tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89585342011-08-02T21:55:42.269-05:00Jacknoreply@blogger.comBlogger2251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-71744070511547528282009-06-30T18:33:00.003-05:002009-06-30T18:42:29.276-05:00

This Friday, July 3rd, is my final date for public observing at Dearborn Observatory. The 9-10pm slot is all booked up, but from 10-11pm anyone who wants to come see the stars and hear me blather on about the history of Dearborn is welcome.Provided mother nature cooperates and we have clear skies we'll be able to check out the following celestial targets:SaturnMoonGreat cluster in

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-41859370742579869362009-06-29T15:40:00.002-05:002009-06-29T15:42:17.184-05:00

Aliens aren't responsible for crop circles...Far more sinister forces are at work

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1102412610289902312009-03-31T20:43:00.001-05:002009-03-31T22:29:59.674-05:00

I have decided to wrap up this blog. There are a few more posts I want to get in first. And not to worry, there's that other blog I'm on which could use some more active posters.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-28168104139202679112009-03-17T04:04:00.000-05:002009-03-17T16:15:51.554-05:00

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-17315268213258743532009-02-12T14:04:00.001-06:002009-02-12T14:04:54.986-06:00

So this is pretty cool... Two large communications satellites crashed into each other yesterday (one Russian, one American). See the BBC article. This probably resulted from human error as they could have altered the orbit of the US satellite.No cool pictures of the collision, but here's the intersecting orbits. And this gives me the perfect chance to post cool ESA images of space debris around

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-80670801297021124492009-01-26T06:09:00.000-06:002009-01-26T06:09:00.309-06:00

Crisis-aversion index cards are perhaps the most brilliant idea yet from McSweeneys:So, you didn't get a seat on the subway. There's no reason to cry, little dude! Look around! You see all those beautiful people standing? You're one of them! Look how tall you seem next to those seated around you! Why don't you tuck your blanket into your bag now, OK? It's OK to have a security blanket, but let's

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-7561440067927660122008-12-03T14:20:00.006-06:002008-12-07T21:11:21.602-06:00

all I want for christmas . . . .another move (still in Evanston)where the tall trees grow in Kenyaridiculous, this Derrick Rose guyreally cool, when it works (re: Economics)Cimex lectulariusgay marriageMetal House!the Lake County FairPlease try and infer awesome blog posts that I would have written had my life not been so busy (note the roughly reverse chronological order).And as a bonus, how

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-4812040980672800322008-11-13T22:24:00.004-06:002008-11-13T22:42:25.608-06:00

It boggles my mind that this is not in the Top 5 stories in the New York Times. This is why you have to announce all truly remarkable scientific discoveries on a Monday, so it makes the Tuesday Science section.For the first time there's a very convincing image of an extrasolar planet which would fit right in among the planets we've got here at home. It orbits the star Fomalhaut, a 2.3 solar mass

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-74553097892096722432008-11-05T14:34:00.001-06:002008-11-05T14:34:49.615-06:00

Because just one embedded youtube link is far, far insufficient.one of two songs that's been stuck in my head...almost obligatory, for its association with obamathinking of previous electionsfor joyful reflectionyes we can!why change is a powerful, concrete ideaAnd props to whomever decided to set the montage at the Grant Park rally to the National's "Fake Empires".finally, that other song stuck

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-19214337280479782532008-11-04T06:49:00.006-06:002008-11-04T08:25:46.848-06:00

you fired up and ready to go? VOTE.The man who just had "a speech he gave in 2004" -- and some other stuff -- has become the face of my generation, and perhaps the 44th President. Today, go vote. Tomorrow, as he said in that speech, "We have more work to do."There is no shortage of good ideas. New green jobs. An effective economic stimulus. Healthcare. American Diplomacy. Early and well-funded

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-88651964022623677762008-10-31T21:09:00.002-05:002008-11-01T07:11:48.979-05:00

I'll take the physical challenge...

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-44578068917698024192008-10-20T00:08:00.002-05:002008-10-20T01:13:33.107-05:00

They did it! The Rays won the American League pennant. Joe Maddon is mumbling something about "nine equaling one." Sure. Why not. Black is white. Bad is good. Tampa Bay is this year's mecca for October baseball. 9=1, the new math. An improvement from 9=4, and 9=8 that proceeded it. This team is a group of the most lovable idiots I've ever had the pleasure of rooting for.Reasons to like the Rays (

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-10592301789633176012008-10-12T19:58:00.000-05:002008-10-12T19:58:00.732-05:00

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-77994346690164331872008-10-09T08:59:00.001-05:002008-10-09T08:59:00.778-05:00

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-25784585224844097662008-10-08T16:42:00.004-05:002008-10-08T18:43:53.043-05:00

Last night I was starting to nod off a bit during the Presidential debate. It was all sort of a blur. But then it was brought to my attention that McCain was railing against earmarks and in particular a certain $3 million projector Obama requested.Wait. What?"$3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Ill. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?" asks John

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-55410650049203596022008-10-06T20:00:00.002-05:002008-10-06T20:02:31.584-05:00

Don't stop bloggin' (even if you have to move your white sox column to DWblog).

