I see that my (relatively) new washing machine has a setting for washing a Baby, which is a bit surprising because 60° would seem to be a bit warm for that..
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Matters of Chance
Posted in Biographical, Covid-19, Maynooth with tags careers, Covid-19, luck, Max Weber on May 5, 2020 by telescoperQuite a few times on this blog I have acknowledged the tremendous amount of luck I have had all the way through my career, not least that the opportunity which led to my current position in Maynooth came up when exactly when it did.
I was reminded of these theme the other day when someone circulated this excerpt from a book by Max Weber, which reflects on my own experiences.
I remember a conversation I had with Lev Kofman – a far more significant scientist than me – during which he called me a “fucking lucky bastard”. For a moment I thought he was being abusive but then, with a smile, he added “Welcome to (the)* Club”.
Another factor that has undoubtedly played a role in my own career as well as good fortune has been privilege, defined not only in terms of race and social class but also educational and institutional background. Those of us who have benefitted from this are often blind to its influence, preferring to think we achieve things purely on merit.
Nowadays all this talk about luck has taken a new twist. During the Coronavirus crisis my workload and stress levels have gone through the roof. Whenever I feel a bit overwhelmed I tend to reflect on the fact that I’m lucky to still have a job with a steady income at this time when so many have lost theirs.
How much longer this good fortune will last, I don’t know. There are dark rumours circulating about pay cuts, course closures and redundancies having to take place in the financial aftermath of Covid-19. I almost opted for early retirement a couple of years ago. Perhaps soon I’ll have no choice.
*Lev, being Russian, never really got the hang of articles; the definite article in parentheses is my addition.
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Posted in The Universe and Stuff, YouTube on May 4, 2020 by telescoperNot the Euclid Consortium Meeting
Posted in Biographical, Euclid, Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags Euclid Consortium, European Space Agency, Sitges on May 4, 2020 by telescoper
It’s a bright sunny Bank Holiday Monday and I’m here in my flat in Maynooth taking a coffee break before resuming work from home.
Before the Covid-19 outbreak started I had imagined that I’d be spending this week (or at least most of it) in Sitges near Barcelona for the annual Euclid Consortium Meeting which was planned to take place there. That has understandably been cancelled and replaced with a virtual meeting. Yet more Zoom sessions beckon…
Over the past weeks my workload has increased enormously but I’ve tried to clear the decks a little so I can tune in to some of the sessions but I won’t be able to make them all or even most.
I hope the virtual meeting goes well. Euclid is due to be launched in 2022 so time is getting short and there is much preparatory work still to do.
Well, talking of work I better get back to it! The first plenary is not until this afternoon and I’ve lots to do before then.
I wonder if normality will have returned in time for there to be a Euclid Consortium Meeting next year?
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Posted in Biographical, mathematics, YouTube with tags Cramer's Rule, Linear Algebra, YouTube on May 3, 2020 by telescoperTo do something a bit different during this Covid-19 lockdown I decided to set up my very own YouTube channel to which you may (or may not) wish to subscribe.
I’m new to this so I posted a short video to test how it works. It’s a little video explainer about Cramer’s Rule in linear algebra I made using Screencast-o-matic. I’ve done a lot of these over the past few weeks but they’re not what the channel is about: I posted this example is just to try out the system (mainly to see how long the upload would take).
I put this up yesterday and I’ve already amassed five subscribers so I’m well on the way to becoming a YouTube sensation. I may even become viral so please ensure that you practice social distancing while watching the videos.
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Posted in Covid-19, Education, Maynooth with tags Coronavirus, Covid-19, Leaving Certificate, Maynooth University on May 3, 2020 by telescoper
I’ve been studying the ‘Roadmap‘ outlining the gradual relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions that, all being well. will begin on May 18th. There are five phases of this process, each lasting three weeks. At any point the process can be stopped or reversed if the data suggest things are going wrong.
It’s quite consistent with how I imagined it might work when I wrote about it a couple of weeks ago:
As a physicist I see the change being rather like an adiabatic process, carried out in quasi-static fashion, in a series of reversible steps…
Some measure of social distancing will remain even after the completion of all five phases, and will probably stay in place until a vaccine for Covid-19 is available.
I first noted this in Phase 1:
Which suggests that some staff may be allowed onto campus. At my University (Maynooth), however, teaching will have finished by May 8th. By May 18th the exam period will have started but it is not obvious that the above can be interpreted as allowing staff into their offices to mark examinations and project assessments. Speaking for myself I would find that useful. I suppose we will find out fairly soon what it means.
On the whole the Roadmap seems to me quite reasonable. It is rather broadbrush in character, which is understandable, though that does mean many details need to be worked out. There is however one very surprising omission which leads to a serious contradiction and is causing considerable confusion.
According to the Roadmap, Irish schools will not reopen until Phase Five, which commences on August 10th, just in time for the start of the 2020/2021 academic year.
On the other hand it has already been announced that the School Leaving Certificate examinations (which start in June in a normal year) would commence on July 29th. Moreover the Education Minister has previously indicated that these examinations would only happen after two weeks of classroom teaching for students who have been having only remote teaching during the Lockdown.
If schools are not to reopen until August 10th then it is not possible for the Leaving Certificate to start on July 29th. Even if the classroom teaching bit is scrapped there won’t be anywhere for students to sit the examinations!
