I"h

y

Photo courtesy of www.usps.com

CHOWDHURY

a bargain, depending on howyou use public transporta­

tion.Caltech offers a $25 transit

subsidy to any Caltech member,who buys a Metro monthly pass.With parking fees and gas priceson the rise, this is an added in­centive to ride public transpor­tation frequently, especially forcommuting to Caltech. You canpurchase a subsidized Metromonthly pass from the Caltechbookstore for $27.

Students can do even better byscoring a Metro student monthlypass for only $5. That's cheaperthan the cost of two Metro DayPasses! For more

information on this bargainand other transit subsidies, seethe section "What's FARE forMe?" on the Caltech TransitGuide site.

In addition, the website cov­ers how to get to the Metro GoldLine from Caltech, how to bringyour bike on public transit, andhow to stay safe while riding.

The Caltech Transit Guide isalso available in PDF form forconvenient printing. If you printthe guide two to a page, frontand back, you can make a book­let that fits easily in a purse orbackpack.

We hope that the Caltech Tran­sit Guide helps you use publictransportation to explore Pasa­dena and the L.A. area. Visitour new website at transitguide.caltech.edu.

The Caltech Transit Guide,a new website designed to helpthe Caltech community use pub­lic transportation, is now onlineat transitguide.caltech.edu.

Unlike other transit resources,this site contains Caltech-spe­cific information on everythingfrom bus routes to subsidizedfares. Ameerah Chowdhury('04), a former Techer, compiledthe website's extensive contents.

Whether you are a faculty orstaff member, who commutes toCaltech, or a student, who wantsto take a jaunt into L.A., this sitewill show you how to make yourtrip fast and cheap via bus, rail,or bike.

For those of you who are newto Caltech, the site first beginswith a quick overview of L.A.'sMetro system and other transitproviders in the area.

The website then shows youhow to plan your trip on publictransportation using automatedtrip planners and maps. Sometrip planners, such as

ExperienceLA, work better fortourist destinations while others,like BikeMetro, are geared forbicyclists. The Caltech TransitGuide can help

you determine which onlinetrip planner is best for you, andthen connect you to it with theclick of a button.

Now that you've planned yourtrip, how much is it going tocost? The Caltech Transit Guideshows you how to make your

By ROBERT TINDOL

Postage rates may keep go- course, with a big peak duringing up, but when it comes to the winter months."natural beauty and scientific Libbrecht attributes the site'swonder, one particular issue of popularity to its discussion ofstamps is going to be hard to some very accessible science.lick. "Snowflake patterns are well

Beginning next October, known, the snowflakes fallthe U.S. Postal Service will right out of the sky, and youissue a set of four commemo- don't necessarily need a sci­rative stamps featuring im- ence background to appreciateages of snowflakes furnished the science how theseby that hotbed of snowflake ice structures form. It's an es­research, the California Insti- pecially good introduction totute of Technology. The holi- science for younger kids," heday snowflakes stamp set will says.display photographs taken Libbrecht began his researchby Caltech physics professor by growing synthetic snow­Kenneth Libbrecht. flakes in his lab, where they

For several years Libbrecht can be created and studied un­has been investigating the ba- der well-controlled conditions.sic physics of how patterns are Precision micro-photographycreated during crystal growth was necessary for this work,and other simple physical pro- and over several years Libbre­cesses. He has delved particu- cht developed some special­lady deeply into a case study ized techniques for capturingof the formation of snowflakes. images of snow crystals. Start­His research is aimed at better ing in 200I, he expanded hisunderstanding how structures range to photographing natu­arise in material systems, but ral snowflakes as wen. "A fewit is also visuany compelling years ago I mounted my micro­and, from the start, has been a scope in a suitcase, so I nowhit with the public. can take it out into the field,"

"My snowflake website, says Libbrecht. "Sometimes Iwww.snowcrystals.com. is arrange trips to visit colleaguesgetting about two hits in the frozen and othera year," says "of times I extended ski

2 THE CALIFORNIA TECH PLEASE

VOLUME eVIl, NUMBER 11

Adam CraigEditor

Alex SheiveLayout Manager

Lisa TranBusiness Manager

Robert MorellCirculation

The Tech is published weekly except duringvacation and examination periods by the As­sociated Students of the California Instituteof Technology, Inc, The opinions expressedherein are strictly those of the authors andadvertisers.

