Random
catdynamics | August 31, 2011The class I'm teaching right now is "writing intensive" - so the homework is biased towards short essays and written discourse.
One of my standard assignments is to have the students pick a NASA mission: a past mission, and a current mission, and a future mission, and write a summary of the mission plan and/or accomplishments.
So, what do I do now?
Ask them to pick a planned future mission that has now been cancelled and write what it might have done if flown?
catdynamics | August 30, 2011bunch of little things that I really ought to say more about,
but I'll be doing some paperwork instead
Cosmic Horizons - new astro blog from down under by one of the very best kick ass distinguished senior astrophysicists on the planet - and it is a good read
Did the Earth seed the Solar System with life, or vica versa - progress on quantifying panspermia conjectures within the Solar System
The HARPS search for Earth-like planets in the habitable zone: I -- Very low-mass planets around HD20794, HD85512 and HD192310
Planetary Construction Zones in Occultation: Eclipses by Circumsecondary and…
catdynamics | August 26, 2011A calm cool friday, as await the storm
So, oh Mighty iPod One: Irene - a fizzle or da bomb?
Woosh goes the randomizer.
Woosh.
The Covering: Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes - Paul Simon
The Crossing: The Price I Pay - Billy Bragg
The Crown: Mountains O'Things - Tracy Chapman
The Root: Dr Gradus ad Parnassum
The Past: The Captain - Biffy Clyro
The Future: Heart Like a Wheel - Billy Bragg
The Questioner: Questing, Not Coasting - Maximo Park
The House: Sumarkveðja
The Inside: Carol of the Bells/Deck the Halls
The Outcome: Paradise Lost (You're the Reason Why) - Half Man Half Biscuit
The…
kbonham | August 24, 2011I'm a little behind on TV, so I was catching up on the Daily Show this morning. Last Thursday had one of the best segments I've ever seen (and that bar is pretty high):
The Daily Show - World of Class Warfare - Warren Buffett vs. Wealthy ConservativesGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook
The Daily Show - World of Class Warfare - The Poor's Free Ride Is OverGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook
The impetus for this segment was this op-ed in the New York Times by…
kbonham | August 24, 2011A 5.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the east coast yesterday, freaking everyone out, causing schools and offices to close, and causing general mayhem:
(Source)
I didn't feel it, and growing up in California, it might not have even registered. Then again, the reaction (general fear, disbelief, and confusion) is about what I would expect if we received even a half inch of snow in San Diego. But maybe now people out here in Boston won't be so confused when I mention my deep-seated fear of brick buildings.
In other "disaster" related news, my computer has a fresh hard-drive, though I had to…
kbonham | August 20, 2011I'm on vacation this week, but was working on a post about the evolution of antibodies to be posted yesterday. Unfortunately, what greeted me when I turned on my computer thursday was this:
(source)
I'm actually a little surprised at how well I'm handling it, I would have expected that I'd be a wreck. Maybe it's my current idyllic location, or watching season 5 of Six Feet Under to give me perspective, or maybe it's the fact that I just decided to to a time-machine back up for the first time just before I left (which means, barring a meltdown on my external hard drive, the worst case is that…
catdynamics | August 19, 2011stormy friday as portends gather and it is move-in day!
Yes, They Are Back.
So, we probe a puzzle dujour: the Definitely Not NASA ponderings on Scenarios for SETI Success - aka Alien Ecoterrorists Attack!!!.
So, oh mighty iPod One: any Thennanin out There Threatening to Thwart Us?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Serenade for the Doll
The Crossing: Some Days You Gotta Dance - Dixie Chicks
The Crown: Það er Jólasveinninn Minn
The Root: Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks
The Past: Menuett F-Dur - Mozart
The Future: This War is Over - Melissa Etheridge
The Questioner:…
catdynamics | August 13, 2011This week, a WTF pair of plots were published on some economic data, namely US retail sales and consumer confidence.
I have a theory about that...
Here is the Consumer Confidence plot at Calculated Risk
and here is the Retail Sales chart also from CR
Note that consumer confidence, which is generally taken to be a coincident economic indicator, declines sharply, while retail sales increased.
