It took me a while to come to the realization that I need to vent over this subject right here, on my blog, no matter how petty, ridiculous and irrelevant it is (the subject, smartass, not the blog). I am becoming quite tired of having to argue with th…
Continue readingAuthor: Massimo
Exponential Book: My lost chapter
Dear Editor, It is now almost one year since I submitted to you the chapter that you solicited from me as a contribution to the upcoming volume “Real cool phases of matter”, which is going to be included in the distinguished series “E…
Continue readingExponential Book: Hi, I am Jack, and I am a recovering socialist
Canadian New Democratic Party (NDP) held in Vancouver its fiftieth national congress since its foundation. It is presently Canada’s official opposition in the House of Commons, and arguably one of strongest (nominally still) socialist political forma…
Continue readingExponential Book: Does not get much sillier than this…
… aka, the xkcd wikipedia meme All right, it has been a while since last time I did this kind of stuff. I saw it at VWXYNOT? (where else, eh ?), who got it through Drugmonkey via WhizBang! I figured I would give it a shot too — it is Summer…
Continue readingExponential Book: Free agent professor
If you’re a college or university teacher, whom do you work for ?” Thus begins Stanley Fish‘s latest New York Times editorial on the subject of academia. Here are a few excerpts: “Academics […] want […] to work in an organizatio…
Continue readingExponential Book: iPad on the road
In a recent post, I stated my intent of purchasing an iPad2 as soon as it would become available in Canada, and expounded why I deem it as the optimal portable computing device for someone in my line of work. In particular, I see it as a superior solut…
Continue readingExponential Book: The face of a nation
This editorial cartoon, published on the Canadian National Post of May 18 2011, has prompted the Italian ambassador to Canada to write a letter to the newspaper, stating his displeasure over a satirical commentary that in his view is “gratuitousl…
Continue readingExponential Book: Killing me softly with his (referee) report
Dear Colleague, given that every other day we seem to be telling each other appalling stories of disgraceful article refereeing to which we are subjected, I think we should all try and agree, first of all among ourselves, on what constitutes “bad…
Continue readingExponential Book: Dissecting the 2011 vote
Having reaffirmed once again my inability at making accurate predictions, I am going to offer now my very personal reading of the results of the general election held in Canada early this week. I am, of course, no pundit or political scientist, merely …
Continue readingExponential Book: Another election prediction
“Good predictions are only made by luck” (anonymous… nah, it’s me) You would think that, given my ability at guessing the outcome of elections, I would have given up by now… Well, this time I think I am in good company, as…
Continue readingExponential Book: My thoughts on CCP
The Division of Computational Physics of the American Physical Society has now its own blog, brought to you by its very own executive committee, of which I am presently a “member-at-large” (soon to be apprehended and brought into custody, I…
Continue readingExponential Book: Make up your mind, already !
Academic job seekers are sometimes in the fortunate position of choosing one of several job offers (not often these days, given the difficult job market). This happens both at the postdoctoral, as well as the faculty level. The reason is simple; someon…
Continue readingExponential Book: Great blog. By the way, you are full of it.
Last week I was in Dallas, at the annual March meeting of the American Physical Society, attended by members of the Division of Condensed Matter and Computational physics. For different reasons I ended up spending quite a bit of time talking to postdoc…
Continue readingExponential Book: Dear flight attendant
… or airline employee standing behind your airline’s counter at the gate, or customer service desk, or checking in my luggage and issuing my boarding card(s), or talking to me on the phone: (the situation described below is hypothetical. Re…
Continue readingExponential Book: The mantra of flexibility
In the Italy where I grew up (in the 70s and 80s), most jobs were for life. Most workers, not just government or state ones but also those employed in the private sector, were hired permanently. They could not be let go without just cause, in turn almo…
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