YTVotD

Two in a row!  Heard about this in Newsweek, of all places.  Who would have thought obsolete printed news media would be informing be about viral videos on web 2.0 sites?  Anyways - I think it's Ben Folds but could be wrong.  Warning, when they say "may contain curse words" at the beginning, they mean "does contain (one or so) innocuous curse words."

YTVotD

Time for another YTVotD, this time it's Dog Edition!



If only Banjo were coordinated enough to catch anything in his mouth, we could have shown him instead.  As it is, treats tossed to him usually bounce of his face and then he sniffs around for a while until he finds it.  My favorite parts are at 0:44 and, in what is a typical Banjo-face, at 1:08.

Performance Evaluation

While this may not exactly be a extensive scientific sample, I think this is pretty cool and I'm proud of my favorite physics teacher for doing such a good job (at least according to two students) in just her first year!  Being a teacher might not be the best career for getting promotions and all, but you do get some opportunities for unsolicited feedback, which seems pretty rewarding.  See below or follow the link HERE.

Hopefully Kate doesn't mind me posting this...

Visit from Anonymous

Just before I took off for Florida and the SDO launch, we were lucky enough to get a weekend visit from everybody's favorite anonymous blog commenter, down from the Canadian tundra for some time off in CA.  We had a good time playing board games and poker.

Unlike last time he visited, Ari did not take all our money in poker (on the contrary, actually).  It wasn't all bad though, he did win $1 for accepting a whimsical challenge to drink a gulp of sludgey beer yeast trub.  Apparently it wasn't as completely and utterly disgusting as it looks.  I guess.  I didn't taste it.  Are you kidding?

Banjo definitely was happy to see Ari, so I guess he forgives you for taking him on walks in Frisco last December when it was less than freezing outside and he was forced into the indignity of wearing those booties.  Thanks for visiting us, Ari!  Sorry if I blew your cover.

SDO Launch!

Belated but still interesting - the Solar Dynamics Observatory, with two instruments I worked on (HMI and AIA), finally launched last week from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  I got to see it in person with the parents and many other Lockheed folks, and despite the one-day delay it was quite an exciting experience!  It worked out great for me, as I got to visit parents, grandparents, and my aunt and uncle, not to mention catch the final night launch of the shuttle ever*.  Here's a couple photos and links to many more:

 

  

  

* - Final shuttle launch in July may well end up being a night launch if it gets delayed more than a couple days.

Links:

Official launch video (Media Player)

Youtube showing cloud ripples from shockwave blasting away sundog

Spaceflight Now page
SDO NASA page

Encapsulation!

SDO is (almost) encapsulated!  Only a few weeks until the Feb. 9 (or more likely Feb. 12-16) launch. Cool picture from yesterday:

HMI (which I worked on mostly) is the one with the two wedge-shaped white radiators visible in the top right of the spacecraft.  EVE is next to it on the left, and the 4 AIA telescopes are opposite them and not visible.

1/26/10 - a couple more pics as SDO is now sitting on the truck waiting for the ride over to the rocket...

Avahontas, or maybe Pocatar?

Kate and I decided to succumb to the Avatar hype with some friends last night and saw the movie in its full IMAX 3-D glory, and yes it was pretty breathtaking.  I agree with all the people who are saying the amazingly lush and creatively designed visuals - especially in 3D - make all the difference here.  The plot was, well, predictable, as pointed out by this pretty funny FailBlog bit.  (Warning - Spoiler alert I guess, not that you wouldn't know the story after the first 5 minutes of the movie anyway.)

Haiti Earthquake Relief

If you are looking for a way to help with the Haiti earthquake relief efforts from afar, here's a charitable donation option that I think is a good way of doing so - Doctors Without Borders.

They have been working in Haiti for 19 years and are providing some of the much needed medical services that is one of the most urgent of a long list of the country's needs right now.

Is this necessary?

Really?  Is this actually necessary to be a front-page headline on MSNBC.com?  Sheesh.  That is kind of depressing.  Well, on the bright side, maybe some people will read it.

SJSU Master's Program

I have unofficially started my master's in science education at SJSU. I figured I would probably want to get another degree some day and SJSU is nice enough to let me transfer a bunch of credits from my credential program, so although I wouldn't have minded a little time away from school, I jumped right back into the pool this fall and took another class.

Lest you think it is all sunshine and roses here at the tommenkate household, it basically took all my willpower to make it through this course. The professor was incredibly confrontational - it seemed like she took every opportunity to antagonize each of the four students (myself included). She routinely wrote comments on our papers along the lines of "No one cares what you think", and "why bother?" One of the women in the class broke down crying a couple of times.

At any rate, it's over now and I passed the class, which is a relief. I did learn a few things along the way, and picked up a bunch of pointers about how not to teach. And all four of us provided plenty of constructive feedback on the evaluation forms, so hopefully this class will improve in future semesters...