The Evil Eyebrow

Category: Science & Space

  • There Is No Hope…

    …as long as journalists use phrases like this: (from the NY Times)

    Referring to a new test rocket by Blue Origin (an experimental spaceflight company).

    When the company performed the first test launching on Nov. 13, it made no announcement.

    And that was it, pretty much, until last week, when the Blue Origin Web site (www.blueorigin.com) showed the first pictures and video of a gumdrop-shaped test craft, dubbed Goddard, rising from the West Texas launch site to 285 feet and then, eerily, returning gently to the pad.

    [emphasis added]

    Eerily? Why is it “eerie” to see something go up, then come down under control? Helicopters do it. Birds do it. Planes do it. Parachutes do it! Hell, the Russians have been doing it since the late 60’s!

    Blah blah blah. Here’s another good quote from this article:

    The Goddard has a science-fiction sleekness. Videos show the craft taking off and landing again with a loud whooshing sound.

    Science fiction sleekness? Whooshing sound?! Does anyone at the NY Times actually watch science fiction? Did they pay any attention to the moon race, because I’m not seeing any extraordinary features on this image. Blue Origins Rocket on its Lauch Pad in West Texas I agree that it’s sleek, but “science-fiction sleekness?” And don’t get me started on “whooshing sound.” That’s ridiculous.

    At least the article mentions that this craft looks similar to the DC-X which was a government funded project to develop an uncrewed single-stage-to-orbit vehicle. Probably because some of the same engineers working on the DC-X were hired by Blue Origins.

    When will space enthusiasts stop getting second tier columnists? Of course, John Schwartz of the NY Times has been covering space and technology for a while, but that does not excuse him for using such trite phrases as are in this article.

  • Earth in Perspective

    This video from Google Video has a nice progression of size comparisons for some familiar stellar bodies, and some familiar extra-stellar bodies. Have a look-see.

    Gacked from SciGuy

  • The Moon: Gloriously

    I recommend you go to the moon.google website and zoom in to see the craters. Very fine detail, indeed.

    Thanks to Jenn for pointing this out.

  • Polar Ice Albedo and Ponderings

    I’ve been reading (not exhaustively) Realclimate.org since it popped up on the 2006 Best Science Weblogs nominations.

    I like science blogs that stretch what I know about topics, yet are not so far past me that I can’t make heads or tails. This entry I find cogent and fascinating. It reminds me that topics such as global warming (just for one example) are always more complicated that than appear and require dedicated study to truly understand.

    It also reminds me why I usually dislike discussing “science” topics with people. I am science-knowledgeable enough to know what is fact, what is fiction, what is still under debate, and most importantly, what I don’t know enough about to have a legitimate opinion. However I’m not a professional scientist and I don’t have practice convincing lay persons that what they hear or read in the media is not everything to it. I especially find it difficult explaining that having a useful discussion about a slippery and detailed scientific field of study requires both persons involved having some expertise. “‘Cause I heard it on the TV,” is difficult to slap down when it’s considered gospel.

    Nevertheless, I try and explain without being insulting that the person may want to seek multiple sources of input before chiseling their opinion in stone. Practice makes perfect.

  • Carl Sagan: In Memoriam

    Today is the 10th anniversary of the passing of the great astronomer and educator, Carl Sagan.

    To memorialize this day, Joel Schlosberg has organized a blog-a-thon of articles about Dr. Sagan. Here is my contribution.
    12/20/06 Update. Here is the link to Joel Schlosberg’s meta post concerning this event.

    I have no terribly inspiring words about Carl Sagan; I only heard him speak once. I am aware of his contributions to astronomy, but I wasn’t an adherent. I do, however, have an amusing anecdote that might leave you wondering what it would be like to be his grad students.

    In 1995, while I was an undergraduate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Carl Sagan gave an invited lecture concerning the probability of devastating (or otherwise) meteor impacts on the Earth. The event was announced about a week beforehand and campus was in an uproar. The lecture took place in a large lecture hall and by the time people were allowed inside for seating, triple the capacity of the room had assembled outside. I had arrived two hours early and I sat in one of the last empty seats. The aisles were packed; people had to be escorted out to merely violate the fire regulations, rather than shred them.

