iPod iChing - wassup with '007?
Category: random
Last friday of the year, so we ask the Mighty iPod - what will be up in the next year? Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 10:48 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Dynamics of Cats
Speculations on astronomy, astrophysics, news I find interesting, theoretical issues, science and science policy. I will digress into computational physics, science fiction and general issues and basically whatever I feel like whenever. And, of course, cats.
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Working for an analytic exactapproximate solution to the herding problem
Recent Posts
- the evolution of the To Do list
- details of a PBD
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- iPod iChing - oh canada
- flu like illness on Canadian train
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Other Information
So you want to be an astrophysicist?
Random info.
The Old Dynamics of Cats blog
Old Favourites:
- Global warming on Mars? (or here, here, or here)
- WMAP for Dummies
- Fractal Dust, LEDs and Cracks in the Cosmos
- On The Proper Subject Order in High School
- Iranian Nukes: Plain Language version
- Imminence of the Eschaton
- Chasing the wrong variable
- Triumph of Evil
- Getting cold gets you colds
- What to do...
- Hæstaréttarmálaflutningslögmannsvinnukonuútidyralyklakippuhringurinn
- Bird 'flu for theorists
- The More You Write, The More You Write...
- King of Tambora
- Goethe's Revenge
- Food for Fighting - in praise of Skyr
- Is this going to be on the test?
December 29, 2006
December 28, 2006
"Are you now, or have you ever been, tenured?"
Category: academia
I am doing an NSF study on career outcomes for NSF applicants and grant recipients. The above is, verbatim, a question. I guess the survey writer either has a very good sense of humour, or none at all....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 12:08 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 27, 2006
COROT launch
Category: astro
COROT launched successfully on a Soyuz COROT is a small transit survey telescope, launched by CNES (France) to look for low mass planets. Secondary science is astroseismology and stellar structure from high precision photometry time series. Good luck....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 10:04 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 26, 2006
dissed by the best
Category: academia
What's a time in your career when you were criticized extremely harshly by someone you respect? Did it help you or set your career back?... When I were a lad we used to have to walk to grad school, barefoot...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 11:13 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 25, 2006
So, you want to be an astrophysicist? Part 2.5 - grad school
Category: astro
Gleðileg Jól! Another blast from the past of Ye Olde Blogge You're in grad school. Yay. Now wtf do you do......
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 6:04 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 24, 2006
So you want to be an astrophysicist? Part 2.0 - GRE at
Category: astro
More repeats from Ye Olde Blogge So you want to be an astrophysicist? You've suffered through 3-4 years of undergrad, and you're ready for more. You picked the places to apply to (or have you...?), and you're ready for the...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 1:36 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 23, 2006
Eat Drink and Be Merry
Category: random
Razib reminds us of the reason for the season So celebrate the Feast of Holy St Thorlacius. Eat some rotten skate. 'Cause you never know, the Sun might not come up tomorrow if you don't. Any excuse......
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 11:01 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
So, you want to be an astrophysicist? v 1.99 - prospective grads
Category: astro
Prospective graduate students: for when you visit - a classic...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 1:34 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 22, 2006
Merry F#!*ing Christmas NASA - from Congress
Category: astro
2007 year budget to clone the 2006 budget with no earmarks or emergency appropriations This implies no increases for NASA or NSF. "...NASA expects to adjust priorities within the Science, Aeronautics and Exploration appropriations account to manage the impact."...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 3:08 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Bill Bragg Podcast #6
Category: random
Billy Bragg podcast #6 is up: Talking with the Taxman about Poetry Oh, joyous season!...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 3:02 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
iPod iChing -the Big Picture
Category: astro
Seasonal friday, and we ask the iPod quickly: What IS The One Sentence Summary? Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 2:52 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Astronomical Seasons Greetings
Category: astro
Print your own Hubble Holiday cards...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 12:04 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Santa Dies
Category: random
Bummer, witnesses too. "...Children watched in horror as a Santa Claus collapsed and died as he handed out presents at a Christmas party on Sunday..."...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 11:24 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 21, 2006
The benefits of multiculturalism
Category: random
Happy Winter Solstice! Gleðileg Jól! Festive Yule. I just wrote "Merry Christmas" in elvish. You see, we found ourselves in a position where we have folded four separate winter solstice festival traditions into the season, much the the delight of...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 11:54 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
So you want to be an astrophysicist? Part 1.75 - should you go to grad school?
Category: astro
So, you want to be an astrophysicist? You're an undergraduate, doing astronomy or physics (or possibly engineering, mathematics or computer science, or something), should you go to grad school? Yet another repost installment from Ye Olde Blogge...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 2:22 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 20, 2006
ROSES '07
Category: astro
ATP and BEFS selections have been announced, and letters should have arrived. Well, except maybe in Colorado +/- 1 state. Sounds like hit rate was about 12-15%. Fewer submitted proposals than I'd have expected, somewhat higher success rate (but...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 2:50 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
So you want to be an astrophysicist? Part 1.5 - The Few, the Proud, The Astrophysicists
Category: astro
More re-runs from Ye Olde Blogge So, now you're at university, and you're headed for grad school ......
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 1:12 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Poker - why Texas hold'em?
