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Wednesday, 31 August 2005
80 GB Of Love
So the nice thing about no one being out there reading the blog is that I can be as self-indulgent as I want without feeling guilty.
One of my two 80-gigabyte external hard drives failed last night. I've had problems with the drives before but managed to get them going again, but this time I think I think the data on it is lost (short of paying far more than I'm willing to pay to bring it back).
It's a limited loss -- some of it was video that I have in other forms (albiet less usable ones), some of it was music that's still on my iPod, some of it was stuff I downloaded off the internet that arguably I can live without (I mean, really, I don't need a collection of trailers for the Matrix Reloaded.)
There are some things, though, that are just gone, the first stuff I recorded with my video camera, including a tour of our first house and some "funny" video Lain, Richie, Nicole and I did in Jackson. And, of course, there's all the stuff that I forgot was even on that drive that I'll be dealing with losing for some time to come.
It's kinda amazing, though, when you think about it. The first computers I used didn't even have internal hard drives. The first Mac I used regularly had a 10 meg external drive. The drive I lost yesterday had 8,000 times that capacity. Not that long ago the idea of even having 80 gig of stuff would be incredible, much less the idea of losing that much all at once. To say nothing of the idea that I could lose 80 gig all at once at it not be a catastrophic loss -- that was just one-third of my storage space for that one computer.
That said, it really sort of put yesterday in perspective for me. Losing the stuff on that drive sort of bummed me out. Losing one of the other drives could have been much worse. And that's just one computer hard drive.
It's sort of like the scene where the Earth is destroyed in Hitchhiker's Guide. Douglas Adams hit the nail on the head -- the idea of losing everything is just too big. You hear on the news about entire blocks being gone, and, yeah, you know that sucks, but it's tough to put that in any sort of meaningful perspective. It's when you forget about the big picture and start thinking about all the small things that it begins to mean something.
If that had been my house, I would have lost the hard drive that failed yesterday. Which, just like last night, would have been a bummer. I also would have lost the other two drives on that computer. (All of this is just to illustrate a point; those that know me know that if I knew I was going to have to evacuate, and had any idea something like that was going to happen, as much of my computer storage as possible would be in the car with me when I headed for high ground.) Years worth of work and memories gone.
In fact, all of my computers, and all of my computer storage media would be gone; and with them ten year old journal entries, wedding photos, high-school newspaper graphics, gone. In fact, all media in general, gone -- the first CD I ever owned gone, books signed by everyone from Buzz Aldrin to John Grisham to B.B. King to Richie's brother Webb, the video copy of my interview with the Space Station, mix tapes I made in high school, all gone.
Sorry. All of this is apropos of nothing, just mindless ramblings. But then, I warned of that at the beginning, didn't I?
What A Wonderful World
NASA's MESSENGER Mercury probe passed by Earth about a month ago for a gravity-assist flyby, and did an incredible job capturing our world spinning in space. The images taken by the spacecraft were combined into an awesome movie. (I saw the video first, and had to go track down the info to make sure it wasn't CG.)
Run It Up The Flagpole
Michael Huang has decided to post his idea for a 'Space Flag' on a Web site to se who salutes. While I'm not sure about a flag, per se, I could be sold on the idea of some sort of space-support symbol or logo.That said, this particular design just doesn't scream "spaceflight" to me.
Heh
Just noticed in the referrers that ATW is the number five result in a Yahoo search for:
jordan's shoes with spongebob on them
Grab Your Towel
OK, here's a contest that I would love to see someone in the ATW audience win: Ain't It Cool News is giving away prizes for the best "Zaphod for President" campaign posters. Deadline is next Friday.
Tuesday, 30 August 2005
Storm Update
From Spaceflight Now:Lockheed Martin's Michoud Assembly Facility, the sprawling New Orleans plant where space shuttle external tanks are built, may have escaped catastrophic damage from Hurricane Katrina. The status of NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., is not yet known.
Addendum: Per NASA.gov:
The ride out crew at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi reports there are no injuries from the storm. Some buildings were damaged, but the extent of the damage isn't know yet. Hundreds of people including employees, their families and members of the public took shelter in the center's six buildings and will stay overnight because of flooding in the surrounding area. The center remains closed until a complete damage assessment can be done.
iPhone Update?
So is Motorola's iTunes phone coming Sept. 7?The company has announced that it's holding a special event that day in San Francisco for a music-related product announcement. The announcement of the event reads, in part, "1000 songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again."
The iTunes phone appears to be the leading contender for the announcement, since there had been prior rumors that it would be revealed on that date (of course, there were rumors it would be revealed any number of days this year). Other leading possibilities would presumably be the video iPod, a new flash-based iPod (shuffle?) and, on the steeper odds end of things, a subscription iTunes service.
Checking In
We made it through the storm OK here in Huntsville. My house lost power at some point during the night, but that particular outage appears to be limited to my block. Didn't see any wind damage in my area.If you would, any ATW readers in the storm area please post when you read this and let me know how you're doing. Thanks!
Monday, 29 August 2005
Space Van
I want one of these!
I've Got Issues
Created with the Flickr magazine cover generator.
Apologies to Lain and Richie.
Nap Time
There's a bunch of new blogging over at the Joe blog.
I Believe In Peace, Bossk
From TheForce.net:Fans attending the Cleveland, OH show on August 30, 2005 are asked to dress as a character from Star Wars!
This comes to The Dent by way of Tori's management. The day of the Cleveland, OH show, which is August 30, 2005, is Tash's birthday party, which will have a Star Wars theme. Everyone in the crew (including Tori) will be dressed as a character from Star Wars.
Therefore, Tori would like to invite everyone in the audience to also dress as a character from Star Wars. This should be great fun, so please participate if you can!
