Spiderbeam!

I got sick and tired of head-butting into walls. I have decided to realize some ideas that have been on my mind for a while. So, I sat down and tried to teach myself Python to solve a problem regarding manipulation of matter with light.

After leaving the program running overnight at the workstation, I got to the office and ran the visualization program... What did I see? I saw SPIDERBEAM:

Lyx was the one that realized the similitude with Spiderman logo and Daniel got me this jpeg of the Spiderman 3 movie:

Note: I don't intend to violate any copyright. I tried to find the link for the jpeg but couldn't find it so I posted the jpeg that my friend made for me.

The Damned

—Have you ever heard the voice of God?

—O father, why the surprised face?

—Is that fear? You, of all of us in this room, are the one allegedly serving Him, the most Holy One. Us? We all have strayed into the dark path. We are the ones walking through the valley of shadow and death excommunicated from the comfort of His rod and staff. Surely, if you kept the cloth after all you have done in these years, you believe it all was good to the eyes of the Lord and not sinful at all. Then, there's nothing to fear.

Here, take this rosary, find your prayers. Examine yourself.

—Money? We don't care about money. Forgiveness? Haven't you been listening to us? We cannot forgive nor judge. Find your peace! We are not the legion nor the angel of death. We are just the damned collecting a fellow one.

—Brothers? No, you got it wrong. He said collecting, not recruiting. Alas! We are damned, we have sinned and keep sinning. We have chosen to fall and take with us the likes of you.

(Sometimes, mostly when I cannot find my bearings, I try to get my mind off-topic and 'reset.' As I keep banging into a wall with my research, today, I am trying something completely different to my usual love stories and I wrote something really violent where, I hope, different sociopath antihero characters can be realized.)

Last weekend movies...

It was the lunar new year, or Chinese New Year, and it meant a four and a half days long weekend. I focused my attention on sleeping and relax in order to start a new project that involves learning how to program in python. Thus, I spent a lot of time watching tv-series and one movie:

1. Shutter Island, *****
   I have never been disappointed by a film directed by Martin Scorsese. His movies have all the old times signs and methods. The duet DiCaprio-Scorsese has been quite good in the last decade, add to it the supporting roles of Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow and you have an awesome movie. The story is not predictable due to its many twists and keeps you making wild hypothesis that may or may not be true in the end.

On the tv-series side, I started watching an awesome series, Lie to me. I sat through the first season of this serial featuring Tim Roth playing a behavioral scientist that can spot any deception. Quiet curious is the case of two British men playing two researchers interested in lies; I mean the House MD and Lie to me cases. I cannot wait for the second season! On the other hand, Glee is not so funny any more, but the music is still great, I managed to catch up all the way to episode ten. I couldn't find a way to watch Big Bang Theory this weekend but I guess the guys were in some strange and funny circumstances. Anyway, right now I'm more focused on getting my hands on the second season of Lie to me. And that's all in the lazy weekend front.

Our article on Dicke's Quantum Phase Transition has been virtualized...

The article "Quantum phase transition of nonlinear light in the finite size Dicke Hamiltonian" has been showcase in the Virtual Journal of Quantum Information and the Virtual Journal of Atomic Quantum Fluids.

Now, I have no clue if there is a selection process or if each and every article published in the topic manages to get to these virtual journals. Anyway, this improves the chances that the article will be read by someone.

Want to read more about the article? Visit my publication list.

Last weekend movies...

It has been almost two months without movies. Life started moving fast and then slow, as always. With Lyx visiting, we found time to watch some movies and read a couple of books, but there was no time for the blog. I'm pretty sure I have a list of the movies I watched during these seven past weekends, but right now I remember two:

1. Black Swan, *****
   Darren Aronofsky is a great director. I have always found the movies he has directed a source of entertainment, awe, despair and time to come to a complete halt, focus my attention, and think what the hell is happening in the screen; and not just actions, but feelings and ideas too.
   


2. How to train your Dragon, *****
   I have always loved good animations. It is hard to find one that really keeps my attention due to details, technology used, script and storytelling. How to train your dragon is one of those few that have managed to keep me on my chair. The sky, the water, the fire! I cannot believe how advanced computer generated animation is! The movie seems to be very loosely based on the children's novel saga written by Cressida Cowell, which seem to be very entertaining on its own.
   

On the tv-series side... Lyx found out about No Ordinary Family and I have been following the first season from episode one to thirteen, it is a superhero series with a little bit of this and that. Not so great, not bad. I also managed to catch up with Big Bang Theory season four episodes nine to thirteen. For the Lunar New Year, I'm trying to catch on with Glee and the Walking Dead, wish me luck!