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Saturday, 30 December 2006
Ani-me
The friend who IM'd me the link to this video on YouTube did so with a note saying "dude -- someone animated you". And, you know, he's not too far off. Funny.He also sent a link to "a sequel with Nicole," though the resemblance isn't quite as strong. Still, in a pinch, they could pass for us, which is kinda weird.
Friday, 29 December 2006
Teaching Rover
Per JPL:NASA's twin Mars rovers, nearing the third anniversary of their landings, are getting smarter as they get older.
The unexpected longevity of Spirit and Opportunity is giving the space agency a chance to field-test on Mars some new capabilities useful both to these missions and future rovers. Spirit will begin its fourth year on Mars on Jan. 3 (PST); Opportunity on Jan. 24. In addition to their continuing scientific observations, they are now testing four new skills included in revised flight software uploaded to their onboard computers.
One of the new capabilities enables spacecraft to examine images and recognize certain types of features.
...
Another new feature, called "visual target tracking," enables a rover to keep recognizing a designated landscape feature as the rover moves.
...
Visual target tracking can be combined with a third new feature -- autonomy in calculating where it is safe to reach out with the contact tools on the rover's robotic arm. The combination gives Spirit and Opportunity a capability called "go and touch," which is yet to be tested on Mars.
...
The new software also improves the autonomy of each rover for navigating away from hazards by building better maps of their surroundings than they have done previously.
Thursday, 28 December 2006
Same Seth, Different Year
Today is the last Thursday of 2006, so there's a New Year's strip over at the Hatbag site.And, since apparently a bunch of ATW readers don't follow the weekly Hatbag link, I thought a brief explanation might be in order -- Hatbag is a weekly webcomic Lain and I create; following two old college buddies as they adjust to sort-of grown-up life. If you read ATW, take a few extra seconds to go read Hatbag. Please? Please?
Regular Richie Feature
Recent search strings on Alltheseworlds.net:
iVend
Per TUAW:When I first heard of the whole buy-an-iPod vending-machine concept, I dismissed it as yet another bad idea that had to play itself out. I couldn't imagine anyone ever actually buying an iPod at one of these machines. Looks like I was way wrong.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (subscription) that a single iPod vending machine sold a thousands of dollars worth of iPods in one month. A VP of Business Traveler Services is quoted as saying, "We've done about $55,000 in a month in gross sales just for the one on Concourse A. This is becoming the future for some high-end products in places like airports where space is at a premium." If you're willing to drop $349 plus tax, the iPod is yours. And it's a change from all those salty treats you normally get at a vending machine.
Wednesday, 27 December 2006
RIP Gerald Ford
Two US Congressmen, accompanied by NASA Administrator James E. Webb, visited the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) April 28, 1964, for a briefing on the Saturn program and a tour of the facilities. They are (left to right) Congressman Gerald Ford Jr., Republican representative of Michigan; Dr. Wernher von Braun, MSFC director; Congressman George H. Mahon, Democratic representative of Texas; and Mr. Webb.
Rest in Peace, President Ford.
And, from collectSPACE, here's more on Ford's place in spaceflight history.
Used tags: collectspace, history, politics, space
Path Of NEO Update
So this update on the preparation of a proposal to send Orion to an asteroid may or may not have enough new information to really be blog-worthy, but it's a story that fascinates me personally, so here it is. (Plus, it's not like I've been inundating the audience with posts lately anyway.)Interesting new bits include the fact that NASA is considering the possibility of using a commercial EELV, rather than an Ares booster, for the mission. This is presumably because Ares I would not be powerful enough, and that would open the option of flying the mission before Ares V goes online, but serious pursuit of human-rating a Delta or Atlas would potentially raise some questions in some camps about Ares.
As to what the rendezvous would look like, the article says:
[Astronaut Ed] Lu said that an Orion spaceship would hover in close proximity to the NEO. “We’re talking about an object that’s more than likely just 330 feet (100 meters) across, or less. We’re talking a big rock or probably a big rubble pile, and likely rotating.”