Letters and submissions are welcome; e­mail submissions to tech@tech.caltech.edu asplain-text attachments, including the author'sname, by Friday of the week before publica­tion. Sony the Tech docs not accept anony­mous contributions. The editors reserve theright to edit and abridge all submissions forany reason. All written work remains propertyof its author.

The advertising deadline is five p.m. Friday;alladvertising should be submitted electroni­cally or as camera-ready art, but the Tech canalso do simple typesetting and unangement.All advertising inquiries should be directedto the business manager at business@caltech,edu. For sUbscription information, please sendmail to "Subscriptions."

THE CALIFORNIA TECH ANYTHING JANUARY 9,2005 3

4 THE CALIFORNIA TECH KOKO JANUARY 9, 2005

ByeI

Jimmy World atCaltech - This Ain't NoKaraoke Contest

It is beyond me how wegot Jimmy Eat World to playhere. "What is a hot bandlike them doing at a schoollike ours?" is just one of themany questions answered inthis interview. I can't believeI got the chance to meet andinterview one of my favoritebands of all time: Dreamy!

In the hours before theirconcert, a bunch of students,myself included, were treat­ed to a IS-minute meet­and-greet with Jim, Rick,Tom, .and Zach in WinnettLounge, all possible thanksto Dima. They were all su­per nice, even when I wasall star struck and stuff. Ihad compiled a lot of ques­tions over the previous twoweeks, and I couldn't de­cide whether I wanted aninterview centered on mu­sic, or funny stuff, or stuffthat gauged how nerdy andTecher-like they were, soI put in a few of the best. Igot a lot of good responses,including the shocking storythat explains the title of thisarticle. Please enjoy.

We couldn't get an officialinterview where I sat downand talked to them all atonce, so I had to ask each ofthem separately.

Encounters with ZachLind (drums)

CK: So you guys play vid­eogames? I heard you playalot of Battlefield 1942.

ZL: We do, yeah we playthat. We playa lot of video­games.

CK: How many hours doyou guys spend playing?

ZL: Well, we probablydon't playas much as theaverage geek in college,but like we probably play alot for how old we are, youknow.

CK: Laughs. Oh, I don'tthink it's age related...

ZL: Yeah, I don't know.CK: Uhmm so... Inter­

view gets sort of awkwardhere. What's your eyesight?

ZL: I have really goodeyesight, whatever that is.

CK: Hey, that's good. Soyou're a straight A student,right?

ZL: No, I was never astraight A student. ..

CK: Whatever, it's cool;none of us are, either. Timeto ask new questions... Soyou're playing in Australiaafter a few more shows in

states. How many timeshave you guys toured there?

ZL: This is our 3rd timegoing to Australia. It's re­ally cool.

CK: I know you guys hadfun touring in Japan, be­cause the crowds get prettycrazy, but how does Austra­lia compare?

ZL: Uhh, it's a lot like theStates I guess. Japan andAustralia are really differentthough; you can't comparethose two.

CK: Cool, well good luckwith tonight's show andgood luck with your tour inAustralia.

ZL: Thanks.

Conversations with JimAdkins (lead guitar/ leadvox)

CK: So what's the lasttechno gadget you boughtfor yourself?

JA: Uhmm... hmm... lat­est techno gadget. .. Thinks.

CK: I'm just trying tomeasure your nerdiness incomparison with the ste­reotypical Tech student.Like uhh... you know, 'howmany hours of video gamesto you playa day?', 'what'syour eyesight?' , blah blah.

JA: Uhmmm... latesttech­no gadget I bought was ... atube distortion pedal by a~ompany called· Metason­lCS.

CK: Yeah, I don't have anyidea about what he's talkingabout. .. Okay, sounds cool.

JA: Yeah?CK: Yeah...JA: It's kind cool, like

they make stuff out of tubesthat were never designed foraudio... stuff.

CK: Sound engineering,that's awesome. How's itdifferent from the other dis­tortion pedals that you havealready?

JA: It's ... uhh it's got areally high output, so yougotta be careful, 'cause youcould actually break stuffthat you use it with.

