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Assorted links
1. West Side Story: the truth
2. Discover your gender, using the web
3. Backyard nukes? A scary joke, or is it?
4. Quantum mechanics gets even weirder
5. Business cycles: the current frontier
6. Measuring the value of NBA players
Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 7, 2008 at 04:55 PM in Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
I haven't read the paper, but from the summary it sounds like this is actually a matter of quantum mechanics getting less weird. The whole "collapse of the wavefunction" thing has really not made much sense for a long time -- no one has ever come up with a plausible way to separate "observers" and the "observed," or even "micro-" and "macroscopic," in any way that doesn't just turn into a sort of poor man's mind-body dualism.
The best book on the hard-core philosophy of physics issues (and I'm not talking about the bullshit "everything is connected to everything, mind rules the universe" version of the philosophy of Q.M.) is David Albert's "Quantum Mechanics and Experience." You'll either hate Albert's style or love it. He doesn't assume any formal mathematical training -- though that isn't to say there isn't a lot of formal mathematics involved in the issues and arguments. It's good stuff, though -- there are no more basic questions out there.
Posted by: Christopher M at Aug 7, 2008 4:30:36 PM
Gaps in Racial happiness are declining because Barack Obama is running for president.
Posted by: Christopher Espinal at Aug 7, 2008 4:35:14 PM
Christopher Espinal, I'm not sure whether your assessment of the declining racial happiness gap is really optimistic, or really cynical. I think I like it either way, even if I don't buy it.
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to glean for the West Side Story bit. I already knew it was really corny, didn't everyone? I'm not sure that makes it a bad musical, though I admit that my enjoyment of it is perhaps more comical than the producers' intent. Perhaps not. I guess I'm just not sure why I should care what Geoffrey Wheatcroft thinks of it, despite his possession of a really awesome name.
I saw 'The Music Man' on stage recently, and it may be the most fun I've ever had at the theatre, though I'm no theatre buff.
Posted by: d.cous. at Aug 7, 2008 5:11:06 PM
Joe Public asks, "How do you measure the effects of unmeasuring?"
Posted by: khc at Aug 7, 2008 5:25:24 PM
Is Hyperion claiming an electrical efficiency generation of 35% ? That would be impressive for nuclear power, which typically runs at 30%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_effects_of_nuclear_power#Waste_heat
-dk
Posted by: Dick King at Aug 7, 2008 6:44:14 PM
Cheers for the 6th link, quite good.
Posted by: Leif at Aug 7, 2008 8:11:37 PM
Somewhat mystified by the comments on West Side Story. That music is absolutely brilliant, both tuneful and sophisticated. The setting is as (in-)authentic as Shakespeare's Italy in Romeo and Juliet, but so what? It's not perfect, but it's still probably in the top five musicals all time, certainly in the top ten.
Mind you, I do like My Fair Lady and Music Man better as musicals. But IMO they're as good as it gets, clearly #1 and #2 all time. Which I would put first depends on my mood.
I always thought it was odd and wonderful the three shows came out so closely together.
I don't get the Rogers and Hammerstein hate either, their best is clearly head and shoulders above the bulk of their generation. Except for the above mentioned, Guys and Dolls (oh no -- its mobsters are not authentic!!), and Camelot, I can't think of another show 1940-1960 I'd rank higher.
Posted by: Sol at Aug 7, 2008 10:39:32 PM
Uh oh. Should I be worried? There's a 90% chance I'm female.
Posted by: Brandon Robison at Aug 7, 2008 11:24:20 PM
weak measurements weren't invented in 2006 or by folks in rochester. weak measurements have been known and understood for decades. aharonov underrstood them in the 80s. he and vaidman published on them in the 80s and 90s. S. Popescu has been writing about them for years. even wikipedia knows this.
Posted by: mouse at Aug 7, 2008 11:35:53 PM
No doubt The Music Man is probably the greatest musical -- somewhat better than West Side Story, true, but light years better than everything by Andrew Lloyd Webber combined.
But the author's disdain for "There's a Place for Us" just doesn't wash. That's one of the most achingly beautiful songs I've ever heard.
Posted by: Eric D. Dixon at Aug 8, 2008 12:10:17 AM
Is Hyperion claiming an electrical efficiency generation of 35% ?
No. From their website:
What is Hyperion’s output? Approximately 70 megawatts (MW) of heat (thermal energy) and 25 megawatts (MW) of electrical power via steam turbine
That looks like about 26% thermal efficiency.
