
朱进@华师附小
Oct 7th

此pose很有形...
在波多黎各开会期间偷闲一下,小换一下口味吧。当然还是和天文有关的。
朱进在9月22日到华师附小做报告。大猫来广州,当然是要去看看的,顺便也可以当今“00后”的风采。
靠近报告厅的时候就听到里面好像爆炸一样巨吵闹,吃了一惊…… 话说以前小学的时候,只要有点吵,还不给老师骂个狗血淋头?现在的00后也真是挺嚣张的。进去以后才明白,这是他们听讲座的方式,因为每当大猫放出一张照片,他们就“哇”一声,可见对这次讲座热情还是挺高的。
讲座之后的提问环节,成堆学生挤上前去问问题,甚至老师还要拦住后来者,开始让我想起那些“从小学生到大学生的退化”之类的争论了:大学的讲座有这么踊跃提问的好像很少吧。第一个问题是,“宇宙边界外面是什么”,大猫立马囧了,嘉宾们窃笑,一副很不以为然的样子,老师赶紧上前说“大家提的问题不要太难”,结果下一个问题是“宇宙有多少颗星星”,大猫更囧了…… 半小时的提问下来大猫满头大汗,却面带微笑,于是乎又给大家签名。虽然00后的小学生活和我们那时候截然不同,可看得出来,他们对这场讲座很兴奋。
哎,从小学生到大学生,恐怕确实退化了。这几天开会,听到了各种各样古怪而有趣的研究报告,可我们干这么多事,花这么多钱,回答的还不是那几个简单的问题吗?宇宙有多大?边界外面是啥?有外星人吗?等等。可我们搞了这么多东西,这最初的几个问题好像反倒给弄忘了。从物理学的角度来看,这从另一个角度说明了熵确实是在不断增大的……
有时候人也确实是挺可笑的啊,上帝的笑料确实不少。
- 此pose很有形…
- 好像这小孩问的是“宇宙边界外面是什么”
- 你能找得到大猫吗?
- 等待签名
- 要签名的小孩连大猫打电话的时候都不放过

Meeting Day 2: Everything's more than good
Oct 7th


Panorama -- garden in the morning
The meeting moved into the second day and I'm feeling even better with how the things go. When there is a will, there is a way! I'm feeling rather lucky.
Again I got up at 6 a.m. in the morning for the sunrise, unfortunately it was slightly foggy in the morning to eliminate the possbility of a beautiful sunrise. So I went to the restraut for breakfast (everything went smooth as I was familiar with the procedure this time), then got prepared for the morning session.
The morning session was about the annoucement of awards and prizes in the field of planetary science and invited lectures for the recipients. I was adviced to attend the lectures, so although the titles were not yet specific, I still arrived early. The first lecture was the Urey Prize recipient, Dr. Sarah Stewart from Harvard University, presenting her work about the theory of icy body impacts. Then came the next, Dr. (Prof.?) Tobias Owen for the well-known prize, Kuiper Prize. This prize is the top prize in planetary science, and Dr. Owen must be a well-known and respected scientist, because when the annoucement was made, all the attendees stood up to show their respects for him. Woo, really cool.


Panorama -- Prize annoucement
And then the annoucement confirmed my guess, Dr. Owen was indeed a spectacular person in the field. He was said to be the father of Cassini Project -- the spacecraft that is now exploring Saturn. This reminded me something -- it was, actually, 12 years ago, I was 9 years old and had watched the news about the launch of Cassini, then keep track with it, and wondered what I would be doing in 2004 (the expect arrival time of Cassini to Saturn). After 12 years, I'm now sitting at this top-class planetery science conference, meet spectacular persons in the field, including the Cassini-related people. Everything is fantastic.
During the noon I managed to figure out the explanation of the Coriolis issue on the unusual trajetory of 2008 TC3 and sent an email to Dr. Jenniskens about this, really excited to be able to answer a question given by the big-names -- even the later discovery of being failed on getting the regular scholarship this year cannot eclipse my happiness. In the afternoon it was the comet's session, but I had a great discussion about 1998 CS1 with Alan Harris et al at the exhibition hall and was too excited to go to the talk's. At the end of the discussion they invited me to the lunch on the next day -- wow this is great!
Okay tomorrow will be a big day for me. Don't forget my presentation on the poster in the afternoon -- you are warmly welcome to Puerto Rico and have a look at it


