Steinn Sigurðsson
Professor of Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Science Editor at Astrophysical Journal. Icelandic. Herder of Cats.
catdynamics
Posts by this author
August 12, 2008
Brad DeLong channels John Yoo, because he has an obligation to do so
'cause linking is an intrinsic good
August 12, 2008
should artificial performance enhancers be permitted in athletics?
Tierney at the NYT argues for "anything goes" for performance enhancement for athletes, specifically in the Olympics, but presumably also in all other sports.
Although as an aside he notes they should not be allowed for minors,…
August 11, 2008
Finns sweep the championships!
Not The Olympics Edition:
The sauna world championships, that is (or here, with picture).
I don't understand though: the Daily Mail story seems to prove they wore swimsuits!;
and, for some reason the men and women's events were separate; further, where is the ice and…
August 11, 2008
Don't forget the Perseid meteor shower is tonight
The Perseids are one of the more reliable annual meteor showers, and occur when the Earth passes through the dust tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle.
Gratuitous Perseid image from APoD
Expect rates of about one per minute, best viewing is after the moon…
August 10, 2008
The Mad Scientist, in The Car, with the Flask.
emptywheel has an interesting post on whether Dr Ivins, of anthrax mailer fame, could actually have mailed the anthrax letters from Princeton, and had the correct frank, given his known whereabouts in the morning and afternoon of that day.
Answer is,…
August 10, 2008
"During the Olympic Games a truce or ekecheiria was observed. Three runners known as spondophoroi were sent from Elis to the various participant cities at each set of games to announce the beginning of the truce. During this period armies were forbidden from entering Olympia, wars were suspended…
August 8, 2008
Fabulous friday, and we have just two letters of the Mighty iPod: VP?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
iPod divination for newbies - Believe it!
The Covering: Visitor for Mr Edmonds - Half Man Half Biscuit
The Crossing: Mbh - Billy Bragg
The Crown: Midnight Log - The Clash
The Root: Song 2 -…
August 7, 2008
Too much risk or too little risk?
via Calculated Risk
'cause linking is an intrinsic good
August 7, 2008
the simplest solution to the current US financial problems is a short period of modest wage inflation
say 25-50% inflation over 3-4 years for median household incomes
this would cover consumer inflation, help moderate the credit crisis and alleviate in part the mortgage problems
however, it would…
August 7, 2008
SpaceX has explanation for Falcon 1 stage separation failure in 3rd launch failure
With mo' better video.
Should be easy to fix.
SpaceX telecon: "...on Flight 3, with the regeneratively cooled engine, there was some residual thrust after engine shut down and this caused the first stage to be…
August 7, 2008
reasons for tenure #24952
ORNL fires Distinguished Scientist,
UT picks up slack
from Incoherent Ponderer
Oak Ridge National Lab denies charge that outspokenness of scientist the reason
NAS member and physicist who had a joint appointment at ORNL and University of Tennessee was terminated by ORNL…
August 6, 2008
the Department of Justice took the unusual step of releasing some of the documents filed in the case against Dr Ivins in the 2001 anthrax attacks
here is the document dump
- "Amerithrax" - very catchy
it will have to be crowd sourced for analysis, but a glance shows a lot of duplication, cut-n-…
August 6, 2008
Anthrax Vaccine blog by Dr Nass.
Interesting perspective on the Ivins allegations on the 2001 anthrax attacks.
'cause links are an intrinsic good.
August 6, 2008
sometimes it is important to parse language precisely
if I say something is "absurd" or a notion is "ridiculous", then, strictly speaking, the claim has not been denied
Since I am not laughing, I conclude that, as might be expected, the White House press officer has a better command of the nuances…
August 6, 2008
Academic term will start soon here, just in time for football season.
Enrollment is high, due to demographic and economic factors, but, with the slowly developing funding crunch, will the students actually show up and register?
Enrollment in institutions of higher education, in the US, is very high…
August 5, 2008
Fascinating article on slashdot about why California can't cut wage payroll employees to fed minimum wage, because their financial system is a COBOL legacy system
and Schwarzenegger's executive order bans hiring retirees with the requisite expertise...
"The state controller, who has opposed the pay…
August 5, 2008
Freeze drying anthrax and the weird case of the US domestic anthrax attacks in 2001
There has been a set of good Sb posts on the recent developments in the anthrax mailing terrorist attacks in 2001, after the FBI revealed they had a new suspect, Dr Ivins, who was a researcher at Ft Detrick USAMRIID…
August 4, 2008
No says NASA.
Not yet.
(h/t NASAwatch)
NASA is surreptitiously downplaying blog buzz that the Phoenix lander has found something very interesting...
In particular it is absolutely definitely not life!
As we know it.
But, there is a lot of heat and smoke and hints of an upcoming paper in Science or…
August 4, 2008
Third Falcon launch failed also.
Three satellites lost.
From NASAwatch - with launch video - first stage engine performed, but stage separation failed.
SpaceX homepage has comments - they have raised capital, have booked customers and plan multiple future launches including the Falcon 9 heavy…
August 2, 2008
"...a fire was started on the porch of a faculty member's home. Injuries were sustained as the faculty member and his wife and children escaped the residence."
Attack comes after pamphlets were found threatening faculty claimed to use animals in research.
Fires were set at two faculty residences,…
August 1, 2008
August friday, and a start of something new.
We cheerfully flitter to the Mighty iPod and ask the obvious: Can We Believe There Will Be Change?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
iPod Divination for newbies - Believe It.
The Covering: Shadow Play - Joy Division
The Crossing: It's Nasty (Genius…
July 31, 2008
Do Not Panic!
Do Not Blink!
Do Not Go Back to Sleep.
Go out, in about 3 hours, and watch the solar eclipse
It is short, about 2 mins, but it will be beautiful (unless it is raining, is it raining?) and you in Gooseland will be just about the only people with a chance to see it.
From Natural…
July 31, 2008
Ok, The Official Dynamics of Cats Obama Campaign Donation Funding Match is on.
As promised
Site meter is up, a few hours early, so discount the number by some small n.
So... I'll take requests. Since this is in a good cause.
Is there anything people would like me to cover specifically during the…
July 30, 2008
"Crush your employees, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations at their paycheques..."
Oh, I wish I had thought of that title.
UPDATE: a check or a headfake?
The order is out.
The clause on Student Assistants could have interesting repercussions.
July 29, 2008
Pontifications on Physics Personified, from two perspectives.
Here is the Harry Potter personification of physics.
0. Newtonian gravity is Ron.
Solid, dependable, good long heritage.
It has its limits, but is surprisingly powerful.
1. Electromagnetism is Snape.
You must master E&M, but so many…
July 28, 2008
Inside Higher Ed has a note on Crackergate - usual suspects in the comments.
July 28, 2008
Amount of August blog check will go to Obama
Seed pays us SciBlings to blog: not a lot, beer money, not living wages, and definitely not retire-at-thirty kinda dough.
This is an academically oriented blog, and, to be honest, the summer months are a slow period.
Both for readers, and for me.
Too…
July 28, 2008
The popular VOIP Skype has a backdoor for bugging
h/t Steve at Information Processing
A German online tech source reports that Skype has a hidden backdoor on its encryption protocol enabling third party bugging of conversations.
Info was leaked by Austrian police. Backdoor is presumably there at…