Steinn Sigurðsson
Professor of Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Science Editor at Astrophysical Journal. Icelandic. Herder of Cats.
catdynamics
Posts by this author
April 28, 2009
Chemistry songs.
Well, there is the classic:
Lehrer's Song of the Elements
but it turns out there is a pageful of them
actually, "Sound of Stirring" is kinda catchy.
"Hello test tube my old friend,
I've come to work with you again
Upon a straight alkane I was keeping
I tried to turn it into a…
April 28, 2009
The Quantum Control of Light and Matter program is underway here at KITP and I'm sitting in on some of the talks.
with Keto-Eno-Tautomerie-Blues!
Auf Deutsch...
All I can say is, bloomin' heck, some interesting stuff that can be done now.
Not just moving atoms and entanglng qbits, but robust…
April 28, 2009
Most distant gamma ray burst yet found by Swift.
GRB 090423 at z=8.2
Official NASA Press Release
GRB 090423 click to embiggen
April 28, 2009
yes, more swine flu link
save the frog day
reprap
and other random bits
Ok, first the Swine Flu (there's some actual astro and other stuff below):
Revere: Pandemics - seen one...
Revere Channels Jon for the best news summaries
Revere: CFR, virulence and all that
Revere: afternoon briefing
Revere:…
April 27, 2009
summary of the issues and stakes in the current 'flu outbreak from a more theoretical physics perspective...
Three years ago I did a Back of the Envelope Assessment for Bird 'flu:
"...So, why worry?
As always, because of the low probability, high risk scenario.
Taken at face value, there is a ~ 1…
April 27, 2009
The Kavli Institute has a new piece of kinetic art which has captured the attention of many of the locals...
Jean-Pierre, Kavli Institute artist in residence a cofounder of the algorists, recently put up a lovely piece at the bottom of the staircase at my end of the Institute.
It makes geometric…
April 26, 2009
swine 'flu update
Iceland's elections and other randomness
Yeah, lots of swine flu links, and most of you by now know about Revere.
But, linking performs an intrinsic function in and of itself.
Wiki entry on H1N1 '09 'flu outbreak
Swine flu's ticket to ride
Swine flu: what you don't know may hurt…
April 25, 2009
Revere links to a
curious Bloomberg News story
"...The first case was seen in Mexico on April 13. The outbreak coincided with the President Barack Obama's trip to Mexico City on April 16. Obama was received at Mexico's anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist…
April 24, 2009
in honour of Geithner's end of the week press conference
Crimson Permanent Assurance:
The song is at the end of part 2...
April 24, 2009
swine 'flu epidemic
passing ship
creation of oil
and other defining moments
all right, serious shit link edition:
Effect Measure is all over the swine 'flu outbreak in SoCal and Mexico
Revere is not prone to panic:
----
PPS: Saturday Night Weird Story Edition
- Read it and ponder.
----
Unusual…
April 22, 2009
ghost observatory images
wanton spending by university bureaucrats
planets and cold fusion
Really cool observatory image
Cold Fusion? Again? Nanoscale braves an old topic bubbling again
Where does the overhead go anyway? Read the comments as you ponder
Sean wrote a paper. About extra dimensions…
April 22, 2009
Official, from IMF...
global economic prospects suck
IMF report: Global Prospects and Policies (pdf large)
they predict economic growth in the US in the second half of 2010...
IF good policies for recovery are implemented, and recovery in first half of 2011 if poor policies are implemented
hmmm…
April 22, 2009
Game of Thrones is being made into a TV series
by HBO I am glad to say.
Hope they do as well as "Rome". Could be really cool.
But who to play the characters?
Can we agree that Tobey Maguire ought to be banned from being in it?
That Ian McKellen will somehow be in it.
That Judi Dench ought to be…
April 21, 2009
Two Earth Mass Planet found in close orbit around a red dwarf star
Gliese 581 is an M3 red dwarf, it has a mass of about a third that of the Sun, slightly lower metal content and is about the same age probably a bit older than the Sun, we think.
It is about 20 light years away.
