catdynamics | March 17, 2009I now know who to blame for this science blogging thing
I was a little bit bemused when I arrived at KITP and was told, by the way, that the program needed an official blogger, and that I, for my sins and in recompense, was it.
It is all Jennifer's fault,
she thinks it is all parties and cocktails over there at twisted physics, but then someone else ends up doing the work... though I must say the wine the other night was rather excellent...
anyway, go read her rationale and general guide to physics blogging, combined with podcast and video - you might even start your own blog
actually, the…
catdynamics | March 16, 2009the bear went down the cliff
the bear went down the cliff
to find what he could find
to find what he could find
to find what he could find
the bear went down the cliff
to find what he could find
and what do you think he found
and what do you think he found
and what do you think he found
he found another cliff
he found another cliff
he found another cliff
and what do you think he did
the bear went down the cliff
the bear went down the cliff
the bear went down the cliff
to find what he could find
to find what he could find
to find what he could find
the bear went down the cliff
to find what he…
catdynamics | March 16, 2009here is an idle thought:
there was much conjecture back in sep '01 that people with "inside knowledge" had shorted certain stocks likely to be affected by the events of that month and made significant short term gains by subsequent events
the market, of course, paid up, and there have been claims those contracts were looked into
there have also been claims that certain people associated with this disappeared suddenly and unexpectedly from the plane of existence not long afterwards
there were some sudden deaths among not very old mid-east financiers not long after, that does seem clear
so…
catdynamics | March 16, 2009I think, that every large spectroscopic bucket telescope really ought to have a colocated wide field imaging telescope
like a 4m spotter telescope
seriously
catdynamics | March 16, 2009lovely day, here at the beach
we have a busy week, the start of a busy month
we'll be doing multiple populations in depth, again,
and yet more on IMBH
this morning we contemplate, via Mario, whether globulars occupy a fundamental plane like galaxies, maybe even the same plane
log(Re) = 1.24 log(σ) + 0.33 SBe - 8.895 (for galaxies)
refs Djorgovski 1995 and Pasquato & Bertin 2008
1.24? 1.24!
Observers are soooooooo silly sometimes.
Clearly it must be 5/4 and 1/3
I mean 31/25 is just a silly number.
There is still a fundamental plane though P&B have somewhat different slope and a zero…
catdynamics | March 15, 2009AIG released its counterparty list
AIG Moving Forward - list of counterparties and amounts.
So all this was really just to save Goldman Sachs...
They got $12.9 billion from the "Maiden Lane" funds the US set up to launder channel funds rapidly to vulnerable financial institutions.
'course Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Societe General also got a bunch of cash along with the other usual suspects.
It is mildly curious that some of the lists are sorted by amount paid out, and some are not.
Mildly obfuscates the information to those glancing at it.
Information Processing has some more interesting…
catdynamics | March 14, 2009the Greater Munchkin asked me today why kids can't vote
I did my usual blather and then, thinking I was being clever asked her what she would do, if a politician said he'd give her as much free candy as she wanted
she thought for a minute and then said she would not vote for him, because he was a liar?
ok, said I, why do you say that?
because, she said patiently, as if talking to someone slightly retarded,
"there's not that much money in the world?
catdynamics | March 13, 2009"Astronomers are just as dumb as economists"
are not!
poopyhead!
and, anyway, at least we know how to spell asteroid... nah, nah.
from Economists Aren't More Stupid than Other Scientists
- wait: "Other Scientists"...?
Tee hee.
h/t CR
Oh, if we're going to be all serious and shit:
asteroids really truly do exist
we know asteroids hit in the past (cf The Moon)
we have seen significant planetesimal impacts in the current epoch (cf SL-9 on Jupiter)
we know asteroids will hit in the future
- aside: I spent an enjoyable dinner with an economist considering his rational estimate…
catdynamics | March 13, 2009the harder they fall
continuing lazy friday music blogging
Jimmy Cliff, mon
what the heck, studio version also
catdynamics | March 13, 2009he's got a degree in economics
maths, physics and bionics
can't do to many Undertones on lazy friday music blogging
catdynamics | March 13, 2009Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope has results.
