boardgames, paranoia and astrophysics

Happy birthday to Dave Clement and Steve Macdonald!

Jeff and I went gaming at John's and Kristen's last night. I got to finally meet their newest addition to the family (so cute! and he SMILED at me!!) and also chatted with Kristen about books before playing Shadows Over Camelot with John, Tom, Tom's teenaged son, Bruce, and Reid. It was the first time most of us had played the game; I liked it because its cooperative aspect. Basically, we were the Knights of the Round Table, battling against the forces of evil. However, there was a strong chance that ONE of us was a traitor, actually working against the group. The latter aspect added a great deal of fun and paranoia.



It was especially great to see our friend Bruce again (leftmost in the photo above); it's been years since we last saw each other. We hope to get together when Jeff and I visit California next March. Bruce is an astrophysicist at Livermore in California, and he recently completed a feasibility study for extrasolar planet detection using the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), a collaboration between UC Observatories, the California Institute of Technology, and a number of Canadian universities. Bruce brought a (nonfunctional) sample of some adaptive optics technology for us to see:





The prototype deformable mirror above is made of an etched silicon microelectromechanical system which has 1,024 actuators that adjust the shape of the mirror hundreds of times per second. This enables astronomers to correct for air turbulence and atmospheric disturbances which limit the ability of telescopes to see detail.

You can find more info in the June 2006 issue of Science and Technology; our friend Bruce is mentioned in the article.





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