From their spot in space, a crew could deploy a remotely-piloted vehicle. Looking out spacecraft windows, an astronaut might fly a robotic probe via a joy stick, Lu envisioned, dropping off packages on the NEO or scooping up select samples for return to Earth.
Shatner In Huntsville
Per The Huntsville Times:Shatner, Rice, Leno on guest list for pivotal events during year
U.S. Space Camp is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2007, and Capt. Kirk is coming to the party.
William Shatner has agreed to emcee the Space Camp Hall of Fame induction banquet in June, said U.S. Space & Rocket Center CEO Larry Capps.
...
Ticket prices, location and other details about the banquet will be announced.
Shatner is not the only recognizable name on the Space Center's invitation list for various 2007 events. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, comedian Jay Leno, astronauts Story Musgrave and Bob Springer and Army pilot Michael Durant of Madison, whose story was featured in the movie "Black Hawk Down," could all make appearances during the year, Capps said.
Tuesday, 26 December 2006
Trek Server
Uh, it turns out that the old Chekhov episode of New Voyages, To Serve All My Days, has been online for like a month now. Has anybody seen it yet? (Lain, if you haven't, wait until this weekend.)Also, apparently the original first episode of New Voyages, Come What May, has been fired out of the New Voyages canon.
MWSF
Today is December 26, that magical day when Christmas is in the past and the MWSF Stevenote is now less than a month away. With Santa having done his bit already, what are you hoping Uncle Steve will bring next month?
Friday, 22 December 2006
iPhone Update
Is this the Apple Probably not, but I'm posting it anyway!
STS-116 Update
Per NASA:Landing day has arrived for the Space Shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts. Seven opportunities are available today, with the first at 3:56 p.m. EST at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
All three shuttle landing sites will be activated today due to unfavorable weather forecasts at Kennedy and Edwards Air Force Base in California. Weather is forecast to be favorable at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
The last opportunity at Kennedy is at 5:32 p.m. Three exist at Edwards – 5:27 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:36 p.m. Two are available at White Sands – 5:27 p.m. and 7:02 p.m. Landing opportunities also are available Saturday at all three sites.
Thursday, 21 December 2006
The Twelve Days Of Nerdmas
It's Christmas-time again, so of course that means another overly ambitious Nerdmas strip over at the Hatbag site, along the lines of last year's Night Before Nerdmas.And, since apparently a bunch of ATW readers don't follow the weekly Hatbag link, I thought a brief explanation might be in order -- Hatbag is a weekly webcomic Lain and I create; following two old college buddies as they adjust to sort-of grown-up life. If you read ATW, take a few extra seconds to go read Hatbag. Please? Please?
STS-116 Update
Per The Las Cruces Sun-Times:Chances of a Friday or Saturday shuttle landing at White Sands Space Harbor are greater than they have been since the shuttle landed at White Sands almost 25 years ago.
Poor weather conditions at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and at Edwards Air Force Base in California, could force NASA officials to land Discovery in New Mexico. Personnel at White Sands Missile Range and Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo began preparations for a possible shuttle landing Friday afternoon.
Jim Eckles, a WSMR spokesman who assisted the media when Columbia landed at White Sands in March 1982, said NASA's involvement in a possible landing is greater than it has been since then.
Microsoft Microcosm
It occurs to me that the popularity of iPod integration in cars is more significant than I'd really thought about.PlaylistMag.com has an article citing research by Telematics Research Group:
Market research firm Telematics Research Group (TRG) reports that almost 50 percent of 2007 automobile models sold in the United States will sport iPod integration. The firm calls iPod integration “the most sought after feature” by new car shoppers.
Sure, it's interesting to read that people love the iPods. But there's something more important going on -- Apple is seeing success in a world that has next to nothing to do with computers. Which means a world in which its business partners are not beholden to Microsoft. Gates and friends were able to use Windows as leverage on desktop makers to win the browser wars, but Nike sneakers don't run Windows.
