i really had no idea how grand and gorgeous yosemite is. two more days to explore!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
measurement systems
i find the US measurement systems to be mostly confusing (12 inches in a foot?). having lived in many countries, i can now think in both fahrenheit and celsius, but i have no idea how much i weight in kilos.
anyway, this graphic nicely demonstrates a reason why using fahrenheit to measure temperatures kinda makes sense! :)
anyway, this graphic nicely demonstrates a reason why using fahrenheit to measure temperatures kinda makes sense! :)
 |
| Source: twitter |
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
space food
not really sure why i think this image is so funny :) it's a contribution by artist, giorgia zanellato, to an exhibition called "future" at the mobile museum.
Friday, July 13, 2012
science: it's universal (a video)
i'm pleased to release my hack day creation from the dotastronomy 4 conference: a video called science: it's universal.
this project was initiated to be a response to the science: it's a girl thing atrocity released by the european commission a few weeks ago. but i think the final product stands well on its own, and hopefully manages to reach a broad audience! i hope you enjoy!
Science: It's Universal from amanda bauer on Vimeo.
i have no way of judging whether this video creation will be well-received by teenagers, which was the target audience of the EU video. so, if youre a teenager - what do you think? or if you know teenagers, show them this video and let us know what they think!
as for the making of the video, we started after lunch on tuesday, 10th july 2012, as part of the dotastronomy hack day festivities. i went around with nicole all afternoon, interviewing participants at the conference about their experiences as astronomers, developers, and scientists.
many thanks to markus poessel and the haus der astronomie for providing all the recording equipment we used during the shoot!
i hadnt appreciated at the beginning of this project just how long the video footage would take to render and upload. it was 5 pm by the time we finished all the interviews, and then 10 pm before i was able to start with the actual editing of the video! i became fairly frustrated, but really enjoyed the story nicole and i were envisioning from the footage we got.
it was also nice to be working in the creative atmosphere of all the other hackers, with surrounding sounds of computer keys clicking as the night grew late.
i did all the editing in iMovie, which required a significant learning curve as i hadnt really used it extensively before.
we worked through phases of giggling giddiness and iMovie exhaustion. by 2 am, we were determined just to finish the thing so we could present it the next day at the conference, and by 3:30 am, we were ready to go (to sleep).
working under pressure such pressure made me recognize the need to focus on the basic content. i had to chose not to worry about less significant details in order to accomplish the overall goal. i tend to work to deadlines and fill the extra time with attention to potentially trivial detail. it's a lesson for me in the future to first focus efficiently on content, the main idea, and only then allow some time for editing the intricate specifics.
anyway, we proudly presented the video we hacked together to the dotastronomy group on wednesday. i've edited a bit more since then, but the bulk of what you see above is what we put together from scratch in those 14 hours. whew!
some of you might notice that i briefly appear in the video - just long enough to introduce the uniquely aussie tim tam slam to the group! ;)
i really hope you enjoy this presentation. please let me know what you think in the comments!
all photos in this post were provided by alasdair allan.
this project was initiated to be a response to the science: it's a girl thing atrocity released by the european commission a few weeks ago. but i think the final product stands well on its own, and hopefully manages to reach a broad audience! i hope you enjoy!
Science: It's Universal from amanda bauer on Vimeo.
i have no way of judging whether this video creation will be well-received by teenagers, which was the target audience of the EU video. so, if youre a teenager - what do you think? or if you know teenagers, show them this video and let us know what they think!
as for the making of the video, we started after lunch on tuesday, 10th july 2012, as part of the dotastronomy hack day festivities. i went around with nicole all afternoon, interviewing participants at the conference about their experiences as astronomers, developers, and scientists.
many thanks to markus poessel and the haus der astronomie for providing all the recording equipment we used during the shoot!
i hadnt appreciated at the beginning of this project just how long the video footage would take to render and upload. it was 5 pm by the time we finished all the interviews, and then 10 pm before i was able to start with the actual editing of the video! i became fairly frustrated, but really enjoyed the story nicole and i were envisioning from the footage we got.
it was also nice to be working in the creative atmosphere of all the other hackers, with surrounding sounds of computer keys clicking as the night grew late.
i did all the editing in iMovie, which required a significant learning curve as i hadnt really used it extensively before.
we worked through phases of giggling giddiness and iMovie exhaustion. by 2 am, we were determined just to finish the thing so we could present it the next day at the conference, and by 3:30 am, we were ready to go (to sleep).
