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“I’m the guy who pulled the trigger”
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Dick Cheney, noted hunter, marksman and friend of the National Rifle Association, admitted today that it was his fault that he shot his friend, not that of the guy who received a face full of birdshot. Thanks, Mr. Vice President, for clearing that up. Update: The victim, Harry Whittington, has since come out of the…
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Dark Matter: Warm or Cold?
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This morning I woke to find that most of the UK media outlets (like the Guardian and the BBC) were carrying a story that astronomers, in particular a team lead by Gerry Gilmore of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, had unlocked some of the secrets of Dark Matter, the mysterious stuff that makes up, we think,…
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You already know what I think
There’s no need to comment on: NASA says — and forces all of its public statements to say — that The Big Bang is just a “theory”. (But there’s no lack of opinion out there, at Cosmic Variance, Bad Astronomy, Pharyngula, Balloon Juice, Stranger Fruit, Gary Farber, and Mark Kleiman…) The closure of the London…
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Four things
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Today’s internet meme has been passed to me by Gia, so, yep, more bloggy rubbish for you, and more about me than you wanted to know. Four jobs I’ve had: University Lecturer and Astrophysicist Bookstore clerk Book, comic and music reviewer for New City News Atmospheric chemistry researcher at GISS, whose director has an excellent…
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What enlightenment?
While I was out last night planning the overthrow of religion with my fellow amoral atheists, the BBC was broadcasting a documentary in which it presented a poll showing that nearly 40% of Britons thought Intelligent Design or Creationism is the best explanation of life on earth. So it appears that Britain, too, is being…
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Science Salaries
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Jupiter research has collated the salaries of scientists in the US. The median salary for “experienced astronomers” is $87K, and for “experienced physicists” it’s the whopping $106k. It would have been nice to see the differences between academic scientists and those working in industry within different fields (although I can’t imagine that there are too…
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Management, Money, Media
Wednesday was a busy day of politicking and schmoozing (as opposed to research and teaching, which is what I actually get paid to do). I spent the morning at a meeting reviewing the current status of developments for the Planck Surveyor satellite here in the UK (Planck will measure the temperature of the Cosmic Microwave…
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One Million Dollars
Remember the news a few weeks ago about “The Million Dollar Homepage” — brainchild of Alex Tew, a student in Nottingham? He sold tiny ads at $1 per pixel and filled a million pixels, and therefore his wallet. The bandwagon-jumping has started: The Homepage4Science has hundreds of thousands of pixels available for “Science Products and…
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Traffic
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In a response to the question “what are your fave science/tech bloggers,” this blog is listed, with the comment “astrophysics and bloggy rubbish.” I’m lumped in with my colleagues over at Cosmic Variance, among others, as having “too much politics at the level typical of blogs (i.e., shrill idiocy) or mindless propogation of the same…
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Science this week
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Start of a new term this past week, too busy to post much! So, a quick summary: A new collection of Science Blogs, sponsored by the revamped Science-as-lifestyle magazine Seed has gone live. In addition to PZ Myers’ wonderful and oft-cited evolution blog, Pharyngula, the site hosts blogs by cognitive scientists, physicists and science writers…