Microsoft may be aiming for Apple once again with Zune, but they'll find that they're competing on a new playing field this time, one that's a little more level.
License To Ill
Fool.com has an interview with Bob Cringely about the future of the iPod. Cringely's columns frequently have some interesting stuff to day, but this interview was interesting for a different reason, in my opinion.Bob Cringely: ...The better question to ask is, when will Apple stop making iPods?Huh?
Mac Greer: OK, when will Apple stop making iPods?
Bob Cringely: Apple will stop making iPods the day that they can make more profit from an iPod license than they can make from selling an iPod. And that day will come. A switch will flip, and suddenly you will be able to buy an iPod from anyone, and Apple will just be in the iTunes business, but they will be making money from Apple IPE [intellectual property enforcement] and iPod licenses.
What, exactly, in all of human history would make him think that it's possible, forget likely, that Steve Jobs would wake up one morning and say, 'You know, I think I would to get out of the hardware business and just license my software to other hardware makers." Maybe my recollection is off, but I seem to recall one of the major points of Apple history is kinda that Jobs doesn't do that.
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
A Page Right Out Of History
RIP Joseph Barbera
Hair Today
Per collectSPACE:They appear as two line items in a final transfer list between the space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station: items 811 and 811.1.
Uplinked to the shuttle crew as a final preparation for the undocking of Discovery from the station on Tuesday, the list identifies 811 as Suni Williams, FE-2, and 811.1 as a ponytail.
...
Williams, who arrived at the outpost last week with long flowing — and floating — hair, arranged to have her locks cut last Sunday and the clippings stowed on Discovery for a future hairpiece to be donated to a patient suffering from long-term medical hair loss, collectSPACE.com has learned.
Used tags: collectspace, international_space_station, nasa, space
Tuesday, 19 December 2006
STS-116 Update
So the finished retracting the 4B array wing yesterday, performing an unscheduled and somewhat improvised task on an unscheduled EVA. An example of our astronaut corps at its best.
Monday, 18 December 2006
STS-116 Update
Another EVA has been added to the schedule, and will begin at 1 p.m. today CST. Bob Curbeam will become the first person to make four EVAs in one spaceflight. The EVA will continue efforts to retract the P6 port arrays.
iPhone Unveiled
There have been reports all along that the iPhone would not be named iPhone, and now it's official, since there is an iPhone named iPhone, from Cisco.So what should the Apple phone be named?
Star Trek Cell Block
Odds are this proposal for a new animated Trek series will end up like all sorts of other proposals for new Trek stuff, but it has gotten as far as having CBS order a few scripts, so that's something, right?While I'm not entirely sure what I think about it from a canon point of view (and, ironically, as much criticism as there was of Enterprise from a continuity standpoint, Trek has probably done enough references to far future times that even something set long after TNG still has continuity issues it has to deal with), I think it sounds like something that could be pretty entertaining viewing, and I'd be all in favor of seeing this come about.
Thoughts, anyone?
Friday, 15 December 2006
Catchphrase In The Wry
So, yeah, I'm late blogging it because of my trip, but this week's new Hatbag strip went live yesterday.And, since apparently a bunch of ATW readers don't follow the weekly Hatbag link, I thought a brief explanation might be in order -- Hatbag is a weekly webcomic Lain and I create; following two old college buddies as they adjust to sort-of grown-up life. If you read ATW, take a few extra seconds to go read Hatbag. Please? Please?
TrekLinks
So it's not the one-degree-of-separation of Leonard McCoy, but here's a perhaps three-degree link between Ole Miss and Star Trek.
FoxTrot Ends Daily Run
Per Universal Press Syndicate:Bill Amend’s popular FoxTrot comic strip will go to a Sunday-only publication schedule as of Dec. 31, 2006, announced Universal Press Syndicate today. The last daily will be Saturday, Dec. 30. Reruns of dailies will be available for Web usage.
Alas.