So I'm really curious exactly who Tori will dress as.
(The title for this post, btw, was totally stolen from Lain.)
One Of These Days...
From the I'll-believe-it-when-I see-it category, Malaysia, which is looking forward to seeing one of its citizens fly into space for the first time in two years when he hitches a ride on a Russian ISS taxi flight, says it could send people to the Moon by 2020.On the one hand, I think it's cool that there's a growing interest in so many countries in human spaceflight, and I'm very supportive of the growing international agreement that the Moon is the place to go, but these claims by Malaysia and India and Japan and ESA will be more believable when they actually manage to send people into space on their own. Which is not saying I don't believe they can do it, it just means I really would love to see them get serious about it and start putting people in orbit.
The Coming Storm
Once again, Return to Flight is threatened by a hurricane.Lockheed Martin's Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans is in the path of Katrina.
There are currently seven basically finished Space Shuttle External Tanks at Michoud, with eight to 10 more under construction. The tank that it was reported last week was leaving KSC to return to Michoud was held up before arriving due to the weather.
Though less relevant for RTF, NASA's Stennis Space Center is also in the path of potential damage.
Sunday, 28 August 2005
Beginning Again
Finally got around to watching Batman Begins for the second time yesterday, and enjoyed it again.Watching it a second time already knowing that it was still possible to make a good Batman movie it was less of a revelation than the first time I watched it, but the fact that I still enjoyed watching it a second time was reassuring.
Saturday, 27 August 2005
Journal-ism
I wrote recently about the fact that a group of newspapers -- well, two groups of newspapers -- that I once was involved in were being bought by new owners, and said that it was probably a good thing for the communities involved to have their papers no longer under the ownership of the Boone newspaper group.It appears, in the case of two of the papers, I may have spoken too soon.
Less than a month ago, the Houston Times-Post and the Monitor-Herald were purchased by Journal Publishing, the newspaper group started by the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
Already, the news owners have changed the names of both papers. The Houston Times-Post (I added the Houston part) is now the "Chickasaw Journal and Times-Post," while the Monitor-Herald is now the "Calhoun Journal and Monitor-Herald."
First, and most superficially, those are both horrible names. Way too long and unwieldy. It's not uncommon for newspapers to have compound names, assembled as local papers merged over the years. But, as a rule, no matter how many papers combined into the aggregate, you stop at two names. And, those names were the names of papers in that community, not outside companies that bought them out.
Second, the Calhoun one is particularly troubling, because the Monitor-Herald is one of two papers in Calhoun County. The other, published by Mississippi journalism giant S. Gale Denley, is the, yep, Journal. The Calhoun County Journal. So now the new owners have changed the name of the paper that (somewhat) competes with the Calhoun County Journal to the Calhoun Journal and Monitor-Herald. First, who names their business after the competition? Second, it's hard to believe that a group like Journal Publishing doesn't have any more respect than that for Denley, who's received every bit of recognition it's possible for a Mississippi journalist to receive, and played a role in the lives of countless reporters around the state and nation.
Third, call me cynical, but I have a hard time beleiving that a name as unwieldy as "Calhoun Journal and Monitor-Herald" is intended to last for very long. Particularly given the new nameplate, I'm guessing that the paper is now supposed to be called the Journal, and it's traditional name is supposed to fade away. In the case of the Times-Post, the name of that paper has roots in that community a century old, and the Monitor-Herald name has its origins even earlier. For a corporation to go into a town and get rid of a name that has been part of that community for that long is just unbelievable. And to change it instead to a corporate name is a slap in the face to the heritage of those communities.
No matter what paper I worked at in my newspaper career, I always believed that the newspaper belonged first to the community and second to whatever company owned its title. In some places, that attitude was rewarded, in others, it got me fired. But the truth of the matter is, owners come and go, but the relationship between a community and its newspaper endures. Or, at least, that used to be the truth of the matter. Sadly, however, incidents like this with these to papers show that's no longer the case. That relationship is instead being replaced by the Wal-Martization of community "journalism."
There's a part of me that it makes want to go to one of the competing, locally-owned papers in those counties, beg for a job, and fight. Show the community what a community newspaper should be. Show them the benefits of that relationship. And prove that providing a county with a good newspaper can actually be a good business model.
The newspaper business today has decided to put the business before the newspaper, to focus on making profits, and to treat putting out a newspaper as a means to that end. Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe in the idea that if you focus on the newspaper, the community will reward that. Instead of cutting costs to make a profit out of whatever you can eek out of the community, provide them with the sort of quality product they will want to support. Advertisers aren't going to spend money if they know people don't care about the paper.
I've never worked for Journal Publishing, and, to be honest, have only a limited amount of knowledge of how they work. It's been my understanding that they have always had an unusual relationship with their community. I've heard them criticized for overstepping the bounds of the press as impartial observer, but whatever their faults, they always seemed to be deeply involved in the community and genuinely concerned about it. To see them treating new communities in their bailiwick so cavalierly is disheartening.
It's times like these that I rest so much more easily in my decision to leave journalism. It's just another reminder that, with the exception of isolated pockets like The Enterprise-Tocsin, where I spent most of my newspaper career, the industry I strove to be a part of no longer exists.
Friday, 26 August 2005
My Cyborg Name
What's your cyborg name?
(Though, really, they seem more like robots than cyborg. Still, they could include some human remnant, just more machine now than man.)
Failure II Reminder
Just a reminder that the History Channel will air Beyond The Moon: Failure Is Not An Option II on Sunday night.
And So It Begins
"Acclaimed writer" Erik Jendresen has finished a draft of the script for the next Trek movie, which as the working title "Star Trek: The Beginning," and is set "just a couple of years after the end of the events in Enterprise."He says THE BEGINNING would also not be centered around the traditional STAR TREK model of a captain, crew, and starship.
