catdynamics | October 30, 2006DeLong explains why hexapodia is the key insight
In a perfect world it'd be TeX on an Alpha, but a Mac will do.
Fortunately Google Does No Evil.
catdynamics | October 30, 2006"...As the country drifts slowly to war"
Update: Why do I keep hammering on the "paranoid Iran scenario"?
Because I am worried that the decision to "take out" Iran has been made in DC, and that it is now merely a question of when, and with what rationale.
There are two considerations: one is next week's midterm election and control of Congress; the other is whether it will be a pre-emptive surprise, with assets moved in place secretly or under cover of exercises and rotations, or, if it will be an "inevitable build up to war" scenario.
We'll see the latter coming, the former is interesting…
catdynamics | October 29, 2006Sweden. Denmark next.
Not quite three Scandihoovian countries in three days, unless you count surface transits, but still...
Sweden, though, is big. I had forgotten how big. And has changed in an interestingly subtle way.
So I am enjoying the hospitality of Lund observatory, but had to make a quick jaunt to Uppsala.
Some things just have to be done in person.
My flight, coming back, was (scheduled) very late. In fact arrived after the last bus for town was supposed to have left, according to the schedule. So, I was pondering having to book a taxi, and possibly pay more for a 10 mile20 km…
catdynamics | October 29, 2006Inaccurate in detail, and wishful.
Cute, but real saints would have used C-17s and Chinooks, not B-2s(!?) and Apaches...
Kinda gets your feet tapping.
catdynamics | October 27, 2006What's the most underfunded scientific field that shouldn't be underfunded?...
Mine!
Me!Me!Me!
Seriously.
catdynamics | October 27, 2006It is friday, but only the 20th of Oct - we anticipate our movements and ask the iPod now, the question that gots to be asked.
Oh, mighty iPod - is there an "october surprise"?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: In Un Palco Della Scala - Pavarotti
The Crossing: Chocolat - Cornershop
The Crown: Dreadbelly - Billy Bragg
The Root: Blake's Jerusalem - Billy Bragg
The Past: I Ain't Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again - Bonnie Raitt
The Future: Krummi Krunkar Úti
The Questioner: Vertigo - U2
The House: Eitt Sinn Gekk Ég
The Inside: Tveir Kettir
The Outcome: The Tailor and the…
catdynamics | October 27, 2006Apparently this trailer is too much for the delicate sensibilities of some of the main stream media,
so I pass it along as a public service.
It is funny, and sad. I'd go see the movie, if I ever got to go see movies that is...
catdynamics | October 26, 2006Interesting conversation at lunch today: topic was academic performance metrics and of course the dreaded citation index came up, with all its variants, flaws and systematics.
However, my attention was drawn to a citation metric which, on brief analysis, and testing, seems to be annoyingly reliable and robust. The H-score.
The H-score, takes all your papers, ranked by citation count; then you take the largest "k" such that the kth ranked paper has at least k citations.
So, you start off with a H-score of zero.
If your 5th highest cited paper has 5 citations but your 6th highest cited paper…
catdynamics | October 24, 2006We WILL Rock You
Told you so. Brian May of Queen is a genuine rock star scientist
Hm, I wonder if it is any good...
catdynamics | October 24, 2006Here is the provisional membership list of the NRC review committee for the Beyond Einstein program
Interesting bunch. Looks cosmology heavy to me.
catdynamics | October 24, 2006 ...in Iceland that is.
Got in at about 6 am, the weather was lovely, a mild frost, and not too windy, just brisk.
so I took the bus to town and walked to where I'm crashing. Very refreshing, just the thing to wake you up after a long flight.
A bite of skyr, and a walk down to the harbour, and ready for anything.
I go to Iceland on occasion, not as often as I'd like, but usually, for obvious reasons, in summer. less often mid-winter or spring. I think this is the first time in a frighteningly long time that I've been here in late autumn.
There is snow in the mountains, Tjörnin is partly…
catdynamics | October 20, 2006Friday, rainy friday.