Monday, 11 December 2006
Pete And No Repeat
I've been somewhat critical of his decision to fire David Cutcliffe and hire Orgeron, but in recent days I've realized there was a benefit of the decision that I hadn't thought about before.
Boone saw the last coach he brought on hired away by Auburn, in a move that left many at Ole Miss feeling betrayed.
As Alabama's head coach search continues to drag on, I notice that Boone has managed to ensure that a similar scenario won't be happening any time soon -- as many people as Alabama has talked to about the position, I have to admit I haven't heard even the slightest speculation that they might try to recruit Orgeron away from Ole Miss.
So, kudos to you, Pete Boone. You've managed to hire a coach this time so bad that no one else wants him.
Picture Of The Day
Thomas Reiter on ISS. Why is this the picture of the day? 'Cause of this. (Scroll to the bottom)
(And I disagree with this site's note. I think it's actually a 4G.)
STS-116 Update
Per Spaceflight Now:Preliminary analysis of ascent video and radar indicate the shuttle Discovery's external tank performed well and that no major debris events occurred that might have damaged the orbiter's fragile heat shield. While it will take several more days to complete the assessment, incorporating crew inspections today and more planned for Monday, NASA managers said they were pleased with Discovery's performance so far.
And, if you're like most people, you're no doubt thinking, "Well, this whole shuttle mission thing is interesting, but it would be more interesting if I had accompanying content created by David and his friends." Well, you're in luck! Actually, I can't in good conscience recommend my stuff to the ATW audience, but the Picture Switcher is kinda fun. They'll also be adding profiles I wrote of the crew one a day during the mission, but they're all education-focused.
Friday, 8 December 2006
STS-116 Update
So, yeah, scrubbed.Currently NET 7:47 p.m. CST Saturday.
Last I heard, Saturday was 70 percent No Go on weather. Sunday and Monday are 60 percent No Go, and Tuesday picks up at 60 percent Go. (The story I read indicates that there may be attempts on Saturday and Sunday, but then skip Monday.)
Updates can be found here.
Also, an interesting note from Flight International:
The launch of Discovery/STS-116 will potentially be the last from pad 39B as it is to be used for the development of NASA’s proposed Ares I crew launch vehicle. However because of NASA’s ongoing policy of launching a rescue shuttle if an Orbiter discovered it was damaged after its ascent 39B is the candidate pad for such a mission.
(This is particularly relevant for the Hubble servicing mission, when the lack of safe harbor on ISS would require a quick rescue launch if one became necessary, making it less likely one pad could be used for a primary and rescue launch.)
Apple Got Game Update
MacRumors has a follow-up on the recent story about Apple considering going into the console gaming market.Upon giving it a little more thought, I've figured out how I would like to see that happen -- the iTunes Nintendo Store.
There's been a lot of discussion of recent years saying that there should be some sort of relationship between Apple and Nintendo, from a partnership agreement to Apple just out-and-out buying Nintendo. With the iTV, I'm beginning to think it's a darned good idea.
Here's how it would work:
One of the features of the Wii that I was initially really excited about way back when I first heard about it, but which isn't getting that much play now, is its ability to play a library of classic games from previous Nintendo consoles and some other gaming machines (Sega and Turbo Graphix, I believe). When I first heard about it, it made me think I might actually be interested in getting a Wii when the price drops a bit. I no longer have the time to spend hours playing Dragon Quest 8 or what have you, but killing a few minutes with ExciteBike? You betcha.
So far, though, implementation of the idea has been lackluster. There are only a handful of games online for the Wii, and none of the ones available now are the least bit compelling for me.
Now, picture, this: Apple and Nintendo partner up. Apple hosts the library for Nintendo using the iTS architecture, and, in exchange, Nintendo licenses Apple to be able to play those games on the Mac.
Apple probably gets the greatest direct benefit from the arrangement. Through iTV, it now has a living room virtual gaming console complete with a library of games, without having to go through the challenging part of finding companies to code games for a new machine. It's not competitive as a gaming machine with any of the modern consoles, but it gives Apple a gaming presence, and, basically, for consumers, amounts to a free console with purchase of iTV.
