catdynamics | December 20, 2011and the jólasveinar march on with their stout staffs in their hand...
this morning
Bjúgnakrækir
he climbs the rafters looking for sausages being hung or smoked, he particularly like the thick fatty bjúgu - lamb or horse he'll eat them all
nom nom nom
catdynamics | December 20, 2011Theorists think of observations and data a bit like businesses think of science and technology: it happens, apparently effortlessly, and is available for free as needed or on demand.
catdynamics | December 19, 2011This year I noted an anomaly in one of my class assignments...
In my class, that just finished, as part of some of the short writing assignments, I ask the students to look at past, current and future space science missions, NASA or ESA, and to describe one of each to me : 1-2 pages at a level aimed at a science educated audience.
I usually get a nice set of diverse descriptions as people choose their favourites, but this year, for the future mission assignments, there was something strange.
About two thirds of the students chose NuSTAR for their description.
Now, NuSTAR is a nice little…
catdynamics | December 19, 2011Oh dreadful son-of-a-troll!
Last night the most feared of all the jólasveinar came, and a true son of a troll is he...
Skyrgámur!
Curse you!
He steals your skyr, the last of the precious few hauled hundreds of miles across the mountains, in the snow, up hill, both ways...
and then he taunts you!
catdynamics | December 17, 2011If you wake tonight to the door slamming, it is probably just the wind,
or is it...
Hurðaskellir - he's a bother.
This explains it all...
catdynamics | December 16, 2011And the jólasveinar keep stumbling in, the pace ramping up as christmas approaches (actually it is steady at one per day, it just feels ever more frantic)
Askasleikir - he licks your Ask clean, natch.
No, this sort of Askur, silly - the sort you keep your skyr in!
catdynamics | December 16, 2011Prof Fred Rasio NU named ApJL Editor
Congratulations Fred!
Chris Sneden should receive our profuse thanks, he always handled my papers with supreme patience, speed and courtesy, and was actively helpful in providing advise and sliding through some of our more amusing speculative missives.
Fred, I am certain, will continue that great tradition.
catdynamics | December 16, 2011
Pottasleikir - cheap, but he licks the pots clean, saves on the washing up
catdynamics | December 15, 2011For my class, one f the things I asked is what I should tell them about which I did not do.
Somewhat to my surprise, one question, endorsed by a number of other students, was whether I could recommend some good science fiction to read over the holidays.
Why, yes, yes I can...
Ok, we'll jst let rip in random free association...
I'll also mention some more fantasy oriented stuff at the end, just for fun.
I'll presume everyone knows of Wells and Verne, and Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein?
Heinlein: I'd go for the early shorts and mid-career juveniles. The later novels are mostly for hardcore…
catdynamics | December 14, 2011
Stúfur is the littlest jólasveinn, and, I am told, much beloved of the girls.
He is not so much a (half)troll as your very own Home Gnome.
Very stubborn, loyal, somewhat fierce and generous to a fault.
He rowed to our distant shores last night, bringing wee little treats, received with much joy this morning. As is his custom he also licked the pots and pans clean, mostly, refreshed for the journey back north.
catdynamics | December 13, 2011and the jólasveinar march on and on across the floor...
Giljagaur came this morning.
He likes to hide in the folds in the landscape, crawling towards your barn, where he will sneak up to the cows in the morning and skim the significance off your double blinded data set, leaving but a suggestion of a hint of the Higgs Particle on the pail of photons.
No cream for theorists on this morning.
catdynamics | December 11, 2011Yes, 'tis the season, and jólasveinarnir are headed for town:
Stekkjastaur - Lock up your sheep!
Icelandic media cautioned children last week that the jólasveinar were having a hard time this year, and to expect more socks and and underwear, and less overpriced plastic imported crap in their shoes this year...
austerity, it is also for half-trolls.
catdynamics | December 8, 2011
Do not bring the University into Disrepute or through Inaction Allow the University to be Dissed
Bring Funding to the University and do not let the Funding stop through Inaction, Except where such Funding would Conflict with the First Law
Protect your Own Existence as long as Such Protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
catdynamics | December 5, 2011
So, what are the hot, must have Astro Apps?
Here are my current micropayment and (guilt) free astro related Apps, what other spontaneous little thrills ought we be hoping for Santa to bring us?
Strictly professional applications, of course, well, that and pretty pics:
Here is what I got right now:
arXview - I like Dave Bacon's implementation of an arXiv viewer
NASA
HubbleZoom
3D Sun - gorgeous!
Planets
Space Images
Spitzer
Exoplanet
TimeTree (astrobio, really it is!)
Swift
CosmoCalc
I also consider FlightPro, Travelocity, GoogleEarth and WolframAlpha essentials for work.
And,…
catdynamics | December 2, 2011This is an old favourite. re-presented here to lay the ground for the great return to the phys ed education debate...
Several years ago, a major organ of our professional society raised a troubling issue: namely whether the three major subfields were being taught in the proper order at the high school level .
A furor arose in the letter pages, debating the merits endlessly. Which first, which last? (also here).
Now, I think we can all agree on the basics - there are not enough resources to teach all subfields each year of high school, and I am told scheduling is also impossible if people are…
catdynamics | November 27, 2011I've been a naughty blogger, I went off to the Mars Surveyor launch, and didn't blog about it, yet.
In no small part because I forgot to bring a USB cable.
But, honestly, mpostly because I wanted to just revel in the moment.
(Ok, I tweeted and fb'd a bit).
I'll get back to MSL, in the meantime I need to core dump some random links I've been meaning to ponder:
...does blogging have a wider role to play in the scientific discourse? - Yes.
Can the quantum state be interpreted statistically? - No.
Is The Reason Why Science Majors Change Their Minds That It Is Just So Darn Hard? - Yes and No.
Hm.…
catdynamics | November 22, 2011Matthew Bailes has another excellent entry in the "State of Science" series of public conversations on science:
Selling Science: The Lure of the Dark Side
catdynamics | November 16, 2011For many years now, NASA has run a Graduate Student Researcher Program, offering a number of fellowships each year, typically lasting for three year terms.
These are the Future Rocket Scientists of America.
They are now, apparently, cut.
The GSRP takes a number of students per year in astronomy, physics and engineering.
The students are usually advanced graduate students working on thesis projects, often quite mission specific, and the program is run through researchers at the NASA Centers, with each center offering a range of topics.
Admission is competitive, and the program has been…
catdynamics | November 15, 2011Congress is moving on 2012 appropriations, and the Science agency "minibus" bill has reported out of conference...
So, fiscal 2012 started last month, and funding is currently under a short term "continuing resolution" through friday.
Three of the appropriation bills the House and Senate had worked on were combined into a "minibus" bill (as opposed to an omnibus bill of all appropriations), and the differences between the Senate and House versions were hammered out in conference over the last week.
Yesterday the conference report came out, and supposedly will be voted on thursday.
The bill…