Random
catdynamics | June 3, 2010Inspired by Iceland wants you to know Iceland is bursting with energy!
Yes, it really is, and often in a good way.
Today is a social networking blitz to promote Iceland as a destination, since all ya scaredy cat potential tourists are suddenly deciding not to go there so much any more...
What, you're scared by an itsy bitsy little volcano?
Think of it this way: at least in Iceland we have an alert and prepared civil defence authority who know what they are doing and would keep you safer than most any place else in the northern hemisphere.
We like to think.
Anyhow, the promo video is…
catdynamics | May 24, 2010I am visiting the lovely Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, again.
Last thursday we had an unusual occurrence, the ocean farted.
I am staying at the new visitors' cottages at Coal Point
- by the way, if you're the type to visit KITP, and a lot of you are, you know who you are... then I highly recommend the West Cottages.
Anyway, Coal Point is so named, because it is the site of the largest natural oil seepage known - about 100 barrels per day! That is about 1% of the likely leak rate at Deepwater Horizons in the Gulf of Mexico - and it is open to the Pacific, pretty much.
The oil…
catdynamics | May 23, 2010there are rumours that the well head at the seafloor at deepwater horizons blew out late sunday night and oil leakage increased significantly
see discussion at the Oil Drum
this is rather bad, if true
BP video link from remote operated sub
see also Monkeyfister blog - with lots of image screen grabs
catdynamics | May 17, 2010you know how sometimes a bank will just decide that it didn't like how the original term of its loan worked out and it will just change the deal to something better?
They can do that, it is all in the fine print.
Now they've done it again
and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.
See, in the debacle that was the end of the Icelandic financial system, a lot of things were tried - kinda stuff I am quite sure will never happen in more mature responsible systems in the developed world.
One thing was the need for capital reserves for the banks as losses started to mount.
The simplest…
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 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, 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 9, 2010Been a while since I done one of these...
The single best predictor of academic success; the most fascinating astronomical object you never knew; and so much more...
"Home library size has a very substantial effect on educational attainment,...
This is a large effect, both absolutely and in comparison with other influences on education,""....survey participants (a total of more than 73,000 people) were asked to estimate the number of books in their parents' home when they were 14 years old. The scholars compared that figure with other factors influencing educational achievement, including the…
catdynamics | March 28, 2010
we had the dynamic kids on a neighbourhood easter egg hunt, with a twist,
it was a math hunt
I wish I could say I had thought of this, but I didn't...
So usual stash of eggs was, er, stashed, but rather than sweeties, the eggs contained small slips of paper - each with a simple arithmetic problem (K-3 crowd).
The kids had to solve all the problems, and when they had done so they got to pick a couple of small easter candies from a bowl.
And they liked it.
catdynamics | March 16, 2010Oh someone's really smart
Oh, complete control
yeah, that's a laugh.
Generics, that's the ticket.
catdynamics | March 13, 2010
Ãað mælti mÃn móðir
að mér skildi kaupa
fley og fagrar árar
fara á brott með jeðum
standa upp à stafni
stýra dýrum X-vængi
halda svo til hafnar
höggva mann og annan
Tattúínárdalasaga: aka
The Saga of the People of the Tattooine River Valley
Finally reconstructed from ancient manuscripts and diverse sources.
Making the rounds, h/t anonymous commenter
Totally excellent.
rallain | March 13, 2010Do you have an iPhone? I have an iPod Touch. Do you use vectors? Do you think RPN calculators are the bomb? Here is a RPN calculator for the iPhone that supports vector notation. VCalc by Silicon Prairie Ventures Inc. Oh - it is free. Here is a screen shot.
I played with it some, the only thing that would be cool would be a landscape mode.
catdynamics | March 10, 2010compare and contrast
nope, no anger yet...
interestingly, Shelley had better vocal range than Swift...
rallain | March 10, 2010Pi day is March 14th - get it? (3.14) I am a big fan of Pi. Here is my first post to celebrate the awesomeness of Pi (I know this is early, but I was too excited to wait).
How can you determine Pi?
Oh sure, tons of high schools do the classic experiment. Measure the circumference and diameter of as many round things as possible. Plot diameter vs. circumference. The slope will be Pi. Really, this is a great lab to do for all sorts of ages. The key thing is that students can see what Pi really means. I am not going to talk about this lab, I am going to do some thing cooler.
What if I…
catdynamics | February 7, 2010Why do the gods keep interfering in football championships?
And which gods?
I'd think Loki, by default.
But Manning's throw away really smells of Ãðinn - he always had a macabre sense of humour about bringing down established fighters through mischance or misjudgement.
'cause, y'know, when football players invoke the gods in their victory, you really have to think first about "which god?"