catdynamics | May 12, 2010Útrásar Víkingar - that is what we called them, the new Masters of the Universe who set forth from Iceland in the last decade to conquer the new world of finance.
As with their predecessors, once off-shore, their enrichment schemes ended up involving more looting and raping than maybe was really essential, and as with their predecessors, they brought the aggro back home with them.
It is a hard concept to translate, best I could come up with was "Sally Vikings" - in the sense of how a besieged fortress might send out a raiding party, no intent to conquer permanently, and not really to break…
catdynamics | May 11, 2010As you may recall, over 18 months ago Iceland lead the world into a minor financial crisis, with the rest of y'all toddling along later.
Now Iceland takes the lead again, as a Special Prosecutor issues some indictments and the perps start walking...
In the autumn of 2008 all three Icelandic investment banks collapsed in quick succession, followed by the currency, financial system and the government.
Exciting times.
The root cause was that the banks had essentially looted the entire economy, while overleveraging their banks, fakes capital through circle-jerk loans, and given out bonuses and…
catdynamics | May 6, 2010Couple of new webcams checking on the volcano
it is stirring again.
click to embiggen
Hi Res vodafone.is webcam
New IR camera from mila.is
The ash cloud is getting back up into the atmosphere, so the jet stream can sweep it east, Europe can expect more airspace disruption.
In the meantime you can buy genuine fresh Icelandic volcano ash from nammi.is, who also do a line of cheerful commemorative t-shirts.
catdynamics | May 5, 2010The verdict is out, the 2010 Senior Review Committee recommendation on the NASA Astrophysics old active missions; who will keep going, and who is recommended to get the chop.
It is an interesting list, with some interesting recommendations.
And the winners are...:
1. Planck - level funding for 30 months, per request, consider 42 month extension later
2. Chandra - extend to 2012 and beyond, restore and augment funding, consider automated operation, concern about spacecraft degradation
3. Warm Spitzer - surprise winner! recommend $7M augmentation for 2012 and 2013, note spacecraft ends…
catdynamics | May 5, 2010the collapse of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico is making a mess, but a lot of the numbers being bandied about make little sense
partly the problem is units, with news media freely exchanging barrels per day with gallons per minute and rates with integrals
I am but a humble physicist, but that has never stopped me before...
for real info go someplace like The Oil Drum
So, lets take your benchmark guesstimate as the oft quoted 5000 barrels per day.
Now there's a meaningless unit.
A barrel is a whisker under 160 liters, so per day this is 800,000 liters (massing about…
catdynamics | May 4, 2010
There's a lot of kerfuffle about Steve Jobs recent screed on why Flash is bad and must be blocked from our iApples
The screed on Flash
I actually sorta kinda agree with Steve here.
Crap flash is definitely the thing most likely to hang the computer or crash a browser on Apple lines, and it is being superseded by better, hopefully more robust, standards.
The antipope hisself thinks this goes deeper...
seriously, check out Charlie Stross's take, after you read Steve Jobs.
catdynamics | April 29, 2010What Chuck Norris can never do.
The question whose answer is 42
Who the jams are and why we must kick them out
The axioms of physics
Whether Hissing Sid was guilty
Whether P=NP
How 7/3 arises in Navier-Stokes theory
The bin you can never choose from
Whether to be or not to be
W'
Our place in the universe
The chemistry of Cold Dark Matter
What evil is
How magnetic fields reconnect
The emergence of consciousness
What life is
Where the aliens are
The Nine Billion Names of God
Whether any given program will halt
But I ain't telling.
Do you know?
catdynamics | April 29, 2010NASA loses a balloon in the outback
The Nuclear Compton Telescope (PI Boggs at UCB's SSL), a soft γ-ray telescope designed for balloon launch, observations in the stratosphere, and recovery, crashed because of a wind gust during an attempted launch in Australia earlier today.
ABC News (Oz) on youtube
NCT is an wide field imaging telescope with polarization capability.
Science goals were galactic nuclear emission lines for studies of nuclear synthesis in supernovae, and γ-ray polarization studies.
It flew last year out of the SFBF in New Mexico - guess they were going after southern…
catdynamics | April 26, 2010Beware the pig-like Kanamit.
It's a cookbook!
The real problem is that nobody reads the literature anymore.
There are many Solutions out there, no matter how screwy
Next thing someone will come up with the clever solution to the Fermi Paradox that they have become too introspective and just play silly role playing games all the time...
catdynamics | April 22, 2010Well, Eyjafjallajökull is bubbling along nicely, there is still some ash coming out, but not high enough to carry as far, and less of it.