Category: random
This is completely unrelated to anything. But, why is the Texas hold'em version of poker the one that is currently so popular?...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 1:04 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Ides of March
Category: random
US considers naval build-up as warning to Iran "...Under the proposed build-up, first reported by CBS television, the Pentagon would send an aircraft carrier to join one already in the region. The proposed deployment was described as a message...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 12:58 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 19, 2006
So you want to be an astrophysicist? Part I - undergrad
Category: academia
Part 2 of Ye Olde Blog So You Want To Be an Astrophysicist? series. Lightly re-edited....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 11:32 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Less Uncertain
Category: academia
Yay Chad!...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 11:29 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 18, 2006
So you want to be an astrophysicist? Part 0 - gettting ready for university
Category: academia
Lightly edited reruns from Ye Olde Blog. This is part 0, tentatively aimed at US high school students wanted to end up doing an astrophysics PhD....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 11:36 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Imminence of the Eschaton IX: Google iiinnnn Space!
Category: random
NASA and Google announce a formal relationship (from NASAwatch) Google is God. Do no evil. Best of all, Google is much prompter and more efficient about disbursing payment......
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 1:58 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
iTunes misfortunes
Category: random
Having rolled through the Icelandic cover of Jona Lewie's "Stop the Cavalry" in my random walk through seasonal music, I had the misfortune of hitting a cover of "Merry Xmas Everybody" done by the Smurfs, in Icelandic. My ears...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 12:54 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 15, 2006
But where is Ophiuchus?
Category: astro
New SciBling OmniBrain notes a crucial new astrological discovery. I am skeptical, Ophiuchians were omitted so what is your sign? and why do police officers hate people born in later winter and early spring?...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 3:23 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Big Picture
Category: astro
The Big Picture...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 3:01 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
iPod iChing - CPT and top formation
Category: random
Seasonal friday, and we ask the iPod - what is the meaning of the lone top quark discovery at Fermilab? Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 2:42 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 14, 2006
No Doc in Space
Category: astro
NASA has stopped sending of Microsoft Word Documents to the International Space Station. Heh....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 2:19 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
It's aliiveee
Category: astro
ROSES 2006 is amended - might be the last one before ROSES 2007?! With this amendment to ROSES-2006, NASA reestablishes a proposal opportunity in Appendix C.18 entitled "Astrobiology: Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology." The goal of NASA's Exobiology and Evolutionary...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 2:12 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Uncertain Principles in Baghdad
Category: random
Sometimes we just link because connectivity matters...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 2:07 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
top that: quark soup, time travel and the end of the internet
Category: science
From Gordon via Chad Fermilab is claiming single top quark decay to b quark + W ie the accelerator produced a t-quark as part of some quark/anti-quark ensemble, without simultaneously producing an anti-t-quark....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 1:31 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
soy and cooties
Category: random
Apparently someone heard that soy has estrogen mimickers and over-extrapolated their conclusion, the Chimp Refugee has all the details you need to know Got to look on the bright side though, this might significantly boost breastfeeding in a segment...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 1:25 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 12, 2006
wtf? an unscientific puzzle
Category: random
the Saudi ambassador to the US has resigned suddenly wazzup with that?...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 3:26 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Creationism Special
Category: science
Grauniad Science Weekly has a Creationism Special podcast this week. Wolpert, Conway-Morris and Buggs are up....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 11:21 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Shuttle wing sensor anomaly
Category: astro
Apparently space shuttle Discovery, currently in orbit, had two sensor anomalies from the left wing tip. Could be thermal flexing, or could be impacts. EVA planned to inspect for damage. space.com says first inspection shows no damage also on NASA...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 12:56 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Imediate Existential Issues
Category: astro
M4 or M5? That is the question....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 12:52 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 11, 2006
Benni Hemm Hemm
Category: random
Benni Hemm Hemm Sound quality kinda sucks, but you get the idea....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 2:05 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 8, 2006
dub-i-dub-i-dum-dum
Category: random
Thanks to Chad I will now be humming this for the next two weeks....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 12:03 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
iPod iChing - Liquid on Mars
Category: random
Cold and snowy friday, and we ask the iPod: wazzup with the water on Mars thing? Are the intermittent outbursts really liquid water, and what does it all mean? Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 9:29 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 6, 2006
Rational Religion II: axioms
Category: random
everything about a religion is reducable to a finite set of data that is communicable. Now, either the data is incompressible and therefore random, or maximally compressed, or it is compressible. Hence it can be reduced to a set of finite irreducible elements, or axioms. Do actual religions have "axioms of choice" we wonder. This also has implications for testing.
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 11:45 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Liquid Water on Mars
Category: astro
As I suspected today's announcement from NASA is on evidence for current liquid water flowing on Mars Nice result, hopefully to be confirmed soon. Increases imperative to get more wheel on the ground at Mars, and hopefully some boots...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 2:09 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 5, 2006
16 and a half months ago
Category: random
I had a conversation about war "...IF this was representative, the army has 18 months, in my estimation, to get out of Iraq, or they will be done for for a decade" Not actually all that prophetic, go read...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 1:08 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Mars news
Category: astro
NASA HQ has a press conference wednesday at 1 pm on news on Mars discoveries from the now defunct Mars Global Surveyor. Not coincidentally, perchance, NASAwatch has a pointer to Aviation Week news snippet on MGS having seen evidence for...
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 10:48 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
December 1, 2006
Rational Religion
Category: science
Religion is ubiquitous, rational, adaptive and wrong. It is not inherently in opposition to science in general, but it often is. Science needs to figure out how to deal with this, because most religions will not....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 3:31 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
iPod iChing - kHz pulsar?
Category: random
Wet and windy friday, and we ask the Mighty One a sexy topical question: is XTE J1739-285 really spinning at 1122 Hz? Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh....
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson at 3:07 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