For Nintendo, the benefit would be in Apple's experience in setting up a store like this. There could even be an arrangement where Apple essentially subsidizes the store in exchange for the license, giving Nintendo a sweet financial deal. I tend to think the potential downside to Nintendo of lost console sales would be minor; the iTV would play only the classic games, not the current Wii games that use the new wireless controller, which is the main selling point. Ideally, the added game royalties from people who wouldn't buy a Wii but would play the games on iTV would more than make up for any lost hardware sales.
For both, though, there's an added benefit -- competetive edge against their mutual foe, Microsoft. In theory, this arrangment would make the Nintendo "platform" via Wii and iTV more competetive against the XBox (and, by extension, the PlayStation3, though Apple probably has less interest in that battle than Nintendo does).
I doubt it will happen, but, man, being able to play Contra for the NES on my iTV would make me a happy, happy man.
Another One For Tutor
MacNN has another rumor that Tutor can use to set himself up for disappointment.Apple is planning to introduce three new iPod models during the 2007 calendar year, according to one report. The Cupertino-based company will unveil a video-oriented model to supplement or replace the existing fifth-generation iPod ...
Details on the other two iPod models are currently unclear, according to the report.
I hereby begin the completely unsubstantiated rumor that one of the other two will feature unbelievably cool new Bluetooth-based "Zune-killer" wireless connectivity features.
Thursday, 7 December 2006
The Unkindest Cut
It's Thursday, so there's a new strip over at the Hatbag site. You know the drill.As always, please vote Hatbag. Thanks.
And, since apparently a bunch of ATW readers don't follow the weekly Hatbag link, I thought a brief explanation might be in order -- Hatbag is a weekly webcomic Lain and I create; following two old college buddies as they adjust to sort-of grown-up life. If you read ATW, take a few extra seconds to go read Hatbag. Please? Please?
The King Of All Storage Media
OK, quick reader poll:What is the oldest computer data storage medium you have used?
I'm a bit too young to have used punchcards; I think the farthest back I go is audio cassettes. And I still have a box of five-and-a-quarter floppies at home.
STS-116 Update
Discovery is theoretically Go for launch tonight at 8:36 p.m. CST, but I wouldn't cancel any important plans in order to be free then.Weather was already 60 percent No Go even before they said there was a chance of rain. Updates can be found at Spaceflight Now's Mission Status Center.
If Discovery doesn't go tonight, the weather for Friday's window, which opens at 8:08 p.m. CST, is 70 percent No Go last I heard, and Saturday (7:42 p.m.) is about like today.
Wednesday, 6 December 2006
Liquid Assets Update
Just a reminder that the big Mars announcement is today at noon CST.Space.com supports the rumor posted here yesterday: "The buzz here in Houston at a Space Exploration conference is that years of photo snaps by the recently-lost Mars Global Surveyor has picked up a gullywasher of a finding."
The link on the site is "Impending Mars Announcement to Re-write Textbooks ... Again"
Are they still making those? Are these the textbooks that show nine planets? This is why we need some sort of electronic smartbooks.
Also in the Space.com bit was one other interesting item:
Meanwhile, take note that a small study group led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is looking at the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and its booster to mount a robotic Mars return sample mission. The modest study will run into the first quarter of next year.
Such an automated mission could shake out spaceship hardware and landing techniques useful for a future human trek to the red planet.
STS-116 Update
Per Spaceflight Now:After a lengthy launch-minus-two-day review, NASA managers tonight tentatively cleared the shuttle Discovery for liftoff Thursday night, weather permitting, pending resolution of two last-minute technical issues. The issues do not appear to be show stoppers, but engineers are collecting additional data to make sure.
"We're on track and on target for Thursday," said LeRoy Cain, chairman of NASA's launch-site Mission Management Team. "All in all, we're in great shape."