working under pressure such pressure made me recognize the need to focus on the basic content. i had to chose not to worry about less significant details in order to accomplish the overall goal. i tend to work to deadlines and fill the extra time with attention to potentially trivial detail. it's a lesson for me in the future to first focus efficiently on content, the main idea, and only then allow some time for editing the intricate specifics.
anyway, we proudly presented the video we hacked together to the dotastronomy group on wednesday. i've edited a bit more since then, but the bulk of what you see above is what we put together from scratch in those 14 hours. whew!
some of you might notice that i briefly appear in the video - just long enough to introduce the uniquely aussie tim tam slam to the group! ;)
i really hope you enjoy this presentation. please let me know what you think in the comments!
all photos in this post were provided by alasdair allan.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
dotastronomy 4
another dotastronomy has come and gone. what fun!
exhilarating and exhausting.
motivational, inspirational, educational and entertaining.
a hive of productive creativity.
... and too much food and alcohol. but i digress...
i enjoyed the company of some old friends and met a swarm of talented new people. i learned about the existence of some amazing online research and data visualization tools, and witnessed the creation of a bevy of impressive new research tools, hacked together in a day, from small collaborations of clever, hard-working people.
the mornings of the conference consisted of sessions inside the planetarium of the haus der astronomie, high above the lovely city of heidelberg, germany.
afternoons were filled with unconference sessions (informal discussions and lessons suggested by participants throughout the day) and the infamous hack day.
the hacking event started just after lunch on the second day of the conference.
and continued for the rest of the day/evening/night...
the hacking/pair coding didnt stop on the funicular down the mountain back to town!
and on and on we worked, well into the rainy night!
i might have won the prize for working the latest this year, as i didnt finish until 3:30 am! more on that later...
a few results of this year's hack day:
an interesting question raised during the conference was how we can cite the the useful software tools developed over long periods of time by these and other astronomers? we didn't come to a good conclusion about this, but as developers and data analysts become a growing population of professional astronomers, this issue must be considered seriously by the community! i'd be curious to hear suggestions on this matter.
overall, it has been another great few days! many thanks to all organizers, especially sarah kendrew and rob simpson!
exhilarating and exhausting.
motivational, inspirational, educational and entertaining.
a hive of productive creativity.
... and too much food and alcohol. but i digress...
 |
| Photo Credit: Stuart Lowe |
i enjoyed the company of some old friends and met a swarm of talented new people. i learned about the existence of some amazing online research and data visualization tools, and witnessed the creation of a bevy of impressive new research tools, hacked together in a day, from small collaborations of clever, hard-working people.
the mornings of the conference consisted of sessions inside the planetarium of the haus der astronomie, high above the lovely city of heidelberg, germany.
 |
| Photo Credit: Stuart Lowe |
afternoons were filled with unconference sessions (informal discussions and lessons suggested by participants throughout the day) and the infamous hack day.
 |
| Photo Credit: Stuart Lowe |
and continued for the rest of the day/evening/night...
 |
| Photo Credit: Alasdair Allan |
and on and on we worked, well into the rainy night!
i might have won the prize for working the latest this year, as i didnt finish until 3:30 am! more on that later...
a few results of this year's hack day:
- a cool and fun browser data fitting tool by dan foreman-mackey. it's not often that i describe fitting data as "fun," but this gaussian fitting tool actually is!?! and it was made in a day. amazing.
- a cosmology calculator dashboard widget for macs created by brooke simmons, stuart lowe, and julie steele. you can get it at this link (zip file)
- a useful page of links and resources recommended by attendees: here
- and i managed to make the science video that i threatened to create a few weeks ago. i'll post the official release in the next couple days!
an interesting question raised during the conference was how we can cite the the useful software tools developed over long periods of time by these and other astronomers? we didn't come to a good conclusion about this, but as developers and data analysts become a growing population of professional astronomers, this issue must be considered seriously by the community! i'd be curious to hear suggestions on this matter.
overall, it has been another great few days! many thanks to all organizers, especially sarah kendrew and rob simpson!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
ready for the road
later today, i start the long journey to heidelberg, germany for the 4th dotAstronomy conference. i hope to be posting a lot from there, as i usually do! i'm excited to see the completed spiral galaxy-shaped haus der astronomie where the conference will be held!
you can follow the events in realtime via twitter. my comments will be here: @astropixie and everyone's comments at the event will be listed here: #dotastro
i'm still accepting suggestions for a possible response to the science: its a girl thing release. got any ideas?
after heidelberg, i head to north america to attend a couple more conferences and give a few talks. best get packing....
you can follow the events in realtime via twitter. my comments will be here: @astropixie and everyone's comments at the event will be listed here: #dotastro
i'm still accepting suggestions for a possible response to the science: its a girl thing release. got any ideas?
after heidelberg, i head to north america to attend a couple more conferences and give a few talks. best get packing....