CK: Wow, that's cool!Wow, I sound stupid... oh,I think I'll have to ask youmore questions later, 'causeI'm sort of holding the lineup. Is it okay if I come backlater?

JA: Yeah sure.--To be continued. (Not

really.)--

Adventures with Tom Lin­ton (guitar/ backup vox)

CK: So I'm trying tocompare you with the ste-

reotypical geek at Caltech,and I just wanted to knowwhat your favorite science

school was.TL: Uhmm. .. probably

biology.CK: Oh really? That's

cool, I just changed majorsfrom Bio to Mech E-uhhmechanical engineering.

TL: Cool.CK: I also have some

other questions, this is un­related, but what's the worstyou've ever screwed some­one over?

------ Insert awkwardness-

TL: Uhhh, What's theworse I've ever screwedsomeone? Uhh...

CK: I'm realizing that thiswas probably a mistake toask. You don't have to an­swer that if you don't wantto.

TL: Uhmm.. .I'm trying tothink. Thinks for a while...

CK: That r--­meansyou'rea good per­son, really.

TL: Yeah,I don't thinkI've ever re­ally donethat. Laughs.

CK: That'sreally good.I'm glad youcan't answerthat ques­tion.

TL: Yeah,I've neverscrewed any­one over.

CK: Hey,that's good;it's a loadedquestion, re­ally. Ummwhat about,what inven­tion did youwish you hadthought of?

TL: Thewheel.

CK: Thewheel?That's a cop­out answer.

TL: What?Laughing.That's agood inven­tion ...

CK: Al-right, alright,it's a goodinvention. SoI heard youguys are likehuge BonJovi fans,

and you go to karaoke andsing, so what's your favoritekaraoke song to sing?

TL: Yeah, it was Jim'sbirthday a month ago, andwe went to a karaoke bar inChicago. And uhhh, well,we've gone to karaoke barsbefore, and when we getthere no one really wantsto go up and sing. So whatI did was that I went up andpicked all these random andreally bad songs, like UglyKid Joe, and I don't know,whatever songs ... -

CK: --like the "Cat's Cra­dle" cover?

TL: Yeah, yeah, just so thatpeople have to go up thereand Zach went up - Zach'sthe Bon Jovi fan - and hedid, "Dead or Alive."

CK: Nice, nice. Hey wait,so like, you guys go out tokaraoke, but no one wants tosing? That's kind of weird.

TL: Yeah, well people get

nervous, you know?CK: Yeah, but why do you

get nervous though? Youguys are on stage a wholebunch. But in front of eachother, is it like, 'oooh shy'?

TL: Haha, you know what?Actually, about the time wewere recording Futures,Jim went over to a karaokebar that was right across thestreet from our hotel. And Iguess they had, "The Mid­dle" on the karaoke menu.There was also a contestthat night, and Jim sang [hissong] "The Middle"--but helost! Laughs.

CK: Oh noooo... that'sterrible. That soo ... weird.

TL: True story, but kindafunny.

CK: That's a good story.Hey so, I heard you likeplaying videogames, yeah?

TL: Yes, I just got the X­box Live.

CK: So how do you like

JANUARY 9, 2005KRISPIESTHE CALIFORNIA TECH

rKO

For more information and to access the book, visit www.physksunifiedtheory.com

ReadThe Grand Unified Theory ofPhysics

byJoseph M. Brown

Overall, I'm pretty happythat Caltech gave thisprivate concert and I hopethat they can do more in thefuture. Thank you to JimmyEat World for giving us anawesome concert, and thankyou to ASCIT and everyoneinvolved for the wonderfuljob they did. I had a greattime, and I'm sure that thisopinion IS shared amongmost all of the students whoattended.

RV: Thanks so much forthe concert. Here's your din­ner. By the way, the reporterforgot to ask you a very im­portant question.

Manager: Sorry, no way.It's too late.

RV: But it's only one ques­tion.

RB: Where is she?RV: Oh well, I was just

going to ask you for her.RB: Okay, what's the

question?Manager: No way, you

can't ask them. It's alreadyover.

RB: But what's the ques­tion?

RV: Why did you chooseto play at Caltech? Why didyou agree to play here?

RB: Ooh, that's a hardquestion... Well, it soundedlike it could be a fun con­cert.

