Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,800 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Here are some tweets/retweets from the live cast in chronological order:

happy #higgsmas everyone!—
  (@pixieza) December 13, 2011

Higgs livecast gathering at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, UZH twitpic.com/7sqqb8—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

so far congratulating the team, summary of difficulty of making measurements #higgsupdate #higgsmass #higgsliveblog—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

just went over what's excluded at above 95% by atlas cms and fermilab what's left is 114.4-141GeV #higgsmass #higgsliveblog #higgsupdate—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

@blancpain no.. Though it's not sooo complicated happy to answer questions—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

going over observations channel by channel, nothing too interesting yet. #Higgs #higgsliveblog #higgsupdate—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

finally something exciting 'slight excess around 126 GeV' #Higgs #higgsupdate #higgsliveblog—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

2.8sigma in this channel interesting but not what I'd call a detection yet twitpic.com/7sr2mw—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

I think I see @pixieza #Higgs #higgsupdate #higgsliveblog—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

going over individual events in the 'golden channel'—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

now excluded above 135 GeV, what's left? 115-135 #higgsliveblog #higgsupdate #HIGGS—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

better exclusion (1st plot), there's an excess at 126 GeV(2nd) 2.3 sigma, in nonexcluded region twitpic.com/7sr82i twitpic.com/7sr81v—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

"I think it would be extremely kind for the Higgs boson to be here[126 GeV]" "but it is too early to tell" #higgs twitpic.com/7sr9jb—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

@pixieza could use some more sigmas but they are purty—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

we care about each production channel as each brings new constraints, consistency checks and results #higgsupdate #higgsliveblog—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

A channel~Higgs can decay in different ways, we observe what it decays to. Depending on what, this is easier or harder. Each manner=channel.—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

Each channel has different background of events coming from things that aren't Higgs. Need to understand background very well, to Higgspot—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

You can already see some nice event displays from #cmsexperiment at cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1406073
And animations will be coming soon! #CERN #Higgs—
CMS Experiment CERN (@CMSexperiment) December 13, 2011

Now CMS gets their turn. With 5.2 inverse fb they expect 2-3 sigma signals. #Higgs, ^DF—
Perimeter Institute (@pioutreach) December 13, 2011

@blancpain the graphic design of the slides is horrifying—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

Oh damn. No definitive conclusion for #Higgs mass after all. I have endured the blinding Comic Sans for nothing. #CERN #LHC #CMS #ATLAS—
Işıl Demir (@ladyisilien) December 13, 2011

@blancpain check out my two tweets on what a channel is.—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

2 photons good, 4 photons — also good! MT @CERN Tonelli #CMS: not all channels equal: #Higgs to 2 photons or 4 leptons have best resolution—
FQXi Physics (@FQXi) December 13, 2011

@blancpain experimentalist jargon-but this is why there are a zillion slides and plots, they're going over background@signal in each channel—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

"some hint, no more than that" "there's not a particular region in which you see a bump, more of a blanket" in this particular channel—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

Stoppard play once where he said physics not presented like mystery–answer in beginning of presentation. Not true for Higgs search.—
Lisa Randall (@lirarandall) December 13, 2011

@lirarandall I know! CMS needs to get to the bump already—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

CMS excess is much weaker than Atlas, as presented so far, but consistent—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

Finally getting to lower mass channels #CMS #Higgs #higgsupdate—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

Oh CMS, you love drawing this out…—
S.C. Kavassalis (@sc_k) December 13, 2011

An animated event display of a beautiful candidate SM #Higgs decaying to 4 muons at cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1406329 #HiggsUpdate #cmsexperiment #CERN—
CMS Experiment CERN (@CMSexperiment) December 13, 2011

Higgs announcement liveblog! quantumdiaries.org/2011/12/13/hig…—
Aaron Swartz (@aaronsw) December 13, 2011

"can't exclude SM Higgs below 127 GeV"' due to slight excess. Has a "modest statistical significance" "could be background". #Higgs—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

A great Higgs search analogy (Battleships) from @astronomyblog bit.ly/vhwiKS #higgsupdate—
Chris North (@chrisenorth) December 13, 2011

Q&A makes more sense when you know 2 collaborations have tried to do their analyses separately so that they can verify without groupthink—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

Q&A makes more sense when you know 2 collaborations have tried to do their analyses separately so that they can verify without groupthink—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

