Browsing all posts in April, 2008.

The Middle Ages: Globular Clusters

As an undergrad and even for most of my graduate school years, astronomy had this problem: Globular Clusters seemed to be older than the universe. We all knew this was a matter of someone calculating something wrong, but no one knew what. Cosmologists, looking at the still being explored expansion of the universe, kept getting [...]

Tomorrow’s Interactive Toys

Earlier this evening a friend sent me a link to this blog post. Having only recently been introduced to a gin that didn’t feel like fire, I was highly amused by the title and the image from the text of all of the US and UK simultaneously drunk on gin and overpopulation, well, it kept [...]

End of the Semester

It’s T-6 class days and counting until final exams start at SIUE. Spring is in the air, and students have cast away their winter cloths to frolic in the sun in shorts and T-shirts as they try to cram in as much of college life as they can before disappearing for summer. Yesterday, while walking [...]

Summer Nights Drifting In: Summer Observing Challenge

As odd as this may seem, I’ve never been big on the summer sky. It’s not the fault of the sky – summer brings a wealth of stunning objects, and I keep trying to convince myself to learn them. It’s just, somehow, a season I keep missing. I have countless memories of frozen nights spent [...]

See you in St Louis?

I would like to take this opportunity to invite all of you to the nearest city to my own small town: St. Louis.
This May 31 – June 4 the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the American Astronomical Society and the US International Year of Astronomy team are all converging on the Gateway City and you [...]

IYA, The Movie Trailer

I invite all of you to view the movie trailer for the International Year of Astronomy, and if you are a teacher, please share this video with your students (it only needs attribution to be used widely).
Last week I mentioned that I was working on the Portal to the Universe. At this time, I can [...]

Recovery, and Irrational Fears

To say it has been a long week would be an understatement. Last Sunday, jet lagged (very jet lagged) and happy, I landed at St Louis Lambert Airport, found where my husband had left the car on his way to California, and headed home to sleep. Monday morning was the technology rebellion, but by 3pm [...]

What the [beep] is going on?

Yes, that was an Earthquake (5.4 Magnitude)
Now the tornado sirens are going off. I am not going to go into the basement of my house after an Earthquake for many hours, however (there is a massive fault through here, and if it about to finish going, under my 100 year old house is not where [...]

What the [bleep] was that?!?!?

It’s 4:47am. Up until I couple moments ago, I was dead asleep. Then the bed started shaking. Normally this means the dog is scratching violently.
The dog wasn’t scratching.
I think (?!?!?) there was just a fairly long duration , fairly strong, Earthquake or a mine subsidence.
I would call someone to make sure I’m not delusional, but [...]

Home Safe, all tech dead

I’m blogging from my iPhone.
I’m home safe, and my husband and my cellular wireless card are in California on a business trip.
My cable, Internet, and telephone are all dead. There is, after much anxious waiting, someone here. Unfortunately, the problem is between neighbors pole and our house and the line has to be replaced. [...]