Friday, July 6, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
higgsteria
yesterday was a big day. physicists at the large hadron collider in geneva announced the discovery of a new, never-detected-before particle. they are 99.9999% (5 sigma) sure that this particle is what the infamous higgs boson should look like. here's the glamour graph:
that little red bump, relative to the yellow, is the signal. i know it doesnt look like much and probably means very little to most, but watch this enlightening video and it will all (hopefully) make much more sense!
The Higgs Boson Explained from PHD Comics on Vimeo.
that little red bump, relative to the yellow, is the signal. i know it doesnt look like much and probably means very little to most, but watch this enlightening video and it will all (hopefully) make much more sense!
The Higgs Boson Explained from PHD Comics on Vimeo.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
dont forget to look up
just think that 100 years ago, everyone saw all the stars every night. times have changed, quickly.
we should all get out from under the city lights every now and then in order to look up!
thanks for the reminder, yet again, calvin and hobbes.
we should all get out from under the city lights every now and then in order to look up!
thanks for the reminder, yet again, calvin and hobbes.
Monday, July 2, 2012
the accelerating universe: a public talk
if anyone is in the sydney area on 18th july, you can go see a free public talk by 2011 physics nobel prize winner, brian schmidt.
the talk is FREE, but please register at this website so that they can accommodate everyone who wishes to attend.
DETAILS: 7 pm, wednesday, 18th july.
Wesley Conference Centre
220 Pitt Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
ABSTRACT:
In 1998 two teams of astronomers were tracing how the universe had expanded during its history. They expected to find that the expansion was slowing down. But instead, they found it was speeding up. This shocking discovery overturned astronomers' ideas about the history and fate of the universe.
The expansion must be caused by something. Astronomers have called it Dark Energy, and it seems to make up more than 70% of the cosmos. But what is it, really?
Professor Brian Schmidt (Australian National University), who led one of the astronomy teams, will describe this groundbreaking discovery and explain how astronomers track the Universe's history back more than 13 billion years—and what they think its future will be.
the talk is FREE, but please register at this website so that they can accommodate everyone who wishes to attend.
DETAILS: 7 pm, wednesday, 18th july.
Wesley Conference Centre
220 Pitt Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
ABSTRACT:
In 1998 two teams of astronomers were tracing how the universe had expanded during its history. They expected to find that the expansion was slowing down. But instead, they found it was speeding up. This shocking discovery overturned astronomers' ideas about the history and fate of the universe.
The expansion must be caused by something. Astronomers have called it Dark Energy, and it seems to make up more than 70% of the cosmos. But what is it, really?
Professor Brian Schmidt (Australian National University), who led one of the astronomy teams, will describe this groundbreaking discovery and explain how astronomers track the Universe's history back more than 13 billion years—and what they think its future will be.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
two-looped bagel
a cute party trick, and an interesting method to maximize the cream-cheesable surface area of a bagel!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
science: it's a human thing, and it needs your help
i woke up in australia one morning this week, ate breakfast, drank my coffee, and found that my twitter feed had exploded overnight with the unfamiliar hashtag of #sciencegirlthing, and that i had been identified by several people as one of the #realwomeninscience. it's true, i'm not fake. i'm a real person.
i quickly discovered that the european commission recently kicked off an initiative to encourage teenage girls to get excited about science. i'm all for addressing this important issue, as i've written about many, many, many, many, many times before! the EU commission hosts a nice website with a lot of interesting information.
but the thing that sent twitter aflutter was a trailer video for a project called "Science: It's a Girl Thing." the title of the project is already a problem, in my opinion, which sarah kendrew nicely explains. the video is... disappointing. i'm not showing the whole video in question here, but what i show below has a sufficient amount of clips from the original, and shows meghan gray discussing why it fails to achieve its important goals.
the video is disappointing because it's condescending to send the generic message to girls that as long as youre wearing high heels, lipstick, and do magazine model-type poses, you can be whatever you want! in this case, a scientist, apparently. i know i'm not the target audience for the video, and maybe i'm over-simplifying the marketing strategy, but seriously...
science is exciting because you participate in the process of figuring out how the universe works!
