Catech Wins

"Despite Caltech's reputation, Cal Lutheran men's soccer coach Dan Kuntz always warns his players not to take the Beavers for granted.

Kuntz warns them not to view the games as automatic wins on the schedule.

But Kuntz knew there may come a time when the message didn't get through.

That time arrived last week as the Kingsmen suffered their first loss to Caltech in school history.

Tyler Volkoff's game-winning goal with 24 seconds remaining gave Caltech a 1-0 win — its first over CLU in 35 meetings."

Good Luck Tom!

Sometimes people think I'm "hard core" because I made it through Caltech. They should meet my friend Tom. If you happen to be in Austin tomorrow then you're in luck because you actually can meet him. He's giving what's sure to be an awesome seminar. I'm pretty sure he explained this stuff to me over dinner at Burger Continental, but I can't say I understand it yet.

Working Dynamical Systems: A geometric viewpoint of quantum mechanics and the semiclassical limit

by Tom Mainiero (UT Austin ) in RLM 10.176
4:00 pm Wednesday, October 29, 2008

We present a viewpoint of quantum mechanics that reveals its underlying geometry and renders it (in some sense) a special case of classical mechanics. Using this viewpoint we describe the semiclassical limit and the resulting fiber bundle structure. This construction allows us to "imbed" the classical phase space into our quantum system, shows the semiclassical limit may not be global, and presents us with a picture of how certain quantum symmetries can "break" and lead to chaotic classical dynamics.

Revelation of the Day

Umbrellas are not just for wimps. They are also for gentlemen and scholars.

Calculus of Variations

First I suppose I should mention that the Rhodes "Coming Up Dinner" was this past Friday. It's a fancy (black tie) event to celebrate the new class. Naturally it was quite fun, and I got another chance to practice my bow tying skills.

Now to the fun stuff. After dinner with some Rhodies tonight I went to grab desert with Melis Anahtar and Shayak Sarkar. They humoured me by intently watching as I scrawled out (on a napkin, of course) a very rushed and incomplete description of the Brachistochrone Problem and the Calculus of Variations. I went on to describe basic classical mechanics. By this point I was quite excited. It almost felt like I was back at Tech! Then we left, but not without agreeing to discuss this stuff another time. I definitely have to show them the analogies between classical Poisson Brackets and Quantum Mechanical commutators.

Mobile

It's hard to believe that getting a mobile phone is such a hassle, but I have finally acquired one. The American Rhodies were quite stupid in how we went about it, but that's all moot now. In the UK you basically have three options: pay as you go, monthly contracts, and 18 month contracts. Monthly is preferred by people like me because you get close to contract rates (pay as you go is quite expensive) but you can cancel your contract with just 30 days notice. The difficulty is that US credit history does not translate to the UK, so with my bank card came a brand new undefined credit history. Now of course I wasn't buying my phone plan on credit, but some genius over here decided that it is reasonable to run credit checks on each potential new customer. I'd have been more than happy to just pay 6 months up front, in cash even, but that's not an option. So after having my credit rejected about 4 times by several companies (which surely isn't helping the credit rating any), I finally ended up getting vodafone (with help from Rhodes House) to let me sign up for a £15/month plan. They had to take a refundable £100 deposit and I had to pay another £25 for the phone, but at least I can now make a few phone calls ... once my mom buys me some friends to call.

Harry Potter Dining Hall!

Last night I dined at Christ Church. Christ Church is of course best known for being the college of Prof. Niles Pierce. It turns out that some little-known film series called Harry Potter was also filmed there.



Today I was thrilled to discover that British people are correctly proportioned. I went to Marks and Spencer and found that 14.5" neck size shirts are in fact common here. What's more is that the standard sleeve length for such shirts is exactly my size. As if that wasn't enough, the shirts were reasonably priced (four new shirts for just £34). Now that I have some fruity patterned shirts with spread collars I can blend in perfectly with the Brits.

