musical moments. As with most very successful films, this one manages to offset drama and passion with comedy, in a way that heightens both.
I know almost nothing about Mozart’s life, so I can make no comment as to the accuracy of this portrayal. The film has made me determined that I should actually see an opera. Opera, botany, and classical history are three things that I have specifically decided to learn a great deal about in old age, when the acquisition of useful knowledge is no longer at such a premium.
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