Jason Wright
Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State.
Son, husband, father, scientist, teacher, student, human, Earthling.
Mostly posting astronomy. Mostly.
- Pedantic LaTeX tip for astronomers: Redefine these AASTeX macros, which look ugly by default: \newcommand{\farcs}{\ensuremath{.\hspace{-3.25pt}\arcsec\hspace{-1pt}}} \newcommand{\farcm}{\ensuremath{.\hspace{-3pt}\arcmin}} \newcommand{\farcd}{\ensuremath{.\hspace{-3.75pt}\arcdeg}\hspace{-1.25pt}}
- OK, Internet, I need your help. For copyright clearance I need to find this photographer. In 1985 he was based in Boston. Does anyone know how to find his current contact information? Retweets welcome! [n.b. I tried the phone numbers and they are no longer his]
- An epic line of thunderstorms this afternoon has left over half of Centre County without power! I picked up A from soccer practice just a minute or two before they hit. The winds only lasted for a few minutes, but utility poles and trees are down all over. There are reports of fires near campus.
- Google Calendar question: Is there a way to briefly turn off all of one's calendars except one or two without going through by hand and turning them all back on again one-by-one? It's frustrating not to have default "views" that you can return to after isolating a single calendar.
- Just finished watching the ST:TNG episode “The Inner Light“ with the kids on our journey through the series. Not sure how I held it together emotionally. I think the kids politely declined to notice.
- Just finished the ST:TNG episode "The Outcast" with the kids. I was REALLY unsure how well this episode would hold up. At the time, it was controversial both for highlighting LGBT issues, and for potentially sympathizing with reactionary paranoia about progressive desires for a gender-free society.
- I asked: "What phase does the Earth appear to be in when the moon is waxing gibbous?" ChatGPT got it right! But "Are you sure?" generates a different phase every time. After a while, I asked and it is "100% confident" in one of its apparently random answers.
- Playing with ChatGPT and it's *much* better and answering grad level stellar structure questions than before. Also, when it messes up you can usually walk it to the correct answer with leading questions. But if you ask it "are you sure? Can you spot the error in your answer?" it overcorrects!
- This is a fantastic interview and I want to read the book!
- I have a pile of kids books, my youngest has outgrown. What is the best way to find a good home for them?
