User:John Baez

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I like quantum field theory, general relativity, n-categories, and other things that seem scary at first but turn out to be simple and beautiful when you understand them. Since I enjoy these things so much, I can't help but feel that everyone else will too.

So, I like to explain stuff on my website. Recently I've added a diary, where I can be a bit more random and diverse. And this summer, I joined David Corfield and Urs Schreiber on a group blog: the n-Category Café.

I also spend a little time trying to battle the forces of evil - but not too much, because that tends to make me grumpy, and grumpy people can wind up doing more harm than good. The world is tricky that way.

I am currently trying to integrate my webpages a bit better with the Wikipedia. For an example, see my page on distances.

On Monday July 3rd I went to Shanghai for the summer. I came back to Riverside on September 20th. Alas, in China they don't allow Wikipedia through the Great Firewall. It was very annoying. Here are the websites I observed to be blocked: sites clearly related to "human rights", the BBC news, Voice of America, porn sites, and... Wikipedia. They don't block National Public Radio, CBS news, etc. I'm not sure what they have against the Wikipedia. Is it dangerously democratic?

Right now I'm all excited about my forthcoming talk in San Francisco, Zooming Out in Time.