And the wind is turning, so tomorrow Icelandic airports will close as the ash comes back west across the country.
There is also a curiousity on the ice cap above the Katla volcano.
Life, however goes on, and there is a new band in Iceland.
That I like.
The Icelandic Coastguard sent their
new TF-SIF back over the eruption and got a new radar image of the caldera at Eyjafjallajökull
click to popup bigger image
yup, this caldera - the eruption has…
catdynamics | April 20, 2010Cal Sate Budgetpocalypse - Dr Free-Ride blogs on CSU San Jose State near term situation.
Shocking Fraud From Financial Scum - MarkCC rips into the Squid.
See, it is like this: Goldman Sachs organized a league, they then talked to a gambler and expedited a bribe to the ref to arrange for a game to be thrown, while also running the book on the bets.
catdynamics | April 20, 2010Comedy Channel went wild on Iceland last night.
For those who could not stay up late...
Kevin? Kevin!?
No, call him "Tim", Mighty Tim
If you must.
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Volcanolypse 2010
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes
Political Humor
Tea Party
"We can't bomb them because we can't fly..."
The Colbert Report
Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Volcano Eyjafjallajokull
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor
Fox News
catdynamics | April 18, 2010Pretty pictures galore this weekend
facebook video from Norðurflug - helivideo upwind from the volcano
NASA's Aqua MODIS
Between Heaven and Hell - fb - extraordinary images from Náttúra Íslands
Cool ITN footage from April 19th
Don't forget to head for Eruptions for all things volcanic - good stuff in the comments
catdynamics | April 18, 2010Icelandic radio is reporting that the eruption at Eyjafjallajökull has shifted gear this morning, possibly down a notch, in a good way.
For now.
The explosive ash eruption from the volcano seems to have abated - there is still ash but right now not being flung up into the stratosphere where the jet stream carries it to Europe.
The reason seems to be that a cut has opened in the side of the caldera and ice melt is now draining steadily down the side of the mountain - this both reduced the danger of further flash floods, and the danger of phreatic eruptions.
Basically, the ash plume was being…
catdynamics | April 16, 2010The Finnish Air Force got some F-18s into an ash cloud from Eyjafjallajökull.
Far, far from the source, somewhere over Europe.
They then checked the engines with a boroscope.
This is why you don't fly turbojets through volcanic ash plumes.
Glassy pumice flakes meet metal turbine at 900 km/h.
From an F-18 part of a flight of five on training mission April 15th, just before air space closure.
click to enlarge from ilmavoimat.fi
view of melted volcanic ash on the korkeapaineturbiinin ;-)
more images here and here
h/t flightglobal.com and RUV
catdynamics | April 16, 2010You are not superstitious, are you?
Eyjafjallajökull - from the air is it clear that there are three craters in the caldera.
click to enlarge
The mind does some great interpolative associative processing ;-)
Image is radar, from an Icelandic coastguard plane.
The craters are 200-500m across. For now.
catdynamics | April 15, 2010There is a webcam from vodafone at the northwest side of the volcano - it caught the onset of the major flooding this evening
Popup images - click to enlarge.
Before:
14:02 local
During:
19:04 local
After:
19:19
after that there appears to be some haze obscuring the view...
PS: aftermath
13:30 the next day - the white bits are chunks of ice from the glacier - BIG chunks of ice...
From vodafone.is
catdynamics | April 15, 2010Flash flood alert at Markárfljót and Fljótshlíð in Iceland.
The real flood is finally here...
Almannavarnir (Civil Defence Authority) in Iceland has issued a general urgent evacuation alert for Fljótshlíð - a scenic farming area southwest of Eyjafjallajökull due to major flooding.
Gígsjöull lets go - from visir.is
from mbl.is
There were two previous flood surges yesterday, but it was known that the bulk of the ice cap was still in place, melting.
The few km3 of water had only two places to go - it could go up, as steam explosions carrying ash, or break out sideways and come down the…
catdynamics | April 14, 2010After a brief hiatus during which the first two fissuers at Fimmvörðuháls closed, the main caldera at Eyjafjallajökull let rip early in the morning of April 14th.
ash plume through the clouds - from visir.is - click to embiggen
There was a jökulhlaup - wish I could have been there with Vatnamælingar on my old route... - actually there were 2 of them, so far. Only about 1/4-1/3 of the ice cap has melted, it is about 1/4 km thick and several km across.
There are, apparently, 5 active vents inside a 1-2 km caldera, with ash rising to 5-10 km.
Heavy ashfall reported across the east, with ash…