Steinn Sigurðsson
Professor of Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Science Editor at Astrophysical Journal. Icelandic. Herder of Cats.
catdynamics
Posts by this author
December 19, 2007
Bad budget news in the pipeline for science
NASAwatch has the NASA budget summary
As you know, Bob, the US is already into fiscal year '08 but most of the bugdet bills have not yet been passed, and the government is operating under a continuous resolution (basically rolling over last years budget…
December 19, 2007
Ekki um jólin...
Latest seasonal viral video
Er, from Iceland.
REI - they are very sought after for their geothermal power expertise, right now.
December 19, 2007
Skyrgámur is the scariest elf of all.
He will steal all your skyr!
Yes, in the old days they had skyr by the barrel load... none of these individual portion cups.
December 18, 2007
little things noticed in the last few seasonal shopping time units...
as someone who perused "stocking stuffers", it is very noticeable that the "under a dollar" li'l knick-knack, that is actually mildly functional or amusing, is no longer available - almost everything under a dollar is pure crap…
December 18, 2007
Happy Holidays.
This is, of course, the original by The Firm
Not to be confused with the not quite as good Dr Demento cover.
Here is the original video.
I should note, for extra credit, that I own a copy of the original single.
Bought with great difficulty in a small store in the Lanes in…
December 18, 2007
Chandra has a fun press release on some clashing galaxies, one active
At 1.4 billion light years, I have to say 3C321 is a nice galaxy, but I don't believe that the jet can transform planets' atmospheres in the target galaxy.
Planetary atmospheres have surprisingly high column densities and at 20,…
December 18, 2007
Chad, rightly, considers "Fairytale of New York" to be one of the greatest holiday anthems of all time.
News have now arrived, via Iceland of course, that the BBC is censoring the song during play.
The problem is Kirsty McCall's "You scumbag, you maggot/You cheap lousy faggot" line. The Beeb now…
December 18, 2007
Hurðaskellir - you know he's coming, but the slam of the door will surprise you anyway.
Classic "condemned man's paradox".
He's not hungry. You just won't sleep tonight.
December 17, 2007
Askasleikir - askar are the wooden all purpose bowls - of course after dinner, you put them down for the cats and dogs to lick them clean.
Very energy efficient.
This lad will distract the animals and then snatch askurinn to lick them clean himself.
Helpful, as these lads go.
December 16, 2007
Pottasleikir - little ice storm and some snow is not going stop this one.
He likes to lick the pots - yum, and we're cooking a pot roast today!
December 15, 2007
Þvörusleikir - fourth elf made it before the storm.
Tall, lanky lad, likes to lick the cooking spoons...
December 14, 2007
Stúfur - is the shortest of the lads.
He'll steal your frying pan and lick off the crusty bits. Yum.
December 14, 2007
Not snowing right now, but right crunchy it is.
So, will the snow in the possible, maybe, somewhere nor'easter this weekend be delightful, and I ask that in the spirit of my inner child?
Woosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Gimme Danger - the Stooges
The Crossing: I Want to Come Over…
December 13, 2007
Giljagaur is the second of the lads to come to town.
Happy to report the munchkins got new gloves/mittens from him, so they're almost cat-safe.
December 12, 2007
Today is the 12th of december, and there are 13 days until christmas.
This means, of course, that the first of the yule elves came to town this morning.
As you know, Bob, there are thirteen of the Yule Lads, or jólasveinar, as we call them.
And they are not really elves, since their mother is a…
December 12, 2007
I just got a "I wanna go to grad school letter".
These are always interesting, sometimes scary, and generally require serious work, like thoughtful and prompt (hah!) responses.
The Female Science Professor Explains.
READ IT!
There are, of course, type I, type II and type III letters (I knew she…
December 12, 2007
UK Science and Technology Facilties Council has a "Delivery Plan" for 2008-2011
STF...
They confirm withdrawal from Gemini, but also say they want to negotiate access to Gemini (North), since they are also ramping down the Isaac Newton Group telescopes on the Canaries, which would leave them with…
December 12, 2007
Definitive word on the CoRoT results...
Heard by e-mail from an authoritative source, and independently sourced from spacEurope (see comments in CoRoT update thread) that there will be a press conference and associated press release on the early results from CoRoT on 20th December.
December 11, 2007
The big NASA individual PI grants are being announced in time for the holiday shopping season...
Most of NASA's university PI based research and analysis is awarded through the ROSES annual omnibus Request for Proposals - the RfP typically comes out just after the State of the Union speech, with…
December 11, 2007
The CoRoT team had a meeting, I wasn't there, but...
No press release, right now, someone must have confused "meeting" with "announcement". There are news, but I am firmly told that they are not announcing a terrestrial planet discovery or any such.
Be interesting to see what they have after…
December 10, 2007
Now do you believe in elves?
Santa Claus in Orion.
Got a long way to go still.
From ESA, XMM, via Spitzer
December 8, 2007
Big F.U. from the Science and Technology Facilities Council to the astronomical community.
The UK STFC is expected to formally announce its final response to the 7% effective cut in its programs (after inflation and "Full Economic Costs") on Dec 11th.
(Hm, the UK is putting in its version of Full…
December 8, 2007
A couple of weeks ago my Mac desktop keyboard met a sad demise at the hand of a klutz filled with a large hot, milky coffee
My Better Half, and a quick commenter, independently suggested I try a legendary remedy they had heard about, namely washing the keyboard in the dishwasher (figures bloomin'…
December 7, 2007
Cool snowy friday, and we ask the Mighty iPod: what has CoRoT wrought?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Follie! - Verdi
The Crossing: Make You Feel Better - Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Crown: Sexuality (London Remix) - Billy Bragg
The Root: Flamingo Baby - Violent Femmes
The Past: I…
December 6, 2007
more random thoughts on iran
Nuclear Mangos has a summary of the summaries on Iran and the NIE
So, it appears that the White House doesn't know when it knew about Iran.
It also appears that the key intelligence leading the US to conclude the Iranians do not actually have such a program was a…
December 6, 2007
Chad wants seasonal songs that don't suck, he already knows about the Pogues.
I keep tellin' ya:
The definitive short song selection of Icelandic carols - youtube is blocking embedded links on this one - click through if you want to see what we had to grow up with.
Hey, if my kids have to march…
December 5, 2007
Moore money for Thirty Metre Telescope
The Moore Foundation just donated $200 million to Caltech and UC jointly to build the Thirty Metre Telescope - a successor to the Keck telescopes.
That is a lot.
Apparently with matches the total in the bank is now $300 million or so, so construction will…
December 5, 2007
"what's this dip over here?
Will the referee buy it?"
So this is what prolonged oxygen deprivation does to you?
Brilliant.
h/t Kayhan