Year of physics

2005 is the year of physics. It is the 100th anniversary of Einstein publishing his celebrated papers on quantum theory and the theory of special relativity. The Australian Institute of Physics is having a conference (throwing a party) to celebrate. The conference is on in Canberra next week and the speaker list looks pretty sweet. I wish I wasn't stuck here in Brisvegas writing my thesis and was going to the conference like the rest of the qinfo group. At least Tony Leggett (2003 Nobel prize winner) is visiting our department today and I get to see him speak - hopefully that will get me my physics fix.

JJJ Hottest 100 - final for today

The hottest 100 has been and gone now for another year. Kinda sad, kinda happy, kinda makes me wonder where I'll be listening to it next year.

So, as for my predictions of a few minutes ago. All of them were pretty spot on except the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds prediction - it was always a long shot anyway.

Now what about the ones I missed. Bloody Powderfinger got into the top 10 again. That band has some seriously loyal fans... I shouldn't knock them too much, they have written some excellent music in their time. But, sort of like U2, they seem to be now producing a lot of songs that all sound the same and aren't that extrodinary. On a high note, The White Stripes cover of the Dolly Parton song "Jolene" came in at number 10. I'd forgotten that I voted for that song, it's a live recording reminded me how good The White Stripes are live. I also missed an Eskimo Joe song, but I never have really rated them even though a lot of people seem to love them.

Anyway, here's the whole list:

1 franz ferdinand - take me out2 missy higgins - scar3 eskimo joe - from the sea4 the killers - somebody told me5 spiderbait - black betty6 missy higgins - ten days7 john butler trio - something's gotta give8 little birdy - beautiful to me9 powderfinger - bless my soul10 the white stripes - jolene (live)11 modest mouse - float on12 the dresden dolls - coin-operated boy13 the killers - mr brightside14 evermore - it's too late15 ben lee - gamble everything for love16 grinspoon - hard act to follow17 butterfingers - yo mama18 the streets - fit but you know it19 the streets - dry your eyes20 spiderbait - f***kin awesome21 william shatner - common people22 green day - american idiot23 scissor sisters - take your mama24 jet - look what you've done25 john butler trio - treat yo mama26 grinspoon - better off alone27 sarah blasko - don't u eva28 beastie boys - ch-check it out29 franz ferdinand - this fire30 dresden dolls - girl anachronism31 kings of leon - the bucket32 eskimo joe - older than you33 the bees - chicken payback34 machine gun fellatio - what the fuck?35 scribe - not many {remix}36 jeff buckley - forget her37 ben folds - adelaide38 u2 - vertigo39 the killers - smile like you mean it40 little birdy - this is a love song41 faithless - mass destruction42 lior - this old love43 dogs die in hot cars - godhopping44 scissor sisters - take me out {cover franz ferdinand}45 wolfmother - woman46 rammstein - amerika47 the living end - i can't give you what i haven't got48 elliott smith - memory lane49 missy higgins - casualty50 franz ferdinand - the dark of the matinee51 john butler trio - what you want52 regurgitator - my friend robot53 placebo english summer rain54 waifs, the bridal train55 hives, the walk idiot walk56 xavier rudd shelter57 evermore for one day58 scissor sisters laura59 xavier rudd solace60 your wedding night lachlan61 deep dish - flash dance62 eskimo joe - smoke63 n.e.r.d. - she wants to move64 epicure - self destruct in 565 chemical brothers - galvanize66 devendra banhart - little yellow spider67 black keys, the - 10am automatic68 powderfinger - process this69 freestylers, the - push up70 starsailor - four to the floor (remix)71 the von bondies - c'mon c'mon72 polyphonic spree - hold me now73 panda band, the - sleepy little deathtoll town74 interpol - slow hands75 the spazzys - paco doesn't love me76 interpol - evil77 snow patrol - run78 little birdy - tonights the night79 dallas crane - dirty hearts80 the dissociatives - young man old man81 end of fashion - rough diamonds82 mylo - drop the pressure83 dallas crane - numb all over84 dogs die in hot cars - i love you cause i have to85 regurgitator - the drop86 the unicorns - i was born (a unicorn)87 sia - breathe me88 a perfect circle - imagine89 jet - get what you need90 greenskeepers - lotion91 decoder ring - somersault92 scissor sisters - comfortably numb93 john butler trio - hello94 the vines - ride95 placebo - twenty years96 after the fall - mirror mirror97 gyroscope - safe forever98 gomez - catch me up99 the butterfly effect - always100 fabienne delsol - i'm gonna haunt you

