catdynamics | August 25, 2006From NASAwatch:
SOFIA taken from Ames and moved to Dryden Research Facility at Edwards
Science Mission Directorate turmoil - who is leaving next?
These are not unrelated.
I do wish certain people in Very Senior Positions would do their job like mature professionals and not like petulant high schoolers with a grudge.
catdynamics | August 25, 2006Friday, and I need to pack up this computer and move in the next 4 hours.
So, oh mighty iPod one, we ask the The Serious Astronomy Question of the Week, having presciently disposed of Pluto last week...
So, iPod, d00d, wazzup with this Dark Matter shit?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Sexuality - Billy Bragg
The Crossing: Bill - Talking Heads
The Crown: Marteinn Semur Lö Fyrir Dýrin - Torbjorn Egner
The Root: Body of Water - Billy Bragg & The Red Stars (live)
The Past: Baby Can I Hold You - Tracy Chapman
The Future: Wild Wild Life - Talking Heads
The Questioner: Funky…
catdynamics | August 24, 2006there'd be eight little planets sitting on the wall
I am so very sorry; despite being a dynamicist with a natural affinity for Resolutions 5A and 6A, demoting Pluto was still bloody foolish.
Ok, here is the actual text
1) A planet1 is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
(2) A dwarf planet is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its…
catdynamics | August 23, 2006The Pope has fired the Vatican Observatory director, the highly respected Dr George Coyne , and replaced him with Dr Jose Gabriel Funes.
Well, now we know.
Seen on Pharyngula
"...speaking at a conference in Florida, Father Coyne said that "intelligent design isn't science, even if it pretends to be.""
PS: seen independent reports now (see comment section) that Dr Coyne had a medical condition and asked to be replaced.
I'm still worried about the loss of his voice in the debate, and the VOs future stance under the new director, I expect them to be silent on some issues now.
catdynamics | August 23, 2006ScienceNow has more on the NAC firings: NASA Chief Blasts Advisors
Now, you can read this two ways: on the one hand the NAC has a purpose, set by NASA, and its members should stick to their function; on the other hand, the NAC is there to advise, even, or especially, when the advise is unwelcome.
One of the great strengths of democracy, historically, is that it has structures which provide negative feedback and correct political processes gone awry, eventually.
Destroying those structures destroys the functional advantage of the system.
catdynamics | August 23, 2006Ok, time to stop the madness.
I propose consistent, competing definitons of planets; one leave Pluto in, the other not. Up or down vote.
The IAU now has a competing resolution that looks likely to delete Pluto as a planet, and the original IAU resolution is being voted on piecewise - which will likely leave an inconsistent mess.
As opposed to...
So here is a serious proposal; no more messing around, no more pretending to find artificial consistency from some favourite corner of microphysics (much as I like the dynamical definition.... it is actually quite stupid).
Proposal:
1) a planet is…
catdynamics | August 22, 2006Bora passes on (and supplements) a request for must read SF
here are some they missed
Axiomatic by Egan
Stories of Your Life ad Others by Chiang
Startide Rising by Brin
True Names by Vinge
Use of Weapons by Banks (actually anything by Banks, seriously)
Antibodies by Charlie Stross
Instrumentality of Mankind by Cordwainer Smith
War Hound and the World's Pain and the Cornelius Chronicles by Moorcock
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by Tiptree - since 10,000 light years from home is unvailable
Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen by H. Beam Piper (oo, and Space Viking!)
Good Omens by Gaiman,
Russian Spring by…
catdynamics | August 22, 2006lot of blog buzz about Iran, its rejection of the UN nuclear enrichment curtailment, attack on Romanian oil platform (?) and arabist doom'n'gloom about August 22nd being some symbolic date...
it is new moon, which is the most opportunistic time for US air strikes, should they be so inclined
only two more new moons before the Nov elections, and the Oct new moon is embarrasingly close to the election dates; and, of course, no one puts out new policies in August, everyone is on vacation
should the US decide to something silly and pre-emptive, it'd need at least three carriers in the gulf or…
catdynamics | August 22, 2006I hate scum sucking psychics - Angry Professor is really angry. With good cause.
Watch the Tube. Be ready to be angry.
Bloody rip-off parasites praying on people who are at their most vulnerable.
catdynamics | August 22, 2006I travel a lot, mostly by air. More than I would like, actually. But less than I should.
I spent a number of years in the UK, during "the Troubles" - one day in London, three buildings I had been in earlier in the day were blown up. Strangely enough my wife had the same experience, possibly the same day - we were children then, but both visiting London, separately and of course unbeknownst to each other.
Airport security was high, especially when Icelandair had check-in counters next to El-Al (Iceland, Israel - it all made sense). One day at Amsterdam airport, just after Heathrow was…
catdynamics | August 22, 2006Remember 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 the destruction of the rainforest? Is "free trade" and/or "shade grown" coffee better for the environment?
The forests are big, but they are still being cut.
Just because the issue is not in the headlines in the US media does not mean the problem has gone away. It will be back some other news cycle…
catdynamics | August 21, 2006Chad 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 coast edition), as part of their centennial function, had an auction of various astronomy related things, and one was to accompany a senior researcher (and I hope some postdocs to, like, actually do the work) on an observing run to Hawaii (I want to say Keck, but I'm not sure); it sold, for a lot…
catdynamics | August 21, 2006As 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 opposed to the other type of results? ;-)
As I recall there are two types of results: observational and theoretical.
Seriously, the selling point is that they see the baryons in the hot gas (which dominates the normal matter in these clusters - they see the galaxies too, of course, but they don't…
catdynamics | August 18, 2006Janes 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 how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart.
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Memory", 1996
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.
H. L. Mencken (1880 -…
catdynamics | August 18, 2006The 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.
catdynamics | August 18, 2006Yikes, 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 Moyet
The Crossing: She Looks To Me - Red Hit Chili Peppers
The Crown: All I Want - The Lightning Seeds
The Root: In The Flesh - Pink Floyd
The Past: Open All Night - Son Volt
The Future: Refurinn Fer að Bóndabænum - Thorbjorn Egner
The Questioner: Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chili Peppers
The House: Heil…
catdynamics | August 18, 2006Just 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 their own criteria.
Let me just note, everyone agrees that hydrostatic equlibrium is necessary for planethood, question is whether it is sufficient.
Stenve Soter has a 22(!) page preprint on astro-ph explaing why the Rose Planetarium position was right all along, and Pluto Should Be Right Out, and no-…
catdynamics | August 18, 2006CNN 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.
HuntressKennelLevy
This is interesting and bad. The NASA advisory committee structure is already in tatters, and these people had clout in the scientific community.
Something bad is going on.
catdynamics | August 18, 2006James 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 people can argue and care about without it becoming violent.
Oh, and furthering our understanding of the universe, including conceptually revolutinising our understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe, several times; driving technological developments such as optics, spectroscopy,…