Chaos in Pulsating Variables

I had to chuckle to myself this morning when the abstract of this paper landed in my mailbox, "The Onset of Chaos in Pulsating Variables" [1]. Being the sick twist I am, the first thing that came to my mind was Maxwell Smart and Agent 99 battling KOAS in the 1960's show Get Smart!

I'm on my second reading of the paper during lunch today, and I admit I don't quite understand the importance or significance of 'Chaos' in the paper. I almost had it, but "missed it by that much, 99".

It is interesting to note that the paper refers to both visual observations of Long Period Variables as well as the Predicted Dates of Maxima and Minima of Long Period Variables, otherwise known as the Bulletin. The other obvious connections to AAVSO are authors Turner and Percy (council member and Journal editor repsectively) as well as Leonid Berdnikov, who happens to be visiting AAVSO this week.

So, here it is in black and white. There is still interest in these stars, papers are being written and yours and my observations (visual and CCD) are being used to 'do science'.