Gliese 581 was…
April 20, 2009
guy in Bergen NorwayNew Jersey claims to have leaked results of the stress tests for the top 19 US banks
it is curious, scary if true
I am not vouching for this site, just pointing
that will teach me to do quick posts late at night, eh...?
April 20, 2009
Alda explains how some people might have come to believe in elves...
happy partying elves, inside the mountains
My Iceland: the glamorous opulence of the hidden people
"...When we were about halfway along the full stretch of the rock face to our right, we suddenly heard this amazing sound. It was…
April 20, 2009
in which we present:
the planet pool,
why we wear black
and the war on Iceland
among others
Pick a planet host
Kepler has First Light and the field is published (more on this later)
The Lab Lemming is running a pool on which star will have the most earth like planet detected...
but, what if you…
April 18, 2009
Elizabeth Warren on the Daily Show
I think she was about to curse...
ok, so this was some time ago, I'm behind
question is, why don't prime time news shows do interviews like this?
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
M - Th 11p / 10c
Elizabeth Warren Pt. 1
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show…
April 15, 2009
President Obama is this year's commencement speaker at the Arizona State University
ASU decided, somewhat unusually, not to give him an honourary degree
The Huffington Post has been all over this
Stupid move.
Here is the list of all past ASU honourary degree recipients
usual mix of local politicos…
April 13, 2009
on that last good friday nine astronomers gathered for the last time for the dreaded 11 am rapid fire discussion session in the Founder's Room at the Kavli Institute
there were six degenerate faculty types
two post-AGB hot stars headed for the cooling sequence of the tenure track
and one lone sub-…
April 11, 2009
The FDIC has solicited comments from bankers and investors on the massive "Legacy Loan Program"
One comment in particular summarises the issues well and proposes a way forward that may be acceptable to the investment community
Must read.
h/t CR of course
April 10, 2009
There is much blogospheric chatter right now about how newspapers will survive the combination of recession, with associated collapse in advertising revenue; the maturing of the internet as multi-media; and the obsolete business model of most newspapers.
kos and atrios are, rightly, much…
April 9, 2009
Curious little thing bubbling in the blogosphere: a lawyer was fired
Above the Law has the details - a partner, in a top law firm (S&C) escorted out of the bulding by security, according to the stories; working in corporate law
here is S&C's list of major financial institution thing's they…
April 9, 2009
we go link mad here at sciblogs...
because, everybody?
linking is good!
Could drilling cause eruptions?
why, yes, they can, sorta.
borrow money at 0%, and lend it back short term to underemployed people at 120%APR
yes, life is good if you're a banker... this week
no stress, no fail
you will pass…
April 9, 2009
So what did I learn...
Flying fish make great "rationality tokens"
Multiple Populations are probably real and a problem.
I owe Bob, Jay, Chris and others an apology, they've been saying this for decades...
Intermediate Mass Black Holes are Important and Interesting.
But, we need to calm down a…
April 9, 2009
the Kavli Institute program on Dynamics and Evolution of Globular Clusters is reaching the end, and we highlight the important issues...
The west is the best
The west is the best
Get here, and we'll do the rest
Key topics:
Stellar Content
Present Day Mass Functions, M/L
Intermediate Mass…
April 9, 2009
and it comes down to this...
double first, Caltech doctorate, postdocs at top research institutions, personal fellowship, tenure-track, tenure...
and the forecast is for rain.
The good news is that since I am tenured I can probably still afford to buy even a new pair of Nikes.
The bad news is…
April 9, 2009
"...we really do not understand the quantum theory in an intuitive manner because quantum laws are so radically different from the classical laws of physics. The dichotomy that the modern world is quantum, but the precise meaning of the quantum remains elusive, disturbed the stalwarts of physics…
April 8, 2009
I am on a quest for the perfect egg salad sandwich
I could make it, with the better half's oatmeal honey whole wheat bread, a little bit of mayo and way too much onion
or there's this bakery near Pasadena, whose name I forget, which makes a near perfect nutty whole grain bread...
or, sigh, Gayle…