"We're looking at a very small group of men and women, particularly focusing on one character," explains Jendresen. "There are a couple of ships, including a principal ship, but this is not a traditional captain and crew of a starship story in the least."
Deep Space 4400
From TrekWeb:"As THE 4400 goes on, and breathes and takes on an identity, the truth is, it's coming to resemble DEEP SPACE NINE more than I ever thought possible," said Emmy Award nominee Ira Steven Behr to Katie O'Hare at Zap2It.
"I'm not saying that it's a good or bad thing quality-wise, I'm just saying, like DEEP SPACE NINE, there's a lot going on. There's a lot of characters. It's very complicated, probably more complicated than any network or studio would want it to be."
Also:
TF: What happened with Captain Sisko in the series finale? I never understood why he went to be with the prophets.
ISB: Good question. Of course, I can actually give a good answer! ...
Thursday, 25 August 2005
Tat's All Folks
You are hereby cordially invited to go enjoy some new Hatbag today.
New Dinosaur
Yahoo changed the picture in the little flub yesterday, and it's much better now:
Take One Tablet...
Fueling the ongoing Apple tablet computer rumors was a employment ad Apple has posted for a 'handwriting recognition engineer.'More jaded naysayers would point out that Apple already does handwriting recognition, via the Inkwell tool that's part of OS X, and this position could just as easily be someone to support that existing program.
Sims 2 College
For the Sims fans in the crowd, the Sims 2 University plug-in pack will hit stores in November.
The Best PC
Per PC Magazine:Once again, Apple achieves scores that are far and away the highest for all vendors in our survey, earning Readers' Choices in both desktops and notebooks. For Apple, in both the desktop and notebook sections of the survey, every single score is significantly better than the industry average for Windows machines. No exceptions. Apple's overall score for desktops is 9.2, and the closest competing score, Alienware's, is 8.8. Apple's overall score for notebooks, 9.2, is just as high, and the rest are even further behind: IBM and Fujitsu are the closest, at 8.4.
Wednesday, 24 August 2005
Editorial Note
I'm trying some even more agressive techniques for blocking comment and referrer spam.On the off chance that this causes any of you to have problems using ATW, please let me know.
Embrace Film
I've been blabbing to several of my friends lately about how cool it would be to make a short film, especially after seeing the very impressive shorts done by Lucky Cow stripper Mark Pett.Well, one of my coworkers added fuel to the fire when she sent me an e-mail about someone at her church who participated in a 48-Hour Film Project contest, in which teams, natch, make a film in 48-hours.
The film they made can be seen here.
(Anyone who has been the Face2Face Improv shows here will recognize a familliar face.)
Break Off The Remix
OK, I like the sweet, sweet Sarah McLachlan. And I admire how easily she goes from the studio versions of her material into the seemingly opposite worlds of stripped-down aucostic versions of her material on one hand and superproduced remixes on the other. And, while I personally lean more towards the stripped-down side myself, some of the remixes of her stuff are actually pretty agreeable.That said, you know, at some point enough is enough. This is Sarah's second remix album in less than two years. Since Surfacing came out eight years ago, Sarah's put out one album of new material, two live albums and two remix albums (and, to put the density in perspective, all of those but one of the live albums has come out in the last two years.)
Also, maybe it's just me, but a $19 list price seems awfully high for ten tracks of reworked versions of previously released material.
Dinosaur Pitt
From the science section of Yahoo news today:
Supersonic For The People
Per Space.com:Japan's space agency plans to launch an arrow-shaped airplane at twice the speed of sound high over the Australian outback as early as next month in a crucial test of the country's push to develop a supersonic successor to the retired Concorde.
The test follows a three-year hiatus since the first experimental flight of the unmanned aircraft, dubbed the next-generation supersonic transport, prematurely separated from its booster rocket and crashed into the desert.
STS-121 Update
One of the three External Tanks currently at Kennedy Space Center is on its way back to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans for further research into what caused the foam shedding on Discovery's STS-114 mission and what can be done to correct the problem.
Tuesday, 23 August 2005
SpaceShipThree
Per Flight International:Orbital vehicle SpaceShipThree (SS3) will be developed by space tourism company Virgin Galactic and Mojave-based SpaceShipTwo (SS2)-developer Scaled Composites, if the planned SS2 suborbital service is successful, says Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn.
SpaceShipThree is planned for Scaled’s tier 2 manned space programme, while the nine-person SpaceShipTwo is part of the current tier 1b programme.
...
The company [will] buy five nine-seater SS2 vehicles and two White Knight 2 (WK2) carrier aircraft ... from the UK’s Virgin Group and Scaled Composites joint venture The Spaceship Company.
Liwei To The Moon
Now here's an intriguing development in spaceflight -- a joining of forces of the world's two greatest government spaceflight hype machines. Apparently Roskosmos has invited Yang Liwei to fly to the Moon on a spacecraft that doesn't yet exist. Not to be outdone, the first taikonaut said that he went, he would want to fly as both pilots of the craft.On a more serious note, Russia apparently really is interested in space cooperation with China, including in human spaceflight. As much as people like to blab about China become a major space power and beating us to the Moon, they're not going to do it the way they're going. This, though, is where they really present the possibility of becoming an important player -- by changing the landscape of international cooperation.
iPhone Update
Man, I loves me some iTunes phone rumors. This one doesn't even have a rumored release date, but, then, it's also not really a rumor. It turns out Motorola has receied regulatory approval to start selling the phone.The image with the application is of the Motorola E398 phone, meaning that the new phone may be similar to that one. The E398 sells for about $200.
