catdynamics | September 24, 2007Tom Friedman on the Colbert Report has terminated the legendary Friedman Unit!
No longer can we wait six months to see how things are going to develop in Iraq.
It is decision time...
catdynamics | September 24, 2007Michigan has beaten PSU in football every year that I've been here
This is clearly just so hos can taunt me, again.
Normally I'd remind myself that "it's only a game", but a) I tried that on Mike McQuery two years ago, and he was so fucking not amused and b) there is nothing like a plaintive little voice saying "but, daddy, I wanted Penn State to win!"...
last year she so did not care.
'course the li'l munchkin stares intently at the screen and then, outraged, says "daddy, that boy just hit that other boy!".
It is very nice of the PSU team to be so good at
sharing though.
I mean, we do try…
catdynamics | September 23, 2007In a few years, I am going to leave this book lying out somewhere in my house and see if one of the kids picks it up and reads it.
"The Canon" by Natalie Angier
ISBN-13: 978-0-618-24295-5 Houghton Mifflin Books
The Canon is a pop overview of some key concepts in science, starting with scientific methodology and quantitative analysis, and then in six short chapters covering a couple of concepts in six of the major subfields of the natural sciences. No equations, all qualitative conceptual discussion.
The concept of the book is sounds, I couldn't really quibble with any of the choice of topics…
catdynamics | September 21, 2007NuSTAR lives!
NuSTAR is a SMEX class high energy x-ray observatory.
It was shut down just at critical design review in spring 2006 by the then NASA associate administrator for Science, due to budget cuts in NASA science.
It has now been revived by the current associate administrator for Science, Alan Stern, and comes back to post-review phase B.
Launch expected in 2011.
The good news is that apparently the funding will NOT come out of the recently announced SMEX request for proposal rounds, that will go ahead with six proposals to be selected for concept study, to be down selected to three…
catdynamics | September 21, 2007The Female Science Professor contemplates those who pass over good projects
This is something to read and internalise.
That means you.
catdynamics | September 21, 2007foggy cool autumnal friday, and so we ask the Mighty iPod, cryptically, are worm micelles the key insight?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Are You Satisfied? - Jesus Jones
The Crossing: Mommy Daddy You and I - Talking Heads
The Crown: Spam Song - Monty Python
The Root: Riders on the Storm - Doors
The Past: Recondita Armonia - Three Tenors
The Future: LA Woman - Doors
The Questioner: Hún Ræ&r og Hún Ræ
The House: L'escalier - Spliverk Þjóðanna
The Inside: I Only Have Eyes For You - Billie Holiday
The Outcome: Seven and Seven is - Billy Bragg
It is? It is!
Art…
catdynamics | September 19, 2007Well, the Peruvians claim something from above hit them...
Maleficent Mystery Meteorite Miasma.
Makes more sense then invading the Home Counties, or New Jersey for that matter; they'll want to adapt gradually to local conditions, start at altitude...
The claim is that there was a fireball and explosion near Lake Titcaca, and when the locals went to investigate (thinking maybe it was a plane crash), they found a 10-20m crater that was a few meters deep. Noxious smell reported.
Then ~ 500 people living nearby became sick.
Hm. The crater doesn't look terribly meteoritic (see story for press…
catdynamics | September 18, 2007should K-12 students keep the same teacher for several grades, especially in lower grades?
My current limited contact with the US K-12 system made me ponder the differences I see locally compared with my anecdotal experiences in Europe.
Specifically, the local practise, which seems to be widespread in the US, is to have the teachers stay with the grade level, passing classes through to another teacher in the next grade, and to mix up the students in each grade, rather than to make an effort to keep the same basic grouping of students in a class within each grade as they progress.
There are…
catdynamics | September 18, 2007ties 'cause cooties
Told you so!
Some of us are just ahead of our times.
catdynamics | September 17, 2007Should teachers track "their class" between grades, and
should students stay with their classmates between years?
So, my exposure to the US K-12 educational system is increasing, and I am intrigued by some of the differences. What I don't know is whether these are broadly general across the US school system, or local curiousities - a hard thing to determine, since school policies are local to districts, not States and certainly not Federal.
When I were a lad, in elementary school you had teacher - call it a "homeroom teacher" if you like, and that teacher stayed with you for several grades,…
catdynamics | September 17, 2007If the Iraqi police move against Blackwater, would the US Army fight?
There is a curious situation developing, where the Iraqi interior ministry has "revoked the license" of Blackwater corporation contractors to operate in Iraq, asked they leave, and surrender for trial people involved in a shooting in Baghdad, in which apparently 9 people killed and 14 were injured.
