Steinn Sigurðsson
Professor of Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Science Editor at Astrophysical Journal. Icelandic. Herder of Cats.
catdynamics
Posts by this author
May 16, 2008
The NAS Assessment of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, 2008, is out and available
The National Academy of Sciences did an assessment of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, at the request of NASA, over the last year.
The report is out and available on the web
From the Executive Summary:
FINDINGS AND…
May 16, 2008
Friday commences, and it rains.
So, Oh Mighty iPod - what is the deal with Oklo's dark cryptic hints?
A planet discovered, and where?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Rite of Spring 1 - Stravinsky
The Crossing: Ashes to Ashes - Bowie
The Crown: London Calling - Clash
The Root:…
May 15, 2008
Joe Pa not feeling well, reporters overexcited.
Ambulance came to our street this morning, and now there are three reporters staking out the house and ambushing the neighbours.
I know nuthin!
Go away.
May 15, 2008
Greg Laughlin at Systemic has put out a teasing hint about a potential major extrasolar planet discovery.
There has been a rumour circling the community that a major extrasolar planet discovery was to be announced imminently.
I do not have any confidential or embargoed information regarding this.…
May 15, 2008
It is caaaarnivaaaaal time!
Carnival of Space #54 over on Altair VI
May 15, 2008
I missed Keith Olbermann's Countdown last night due to travel.
Youtube comes to the rescue - watch it for the golf.
Here it is, in two parts.
Because linking is an intrinsic public good.
Keith is kinda steamed.
Watch the beginning of the second part if you watch nothing else.
May 13, 2008
A pseudonymous commenter proposes a Classic of Rock and Roll for remake as an iPod v-ad
Namely this:
This is like, so krazy k00l.
A fair fraction of my iTunes purchases are random "songs of my youth", not one hit wonders necessarily, but feel-good music from bands where I may not want a whole…
May 13, 2008
Why wait till tomorrow
You must click this now.
I do not know what brought this to mind,
but I must suffer, so must you.
May 13, 2008
A letter from Einstein to Eric Gutkind sent in 1954 is up for auction.
It is rather blunt.
From the Grauniad short news story on this:
"...The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends…
May 13, 2008
Hubble gallery of galaxy crashes, with added bonus simulations
Click here for astonishingly large version
Click here for video selection
This one gives a very nice set of transitions between a numerical simulation and the images, showing how they are representative of different stages of the…
May 12, 2008
more random naval ponderings
The aircraft carrier USS Lincoln has arrived in the Persian Gulf, where it briefly overlapped with the USS Truman - which has now left and is in the Med.
The USS Washington has finally rounded the Cape and is in the southern Pacific, heading for Japan to replace the…
May 12, 2008
NASA Ames is getting some new big iron
245 Teraflop Altix system from SGI
to be followed by the Petaflop Pleiades, also SGI architecture with Intel CPUs.
Given SGIs bankruptcy and continuous hemorrhage of cash, this will get interesting.
Now if they could only settle on a security system that was…
May 12, 2008
CNN is surprised at how much astronomers make, and how few there are
personally I am surprised at how little paramedics make
On an unrelated note, the next Hubble servicing missions launch has slipped at least five weeks, from end of August to early October.
Given hurricane season, the delay in…
May 12, 2008
In the beginning, a To Do list was not needed.
Everything important To Do could be remembered...
then, bitter experience, lead to the creation of the To Do list
To Do: clean-up and prioritize To Do list
To Do: consolidate, clean-up and prioritize To Do lists
To Do: shower, lunch, etc...
Heh. Not…
May 11, 2008
NASA EOS has some startling images
Flooding in Yangon, Burma
Chaiten Volcano, Chile - before eruption
May 11, 2008
Julianne gets an invitation
I too got the invite, to the 11th Birmingham-Nottingham Extragalactic Workshop - 1st Announcement on "Semi-analytic models - are we kidding ourselves?"
Great title. Great topic. Nice lineup.
A workshop I'd truly like to be at. But I won't 'cause it conflicts with other…
May 9, 2008
Friday. Raining, again.
So, Oh Mighty iPod - what is going on on the mystery Canadian Train in Ontario?
Woosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: The Firebird: Lullaby - Stravinsky
The Crossing: Introduction - The Lilac Fairy - Tchaikovsky
The Crown: Ten Little Bumblebees
The Root: The End…
May 9, 2008
Passenger train halted and quarantined in northern Ontario
One dead, apparently 60 year old female.
Ten sick, four reported serious.
All reportedly part of a tour group from Alberta, train Vancouver->Toronto.
All from two sleeper carriages.
'flu like symptoms. Reports don't specify if that…
May 9, 2008
Nima Arkani-Hamed front pages cnn.com
Beating out Ashton Kutcher's surprising hit performance with Cameron Diaz, Mariah Carey's wedding, the green puppy and the Texas Giant Sink Hole.
W00.
It is also a not bad, by journalism standards, article on how the LHC may test speculation of Large Extra…
May 8, 2008
apropos nothing - what sort of circumstances hypothetically trigger university disciplinary investigations?
Universities have rules that are both an improper subset of and a superset of community laws.
Generally, universities are subordinate to the laws of the jurisdiction they are in, although…
May 8, 2008
Now we know why Ron Weasley didn't like Astronomy
hos's world is turned upside down at Kitt Peak - extra bonus points for clicking through and figuring out the second photo...
A commenter there reminds of the classic: Pigwidgeon or Hedwig?
May 7, 2008
Prof Brad DeLong dislodges an academic grain of sand, and formally requests academic action on the question Prof Yoo.
The immediate response is repose.
We will see if the talus slope is ever exceeded. Inertia works both ways, even at the institutional level.
Another episode of linking as a public…
May 7, 2008
The Chaiten Volcano in Chile is erupting, first time in at least 2000 years, more likely the last eruption was about 10,000 years ago.
The eruption is intensifying and local towns are being evacuated
EOS image
(click for hi-res).
GDACS has issued a Green Alert
International Volcano Research…
May 6, 2008
The news from Tropical Cyclone Nagris keep coming and getting worse
Earth Observatory shows what happened
(click for hi-res aftermath image).
Chris at the Intersection keeps good running updates, and, we should remember, noted the threat the storm presented early last week!
Jeff Masters at the…
May 6, 2008
...57 papers to grade on the pile on the desk
57 papers to grade on the pile on the desk
take one off, grade it down
56 papers to grade on the pile on the desk...
May 5, 2008
All right.
Which of you jokers edited wikipedia to say "Cosmic Magnetic Background"?
It was funny the first time, but the nth time I read that for the CMB in ugrad essays it gets tiresome... just in time for finals week, eh?
May 5, 2008
selected referee comments on "A bold proposal to do something new and interesting",
years 1-3
with added bonus translation
very speculative, no track record in this area, would be helped by showing preliminary results proving methodology and showing that results will be forthcoming [trans: come…
May 4, 2008
some time ago I made an off-cuff comment to a colleague that he "had been lucky".
He reacted badly to this, and rather curtly told me he resented being told he had been lucky, he had worked for his success and earned it.
At the time I shrugged it off - no big deal, he was being a bit oversensitive…
May 2, 2008
Last friday!
And, somewhere, it is snowing.
So, we skip joyfully to the Mighty iPod, and ask, intrepidly: what interesting things are we in for this summer?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Orgasm Addict - Buzzcocks
The Crossing: III Menuetto & Trio - Mozart
The Crown: Know…