Steinn Sigurðsson
Professor of Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Science Editor at Astrophysical Journal. Icelandic. Herder of Cats.
catdynamics
Posts by this author
February 25, 2008
Where are the faculty bloggers? asks RPM over at evolgen
Er, mostly hiding pseudonymously from rampaging department chairs and deans...
but Chad takes up the discussion, standing up for the physicists bloggers, and borrowing a couple of astronomers for the good cause
hey, thought I, this is…
February 22, 2008
The Female Science Professor turns over the rocks and brings the real clash of cultures into the bright light of reason...
are you blinkered and missing the big picture, or a jack-of-all-trades (but master of none)
I know what I am...
Seriously.
The question of whether to focus narrowly on a…
February 22, 2008
It is snowy friday, again! Yay!
So we skip to the Mighty iPod and ask: do you answer?
Woosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Mamma Aumingja Mamma - trad.
The Crossing: No Woman No Cry (live) - Bob Marley
The Crown: It's A Shame - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
The Root: How Soon…
February 21, 2008
we really just spend all our time cleaning up paperwork and shutting down youthful extravaganzas
I don't see how you get through 20 lightswitch flips per day though
no way you are first author on that many switch flips
February 20, 2008
US Navy is claiming successful shootdown of USA 193
Hey, totality of the Lunar eclipse!
Pretty...
CNN just reported that the USS Erie - and Aegis class cruiser - successfully intercepted and destroyed the USA 193 intelligence satellite with a modified SM-3 missile.
Hm. Show offs.
USA 193 was…
February 20, 2008
ok, this is weird... in beer prices, cost of living in Boston and State College is comparable
The current median (asking) price for houses in State College is about 60% of that in Boston right now.
But, Yuengling beer six-pack in PA is about 25% cheaper than Sam Adams, typically.
So the median…
February 20, 2008
Two curious pieces of news: one the change of gift card redemption patterns at big box retailers, the other in the CPI.
Market research show people redeeming christmas gift cards later and for necessities not trinkets - the article is light on data but interesting anecdotally and consistent with…
February 20, 2008
Amazon has a new electronic bookreader out - the Kindle - it now includes a select blog feed, I gather
I have never seen a Kindle - I expect something like it will eventually find its way into my possession and be utilised for light reading and archiving for travel - I don't know that the…
February 20, 2008
PSU Collegian article on Valerie Plame's visit to PSU;
also CDT local news item;
of course blogs got it first...
February 20, 2008
possible meteor impact in northwest US
this is all over the news, but there was a prominent fireball in the northwest US tuesday morning with a possible ground strike, likely in eastern Washington State, possibly Adams County
prelim query on bablog
lots of video from local TV stations - expect…
February 18, 2008
I give
I lose
I was wrong
and I will pay
I concede The Bet
There is a great, if sporadic, tradition of "bets" in astrophysics.
It is a particular tradition at Caltech, where Kip Thorne has made a series of famous public bets on science issues.
One of my great "bad moves" as a graduate student was…
February 16, 2008
Valerie Wilson, née Plame, Penn State alumnae and outed CIA undercover agent just visited
she was on my flight (sorry about the kids singing so loudly) and was met by a very very high ranking university official for a dinner and, I gather, a quick basketball game from the box (wot PSU beat…
February 16, 2008
meeting is over, what did we learn
first: don't wear "city socks" in ski boots - first day out I forgot to switch to high wool socks and I have the most amazing line of blisters on my left calf...
totally awesome skiing though
good meeting also, I gather all the talks will be online soon, will…
February 15, 2008
Crisp clear snowy friday. It is still friday in my current time zone. Just.
So, we approach the mighty iPod, and we ask: did reionization come early?
Woosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Grái Fiðringurinn - Stuðmenn
The Crossing: C.A.M.R.A. Man - Half Man Half Biscuit
The Crown: Don't…
February 15, 2008
Will Harvard junior faculty publish first author Nature papers now?
I have to confess that with the experience of arXiv.org I am continually bemused by the fervour over open access in the rest of academia.
Now, I gather, Harvard has passed a faculty resolution mandating open access for all faculty…
February 15, 2008
a black hole conspiracy
it has been known for a number of years that there is a curious set of correlations between the central supermassive black holes in galaxies and the global properties of the galaxies
in particular, the inferred mass of the central black hole correlates quite well with the…
February 14, 2008
extremely high redshift galaxies found
Garth Illingworth gave a talk this morning, the first of two, on new extremely high redshift galaxies found in the Ultra Deep Field using combined ACS, NICMOS and Spitzer data.
Second talk tomorrow by Rychard Bouwens on unpublished candidates.
So... the…
February 13, 2008
The US government is shutting down EconomicIndicators.gov effective March 1st
Due to "budget constraints". Natch.
The data comes from the Economics and Statistics Administration at the Department of Commerce. It will still be collected, bundled and analysed, just not made available in a trim,…
February 13, 2008
The first two billion years of galaxy formation: the reionization epoch and beyond.
The Aspen Center for Physics is a physics hostel of sorts, and a very nice one it is too.
The Aspen Center, which is located adjacent to the Aspen Institute on the edge of town, runs a series of (currently five)…
February 8, 2008
snow, we didn't order snow on a friday, did we?
Ok, friday, in a rush... we ask the iPod - anything else interesting going to break this week?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Betri Tíð - Stuðmenn
The Crossing: Fantaisie de Concert: II - Perlman
The Crown: King of the Wild…
February 6, 2008
film at 11
PS: Gulf cable cut was due to ship anchor, no need to stress.
Med cut maybe due to common geologic incident like subsea slide
see link for details
not wanting to get weird, but another Mid East undersea fiber optic cable break appears to have happened
Daily Tech reports a second break in…
February 6, 2008
just the other week me and the Better Half were chatting about the weather, as one does
"I wish" said I "that we had some proper snow"
"oh"
"yeah, I hate this frozen slushy rainy stuff, it either ought to snow properly or not. Big fluffy flakes"
"why didn't you say"
"huh? well, got to go"
...20…
February 5, 2008
Don't Try This at Home
Billy's podcast #11 - yay.
With free bonus video co-starring Kirsty MacColl - "sexuality" - guaranteed to 'cause apoplexy in 25% of the US population
Oh, and he's liveblogging the Oz tour. Too much.
February 4, 2008
regurgitating yur data
Seawolf class nuclear attack submarine, USS Jimmy Carter
- optimised for surveillance with an "innovative ocean interface module" - ie there is presumably a pressurised chamber outside the hull where they can do dry work on wet things.
Presumably combined with the Remotely…
February 4, 2008
Fame! At last!
World of Physics is mine, all mine.
Hey, look at this interesting thing I just came across...
Is that really the impression I give? 'cause it is only true for things I come across between morning coffee and lunch, honest.
Anything lengthy is usually written between midnight and 2…
February 4, 2008
Do you want to be an Astrobiologist?
Are you an undergrad in the US and you think you might want to, but you have no idea what you would be in for?
Then come to Penn State for our REU summer school on astrobiology
Do research, go on field trips and stuff, hang out and chat about life in the…
February 1, 2008
threefour major undersea cables cut in two separate incidents
internet traffic to Middle East affected
UPDATE: Apparently it is now four cables cut, another one in the Persian Gulf just went snap... that is an amazing coincidence
story at phys.org and discussion on slashdot - some strident…
February 1, 2008
Ice storm! Who ordered a f&2#&ing ice storm for friday...
So, we stagger through the crunchy pellets to the bode of the Mighty iPod, and ask: how 'bout the voids, should we keep looking in the voids?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: I Fought the Law (live) - Clash
The…