JJJ Hottest 100 again

Okay, business end of the hottest 100. They are about to hit the top 10 songs. My predictions for the top 10:

• At least 2 missy Higgins songs.
• At least 1 more from The Killers.
• "Take me out" by to make it's second apearance in this years hottest 100, this time the original by Franz Ferdinand and it will make the top 3.
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to get 1 song in the top 10. I hope so anyway cause they released one of their best albums ever this year (actually 2 albums in 1, but whatever) and no songs from it have made it in yet.
• Spiderbait's cover of "Black Betty" to get in there.

JJJ Hottest 100

The triple j hottest 100 songs for 2004 is on today. Oh yea, it's also Australia day but that somehow doesn't seem as important to me...

Here is the list of songs at the halfway point:

49 missy higgins - casualty50 franz ferdinand - the dark of the matinee51 john butler trio - what you want52 regurgitator - my friend robot53 placebo english summer rain54 waifs, the bridal train55 hives, the walk idiot walk56 xavier rudd shelter57 evermore for one day58 scissor sisters laura59 xavier rudd solace60 your wedding night lachlan61 deep dish - flash dance62 eskimo joe - smoke63 n.e.r.d. - she wants to move64 epicure - self destruct in 565 chemical brothers - galvanize66 devendra banhart - little yellow spider67 black keys, the - 10am automatic68 powderfinger - process this69 freestylers, the - push up70 starsailor - four to the floor (remix)71 the von bondies - c'mon c'mon72 polyphonic spree - hold me now73 panda band, the - sleepy little deathtoll town74 interpol - slow hands75 the spazzys - paco doesn't love me76 interpol - evil77 snow patrol - run78 little birdy - tonights the night79 dallas crane - dirty hearts80 the dissociatives - young man old man81 end of fashion - rough diamonds82 mylo - drop the pressure83 dallas crane - numb all over84 dogs die in hot cars - i love you cause i have to85 regurgitator - the drop86 the unicorns - i was born (a unicorn)87 sia - breathe me88 a perfect circle - imagine89 jet - get what you need90 greenskeepers - lotion91 decoder ring - somersault92 scissor sisters - comfortably numb93 john butler trio - hello94 the vines - ride95 placebo - twenty years96 after the fall - mirror mirror97 gyroscope - safe forever98 gomez - catch me up99 the butterfly effect - always100 fabienne delsol - i'm gonna haunt you

Thesis writing

Caolionn O'Connell over at Quantum Diaries for her first blog post mentions the hellish topic of thesis writing. She mentions the sensitive topic of the "how long/much do you have left?" question. I've learnt the hard way that this question is really hard to answer. I feel really guilty now about asking some of my friends this question (a lot) in the past. If any of you are out there reading this, I'm sorry!!!

We need a new leader, we broke the last one

Mark Latham has just resigned as leader of the Australian Labour Party. I can't make up my mind as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for the Labour Party...

Thesis distractions II - revenge of my ipod

Question: When does 8=13?

Answer: When no-one knows where to start counting from.

So, I clocked my ipod's battery life on Wednesday to be a little under 8 hours. I recharged it that night and repeated the experiment on Thursday and squeezed about 13 hours out of the battery. After a bit of internet digging I found a few websites suggesting that a lot of ipods need to go through a complete charge cycle, that is a complete discharge and recharge, in order to properly calibrate the power meter for the battery. An incorrectly calibrated meter has the following two symptoms:

1. The ipod display registers an empty battery when there is really about 3 hours of play time left.
2. The battery meter registers "full" when the battery isn't. This leads to playback times that are a lot less than the device is capable of.

Anyway, a few websites suggested that ipods have to be re-calibrated every few months to maintain a decent amount of playback off your battery. It'd be nice if they included some of this stuff in the manual.

It'd be nice if they put that in the manual...

Thesis distractions

Thesis distraction for the day:

Testing my ipod battery!

My new ipod's battery indicator has been indicating 0 for 2 hours now. It's been running continuously for 7.5 hours, it's meant to be able to last for 12. Any bets on when the battery will die???