We go back to the Fountain of All Wisdom, and ask the Mighty iPod a more refined question.
Oh, Mighty iPod: are there gauge fields, hidden in the Standard Model, which show up as extra hair on astrophysical black holes, and could we see evidence for this in measurements of multipole moments during monitoring of Extreme Mass Ratio Inspiral events?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Winter - Vivaldi
The Crossing: Gilsbakkaþula
The Crown: Used Cars - Ani DiFranco
The Root: Bílavísur - Björk
The Past: American Idiot - Green Day
The Future: Sorted for E's…
catdynamics | October 20, 2006Thanks to iTunes "share inside the firewall" option, the graduate students can track my comings and going in real time. I guess I consider this a "feature" since I control sharing.
The impact of the buttocks of a 12kg baby at ~ 2 m/sec on the face is comparable in effect to that of a slow roundhouse punch by a drunk adult...
There are people who hold receptions in freshman chemistry wet labs.
They serve food, finger food and cheese platters, on the lab benches.
There are people who show up and eat at such events.
I think they were administrative staff.
catdynamics | October 19, 2006Prof Foland of nuclear mangos forward an interesting pointer.
The US Navy's TACAMO ("Take Charge And Move Out") went active this week, with a little flurry of messages (scroll down to comment #71 if you want to see more detail).
This is the old Very Low Frequency communication system, from E-6s flying racetracks over random patches of big ocean.
Primarily intended for communication with submarines on long term underwater patrol, it is also a survivable system, that can not be interfered with through E-M countermeasures, primarily intended for strategic communications during nuclear exchanges…
catdynamics | October 19, 2006There are a lot of news on the space science front:
ranging from SETI's new "Sagan Center", through APL becoming a NASA field center to the "new improved National Space Policy, with Extra Classified Sections"
I'm way behind, so go browse NASAwatch for now, may catch up on the details in a few days at most. Hah.
Have to say though the "go to the Moon, greet the Chinese, and shoot them" quip I heard from a space policy admin earlier this year makes much more sense now. Wasn't funny then either.
UPDATE: - figured I ought to put in some details. A lot if shamelessly trawled from NASAwatch over…
catdynamics | October 19, 2006I just realised that my House Band nominees (below) are all White Males.
And that is even while forgetting to nominate Queen (for the astrophysics of course, and We Will Rock You).
Zuska has a point...
Er, AlphaBlondie anyone? Dixie Chicks?
Ah, Dixie Chicks: I set a SciBling challenge: Which Dixie Chick Song Are You?
Since I'm going first, I'll immodestly take Not Ready To Make Nice
Although I was tempted by Long Time Gone, but it just ain't me.
Hurry and grab your selection - no duplications, please.
I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't…
catdynamics | October 19, 2006Apparently the SciBlings have determined that we need a House Band...
World's Fair advocates Phish, or Wilco, and Chad likes someone I've never heard of (so they must be trendy or something).
Now, I like Wilco, but mostly as Billy Bragg's backup band.
You could go with the classics, like Rush, or even Bowie or (really reaching) Pink Floyd.
Heck, why not Holst.
And They Might Be Giants is always a safe choice.
Boring.
I originally thought maybe Green Day: surprisingly successful, little bit of attitude, but really just nice middle class boys with a bit of angst about the whole thing. And…
catdynamics | October 17, 2006Iceland's Fisheries Minister has announced that commercial whaling will resume, with an initial quota of 30 minke whales and 9 fin whales.
The minke page is somewhat inaccurate - the meat has been for sale for some years, and is also served in a number of restaurants. It got relatively popular with the surge in interest in traditional cuisine and as the better restaurants focused on local cuisine with local ingredients and modern fusion cuisine.
This is distinct from the "scientific whaling" that Iceland has intermittently conducted over the last couple of decades. Current quota for…
catdynamics | October 16, 2006Astroprof ponders the imponderable.
Semester is clearly in full swing out there...
Read it and weep.