Monday, 22 August 2005
Casting Lots
At the risk of being one of those people who too easily amuses himself, when I was writing the latest addition to The Leonardo Code, there was one scene in particular that made me really want to see an LC-movie, a bit that I think would be really funny visually.Of course, any good movie needs a cast, so, if you were putting together a Leonardo Code movie, who would you put in the following roles? (I'll hand out some Blogpoints in a no-doubt arbitrary-esque manner for good ideas.)
Cast of Characters: (more)
Space Hilton
Per The Independent:Among the 30,000 wannabe astronauts who have already signed up, or handed over $200,000 for the inaugural flight, are Paris Hilton, Dallas's Victoria Principal, ad man Trevor Beattie, and Morgan Freeman, who was quoted recently as saying he couldn't wait to "get up there in Branson's rocket".
The idea of spaceflight being associated with Paris Hilton does little for me (Though it is kind of ironic to think there will finally be there will finally be a Hilton in space), but I have to say that I do like the idea Morgan Freeman flying. I didn't know that he was interested in spaceflight, and it would be cool to see him be a bit more vocal about it.
Homecoming
Almost a month after its launch, Discovery is finally back home.The Orbiter will now be prepared for its next flight, no sooner than March 2006.
Return Of The 'Sith'
Finally got around to watching Revenge of the Sith for the third, and probably last, time in the theater this weekend.Enjoyed it yet again.
Kinda odd to think that rather anticlimactic viewing will almost certainly be the last time I'll ever watch a first-release Star Wars movie in a theater.
Saturday, 20 August 2005
What A Person Does With His Own Computer...
I wish every PC user in the world would read this post, but most of them would just come away mad. Basically, it belies the whole idea that whatever platform you choice is your business, and nobody else's. It discusses the effect your choice has on other people, in this case, to wit: me.
So I'm putting it behind a cut. If you don't think you should read it, don't. (more)
Friday, 19 August 2005
LC Summary
I recently discovered the AutoSummarize feature in Microsoft Word, which is good stuff. It goes through a document, and picks out the sentences that it feels best represent the document as a whole. Applied to a piece of fiction, it can produce some interesting results.Here, for example, is a Word AutoSummary of a couple of pieces of The Leonardo Code (speaking of which, isn't it about time someone added some more?): (more)
The Meme'ing Of Life
Since it's a slow blog day, I'm gonna post a meme that Richie sent me. Those who, wisely, aren't interested in such are free to move on.
(more)
Arlo Commentary
Confidential to Lain: Jimmy agrees
Anniversaries
The Daveblog turns two-and-a-half today, making it a grizzled veteran of the blogosphere.That means that today also marks the one-year anniversary of the move to the new Web address and the switch to Pivot, the biggest changes in the blog's history.
Thanks to those who have at least feigned interest over the last couple (and a half) years. Your feedback is the reason I keep doing this.
On an non-blog-related note, today is my third anniversary at my current job. (I passed the point a while back at which I had worked longer consecutively at this job than any other I've worked at.)
Paperless Classroom
Per The AP:VAIL, Ariz. - Students at Empire High School here started class this year with no textbooks — but it wasn't because of a funding crisis. Instead, the school issued iBooks — laptop computers by Apple Computer Inc. — to each of its 340 students, becoming one of the first U.S. public schools to shun printed textbooks.
STS-121 Update
So, yeah, March.Six and a half months from now. Window opens March 4, and extends until March 19.
Anybody want to go?
Thursday, 18 August 2005
Favor Request
Geek that I am, I've written a story that I'm going to submit for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds contest this year.I would love to get some feedback on it, so that I can fine-tune it before sending it off. A few members of the ATW audience have already agreed to look over it, but if anybody else out there is conversant in the latter half of Deep Space Nine and would want to look over it, I would certainly appreciate it. (And if you want to maintain lurker status, you can contact me by e-mail.)
Editorial Note
In an effort to try to reduce the increased amount of comment spam, I have decreased the number of links that one comment can include to two. If you need to post more than two links in a feedback you're posting, just post it as multiple items. Sorry for the inconvienience, and thanks.
Bookstore Nemesis
After accidentally missing last week, there's new Hatbag up today.
STS-121 Update
NASA is expected to hold a press conference today to give an update on plans for the next launch, but rumors are that Discovery will once again take over for Atlantis for the next flight, and the March date is being more commonly cited.
Day Of The Comets
The contest to guess when SOHO will find its 1,000th comet has ended, and though I feared my guess would be well after the discovery was made, I actually missed it by only two days. Oh well.
Launch Date
According to UPI, Russia has set a goal of making an unmanned flight of its planned Kliper spacecraft in 2011, with a manned flight the following year. The Kliper (or Klipper or Clipper, depending on which transliteration you like) would carry a six-person crew.
Picture Of The Day
Wednesday, 17 August 2005
Blogpoint Opportunity
Since I've been negligent in posting Blogpoint opportunities so far this month, thought I'd try and make up for it, so here's one of those guess the song lyric deals. The last one was apparently way too hard, so I'm going to try and make this one easier. (Though if anyone knows any of the last ones, they can still get the points.)I'm going to list lyrics from songs largely randomly chosen by my iPod. Blogpoints will be awarded to whoever can identify the songs. The first person to post will get 2 Blogpoints per song, the second person 3, etc., with the idea that the earlier responders will be getting the easier songs. Oh, and no fair using a search engine.
On a side note, let me issue a reminder that the next Leonardo Code update is worth 50 Blogpoints. (Which is a big part of Joe's lead in August Blogpoints.) (more)
"A Few Bad Apples"
Chaos erupted yesterday morning at Richmond International Raceway as people stampeded through the gates in a rush to buy used iBook laptops for $50 each.