Panoaroma -- El Conquistador in the afternoon

Meeting Day 1: Everything's fine
Oct 6th


Panorama -- El Conquistador sunrise
I woke up at 6 a.m., the sun was about to rise and everything's quiet. As there were some cumulus at the horizon I didn't get the sun until it's high enough, but I still wait at the balcony until the sunlight reach my face. It's nice, although not yet spectacular. I'll manage to get every sunrise while at El Conquistador.
Then I went to the restraut for the complimentory breakfast. I did have problems though, since I'm neither familiar with the customs nor with the food's name. It's, actually, funny, but I finally find way to work everything out and get myself fed.
I finally got into the oral talks session. Thankfully I'm getting myself used to listen to complex and speeding English now. Although I cannot understand every word them say, but at least, no problem for understanding what they want to express without paying too much attention, so I'll not be too tired.

Working in the lobby -- great Carribean scenery just out of the doors!


Panorama -- lobby of the meeting (the talks were in progress so there are few people)
I went to the Pluto session in the morning and listen to two talks about the occultation of Pluto, but they didn't interest me much. I had wish there would be free lunch supplies, but unfortunately, no... instead there were sandwiches at a price of $15 @_@ so I ate nothing.
I was highly anticipated the 2008 TC3 session in the afternoon, it indeed turned out to be an interesting one. Dr. Peter Jenniskens -- a big-name scientist which I had heard of for many times -- served as chair, and gave a report about the recovery of TC3 meteoroids. After the session I went into front and had a nice acadamic chat with Peter and other big-name scientists, everything works great, it seems I had overestimate the difficulties.

Talk of 2008 TC3's discovery, given by Andrea Boattini from CSS
The only problem might be eating. As the price is terrible here, I'd rather to bear hungry. But there are still ways -- since the breakfast is free, I can eat as much as I can in the morning, then take some biscuits and coffee at the break, then it should work fine. Anyway, tomorrow will be a busy day, with several lectures by prize-holders, and dozens of posters and talks, I must get myself well prepared. Nevertheless today is a good start.
- Working in the lobby — great Carribean scenery just out of the doors!
- Interesting models of the dynamic Earth and Cassini spacecraft
- 2008 TC3 meteoroid — it’s in my hand!
- Talk of 2008 TC3′s discovery, given by Andrea Boattini from CSS
- Panorama — El Conquistador sunrise
- Panorama — lobby of the meeting (the talks were in progress so there are few people)

Great Carribean days, great challenge on the way
Oct 5th


Panorama -- looking out to Atlantic Ocean from the balcony.
I met Dr. Alan Harris and Robert Stephens at the airport, and Dr. Harris drove us to El Conquistador (the meeting place). There is much to see from the highway.
El Conquistador must be one of the best place I have ever been, I stay at a room which is faced to the Atlantic Ocean, with beautiful beaches, coconut trees and some remote islands to be seen from the balcony. I did not spend much time to walk up and down here but I'll do this in the following days.
The on-site registration opened at 3 p.m. and I completed it immeadiately, and eagerly hung up my poster at the Carribean ballroom. It appears I was the first to hang the contributed poster up. There some big-names around, like NASA or so, with their staffs busily hanging up their commercial poster -- or advertisement, on their research projects or products.