    Dr. Sagan was an excellent public speaker. Everything I expected came true. Unfortunately, the student in the technician’s booth must have had a copy of the transcript. He was advancing the powerpoint slides whenever Dr. Sagan intoned, “Next slide, please,” Once, he changed the slide without Dr. Sagan’s cue.

    Silence reigned for five seconds. Dr. Sagan said, calmly, “Excuse me. I did not ask for the next slide yet.”

    You could feel the chagrin emanating from the booth as the slide switched back.

    Dr. Sagan waited a moment, then said, “Thank you. Next slide, please.”

    Carl Sagan was many things to many people, but I will always remember those words.

  • Cobb less Anti-Evolutionary Today

    According to the AJC, the Cobb County, GA, biology-book sticker case has been settled.

    In an agreement announced today, Cobb school officials said they will not order the placement of any “stickers, labels, stamps, inscriptions, or other warnings or disclaimers bearing language substantially similar to that used on the sticker that is the subject of this action.” School officials also agreed not to take other actions that would undermine the teaching of evolution in biology classes.

    Three cheers for my school system! I no longer feel bad about paying taxes into it.

  • Hugghahadabuggahda…

    I am a purveyor of scienceblogs.com because they contain a lot of useful and interesting information.

    Not that this isn’t useful or interesting, but it hurts my brain…

  • Excellent Website

    Cleaning out the “to be posted” file…

    I’ve spent the past week or so perusing the pages on this website. Most are strangely amusing. My favorite quote, found on the page of Astronomically Unlikely is:

    …if all-natural organic free-range babies are the perfect ingredient for tentacle lotion…

    Originally, I was punted over by way of SFSignal and I ended up on the SF Chronophysics page which details exhaustively the types of time travel you run into whilst reading Science Fiction and watching Star Trek (Bleha! on Star Trek’s time travel!).

    A good time sink. I approve.

  • So, You Want to be an Astrophysicist?

    ScienceBlogs contains a large number of useful, cogent, and entertaining blogs. One of them I was popping around on has a series of posts titled, So you want to be an Astrophysicist?

    Ahhh, where was the internet when I was in High School? Oh, yes. It was called DARPA and Prodigy and Bulletin Boards…

    These links are nice summations by someone who’s been-there-done-that, and the fact that he’s on ScienceBlogs automatically gives him street cred, in my opinion.

    But.

    There’s a big “but” here.

    All of these link boil down to:

  • Take all the math and physics courses (starting in HS)
  • Do well on them
  • Don’t get into this for the money
  • Prepare to never sleep
  • Money money money money

    • From personal experience I have a mid-sized problem with his assertion that you should go to the best school you can afford. Sitting here at my desk at home, working a professional job that pays quite well, suitably certified (or certifiable) as a professional engineer, 10 years out of college, and I’m still paying off student loans. Sure, they’re not high-interest, but the total drain on my monthly finances is significant. The end result is that I have a continous financial committment that I can not drop and go (to quote She’s All That) study squid fishing in Borneo. I’ve nailed myself to some sort of career that delivers a middle class paycheck. At times, I find that confining.

    On the other hand, if you’re passionate about what you want to do, I suppose as long as you can feed yourself, you’re good to go. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, so grad school was never a useful option for me.

    All of the comments he has regarding how to work the system of faculty and admissions are excellent. I’m sure my wife, with her doctorate would agree with most of the suggestions.

    I found no overarching linky page, so I’ll list them here:

    Part 0
    Part 1
    Part 1.5
    Part 1.75
    Part 1.99
    Part 2.0
    Part 2.5

  • Dragon*Con 2006

    Wahhhhhh!!!!!!

    As you may notice from the categories tags, Dragon*Con was a multi-threaded, awesomely spectacular, ravingly cool, devastatingly delicious weekend. There’s so much to talk about, I’m not sure where to start. This will probably end up being a multiple posting.

    I’ll start by saying, I bought a new camera the week before Dragon*Con, and I’m still working with the settings. Unfortunately, I had the white balance set on tungsten all weekend, so my pictures are a bit blue. I’ll be photoshopping them to adjust the color balance before I post anything. ‘Til then, you’ll just have to deal with my descriptions.

    I think I will leave this post as is. Dragon*Con 2006 was great! I’ve already made hotel reservations for next year.

    [editorital addition] It seems this post is similar to last year’s post. That’s ok! I feel that this year was even better, but that is probably because of the bevey of friends that made the trip here for the Con.