Q&A also makes more sense when you know that us theorists are often more clueless about experiments #Higgs #higgsmass—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

Entering final remarks. #atlas got many more Qs as they had more tantalizing result.—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

"please be prudent, we have not found it yet, we have not excluded it yet. Stay tuned for next year. #higgsmass #atlas #Higgs #higgsupdate—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

OK signing off #livehiggsblog for the day! happy #higgshunting next year @pixieza et. al. and congratulations!—
Christine Corbett (@corbett_inc) December 13, 2011

Seeing some of the films such as Lawrence of Arabia changed my life. I saw that one early on while I was still at MIT. I had decided to watch the films approximately from best to worst just in case I decided to stop or went blind halfway. So Lawrence, he was number five. And the scenes of the desert coupled with the events going on in the Middle East inspired me to learn more. I started taking Arabic from a private tutor. Then I started doing research on Arabic to English translation. Next I started reading every history book on the area I could get my hands on. And then I knew I had to go there.

So I did. I received a scholarship from the US government study to abroad in Cairo for one month at the American University in Cairo. Afterwards I did a bunch of traveling in the area. None of this stopped when I got back and this continued to be a strong theme in my life. I continued taking Arabic at Harvard and working in Arabic to English translation. After graduating I got a job working full time on a speech to speech machine translation unit concentrating on Arabic to English. But before starting my job I spent three months in Jerusalem working as a programming instructor. Later on I spent more than one month traveling all around the Middle East: the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Jordan even a jaunt into Palestine. I got to off-road in the middle of the desert with Bedouin and to see firsthand some of the places where the original Lawrence of Arabia had haunted.

So that’s just a little anecdote just one film out of the hundred but each of them has woven a way into my life as has the project. The whole project became symbolic of something that I would see through from start to finish. There were good times and bad. The last 10 movies were a challenge they seemed to be all Westerns, silent films, or have something inherently wrong with them-morally or otherwise. To get around that I had a few parties theme parties where we would dress up and have a movie marathon.

So all in all I’m super happy I did project. I saw a lot of films I wouldn’t have ever seen otherwise. It led me to new experiences and a deeper understanding about the history of film. Now the question is what next filmwise-I’m thinking about European films but definitely a shorter list probably 25 at a time in different genres. If you have recommendations (of lists, not of individual movies) feel free to comment.

—

Now if you’re wondering about the more colloquial tone of this post not having an iPhone 4S I was pretty jealous of Siri’s speech recognition. So I splurged and paid 50 bucks for Dragon Express by the company behind Siri which I used to write this post. One unintended consequence is that my “writing” is a bit more blunt and less poetic with a dropped pronoun here and there for spice. Another fun experiment and hoping it will result in me blogging more even when I can’t bear to type another word for the day.

I’m absolutely applying. Although I’m hoping to venture to space in any case via the private sphere, I still think NASA will best SpaceX to the first mission to Mars and as far as riding the wave into the future goes, that is the place to be.

I’m not a pilot, in the military or a former high ranking scout (the last one is a trend I just learned about). However, I will have two hard science degrees from MIT, a doctorate in Astrophysics, 10 years of software engineering experience, speak 6 languages, and a bevy of adventure sports and hobbies under my belt when they make the selection. In short: I meet all their base requirements with a few exoticisms for spice. So I stand a non-zero chance of making the first cut, at least. In the meantime, I should finally start work on that pilot’s license–for this among many other reasons.

As a side note, my excuse of not getting LASIK as it’s not approved by NASA for astronauts is no longer valid; starting with this batch they accept LASIK in addition to PRK.

In other space news, the 6 man Mars 500 mock mission to Mars recently returned after an 18 month mock mission to Mars in isolation. Very exciting to see they made it psychologically unscathed. Not so exciting that the proto-mission was all dude–an indication I’d be barred from Mars on the basis of breasts? A depressing mix of future tech with Victorian ideals.  As a space chaser to that debasing throwback fact, check out these inspiring lady NASA astronauts and this timeline of ladies in space. The future is still on its way…

I was on the speakers committee, moon lighted with a bit of tech help, and the day of was rushing around making sure all the speakers were happy and prepared for their big moment on stage.

It’s extremely hard to pick a favorite talk of the day, but the speaker I am most proud of and moved by is Dr. Eleanor Dobson who gives us a peek into the belly of CERN and how modern big science is done. Dr. Dobson’s talk was one of the talks I helped curate, in conjunction with the TEDxZurich team, and came about after I heard her passion on the subject and suggested she speak.

