An evening with the nerds

I was out with some friends and colleagues tonight. We went to hear a presentation about the 16 official world champions of chess, from the first champ Willem Steinitz, to the reigning champion, Magnus Carlsen. Two weird guys who have written a book about these 16 champs presented the story. It was an evening with nerds. The kind of stuff I like. Very enjoyable.

It was a great presentation, the kind of stuff I enjoy, besides science, of course. The lecture room was filled with these people who watch the chess world championship broadcast, for hours and hours. Very cool.

And then we went out to drink some beers, and discuss chess, and science and mathematics and physics. All the good stuff that life has to offer, except skiing, which wasn’t much of a topic tonight.

And we discussed climate change in the way climate change should be discussed. The science, not just the political crap that we hear all the time, from people who don't understand how the Navier-Stokes equations works. Discussing climate change is a lot more interesting when you talk to people who are scientists and mathematicians, and who know more than just to repeat that stupid argument that all scientists agree. Consensus is not an argument in science. Remember what good old Feynman said:

Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

The first beer was not so good. It had some grape juice mixed in. The second one was better, a clean pure IPA. And the I went home, and I felt this urgent need to write something.

(Picture taken tonight)

A day in the fall

Summer is over. It’s a rainy day in the fall. Rainy and dark. I’m on the way back home from a business dinner. Good food, fish of the day, and good beers. Meeting with colleagues I haven’t met before. New project, future value chains, it’s called. Research for the future. Very exciting.

I always volunteer for the new and exciting stuff that’s coming up in our company. I still work for the dark side, petroleum exploration. But the future is green, so they say. Electrified, renewable. Probably it’s a big hype, driven by the climate change scare from IPCC, The new "Jehova’s Witnesses", scaring about the end of the world.

Anyway, it gives me the opportunity to do some cool science, funded by tax money, partly. And I agree with the conclusions, we need to use renewables, recycle, reduce consumption, even though I don't agree with the arguments, and the big scare.

Doing new stuff, new science, that’s exciting. I’m quite good at this, grabbing the opportunities, at work. Not so much in my private life though. Sad but true.

(Picture taken  while walking back home from town)

Weapon of self destruction

Fear

            is to go where you don’t want to go

is to be where you don’t want to be

is to say what you don’t want to say

is to do what you don’t want to do

Fear

            is a weapon of self destruction

(Just a picture from my archives, taken on a late scary summer night many years ago, I think)