Matriculation

Today was matriculation (starting at 8 am!). The event is quite bizarre, involving costumes with silly gowns and a Latin speech. I suppose these things are prerequisites for studying theoretical chemistry.




Loads of photos are now posted on my facebook site (not just matriculation photos). Follow this link if you don't have a facebook account.

Also, I got a new bike yesterday. Riding on the left side of the road is fun.

The Union

I went to a debate at the Oxford Union tonight. The Union is an exorbitantly expensive student debating club (£99 for a year or ~£170 for life) with a bunch of future politicians trying to act like MPs. Luckily, in an attempt to entice new members, the Union is free for the first two weeks. The speeches were quite amusing, and the big shots were really quite good. The debate tonight was (unsurprisingly) over whether or not there should be confidence in her Majesty's government. Five MPs were present to debate, making the experience the closest to a House of Parliament debate as I am likely to come.

Soccer

I'm out of shape and Brits are good at soccer. I think my soreness this morning indicates that I'd be better off with the cycling club.

Shankar

On Sunday I'm trying out for Univ's football (read soccer) team. My hope is to be able to make the B or C team so that I can play for fun but not practice too much. We'll see if my 8th grade skills are still with me. Also, I may have progress on the cycling front. I've located a cycle of interest and have heard rumours of a secret Univ storage place for nice cycles.

Disclaimer: The following will not make sense to people who have not studied physics at the University level. I've really just included it to impress Jon Arnold, Matt Grau, and a few other Caltech nerds.

Wow, I met Shankar's daughter (a 2nd year Rhodie) tonight at Balliol college's bop! By Shankar I mean the Shankar. Luckily she wasn't too taken aback by my awe. She must be used to meeting a bunch of lame physicists who look up to her father.

Dress Like Your National Stereotype Bop

Since our markets are sucking, I figure it's up to me to remind people that America is freedom, even if it leads to an international catastrophe. As part of my America day, I enjoyed a £4.99 all-you-can-eat Pizza Hut lunch buffet followed closely by a food coma and nap. After a dinner with my fellow Americans I represented the US of A at the "Dress Like Your National Sterotype Bop" (what Oxonians call a party).

Repping Missouri

Today I decided to wear my obnoxiously bright yellow Missouri sweatshirt. I figure that Missouri's football excellence, entitles me to represent the school abroad. As I walked down High Street, two groups of Americans stopped me to comment on the shirt. It was amusing to see how many midwesterns are actually crawling around this place.

Tonight was a formal graduate student dinner in the main dining hall. I've been eating in the hall this whole week for lunch and dinner, but my meals have been cafeteria style until tonight. Tonight was actually a fully waited (Harry Potter style) meal. We naturally had to dress smart, and the master got up and gave a Dumbledorean welcome address before the meal. It was quite fun, so I'm going to have to sign up this Sunday's formal hall too.

I suppose the biggest news of the day is that I have finally made myself look respectable again. After my wreck I was unable to shave for quite some time. It was rather amusing watching people I met restrain their impulses to call me a slob.



Luckily, the scar cleared up enough that I felt comfortable shaving before the formal dinner. Now I look like my dapper old self.

Thank you Dr. Croll

Not Much to Report

I have met with the folks in the Theoretical Chemistry Group, and it looks like everything is planned out nicely. My first lecture will be next Tuesday. After seeing the Quantum syllabus I was kicking myself for not shipping Cohen-Tannoudji over, but alas I have discovered a wonderful consequence of the horribly inefficient redundancy of the college system. Each college has its own library, each of which has several copies of the classics. Univ's library had 5 copies of both Volumes 1 and 2 waiting for me. The Physics and Chemistry selections were actually quite impressive because there were so many available copies of the classic texts. I'm used to a system in which the library would only own ~3 copies of the classics, and would put these on reserve. Looks like mom and dad won't have to ship any books over after all.