Flying Car Update
Per Inside Line:Hoping to tap into the ingenuity of folks tinkering around in their garages, NASA said it is funding the "Personal Air Vehicle Challenge."
The biggest reward — $150,000 — will go to the creator of a flying car with two to six seats that has a 300-mile range and decent fuel economy.
STS-121 Update
This is the second time I've seen an article saying that a March launch window is likely the soonest the next Shuttle will fly. The first time I ignored it as just general background speculation of the sort that's pretty common, but the repeat reference made me wonder where it's coming from.I know there's a November window, albeit a short one. It's possible that they've now decided that they can't make that one, either, but I haven't heard that. Also, before the fleet was grounded again, STS-115 had been scheduled to fly in mid-February, and I don't see why that launch window wouldn't still be available.
Oh well. More as it develops.
Tuesday, 16 August 2005
At Last
I'm a couple of weeks late on this news, but I'm so excited about it that I'm posting it any way. I've been wishing this would happen for quite a while. (Per ifoapplestore.com on July 29):You've been writing, e-mailing, faxing and calling, and now your requests have been heard--expect Apple to clear out a tiny space in their retail stores to sell Apple logo merchandise before the holiday buying season begins. Apple has been offering logo gear for several years at its company store in Cupertino, but has now decided to expand sales to all the stores. Expect to see golf shirts and balls, dress shirts, ties, socks, T-shirts, polos and other merchandise for sale at reasonable prices.
Changes
For the journos in the audience, this piece is rather interesting: "Things I Used to Teach That I No Longer Believe"
Rage For The Machine
The album that has become a poster-child for the internet age, Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine, will hit stores on Oct. 4. The album, initially shelved by the label, drew buzz when it was posted in its entirety for download on the internet. It seems likely that the attention it gained online may have been a factor in the decision to release the retooled album.Not being a huge Fiona fan, I'm more interested in the story than the album itself, and would love to see this have a positive impact on things like Global Frequency (which I've heard was a pretty decent pilot) and Heat Vision and Jack (while I would imagine its creators are probably less interested than the networks in turning it into a series at this point, there have been rumors that it could be made into a movie).
The idea of entertainment corporations actually responding to what people like is an interesting concept indeed.
It's Been Years
From SpaceDaily:Veteran Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov broke the record Tuesday for the longest total time in space -- and still has two months left before returning to Earth.
Krikalyov, who has been aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since April 15, passed the record previously held by fellow-Russian Sergei Avdeyev, who spent a career total of 747 days, 14 hours, 14 minutes and 11 seconds in space, a spokeswoman for Russian ground control told AFP.
Congrats and kudos, Commander Krikalev!
114 Notes
A couple of wrap-up notes on STS-114:Discover will begin the trip to Florida tomorrow atop a Boeing 747. Haven't been able to find a ground track yet, but will let you know if I do.
During the mission, Steve Robinson recorded what some are calling the first podcast from space, which, while cool, probably depends on how you define the term.
The Future Of Trek
Trek is dead. Long live Trek.While the future of TV series Trek is uncertain, and the Trek XI movie wallows in limbo, work is already underway on the next feature film.
The Star Trek Trek New Voyages team has announced that after they finish their third episode -- starring Walter Koenig as Checkov -- they will delay the fourth episode in order to begin work on a full-length New Voyages feature film.
In the interim, they will present a series of short-form New Voyages vignettes.
Ah, good stuff.
Dream Joke
I've long had a semi-secret desire to go to a comedy open-mic night somewhere and perform a routine in front of an audience. Not one of those things I want to pursue as a serious avocation, just something I'd like to do once before I die to say I'd done it.
Only two things stop me -- the lack of open-mic nights anywhere around anywhere I've lived, and, of course, more importantly, the utter lack of material.
I had a dream last night where I came up with a great joke, the sort of wonderful stand-alone joke that you could actually use in a routine, unlike most of my "humor," which is generally pretty contextual.
In the dream I thought to myself that I should write it down.
Now, though, awake, I remember all of the dream except for, naturally, the actual joke.
I'm also left to wonder whether the actual dream joke was really any good, or just the sort of thing that seemed funny in the dream. (I do remember, for example, that there was some sort of prelude to it about a monkey and an elephant that depended largely on the delivery and probably wouldn't stand up in the harsh light of day.)
In a mildly interesting bit of coincidence, my cubemate just informed me (not knowing about the dream) that today is International Tell A Joke Day.
In honor of the occassion, I'll award Blogpoints to people who tell jokes in the comments today (based on a rubric yet to be established). As always, keep it appropriate for general audiences, please.
Used tags: blog, funny, monkeys
Monday, 15 August 2005
Apple Google?
Per The Street:Shares of Apple Computer set an all-time high on Friday following a disappointing report from Dell and amid rumors about a major new partnership.
According to market chatter, Apple is set to announce a deal with Google calling for Google to offer Apple's iTunes music store through its own site. The rumored deal would pair the nation's leading online music store with its leading search engine.
There's "speculation of an iTunes launch," says Paul Foster, an options strategist at Theflyonthewall.com. "Google is going to offer iTunes somehow on their platform," according to the rumor, he says.
Hurrah!
The only Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronaut, Wally Schirra, will be making a couple of appearances in Huntsville towards the end of the month.Schirra will be giving a free talk on Friday, Aug. 26, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, and then will be the special guest on Saturday for Huntsville's second annual Saturn-Apollo Reunion event at the USSRC. Tickets for that event are $25, but benefit the Save the Saturn campaign.
On an unrelated note, if anybody plans to be in town for the reunion, but not the von Braun forum event on Friday, local improv troupe Face2Face will be performing two shows that Friday night.
