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May 4, 2008

FQXi

Posted by Urs Schreiber

I agreed to participate in the review panel of FQXi’s new round of grant competition.

(You can find useful discussion of the nature of FQXi in blog posts over at Cosmic Variance: The Foundational Questions Institute (Anthony Aguirre) and Foundational Questioners announced.)

The review meeting is June 3 to June 5 in Santa Cruz, California.

I am just mentioning this in case anyone feels like taking advantage of me being in the US with flight tickets having been taken care of :-) I just need to check how many days the HIM allows me be be away. On June 10 I give a talk in Hamburg, so I need to be back at least by then.

Posted at May 4, 2008 8:30 PM UTC

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9 Comments & 0 Trackbacks

Re: FQXi

If you want to drive up to Mountain View (about an hour north of Santa Cruz), I’d be happy to show you around Google and get you a free lunch.

Posted by: Mike Stay on May 7, 2008 12:51 AM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: FQXi

And there are lots of people interested in physics here, so if you have anything you’d like to talk about, I can set that up, too.

Posted by: Mike Stay on May 7, 2008 12:53 AM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: FQXi

Hi Mike,

thanks, I would very much enjoy visiting you! I’d also enjoy being shown around Google and also giving a talk there – should there really be anyone interested in what I’d have to say (I’m on a search, too, maybe that’s the connection ;-).

I need to fix my flight very soon now. When you say “drive up Mountain View” does that mean I’d need to rent a car? Is there any public transport? Shuttles?

As I said, I’ll be occupied June 3-5. What would be better: if we arranged a visit the day before or the day after that?

Posted by: Urs Schreiber on May 7, 2008 8:57 AM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: FQXi

There are lots of people here interested in physics, though I don’t know if any could follow your cutting-edge work. If you could give a talk along the lines of this one of yours, that would probably go over better than “Higher Hochschild Cohomology and Differential Forms on Mapping Spaces”.

Public transportation takes about twice as long as driving a rental car, but it’s cheaper. I have a required meeting on Monday morning until 11 and an optional one on Friday morning until 1, but after that, I’m free.

Posted by: Mike Stay on May 8, 2008 6:17 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: FQXi

Thanks for the info.

I just got an invitation to Stanford, possibly May 29 to June 2nd or the like. So what if we’d agreed that I come see you Friday 6th after your meeting?

I suppose I should book a flight back Saturday then. Could you give me an advice which airport to choose given the triangle Stanford → Santa-Cruz → Google?

Posted by: Urs Schreiber on May 8, 2008 10:02 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: FQXi

Both SJC and SFO are equidistant from Stanford.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=from:SJC+to:stanford,ca

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=from:SFO+to:stanford,ca

You pass Google on the way from SJC to Stanford while driving along 101. SJC and MRY are about equidistant from Santa Cruz:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=from:MRY+to:santa+cruz,ca

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=from:SJC+to:santa+cruz,ca

If you’re at Stanford or SJC, I could pick you up myself: they’re much closer than Santa Cruz.

My recommendation would be either to visit Google before heading down to Santa Cruz, or to stay Friday night in San Jose or Mountain View so you don’t have to travel up and back on Friday and then up again on Saturday.

Posted by: Mike Stay on May 9, 2008 12:15 AM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: FQXi

Ah, the 101. That brings back memories. I prefer the 280: a little longer, but generally less liable to heavy traffic and much better scenery. Trouble is that it’s a little complicated to find from SFO unless you know what you’re doing.

If you don’t fancy driving straight off the plane – it’s quite a long flight, after all – then there are (or certainly used to be) airport shuttles that would take you anywhere between San Francisco and San Jose. The trip from SFO to Stanford was about 20-25 dollars; probably a little more now. You can then rent a car from Palo Alto or thereabouts when you’ve gotten over the jet lag.

I certainly would recommend getting a car. We managed 9 months in the bay area without a car and are the current record holders for doing so. So it is possible to get about with public transport, but, as Mike says, it at least doubles the length of time (and never, ever go on the no. 22 bus). But driving down the 101 straight from the plane is not something I’d recommend.

Hmmm, reading these posts, and enjoying lovely weather here in Trondheim, has put me in a nostalgic mood! Funny that I’ve ended up in another place with an island nearby that used to be a prison …

Oh, and if you like milkshakes, I recommend the Peninsula Bar and Grill at Stanford Shopping Center.

And I have only great memories of Mountain View as that’s where my eldest was born (giving him a greater chance of becoming President of the US than California’s current governor).

Posted by: Andrew Stacey on May 9, 2008 9:42 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: FQXi

Mike, Eric, Andrew,

thanks a lot for all the hints! I appreciate it a lot.

Flight tickets have now been booked:

I’ll arrive: SJC 5/28/08 5:45 pm

I’ll leave: SJC 6/06/08 6:20 pm

I will give a talk at Stanford 5/29/08 and will stay there until I move to Santa Cruz on 6/03/08.

On my way south or sometime in between (after 5/29/08, anyway) I could visit Google.

Posted by: Urs Schreiber on May 12, 2008 9:11 PM | Permalink | Reply to this

Re: FQXi

Ah. It is tempting to take a drive up the coast from LA!

My wife is taking an exam the week of the 2nd and I’ve been taking our daughter on road trips on the weekends to stay out of her hair :)

Posted by: Eric on May 9, 2008 12:46 AM | Permalink | Reply to this

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