Dakich returns to IU

What does this have to do with the physics and math library? Well, after assigning numerical values to general basketball player traits, including vertical jump, speed, court sense, judgment, peripheral vision, coachability, and so on, the Swain Hall Library staff have determined that the odds of anyone holding Michael Jordan to ≤ 13 points during the 1984 regional semifinal was roughly 7984 to 1 against. Dakich managed to do this as a player 23 years ago, in a game that has become the University of North Carolina's second most painful NCAA loss of all time. There...now this is a posting about mathematics and probability. Anyway, he returned to IU as Director of Basketball Operations in early June. Welcome Dan Dakich, you bring miracles to IU basketball.

IU Physicists in the News

The newly appointed Chair of the Physics Library Committee, Steve Gottlieb, has recently become Associate Editor-in-Chief of "Computing in Science and Engineering". Congratulations Steve. On the topic of "Library Committee Chairs"...outgoing Physics Library Chair Hans-Otto Meyer was recognized this spring with a Humboldt Research Award for lifetime achievement. Well done sir, you will be missed this next year, so please drop in for visits when you have a chance.

As long as we're turning back the clock a few months...in March it was announced that IU's Sima Setayeshgar was granted a National Science Foundation "CAREER Award". This is an extremely competitive award, and places emphasis on high-quality research and novel education initiatives. Sima! Great name, great award.

And what do you know, as long as we're turning back the clock a few months, let's flashback to 2004...IU Astronomer Liese van Zee won a CAREER award that resulted in "SMUDGES: A Survey for Dwarf Galaxies in the Local Universe". Way to go Liese, I didn't know that, but just now ran across it on the NSF page...here's Professor van Zee at the WIYN 3.5m and 0.9m telescopes. Congratulations everyone!

PlentyMag's Plenty 20

Which environmentally friendly companies are leading the way to a better future and a cleaner earth? PlentyMag's Danielle Wood has selected the following companies, and guess what, Isaac Berzin's Greenfuel Technologies is number 3 on their list (obviously when we mentioned it on this blog in March 2006, kajillions of readers saw it, and presto, a year later it's a world-renowned green company). Way to go Berzin.

Alright, I'll try to sum up what the top five companies do... for all twenty, check out the article.

1. Nanosolar

Solar...only now it's affordable.

2. ECD Ovonics

What is used in hybrid vehicles to make them work? This company makes that stuff...

Here comes the hydrogen powered car...

3. Greenfuel Technologies

a family favorite...ya take gobs of algae, put it in smokestacks, it eats CO2, then you re-use the new algae biomass by burning it like coal, or turning it into oil. Algae is really tough. Also, 20 million in venture capital...well, somebody thinks this'll work...

4. Envirofit

Old, two-stroke engines are common in Asia, etc. They pollute. This company can retrofit them and make them cleaner. They've already started.

5. General Electric (no I'm not kidding, #5)

Big company, lots of people, lots of ideas, "eco- magination" - whatever...I think it will all work out for them...

6. Organic Valley

7. Tesla motors

8. Southwest Windpower

9. Domini

10. Toyota

11. Whole Foods

12. Green Mountain Energy

13. Konarka convert light to energy

14. Goldman Sachs

15. Ormat Technologies geothermal power plants, solar, biomass

16. Ice Energy

17. Green Sandwich Technologies

18. Green Mountain Coffee

19. Fiberstars

20. NaturaLawn Yes, good idea, get rid of those ridiculous herbicides. You can have your nice perfect green lawn, and the good news is that half of the people at next year's block party picnic won't have leukemia. Put this one up there at number 8 or 9.

What is it with "the perfect lawn" anyway? Spraying poison all over creation..."What is that, a dandelion?" KILL IT!! AAAHHHH!