Honesty.

One month ago, I sent a paper to PLB. 12 days later, it was reviewed. I am still waiting for the editor to forward me the decision.

One week ago, I sent a paper to PRL. I am still waiting for the editor to either reject it outright, or send it our to review.

Journals are like the Death Star. You are like Alderan. The former has complete power over the latter. The former may obliterate the latter at will. And, stretching the analogy to breaking point and beyond, while the Death Editor knows exactly what Alderan is (it's lunch), Alderan has no idea... who... grand moff tarkin is. See, I've lost it. Grand Moff Tarkin is the reviewer. Or the editor. Whoever it is who knows who you are, but you don't know who they are.

The point is, double blind refereeing will never work in physics, because of the arXiv. But the fact is that there are some people who know nothing, nothing at all, but are in a position of power to reject papers, and do so anonymously. This infuriates me. Some fat pig somewhere believes that I'm an idiot, because he doesn't understand QED. I want to know who that prick is, so I can tell him to his face how wrong he is at conferences.

I am fed up of being treated like shit by these people.

Verlinde on Entropy

If this paper had not been written by Verlinde, but rather "Bobby Stardust", of the "Self Invented University for thinking about gravity in my front room, with the telly on and licking a spoon of jam", would anyone be giving the slightest fig about it?

I sounds facetious, I know. Let me rephrase: if a patent clerk had brought this to the community's attention, would anyone give it a second glance?

And try comparing it with Baez's crackpot index. Non-zero score.

Lubos

Lubos is claiming on his blog that global temperature could rise 13° and we'd all be fine. Possibly apart from some poor people with dark skin, but that really doesn't matter, does it? Especially if they don't have very many citations.

No, you racist idiot, of course not. As long as you're safe in your ivory tower of right wing bigotry, everything is fine. Until the melting ice caps release enough water to drown you in your sodding tower. I hope the last thing you see is a desperate, dark skinned chap climbing over you to get to higher ground. Possibly stopping just long enough to hold your head under for a bit.

Science v. physics

At lunch the other day:

Senior physicist (string theorist, multiverse lover): The definition of "science" was invented to satisfy Marxism. It has nothing to do with modern physics.

Me: Or, you could say that modern physics has nothing to do with science.

Senior physicist:

Sighhhhh.

This department.

This evening, as I strolled down the street, I nodded to a member of staff in the department. Who nodded back, then did a double take, and availed himself of the opportunity to tell me lies about my office mate and ask me to him that he thought he was very innapropriate. And that he said he said he shouldn't have said what he said, right, because, no, right, because it was well out of order and like its not right to say things like that because they're not true innit.

This department is a school playground.

The Landau Russian. Um. Pole.

I understand now how Russians physicists think.

They certainly know a lot. They have read a great deal. They remember all the little lessons they were ever taught, all the tricks, connections and basics which can be applied to trickier problems.

Problems like conversation. Because they really have no idea how to handle that.

In fact, they also can't discuss research. Well, not your research anyway. Say something that they don't understand, and their first reaction is to reach for something which no-one understands well, or is fiendishly complicated, and ask you about that instead, phrasing it as an attack on your work.

They're such, such fun!

Arrogance.

I've been in this department for six months. Today was the first time a member of staff asked me what I work on.

The first time.

And ten seconds into my explanation, he dismissed it.

Russian string theorists are, in my experience, not nice people.