RV: Did you have fun?RB: Yeah, it was awe­

some!(Thank you, Rocky-- you

saved the interview!)

--Cindy Ko

member of the ASCIT socialteam, Rocky Velez, help.With a little persistence, shegot the chance to ask RickBurch (bass) the final ques­tion right before the bandleft.

remedy that later.Soon after meet and

greet ended, their openingband from San Diego, TheJade Shader, took stage.They were well received bythe crowd, with their songsabout pirates and Emergen­C antics. The Jade Shaderhad been on tour with themin the past, but they weren'tslated to follow JEW on thenext leg of the tour to Aus­tralia with Green Day andMy Chemical Romance.With the end of The JadeShader's set, the crowd waswarmed up for when JimmyEat World took stage.

Having seen them play livea total of three times, twicein high school and once hereat Tech, the concert five lastSaturdays ago was worldsbetter than the other times.This time, I got to interviewthem too, but still the judg­ment stands. I'd say thatthe concert venue makesa huge difference; the firsttwo times I saw them playin a sports arena setting,and I had sucky nosebleedlawn seats. I felt like I wasat a lame sporting event thatcosted me too much to sittoo far away. A nice intimateconcert on the lawn was eas­ily the best to which I'vebeen. They played all theirsingles off of Bleed Ameri­can and Futures and a fewof the lesser-known songs,including one they only typi­cally play in concert. The setincluded an encore as well,which was nice.

At the end of the concert,I was still bummed aboutnot getting to completemy interview, especiallybecause I didn't ask themthat last question. I practi­cally begged everyone whoI thought could help me getbackstage again with verylittle success. However, Idid get lucky when I asked a

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up the interview, but theirmanager was 'Haha, noway.' So instead, I decidedto thank the band by blurt­ing out to Jim, "Thanks forcoming to play here, it's soso so ... great! Thank you! !!"I had originally meant it tosound less corny or retardedbut whatever. Jim smiledpolitely and their manager,who was being a jerk, prac­tically pushed me out thedoor.

So, even though theirmanager could have been alittle more generous, I stillgot an interview of sorts.Although, I had forgottento ask them one key ques­tion, "Why did they chooseto play at Caltech?" I shouldhave started the interviewwith that question, but myapologies: I'm an amateur.You may also notice that Ididn't ask Rick Burch (bass)any questions, but I will

Joseph M. Brown

The Grand UnifiedTheory of Physics

who directsMarty he's theone who spends all the workand We don't reallyspend that much on theacting, or like our 'trying' toact... it's still fun though.

CK: Yeah, it's cool.-- Enter band manager.-­CK: Hey, I'm from the

school newspaper, is it al­right if I just get three moreminutes?

Manager: No, we gotta getready.

CK: Yeah right, you havean opening band first.C'mon, you have three min­utes, gimme some slack...

-- Manager proceeds toshoo me toward the door. --

I had never rea:Uy got backto Jim, but I did manage tomake a fool out of myself infront of him before I left. Aseveryone was being shooedout, I insisted on finishing

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•The disturbance at a long distance from the proton is the electro-magnetic field.

What's your favoritegame?

TL: I like Gun; I alsoRed Dead Revolver. On X­box Live, I like Call ofDuty2 and I like Madden. We'resolid, big videogame guys.

CK: I know you spend alot of time making your Ad­ventures, and I just want toknow how many hours youspend on it. They're reallywell done, I have to say. Es­pecially that French one...that has no English... I likethat one quite a bit. (Tom,his bandmates, and his bud­dies like to film short mov­ies about funny stuff, andtitle them A World ofAdven­ture. The shorts are postedfor fans to download off oftheir website on the Audio­Video page.)

TL: Laughs. You knowwhat? As far as the actinggoes, it's pretty much doneall in one take. But the guy

6 THE CALIFORNIA TECH

G. L. O. M. - Gre 's Life of Misery

COMICS JANUARY 9,2005

Inational Exuberance

o(I

have to lend meSouth master!

My final isduenow! ---'- z

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Zhfyun Gu~n

THE CALIFORNIA TECH COMMENTARY JANUARY 9,2005 7FORone-owner,Miata with halrdtoD. AUltOinatic,AMlFM 'Lass~ue,cover & rm,,,,,,,..trhl,,

Excellent maintenance.Driven to and from Caltechby professor. $5,200.Contact Jenijoy La Belle x3605or jlb@hss.caltech.edu.

