Roy W wants me to write about science at the IVOA meeting rather than tourism. Well, what we do is all in the service of science, but its not itself science, and the impact is slow and indirect, so its kinda hard. But there are some really promising things. Having finished Table Access Protocol (TAP), the first apps actually using it are now appearing, so instead of just doing simple-minded RA/Dec/radius conesearches, you can do rich SDSS/UKIDSS style queries. The new version of Topcat speaks TAP. People are going to love this. Also the ObsCore Data Model is done, so likewise when you are searching for data resources, you can do something a bit more structured than “give me a list of conesearch services containing the string XQBLARG”. In general, the Data Model world seems to be zooming ahead now, after taking so many years to get going !
Meanwhile, everybody seems happy with VOEvent 2.0, and like VO Event 1.x I am sure it is going to be used in the real world. But you can tell us all about that Roy.
If there is any problem with this IVOA meeting its that it all seems a bit smooth somehow. We need some kind of playful critical agent provocateur. Roy ! Why aren’t you here ??!!
In other news, I just followed a Twitter link from La Crowther to a transcript of the Parliamentary Liaison Committee’s session quizzing the Prime Minister. Questions 23-27 are about science. Its a bit depressing. Earlier on, Cameron’s answers often seem cogent and knowedgeable, whether you agree with him or not, but on Science he becomes rather vague and broad brush, and of course pleads the fifth hides behind the Haldane Principle as usual. When confronted with the claim that particle physics funding has fallen to half its 2004 value, he says “By complete chance, I met a particle physician last night…” But what is worrying is what he claims the “particle physician” told him :
He said that one of the challenges for highly specialised areas of science is that they have to make their applications and bids relevant. They cannot expect to get money just because what they propose is in an important area, they have to prove the worth of what they are doing. I think that is the case for all science funding.
There doesn’t seem to be any grey here. Prove your worth or you are out Jim.
The e-Astronomer 
You need to see a particle physician if you have difficulty getting a hadron.
it is more difficult getting a hadron after getting lepton
Speak for yourself
I just knew that Telescoping Peter would set the right tone.
Which is more relevant, Virtual Observatory or Gravitational Waves? (Don’t answer that.)
I’m trying not to….
If you are taking requests, am rather hoping to hear you wax eloquent on the topic of pizza.
Well I had a pretty good Capricciosa. But I also went with our Russian chums Ivan and Igor to get what Pepe Longo told us was the best ice cream : for future reference this is at Remy Gelo, 29 Via Ferdinando Galiani
Mark Holliman had to buy Ivan an extra ice cream because he showed us how to merge our UKIDSS footprint polygons.
Ah, that’s good news. Mark has been worrying about that for a while. Which Ivan and Igor?
That’s Ivan Zolutukhin and Igor Chillingirian
Tourism and gastronomy too, you are spoiling us.
Ah yes, I met Ivan and Igor in Boston at ADASS. Igor could be quite provocative.
Ivan and Igor provocative ? Does Russian Bear shit in the woods ?
That ice cream is up there. Just a shame you can’t tour Italy in Igor’s Trabant, but probably still safer than in Moscow?
Meanwhile astronomy is now routinely cited at such events as international digital curation meetings as an exemplar for making research data interoperable and e.g. the SDSS well understood as a highly valuable source of new research in itself.
Still much to do yet of course and built on a foundation of decades of work in larger mission groups. But hats off to the International Virtual Observatory Alliance for the hard graft to date and the major contribution to this by the UK AstroGrid team. The better it works the less people will notice down the line.
In the new era of mandatory research Data Management Plans for the NSF in the US http://1.usa.gov/aODGj1 and the recently launched Research Councils UK Common Data Principles http://bit.ly/fuiEFT emphasising research data as a common good that must be made reusable, funding bodies neglect research infrastructure at their peril. It can’t all be left to individual projects or researchers to solve in house, separately, ad hoc…
Was he a genuine particle physician, or just a quark?