We hear about them.
why, yes, that really was 47 Tuc
"Discovery of γ-ray sources from the globular cluster 47 Tuc" or something similar, in preparation, at a glossy journal near you soon
in the mean time, browse the LAT bright source catalog (for high galactic latitude - none has dared descend into the plane yet...)
this will really screw up starry eyed particle (astro)physicists who were desperately hoping to find cold dark matter annihilation radiation from substructure in the halo
hah!
we temporarily ignore gamma-ray bursts...
we will return to your…
catdynamics | March 13, 2009Theory grad students read this:
Rainer put up a summary of the numerical methods discussion for globular cluster modeling on the program wiki
if you are doing any sort of collisional dynamics, or numerical modeling of collisional self-gravitating systems, you might find this useful
There is also a nice summary of the different order post-Newtonian approximations here
and some random selected subset of references - for those discussions where a number of papers came up or were requested
Rainer also put up a summary of special purpose hardware status;
specifically the GRAPES and uses of…
catdynamics | March 12, 2009USS Chung-Hoon is headed for the South China Sea, where there have been recent minor confrontation between US and Chinese vessels
Chung-Hoon is a Burke class Aegis destroyer - good radar, but curious choice for sea defence, heavy on missiles and a bit slow and heavy to be playing bumping games.
Would have thought a frigate or two would be a better choice, nimbler better against surface harassment.
But, she's not the only ship at sea.
In fact were W still president, my eyebrows would be twitching, because the Eisenhower is overlapping with the Roosevelt in the Middle East, with the latter…
catdynamics | March 12, 2009and we continue our lesson on extragalactic globulars, with a trifectaduet of talks and an emphasis on colour: red or blue, it is like South Central here sometimes
remember, red is metal rich or old
blue is metal poor or young...
except the reds are actually probably younger than the blues
so it is metal dominated, except for really young clusters
Steve first
then Jay
PS: our summary 20 minute talks have an interesting habit of actually lasting 60-90 minutes. I blame that rude chap in the front row who keeps interrupting the speakers with stoopid questions...
as usual the multimedia video…
catdynamics | March 12, 2009Fermi gamma ray telescope has released the all sky image.
Some interesting stuff...
click for big, zoomable
yup, that's 47 Tuc down there at the bottom.
More on that tomorrow, I expect.
Fermi press relase
catdynamics | March 12, 2009yes, the Photomixers are back!
"...get your motor running
head up Mauna Kea
looking for some spectra..."
"..fire all your lasers at once
and explode into space..."
catdynamics | March 12, 2009it is extragalactic day here at KITP
this could get exciting, if you like that sort of thing
unsolved problems in dynamical evolution, and why they are interesting...
for the five people who care.
This afternoon we tackle colour: red and blue, again...
All our data belongs to M87
'cause M87 has shitloads (technical term) of globulars.
Magic!
"Elowitz's Law: Sufficiently advanced image processing is not distinquishable from magic."
Yup, M87
SDSS image
What we know:
we ought to be able to calculate cluster mass loss rates, but we appear to be underestimating it by something like factor or…
catdynamics | March 12, 2009we are currently at a solar minimum, and the next cycle is starting,
but the numbers are down and the
Sun is unusually quiet
Like so:
yup, still no spots
Ok, should we be worried?
Is this the start of a new Maunder Minimum?
Will the Thames freeze?
Will there be knee deep snow in New England before Thanksgiving?
Will annoying climate skeptics chuckle and gloat?
Well, no, not yet:
though if by this time next year there are still no spots, we might start to think...
One should note that solar radiance and activity is independent of atmospheric IR opacity - it is perfectly possible for cyclic…
catdynamics | March 11, 2009PZ mocks the elves - he has doomed himself.
The elves will not be mocked.
Elf festival for summer solstice
Ok folks, so Iceland adopted christianity from Europe, peacfully, by democratic vote, intellectual debate, possibly a touch of bribery, and the threat of invasion and conversion by force;
we took on the monetarist deregulation superstition from the US, and paid the price;
we even let our children watch Disney's corruption of the classic myths.
Through it all we've been remarkably tolerant, pluralistic, forbearing and understanding.
But now PZ, in his zeal, has challenged the essence…