catdynamics | December 29, 2006Last friday of the year, so we ask the Mighty iPod - what will be up in the next year?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Truth No. 2 - Dixie Chicks
The Crossing: Hickory Dickory Dock
The Crown: Torture Me - Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Root: Lack of Knowledge - Violent Femmes
The Past: Action At A Distance - Matmos
The Future: Quintet for Piano and Winds - Mozart
The Questioner: Accidents Will Happen - Elvis Costello
The House: Gumboots - Paul Simon
The Inside: Carnival of the Animals: Aquarium
The Outcome: Adagio - Bach
Ouch. Serves me right for asking.
The Setting is spot…
catdynamics | December 28, 2006I am doing an NSF study on career outcomes for NSF applicants and grant recipients.
The above is, verbatim, a question.
I guess the survey writer either has a very good sense of humour, or none at all.
catdynamics | December 27, 2006COROT launched successfully on a Soyuz
COROT is a small transit survey telescope, launched by CNES (France) to look for low mass planets. Secondary science is astroseismology and stellar structure from high precision photometry time series.
Good luck.
catdynamics | December 26, 2006What's a time in your career when you were criticized extremely harshly by someone you respect? Did it help you or set your career back?...
When I were a lad we used to have to walk to grad school, barefoot through the snow, up-hill both ways.
Not. I actually lived 1.5 blocks from my office, in sunny Pasadena So Cal and had a leisurely stroll through the immaculately groomed Caltech campus.
But...
...bear with me.
How I got there has some relevance to the story.
I did my undergrad in the UK, double honours in Mathemtical Physics ("Q" in the old UCCA classification). I came out of that knowing…
catdynamics | December 25, 2006Gleðileg Jól!
Another blast from the past of Ye Olde Blogge
You're in grad school. Yay.
Now wtf do you do...
Well, you need to jump through the hurdles first.
Most places have some course and seminar requirements, you may in some cases test out of them or waive them, but think about whether you really want to. Odds are that your undergraduate curriculum was not complete or advanced enough in at least some areas. Yes, you want to get on with research, but you also want to be solid on the fundamentals.
Take the stoopid exams, whatever they call them, usually some variation on candidacy or comps…
catdynamics | December 24, 2006More repeats from Ye Olde Blogge
So you want to be an astrophysicist?
You've suffered through 3-4 years of undergrad, and you're ready for more.
You picked the places to apply to (or have you...?), and you're ready for the paperwork.
So what do you do. First you apply to the departments. As a rule, go directly to the department web site you are applying to and read carefully (ie do not go to the Graduate School at the University, until/if the department indicates you should), then do as they say.
Application deadlines should be around christmas, either just before or after. Most places move…
catdynamics | December 23, 2006Razib reminds us of the reason for the season
So celebrate the Feast of Holy St Thorlacius. Eat some rotten skate.
'Cause you never know, the Sun might not come up tomorrow if you don't.
Any excuse...
catdynamics | December 22, 20062007 year budget to clone the 2006 budget with no earmarks or emergency appropriations
This implies no increases for NASA or NSF.
"...NASA expects to adjust priorities within the Science, Aeronautics and Exploration appropriations account to manage the impact."
This is otherwise know as "find some place to cut". Guess where.
Hopefully the American Competitiveness issue will let NASA and NSF be exempt from the flat funding.
via NASAwatch
"NASA has been informed by Committee staff that the assumption for the full-year FY 2007 joint resolution is expected to be the "current rate," defined as FY…
catdynamics | December 22, 2006Billy Bragg podcast #6 is up: Talking with the Taxman about Poetry
Oh, joyous season!
catdynamics | December 22, 2006Seasonal friday, and we ask the iPod quickly: What IS The One Sentence Summary?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Fantasia
The Crossing: Spring - Vivaldi
The Crown: Flesh and Blood - Roxy Music
The Root: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me - Roxy Music
The Past: King Rocker - Generation X
The Future: Driving in My Car - Madness
The Questioner: Blake's Jerusalem
The House: Carnival of the Animals: The Cuckoo
The Inside: Hann Tumi fer á fætur - traditional
The Outcome: The Warmest Room - Billy Bragg
Heh!.
