Waiting for two launches

Servicing Mission 4 to repair the Hubble Space Telescope is due to launch Monday, May 11 at 2:01pm. The official estimate of the risk from space debris has been lowered to 1-in-221, but the shuttle will still fly tail-first to better shield the spacewalking astronauts, led by astronaut/astronomer John Grunsfeld.

Also, European space telescopes Herschel and Planck are set to launch on Thursday, 14 May from French Guiana. Planck is a Cosmic Microwave Background explorer (meaning it looks at the leftover light from the Big Bang), and Herschel is a far-infrared general-purpose telescope that looks mainly at baby stars in our galaxy, as well as galaxies that are rapidly forming stars.

Fingers crossed and atheist prayers delivered for two clean launches, good spacewalks, and a safe return for Atlantis.

Observing

There are few things more central to professional astronomy than the observing run. They're hard to describe because they're so contradictory -- exhausting certainly, but also frustrating and exhilarating, exciting and tedious.

Right now I'm making multiple copies of my data, so that if my laptop dies on the way home, or a DVD breaks, I'll still have the data for which I've worked so hard. This is, by far, the most tedious part -- you're tired, you've accomplished what you came for (or not, if the weather was bad), and now you sit while the DVD slowly records. My ritual during this process is to listen to an old "Legends of Motown" CD. I have no idea what "Stop (in the Name of Love)" has to do with astrophysics, but it always makes me feel good after a hard night's work.

Had some long exposures toward morning, so I got to stand on the catwalk and watch the stars. Venus, Saturn, and the sliver moon were rather ridiculously lovely. (I'm far too lazy to see the 5am stars unless I've been up all night, so this is a rare treat.) A few good meteors, too, and all above, the Milky Way. Sometimes life, if not perfect, is good enough.

Prop 8: follow the money

Five months later, the pain of Prop 8 still feels fresh. But I'm a data geek, and the AP compiled a database of Prop 8 donors (in support and in opposition), so here goes a quick look.

First, churches. What donors with "Church" in their names gave? Of the 13 churches that donated the most money, only 1 opposed Prop 8. Only 3 progressive churches were able to cobble together 1K to oppose Prop 8. That's just sad.

But those aren't the biggest donors. Here are the biggest donors for Prop 8, against it, and combined.

Some famous names among the big donors:

• John Hormel (first openly-gay US Ambassador), against
  
• Michael Huffington (ex-husband of Arianna), against
  
• Brad Pitt, against
  
• Ellen and Betty Degeneres, against (this one's so cute)
• Templetons (as in the scary Templeton Foundation), for
  
• Nerds: Sergey Brin, Jerry Yang, Apple, George Lucas, against
  

Interesting omissions: California's US Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and Governor Schwarzenegger are not listed as having made contributions.

You can search by zip code, employer, or name. Leave those blank to search all, then sort by the column headers. What else is there?

Calling your representatives

After calling my state and US representatives' offices, and leaving a short message regarding issues I care about ("Yes, I SUPPORT the hate crimes bill"), I wonder, "Did I make any difference?"

Today I stumbled upon this startling example:

[Vermont state legislator] Robert South, a freshman Democrat from a conservative district, said he reversed his position after 228 of his constituents reached out and urged him to support the override, compared with 198 who urged him to oppose it.

From "Gay Rights Groups Celebrate Victories in Marriage Push", NYT, April 7 2009.

Nerdity

From "Art for nerds and nurseries" by Tiffany Ard, via BoingBoing.

"If we're equal, will you trade your marriage for my civil union?"

Nutshell-capturing photos of the marriage equality battle around the country:

Trish and Kate Varnum of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, react to the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling, 3 Apr 2009, from Yahoo News. As my wife put it, "Wow, these are midwesterners! Pasty heavyset folks with cross necklaces -- they look like everyone in my home town."

Euan Bear, of Bakersfield, Vt., in Montelier, 6 Feb 2009, from Yahoo News.

Pres. Obama emphasizes scientific integrity

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Scientific Integrity

Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration on a wide range of issues, including improvement of public health, protection of the environment, increased efficiency in the use of energy and other resources, mitigation of the threat of climate change, and protection of national security. The public must be able to trust the science and scientific process informing public policy decisions. Political officials should not suppress or alter scientific or technological findings and conclusions. If scientific and technological information is developed and used by the Federal Government, it should ordinarily be made available to the public....

Reality-based thinkers are back in charge. Full text of President Obama's memo on science.

Faculty job drought makes the NY Times

"Doctoral Candidates Anticipate Hard Times", in today's New York Times.

... A survey by the American Historical Association, for example, found that the number of history departments recruiting new professors this year is down 15 percent, while the American Mathematical Association’s largest list of job postings has dropped more than 25 percent from last year.

“This is a year of no jobs,” said Catherine Stimpson, the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University. Ph.D.s are stacked up, she said, “like planes hovering over La Guardia.”

See also this this caustic reaction, which estimates that tenure-track jobs are down only 25%, and argues that the real problem is that universities use "substitute student workers" instead of faculty.

Fixing this lousy arrangement could provide millions of jobs. Graduate students shouldn’t be teaching their asses off, and undergraduates should be working a lot less too. Many forms of this “work as financial aid” or extreme work-study are essentially using up and spitting out young people as disposable labor--costing them their chance at degrees, not enabling them.

Prop 8's day in court

We attended Wednesday's "Eve of Justice" rally in LA. Thousands of people there, despite the rain. We rallied, then marched from Nuestra Senora (the old church for which Los Angeles is named) to the US Courthouse. I snapped this photo of a fellow marcher, whose sign quoted one of Harvey Milk's best speeches.

I listened to the oral arguments from my desk (while reducing data.) It did not go well. The justices, especially Justice Kennard, seem ready to rule that California voters are entitled to make laws as discriminatory as they want, with no check on that power. Which means that Article 1 means nothing, that equal protection means nothing -- unless 50.001% of the voters agree that you deserve equal protection. That no one has any rights, except as bestowed by the California constitution. And that you have no rights that can't be stripped from you by 50.001% of the voters.

The justices repeatedly asked what rights are "unalienable". Hard to pronounce, easy to understand. Unalienable rights are those that cannot be made alien to you, by anyone, no matter what -- because they come from GOD, not from your fellow voters. "That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." That's what Jefferson meant in the Declaration (which the California constitution quotes.)

"You've gotta give 'em hope."