Random
catdynamics | July 3, 2007It was a rough week for the UK, with record floods and terrorist attacks in the middle of a change of government.
As the Y-Ranter points out, the bureaucracy dealt with it in stride
Y'know, they really did. The airports were opened and working smoothly despite the increase in security level, and I figure he knows how things are going down in the floods up Yorkshire way.
Interesting.
catdynamics | June 30, 2007"The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity"
by Ron Pernish and Clint Wilder of CleanEdge
HarperCollins: ISBN-13-978-0-06-089623-2
This books is NOT about investment advice... or so they say, for good and valid and legal reasons.
But each chapter ends in a list of companies, small and large, US and foreign, who are either ramping up "green technology" or are identified as having potential hot new products.
The book is ok, it rambles a bit, and the list of tech is a bit of a hodge podge - your basic renewable energies, biomaterials, and low energy/recyclable/…
catdynamics | June 29, 2007We venture into the future to ask the Mighty iPod One - what IS going on with OJ287?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: The Love Parade - Undertones
The Crossing: Lullaby
The Crown: Disco 2000 - Pulp
The Root: Get Up Stand Up - Bob Marley
The Past: Popsicle - Talking Heads
The Future: Love Letter - Bonnie Raitt
The Questioner: Hrognin eru að koma - Utangarðsmenn
The House: Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
The Inside: Four Horsemen - Clash
The Outcome: Sigurður Er Sjómaður - Utangarðsmenn
Hm, the Crossing and Root nail the issue.
The Questioner is about the worker who had just got…
catdynamics | June 27, 2007Petros M. Nomikos conference center in Fira, Santorini is a very nice medium capacity facility (~ 200 for the main room, which we are filling)
Well worth a visit, if you're planning a small meeting.
I forgot to bring my camera, but MacPro has a small built in web-cam...
View to Firastefani west from the conference center. Main town center of Fira is east of the conference center, about 10 minutes walk along the cliff - everything, except the beach, is about 10 minutes walk, depending on your walking speed on the vertical...
Caldera from the conference center balcony to the west, at sunset.…
catdynamics | June 27, 2007Iranian news agency is reporting that the Bushehr nuclear power station is going online in October 2007
That is interesting.
It means the reports earlier that the fuel was delivered quietly by the Russians was accurate and they must be loading the reactor starting right now, if they want to be running in 3-4 months.
It also means that people who are paranoid about Busherh being used to breed weapons grade plutonium 239 from fuel grade low enriched uranium are going to get extra paranoid over the next 3-9 months. By november it would be dangerously late to "do" anything about Bushehr, and if…
catdynamics | June 22, 2007So, it will be friday, and we will ask: oh mighty iPod One - will we have robust detection of candiates for genuinely habitable extrasolar planets around nearby main sequence stars by 2010?
And, if so, can you tell us more...
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Never-Played Symphonies - Morrissey
The Crossing: Sexuality - Billy Bragg
The Crown: Barnið Sefur - Utangarðsmenn
The Root: Clubland - Elvis Costello
The Past: Do Anything You Wanna Do - Eddie and the Hot Rods
The Future: Blóðið er Rautt - Utangarðsmenn
The Questioner: Garloney Rats - Pogues
The House: Kökubaksturinn…
catdynamics | June 21, 2007Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov
"We have recently discussed the question with the Foreign Minister of Iran. We have no misunderstanding regarding the execution of contractual obligations regarding the construction of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr. We agreed to continue the cooperation between competent departments regarding the subject," Itar-Tass quoted Minister Lavrov as saying.
Ok, so the Russians really are pissed off enough to ship Iran their enriched uranium.
If they haven't done so already
Bummer.
catdynamics | June 21, 2007This would be funny, but...
Congress questions VP Office claim to not be an entity within the executive branch
"I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions. ... [I]t would appear particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive branch officials."
An elegant solution does present it self: if the VP's office is not within the executive branch, then it presumably should not receive any funding that Congress has designated for the function of the executive branch.
This might leave…
catdynamics | June 19, 2007A Supreme Court Justice cites a television show in his deliberations on torture...?