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Bitches is Hoes is a collectionof rants about the changes that arehappening around Caltech. Manypeople complain that these chang­es cause this place to become lessCaltechy. We have no idea whatthat means and we do not have anyidea what those people are talk­ing about. We are here to pointfingers. We are identifying theobvious examples of idiocy thatplague our community. These arethe cowardly acts committed bythe administration because theyare afraid to get sued. These arethe failings of different so-calledcampus services because they areafraid of budget cuts. These arethe students who sycophanticallyadhere to the administration'sweak excuses. And so we labelthem as "bitches." They are as ef­fective as a blind, spayed dog withits teeth knocked out and a gianttumor coming out of its nose.They have sold out by sacrificingthe efficiency and quality of theCalteeh experience for an illusionof politieally correctness and safe­ty. Hence, bitches is hoes.

On another note, don't try tostick us with libel. Everything inthese articles is true.

Ib(lltor's Note: Furthermore,in this case, the main accusationmade is of hypocrisy, and, if thatwere illegal, no one would remainto serve jury duty, let alone judge,proseeute, or defend.]

We pull no punches when wecomment on the shortcomings ofthis place; If you think we havepunched below the belt, do nothesitate to contact the author ofthe article so we can make fun ofyou.

JVLlJlAUr'A GUTMAN

individuals not beto wear crosses aroundnecks. I find all of thesethings offensive threat­ening. As a Jew, it is not sur­prising for me to find offen­sive a constant reminder that

are around half a billionpeople on this whowear reminders celebratethe torture murder aJewish man. I itthreaten-

in cross sig;niiiesof one man

I mightnext. Then:~fore unless

.n_h_ --,- is ready to file as areJligiollS university, it

prejudicial to pro­one religious symbol

because it is offensive andnot prohibit othersymbols.

Some you out dis-agree with my view; somelook the mirror donot see an anti-Semite. So

I you tocome on my show and defendyour honor. If you don't,you're a coward. Feel freeto e-mail the time you wouldlike to come on my show tojegutman@its.caltech.edu orany other hate mail anybodyelse might have.

In Conclusion:Bitches is bitches.

Caltech has no prob­lem limiting worship of afigure, in this case Satan, Ihereby request that HATEremove all crosses and biblesfrom public display and that

You areto offense to absolutelyanything. However. realizingthat sornetimt~s

holdothers, it is unreasonable toexpect to create anment to which nobody couldtake You have theright to objec-

not haveto encoun-

pentagram as a ofSatan and hence an attack onChristianity.

To intelligently discussthis issue though, we need toconsider what a person maytake offense to. My answer:

case

everbesides

you'vemurals on the Starting

year, administrationstarted a group Hous-

and Administration forTolerable

to remove mllrals

8 THE CALIFORNIA .... JLJ'-' ...... JANUARY 9,

By THE CALTECH PR DEPARTMENT

Every year, a sizeablegroup of Caltech alum­ni sign on to watch theTournament of RosesParade with the AlumniAssociation, a reser­vation that guaranteesthem prime seating atthe comer of Hill andColorado and a conviv­ial post-parade lunch atthe Athenaeum. More

220 people bookedspots for the 2006 pa­rade, nearly all ofthem braved the ele­ments on January 2, ac­cording to Association

assistant director forevents and programsJennifer Schmidt, whoaccompanied the group."Everyone showed up intheir rain gear, crackingjokes about the weather,and in high spirits over­all," says Schmidt. "Bylunchtime the mood wasa little more subdued

people a littlemore soggy, but somegood food, hot soup, andcoffee seemed to restore

.uU.U'<'U'A, and every­one started compar­ing stories." Somewhat

surprisingly, no onebrought a precipitationgauge, but Schmidt re­ports that she did over­hear "two men trying tocalculate the exact per­centage of the surfacearea of their bodies thatwas wet to determinewho was more soaked."Alas, no photos exist tocommemorate the ca­maraderie of inclem­ently inclined Caltech­ers. Schmidt says thatshe wasn't sure that herdigital camera wouldsurvive the monsoon.