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-77721801977885191262008-10-02T08:20:00.004-05:002008-10-02T08:28:59.210-05:00

I was doing so well all the way up to "OK, do you have a postdoc lined up?"Doh!

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-77523343723663212602008-10-01T00:08:00.001-05:002008-10-01T04:01:03.933-05:00

but this will help...Empire of the Sun, "Walking on a Dream"

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-35201397784426616782008-08-28T23:22:00.003-05:002009-03-17T16:30:50.521-05:00

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-45253365713351408852008-08-28T08:21:00.009-05:002008-08-28T08:50:07.071-05:00

I've been a closet political junkie (perhaps closeted only in my own estimation) ever since the election of 2000 when I stayed up watching that endless election coverage in three green. Remember how ABC's studio caught on fire! You can relive that night here. So please forgive me this indulgence, but I just wanted to draw your attention to the following...Unless you were watching PBS or C-Span,

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1035630403327947102008-08-10T08:44:00.002-05:002009-03-17T16:28:19.638-05:00

Has anyone else noticed how Astronomers (or more correctly astronomy-related careers) keep popping up in TV spots for giant corporations? First, I noticed a brainy looking guy pimping LCD TVs, with tiny text identifying him as an... astrophysicist?. Now there's a guy who works on models of planets at the Hayden planetarium hawking Avodart (he has a going problem). Anyone else catch the planet du

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-42047338187874350422008-07-03T06:00:00.000-05:002008-10-11T11:48:07.738-05:00

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-38654638385515558272008-06-13T03:35:00.005-05:002008-06-17T15:53:07.488-05:00

In an unfolding personal annecdote which will surely amuse anyone who has ever lived with me or knows of my seemingly limitless ability to sleep through well, just about anything (but mostly think loud, snooze-less alarms), tonight I was awoken by lightening.Hella, sick, in my face lightning. The kind that CRACKs and then tingles the hairs on your back, or in this case my entire head on my pillow

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-11970613513192236892008-05-22T20:04:00.004-05:002008-05-22T20:12:17.878-05:00

Just too funny not to post for everyone to see, 41 Hilarious Science Fair Experiments.My personal favorite of which is:The thumbs up totally sells the science. And bonus points for snacks.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-36709002825045151822008-05-08T16:00:00.004-05:002008-05-08T16:05:00.298-05:00

There's probably a new story like this each day that gets its popularity bumped up based on a misleading title, but never before have I so enjoyed seeing an article about the consequences of global warming being the most read new story of the day, probably entirely because of it's title. So bravo to whomever came up with the title for Richard Black's article Great tits cope well with warming.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-24164709803087799112008-05-02T11:10:00.005-05:002008-05-05T20:20:40.681-05:00

A two-part post: First, I'll take a wild and insufficient swing at distilling 90 minutes of conversation between the Northwestern Grad Students and Steve Chu, our Heilborn lecturer. (He won the Nobel prize in 1997 "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light"). Then, some notes from his talk in this morning's Symposium on Energy. It's always good to put a smiling face to

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-18628221309321342912008-03-17T10:48:00.003-05:002009-03-17T16:06:55.595-05:00

...are awesome at tivia(cue the music)

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-37355782508456015072008-01-11T00:24:00.001-06:002008-01-11T00:35:58.981-06:00

I'm not entirely sure why Barack Obama pulls the youth vote so strongly, but there's no disputing the evidence:So does this get tagged under really cute or obvious parental coaching. well, at least it's not this obvious. Or this horifying. Elections are just better with youtube.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-7635583706055249242008-01-03T13:54:00.000-06:002008-01-03T14:34:22.905-06:00

To be filed under "things that make my blood boil"...Can Atheists Be Parents?Well, surprise, but there are millions of parents out there who are! So thank you TIME for that wonderful nugget of a title. From the article:In an extraordinary decision, Judge Camarata denied the Burkes’ right to the child because of their lack of belief in a Supreme Being. Despite the Burkes’ ‘high moral and ethical

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-82002690824389662832007-12-29T18:22:00.000-06:002007-12-31T17:35:35.262-06:00

The other night I couldn't sleep and found myself inexplicably watching a late-hour rerun of Oprah's "Favorite Things" episode (not sure which year). Christmas puts me in a list-making mood, so, here are a few of my favorite things from 2007. You will have to imagine all the screeming middle-aged women...note: for whatever reason, i did things in threes this year. hey, three is a good

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-29644184605034137712007-12-12T19:35:00.000-06:002007-12-12T19:41:45.194-06:00

A victory for l33tspeakers everywhere, w00t is w0ty. Hopefully this means they will start to move away from letting an internet poll distinguish an honor. Really, name an internet poll that bestows an actual honor. Even American Idol doesn't use internet polls. With this newfound credibility maybe we can get l33tspeak accepted as a second language and suddenly so many Americans will be bilingual.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-89918055414144262762007-10-24T15:13:00.000-05:002007-10-24T15:43:48.966-05:00

the five foods that you should make organic:MilkApplesPotatoesPeanuts(esp. butter)ketchup? yes, ketchuphere's a good list for the next time you go shopping.also, can you name four fruits indigenous to the continental united states?black raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, concord grapes. but you'd also get credit for mayhaw pomes, pawpaws and a host of others.well, can ya?

