Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
shuttle launch from airplane
its a bird, its a plane, no... its the shuttle discovery launching into space as viewed by a passenger on an airplane!
this week the world saw the final launch of the shuttle discovery. its been a good run!
this week the world saw the final launch of the shuttle discovery. its been a good run!
Friday, February 25, 2011
coonabarabran
just arrived at siding springs observatory for another round of observing with the anglo-australian telescope.
there isnt a whole lot of excitement during the seven hour drive through the bush to get here, regardless of whether you take the hunter valley route or the mudgee route. but i must say, i am highly amused by the place names around new south wales!
i remember driving around the UK and being utterly confused as to how anyone was supposed to know the proper way to pronounce place names. for example, Leicester is "Les-tah," Belvoir is "beaver" (i'm not joking, and made the mistake of using this pronunciation in australia. the horror!), Loughborough is "luff-buh-ruh." actually, anything with an "ough" in it is pointless to even try. just wait to hear someone say it. especially edinburgh.
apparently a common mispronunciation of Loughborough, especially among australians, is "looga-burooga." having done some driving around this part of australia, it's clear that a lot of place names maintain their aboriginal origin and are pronounced mostly phonetically. so if the word has a lot of letters, like coonabarabran, you just take your time, pronounce all the letters, and it sounds exactly as it looks. or, in true australian fashion, you just shorten the word. so instead of saying the 5 syllables of coon-a-bear-a-bran every time, you just say coona.
coona is the closest town to the observatory and also happens to have one of the best names i've encountered yet! but on the drive today we also passed by dunedoo, wallerawang, cullen bullen, and marrangaroo :)
there isnt a whole lot of excitement during the seven hour drive through the bush to get here, regardless of whether you take the hunter valley route or the mudgee route. but i must say, i am highly amused by the place names around new south wales!
i remember driving around the UK and being utterly confused as to how anyone was supposed to know the proper way to pronounce place names. for example, Leicester is "Les-tah," Belvoir is "beaver" (i'm not joking, and made the mistake of using this pronunciation in australia. the horror!), Loughborough is "luff-buh-ruh." actually, anything with an "ough" in it is pointless to even try. just wait to hear someone say it. especially edinburgh.
apparently a common mispronunciation of Loughborough, especially among australians, is "looga-burooga." having done some driving around this part of australia, it's clear that a lot of place names maintain their aboriginal origin and are pronounced mostly phonetically. so if the word has a lot of letters, like coonabarabran, you just take your time, pronounce all the letters, and it sounds exactly as it looks. or, in true australian fashion, you just shorten the word. so instead of saying the 5 syllables of coon-a-bear-a-bran every time, you just say coona.
coona is the closest town to the observatory and also happens to have one of the best names i've encountered yet! but on the drive today we also passed by dunedoo, wallerawang, cullen bullen, and marrangaroo :)
Thursday, February 24, 2011
what confuses physicists?
sixty symbols continues its series of videos answering viewers' questions. in this installment we were asked "what parts of physics confuse you?" the short answer: a lot!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
TropFest: Den Sista Galaxonaut
originating in sydney nearly 20 years ago, TropFest is the world's largest short film festival. last night was the screening of the finalists and the official voting for a winner of this year's competition. there were a lot of people in sydney's domain park, yet i was impressed by how quiet they were when the films were playing.
there were 16 finalists. the short films were not anywhere near the amateur quality i was expecting - they were impressively professional! here are my two favorites, neither of which won, unfortunately.
The Maestro
Directed by Adam Anthony
Den Sista Galaxonaut
Directed by Alexander George & Tyrone Lindqvist
there were 16 finalists. the short films were not anywhere near the amateur quality i was expecting - they were impressively professional! here are my two favorites, neither of which won, unfortunately.
The Maestro
Directed by Adam Anthony
Den Sista Galaxonaut
Directed by Alexander George & Tyrone Lindqvist
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
starry walk in the woods
(i saw this image though this link, but she doesnt give a link to the person who actually created the photo... i hate that about tumblr)
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