Casino Royal

Lisa and I just watched Casino Royal last night. I’d already seen it on the way back from London, but had missed a few parts (I had a hard time hearing some of the dialog through the accents). I still had a hard time, but got most of it, I believe.

I thought it was a great addition to the Bond series. I hadn’t realized the first time, but one thing that was very different in this one was that the villains weren’t so over-the-top. Usually, the villain is bent on world domination. Not always, with the one Dalton movie being an example, but typically. This one also didn’t depend on the far-fetched technology. I think that the most sophisticated bit of tech Bond uses is the remote blood analyzing kit. Because of that, I think this Bond film felt a lot more grounded, a lot more realistic.

For the most part, I felt the plot was solid. As usual, there are times when it relies heavily on coincidence. If just a small thing here or there happened differently, Bond would have no hope of saving the day. But, this time, it didn’t rely upon the deus-ex-machina of hi-tech. And, for that reason, the special effects were much more subtle and believable. The “free running” sequence through the construction zone in Madagascar was particularly impressive.

The only thing I didn’t quite follow is at the end. Warning! Spoilers follow…

When Vesper Lynd, Bond’s partner and later girlfriend, delivers the winnings from the poker game to the bad guys, I didn’t quite understand her reasoning. I guess by this time she has given up on her French-Algerian boyfriend (not sure really what role that detail served… was she also reporting to Le Chiffre? If not, why complicate things with her being blackmailed?) She supposedly has saved Bond’s life by promising to give the bad guys the money. So, she is withdrawing that money to deliver to them. To me, it seems that she is thinking one of two things:

  • she doesn’t want Bond to know she is doing this because, if it works, they are just out the money and he is none the wiser. However, if this is the case, then why leave him clues as to what she is doing? She leaves her cell phone and the message about Mr. White for Bond to find.
  • she goes expecting to die. In this case, why not tell Bond so Bond can help her? Is she trying to protect Bond? This seems to be what M is alluding to when she talks with Bond, but then she shouldn’t have left the clues because that would induce Bond to come chasing her.

All I can figure is that she hoped it would work (the transfer of money would go smoothly) but that she feared it might not. So she left the clues for Bond in case she didn’t make it. But, it seems like she should have done something else if this were the case, such as leave him an envelope in the event that she didn’t return.

If anyone has better thoughts on what was going on here, let me know.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed the film and would definitely recommend it. I’ll definitely catch any future Bond movies starring Daniel Craig.

New papers

I’m on a few new papers that have appeared this year. If anyone reading this is interested in these topics, contact me.

Determining the site preference of trivalent dopants in bixbyite sesquioxides by atomic-scale simulations
by CR Stanek, KJ McClellan, BP Uberuaga, KE Sickafus, MR Levy and RW Grimes
Physical Review B 75, 134101 (2007)

Abstract: Oxides with the bixbyite structure have two crystallographically unique cation sites, namely (in Wyckoff notation) 24d and 8b. Since the symmetries of these two sites are different (C2 and S6, respectively), properties related to solute cations will vary depending on the site preference. Therefore, we have employed atomic scale simulation techniques to systematically investigate the solution site preference of a range of trivalent cations ranging from Sc3+ to La3+ in A2O3 bixbyite oxides (where A ranges from Sc to La). Results reveal that when the solute cation is smaller than the host lattice cation, the 24d site is energetically favorable, but when the solute cation is larger than the host lattice cation, the 8b site is preferred. We also discuss the tendency for solute cations to cluster, as well as corroboration of this work by first principles methods.