who cares what you wear while you do it? although, one tweet particularly made me laugh. it was something like:
anyway, it doesnt matter what your personal style is or who has done science in the past - everyone should feel welcomed and encouraged to participate in the effort NOW, and all human beings should support any other human being who wants to share that achievement.
so how do we get young people (any people) excited about studying science and contributing to our growing understanding of how the universe works?
that's where i need your help.
in a couple weeks i'll be attending .Astronomy 4 in heidelberg, germany. these events bring together some incredibly capable and clever people to develop "web-based projects, from outreach and education to research tools and data analysis."
during last year's hack day, we produced the "pluto, the previous planet" music video. it was a fun, relatively spontaneous project.
for this year's hack day, i've suggested a project to create a version of a #realwomeninscience video, or even better, a real people doing science video. any ideas for what we could do (in a day)? i have a couple ideas, but i thought i'd ask you creative folks for your help. what do you think? what do you find most fascinating about science? what do you want to know about scientists?
i cannot guarantee that this project will be accomplished, but i'll do what i can to make it happen!
meanwhile, the EU commission has removed the video from circulation and created a list of female scientists on twitter. they should be releasing a statement about all the commotion they've caused soon. who says social media cant be effective?
and if you are curious, this is what a scientist looks like.
i quickly discovered that the european commission recently kicked off an initiative to encourage teenage girls to get excited about science. i'm all for addressing this important issue, as i've written about many, many, many, many, many times before! the EU commission hosts a nice website with a lot of interesting information.
but the thing that sent twitter aflutter was a trailer video for a project called "Science: It's a Girl Thing." the title of the project is already a problem, in my opinion, which sarah kendrew nicely explains. the video is... disappointing. i'm not showing the whole video in question here, but what i show below has a sufficient amount of clips from the original, and shows meghan gray discussing why it fails to achieve its important goals.
the video is disappointing because it's condescending to send the generic message to girls that as long as youre wearing high heels, lipstick, and do magazine model-type poses, you can be whatever you want! in this case, a scientist, apparently. i know i'm not the target audience for the video, and maybe i'm over-simplifying the marketing strategy, but seriously...
science is exciting because you participate in the process of figuring out how the universe works!
who cares what you wear while you do it? although, one tweet particularly made me laugh. it was something like:
i have two problems with this video. (1) you would NEVER be allowed to wear open-toed shoes in a chemistry lab. (2) everything else.
anyway, it doesnt matter what your personal style is or who has done science in the past - everyone should feel welcomed and encouraged to participate in the effort NOW, and all human beings should support any other human being who wants to share that achievement.
so how do we get young people (any people) excited about studying science and contributing to our growing understanding of how the universe works?
that's where i need your help.
in a couple weeks i'll be attending .Astronomy 4 in heidelberg, germany. these events bring together some incredibly capable and clever people to develop "web-based projects, from outreach and education to research tools and data analysis."
during last year's hack day, we produced the "pluto, the previous planet" music video. it was a fun, relatively spontaneous project.
for this year's hack day, i've suggested a project to create a version of a #realwomeninscience video, or even better, a real people doing science video. any ideas for what we could do (in a day)? i have a couple ideas, but i thought i'd ask you creative folks for your help. what do you think? what do you find most fascinating about science? what do you want to know about scientists?
i cannot guarantee that this project will be accomplished, but i'll do what i can to make it happen!
meanwhile, the EU commission has removed the video from circulation and created a list of female scientists on twitter. they should be releasing a statement about all the commotion they've caused soon. who says social media cant be effective?
and if you are curious, this is what a scientist looks like.
real life hot wheels loop
just learned that my uncle's company did the structural design for this giant "Hot Wheels Double Loop Dare." whoa!
i like high-intensity activities quite a bit, but don't sign me up for this stunt! no thanks.
i like high-intensity activities quite a bit, but don't sign me up for this stunt! no thanks.
Monday, June 25, 2012
giant marbles
its almost hard to believe that these rocks live on earth. the whole scene feels other-worldly:
the rocks are moeraki boulders and strewn across koekohe beach on the south island of new zealand. they remind me a bit of the much smaller martian blueberries discovered by the robust little mars rovers.
the photo was one of last year's winners of the national geographic traveler photo contest. they are still accepting entries for this year...!
 |
| Photo Credit: Marcus Haid |
the rocks are moeraki boulders and strewn across koekohe beach on the south island of new zealand. they remind me a bit of the much smaller martian blueberries discovered by the robust little mars rovers.
the photo was one of last year's winners of the national geographic traveler photo contest. they are still accepting entries for this year...!
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