Sunday, 14 August 2005
Homer's Head
So I've heard that Fox has put together an alternate box for season six of the Simpsons (which hits stores Tuesday) that would match the previous five seasons. However, I haven't seen anything definitive, and have heard various versions of the story.The version that bothers me most is that you would have to send in your old package, choosing one of the other. Since there's no guarantees that they will continue offering an old-school package for the next four seasons (which they've already announced will match season six), I don't know that I would want to do that.
Anyway, point being, if anybody has heared anything official about this, please let me know. Thanks!
Saturday, 13 August 2005
Tori Gets The Boot
For those in the audience who are interested in such things, Tori Amos is this month putting out the first two entries in a series of official 'bootleg' live concert CDs. The initial pair of two-disc sets will include everything from old Y Kant Tori Read material to a Tori cover of Bon Jovi.
Friday, 12 August 2005
DOD SDLV OK
NASA's plans to build the next generation of human and heavy launch vehicles using Shuttle components moved another step forward recently when the Department of Defense signed off on the plan. The White House had ordered that NASA and DOD work together on putting together a joint plan fro the development of a heavy lift vehicle, causing concern that a DOD-preference for a HLV based on current expendable launch vehicle technology would make it difficult to find common interested in a Shuttle-derived plan.
STS-121 Update
Looks like it'll now be November at the earliest for the launch of STS-121.
iPhone Update
Oooh! Oooh! A new rumor about an iTunes-phone announcement date!
City Of Troy
Haven't had a chance to get caught up on this week's comics yet, but I made sure that when I returned from Florida, I had a copy of the first issue of Troy Hickman's City of Heroes run waiting for me.Go. Read.
Go MRO!
Per Spaceflight Now:A Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket boosted NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter into space today, kicking off a $720 million mission to sniff out underground ice deposits, to map the red planet's geology with unprecedented clarity and to monitor its tenuous, dusty atmosphere in an ongoing scientific assault.
The 4,800-pound solar-powered satellite, equipped with a 10-foot-wide antenna to beam a torrent of data back to Earth, also will serve as a communications satellite, relaying measurements and observations from current and future Mars landers while using its own ultra-high-resolution camera and other instruments to identify possible landing sites.
After being at KSC at around 5:30 a.m. EDT yesterday to watch from the Causeway as the launch was scrubbed around three minutes before launch, I watched the actual launch this morning on NASA TV.
Thursday, 11 August 2005
Yet Another Editorial Note
I'm back, and too tired for blogging.
Will try to catch up some tomorrow.
wdh
Tuesday, 9 August 2005
Omega And Alpha
Now we have successfully returned to flight.Now the future begins.
(On a personal note, they would have to land on the other side of the country, wouldn't they?)
Monday, 8 August 2005
Turning Japanese
So it took only four days after the service started for iTunes to sell 1 million songs in Japan.
AKA Alias
OK, I would totally watch this show (from Newsarama):
Regarding the development of Jessica Jones/Alias on television, Bendis explained he wrote a pilot for FOX which due to the ABC series is named “Alter Ego”. It features Marvel characters and roughly covers the first arc of Alias. Bendis said FOX liked the pilot and is looking for a showrunner to develop it into a series. He called the experience a very good one for him.
Another Day
For those of you who, unlike me, didn't get up twice during the wee hours of the morning to watch, iffy weather led to Discovery's landing being delayed, first until later this morning and then until tomorrow.On the one hand, this means that I could actually be in the greater-KSC area when the Shuttle lands, though I doubt that would afford me any better opportunity for watching than any of you have. I fear that it's also a bad sign for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter actually launching while I'm down there on Wednesday.
Sunday, 7 August 2005
Editorial Note
It's my birthday, so I'm taking a break from blogging.
Well, other that this.
Also, thanks to all those who made the Oxford get-together.
I had a great time, and it was much appreciated!
Saturday, 6 August 2005
Editorial Note
I'm at Oxford. Of course, if you're reading this, chances are you're here now too.
Well, not now when you're reading it, but now when I'm writing it.
Friday, 5 August 2005
Get Lucky
Lucky Cow stripper Mark Pett is holding a contest, seeking readers' funny or disastrous fast food stories.I don't know if Richie's numchucks at Burger King story is what he's looking for, but I can't imagine he would get any better.
Woz Not Woz
This is, I believe, the first time I'm making a PodBrix post about a minifig that hasn't sold out yet, but the new Wozniak minifig goes on sale tonight at 8 p.m. CDT (er... I think... the site says 9 EST, but I assume it means EDT), in a limited run of 300.Great for those working on a Leonardo Code Lego diorama.
Ha!
Though release of Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system is still over a year away, an Austian hacker last month already wrote the first Vista-native virus.
STS-114 Update
In case you haven't heard, NASA has decided there is no need for a fourth EVA to address the thermal blanket issue.Discovery is scheduled to land at 3:46 a.m. CDT on Monday.
OSX PS3?
I'm not sure what this article from MacNN means:A new posting on Sony UK's website indicates that the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) may be compatible with the Mac OS X. The article in Sony's magazine says that the company has not finalized an operating system for the PS3, which is expected next year, but may be further delayed into 2007. The PS3 gaming device will use a new multi-core 3.2GHz Cell processor developed jointly by IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba will support a variety of operating systems, such as Linux or Mac OS X Tiger. While many rumor sites have speculated that the Cell processor could run Mac OS X, this is the first time Sony has officially mentioned support for Mac OS X.
Thursday, 4 August 2005
It's In The Bag
What better way to celebrate a birthday than to party like it's 1999.
Origins Of The Future
The interesting thing about this cool site that lists first usages and origins of science-fiction words is how many words created for science fiction later went on to be commonly used in non-fictional science.