Posted by: Brian Courts at Aug 8, 2008 1:06:56 AM
Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 60%
Likelihood of you being MALE is 40%
Apparently, the most "male" site I visit is CNBC, which has twice as many male viewers as female viewers
Posted by: Robert Olson at Aug 8, 2008 1:52:44 AM
That looks like about 26% thermal efficiency
Posted by: sexshop at Aug 8, 2008 6:50:55 AM
When I played in an orchestra we performed West Side Story as well as Porgy and Bess. West Side Story is much more difficult to play. Ironically, it's in the rhythms.
Posted by: Dutch at Aug 8, 2008 7:18:15 AM
As a physicist there are a couple of items to be commented on here:
1) I don't know where a couple of the above commentators are getting the quote saying 70 MWt AND 25 MWe (leading to 26% thermal efficiency). The quotes I see on Hyperion's website claim 70 MWt OR 25 MWe, for instance:
http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com./about_tech.html
"It just quietly delivers safe, reliable power – 70 MW thermal or 25 MW electric via steam turbine"
2) Regarding the QM experiment, as far as I can tell, this is not particularly weird. It's exactly what the theory predicts can be done. The accomplishment lies in actually performing a "measurement" with significant quantum uncertainty. Any undergrad QM course covers this possibility...
Posted by: Matt at Aug 8, 2008 9:53:22 AM
Does this mean you can resurrect Schroedinger's cat if you only took a quick peek before it died?
Posted by: JJRG at Aug 8, 2008 10:08:57 AM
"It just quietly delivers safe, reliable power – 70 MW thermal or 25 MW electric via steam turbine"
Hang on, Matt; if it delivers electrical energy it must also reject thermal energy somewhere: you can't have an all-electrical output. The question is the temperature at which the thermal energy is rejected. Do they say anything about the cooling medium?
Posted by: dearieme at Aug 8, 2008 10:23:22 AM
Dutch -- I presume you're thinking of orchestral medleys of those shows? (If you mean you've gotten to play in the pit orchestra for those shows, I'm really jealous.) I'm guessing maybe the Robert Russell Bennett arrangement of Porgy and Bess and the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story? At the very least, all the arrangements I've ever seen of Porgy and Bess skip the really challenging bits in favor of the more tuneful songs. Whereas the Symphonic Dances are some of the harder bits from West Side Story.
The rhythms in the Symphonic Dances are killer, for sure, but in the complete score for West Side Story there are bits in the bassoon part, at least, that are fiendishly hard because they are so high. Legend in the bassoon community is that Bernstein wrote them that way because one of his bassoon-playing buddies could play that high, and he was essentially guaranteeing his friend would get the job.
Posted by: Sol at Aug 8, 2008 10:24:16 AM
The West Side Story review also overlooks that the lyrics to "America" are among the best ever written for the stage. Who can forget (as they say):
"I like the island Manhattan
Smoke on your pipe and put that in!"
?
Posted by: Richard S. at Aug 8, 2008 10:42:43 AM
Having engraved the score for WSS along with other Bernstein and non-Bernstein musicals, I can tell you it's fairly complicated rhythmically.
Posted by: meter at Aug 8, 2008 10:48:02 AM
#3. Maybe they'll cost $51,000.
If we ignore the fissionables do we think they will go away? Why not rather have a vigorous market for depleting them for electricity.
Posted by: Andrew at Aug 8, 2008 11:07:53 AM
West Side Story is my favorite musical. In fact,it's the only one I really like a lot. Maybe it's the musical for people who don't like musicals?
Posted by: Phil P at Aug 8, 2008 12:32:16 PM
72% female, mostly because I make the travel arrangements and upload baby photos. Surprising to see that the federal government websites tend to lean female, too.
Posted by: Careless at Aug 8, 2008 1:17:38 PM
1) I don't know where a couple of the above commentators are getting the quote saying 70 MWt AND 25 MWe (leading to 26% thermal efficiency).
You don't? I'm surprised considering I provided a link (which I repeat here) that took you to the FAQ page where the company says what I quoted (third question):
What is Hyperion’s output? Approximately 70 megawatts (MW) of heat (thermal energy) and 25 megawatts (MW) of electrical power via steam turbine
Posted by: Brian Courts at Aug 8, 2008 4:04:40 PM
Are the hyperion guys selling $150m of electricity for $30m? Sign me up.
Posted by: gh at Aug 8, 2008 8:11:14 PM
