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America WTF

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winter preparations

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Master of Science! :)

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You and me both, calculator.

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Psychohistorik?

Mathematicians Predict the Future With Data From the Past | WIRED

In Isaac Asimov’s classic science fiction saga Foundation, mathematics professor Hari Seldon predicts the future using what he calls psychohistory. Drawing on mathematical models that describe what happened in the past, he anticipates what will happen next, including the fall of the Galactic Empire. That may seem like fanciful stuff. But Peter Turchin is turning himself into a real-life Hari Seldon — and he’s not alone.

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Aus persönlichem Anlass: PeterLicht - Dein Tag (Reise geht zurück an den Anfang)

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Christopher Hitchens about free speech and the obligations of societies that enjoy it. Brilliant Hitchens, as strident and relevant as ever. Warning: quite a bit depressing.

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New Paper in "Angewandte Chemie"

New paper! We'll be published in "Angewandte Chemie/Int. Ed" as "very important paper". This will be my 4th paper within two years and the 3rd published in Angewandte Chemie, two of which are "VIPs".

Even though I'm excited about that, the stress I'm currently facing because of the upcoming deadline for my Master's Thesis kind of keeps my joy about this at a medium level.

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2015,

wehe dir, du bist nicht besser als 2014!

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I won a Prize! :)

I took part in an international conference about solvation science and won a prize for the best poster presentation. And being as photogenic as I am, I'm standing there like an awkward dork next to the organizers:

*Homer Simpson voice* neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrd

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Thomas Klapötke’s lab in Germany does some terrifying nitrogen chemistry…

Like

just

look

at

these

WHERE ARE THE HYDROGENS

TOO MANY NITRO GROUPS

WHY WOULD YOU MAKE THESE

?????????

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Nachtschicht II

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Nachtschicht

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Aus persönlichem Anlass: PeterLicht - Dein Tag (Reise geht zurück an den Anfang)

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This whole notion of doing only work that you love has always affronted me but I’ve lacked the articulation to be able to explain my objections. Only the top levels of developed world society can really consider that as an option. Almost all of the world has to labor just to survive. It just has always seemed so snobbish to me to think that people should all aspire to having only rewarding work to do to support themselves. I believe in the reward of doing honest work in an honest way—that’s satisfying to me, even if I can’t always say I enjoy it. My work is not significant or important on a global scale, and I know it. But I do it pretty well. I’ve probably told you the story of my wonderful professor, Russ Kelly, in my first year of college. One day he brought in a newspaper article about the wage increase for garbage workers in San Francisco that had recently passed. He pointed out that someday, even if we did well in college, that we may end up doing something like that because it paid well and we needed the money. But he said that a liberal education is for the enrichment of your heart and your brain, and it’s meant to give you something to think about, and a way to think about it, for the rest of your life. And he said that if someday you work as a garbage collector, you can enjoy thinking about Plato. That’s the kind of advice that was actually helpful.

My mom (who is clearly the best) in an email this morning. <3 (via slodwick)

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“Charles Darwin had a big idea, arguably the most powerful idea ever. And like all the best ideas it is beguilingly simple. In fact, it is so staggeringly elementary, so blindingly obvious that although others before him tinkered nearby, nobody thought to look for it in...

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Pope’s Dove of Peace attacked by seagull