All right! The poster is up after traveled for more than 20,000 kilometers!
The Fajardo scenery and the meeting's atmosphere is great, it can't be better for me, and I can see those big-name scientists drifting around me, friendly and easy-going. However I'm feeling quite unease. Everybody speaks a speeding English which I must pay extra attention to understand and respond, all day long -- it could be exhausted for anyone. But the meeting is not yet began! What's more, even if I can get a quasi-infinite energy on processing those English, how to approach them? During the dinner time, the top scientists sorted into groups and speeding their English with lots of special words which I could barely identify, such as "2MASS", quasars, or galaxy redrifts. It's quite deflated.
Okay, even if I was indeed too confident about my English ability, now I have traveled across the globe and attend this top-class meeting, so I must work everything out. I'll listen to two sessions tomorrow -- Pluto and 2008 TC3, let's see what's over there. I should go for pre-study of these programs now.

- Guess what’s out?
- Hanging the poster
- Hanging the poster — another angle
- Fixing the last pin into the corner
- All right! The poster is up after traveled for more than 20,000 kilometers!
- NASA’s poster about SOFIA
- Even LED TV was brought here
- Icarus — the best journal in planetary science. When can I sign up?
- Non-watermarked final version!
- Panorama — looking out to Atlantic Ocean from the balcony.

Mid Autumn Day at San Juan
Oct 4th

Carribean days
It seems I don't have a jet lag problem, at least for this journey, so I got up early and plan for a day tour around the city.
Oct. 3 is the traditional Mid Autumn Day (中秋节) for Chinese people. Since there is 12-hour timezone difference from Puerto Rico to China, short messages from friends flood in to remind me for a moon-seeing. Quite interesting.
Nevertheless, I chatted with parents and friends in the morning, and then went out at noon. The target today is Old San Juan, the oldest district has a history of 500 years. The friendly hotel assistant (I'd wish to stay at YHA but there are no YHA hostel at San Juan, and I'm not sure if it's safe to find a hostel) informed me I could take B-21 bus to Old San Juan terminal. However I got attracted by the beautiful scenery of Condado beach, so I decide to walk to Old San Juan (~6km to go).

Capitolio de Puerto Rico
It took me about an hour to reach Old San Juan. Holding a GPS device (installed on my Nokia N79) in hand felt great, I located a McDonald's by it and made straight in. It might be a little bit nonsense to search for a McDonald's after flying around the globe, but the most important thing is get myself fed so I don't care about it.
After having a BigMac at the McDonald's I walk to Fort San Felipe del Morro, or "El Morro" in short. Unfortunately it began to rain, but oddly it was mostly clear, except a small convective cloud overhead. But the cloud kept growing and poured down the rain despite the clear sky and sunshine, quite freaky, so I was held at the stores along the street. My biggest fault should be forgetting to bring an umbrella.


Panorama of El Morro entrance


Panorama on the top of El Morro


Panorama at the top of El Morro, looking to San Juan port


Panorama of El Morro rainbow, looking east
I finally arrived at El Morro, unfortunately when I was on the top of the fort it poured again. But the fort is great, a very fine historic place, although without much introduction around the park, the old fort speak itself. Another famous castle, Fort San Cristobal, is nearby and the ticket is only $5 for both forts, so I decided to walk to San Cristobal's.
There are much more introduction at San Cristobal about the history and construction of the fort. San Cristobal is much smaller than El Morro, but it preserved several original "garitas", i.e. a lookout tower, which is the symbol of Puerto Rico. A small poster presentation informed the visitors about the history of San Juan forts and Puerto Rico. Interestingly, it doesn't contain any information about the American victory against Spain in 1898, which Puerto Rico was transfered after ruled by Spanish for about 400 years. Deep under the fort, there is some ship paintings on the wall, which is remarked as "opus of a to-be-execute Spanish captain". Poor captain, but his doodles kept himself alive after so many years.