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-77899353355168482732007-10-22T14:13:00.000-05:002007-10-22T16:40:31.966-05:00

That would be the war in Iraq, at least in terms of the amount of money that's been requested for 2008: $189.3 billionThat's more than the total expected cost of America's longterm space plan to return to the Moon and send people to Mars by 2020. That's more than the Apollo mission cost (adjusted for inflation) and could substantially fund an "apollo program" for alternative energy sources. Maybe

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-76232462968029576652007-10-20T16:40:00.000-05:002007-10-21T22:14:05.969-05:00

(with titles like this is anyone not glad that I rarely post...)It seems Evanston is devolving into a lawless den of crime while I'm away. This story from the Daily Northwestern is all the proof you need. The Roaming Gnome, of Travelocity fame was allegedly stolen from Northwestern's Transportation Center. Alledgedly because you can never be too sure with dissappearances of the Roaming Gnome.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-70611070445740910752007-09-30T02:06:00.001-05:002009-03-17T16:03:35.354-05:00

Kat sent me a link worth putting out there for everyone (though news of it seems to be spreading rather quickly). Being the excellent teacher she is, she keyed right in on the head fakes.Professor Randy Pausch gave an incredible last lecture for the students at Carnegie Mellon. It's literally his last lecture. He's dying of cancer, and only has a little more time left to spend with his wife and

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-24446305057992416082007-09-20T07:29:00.000-05:002007-09-20T07:50:46.670-05:00

well, how many chances do i get to blog from Australia? it's my last night in Narrabri, I've now finished up my 20+ hours of observing with Mopra, and it's a nice dish they've got setup out here. And erik and balt are more than capable should you find yourself out that way needing to use a millimeter telescope.The southern skies haven't been quite as resplendent as I'd hoped with the moon being

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-48339408063311448632007-09-19T02:56:00.003-05:002009-03-17T15:55:45.158-05:00

I'm in Australia. This trip takes me to Narrabri, the base of operations for Australia's premiere radio interferometer. I'll be there for observations with MOPRA, a 22m single dish telescope that observes at 3 mm, which is a few hundred clicks away in Coonabaran. But I am not too far from the Warrambungle mountains... how can you not love Australian names for places?In preparations for my trip I

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-65218242638803715082007-09-14T15:52:00.000-05:002007-09-24T14:49:00.466-05:00

Wow, the first person I know to have their own TV segment... not any of my film or theatre friends from school. No, that would be my boss for Dearborn Public Observing nights... on the Cartoon NetworkNote: you can click and double click the movie to stop and start it.EDIT: I came across this picture which I think is from his grad school days. I thought would be appropriate to share.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-37881525681338018692007-07-19T11:43:00.001-05:002007-07-19T11:56:56.195-05:00

Came across something too good not to post. Clandestine video of the Alice Springs MASER meeting in March. This is from the party after we all had taken the edge off a bit.Al Wooten is an evil genius for taking these videos.At the end of the leftward pan where the camera stops and starts to pan back you'll see Mark Wardle and my advisor (all decked out in black, beat poet-like).See if you can

Jacknoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-92166942191839754792007-07-16T17:33:00.001-05:002007-07-16T18:42:50.947-05:00

Yes, there are many things I could be blogging about... the botanical gardens and cicadas, going home for a wedding, life at casa club, my research, slasher movies... (and I may yet write about those things) But right now I'm frantically trying to finish up research and fit in some quality time with all the people I will really miss over the next seven months. Don't expect much here until well

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1152508545384741602007-07-10T00:12:00.002-05:002009-03-17T15:50:51.727-05:00

black raspberriesblueberriescranberriesconcord grapesmayhaw pomes(because this should be somewhere on the internet)

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-4571859882499624062007-06-24T15:37:00.000-05:002007-07-20T15:58:42.500-05:00

Annie and I had one last gasp evening in the Rogers Park G-Unit. Such an appropriate end note: An entire day spent making tamales and pizza. Mango salsa envisioned but never capitalized upon. An almost Pynchonesque parade of characters: first Tim and Phil Wiese (w/special guest), then newly minted NU grad Jen Howell, followed by Jamie Madison & cabal, a Som sighting, Andy &co. fresh from a

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-64408260987013534332007-06-03T12:58:00.000-05:002007-06-03T14:07:42.727-05:00

meeting ends and I become a tourist...19 March 2007Put me decidedly in the anti-hostel camp. Footprints Westend, I am not a fan. While I appreciate your sublime location on Pitt St within walking distance of just about anywhere in the city, you come not sublimely equipped. Granted, my five nights with you will cost as much as my one night in Uluru but did you have to stick me with the irate 40-