Blackwater does a number of things in Iraq, not all of which I know, nor apparently the does the US Congress who pays for this. But, among other things, they provide State Department security, an function normally provided by…
catdynamics | September 17, 2007Random Thoughts thinks about
Gao and Theuns (sub) and the effects of a little bit of warm dark matter on early structure formation.
arXiv copy
catdynamics | September 17, 2007DHS excludes revokes Mills College Prof and Elgar scholar visa.
Prof Ghuman, british musicologist, Berkeley PhD expelled from the US
I personally find Elgar to be a ponderous and rather tiresome, not to mention heavily abused at both the Proms and US graduations, but this seems a bit of an overreaction.
Land of Hope and Glory, or sheep?
At the very least Prof Ghuman, or her US host institution, should be given an account of the what the charges against her are, and, some hint of the proferred evidence.
...
Thine equal laws, by Freedom gained,
Have ruled thee well and long;
By Freedom gained,…
catdynamics | September 17, 2007Total Drek: Unhelpful Hints
5!
and 6!!
15 - you're ALL smart
20 & 21
ignore 22, obviously.
But 3 is the one you really need to think about as a first or second year
h/t Chad, again
catdynamics | September 17, 2007Robert Jordan, author of the "Wheel of Time" fantasy series, and assorted Conan novels, died
I am not much of a fantasy reader, although I went through a phase of reading all the Conan novels (originals by Robert Howard, then the later sequels by de Camp and Carter and then Jordan, haven't looked at the third wave of graphic novels and movie tie-ins).
Occasionally, some friends would recommend a fantasy series, some of which I read (like anything by Guy Gavriel Kay) and others not so much (I may yet forgive the friend who recommended the Illearth series, maybe, but the "Bio of a Space Tyrant…
catdynamics | September 14, 2007Long and tiring friday, and we put the iPod to the test!
Oh, Mighty iPod, will Google have to pay out on the Lunar X-Prize?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Counting to twenty
The Crossing: Firebird: Introduction - Stravinsky
The Crown: I Will Never Be The Same - Melissa Etheridge
The Root: My Flying Saucer - Billy Bragg
The Past: Mammaborgar - Edda Backman
The Future: A Change Is Gonna Come - Billy Bragg
The Questioner: O Come, All Ye Faithful - King's College Choir
The House: This Is The Way
The Inside: Mate of the Bloke - Half Man Half Biscuit
The Outcome: (White Man)…
catdynamics | September 13, 2007Google is offering $30 million for anyone able to land a privately funded rover on the Moon by Dec 31st 2012
space.com story
Interesting.
Especially if this becomes part of a long term strategy by Google as a serious involvement in off-planet exploration, as opposed to a one-off stunt.
Google Lunar X-Prize
I wonder if they funded that prize through an insurance annuity bet, or self-insured?
This is a big jump, since the 2004 Ansari X-Prize was for a suborbital, and the follow through on that is still in the pipeline, although if it does lead to a private suborbital or orbital tourist…
catdynamics | September 13, 2007Ok, I read the BEPAC full report, all 201 pages.
Interesting stuff, lots to glean from it.
First, Con-X community letter on Exploding Galaxies and other Catastrophysics, with some interesting comments from Prof Superwinds.
NASA HQ has still not responded to the BEPAC report. Way back when, my understanding was that HQ would issue a decision based on the report at a high level, that they have not done so is worrying.
Now the BEPAC report: the committee upped the cost estimates on all the projects.
SNAP claims TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 9 on the telescope...!
TRL 9 is "has flown…
catdynamics | September 12, 2007A WaPo op-ed unveils a new skulk of the usual suspects.
On the starboard side, mateys.
MindingTheCampus.com
"Dedicated to the revival of intellectual pluralism and the best traditions of liberal education at America's universities."
"best"? "liberal"? Really?
With a Horowitz article right on the frontpage...
Sponsored by The Manhattan Institute - http://www.manhattan-institute.org
and its "Center for the American University" - http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cau.htm
I never knew they cared.
Why .com, and not .org for the subsidiary?
On a completely unrelated issue UC Irvine hires…
catdynamics | September 12, 2007the incoherent ponderer ponders the (male) scientist dress code
he likes to dress up, but no bowties
Hah! Like I should talk.
I currently stay away from the default bland slacks and not-too-boldly striped shirt uniform (no tie, natch), in favour of extreme utilitarian mottled grey t-shirt and comfortably worn jeans.
This is primarily currently driven by high odd of splatter from either of the munchkins, whether the Big Boy or his Big Girl sister.
I might reconsider and conform, as they are actually older and less likely to randomly project splodges, but I deeply don't care enough to bother…