Don’t stop there though, there are 20 videos from the day and hundreds of ideas ready to run loose. Here they are in roughly chronological order:

Circle of 6 is an iPhone app for college-aged students and their friends to stay close, stay safe, and prevent violence before it happens.

We believe that staying connected to a small group of people is critical to keeping you and your friends informed and safe. Circle of 6 is a mobile app that makes it quick and easy to reach your circle and let them know where you are, and what you need. It’s a fast, easy-to-use and secure way to look out for each other.

The design is simple. It takes two touches to get help, so no fumbling or digging around for the right number. We use icons to represent actions, so that no one can tell what you’re up if they see your phone. The design ensures safety, speed and privacy. GPS is integrated (using Google maps), and is only activated by you, and sent to your own Circle of 6.

Publicly we ask that everyone take the pledge to stop violence before it happens. This via a Facebook page to engage large numbers of young adults 18-24 in advocating for safer campuses and relationships without violence. Privately, we ask that you look out for each other by downloading the Circle of 6 app and supporting your friends.

We’ve gotten a bunch of great press (mostly rewordings of the press release, but note the White House, MTV, Cult of Mac, Yahoo, Christian Science Monitor etc.):

• http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/11/01/announcing-winners-apps-against-abuse-technology-challenge
• http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/11/20111101a.html
• http://www.facebook.com/joebiden
• http://www.cultofmac.com/127427/white-house-lauds-iphone-apps-in-safety-contest/
• http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2011-11/21810292-obama-administration-announces-winners-of-apps-against-abuse-technology-challenge-004.htm
• http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/app-challenge-winners-help-fight-against-dating-violence-abuse
• http://zeenews.india.com/news/technology/coming-soon-apps-to-help-prevent-sexual-assault_739471.html
• http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/1101/Faced-by-threat-of-a-sexual-assault-There-s-an-app-for-that
• http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-administration-announces-winners-of-apps-against-abuse-technology-challenge-2011-11-01
• http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2011/11/02/inventing-our-way-toward-a-safer-society-with-mobile-apps
• http://mensantiviolencecouncil.com/tag/circle-of-6/
• http://www.hhs.gov/open/initiatives/challenges/againstabuse.html
• http://fedscoop.com/hhs-announces-apps-against-abuse-winners/
• http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/category/mobile-college-apps
• http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Apps_to_Prevent_Abuse_Unveiled_133216018.html
• http://act.mtv.com/posts/circle-of-6-leads-appsagainstabuse/
• http://campuscomments.org/2011/11/03/apps-against-abuse/
• http://theapplebites.com/iphone-apps-appreciated-by-white-house-in-security-contest
• http://www.care2.com/causes/apps-against-abuse-challenge-winners-announced.html
• http://www.womensaid.ie/16daysblog/2011/11/04/white-house-announces-iphone-apps-to-combat-dating/
• http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/Coming-soon-apps-help-prevent-ani-2769426015.html?x=0
• http://iphonetips.org/best-iphone-apps-2012-powerful-tools-for-self-protection-from-violence.html
• http://www.stepupspeakout.org/news;jsessionid=9D07CCF8CD819F88ACE1ACF865AB9C2C.vipa-01a
• …

And finally, a video of the app in action:

I’ve been working for awhile on a way to connect people in a more meaningful manner than via Facebook–under the umbrella of the name Kliq. One thing I’m playing around with is short videos on a focused question–meaningful or irreverent but something that gives more of a connection than static text and a few pictures about your latest vacation while still maintaining spontaneity and short form. Some examples are interspersed throughout this post.

As an experiment I’m writing each of my 661 Facebook friends, individually checking their profile first, asking them a question. It’s a fantastic experiment. First I’m seeing a lot of updates and information that was previously being filtered out. A friend from college lives nearby in Germany; a friend from high school has recently had a baby. Secondly I’m seeing the vast mix of friends, many of whom I added in college back when Facebook was more for networking with people in your classes than your life in general. Many I’ve lost touch with but are doing great things, and I have fond memories of them.

I’m  very much looking forward to eventual success in my experiments and the initial response has been a lot of fun.

