Steinn Sigurðsson
Professor of Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Science Editor at Astrophysical Journal. Icelandic. Herder of Cats.
catdynamics
Posts by this author
November 22, 2006
Winter will be here soon, I hear rumours it has already come to parts of the south and west, and it definitely arrived in Iceland.
Iceland in winter requires some effort, but we have come up with some useful things to get through the winter, and I don't mean just the pickled whale blubber, rotten…
November 22, 2006
YouTube offers another classic physics demo, the Rubens Tube
November 20, 2006
State College is a small town, it is also a university town.
Not exactly your high crime area.
So, statistically, the scum who took the Munchkins' slide from our front yard after the game on saturday night were probably a multiplet of cheerfully inebriated male students.
Well, congratulations, you…
November 20, 2006
I'm hearing anecdotal reports of incidents of scarlet fever locally.
Anyone know of cases around US or Europe, some place other than North Korea?
November 20, 2006
With last week's announcement on new constraints on dark energy models, the blogosphere chatter on dark energy is inching up, in particular The Babe in the Universe is irate and throwing some harsh comments around
So... let me give a quick perspective on "dark energy" from the astrophysics side:…
November 17, 2006
That reminds me...
Rob Weir tells us to mind our manners.
I actually blew a conf proceedings deadline, and the extension, for a review paper for the first time this year. I had a good excuse, but still...
Freedom!
Apparently universities in Pennsylvania don't actually in reality discriminate…
November 17, 2006
Congratulations Sean!
Best of luck Jennifer!
The Cube of Darkness!
The scary thing is that Cosmic Variance comes up second if you google "Cube of Darkness"!
November 17, 2006
Friday again, and we approach the Mighty iPod with a serious astronomical question:
Oh, Mighty iPod - to the extent that the universe is well represented by an FRW like model, homogenous and isotropic and currently dominated by a dark energy component with W = -1 - is it in fact the case
that dW/…
November 15, 2006
Dedicated to those doing their NSF proposals today
Helsinki complaints choir
November 15, 2006
Cohen of the Washington Post find it refreshing that Stephanopoulos was shocked by Bush's direct lie about Rumsfeld before the election.
It is shocking how rarelyoften, and how selectively, the Washington political establishment and leading media figures casually accept blatant lies as part of…
November 15, 2006
Emily Yoffe at Slate worries she is a Math Moron, as she takes a Kumon course to stay ahead of her daughter in primary school (via Thorsett).
This is a good article that highlights some of the issues and problems with math education.
It is also quite well written.
November 14, 2006
The following are the competing mission concepts for the JDEM (Joint Dark Energy Mission) launch slot:
SNAP
DESTINY also press info here
ADEPT
All of these make an interesting case, although how much could be done from the ground with modest HST and JWST followup is a key issue.
It'd be…
November 14, 2006
Making Light incisively dissects the link between homegrown terrorists and bad science fiction
Read it.
For fair and balanced coverage, remember that aQ allegedly can be translated as "foundation"...
November 14, 2006
Over the next few months, the future of astrophysics in space for the next decade may be set.
It ought to be a rational process (hah!), and it ought to be based on fully symmetric information...
Most of all, it should lead to a decison that someone will stick to for more than a year or two. That…
November 14, 2006
Fresh, local grown sweet organic apples from the Farmer's Market: $2.75
Grabbing one this morning for lunch, to find the Munchkin has taken exactly one small bite from every single apple: Priceless
November 14, 2006
According to a Grauniad headline, of all papers, al Qaeda is determined to nuke Britain.
They just need a bomb, and a way to get it there, and someone who actually knows how to set it off.
And a pony.
But there is a lot of "chatter" out there. So that's ok. Journamalism (read to the end about…
November 13, 2006
Two not unrelated pieces on NASAwatch
1) Implication of Congressional elections for NASA
Short version: more oversight of Vision for Space Exploration; may tighten wall again around science;
I'd expect Glenn Research Center to be saved; Marshall and JSC not so favoured any more; GSFC could be big…
November 13, 2006
Science and Reason has a good summary on the ongoing Beyond Einstein review at NASA
The NRC committee held its First Meeting (Agenda PDF) last week.
Would some of those who were there like to comment on how it went?
How were the preparations? Everyone have their ducks lined up or did some people…
November 13, 2006
Philosophia Naturalis #3 went up at Geek Counterpoint last week.
Good stuff.
November 10, 2006
Things you learn at 37,000 feet.
Muse has a song titled "Supermassive Black Hole".
Hm from the best selling Black Holes and Revelations
Who knew?
Supermassive Black Hole
(You set my soul alight)
Glaciers melting in the dead of night
And the superstars sucked into the supermassive
(You set my soul…
November 10, 2006
Oh boy, a jet lagged friday. So we ask the migthy one an easy one.
Wazzup? Tell us, oh Great iPod - whence now, scientifically and generally?
Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh.
The Covering: Another Man's Done Gone - Billy Bragg
The Crossing: Avalon - Roxy Music
The Crown: Old Brass Wagon - Twin…
November 7, 2006
So, today is election day, in the USA. In case you hadn't noticed.
Unusually enough, polls predict some actual incumbents may be voted out, which I must say is rather unusual, if not outright undemocratic.
Question is: if this comes true, what should The Nation do with such Talent?
For example: Mr…
November 6, 2006
Study says seat belts would make buses safer
Well, no shit!
Whenever this issue is raised locally (in the US), we are patiently told that it is just not possible.
So, here I am in Scandinavia, and every bus in the last three countries had lap seat belts on every seat.
I guess I'm just imagining…
November 6, 2006
There was a flap last week when some LANL USB sticks were found in the possession of a petty criminal.
An actual security breach, as opposed to a hypothetical one.
Now Prof Foland at Nuclear Mangos notes a claim in the media that the sticks contained PAL codes!
That would be not good. If true. The…
November 6, 2006
So there was a somewhat subdued response to the "what science fields are most underfunded", but it got me thinking about a slightly different question, namely:
which science fields could rapidly produce more science results if given a sudden increase in funding?
This is a somewhat non-trivial…
November 6, 2006
The National Science Foundation Senior Review of Astronomy is out, now
Read 'em and weep.
Executive summary (it is almost 100 pages, will take time to digest):
PI grants are going to be squeezed, badly. Can you do anything about that?
Solar physics loses almost all its toys in exchange for the one…
November 5, 2006
the 5th of November
The Gunpowder, Treason and Plot
Guy Fawkes day is not my favourite holiday, even if I do like bonfires and fireworks.
Many years ago I went to bonfire night in Lewes, Sussex, where some of the protestant martyrs were burned. They seem to still take it personally after all these…