Ian and Whitney

Courtney and I had a nice little time in Arkansas, even if it was a little short. We flew in on Saturday morning and headed straight up to Fort Smith to meet Ian McLellan, my new nephew. He is pretty short still, but has some weight on him. We were only able to stay until Monday afternoon, when we had to fly back up here to DC.

However, while we were down, we were introduced to something other than Ian, and that is Karaoke Revolution. Wow. It seems like every time Courtney and I visit Michael's we come home wanting another video game. I had no idea, but it turns out that I am quite a good singer. It took me a bit to get started (I was booed off the stage for my first attempt), but after I got the hang of it I was basically the best singer in the room. It is fair to say that when I sang "I will always love you," in the style of Whitney Houston, there were quite a few tears from my audience (including Courtney, Michael and Melissa).

A good time was had by all. Definitely.

Biofuels starve the poor?

A friend of mine sent me an interesting article from Foreign Affairs, asking if biofuels might starve the world's poor, by diverting corn used for eating to corn used to drive your car. I think it is a tremendously interesting argument, but it has been constructed in such a way to be a little sensational. As you read the article--which is somewhat lengthy but worth the time--you find that it is the government subsidies and industrial favoritism of corn that might starve the world's poor, and not specifically biofuels. I was pleased to read in the final sections that the authors recognize the potential benefits of cellulosic (from trees or grasses) ethanol over corn or soybean derived ethanol. I am reminded of the excellent research that I mentioned in an earlier blog post on native grasslands producing a better biofuel. Native grasses can be planted on agriculturally degraded lands, so they aren't displacing crops, and they are carbon-negative, meaning that growing native grasses, converting them to biofuels and burning them actually puts more carbon in the ground (in the growing phase) than in the air (in the burning phase). Using soy and corn to create biofuels is better than fossil fuels, of course, but they are still carbon-positive. It's a great article if you have the time.

New "habitable" planet

Some astronomers know how to write press releases. Some don't. The European team that announced they had found a small rocky planet knows how to write a press release.

For years the salvation of the transit method of planet discovery (as opposed to the doppler method) was that it could provide the essential information that radial velocity could not: namely, the actual mass of the planet and the radius (essential components for determining if a planet is 5 Earth-masses, small and rocky, or 5 Earth-masses, and big and gassy.)

I know see that we were wasting our time with the transit method, and we should have just stuck with the doppler method and released a press release that says "Habitable planet found!!!1!!" That would have saved some time.

Wow. Apple does it again.

A lot of people accused Steve Jobs of being disingenuous when he released his "Thoughts on Music", because they said that it was a marketing move that the labels would never allow him to execute (that is, to sell music without the DRM). However, apparently, instead of the music labels calling his bluff, he has brought EMI on board. Now, EMI will release DRM-free, higher quality tracks on the iTunes Store for just $1.29, with a goal of having half the iTunes library DRM-free by the end of the year. Wow. Sometimes I wonder if Apple has any more tricks up its sleeve, and I then realize that it must be a really big sleeve (on a black turtleneck, of course.)

Microsoft Arrogance

I am no hardcore gamer. Not at all. I play the occasional video games on my Mac, but mostly things like SimCity, not Halo. However, when Courtney and I were in Arkansas over Christmas we played the Wii at Michael's house, and thought it was fantastic. It made me want to buy a console, which I have never thought before (not since 1988, at least).

That is why I was a little offended by a comment by a Microsoft Xbox product manager in a New York Times article covering the new Xbox model:

“We don’t feel like the Wii customer and the Xbox customer are the same thing,” he said. “We think that as soon as the Wii customer turns 14 they want something else.”

Hmm...I am 27, and I like the Wii. Courtney liked the Wii. I feel like Microsoft has just insulted my intelligence a little (or a lot). I know they want to push their consoles, but if they aren't frightened of the Wii, then why insult its users?

Changing default page size for TeXShop

I realize that this post may have a very limited audience. I have had trouble moving my latex documents between A4 size (which i need in Britain), and Letter size (which I need in the US). After much searching, I have found that the command
sudo texconfig pdftex paper a4
and
sudo texconfig pdftex paper letter
put in at the command line will do the trick. Be sure to re-typeset your paper after these commands.

Frustrated with WD MyBook drives

I have two MyBook 500GB external drives I have been using for a few months, and they have been great. So, when they were on sale at Costco I thought it would be a great time to pick up a couple more so that I could start mirroring my data for backup. However, when I plugged in the two new ones, they didn't work, together. They would work separately, but when you plugged both in, they would disconnect. After some sluething, I think I have found the problem, but I don't know much about firewire, so I am not certain. The Firewire connection ID (found with Disk Utility) on both drives is identical. As far as I can tell, the connection ID should be unique to all firewire drives, but these are not. I actually returned one drive to Costco thinking that it was just funky, but when I got the new one home, the same exact thing happened. Does anyone who knows more about firewire care to illuminate me if I am on the wrong track completely?

Huckabee for president

I am watching Mike Huckabee on Meet the Press this morning, and he said that tomorrow he is announcing his run for president. He says that in Iraq, he generally agrees with President Bush. I think that is a killer for his ambitions. However, in terms of Republicans, I think Huckabee might be the kind of Republican I would like. He is pro-life, but he also supports affordable or free health insurance for children, so that those babies born are healthy. He doesn't support gay marriage, but also thinks we should support strengthening heterosexual marriage. He seems internally consistent, much more than some Republicans who seem to support some Christian ideals (in order to get votes) but then cut welfare programs designed to help people. However, I am not sure he is "enough" to be president. I will be watching him closely.