Confidence and Sales conveniently combined (click to embiggen)
from zerohedge
So, clearly, this is because there were 5 weekends in the reporting period because costs per item on essentials are up…
catdynamics | August 12, 2011Ah, cool and crisp friday and we stroll over to the mighty iPod to divine
yes, it is the iPod iChing, where the mighty randomizer reveals the truth, of questions carefully posed, with just enough ambiguity, using the terrific Tarot layout taught to us by the Timelord himself, although sometimes, on a whim, we use a zodiac solution instead, just 'cause we sometimes feel like twelve - hey maybe one day I should try a Malazan House reading!
Do not let anyone tell you that this is just projection of over rationalizing monkey brains, evolved to look for patterns where there are none, in randomly…
catdynamics | August 12, 2011Not infrequently, I get asked what it is I do, anyway, as a scientisty sort of person.
I blogged it, of course, but that was a "typical day" - during term time and filled with paperwork and class prep and general rushing about.
This morning I woke up and found the Sb Overlords had frontpaged this quote:
"I think I need to go back and think about adaptive load balancing block solving of sparse, nasty almost diagonal matrices; that and whether kinetic energy turbulence really affects sound wave propagation (duh, of course it does, but how much...)?"
Huh?
Ah, Particle Physics snark...
So, how…
kbonham | July 27, 2011There's this NPR show I really like called "On the Media," and I've listened to just about every episode for the past 8 years through the podcast. As it's name implies, the show is about the media, and is a wonderfully meta way of getting the news through the prism of analyzing the way the news is covered.
Throughout most of the last decade, I formed a mental image of the hosts, Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield, and those mental images include faces, though I'd only ever heard their voices. My mental image of Brooke was of an early-sixties, petite lady with greying hair, maybe something like…
catdynamics | July 22, 2011Large explosion in the center of Oslo, Norway.
Near government buildings and VG newspaper, at central square.
Multiple injuries. Early reports suggest it was a car bomb.
P3S: NRK now reporting at least 80 kids killed on the island.
Guy must have been a true psychopath to be able to shoot that many people in cold blood.
youtube footage of immediate aftermath
NRK video immediately after explosion
NRK report, in norwegian, with pictures
PS: reports now of at least 7 dead in the explosion many wounded, some seriously,
100+ "walking wounded"
View Larger Map
Concurrent shooting attack at a…
catdynamics | July 22, 2011steamy sultry friday, and the randomizer puts the Grandmaster on to remind me that it is iPod iChing time!
So, Mighty iPod One: the whole debt ceiling chatter - kabuki or crisis?
The Covering: The Message - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
The Crossing: Telegraph Road (Live Remix) - Dire Straits
The Crown: Black Coffee in Bed
The Root: I Shot the Sheriff - Bob Marley & The Wailers
The Past: Gridlock - The Pogues
The Future: Twydale's Lament - Half Man Half Biscuit
The Questioner: Dansi Dansi Dúkkan mín
The House: Il Pieut Bergere - Sien Diels
The Inside: Smells Like Teen…
catdynamics | July 18, 2011You better watch out
You better beware
Albert said that E=mc2
Landscape: From the Tea Rooms of Mars to the Hell-holes of Uranus
Lest we forget...
kbonham | July 12, 2011In some ways, I'm kinda jealous of the research Heather does. I love my macrophages, but studying the bugs that live in the extreme environment of deep sea hydrothermal vents has always fascinated me.
As a consequence of the stuff she studies, Heather also has to (gets to?) take multi-week sea voyages to travel out to these creatures' hang out in order to gather samples.
This year we will once again be on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, but we will be further South at Ashes vent field in Axial caldera. I'll see if I can find a map for the next post. We will be deploying an exciting instrument to do…
catdynamics | July 8, 2011Friday. Raining.
Interesting week.
So, what does the mighty iPod One have to say about our clouded future?
Whence hence and what changes may we expect?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Woosh!
The Covering: Identify the Beat - Marc Smith vs Safe n' Sound
The Crossing: Mrs McGrath - Bruce Springsteen
The Crown: Parachutes - Pearl Jam
The Root: Engill í Rólu - Bubbi Morthens
The Past: My Father's House - Ben Harper
The Future: Love on a Farm Boy's Wages - XTC
The Questioner: Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello
The House: Roadhouse Blues - Doors
The Inside: Holiday (live)
- Green Day
The Outcome:…