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-63693478278812175532007-06-02T02:12:00.000-05:002007-06-02T02:21:25.700-05:00

my spoon is too big

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-67728079072104219632007-05-28T16:15:00.001-05:002007-05-28T16:16:52.188-05:00

Can't complain about life when you're laying in a hammock.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-47379664095923016942007-05-28T09:07:00.000-05:002007-05-28T16:24:31.793-05:00

meeting ends and I become a tourist...14 March 2007It's so nice to have my talk done. I almost couldn't believe it, but Farhad had a higher opinion of it than I did. He went so far as to say he thought my talk went very well. Gave a good impression. Well, that's that, I'm once again just in a happy to be here state. Farhad's talk was pretty good. Moshe Elitzur had a nice softly-backhanded

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-45260204851074384232007-05-26T10:11:00.000-05:002007-06-03T12:57:33.693-05:00

Got some great news: I've been selected for a six month visit of the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. A most happy surprise. There are four other visiting students which promise to be an interesting bunch: hailing from Sussex, Seoul, Seattle and Spain (and me from cacophonic Chicago). Finally my Los Angeles trip has a date: August 2007. Though this does temper my summer with (another) short

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-80036229901984889512007-05-19T18:29:00.000-05:002007-07-27T20:27:53.521-05:00

(it's still spring, right?)Remember when I said I'd start doing night sky recaps? Well, now that wasn't just a one-off. Here's some things to look at at night, cause, hey, it doesn't physically hurt to stand outside in the night air anymore. Hooray!Hello Jupiter/Goodbye Saturn and VenusSaturn and Venus are going to hang around in the West until July or so, but by the end of May Jupiter will be

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-50859470754952966862007-05-14T22:48:00.000-05:002007-05-16T22:44:15.082-05:00

This past Monday the incomparable Andrew "Illinois' State" Bird had a Concert/Q&A at Pick Staiger. Tickets were free, the lines were long, but Kat, Tim and I managed to get some very nice seats center of about the 12th row. Not much Q&A initially as he came on launching into Imitosis. Shoes were discarded. Violin bowed and plucked. Peddles pushed. Gramaphone horns whirled. And my god it sounded

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-34544328161772995372007-05-06T00:03:00.000-05:002007-05-06T02:23:23.394-05:00

A fascinating article about how the Chinese want to build a new city outside Shanghai. What I found fascinating was not so much the details of how they went about fitting this particular area with a city, but all the considerations made. As these architects called it "resource planning". A very interesting challenge to try and preconceive how people will want to build and interact in a fertile

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-84545976150217244822007-05-05T22:49:00.000-05:002007-05-28T16:24:18.190-05:00

the maser meeting12 March 2007First day of talks at the conference. This is shaping up well. Met a handful of old faces: Kalle, Jim Braatz, Athol, Ylva, Jim DeBuzier and Crystal Brogan among others. Had a lot of fun playing the "Can I guess who are the astronomers whose papers I've read are?" game. Basically match the name with a face. Not too successful for the most part (but no embarrassing

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-16863599103617583722007-04-24T23:24:00.000-05:002007-04-24T23:41:15.965-05:00

by NASA. In a very well timed astrophysics seminar today Debra Fisher told us about the potential of earth-finding SIM mission (yes, that's one of those ATM machine acronyms). For a few billion dollars we can find 6 to 60 earth-like planets, though the project funding just got slashed 60% by NASA and won't be fully funded anytime this decade. Extrapolating these numbers $100,000,000,000 could get

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-71284789628421405482007-04-14T16:47:00.000-05:002007-04-14T16:57:05.352-05:00

How has it already been a month since I visited Australia!? Alas, I still haven't gotten pictures of the conference from friends, but I do have my extensive travelogue from the trip. Here's part one of what will likely be a four part series...(Note: I'll include pictures when appropriate, but none in this first part)the getting there09 March 2007i'm sick. had feverish dreams somehow involving "

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-67429107475614939292007-04-09T14:36:00.000-05:002007-05-27T09:29:05.859-05:00

For 90 minutes today the Northwestern grad students got to pick the brain of Alan Guth who was here to give this years Heilborn lectures. Quite a fascinating discussion that covered everything from magnetic monopoles, to the anthropic principle and finally colliding bubbles universes in the inflationary multiverse.Some interesting notes:* Guth got onto the idea of inflation from collaboration

Jacknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-64998107633511773652007-03-30T13:13:00.000-05:002007-03-30T13:30:30.555-05:00

Just before I left for Australia1 my iPod Salinger stopped working. I was getting this "sick iPod logo" and all sorts of badness. Upon returning I was really missing not having music around anymore. So I spent a few hours trolling Apple's support pages. A lot of no help later I finally happened upon ">just the page I needed... And everything works.So what's the solution? Drop it. I'm not kidding.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-68482110171885671702007-03-07T16:38:00.000-06:002007-03-07T16:49:09.078-06:00