Discovery's liftoff on NASA's third shuttle mission of 2006 - the agency's first night launch since 2002 - is targeted for 9:35:49 p.m. The forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of favorable weather.
...
But Discovery will not be formally cleared for launch until engineers resolve two last-minute issues that were left open at the end of the L-minus two-day review:
* A brief, half-second electrical transient was noted early today when engineers were configuring the shuttle's electrical power systems for launch. Cain said he asked engineers to work through the night to collect data showing whether the brief surge could have caused problems for any of the electrical systems in the orbiter, the external tank or the ship's twin solid-fuel boosters. Cain said a preliminary assessment indicates the shuttle's systems were not affected by the transient, but additional data is needed to make sure.
* A recent engineering test uncovered a potential issue with an adhesive used to bond insulation in the joints between solid-fuel booster segments. The adhesive is associated with so-called J-seals, a post Challenger safety improvement, but Cain said the test results were new and not yet fully understood. Engineers are studying the test data to determine if there are any concerns about the joints in Discovery's boosters.
Apple Got Game
You know, I wouldn't mind seeing an Apple PDA. Or a tablet. Or any of the other things that people say Apple shouldn't do because it would carry the stench of Newton.Of course, I like my Newton. I still carry it to work with me every day. My personal opinion is that Apple was ahead of its time with the Newton, that it was and remains underappreciated, and that it had a lot of features that would be wonderful in a modern project.
So it's odd that, being so enlightened about the Newton, I have such a knee-jerk reaction to another failed Apple product, and one that I've never even seen -- the Pippin.
Regardless, though, when I read on MacRumors.com that Apple could make a video game console, my immediate reaction is "No."
Or, more specifically, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.
Etc.
I'm not putting a lot of stock in the rumors, since it's based on the fact that Apple has been hiring game developers, and we know that Apple has integrated gaming into the iPod.
But still:
No.
MWSF Speculation
It's still almost two months away, but here's my MacWorld San Francisco prediction: Tutor will be disappointed.Or, to broaden that a bit, it'll be one of the bigger events in recent years, but there will be a lot of disappointment.
Of course, take into consideration that I'm almost certainly wrong. Based on my prediction, I'm planning, unless things change substantially between now and then, not to follow through with my original intent to re-buy Apple stock a little while before the Stevenote (and possibily sell when it peaks during or shortly after the event). And, since I've been invariably wrong about when to buy and sell Apple stock since using actual money, that means I'm probably wrong this time, too.
But, basically, my prediction is this: 2007 will be a major year for Apple. And MWSF will lay a lot of the groundwork for that to happen. There's a possibility that it will be the turning point -- that all the major pieces that will mark Apple's move into the living room and further into consumer electronics will be announced in the Stevenote.
But I doubt it. For that to happen, you need several pieces -- iTV, which we know is coming and which marks is the vanguard of the living room push; the true video iPod, which completes the iPod's move from a music player to a media player and supports the iTV; the iPhone, which furthers the consumer electronics move; Leopard, which must have new features announced at MWSF that support the first three in ways that make it more than just an OS; and something else. Basically, we expect that all four of those are coming soon, so even if all four of those are announced, it will lack true "one more thing" excitement.
And I'm not expecting all four of those to be announced. It's possible, and I would love to see it happen. But just looking back over, well, 2006, I'm expecting at least one of those will be delayed at least until later in the quarter. And if that happens, people will almost certainly be disappointed. Perhaps not -- an iPhone that is sufficiently cooler than expectations, for example, would carry the entire show.
Personally, though, I'm betting that the rumors of things that are coming, at some point, will set the bar too high for MWSF.
But I could be wrong.
I Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmm.....
When I found out I was going to be going to Houston next week, I was excited, among other reasons, for the fact that I now knew exactly when I was going to read the latest John Grisham book, which I'm really eager to read but which thus far has just been sitting in my to-read stack ever since my signed copy arrived from Square Books.Point being, I haven't read the book yet, so I don't know whether it's any good or not (I'm imagining it will be, but that may just be setting myself up for disappointment). So take that into consideration when I say, hey, cool, we may be seeing a good Grisham movie for the first time in quite a while.