"Doctor." "Doctor."

It took me four years, but I am finished now with book-learnin'. On the 10th of January I defended (think swords and armor) my thesis to Ian Bonnell of St. Andrews and Phil Lucas of Hertsfordshire. After four hours, they decided the research (and by extension, I) was fit for a Ph.D., and congratulated me. Over the next couple of days, I made the minor corrections they asked of me, and printed out my final copy of my dissertation. Now I need to get it bound and into the library at St. Andrews, but in general I have completed all the requirements of my doctorate. Woo-hoo!
There were quite a few times when I didn't think this would happen, but at the end of it I can honestly say I was enjoying the research. But, all good things…

Heading over

So, I am headed to Scotland this afternoon. There are many things on which I would like to comment, like the article in the Economist about how ethical food (fairtrade, organic, and locally produced) might do worse for the world. And the response article in Grist about how the Economist is wrong. However, I have other things (warning: large link) to think about right now.

Salt in Central Asia

There is a good article about getting iodine in salt in Central Asia in the New York Times. I was struck by the lobbyists who sprung up to challenge putting iodine in salt, which reportedly can eliminate iodine deficiencies. Iodine deficiencies in pregnant women, by the way, lower IQ points by 10-15% for their babies, and causes cretinism and dwarfism. The cost of the iodine added to a ton of salt is about $1.15, which in my opinion, is a pretty good deal for a 15 point gain in IQ. The article specifically mentions some work in Kazakhstan to convince people that iodized salt is good for you. It is funny, because the reporter mentioned that in Turkmenistan, the dictator in one fell swoop made non-iodized salt illegal, and gave away 11 pounds of iodized salt to every citizen every year. Sometimes even a dictator can do good.

Alternative Energy

Like most people (save oil executives, perhaps), I am very interested in alternative energies. It is sometimes disheartening to see renewable energy shunned in favor for petroleum products for energy needs. With the infrastructure already created to use oil and gas, renewable or alternative energies can't simply be as good as oil, but instead must be much better than oil, in order to be adopted. For that reason I am really excited about some scientific research just released that shows that low input high diversity (LIHD) native grassland perennials can produce a much better return than corn or soybeans in creating energy. The article is in Science, so you may not be able to see it, as it is restricted access. However, the gist of the research is that when a broad variety of native grasslands are planted in agriculturally degraded lands, they can produce over three times as much energy than corn or soybean derived energy products. What is even better is that this grassland biofuel cycle puts carbon back in the ground, so that the entire process actually reduces greenhouse gases. I don't know how much is spent on finding oil each year or transporting it to the places that need it, but these scientists have essentially shown that you can take a barren piece of land, plant a bunch of grasses on it, leave it without irrigation or fertilization, and in result reduce greenhouse emissions and get a (big) net positive production of energy. How cool is that?

Getting busy

Like everyone, things are getting a little bit busy in December. At the first of the month, Courtney and I had our annual cookie party. Now, I am working on astronomy code for Sara, working at the fruit stand about 25 hours a week, and trying to study for my viva. Thus, less updates.
However, I wanted to mention a friend's blog, Its beyond me. Jared is a smart guy. People should listen to him.

Education in the City

There is a fantastic article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine about educating low-income students, mostly in the inner city. I was very impressed with some of the explanations for student success, and think that parents (or prospective parents) would specifically like to know some of the information. I am also enamored with the charter schools mentioned in the article, and would love to see KIPP in the Arkansas Delta.

Selling Kidneys

There is an article about selling kidneys on the Economist right now. They are pro. It reminds me of a paper I wrote once about allowing death-row inmates to donate their organs. Give the article a read, if you have a chance.

Thesis away!

So, my deadline was the 31 October for my thesis. I ended up sending it on the 3rd November, putting it in a FedEx box to send to Scotland. I already know of a couple of errors in it, but by and large I am extremely relieved to have turned it in. If anyone wants to look at it, go ahead. Be warned that it is about 20 MB and might take a little while to download.

I will continue to work on my research, for Sara and to prepare for my viva in January, but I will have a lot more free time than before. It feels good to be back in the world.

100 pages

So, I am sure all you humanities people will laugh at the brevity of a science thesis. But, remember, a picture (or a plot) is worth a thousand words (I hope). I am still actively working, and it is a jumbled mess right now, but I passed the 100 page mark (sort of). So, if you are having a difficult time getting to sleep tonight, or you have nothing else to do, then feel free to download and take a look at the thesis.

Where am I?

Well, I am in the thick of an extrasolar planet atmosphere, computing rho, tau, kappa, and other greek symbols. I am going to finish my Ph.D. work by 31 October, so I probably won't write much until then. I hope everyone is enjoying the autumn.

Courtney Passed

You can now call Courtney Dr. Hood. She has just passed her viva. She and her mother are coming home tomorrow from Scotland, the land of rain. I am so proud of her.

Ron Moore

Ron Moore is the wildly successful writer and creator of Battlestar Galatica. He writes an excellent op-ed piece in the New York Times about the optimism of science fiction, and specifically, Star Trek. I know science fiction isn't everyone's cup of tea, but the article is a good indication of why so many of us do love it. Also, take a look at Battlestar if you haven't already. It really is great.