Off to Australia, for my MASER meeting. OK, I am not leaving until Friday, but I won't have much time between now and then, so this is the last you'll hear from me for a few weeks. Before I left I wanted to leave you with something, the openning slide to my talk:This is based off an image that was done for a CHANDRA press release. The red image is from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in optical

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-3506546169732985782007-02-25T21:29:00.000-06:002007-03-05T07:26:31.717-06:00

"I'm Ira Glass and today on This American Life..." Endless wonderful stories.Forgive my ignorance and lack of culture, but I don't listen to the radio much at all these days. Still, that's not to say that I'm missing out on the few entertaining bits that do hit the air(paritcularly, NPR). I've taken to grabbing a handful of podcasts (you know, for the crowded L or shuttle ride). By far the best

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-74528500174116199302007-02-24T01:50:00.000-06:002007-05-16T10:43:12.344-05:00

So although there's still plenty of basketball to be played before the NBA playoffs or even March madness, the NBA trading deadline passed and it's pretty clear what's going to happen the next 6 months for the Chicago Bulls team. Not exactly dire straights, especially if they can get to the second round of the playoffs or maybe beyond.Now, I don't think anyone cares but me and maybe Mike, but

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-5452629778460881572007-02-22T13:02:00.000-06:002007-02-22T13:43:35.814-06:00

So I'm looking at my spiffy new VLA data. First source to slog through the data reductions is supernova remnant IC 443. And what do I find? A new galaxy! My internal monologue went something like this:   "Hey, there's a galaxy in my supernova remnant!?"   "Shut up, or everyone's gonna want one..."Yes, sometimes I have interal monologues which are dialogues. Particularly when I'm a bit sleep

Jacknoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-72822855594462145102007-02-16T02:07:00.000-06:002007-02-16T02:28:42.544-06:00

Hiding... somewhere... with a hammer to our radiator pipes. As my roommate Annie can attest to... the banging of the radiator pipes has got to stop! It's getting violent. Possibly to the point of the metal pipes removing themselves from their attachments. It also means that intermittenly we have NO heat in our apartment. And we get fun surprises like the bellow at 1:30 AM.I even took this movie

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-2646738185549157542007-02-10T19:17:00.001-06:002007-02-10T19:39:56.852-06:00

Bad news. All those healthy fish I was enjoying (and generally doing a good job caring for despite the somewhat irregular feeding hours)... they're all gone. Done in by something called the "ick". You see, this beautiful piece of driftwood found on lake Michigan still maintained a bit of the Lakes wonderful biology. So when I first started up my tank with a handful of tetras, a bit of overzealous

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-82421877612198683092007-02-07T19:25:00.000-06:002007-02-10T19:38:47.440-06:00

It seems every astronomy, cosmology or tangentially physics blog needed to post on the recent failure of one of the Hubble space telescopes cameras. Of course, it is a rather major failure, perhaps the most used instrument on Hubble, and the most bitter of ironies that this happened the day after the yearly call for proposals to use the instrument. Yet another reason to count the blessings of

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-9076591923459934492007-02-05T12:40:00.000-06:002007-02-05T12:45:25.968-06:00

Today's Astronomy picture of the dayAbsolutely breathtaking. Fireworks. A Comet. Lightning. God bless digital photography for having the dynamic range to put this picture together. It was obviously stitched together (such things as a crowded beach make for ghosts of people) but excellently done, and a good job reducing the red reflections from the fireworks.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-59843037997224322012007-01-25T11:30:00.000-06:002007-02-04T06:50:32.856-06:00

It's the Super Bowl, and it's safe to say the winner shall be a certain a team from a certain midwestern town that starts with a "c" ends with an "o" and in the middle is "hicag". I'll be spending it with Mark Greer, Adam Henkle, and other blasts from the past. A solid football-watching group if ever there was one.If you don't care about football, you can skip the rest of this post, but perhaps,

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-76253553310626773372007-01-18T23:16:00.000-06:002007-01-18T23:39:34.010-06:00

As part of a new outreach program the National Radio Astronomy Observatories are soliciting what amounts to online profiles from the people who are lucky enough to get time on their telescopes. Entitled "Who's Using The Telescopes" it lets astronomers fill in profiles of themselves as well as an explanation of their projects. I think this is a great idea, if for no other reason than it shows what

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-30551697427534814692007-01-18T16:13:00.000-06:002007-01-18T19:17:15.409-06:00

I thought that as long as I'm doing public observing and need to keep up to date on what's up in the sky each (working) night, I might as well blog it. So every four months or so I'll preview the night sky (in lieu of music albums or films). Apologies for the N. Hemisphere bias. And by all means let me know if I've missed anything; I did save a few things for Spring.SaturnThis winter if you're

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-37325640343024375042007-01-14T12:33:00.000-06:002007-01-14T12:43:24.805-06:00

I'm currently in control of the world's largest stearable satellite dish, I've even had cable broadcasts mussing up two of my observing frequencies... and yet I am pretty sure I am the only person in Chicago not watching the Bears game.Update: OK, I just got an e-mail from my advisor, so make that one of two.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-45837806891675450532007-01-13T02:16:00.000-06:002007-05-24T09:43:20.947-05:00

