Course Schedule (Tentative)

Phy 106a: Is there anything worse than taking intermediate classical mechanics with Chicago physics undergraduates? Apparently. Try taking it with Caltech undergraduates.

Ge 133: It's about the formation of planetary systems,

Ge 148a: Essentially, this will be a review of climatology. We all know I can't get enough.

Ge 297: Research: Martian dust and methane cycle modeling

Ge 225a: Planetary Science Seminar

ESA(20050915.1)

Some News on the Recent Planetary Astronomy "Hacking" Incidents

It hasn't hit the news cycle, since the only Mike Brown anyone cares about these days is the head of FEMA.

ESA(20050915.1)

Roommate #2

...has arrived. The three of us have something in common. We all went to college within thirty miles of one another. Most of you know where I went to college, but can you guess where my other two roommates went?

ESA(20050914.1)

Proof Comes Out This Friday!

That is all.

ESA(20050911.1)

People Are Being Held At Gunpoint by the Military

And... "but troops guarding the building refused to confirm that and threatened to beat reporters seeking access to the makeshift morgue."

Soldiers are threatening to beat reporters?!!!! I appreciate these guys' efforts to make sure people don't have to endure their loved one's mortal remains displayed in the paper of every Sunday newspaper tomorrow morning but threatening to lay the smackdown on the press is very bad form and possibly a violation of federal civil rights law. (Though threatening to shoot reporters would be a clear cut case.) Couldn't they simply have threatened arrest?


Roommate Update: I so far have not seen my new roommate. I know a bit about him, since I met his father this morning. But I have yet to meet him.

ESA(20050903.2)

Retraction

In comments to ESA(20050828.1), Mr. Thompson quoted perhaps one of the most direly worded and most accurate forecast products in the history of the government weather services of the United States. [Note: This is not the originally issued product, which likely was issued Sunday morning.] Based on my limited experience with NWS forecast products and familiarity with the operations of the NWS, this product appeared to me to be a hoax. All sources I found it in originally did not link to an official NWS site. Nor could I find it in the likely places in the NWS's huge web network. (For what reason, I don't know. Looking back, it should have been easy to find, but it wasn't where I thought.) However, I decided today to use other methods, namely yahoo! searches of weather.noaa.gov to track it down.

Here's what I know about this product:

(a) To the best of my knowledge, it originated in NWSFO, New Orleans. The earliest issue time I can find for it, thanks to wikisource is 10:11 AM CDT.

(b) Oddly enough, it is unsigned. My best guess on authorship (and it is mere speculation) is that it was authored by the same forecaster who did the afternoon forecast discussion that day based on the mention of urgency being stressed in all products. But wait, my guess was right. Strangely enough, I just found the original full product and signed, too, by the same forecaster who signed the discussion, the mysterious "24." [There's some new business of numbers being assigned to forecasters for statistical and quality control purposes. Some forecasters sign with last names, others with initials, which can be confusing for such purposes.] Here's a more permanent link.

(c) Who's "24"? I have no idea. In the last few days, NWSFO New Orleans forecasters have been signing last names and numbers. 24, provided he or she is OK, should be working during the next few days. But considering all the play his or her forecast has had in the blogosphere, he or she has the dubious distinction of writing one of the most read weather forecasts in history. Sadly. it was all too accurate.

ESA(20050903.1)

I Have A Roommate

Or at least I think so. I came home from the movies tonight and noticed there was a glass out sitting by the sink with some water in it. Well, that's funny. So I checked the other bathroom and found toiletries. And there's a crockpot box sitting in another part of the kitchen. Well, I'm not Sherlock Holmes, but I think I have company.


ESA(20050902.1)