Random
catdynamics | January 26, 2013Our future foretell
Galaxies of stellar poems
From space science spring
Inspired by Jason Wright's Thesis, Lucianne Walkowicz called out Astronomers on facebook to describe their current research as Haiku
To the Occasion
All Astronomers Sprung Forth
Poetic Research
There is a collection of some of the contributions atRhymes Like Science
Where my feeble efforts fall
Amongst stellar prose
Dynamics of Cats
Cold winter sky glow
crushed stars dance in my dreams
where will life go now?
Clearly this can be expanded on: we need iambic pentameter, limericks, and poetry of the sagas - proper…
kbonham | January 26, 2013It occurred to me after I posted my piece last week about rock climbing and arthritis that all of the photos of climbing were of men. This was purely coincidence - I was editing photos of last week's competition in reverse chronological order, and I'd only finished the photos of the Men's finals by the time I was done with the post.
But I think it's important to note how amazing the women were as well (and it gives me an excuse to post more of my photography). In fact, this year, I thought that the women's bouldering problems were more interesting, and better demonstrated the skill and power…
kbonham | January 22, 2013In any physical activity, there is always the risk of acute injury - cuts, scrapes, bruises, and even broken bones are often par for the course. For some extreme sports like rock climbing, where you voluntarily drag your body hundreds of feet into the air on the side of a sheer rock wall, athletes are even willing to risk death.
Me following up a 5.9 in Rumney, NH... probably not risking death.
Those acute sports injuries can sometimes grab headlines, but people are increasingly becoming aware of the long-term consequences of physical stress on the body. Football and hokey players can…
catdynamics | December 19, 2012More Phenomenal random links to random stuff: life, the Universe and Everything
Phenomena - new blog group under National Geographic, including some long time scibloggers: The Loom, Not Exactly Rocket Science, Laelaps and Only Human, to begin with.
On the Usefulness of Useless Knowledge - Bee explains.
Substantive Advice to Admissions Committees - Or, why, all things being equal, we should prefer candidates from less prestigious institutions.
This is actually sensible - it is a "what have you done with what you were given" argument.
But, all things are very rarely equal... and no one ever…
catdynamics | December 5, 2012On the purity of science careers; the waste of civilization and other assorted snippets... and a happy Feast of St Nikolaus
The Rise of the Science Politician - Matt B. continues provocative Conversations.
There is an interesting thread on this on The Astronomers fb.
On The Inevitability of Kardashev Civilizations - the Astro Wright continues to lay the ground work for some fun speculation
Waste Heat: Parametrizing Alien Civilizations - the Astro Wright series continues with a reformulation of the Drake Equation appropriate to K3 civs.
What Do We Want Graduate School To Be? - astrobites…
catdynamics | November 27, 2012MINERVA - clever idea for high cadence RV searches around nearby bright stars, now under way.
Kardashev IV - from AstroWright.
Or, why the best way to achieve immortality is to not die.
how to make your bike sound like a horse - Brilliant! #ObMontyPython! From From Trotify.Physicists open mouth - PZ inserts booted foot
B on search for Planck scale physics on tabletops
The slightly more breathless view on the tabletop
Seeing the elephant - BaBar sees T violation. CPT rules!
Pontification on MOOCs
Astrobio MOOC (not for credit)
News Higgs results...
Death of SUSY?
Long live SUSYN!
Colossal…
catdynamics | November 12, 2012Blows against supersymmetry and facebook.
Matthew Bailes continues ruminations at the Conversation - the general riff is on crowd sourcing and distributed computing, with a bit of bragging on The Beast they got down under.
Ok, I'm, just jealous.
I had not heard of Diaspora - be interesting to see if it can crowd out fb or other commercial social networks.
The Raspberry Pi I had indeed heard of, and will be acquisitioning. My kids are so looking forward to have their own computers... ;-)
But, what we really conclude, is that Matt needs to meet Charlie Stross for a quiet beer or three.
On a…
catdynamics | November 2, 2012113 Vælubíllinn
The all time classic modern Icelandic punk anthem, for kids.
