Dr. Pamela L. Gay
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Archive for September, 2007
Sep 30th, 2007
Comments(10) Statistics and SweepstakesToday I was bad to myself and stopped by McDonald’s on the way into campus and got a soda and fries. (If I’m going to go to campus on a Saturday I feel ok being bad to myself). On the bag they handed me their was a code and a website and an invitation to […] Read more...
Sep 28th, 2007
Comments(2) The Carnival ReturnsI temporarily lost all track of day’s of the week, and thus of the Space Carnival.
Sep 26th, 2007
Comments(2) Physics Exams as Germ Warfare?This week all of my physics classes are taking their first exam. Today my two sections of Science Foundations for elementary education majors had their exam and tomorrow my science and engineering students have their calculas-based have their first exam. My exams are decidedly evil - they are tough and the average student will need […] Read more...
Sep 26th, 2007
Comments(3) A Single Moment: Was it real?Yesterday a fascinating press release from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory crossed my inbox. In a re-analysis of 480 hours of data from taken with the 210-foot Parkes radio telescope in Australia, astronomers found a single 5 millisecond burst that resembled nothing anyone has ever seen before. It shifted in frequency from higher radio frequencies […] Read more...
Sep 25th, 2007
Comments(16) Of Superheros and Conservation of EnergySo it is premier week and my husband’s Window’s Media Center (his, not mine), is jubilantly happy at all the new material it has to record. We just finished watching the first new episode of one of our favorite shows, Heroes (no spoilers ahead), and I have to say that this voice in the back […] Read more...
Sep 23rd, 2007
Comments(4) Mars, Oh Inconstant WorldI’ve decided Mars is the taunting red planet. She hangs up there, red and provocative, reveling here poles and captivating us with her canyons. She plays a careful game of peek-a-boo with her here-today, gone-tomorrow sand storms. She spikes our curiosity with gullies that seem to have been made with water, and black streaks that […] Read more...
Sep 22nd, 2007
Comments(11) The Wizards in the TowerSomewhere, once upon a time, the metaphor of faculty living in a mystical Ivory Tower entered the vernacular. I don’t know the history of this imagery, but it always conjures images of wizards working their spells while the look out over the common people - the little people - from their vantage on high. These […] Read more...
Sep 21st, 2007
Comments(8) Screaming to the Stars: Quasar Echo’sIt is possible to map a room using sound, the sea using sonar, and to generally just get at the shape of things based on how the absorb and emit waves. This is true both in our Earthly locations (caves, canyons) and also in the centers of galaxies. In the past several days, I’ve seen […] Read more...
Sep 19th, 2007
Comments(4) Lensing Lenses & Einstein’s CrossWhile going through journal articles today, I came across a really neat paper on teh apparent variability of the different images of the famous lensed quasar, Einstein’s Cross (Q2237+0305, in science speak). The light from this distant quasar is blocked from reaching us directly, and is instead bent toward us along 4 different paths by […] Read more...
Sep 17th, 2007
Comments(4) The Universe tours the solar systemIt’s time to leave the Universe behind. The History Channel’s the Universe series is out of new episodes, and their sponsorship is about to drop off this blog and Astronomy Cast. If the Universe was your favorite space series of all time, have no fear, it will be showing in reruns, and you can purchase […] Read more... |