Installing and updating stuff is getting gradually easier, but still clunky. Numpy/Scipy seemed the right thing to back, and astro stuff was appearing.īut it still seems a bit ugly, and I have to keep a big notes file full of tricks and reminders of how to do things, cos somehow it doesn’t stick from one month to the next unless you keep using it. Most important, it was extensible and had community backing. It came with all sorts of internet goodies built in. You could use it interactively, or write simple scripts, or build massive symphonies if you wished. It was easy and flexible, and object oriented but not so you really noticed. Then, lo, all was warmth and happiness, and the light shone upon the face of the deep. Then someone said “try Python” and reluctantly I did. I like algorithms ! Give me procedures !!! Engineer’s language really, not a scientist’s language or a hacker’s language. Java was just too strict and boring and pernickety. I am even falling out of love with Python.īeing a chap of a certain age, I spent a long time stubbornly persisting with Fortran until it got too embarassing to admit. Maybe I will work up on a post on that, as it made me cross.īut maybe I am just in tetchy mood. Doesn’t feel right to write about that in any detail for obvious reasons, but I will just say that this article in THES suggesting that we would better off with a lottery is a complete pile of dingo’s kidneys. A few life difficulties took precedent followed by almost two solid weeks of chairing the Astronomy Grants Panel. Probably there are lots of others I just don’t know about …. I note that the niggling worries are closer to home for me. How come the star formation radio-FIR relation is so constant ? Too good to be true.Quasar accretion disc models must surely be right, but don’t work.Supernova models must surely be right, but don’t work (I hear).Why are quasar metallicities the same at all redshifts ?.Can we find all the potentially dangerous NEOs ?.Next up, some practical issues related to Astronomy How do relativistic jets form (Time this one went.).How is the solar corona heated ? (Time this one went…).Are Earth-like planets normal or weird ?.Why are galaxy formation and quasar formation so closely linked ?.Why did the Universe start in such a low entropy state ?.I can’t promise to be that good, but here is my personal pick of Top Ten Big Problems. What don’t we know ? As a postgrad I was inspired by Ginzburg’s “Key Problems in Astrophysics”. Volume of public protest does matter : sign up.Īmongst other things, the web site stresses that science is not so much a fixed body of knowledge but an incomplete project. The arguments against cutting the science budget are well made, and there is a rally planned next Saturday. Press ctrl + v to 'Paste' into a normal GUI application program, for example Firefox or Gedit.In case you hadn’t noticed there is a petition brewing – Science Is Vital. Press shift + ctrl + v to 'Paste' into another terminal window. Press shift + ctrl + c to 'Copy' (to clipboard). Use a pull-down or right-click menu and select 'Paste' Move the mouse cursor to where you want to copy the text. Use a pull-down or right-click menu and select 'Copy' (to clipboard). Mark the text, that you want to paste by pressing the left mouse button and move the mouse. A method that works in many but not all terminal windows This works in the same terminal window, in another terminal window as well as in other programs, for example Firefox and gedit.Ģ. In a terminal window, the text will be pasted at the cursor position. If no middle button, press the left and right buttons at the same time. Press the middle button or scrolling wheel (like it were a button). Move the mouse cursor to where you want to paste the text. (You can left click twice to mark a word or three times to mark a line.) The linux mark and paste method - 'middle clicking' One of them works in all terminal emulators that I know, including xterm. There are different ways to mark/copy and paste in linux.
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