Instant punk dance lesson just to complete the experience.
Try it.
It works.
catdynamics | October 4, 2012another selection of random snippets from the intertoobz
We are Number One! - and 8!
Wait, didn't I blog this one already?
Ah well, truth can never be told too often...
Forget PowerPoint: It turns out the secret to improving productivity at your job might be puppieskittens!
Win friends and influence people to boost research productivity
One Reason Horrible People Gain Power - Atrios comments
Chad has opened the Sb Nobel Prize betting pool
Announcement of Opportunity: get the UK Infrared Telescope...cheap
Save the GBT!
catdynamics | October 2, 2012
fitbit
The fitbit is a high end pedometer, with extra fun play functions.
It talks to your iThings, sends you cute little messages of encouragement, and, of course, there is an App for all that.
(You can also obsessively enter all your food intake for that extra encouragement).
The interesting thing is it works.
I got the cute plum purlply pink one, my better half having confiscated the pretty blue...
catdynamics | September 29, 2012more random tidbits worth a peek, including a new Henri le Chat video...
New coronavirus from bats - related to SARS seen in several cases from Middle East. Looks nasty.
Producing Ethylene via Photosynthesis - surpringly efficient, and easily capturably hydrocarbon ready from some petrochemistry. Still requires huge amounts of land (100,000 km2++ to make much difference, but so does anything that uses any solar to provide primary power
Joe Polchinski (KITP, UCSB) on Firewalls and Black Holes - interesting developments on the black hole information paradox. Been keeping half an eye on it.…
catdynamics | September 11, 2012a few years ago, during a particularly busy period, I found myself putting "take a shower" on my To Do Lists...
not so much because I needed the reminder, though people may differ on that point, but more for the temporary morale boost of being able to cross at least one point off the To Do List (since at that point I had found that "Update To Do List" was no longer a satisfactory checkpoint to make...)
I am intrigued to report that this is not, in fact, the low point, it is possible to be driven to having to formally set aside a slot for even more elementary processes, and, no, I don't mean "…
catdynamics | August 29, 2012Meet Henri...
he is a cat.
Part deux is a masterpiece.
Silly, but excellent.
catdynamics | August 28, 2012catching up on random snippets:
How the American University was Killed - a guide in 5 Easy Steps
Sterrekundig Instituut Utrecht: The Last Years
"The Rhine, the Rhine, the German Rhine!
Who guards to-day my stream divine?"
Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist
How do Science Blogs Change the Face of Science?
Graduate Orientation -changing the face of scientists
"Graduate school, especially at the beginning, is an ego-destroying, even humiliating, experience."
Science for Princesses...
The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Scientific Talk
Kinds of Wrong
One Leaving Academe
kbonham | August 21, 2012A mini furor erupted this weekend, when republican Senate nominee Todd Akin defended his position of denying abortions even to victims of rape, because in the case of "legitimate rape," women have biological defenses that prevent pregnancy:
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in an interview posted Sunday. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
The liberal blogosphere went nuts, and the story was picked up by all the national media outlets, and even Mitt Romney decided…
catdynamics | August 15, 2012 Mining the Astronomical Literature - yes, just ADS not the Asteroids, yet.
Shamelessly cribbed from a thread on the fb Astronomers group
In defence of string theory - rather good post by Matt Strassler
Claim that founding node of networks can be efficiently localized by sparse sampling
Don't Confuse Technology With College Teaching - from the ChronicleKepler 11: A Six-Planet Sonata from Alex Parker on Vimeo.
catdynamics | August 14, 2012 Choose what the VLT observes - public vote on a science target one night this autumn
Ralph Cicerone Public Lecture - Contemporary Climate Change as Seen through Data - video of Ralph Cicerone lecture on Climate Change at the Aspen Center for Physics this summer
Cliff at Asymptotia summarises the "Future of Physics" public symposium at the Aspen Center for Physics.
With bonus pics of physicists gone wild!
How did I miss this?! - the Definitive Dunkin' Donuts study on which professions need coffee the most...
"scientists/lab technicians are the professions that need coffee the most,…