News so good you can't possibly make this stuff up... Karl Szmolinsky is breeding giant rabbits in Germany. Like GIANT bunnies. Apparently there's a giant bunny breeding competition with the winner named "Berlin Champion". Here's the latest German giant, Robert weighing in at a gaudy 9.2 kg.This is crazy enough. But it gets better. North Korea, starving country with batshit crazy culture of

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-61444820167882247372007-01-10T13:16:00.000-06:002007-01-10T18:00:02.005-06:00

From Cameron, a sight to be seen on a sidestreet near Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. Look for the guy preaching the coming of Judgement Day. Excellently composed.Not that I really wanted to bring this up again, what with all the controversy and strong feelings about it... but who would have thought Astronomers would have created such a polarizing issue in the news this past year? OK, it's not like

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1167728929883183812007-01-04T20:39:00.000-06:002007-01-05T16:31:31.526-06:00

Little reflection: 2005 was a bad year. 2006 was a good transition year. No complaints. But 2007 is going to be great, as I found myself unexpectedly said to Farhad the other day(nd I meant it): Australia! Pasadena(finally). Thesis observations (the fun part of it all). And the new Thomas Pynchon book "Against the Day" is quite good.Spent this new years taking Kat up on her invite to a tapas

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1167726774754042222007-01-02T02:32:00.000-06:002007-12-13T18:41:08.537-06:00

Lauryn Hill, Air, Wilco, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Andrew Bird, Spoon, Stars, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem, Rufus Wainwright, Architecture in Helsinki, Feist, the Postal Service, the Shins, Smashing Pumpkins, Jose Gonzalez, New Pornographers, Modest Mouse, Wolf Parade, Rilo Kiley, Deerhoof, Of Montreal, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, Bloc Party, !!!, Apostle of Hustle, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Annie,

Jacknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1166772645109631472006-12-22T01:25:00.000-06:002007-01-19T00:39:31.290-06:00

update: Mia pointed out an album I was aware of but wasn't aware of how great it was. Definitely makes my list. Thanks for pointing it out Mia!Peter, Bjorn and John - Writer's BlockSo Tim was asking me the other day if there was any good music from 2006. He'd apparently been enraptured with 1930's pop music. Well, I've got some time at home, so I went through my iPod and here's what I came up

Jacknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1166214337572599622006-12-15T14:19:00.000-06:002006-12-15T14:27:00.666-06:00

My six month visit to Pasadena is delayed (by three months)... again. Summer 2007. There are good things about this, like the fact that I can be 99% sure I will have data when I go as opposed to 50% sure. And that I will have time to wrap up my many VLA and GBT projects. And that I will actually miss a bit of the Chicago winter when I do finally go. But it's still frustrating to keep having these

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1157482150539153032006-12-11T22:44:00.000-06:002006-12-12T06:53:45.783-06:00

In my tireless effort to meld film with the physical sciences, I've searched for physics and astronomy papers which referene movies... blatantly... in their titles. What can I say, I'm too lazy to write a piece of code to do this properly.This was inspired by one of my favorite papers, "The mouse that soared: high-resolution X-ray imaging of the pulsar-powered bow shock G359.23-0.82" by Brian

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1165522567075371162006-12-07T13:55:00.000-06:002006-12-07T14:20:02.293-06:00

Seems like I am congratulating a new doctorate of physics from the astronomy side of northwestern every three months now... not that there's anything wrong with that (well, unless every university is putting them out at that rate. a crowded job market is not something I want to think about).Today the man of the hour is Dr. Casey Law. This one is a little special for me too. Casey is Farhad's

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1164600988826284072006-11-26T21:57:00.000-06:002006-11-26T22:23:09.850-06:00

I am/was too busy/lazy to write up a thanksgiving post, but thought I could at least do a better job than Tim. In the spirit of thanksgiving (eating too much and having nothing but leftovers for the rest of the week) here's some blogging I found in the fridge...Watching football in Indiana I was thinking about how I missed John Madden broadcasting on Thanksgiving. Then Friday night out for drinks

Jacknoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1163636223302952802006-11-21T22:57:00.000-06:002006-11-22T00:06:39.700-06:00

Finland Finland Finland...Bet you didn't know I like my eurovision song contests. Well, normally I'm not much for something so american idolish, but, well, it's european. Or maybe call it a Daler Mehndi effect. So for your enjoyment here is the winner: Lordi's "Hard Rock Halleluja" which is absolutely horrible and wonderful at the same time...If you couldn't tell from the hat, they're Finnish.

