Mark Hannam
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Physicist
Physicist
56 followers
Mark Hannam's posts
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Time to promote Doctor Who
I have to confess that I enjoyed the latest season of Doctor Who. It gave me a wonderful sense of achievement. The Doctor himself has vindicated my life choices more thoroughly than I could ever have hoped. I once dreamed of being Doctor Who, but now he dre...
I have to confess that I enjoyed the latest season of Doctor Who. It gave me a wonderful sense of achievement. The Doctor himself has vindicated my life choices more thoroughly than I could ever have hoped. I once dreamed of being Doctor Who, but now he dre...
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The Irresistible Allure of Controversy
On June 13 a paper appeared on the preprint arXiv that brought into question LIGO's first detection of gravitational waves . Six days later one of my LIGO colleagues wrote a blog post highlighting errors that debunk the claim. His response was circulated am...
On June 13 a paper appeared on the preprint arXiv that brought into question LIGO's first detection of gravitational waves . Six days later one of my LIGO colleagues wrote a blog post highlighting errors that debunk the claim. His response was circulated am...
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Nothing to see here: they are black holes
The latest news from LIGO: another observation of two black holes colliding . This one dates from January 4th. The black holes were approximately 20 and 31 times the mass of our sun. For the record, this similar to the first binary we found back in 2015 . T...
The latest news from LIGO: another observation of two black holes colliding . This one dates from January 4th. The black holes were approximately 20 and 31 times the mass of our sun. For the record, this similar to the first binary we found back in 2015 . T...
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Fake News Flash!
Oh, the humiliation! The guilt! The shame! It is all weighing on me too much, and I have to confess. Last weekend I spread a piece of fake news. Can I ask for a little clemency? After all, I did not compose the item of fake news. All I did was retweet a fak...
Oh, the humiliation! The guilt! The shame! It is all weighing on me too much, and I have to confess. Last weekend I spread a piece of fake news. Can I ask for a little clemency? After all, I did not compose the item of fake news. All I did was retweet a fak...
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A privileged Western white male reports on his summer
India, Gravitational Waves, Doctor Who, and other random updates. Last summer I embarked on a whirlwind global tour, and in the process ensured the downfall of one of the most disreputable scientists of our time. This summer was uneventful by comparison. Th...
India, Gravitational Waves, Doctor Who, and other random updates. Last summer I embarked on a whirlwind global tour, and in the process ensured the downfall of one of the most disreputable scientists of our time. This summer was uneventful by comparison. Th...
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John Clarke
In these strange times, I offer you some comedy. Not my own, of course. No, we can do far better than that. I would like to tell you about Mr John Clarke. John Clarke was a New Zealand-born comedian, who died in April. He died relatively young (68), and sud...
In these strange times, I offer you some comedy. Not my own, of course. No, we can do far better than that. I would like to tell you about Mr John Clarke. John Clarke was a New Zealand-born comedian, who died in April. He died relatively young (68), and sud...
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Clive's Continuing Climate Confusion
When I was young, I do not remember my father shouting very often. He kept calm in the face of just about everything, even me as an argumentative adolescent. But sometimes he was faced with something so ridiculous, so nonsensical, so stupefying — a problem,...
When I was young, I do not remember my father shouting very often. He kept calm in the face of just about everything, even me as an argumentative adolescent. But sometimes he was faced with something so ridiculous, so nonsensical, so stupefying — a problem,...
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How I saved the world with gravitational waves
Are you filled with hopeless dread, now that the forces of bigotry and fear have been unleashed on humanity at unprecedented levels via individuals of incomprehensible incompetence and stupidity? Is it no consolation whatsoever that moronic despots are alre...
Are you filled with hopeless dread, now that the forces of bigotry and fear have been unleashed on humanity at unprecedented levels via individuals of incomprehensible incompetence and stupidity? Is it no consolation whatsoever that moronic despots are alre...
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Lest We Forget: 2016
What an instructive year 2016 turned out to be! We learned nothing new, of course — I am hard-pressed to name any year when that happened. But it was a great year for reminders. What was the most important? You could almost be forgiven for thinking it was ...
What an instructive year 2016 turned out to be! We learned nothing new, of course — I am hard-pressed to name any year when that happened. But it was a great year for reminders. What was the most important? You could almost be forgiven for thinking it was ...
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In praise of immigrants
Immigrants in Britain have been suffering abuse and harassment in the days following the notorious Brexit vote. By immigrants I mean anyone who the psychotic xenophobic shit-heads have decided does not belong in the UK. Which means: unless you have pasty wh...
Immigrants in Britain have been suffering abuse and harassment in the days following the notorious Brexit vote. By immigrants I mean anyone who the psychotic xenophobic shit-heads have decided does not belong in the UK. Which means: unless you have pasty wh...
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