Last night the Univ grad freshers (first years) had a barbecue at the college boathouse, which is a very impressive building on the river. The old boat house was unremarkable, but some animal rights protesters burned it down several years ago. Univ has finally rebuilt a new one, and decided to put people in it as protection. Surely animal rights people will respect the rights of the humans living there, right?

Every Wednesday we have tea at Rhodes House along with cake supplied by Sheila and John (Rhodes House employees). Apparently they have a little contest over whose cake is superior. I suppose I need to be careful to not take sides and just eat some of each.

Boxes and Trivia Night

This morning my boxes were finally delivered! Everyone will be pleased to know that I will have clean underwear tomorrow and didn't even have to do the last minute laundry I thought might be necessary. Most of my stuff is unpacked, so it's starting to feel a little more like home. When picking up my stuff from the porter's lodge, Bob (the porter) called me by name. I was shocked and impressed that he's memorized faces and names so quickly. Perhaps he just watches me on the CCTV's.

Before


After

I suppose I ought to share one or two (ok, three to be exact) more shots from outside my room, as they are slightly more photogenic. The following were taken inside Univ (colloquially known as Todd's castle).





Tonight was Trivia Night in the MCR. Naturally I formed an all star team of a Brit, an Aussie, a Kiwi, a Greek, and two Americans. Unsurprisingly, the American influence led us to victory, scoring me a sweet University College tote bag and some chocolates. Tomorrow is my first meeting with Prof Logan, so I can start thinking about adding some work to my fun.

I <3 Rhodes House

Saturday was the Rhodes House orientation, which was great fun. Rhodes House is basically a mansion to house the business of the Rhodes Trust and to provide a place for Rhodes Scholars to relax. Conveniently it is right next to the chemistry building, so I will be able to swing by for afternoon tea.

Yesterday afternoon was the annual Rhodes auction, which was quite amusing. True to my stingy ways, I didn't pick up anything from the auction, but I did get a new pullover sweater for £5 from the fixed price room. My boxes are unlikely to arrive until Monday, so my hope is that the sweater can tide me over until I can get some clean clothes.

Today I have the first events with my Middle Common Room (MCR), which is basically the graduate student organization of the college. It should be a great chance to meet some people outside of the Rhodes circle, and it will be my first time to eat in the hall.

PS It's raining.

The First Photos

My view of High Street from outside my house.

The "Street" Where I Live (Magpie Lane)

My Desk and Window

Bed and Sink

I've Arrived

We arrived in Oxford bright and early yesterday morning. I managed to get little more than an hours sleep on the flight, but the consensus was that we needed to stay awake until about 8 pm before crashing, thereby getting onto our new sleep cycles. I moved into my room at University College (Univ). The room is quite large and quaint with an excellent location. I will post photos once I obtain internet access in my room (in the mean time I use the internet at Rhodes House).

I spent much of the day wandering around Oxford with Clara, the other American Rhodes Scholar in Univ. We managed to purchase some of the essentials while getting a general lay of the land.

At night, I discovered that my father had been attempting to contact me for quite a while to inform me that my shipped boxes were held up in customs. I failed to fill out the proper forms, and fixing the problem proved to be quite difficult with no internet access, phone, scanner, etc. Eventually I put it off until morning and crashed for the night. This was a wise decision since the task was quick and easy once I went to Rhodes House this morning.

I'm going to resume wandering while trying to acquire a few more essentials. It may be a few days before I post a substantial update, but I promise there will be pictures eventually.

Bon Voyage

DC has been incredible. Yesterday we had an excellent breakfast with some senators, and an afternoon talk by Justice Souter. In between I managed to squeeze in the fasted tour of the National Mall ever recorded by man. We head over to Oxford this afternoon and arrive bright and early Thursday morning.

For those following by cat/bike adventure, I received some very amusing news last night. The cat (Bob) actually lived! He had to have one leg amputated, but is otherwise doing quite well. Now whenever anyone asks me about my scar I can just tell them I got it saving Bob's life.