Back to work...

So, with all that election chaos and emotion, you might be under the impression that no work is getting done.

But you'd be wrong!

I've acquired data (from the archive) on six masering OH/IR stars.
I've duly calibrated and reduced spectral-line data on two of these objects. I actually did that twice, because:
I've found two more bugs in the CASA code, and reported them to those who can fix 'em.
And then I reported a bug that wasn't a bug. It was just me not understanding what the code did. Oops.
I've found several unhelpful error messages that need to be reworded so that novice users will know what they've done wrong.
I've re-organized the CASA spreadsheet o' tasks, so that everything is not priority 1. Scientists. Sheesh.
I've investigated Bugzilla, Mantis and a couple of other programs as a better way to report problems to the development team. This, by the way, is a priority 1 task in the spreadsheet... ; )

So, that's all good. Especially since spectral line data is big and slow, and cleaning it can take your computer as long as four hours. If you do it right. The first time. Which never happens. ; )

Oh, and I also created a sweet Google-docs worksheet for the environmental physics class, as part of the semester-long project students are going to be doing. During which, I learned about solar hot-water heater installations.

And I read the appalling and terrible (but well-written and vitally important) book 'The Weather Makers' by Tim Flannery. Yep. Sometimes there's nothing to do but lay on the sofa and cry for the golden toad (extinct) and the polar bear (soon to be so). So now I know a lot more about climate change. That'll be helpful, as soon as I can wrap my head around it.

I list this all here, because I was thinking that nothing was getting done, and it was depressing me. But now I can go back to work, mightily cheered up!

Odd. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day. It's an NRAO holiday. And we're supposed to actually stay home. On a holiday. What's up with that?