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1162597342138731832006-11-10T20:41:00.000-06:002006-11-11T19:03:46.306-06:00

Tim and I had a discussion over what the meaning of oblique actually is, so perhaps this is being used out of context... but I've never let that stop me.Mars' changing obliquityIn last week's physics dept. colloquium the speaker Sarah Stewart was addressing how she uses impact craters (and physical tests and simulations done at Harvard) to uncover Martian climate cycles. It was a neat talk, but

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1162098500589419132006-10-29T00:03:00.000-05:002006-11-01T09:10:42.470-06:00

This has to be one of the weirdest spam e-mails i've ever gotten (technically it was sent to j-hickey@northwestern.edu and somehow I got it... no, "j-hickey" is not one of my many aliases.)  From: Ezra Sears  Subject: ostensible partner open-housednessdisposition, your goodness, i never can have your happiness. no, no, let me shift for myself; and,Anyways, right now there are 26 telescopes

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1162092002704731652006-10-28T21:32:00.000-05:002006-10-30T03:24:56.153-06:00

Another short update at the close of October. Oh, hey that would have worked as a post title, and without all acerbity. (I'm just vexed at having to work to get caught up this weekend. I'll get over it)... Finger is pretty much all healed up. Didn't leave a glaring, gruesome scar like I had sort of hoped... My thesis committee and date for candidacy have been set. November 20th is the day. A blog

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1161502345010182752006-10-22T19:24:00.000-05:002006-10-22T22:56:36.860-05:00

It's been a busy month in between blog posts, so I should toss out an update for everyone. Doesn't look like things will be any less busy anytime soon. But some one has to blog if tim isn't.Nothing really blog worthy happening of late. Just chipping away at grad school and settling in the rogers park digs. The TVquarium is now functional. I have a school of neon tetras in it a few java ferns and

Jacknoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1158905431954875062006-09-22T00:59:00.000-05:002006-09-22T01:44:15.436-05:00

sometimes we all just need a tunak tunak break...via google video or youtubeThough i don't know why these people felt compelled to put up a video of themselves... everyone get an isight and we can video conference a tunak tunak break, just like old times.And because I've always kinda wondered, here's a translation of the lyrics (highlight to read as I realize some of you may not want to know...)

Jacknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1158771318196034232006-09-20T11:33:00.000-05:002006-09-22T01:11:46.963-05:00

Sometime's I hear about astronomy "events" and I drag my friends to them. Sometimes they turn out to be pretty cool... here's where I'd link to a blog post about a cool one, but I don't actually have anything to link to from my own blog. Chicago/Evanston really needs a Cafe Scientifique or a Categorically Not!. Well, last night there was a public lecture at the very cool Harris Theatre at

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1158676063408507702006-09-19T09:07:00.000-05:002006-09-19T09:34:16.406-05:00

My latest obsession, chicago supermercados... First of all I went shopping on Saturday and picked up nearly two weeks worth of food for $15.28... That's like maybe lunch and dinner in Evanston. And I have never seen such an amazing selection of beans in my entire life.Additionally I thought how cool would it be to have a Supermercado shirt. It's far better than those neighborhood hoodies (unless

Jacknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1157320443482709012006-09-07T16:39:00.000-05:002006-09-07T20:56:10.653-05:00

A week ago Annie and I (with much help from Jeremy) moved into the new place. Everything is out of its box, but hasn't yet found a place; Annie is painting the living room ("zen mist" a shade lighter than "3-green" green and a bit more vibrant) and we still are some living room furniture shy of entertaining. But from all initial indications it's a great apartment. The location is wonderful. I've

Jacknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1156523102660014402006-08-25T11:12:00.000-05:002006-08-25T11:31:10.883-05:00

loathe am i to break from movie reviews and an poor attempt at becoming antagonie-lite but i felt oblidged to weigh in on this weeks goings on in astronomy. it was actually a pretty good week as weeks go. something else got all the headlines, but the real news was the "bullet cluster". you see, astrophysicists have had this idea of dark matter and dark energy accounting for most of our universe (

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1155970776333878182006-08-19T01:48:00.000-05:002006-08-20T15:37:19.823-05:00

I'm running quite a streak. Another night, another perfectly realized platonic ideal. In this case, the rip off every movie ever homage to the king lizzard. I must disclose that I've never seen a Godzilla movie before. I'm told purists might be dissappointed by this film. So why am I starting here? Someone mentioned to me that MASERs figure prominently in this film. And, yes, I am a sucker for

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1155880705827615152006-08-18T00:36:00.000-05:002006-08-18T02:14:30.690-05:00

You don't need me to tell you about the movie "Snakes on a Plane". You already know all you need to know. But I'm gonna tell you about it anyways.There's snakes. They are on a plane. And Samuel L. Jackson fights them.That's it. Yes, there's just about every conceivable stereotype of an airline passanger on board, and yes, they are all attacked by snakes. Either you already like this movie or you

Jacknoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1149051389930101912006-08-07T18:56:00.000-05:002006-08-20T10:23:14.053-05:00

Cameron asked for a new blog post, so instead of writing up something blog-worthy, here is the latest in my series of music quips. And yes, I'm getting a lot more lenient with what goes above the hyper-fold.====== BEST OF, SO FAR ======the French Kicks - Two ThousandI just like them. Can I make a comparison to a sleepy Spoon sound? Sure. I'm running low on the band commentary. And while I'm at it

Jacknoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1152343041853431562006-07-08T02:09:00.000-05:002006-07-09T12:49:26.616-05:00

I hadn't had a proper summer read yet, and well, now I have. Stumbled upon Jostein Gaarder, author of perhaps my favorite book Sophie's World, and on the very first pageYou can read about the Hubble Space Telescope athttp://hubblesite.orgSold! And as Lyssa commented, it has a very pretty cover.So what of the book now that I've read it? There's an enchanting love story -- mystery? -- here that I

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1152122380814472382006-07-05T12:55:00.000-05:002006-07-05T13:02:58.973-05:00

July 3, 2006 Originally uploaded by saudijack. Had a very good weekend. Kate & Lyssa flew in from New York. Anne & Dan flew in from D.C. Ross was back from... everywhere. And locals - Sip, Mike, Annie, Tim, Pat - to boot. It was so great to see everyone. BBQ in the yard yesterday and Tim and Mia stopped by. Evanston Fireworks. And now we're off to Milwaukee for Summerfest and the Great

Jacknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1151651551357976332006-06-30T01:44:00.000-05:002006-07-03T12:16:41.736-05:00

I received that new digital camera I posted about the other day. So here's the first few photos I snapped with Handford. Not exactly epic shots to break in the silicon, but I'm hoping for better subjects come this weekend. In the meantime you'll have to settle for these...I know I've talked up how I've been so busy observing... well now you can see for yourself what "remote" observing is really

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1151211333835019742006-06-24T23:12:00.000-05:002006-06-27T12:17:19.283-05:00

This weekend has just slipped away, so the Albuquerque post is getting tabled until after I get all the photos back from being developed. The main reason for this is Green Bank observations. I am not (as everyone seems to think) in Green Bank, but rather have been observing remotely from Evanston. The fun twist is that my project is at low-frequencies (and thus much less weather dependent). So

Jacknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1150842429971088152006-06-20T17:13:00.000-05:002006-06-23T17:01:07.523-05:00

the heat must be getting to the people in albuquerque. just got through eight wonderful days in new mexico at the summer synthesis imaging workshop, also known as the VLA summer school. Seems like I've been away a lot longer than a week. Missed out on seeing Marc and Carol while they were in Evanston, and probably missed a few graduation goodbyes (can't wait to see pictures from the karaoke party

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1149537909781842462006-06-05T14:40:00.000-05:002006-06-05T15:11:29.150-05:00

You know I always find that if you can make it through the first night without sleep, What's great is that when you sit infront of you computer in Tech for say 12 hours straight and you're so fucking cold and then you realize it's really about 80 degrees and the fact that you haven't gotten any circulation going for hours is just, man.so i'm going to sleep soon, but not before David Choi finds my

Jacknoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1146709314209830632006-05-30T23:21:00.000-05:002006-05-30T23:58:47.793-05:00

Seems 7.7 is the new 10. At least that's what pitchfork seems to like giving the things I like. Tasteless hacks (not that i haven't had it in for them ever since they picked Interpol's debut over YHF). So what'll be getting a 7.7 soon? Pat, I'm waiting for the new Rosie and the Truck's album...====== BEST OF, SO FAR ======Danielson - ShipsIf I didn't like these guys it would be real easy to

Jacknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1148053436367832952006-05-19T10:20:00.000-05:002006-05-19T13:22:58.010-05:00

This past sunday I found out I did not get the Spitzer Fellowship I had been hoping for, which is dissappointing, but I'll get to spend another summer in Chicago and that can never be a bad thing. Long term there's still some very interesting research I'd like to do with people at Spitzer/Caltech, so I'll probably take another stab at the fellowship, or perhaps get funding in September. But for

Jacknoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1146203171728848172006-05-10T18:32:00.000-05:002006-05-12T11:25:09.883-05:00

Now I've done it. Chicken after midnight. And a torrential flood of albums that left me all wet. Never should have let it happen, but now I've gotten wrapped up in this so I've gotta stick it out. Twelve more albums from 2006, with more musical punditry to follow.====== BEST OF, SO FAR ======Beirut - Gulag OrkestarHow nice to find something genuinely different. I wasn't expecting anything less

Jacknoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1146745293895385572006-05-04T07:10:00.000-05:002006-05-04T07:26:46.653-05:00

A short follow-up on a previous post because I know you all don't check APOD religously like I do. Hubble has imaged a few of the fragments of disintegrating comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 that will pass us by on May 12th. It's rather breathtaking the structures you can see within each fragment. Comet break-ups are obviously a messy business. The fragmentation was first noticed in 1995, but now

Jacknoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8958534.post-1146672352250058972006-05-03T10:53:00.000-05:002006-05-03T11:09:45.886-05:00

these are the days that make you fall in love with chicago. the kind of day where you just want to be outside. find your patch of grass in the sun. and listen to wilco's yankee hotel foxtrot. (which is what i'm doing, only inside tech, at my computer... at least i've got a window.)at least, that's how the morning has been. later it's suppose to rain like the almighty wrath of god. which is fine,

Jacknoreply@blogger.com0