30,000 feet over the Pacific

Cauliflower and gossamer, red-tinged clouds— we chase a bloody Sun. … Continue reading

A Bookmans Lament

One hundred nine dollars of credit on the ledger, A hundred nine dollars of glee. I look around. The aisles, I walk down. Twenty-seven dollars of credit for me… … Continue reading

Nutballs and the Mode

Recently, Atheist Republic (AR) posted this image (⇒) in response to the Supreme Court’s decision (pdf) that legalizes marriage in the U.S. It is a Photoshopped image of the Kaaba in Mecca. The reaction from noisome elements of the Muslim community has been, predictably, swift, violent, … Continue reading

Why I Use Python (part 1)

PHP needs a semicolon at the end of every statement. So does C. So does C++. So does Java. Why? So far as I can tell, for no other reason than laziness on the part of language designers. (Note: stuffthathappens … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – Constraints on Titan’s rotation from Cassini mission radar data

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. Bruce Bills (JPL) … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – Recent Formation of Saturnian Moons: Constraints from Their Cratering Records

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. Session: Moon Formation and … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – On the Spin-axis Dynamics of the Earth

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. Gongjie Li (Harvard) … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – Recent dynamical evolution of Mimas and Enceladus

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. Session: Moon Formation and … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – On the in situ formation of Pluto’s small satellites

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. Man Yin Woo … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – Rotational and interior models for Enceladus II

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. Radwan Tajeddine (Cornell) … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – Rotational and interior models for Enceladus I

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. Session: Moon Formation … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – Forced libration of tidally synchronized planets and moons

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. Session: Moon Formation … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – Solving the Mystery of the Fermi Bubbles?

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. David F. Bartlett … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – Bringing Black Holes Together: Plunging through the Final Parsec

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. Kelly Holley-Bockelmann (Vanderbilt) … Continue reading

DDA 2015 – p-ellipse Orbit Approximations, Lindblad Zones, and Resonant Waves in Galaxy Disks

This is one of a series of notes taken during the 2015 meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, 3-7 May, at CalTech. An index to this series (all the papers presented at the meeting) is here. Curtis Struck (Iowa … Continue reading