Here are a few questions:

1. “If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?”
2. “If you had to get a face tattoo what would it be?”
3. “What kind of cult would you lead if you had to lead a cult?”
4. “Would you rather know a little about many things, or a lot about one, and one thing, only?”
5. “If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?”
6. “If you could have one new piece of technology from the next 50 years today what would it be?”
7. “Would the world be a better place if it were run by women?”
8. “Jersey Shore or Keeping up with the Kardashians?”
9. “What’s something that’s been intriguing you lately?”
10. “Are there any questions you shouldn’t ask?”
11. “Poetry, novels, comic books, or non fiction?”

Want to participate? Or just want to do me a huge favor? Here’s how:

• Send a  20-40 second video
• answering one of the above questions
• to intrigued@kliq.in, @kliqin on twitter, www.facebook.com/kliqin, or even post here
• don’t spend more than 3 minutes on the whole process Feel free to suggest questions below.

I promise I’ll answer, via video, any questions in return of a similar style. Also, I’ll always ask permission before I post any online.

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to celebrate the achievements of women in technology and science.

As usual I had a tough time deciding; in my post last year I had three categories, entrepreneur, intellectual, and hacker.  I’ll do the same this year.

The Entrepreneur

Esther Dyson combines it all; business sense, brilliance, and a sense for adventure. She’s a board member, angel investor, visionary, and entrepreneur. Now adays she’s concentrating on private space startups and health care and genetic ventures; in short the future. There’s no businessperson I look up to more.

The Intellectual

Lisa Randall was the first female tenured theoretical physicist at Princeton, MIT, and Harvard. While the fact that it took those three eminent universities so long is a travesty–it doesn’t matter a single bit that Randall is female beyond the fact that she is a living example of what society is missing out on when they filter out brilliant women like her at the tender age of 4,5,6,7…,n. Lisa Randall is best known for the Randall-Sundrum model which posits that the universe is 5D. All elementary particles except for that which communicates the gravitational force are confined on good old 4D space-time. She’s written several popular books on the subject in addition to her academic texts and twitters to boot.

The Hacker

Last year I posted about a security hacker and this year I decided hardware hacking was where it’s at. I have a lot of hardware hackers on the shortlist, many personal friends, but Tim O’Reilly says it best, and the fact that O’Reilly is doing the saying says something. Limor Fried is a preeminent hardware hacker committed to innovation, accessibility, and openness. She combines hardware, art, social commentary, business and sometimes even fits it all into a mint tin. Whether you are just starting out with a solder iron or an expert electrical engineer, you can find inspiration from Limor, aka Lady Ada, and her company Ada Fruit industries.

To close, here’s Lisa Randall helping us picture extra dimensions, and I’m already looking forward to Ada Lovelace day next year.

Reusability is key to the dramatic cost savings that will enable advancements in human exploration of space. The Dragon spacecraft is a fully reusable and SpaceX is working toward the goal of delivering the world’s first fully reusable launch vehicle. Check out the animation for a sneak peek at SpaceX’s exciting plans for the future

So I’m more optimistic; the basic conflict human vs. vacuum may yet be won as private companies rightly take interest in the final frontier. Also, if the powers that be are listening: sign me up for the first trip to Mars.

We founded Kliq as meeting people via the internet and at networking oriented events has changed our lives in positive ways that are impossible to quantify while these methods are not often used by many of our best friends and dear families for a variety of reasons we intend to fix. Along the way we realized that Kliq could also help us keep in more meaningful contact with those very people we care about most. Download the app at http://kliq.in.

I am extremely proud of the work my cofounder Michael Craig, myself, and the larger Kliq family have done thus far. I’m even more proud about where we are taking Kliq next, making it easier than ever to interact with people, friends, acquaintances, and potential new best friends, business partners, etc. at events you are already RSVPing to.

Some of my crazy-awesome colleagues at the Institute for Theoretical Physics have hobbies like running ultra-marathons, climbing mountains, designing new role playing games, and even tumbling rocks. My hobbies are largely programming oriented.

Some of my crazy-awesome fellow startup founders have hobbies like flying planes, modeling, exotic travel, and even additional startups. My hobby is discovering new secrets of the universe via huge numerical simulations.

I’m amazingly lucky to have only hobbies, even though I work constantly. It’s a privilege I only dreamed of as a kid, when I thought I should be so lucky to have a job that would let me read for an hour or two a day. Even though what I’m reading is pretty different than what I imagined as a child, technical documentation, numerical relativity textbooks, the newest results in astrophysics on the arXiv, I am so lucky. Here’s to what’s next with Kliq, and my other (ad)ventures.