Failure II
A couple of years ago, the History Channel aired an interesting documentary, "Failure Is Not An Option," based on the book by Gene Kranz. It was a fascinating look at the history of spaceflight through the end of Apollo, told from a different perspective from the one most take.Now, they've put together a sequel, which will be airing on August 28, and which will cover the post-Apollo-17 era. Sounds like it will be worth checking out.
To Blog, Or Not To Blog
See, here's the problem I've been running into with this blog.Over the last two and a half years of blogging, I've gradually shifted the content a little, away from the "here's something cool about space" -type stuff that I did when I was just starting out towards space blogging that is either a little less mainstream or that I have something to say about.
So, for example, my inclination these days is to pass on something like the fact that a fourth EVA is being considered to address a damaged thermal blanket near Discovery's flight deck, figuring that my readers either already know this, in which case they don't need me to point it out, or don't care, in which case they, um, don't care.
Anyway, no real point to this, just a peek behind the curtain on a slow news day.
Wednesday, 3 August 2005
Apropos Of Nothing
This is apropos of nothing, but right before I was about to post it on another board, I realized it had absolutely nothing to do with the previous comments in the thread. Too curmudgeonly to pass up an opportunity to gripe, I'm posting it here instead:I have to take issue with the idea that STS-114 is somehow a failure because of the effort that has been made to examine the Orbiter for problems and fix any potential ones. All of the original mission goals regarding ISS are being met; it's just that the main media focus has been on the unusual aspects of this mission, which are unusual because they are unprecedented.
This isn't the first time these problems have occurred, it's just the first time NASA has had this depth of knowledge about them and taken action to fix them while on orbit.
Odds are good that, had STS-114 simply followed its original flight plan from March 2003, without the additional inspection, imaging and repair, it would have made it home safely, just as numerous other missions with "minor" problems did. The difference is that this time, NASA didn't take that chance.
If STS-107 had unfolded the way STS-114 had -- with a problem identified, understood and fixed on orbit, would it also have been considered a failure?
Astronauts Visit The Gap
Both protruding gap fillers have now been successfully removed from Discovery's underbelly.
Tuesday, 2 August 2005
It's The End Of The World As We Know It
Wow.
OK, yeah, I want one of these.
It's about time.
Couldn't Planet This Way
Space.com has an interesting article about the debate as to whether 2003UB313 should be considered a planet (I'm loathe to use the other informal name of the world that's been being bandied around, and will likely be the last to do so).The article acknowledges that much of the debate is based on cultural factors, but that ultimately a scientific decision must be made (though that decision want be final until a year from now).
The Dark Underside Of The Shuttle
Per Spaceflight Now:"Then we examined our options to set our minds at rest and to make sure we didn't stay up late nights worrying about bad things happening, the EVA (spacewalk) team has ... put together a very simple plan, with good safety precautions and mitigations of many hazards that will allow the crew member to go out and remove those two gap fillers. And so when we looked at the unknown versus what we do know about EVA, it was a very easy decision to add the task to EVA number three, to go remove the two little gap fillers."
Killling A Franchise
I briefly considered getting the four-movie pack when it was on deep discount right before the new movie came out, but didn't get it, to some extent because the four were presented as basically movie-only sets, and who wants an edition of Batman & Robin that isn't special?Now, though, they're releasing a huge, feature-laden set of the first four movies, but it's gonna cost way more than I'm willing to pay to own them.
Oh well.
Monday, 1 August 2005
Blogpoint Update
After a close finale, Lain ended up winning the July Blogpoint contest. (The prize will be delivered in person this weekend.)Results for the month were as follows:
Lain--161 Blogpoints
Joe--146 Blogpoints
Jordan--50 Blogpoints
Mrs. Tutor--40 Blogpoints
Chris--40 Blogpoints
Richie--15 Blogpoints
Nicole--10 Blogpoints
The Hulk--10 Blogpoints
Steve--5 Blogpoints
Cracking The Code
Far be it from me to do something so misogynist and close-minded as saying something bad about The Da Vinci Code, so I'll send you to BeaucoupKevin instead.
I will say this, though -- it's sure no Leonardo Code.
hPod No More
Hewlett Packard will no longer sell iPods.(In researching the relative strength of HP, I came across this article which has some darned good artwork.)
Two Years And Counting
Per collectSPACE (on Friday):Today is the first day of cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev's third year in space. When Krikalev arrived at the International Space Station as Expedition 11 commander, he had logged more than 1 year, 5 months and 10 days in space over two flights to the Mir space station, two Space Shuttle missions and a prior stay on the ISS during Expedition 1. In August, he will surpass the record of 748 days for cumulative time in space set by Sergei Avdeyev. At the end of this mission, Krikalev will have lived more than 800 days above Earth.
Used tags: collectspace, international_space_station, roskosmos, space
Hubble Trouble Again?
Maybe I'm just overlooking it, but it's suprised me that I haven't yet seen any speculation over what the issues Discovery has encountered on this mission will mean for the future of the Hubble Space Telescope. (Surely this apparent lack of thought about the issue doesn't mean that the deep interest the media and public demonstrated for Hubble over the last couple of years wasn't genuine.)When he became NASA administrator, Griffin said that, unlike his predecessor, he was open to the idea of sending another Shuttle mission to service Hubble, but that the decision would be made after the STS-114 mission was completed successfully. While Griffin has said just recently he still would like to fly this mission, I'm curious whether that could change before this mission is over and its aftermath is fully felt. According to results, the foam shedding during launch had the potential to have disastrous consequences, and could potentially have led to the Orbiter being unfit to return to Earth. In that event, the Station would be used to house the crew until they could be rescued, a possibility that wouldn't be an option on a Hubble servicing mission. If an incident such as the one that could have occurred during this mission happened during a Hubble mission, options for rescuing the crew would be much more limited.