Panorama - El Morro fortifying San Juan port


Panorama - Front side of El Morro


Entrance of Fort San Cristobal

Observation deck built by the U.S. Navy at Fort San Cristobal during WWII

In front of a garita
It was about sunset after I walked out from Fort San Cristobal. I didn't want to walk for another hour to back to Condado so I decided to take a bus. The public transportation system in San Juan is not quite visitor-friendly, I spent quite some effort at the bus terminal to figure out how it works. The buses are also rare (maybe I got used to frequent bus service in Guangzhou or Beijing...), I did wait for nearly an hour to get on a C-53 to Condado. There are no site-reminding boardcast on the bus, and the driver would not stop without a stop request -- very inconvenient, but I finally figure out the right stop to get off. The moon had rised when I back at Condado, it's now my time to do Mid Autumn Day moon-seeing -- but without mooncakes.
So here ends the day. Tomorrow I'd met Dr. Harris et al at the airport and we are heading to Fajardo -- the meeting place. Real oral-speaking challenge here!

Hello, America
Oct 3rd

Port Victoria Sunrise from Mt. Davis
I should post this earlier when I got internet connections at Mt. Davis YHA and Hong Kong International Airport, however the battery of my laptop run out and I do not have an adapter for Hong Kong-style outlet, so this post got hold. During this cross-the-globe journey I'll keep you tuned by writing a few lines on the blog when I get able to access the internet (and should be able to do so frequently).
I left Guangzhou on Oct. 1 for Hong Kong, shouldn't comment more on the atmosphere of the National Day, you'll got a lot to read on the news media if you like. It's my second visit to Hong Kong, and everything seems as great as my first visit in 2007, but I still don't get myself able to stay here for more days. I met Mr. Johnson Lau (an amateur astronomer in Hong Kong) and he suggested me to take a look at the firework on that night. The firework was great, too, and I was surprise to see so many Hong Kong residents on the show -- they are still happy for the Day, right?


National Fireworks at Tsim Sha Tsui
I stay at Mt. Davis YHA that night, it's a western-style house at the top of Mt. Davis and has a prefect view of Victoria. The room was not luxury but everything was really nice, especially the view. Viewing sunrise there should be great. Its only disadvantage is being considerably far from the airport -- good for a brief car-tour of the city, but not good for the budget (HKD 290 for taxi!).
The check-in precedure went quite smooth, the friendly staff didn't ask twice about my poster bottle. The take-off time was delayed for a couple of minutes due to the ATC control linking with the National Day parade. "Our plane is large and require more space, so we have to wait for another 10 minutes..." the captain humorously remarked. Despite so, it feels great to see the blooming landscape when flying over mainland China and compare the view with Hong Kong. We directly passed Beijing around 13:30(CST) and I got a view of the T3 Terminal and the Forbidden City.

Beijing T3 Terminal from the air
With the in-flight power outlet to keep my laptop operating, the journey was not boring at all. Besides from eating nice meals, playing laptop or sleeping, I was excited about the Arctic sunset and sunrise, and aurora (although not in active period) was also beautiful. Our flight reaches a northern limit of 79.3N -- only 1,100 kilometers from the North Pole! Let's see how much further I can get on the return trip.
Our plane landed in schedule and I got a nice view of NYC and the Atlantic Ocean in background while approaching. This Continental service is the best air service I have ever had, mainly, because the electronic supply and nice dishes.

Arctic icecap
Then I was going to the connected flight to San Juan. The security check at Newark Airport is the very, very strict, even more strict than that of Olympic-China. My bag was checked twice for a confirmation of my pencil-box. On the other hand, I still have to pay extra attention to the speeding English from the Americans. Unfortunately I'm affected by jet-lag now (12-hour difference from China to America!), so paying more attention for me is more difficult than ever. Hope I can get myself well-warming-up before the DPS meeting.
The New York airspace was extremely busy, our flight delayed for an hour due to ATC control. But when the plane cruising over the Atlantic Ocean, the scenery was great, with the full moon illuminating the convective cloud. By the way, we also flied thru the famous Bermuda region -- nothing happened. When descending I saw big thunderstorm clouds about 250 kilometers away, the powerful lightning was very impressing.
I'll keep this updated -- stay tuned.