Tuesday, 5 December 2006
The Broken Triad, Book V Update
Someone feel free to jump in at any time.
Liquid Assets
I was going to wait until tomorrow, closer to the event, to note that NASA has a briefing scheduled for noon CST tomorrow to announce a "significant find on Mars" made by the Mars Global Surveyor before it decided to retire last month. But why wait for facts when there are juicy rumors?Aviation Week and Space Technology reports that the agency "is ready to announce major new findings about the presence of water currently emerging onto the surface of Mars." (The report goes on to discuss what that would mean in regards to the l-word.)
Cool, no?
STS-116 Update
The ISS has been successfully reboosted, re-opening FD3 docking opportunities for Discovery given any of the scheduled launch windows.At this writing, the official countdown clock is running, at just under 32 hours (obviously, several holds are built into that).
Launch remains scheduled for 8:36 p.m. CST Thursday.
Life On The Moon
Back in 1998 and 1999, I lived in Houston, Miss. for about six months, and Eupora, Miss. for another half year. In retrospect, I wasn't in either place for a terribly long period. But, at the time, they were home. When you go about your day-to-day life in a place for that long, even if its ultimately rather temporary, it becomes your life.So when crews begin spending six months living on the moon, I wonder how they will feel about it. To what extent will it become, for those months, home? And what does that make the big blue and white globe hanging perpetually overhead?
There have been plenty of people to make their home for months, or even more than a year, away from our planet, on the space station. But there's still a very real connection to the Earth there. But to be the first people to make their home on another world? Wow.
NASA has announced its plans for the initial surface exploration of the moon following humanity's return there. Rather than an Apollo-esque series of sorties to a variety of locations, the missions will all focus on exploring one location and developing an infrastructure there that will, in four years or so, build to a permanent human settlement. Our first colony on another celestial shore.
My only complaint? I think this nation should dedicate itself fully, and without hedging, to return to the moon no later than July 20, 2019.
ShuffleBud
OK, I officially want one of the new iPod shuffles.Sure, I thought they were cool when they were announced -- tantilizingly small and sexy. But the factor that pushed me over the edge when I got my first-gen shuffle was not its form factor as an music player, per se, but the fact that it doubled as a one-gig flash drive. I already had an iPod and didn't really need another, but a large-capacity flash-drive that was also an iPod, that was pretty cool.
So when the new shuffles were announced, while I did think they were impressive in their own right, I didn't like the fact that they lost the flash-drive function of their predecessor. If you want to carry data from one computer to another, you would have to carry the dock with you. Too much trouble.
But now that someone's created a simple adapter to fix that (for only six bucks, no less), the 2G shuffle lust is starting to set in. (Not that I'm going to buy one anytime soon -- maybe when they get down to half the cost they are now or something.)
Monday, 4 December 2006
On The Moon
The first question was "How do we get there?"NASA spent last year on the Exploration Systems Architecture Study, which evaluated different ideas for spacecraft for getting to the moon. The result of the ESAS were the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles and the Orion capsule.
That done, a second study was launched, this one to answer the question "What do we do once we get there?"
Now NASA is ready to announce the answer to that question as well. At 1 p.m. CST today, NASA will announce its plans for the surface exploration of the moon. The briefing can be watched on television or online via NASA TV.
From what I've heard, it could be interesting stuff.
STS-116 Update
The crew has arrived at KSC, and the official countdown begins tonight at 10 p.m. CST at the T -43 hour mark.On a related note, another attempt to reboost the station will be made today, which would open up more launch opportunities (or, I guess more accurately, keep open the originally planned launch opportunities).
Launch is currently scheduled for NET 8:36 p.m. CST on Thursday.