To be sure, Mike has said the Shuttle won't fly until those problems are resolved, which would make the issue moot, but only if you assume that there's no chance of more unforeseen, and thus uncorrected, issues. Which, after all, is exactly what happened on this flight.
ET Sequel
Not only does this NASA Watch article have some interesting information about the studies that led NASA to believe that Shuttle-derived vehicles are the way to go for future launch vehicles, but it has a ton of pictures that I, at least, thought were pretty cool.
The Meat Of The Story
Been a while since I've done any low-carb blogging, but thought this bit from Carbwire was worthy of mention:Atkins Nutritionals Inc. has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The filing, which was was made today, comes after the bust of Atkins' popularity. The diet is of course still very popular (as our readers are quick to point out), but the vogue-like aspect that defined low-carb diets for a while in 2003/2004 has faded.
Wednesday, 31 August 2005
80 GB Of Love
(Read Entry)
What A Wonderful World
(Read Entry)
Run It Up The Flagpole
(Read Entry)
Heh
(Read Entry)
Grab Your Towel
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 30 August 2005
Storm Update
(Read Entry)
iPhone Update?
(Read Entry)
Checking In
(Read Entry)Monday, 29 August 2005
Space Van
(Read Entry)
I've Got Issues
(Read Entry)
Nap Time
(Read Entry)
I Believe In Peace, Bossk
(Read Entry)
One Of These Days...
(Read Entry)
The Coming Storm
(Read Entry)Sunday, 28 August 2005
Beginning Again
(Read Entry)Saturday, 27 August 2005
Journal-ism
(Read Entry)Friday, 26 August 2005
My Cyborg Name
(Read Entry)
Failure II Reminder
(Read Entry)
And So It Begins
(Read Entry)
Deep Space 4400
(Read Entry)Thursday, 25 August 2005
Tat's All Folks
(Read Entry)
New Dinosaur
(Read Entry)
Take One Tablet...
(Read Entry)
Sims 2 College
(Read Entry)
The Best PC
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 24 August 2005
Editorial Note
(Read Entry)
Embrace Film
(Read Entry)
Break Off The Remix
(Read Entry)
Dinosaur Pitt
(Read Entry)
Supersonic For The People
(Read Entry)
STS-121 Update
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 23 August 2005
SpaceShipThree
(Read Entry)
Liwei To The Moon
(Read Entry)
iPhone Update
(Read Entry)Monday, 22 August 2005
Casting Lots
(Read Entry)
Space Hilton
(Read Entry)
Homecoming
(Read Entry)
Return Of The 'Sith'
(Read Entry)Saturday, 20 August 2005
What A Person Does With His Own Computer...
(Read Entry)Friday, 19 August 2005
LC Summary
(Read Entry)
The Meme'ing Of Life
(Read Entry)
Arlo Commentary
(Read Entry)
Anniversaries
(Read Entry)
Paperless Classroom
(Read Entry)
STS-121 Update
(Read Entry)Thursday, 18 August 2005
Favor Request
(Read Entry)
Editorial Note
(Read Entry)
Bookstore Nemesis
(Read Entry)
STS-121 Update
(Read Entry)
Day Of The Comets
(Read Entry)
Launch Date
(Read Entry)
Picture Of The Day
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 17 August 2005
Blogpoint Opportunity
(Read Entry)
"A Few Bad Apples"
(Read Entry)
Flying Car Update
(Read Entry)
STS-121 Update
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 16 August 2005
At Last
(Read Entry)
Changes
(Read Entry)
Rage For The Machine
(Read Entry)
It's Been Years
(Read Entry)
114 Notes
(Read Entry)
The Future Of Trek
(Read Entry)
Dream Joke
It's International Tell A Joke Day. (Read Entry)Monday, 15 August 2005
Apple Google?
(Read Entry)
Hurrah!
(Read Entry)Sunday, 14 August 2005
Homer's Head
(Read Entry)Saturday, 13 August 2005
Tori Gets The Boot
(Read Entry)Friday, 12 August 2005
DOD SDLV OK
(Read Entry)
STS-121 Update
(Read Entry)
iPhone Update
(Read Entry)
City Of Troy
(Read Entry)
Go MRO!
(Read Entry)Thursday, 11 August 2005
Yet Another Editorial Note
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 9 August 2005
Omega And Alpha
(Read Entry)Monday, 8 August 2005
Turning Japanese
(Read Entry)
AKA Alias
(Read Entry)
Another Day
(Read Entry)Sunday, 7 August 2005
Editorial Note
(Read Entry)Saturday, 6 August 2005
Editorial Note
(Read Entry)Friday, 5 August 2005
Get Lucky
(Read Entry)
Woz Not Woz
(Read Entry)
Ha!
(Read Entry)
STS-114 Update
(Read Entry)
OSX PS3?
(Read Entry)Thursday, 4 August 2005
It's In The Bag
(Read Entry)
Origins Of The Future
(Read Entry)
Failure II
(Read Entry)
To Blog, Or Not To Blog
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 3 August 2005
Apropos Of Nothing
(Read Entry)
Astronauts Visit The Gap
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 2 August 2005
It's The End Of The World As We Know It
(Read Entry)
Couldn't Planet This Way
(Read Entry)
The Dark Underside Of The Shuttle
(Read Entry)
Killling A Franchise
(Read Entry)Monday, 1 August 2005
Blogpoint Update
(Read Entry)
Cracking The Code
(Read Entry)
hPod No More
(Read Entry)
Two Years And Counting
Krikalev begins third year in space. (Read Entry)
Hubble Trouble Again?
(Read Entry)
ET Sequel
(Read Entry)