Steinn Sigurðsson
Professor of Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Science Editor at Astrophysical Journal. Icelandic. Herder of Cats.
catdynamics
Posts by this author
August 22, 2006
Remember in the early '90s, when people were all up at arms about the destruction of the rainforest? I haven't heard or read anything about it in the longest time. Are the rainforesets still being destroyed wholesale? Are they all gone? Is it still important? Is the coffee I drink contributing to…
August 21, 2006
Chad asks if we could charge grown-ups for fantasy science camps...
I suppose idle millionaire trips to the International Space Station don't count, because, er, they don't actually do any science up there...
but, as always astronomy leads the way:
I happen to know that the Carnegie Institute (west…
August 21, 2006
and so it begins...
clearly this was a test run for the herpian fiends
August 21, 2006
As predicted, the NASA telecon on Chandra results was on followup studies of the "bullet cluster".
Press release is here.
Lots of pretty pictures.
"This is the type of result that future theories will have to take into account," said Sean Carroll, a cosmologist at the University of Chicago.
As…
August 18, 2006
Janes tags, I obey...
Random quotation generator - pick first five that apply.
First five out of the box suit me just fine:
When you have got an elephant by the hind leg, and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)
Some prices are just too high, no matter…
August 18, 2006
The TSA is saying tonight if you wear a gel bar for prosthetic purposes they will be allowed through security and on planes, but if you were them for cosmetic reasons you'll have to pack them in a checked luggage.
August 18, 2006
Yikes, friday again and I am behind.
So we go for the obvious: oh, mighty iPod, whose wisdom exceeds that of the most cleverly appointed ad hoc committee ever assembled, what is a good criterion for what is planet?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Whispering Your Name - Alison…
August 18, 2006
Just when you thought it was safe to come up with a new pneumonic for the new 812 planets, the Astronomers strike again...
No, not content with the deliberations of the ad hoc sub-subcommittee of the subcomittee for Naming Names, people are now abusing the power of the Web and coming up with…
August 18, 2006
CNN story on NAC
Wes Huntress, Charles Kennel and Eugene Levy are off the NASA Advisory Council science committee.
Kennel resigned, Griffin fires Huntress and Levy.
NASAwatch has little more.
Huntress
Kennel
Levy
This is interesting and bad. The NASA advisory committee structure is already in…
August 18, 2006
James asks: Astronomy: What is it good for?
Seriously: getting a multi-minute lead story in a to-die-for demographic television show, and multiple prime time television news stories, front page headlines etc with eye-catching candy graphics, visceral messages that hit home, and light controversy…
August 17, 2006
Oo, yeah.
Stephen Colbert brings back Neil deGrasse Tyson and does an IAU smackdown.
Charon, Ceres and Xena get it.
Wait for the YouTube, someone will have it for us by morning I'm sure.
He was very good. Stephen was pretty good also.
Here is original Neil Tyson appearance on YouTube while we wait…
August 16, 2006
So... the ad hoc sub-subcommittee of the standing subcommittee for the Naming of Names has reported out: the Federation of People Who Believe No Really Important Discoveries are Made West of the Mississippi are reeling in defeat, while the Alliance of the Crusade for Consistency is handed a token…
August 16, 2006
News from Bíldudalur that a pair of viking era graves have been found with well preserved weapons and other items.
From local news in Bíldudal
Report in Mogginn and the official press release from The Archaeological Heritage Agency of Iceland
Hringsdalur is a small valley off Arnarfjörður - the…
August 15, 2006
No_Nym, guestblogging on Bitch PhD suggests that Princess Leia is to blame for the dearth of women in science and engineering...
Princess Leia - Return of the Jedi "slave girl" version 3.0
Hm. Not sure.
Her point on Dora the Explorer is good though, bringing in cousin Diego was a major sell-out.…
August 14, 2006
To what extent do you worry about AIDS, either with respect to yourself, your children, or the world at large?...
In this business, you tend to accumulate a lot of paper, and eventually you learn to cull it, ruthlessly-ish.
But there are always some things you keep, to remind you... one item in my…
August 14, 2006
So... is Pluto really a Planet?
IAU Press Release 01/99
February 3, 1999
Recent news reports have given much attention to what was believed to be an initiative by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to change the status of Pluto as the ninth planet in the solar system. Unfortunately, some…
August 14, 2006
Grauniad reports Britain is in danger of running out of scientists:
commoditity markets in Europe spiked sharply on the news, with the ten year future contract on physicists rising 20% in early morning trading; spot markets also rose sharply, with PhD chemists leading the rally to $274.18 per hour…
August 14, 2006
Penn State has a contract with an on-line plagiarism service - Turnitin.com - which allows faculty to check whether papers etc were plagiarised from other sources; it compares text with an impressive range of other sources.
Interestingly, the information to faculty about the service comes with a…
August 13, 2006
As manufacturers of overprized disposable size toothpaste tubes rejoice, the rest of us contemplate the tantrums and boredom of travel with no water, juice, reading material or electronics... and that is without the kids.
As usual, transport authorities are reacting and implementing meaningless…
August 11, 2006
Hot frantic friday, and we ask the iPod.
Oh, mighty one - are we classically deterministic automata, predictable by any Turing machine, or do we have that most insidious of concepts, a true Free Will?
Whoosh goes the randomizer...
Whoosh.
The Covering: Dammit Janet- Barry Bostwick et al
The…
August 11, 2006
I wasn't going to mention it, but Tara made me...
A public policy report in today's Science shows the popular acceptance of evolution for 34 different nations, and wouldn't you know it: Iceland is #1
This is the image from Science magazine, linked through from their website under fair use.…
August 10, 2006
The Perseid meteor shower in mid August is one of the more reliable and bright meteor showers seen in the northern hemisphere.
This year they'll be back this weekend, viewing will be mediocre, especially from North America...
radiant map - from 2002, but they'll come from same location - look…
August 9, 2006
Bitch, PhD, is on form
What is it with people who either shower with their swimsuit on, or worse still, don't shower at all before or after swimming... it can't because they're afraid of getting wet?
August 9, 2006
The iTunes selection of two random strangers in Connecticut this morning...
Joe's iPod
Waterloo - ABBA
SOS - ABBA (only from the best)
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
I wanna be sedated - Ramones
Fear is a man's best friend - Billy Bragg
Liar - Sinthetix
He Likes Me - Violent Femmes…
August 9, 2006
Random interesting snippets... Grauniad has a sudden burst of interesting science articles and features!
Blogger are busy as always.
interesting Grauniad article on ALMA
also an interesting teaser on ELT
the science weekly podcast for this week also looks good - climate porn, Hawking on survival…
August 8, 2006
Apparently the USAF 494th figher squadron, which is a "ready to deploy" F-15E "Strike Eagle" squadron currently based at RAF Lakenheath, is deploying soon to "southwest Asia"; but first they got the new improved GBU-39 bombs - smaller GPS guided bombs permitting each aircraft to carry eight…
August 8, 2006
So, for various obscure reasons I was browsing the NASA select schedule, and I noticed there are no scheduled SSUs - Space Science Updates from NASA HQ.
Thinking about it, I didn't recall any recent SSUs on anything I had noticed...
I don't see any on the Hubblesite, Chandra or JPL Mars website and…