[ZZ] Basic Spanish
Sep 30th

Spanish alphabets
Hola:喂
Buenos días:早上好
Buenas tardes:下午好
Buenas noches:晚上好
Por favor:请
Gracias:谢谢
de nada:当对方说Gracias(谢谢)的时候,相当于不客气
Lo siento:我很遗憾
Perdon:对不起
Disculpe:抱歉,借光
China:中国、中国人(女的)
Chino:中文、中国人(男的)、中国的
Sí:是
No:不
guapo/guapa:靓仔/美眉
Amigo: 朋友
tú:你
bueno:好/棒
bravo: 棒极了
yo:我
Por qué:为什么
Qué:什么
Adiós:再见
Bienvenida:欢迎
Díos mío:我的天哪
Madre mía:我的妈呀
Es muy en la onda:酷毙了
Fantástico:妙极了
Bien:好
AAS/DPS Meeting -- Information for Students
Sep 28th
This guide is originally posted at http://dps.aas.org/meetings/attendees, and was revised for post here.
Adrienne Rowe created this document based on information from the LPL Grad Student Handbook on Conferences for the 2007 Fall DPS meeting in Orlando, FL.
Presentation Types
There are three kinds of presentations at the meeting: invited talks and lectures, contributed talks (oral presentations) and contributed posters.
Invited talks and lectures are larger sessions presented by a speaker specifically engaged for the meeting (meaning that the presentation was requested versus offered). Plan to attend these.
The majority of meeting content is contributed by members of the scientific community, and takes one of two formats. Oral presentations last from 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the meeting format, and related talks are grouped in sessions. Posters display research information on large boards or on poster-printouts, which people can inspect at their leisure, typically during coffee breaks between sessions and after the day's sessions. Poster presenters are available to discuss their posters during specific times that are listed in the meeting's schedule, but often also informally at other times between sessions.
Attire
Dress for comfort. You will be moving around a lot, often with an armful of stuff. An empty tote bag brought to a meeting will almost certainly be full for the trip home. Attire at the meeting is generally between business casual and casual (e.g. jeans are usually OK, and there is likely no need for you to wear a tie). Remember, though that you will be among your colleagues, so look presentable. Comfortable shoes are highly recommended, because you will be doing a lot of standing around. Wear your badge to all meeting events, including receptions and banquets.
What else should I bring?
Again, an empty tote bag will be useful, as will a notebook and pen. Depending on location, a swimsuit and sunscreen may be useful. Sunglasses are always in season. Add a camera if you will be sightseeing.
Most meeting venues provide several public-use computers with Internet access, so you could probably get away without a laptop.
Of course, if you are presenting a poster, bring your poster, (thumbtacks are usually provided, but check) and any notes you need for answering questions.
Planning for the meeting
Plan each day in advance. With so many interesting talks, it can be overwhelming to decide where to start each morning. Study the program ahead of time and decide in advance what sessions you want to attend. where to start each morning. Study the program ahead of time and decide in advance what sessions you want to attend.
If you decide to attend talks at simultaneous sessions (e.g., the first half of one session and the second half of another), choose a seat in the back of the room so you can exit discreetly.
If you are presenting a poster or talk, be sure to build in time to prepare. You'll be surprised how quickly the days pass.
While it's not a universal law, some people can feel burnt-out by having gone to too many talks by the third or fourth day of the meeting. Pace yourself.
Almost everyone in our field is friendly. Don't be shy about going up to somebody and asking them about their poster or their talk. However, don't be deflated if somebody you've met before doesn't remember you. Many people have trouble remembering faces and/or names.
If you are giving a poster presentation, be sure to stand by your poster at your scheduled time. Note though that while many people will walk by and gaze at your poster, only some small subset will actually want to interact with you and discuss it. Again, don't be deflated by this—it's normal. There is no need to start your poster spiel with everyone that drifts by your poster.
Speaking of the poster itself, because of the social dynamic of the poster session, it is highly recommended that your abstract and conclusions/summary be readily findable and readable to someone standing a few feet away. A large fraction of the people that see your poster will only want to spend 15 seconds getting the upshot of your results. This is not because your work is poor or because you're new, it's because there are just lots and lots of posters to see! Also, you want these drifters to be able to see your results even if you are at that moment with a cluster of two or three people engaged in deep discussion right in front of the poster.
For many attendees, the meeting means that they get to see old friends that they see normally only once or twice a year. For this reason, it can be difficult to break into a social group. Don't worry, this is normal. An obvious manifestation of this phenomenon happens right before lunch and right before dinner, when people sort themselves into groups to go get food. Don't feel slighted if the person you're speaking with tells you that he/she has other food plans with somebody else (and that implicitly you're not invited). It simply takes time to integrate one's self into the society.
大气探测实验室学术讨论会第1期
Sep 26th
继续将“Dream Lab”计划付诸行动,希望通过定期举办学术讨论会,能将国外自由交流的学术风气引入实验室,就如同朱老师的505小组对全国青少年天文活动造成的影响一样。9月26日,顺利举办了第1期,有十几位同学参加,效果挺令人满意。
实验楼北座A502 大气探测实验室
20:30-20:40 Introduction
20:40-21:10 A Review of 2009 Total Solar Eclipse Forecast Campaign
21:10-21:40 Review and Discussion of Typhoon Koppu
计划以后每个月举办1-2次的类似活动,带动大家进行讨论,算是为学院学术氛围的培养尽一份绵薄之力。

