A Stand In

CMS, our competitor (from the article)

Someday soon I'll find the inspiration to write a real post, perhaps about the UC budget situation, my impending move to CERN and what that entails, the trip I'm going to take to DC at the end of February or maybe even a recipe.  But right now I've been doing a lot of work and a lot of writing for work, rendering me incapable of writing complete sentences about anything other than tracking efficiencies.  In the meantime I invite you to read this article in Vanity Fair about the LHC.  I think its pretty good.  It captures the excitement and gives you a little bit of a feel of what its like to be at CERN. 

Our Voices Have Been Heard!

I've been meaning to write a welcome back/what's been up post, but this couldn't wait.  Check-out this article in the NY Times. 

Choice quotes:

Under the governor’s proposal, no less than 10 percent of the state’s general fund would be allotted for higher education and no more than 7 percent would go to the state prison system. If the administration fails to win passage in the Legislature, it will probably seek to put the issue before voters in a ballot initiative.

 “The priorities have become out of whack over the years,” the governor told lawmakers. “I mean, think about it, 30 years ago, 10 percent of the general fund went to higher education, and 3 percent went to prisons. Today, almost 11 percent goes to prisons, and only 7.5 percent goes to higher education.”

“Those protests on the U.C. campuses were the tipping point,” the governor’s chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, said in an interview after the speech. “Our university system is going to get the support it deserves.”

 I'm not holding my breath for big changes because the prison lobby is so strong, and well, its probably a large part politics and posturing, but I can't help but get excited and find it to be encouraging.  There are a lot of flaws with the governors other proposals (not addressing why the prisons are so over crowded, privatization of the prisons, etc) but I'm heartened by the fact that at some level the actions we took in the fall have had an effect.