Defect kinetics in spinels: Long-time simulations of MgAl2O4, MgGa2O4, and MgIn2O4
by BP Uberuaga, D Bacorisen, R Smith, JA Ball, RW Grimes, AF Voter and KE Sickafus
Physical Review B 75, 104116 (2007)

Abstract: Building upon work in which we examined defect production and stability in spinels, we now turn to defect kinetics. Using temperature accelerated dynamics (TAD), we characterize the kinetics of defects in three spinel oxides: magnesium aluminate MgAl2O4, magnesium gallate MgGa2O4, and magnesium indate MgIn2O4. These materials have varying tendencies to disorder on the cation sublattices. In order to understand chemical composition effects, we first examine defect kinetics in perfectly ordered, or normal, spinels, focusing on point defects on each sublattice. We then examine the role that cation disorder has on defect mobility. Using TAD, we find that disorder creates local environments which strongly trap point defects, effectively reducing their mobility. We explore the consequences of this trapping via kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations on the oxygen vacancy (VO) in MgGa2O4, finding that VO mobility is directly related to the degree of inversion in the system.

Parallel replica dynamics for driven systems: Derivation and application to strained nanotubes
by BP Uberuaga, SJ Stuart and AF Voter
Physical Review B 75, 014301 (2007)

Abstract: We show that parallel replica dynamics can be extended to driven systems (e.g., systems with time-dependent boundary conditions). Each processor simulates a replica at a driving rate that is M times faster than the desired rate, where M is the number of processors. As in regular parallel replica dynamics, when a transition to a new state is detected on any processor, the times are summed and every processor is restarted in the new state. The state-to-state dynamics are shown to be correct if the processors run at the same speed and the system is driven slowly enough (on each processor) so that the escape rates do not depend on the time history of the drive. We demonstrate the algorithm by stretching a carbon nanotube with a preexisting vacancy, noting a significant dependence of the nature of nanotube yield on the strain rate. In particular, we are able to achieve strain rates slow enough such that the time scale for vacancy diffusion is faster than that for mechanical yield at a temperature of 2000 K. We thus observe vacancy-induced morphological changes in the nanotube structure, providing some insight into previously unexplained experimental features.

What is power?

While in London, a few of us found ourselves in a pub, chatting over a few pints. We had a really interesting discussion about the British monarchy and the powers of the queen. (Many interesting discussions do seem to occur in pubs.)

(As an aside, the photo shows the Crown Jewels of Britain. The big red stone is known as the Black Prince’s Ruby. In reality, it is not a ruby but a spinel, a mineral we study because of its radiation tolerance and potential applications in nuclear reactors and fusion tokamaks.)

The main jist of the conversation was what powers the queen had. It seems that she is the ultimate authority in Britain, with powers that trump even those of the prime minister. At least, this is what is in the law and there is no disputing this.

What was in dispute, at least by me, is if these powers are “real”. I mean real in the sense of can the queen use these powers? In theory, the answer is definitely yes. But in practice, can she really? It seems to me that if she ever tried to use the more powerful of the powers she has (as, for example, commander in chief of the military), a number of things might happen. Most Brits, I believe, feel they live in a democracy. As such, I think they expect that their elected officials make the decisions that affect the country (even the foolish ones like supporting Bush in Iraq). I think that these people, who nominally support the existence of the queen, would be pretty irked if she used her powers to over turn any decision made by parliament. It might be the last straw for a lot of people who would then demand the end of the monarchy.

It thus seems to me that the queen, while in reality having such powers, can’t use them as they might lead to a “revolution” and/or the end of the monarchy. It thus strikes me that her powers are really useless and she has no power at all.

Of course, the Brits at the table argued the opposite, which I found somewhat amusing. They all seemed to feel that if the queen did such an act, did something completely against what parliament decided, that the people would merrily support her actions. They felt that the queen was a check against the parliament and the self-interest of elected officials. They thought the House of Lords served a similar purpose.

I can’t really understand this perspective. It seems that the basis for it is that the common man, and the people they elect to office, are dolts and need someone more enlightened to make sure they don’t get out of hand. This is where the nobility comes in. But, to me, these people have no authority other than the fact that their ancestors possibly hundreds of years earlier had gained power through either money or bravery on some battlefield. While this might have meant some of them were “worthy” of positions of influence, certainly their descendants have no such claims. I might see it as a decent idea if the people in these positions had gotten their based on merit, if they were the best scientists, business people, artists, etc that the country had to offer. But, they aren’t. They are just the ones that were born into some special office. I’ll never understand how the Brits can happily live in such a system.