The Inside is the shepherd boy's dream of glory...
Now my answer would have…
catdynamics | December 22, 2006Print your own Hubble Holiday cards
For those who rightly feel that any card postmarked before the 13th day of Winter Solstice counts...
Spotted on Bad Astronomy
catdynamics | December 22, 2006Bummer, witnesses too.
"...Children watched in horror as a Santa Claus collapsed and died as he handed out presents at a Christmas party on Sunday..."
Fortunately some of us have 13 christmas elves to fall back on.
The rest of you will probably have to rely on Tim Allen...
catdynamics | December 21, 2006Happy Winter Solstice!
Gleðileg Jól!
Festive Yule.
I just wrote "Merry Christmas" in elvish.
You see, we found ourselves in a position where we have folded four separate winter solstice festival traditions into the season, much the the delight of the munchkins.
However, the Big Kid is definitely getting suspicious and decided to do some hypothesis testing.
Now, the primary event this season is the arrival of the 13 jólasveinar on successive days before christmas (and their in order departure through Jan 6th).
Just remember - on the 13th day of Jól you take the tree (which is dry by now) and…
catdynamics | December 21, 2006So, you want to be an astrophysicist? You're an undergraduate, doing astronomy or physics (or possibly engineering, mathematics or computer science, or something), should you go to grad school?
Yet another repost installment from Ye Olde Blogge
Why is there a question? Well, it is several years of your life, earning minimal pay, doing some grind work, including classes (1-2 years at most institutions) and exams (most places have some "admission to candidacy" hoop), with interesting but uncertain career prospects. And you have to do research. Supervised, but independent and original research.…
catdynamics | December 20, 2006ATP and BEFS selections have been announced, and letters should have arrived.
Well, except maybe in Colorado +/- 1 state.
Sounds like hit rate was about 12-15%. Fewer submitted proposals than I'd have expected, somewhat higher success rate (but not high enough...).
More worryingly, ROSES '07 is postponed 'till April... so no Requests for Proposals in January as normal. Which suggests the call dates will be late in '07, presumably if-and-when they know what the budget is and therefore not just how much each line has, but whether the lines exist at all!
This could lead to an effective "year…
catdynamics | December 20, 2006More re-runs from Ye Olde Blogge
So, now you're at university, and you're headed for grad school ...
(the following is horribly UScentric, 'cause that's where I am right now, the general principles are broadly applicable, the actual getting into grad school procedure bit in future post will be both US and THEM centric), now what?
Well, each cohort in the US is about 4+ million people, about 4000 of those major in physics. Since participation in the further education in the US is almost 50%, that is 4000 out of about 2 million, or 0.2% of undergraduates (specifically, about 1.2 million…
catdynamics | December 20, 2006This is completely unrelated to anything.
But, why is the Texas hold'em version of poker the one that is currently so popular?
I don't gamble. Don't have any emotional need to, and know far too much mathematics to even contemplate it.
Only temptation I've ever had to do so was in considering whether to join a "card-counting" blackjack student group which rotated through some casinos playing the odds in situations when a player with deep pockets (ie a sponsored group) had consistent odds in favour of them.
Other than those cases, the House always wins.
Gambler's Ruin is one of those…
catdynamics | December 20, 2006US considers naval build-up as warning to Iran
"...Under the proposed build-up, first reported by CBS television, the Pentagon would send an aircraft carrier to join one already in the region. The proposed deployment was described as a message to Tehran not to take provocative steps, and was not preparation for an attack..."
As the article notes, it would most likely be the Stennis (which is not a cruiser, even by Royal Navy classification schemes... dear old Grauniad). It has finshed training and declared "surge ready".
If they needed more, than Reagan, Truman, Roosevelt and Lincoln could…