AAS/DPS年会:整装待发
Sep 25th

我的会议海报,待共同作者过目后即可印刷
再度收拾行装,准备上路!目标:美属波多黎各自由邦法哈多镇El Conquistador风景区,内容:参加第41届美国天文学会行星科学分会年会,并作题为"An Overview of Lulin Sky Survey"的海报展示。报告时间:大西洋时间10月7日16:30-18:30(即北京时间10月8日4:30-6:30),报告地点:Caribbean Ballroom(没错,所有的报告都是在舞厅里举行……),展示时间则是10月5-8日。
本来以为海报一两天就能搞定,叶赫那拉也说拿PS做便可,没想到光是文本就写了3天,之后第4天用于发现:PS很难拿来做科研海报,只好弄了一个InDesign,幸好上手很快;忙到第6天,在XF的参谋下终于做好了,结果得意之时,顺手Google了一些以前DPS会议的海报,才发现我的文本又长又难懂,一怒之下,打掉重来。不过这次就驾轻就熟,到了第7天,基本完工,再加了一些装饰,于是总算“独立自主”地把海报做出来了。
旅行安排(均为当地时间):1日到香港;2日上午的航班飞16个小时到纽约转机,再飞5个小时到圣胡安;3日在圣胡安倒时差,顺便看看城市;4日,蹭Harris等泰斗级科学家的车去法哈多;5-9日在法哈多开会;10日去大名鼎鼎的阿雷西博天文台(to 外行朋友:地球上最大的射电望远镜,就是用来找外星人的,据说在电影里出镜率很高的哟);11日一早飞回纽约,接下来两天在纽约闲逛,13日晚上到卡内基音乐厅听费城交响乐团的音乐会(世界顶级的音乐厅+美国三大乐团);14日上午坐火车去波士顿,逛哈佛/MIT还有国际小行星中心,再见见姐夫大人,15日晚上的夜班车去华盛顿;16日逛华盛顿,17日逛费城,18日上午的火车回纽约,下午上飞机,再飞16个小时,19日晚到香港。
America,我来也~~~
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