111

ADAM CRAIG

Photograph by Robert Paz

://presidentialsearch.caltech.edu/.

you want altimorealtimore,

who does theof whatever altimore

would do, this is your last chanceto weigh in on the topic

nn

he California TechCaltech 40-58

Pasadena, CA 91125

are made possible in part bypainstakingly controlling howcertain substances condenseinto solid structures.

Lest thinks thatLibbrecht his life as aphysicist to snowflakes, heis also involved in the LaserInterferometer Gravitational­Wavean NSF-funded thatseeks to confirm existenceof waves from

cosmic sources such ascolliding black holes.

In LIGO, Libbrecht hasof professional company; infact, the field was essentiallyfounded by Albertwho first predicted the exis­tence of gravitational wavesas a consequence of generalrelativity. Kip Thome and RonDrever at Caltech, along withRai Weiss at MIT, were instru­mental in initiating theproject in the 1980s.

But in snowflake research,Libbrecht is pretty much aone-man show. And he saysthere's something about theexclusivity that he likes.

"It suits some of my hermit­like tendencies," commentsLibbrecht. "As Daniel Booneonce said, if you can smellthe smoke of another person'sfire, then it's time to move on.My research on snow crystalgrowth is the one thing I dothat simply wouldn't get doneotherwise."

w

Continued from Page 1

great distances are larger thanwhat we can easily grow in thelab." So where does one findreally nice snowflakes? Cer-tainly not in whereCaltech is located, Lib-brecht says that certain snowy

are better than others.snowflakes chosen for the

stalnps were inUp­

per Peninsula Michigan,and in Libbrecht's favoritespot-Cochrane, Northem On­tario. "Northem Ontariovides some really ex(~enent

specimens to photograph,"says Libbrecht. "The tempera­ture is cold, but not too cold,and the weather brings lightsnow frequently.

"Fairbanks sometimes offerssome unusual crystal types,because it's so cold. Warmerclimates, for example, in NewYork State and the vicinity,tend to produce less spectacu­lar crystals." As for the nitty­gritty of snowflake research,probably the question Libbre­cht is asked the most is wheth­er the old story about no twosnowflakes being exactly alikeis really true.

"The answer is basically yes,because there is such an in­credibly large number of pos­sible ways to make a complexsnowflake," he says. "In manycases, there are very clear dif­ferences between snow crys­tals, but of course there aremany similar crystals as well.In the lab we often producevery simple, hexagonal crys­tals, and these all look verysimilar."

Libbrecht can grow manydifferent snowflake forms atwill in his lab, but says thereare still many subtle mysteriesin crystal growth that are ofinterest to physicists who aretrying to understand and con­trol the formation of variousmaterials. A real-world appli­cation of research on crystalsis the growth of semiconduc­tors for our electronic gad­gets. These semiconductors

vacations with my family. Themost part these daysis getting this complex-look-

instrument airportsecurity."

Libbrecht's camera rig is es-sentially a with acamera attached. entireapparatus was built on cam­pus and designed SP(~Cljjc2lHy

for snowflake"Snowflakes are madewhich is mostly completely

so lighting is an im­portant consideration in thiswhole business," he says. "Iuse different types of col­ored lights shining throughthe crystals, so the ice struc­tures act like complex lensesto refract the light in differentways. The better the lighting,the more interesting is the finalphotograph." The structuresof snowflakes are ephemeral,so speed is needed to get goodphotographs. Within minutesafter falling, a snowflake willbegin to degrade as its sharperfeatures evaporate away. Thecomplex structures are createdas the crystals grow, and whenthey stop growing, the crys­tals soon become rounded andmore blocky in appearance."When photographing in thefield, I first let the crystals fallonto a piece of cardboard,"says Libbrecht. "Then I findone I like, pick it up using asmall paintbrush, and place iton a microscope slide. I thenput it under the microscope,adjust the focus and lighting,and take the shot. You need tosearch through a lot of snow­flakes to find the most beautifulspecimens." Libbrecht findsthat observing natural snow­flakes in the field is an impor­tant part of his research, andnicely complements his labo­ratory work. "I've learned agreat deal about crystal growthby studying ice, and have got­ten many insights from look­ing at natural crystals. Natureprovides a wonderful varietyof snow crystal types to lookat, and the crystals that fall

t