"Senior judges from North America and Europe were in the midst of a panel discussion about torture and terrorism law, when a Canadian judge's passing remark - "Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra 'What would Jack Bauer do?' " - got the legal bulldog in Judge Scalia barking.
The conservative jurist stuck up for Agent Bauer, arguing that fictional or not, federal agents require latitude in times of great crisis. "Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. ... He saved hundreds of…
catdynamics | June 15, 2007It is a lazy sunny friday, and we ask humbly, what excitement lies ahead, oh mighty iPod one?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Old King Cole
The Crossing: Engill í Rólu - Bubbi
The Crown: Koka Kola - Clash
The Root: Confessions - Violent Femmes
The Past: Brain Stew - Green Day
The Future: God Only Knows - Beach Boys
The Questioner: The Army Goes Rolling Along
The House: Ball and Chain - XTC
The Inside: South Australia - Pogues
The Outcome: The Alphabet Army - J.B.'s Allstars
Then it's Hi! Hi! Hey!
The Army's on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong
For where e'…
catdynamics | June 14, 2007Note to self: when submitting NSF proposals through Fastlane -
if you do a last minute revision then run LaTeX twice before generating the new PDF file, or the bibtex cross-cites break... ugly.
Apparently the panel really hates that. Really, really hates that.
Never had such a unanimous referee response.
catdynamics | June 12, 2007There is a claim that the Russians have delivered the fuel for Iran's Bushehr reactor.
The source is DEBKA, which is interesting in and of itself.
The story is quite detailed, both in timeline and claims of political motivation (Putin pissed off at Bush, natch), but DEBKA is not entirely reliable on these matters - they tend to err on the paranoid "airplane novel" side of things.
But, their stories also appear to be politically purposed, either as deliberately leaked intelligence to trigger action in the US conservative masses, or to send a signal to see what a response to a possibly fake…
catdynamics | June 8, 2007Stormy friday, which is weird, ought it not to be thursday...
We approach the mighty iPod and ask, oh Mighty iPod One: is there a characteristic accretion signature of late stages of binary supermassive black hole mergers?, and is it LISA relevant?
The Covering: Gó Gó Partí - Stuðmenn
The Crossing:Hey Nonny Nonny - Violent Femmes
The Crown: Jack Spratt
The Root: Skyttan - MX-21
The Past: Lover's Rock - Clash
The Future: I see little dolly
The Questioner: Stuart and the Avenue - Green Day
The House: Brian's Song - Monty Python
The Inside: Energí of Trú - Stuðmenn
The Outcome:
Old King…
catdynamics | June 6, 2007Good news is that the east coast Whole Foods are now carrying plain skyr
Aahhh.
This is the real stuff, not the oversweetened flavoured vanilla stuff they've been pushing.
The bad news is that I bought it all.
Really, I think I cleaned out all the Whole Foods north of NYC.
BwaHaHaHaha!
catdynamics | June 5, 2007The first ever tropical cyclone in history is about to hit the Gulf of Oman after which it makes landfall in Iran
h/t in comments on "fatigue post"
Wunderblog has the details
Area has no experience dealing with this weather, and there are a lot of development and industrial and oild facilities at risk.
The Nimitz and Stennis were in the gulf of Oman about 3 days ago "showing the flag" (in you face, Iran), presumably the US still has enough weather satellites to have seen this coming and backed them out into the Arabian Sea east of the cyclone track.
All these changes.
catdynamics | June 2, 2007Joe P. is ok
For PSU & xPSU: heard from him today, they're still out in hostile country and took some more casualties.
He appreciates hearing from people, just casual chat stuff. More care packages wouldn't hurt either, he can always share.
catdynamics | June 2, 2007Steve the News Blog Guy Gilliard has died
He was one of the early and more passionate bloggers, he wrote well and often and provided interesting perspective and insight on many issues, in particular the war in Iraq.
He wasn't always right, no one is, but he understood the situation better than most of DC or main stream journalist and he was not shy about telling us.
He'll be missed.