In the end, we never reached any consensus or changed any minds. Maybe I got to understand their mind-set just a bit more, but I’m not sure. It is a bit too foreign to me. I prefer our system, even if it leads to a situation where someone like Bush is running amok in the world. While there is no check on him (other than Congress and the Supreme Court, though those have been less than willing to do their duties recently), the ultimate responsibility of his actions comes back to the people that elected him. Thus, we, the American people, have to bear that responsibility, learn from our mistakes, and do a better job in the future.

An “accelerated” trip to England

I just got back from a one-week trip to the UK for a work trip. This is the shortest trip I’ve done overseas. Usually, I like to go for two weeks, just to make the adjustment to the timezone worth it. But, as I’ve got too many things to do back home, I kept this one short. In the end, I think it will be fine. While I had a struggle at times staying awake, I made it through.

The purpose of the trip was to attend and present at a workshop on accelerated molecular dynamics and long time scale simulations. That was the subject of my postdoc at Los Alamos. The idea was to bring together many of the people involved in this research and give the ideas greater exposure in the UK. Most of the talks were very interesting. There were a lot of neat new ideas presented. It was hosted at Loughborough University, in north/central England. They have a wonderful campus, one of the largest, in terms of land, in the UK.

Our host took us to a traditional British pub which served traditional British food. I stayed away from the “typical” fare (black pudding, for example) and got Steak and Guinness pie, which was very good, with no vegetables and extra mashed potatoes.

After Loughborough, I headed to London to spend a day with a collaborator at Imperial College. When I arrived, he and his students took me to a Lebanese place which was quite good. We had a number of starters, all vegetarian, and then gorged on lamb and chicken for the main course. It was very well prepared and tasted great. We spent the next day talking about various projects of common interest. In the evening, my host took me to his place for a BBQ, which he lugged all the way from America after his sabbatical at Los Alamos.

Overall, the trip, while fast, was good. A lot of time spent traveling. I flew in via Atlanta and Amsterdam to Birmingham, as that is only about 30-40 miles from Loughborough. Then I took the train to London. The flight over was a bit obnoxious as they didn’t have the personal TV for each seat. I don’t even remember what we watched. I did a lot of reading of papers and stuff. I took three books and didn’t crack a one. I guess I was too tired to read for enjoyment.

On the way back, I did have one of those fancy personal TVs with my seat. That was cool. I watched an episode of House, which is always entertaining. I saw the first episode of Heroes and was pleasantly surprised at how well I liked it. I also saw Casino Royal (I’m a bit confused by the ending, but will wait to comment on that until I watch it again with Lisa, since we have it at home waiting from NetFlix) and Hollywoodland, which I vaguely remember hearing about but didn’t know anything about. That was good. It has Ben Afleck, who I could give or take, but Adrian Brody was also in it and he seems like a good actor. It is one of those morally ambiguous tales. I highly recommend it.

Also with the TV was an onboard trivia game that you can play against other passengers, which was cool. I won one of the maybe 5 rounds I played. But, there was one question that annoyed me: categorized as “Science and Technology” they asked: what sign would someone born on October 2 be? What does this have to do with “Science and Technology”? It would be fine as “General Knowledge”, but it just does not belong in the “S&T” category. There is no science nor technology in astrology.

Look of the Blog

Well, I just upgraded WordPress, because there were some supposedly important security fixes, but it seems that it is incompatible with the Theme I was using.  And the official repository of WordPress Themes seems to be broken (most of the screen captures are just black), so for now, I’ll have to use the default.  I’ll see if I can find a better looking Theme soon.

Blah, blah, blah… I've got the blahs.