There’s no mention of the Leaving Certificate in the Roadmap which suggests that the Government hasn’t thought it through yet. It seems to me virtually certain that a u-turn is coming up and the Leaving Certificate is going to be cancelled after all. Students will probably welcome this outcome but I’m not sure what it would mean for this year’s University admissions!
On the other hand I am informed by a reliable source that the Government is adamant that the Leaving Certificate will go ahead on 29th July as planned. The question is how?
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Posted in Biographical, Covid-19, Maynooth with tags 5km limit, Coronavirus, Covid-19, Maynooth on May 2, 2020 by telescoperSince the Covid-19 restrictions were imposed over a month ago I’ve been confined to within a 2km radius of my home.
Yesterday, however, the Taioseach Leo Varadkar announced that is being relaxed to a 5km limit. Eager to see what thrilling new horizons would unfold as a result of this announcement I checked on a phone app and found this:
Great. So now I can visit a little bit of Leixlip, a little bit of Celbridge, or an even smaller bit of Kilcock.
I can barely contain my excitement.
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Posted in Maynooth with tags Maynooth University Library Cat on May 2, 2020 by telescoperI’ve been quite worried about Maynooth University Library Cat as I haven’t laid eyes on him since before Easter, despite regular visits to his spot on campus on my daily exercise round. Initially I thought I was just turning up at the wrong time, but then when colleagues started to ask if I’d seen him I started to fret. It’s not unusual for cats to take it upon themselves to go walkabout and thus particular moggy certainly knows how to look after himself. Nevertheless I did fear that something bad might happened.
Anyway, I fear no more. Last night a colleague (Cathal McCauley) messaged me to inform me that our famous feline had returned, as large as life and no worse for wear. Here some of his pictures to prove it.
It’s just like a cat to reappear nonchalantly like that, as if he’d never been away. He seems as sleek and healthy as ever and continues to have a healthy appetite.
What he’s been up to for the past few weeks I don’t know. Perhaps that’s just as well…
A relevant factor is the weather. It hadn’t rained much here in Maynooth until a couple of days ago when it poured down. I suspect he has been sleeping al fresco somewhere but returned to his box when he needed somewhere dry. It’s just a theory of course.
The main thing is that he’s back and seems in good shape. I’ll see if he’s still around when I drop by this afternoon.
Update: Sunday 3rd May. I didn’t see him yesterday but made up for that just now.
I can confirm he looks very healthy and has a good appetite, though he did not seem best pleased when he saw a dog nearby.
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Posted in Biographical, Covid-19, Maynooth with tags Bealtaine, Covid-19, ireland on May 1, 2020 by telescoperToday, 1st May, Beltane (Bealtaine in Irish) is an old Celtic festival that marks the mid-point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. It’s one of the so-called Cross-Quarter Days that lie exactly halfway between the equinoxes and solstices. These ancient festivals have been moved so that they take place earlier in the modern calendar than the astronomical events that represent their origin: the halfway point between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice is actually next week…
Anyway, let me offer a hearty ‘Lá Bealtaine sona daoibh‘!
Today is also the day that the Irish Government decides whether to extend the restrictions arising from the Covid-19 outbreak due to end on May 5th (May 4th is a Bank Holiday). All the signs are that they will and indeed that they should.
We are told that the decision will be based on five measures.
The ‘criteria’ being quoted are:
- the progress of the disease;
- healthcare capacity & resilience;
- testing & contact tracing capacity;
- ability to shield & care for at-risk groups;
- the risk of secondary morbidity & mortality due to the restrictions themselves.
These aren’t really criteria of course as they don’t set a standard by which performance will be measured. My own amateurish attempts to keep track of the data show that while new cases are falling slowly (the value of the R-number is in the range 0.5-0.8) the rate of deaths remains roughly constant:
If you look at the world data on Covid-19 you will see that it’s a global phenomenon that the timescale for the spread to decrease is much longer than that for the initial increase. That means that loosening control too early will simply precipitate another rapid spread which in turn will require another lengthy lockdown.
The rate of hospital and ICU admissions is not falling significantly either. This may be because over the past weeks an increasing number of infections have occurred in care homes among elderly patients who are much more vulnerable to serious illness than the general population.
I can’t see any evidence from this that would support an argument for starting to end the lockdown anytime soon, and that’s before considering the other points. Testing, for example, is definitely not yet up to speed.
When it first started I told my colleagues that it wouldn’t start to unwind until June and I’m sticking with that.
It’s worrying though that there are signs that some individuals are taking it upon themselves to relax the restrictions. There is definitely more traffic (both vehicular and pedestrian) than there was a few weeks ago here in Maynooth. The question arises that if the lockdown is extended will it just become less effective as more people flout it? I think if it is going to be extended the Gardaí will have to get much tougher.
Although I’m very worried by the prospect of things dragging on I do at least get the impression that the Irish Government is doing its best not only to deal with Covid-19 but also to be honest about the situation, to the extent of owning up to its failures. The situation is very different on the other side of the Irish Sea, where the daily UK Government briefings are transparent only in their abject dishonesty.
UPDATE: to nobody’s great surprise the current restrictions will stay in place until 18th May, after which there will be a phased relaxation. For more details see here.
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In the Dark 