Get Yer iPhone Rumors
MacRumors has reposted some supposed iPhone details, from Diggnation:- Going to be coming out in January
- All phone providers
- "It's small as sh*t"
- Don't know anything about the Operating System
- The OS is supposed to be "cool"
- Doing some unique things
- Two batteries, one charger. One for MP3 portion and one for Phone.
- 4GB ($249) and 8GB ($449)
- Flash memory, Slide out keyboard
- Maybe touch screen?
Not a whole lot new there, but the thing about that I found interesting is the drive size -- comporable to a nano, so plenty big enough to serve as a mp3 player, but, on the other hand, it's not a full-out iPod. To be honest, I don't know how big TV shows or movies from iTS are, so I don't know what that means in terms of to what extent Apple is intending this thing to be a video player.
Friday, 1 December 2006
Galactic Prospects
Per Cosmic Log:British billionaire Richard Branson says he's sending over a medical officer to talk with physicist Stephen Hawking about getting him into space. That's how the founder of Virgin Galactic responded to Hawking's comment that "maybe Richard Branson will help" him achieve his long-held goal of reaching the final frontier, even though he's a quadriplegic who needs a blink-controlled computer to communicate.
Branson and other Virgin executives indicated today that if there's any way on earth to accommodate the good doctor-with-a-disability, they'll do it. And for practice, Hawking could conceivably experience weightlessness aboard a Zero Gravity Corp. plane as early as next year.
It would be one giant leap for the world's best-known physicist - and a powerful signal of support for other people with disabilities.
Food For Thought
It's amazing what you can learn in the newspaper. Just check out, for example, this fascinating fact from USA Today: But NASA officials have slowly come to realize that food is central to the well-being of the astronauts living on the space station.On the other hand, they don't like to talk about the time during training that they forgot to poke air holes in the shuttle simulator.
Messages To The Moon
Here's another of those free send-your-name-to-space things: This time, you can send your name, and a message, to the moon on Japan's Selene spacecraft, "the most scientifically full-fledged lunar spacecraft ... to the Moon since US Apollo Program," per The Planetary Society of Japan. In an unusual twist, unlike most recent missions, the names won't be stored digitally, but engraved on the lunar orbiter in letters micrometers tall. (The forty letter limit on the message, though, rules out "If you can read this, you're following too close."
Pete's Best
That's the final report on the Ole Miss 2006 football season, according to a Clarion-Ledger interview with athletic director Pete Boone.
Says Boone: "At some point, it gets down to Ws. But the things I was looking at in the sense of how the kids responded, their work ethic, their competitiveness on game day and also the working relationship, the camaraderie within the coaching staff. Everybody is upbeat. I just felt like a lot of very, very positive things happened this year."
This appears to be the equivalent of the conversation after an-only-slightly-better season in 2004 that led to the firing of David Cutcliffe. After that season, Boone came to Cutcliffe, who was hired while Boone was between steps as AD, wanting heads to roll, and Cutcliffe replied that they had just had a bad season and needed to move on next year. It wasn't the answer Boone was looking for, and Cutcliffe was sent packing.
Apparently, based on the conversation with the guy Boone did put in the job, the correct answer should have been, "Fire somebody?! We had a great season!"
I mean, really, Pete? A 4-7 season is grounds to fire the winningest coach Ole Miss has had in years, but a 4-8 season is "very, very positive"?
To make matters worse -- Boone does have a point. Despite the final record, there were games that were very close. The thing is, though, a lot of those were lost not because of a lack of talent, but because of coaching. I know next to nothing about football, and yet, watching two of those games in particular, I remember the exact moment when Orgeron had a chance to win the game and made the decision not to take it. How sad is it for the players to have the potential to go out and win games, but to be held back?
But Pete Boone has a coach that he got to hire, and apparently treats him with the respect his ego requires, so he's happy now. And, really, that's what's important, right?
Shape Of Things To Come
I usually don't link to stories about Apple patent applications, but at this point I"m firmly convinced that Apple files a lot of them solely to throw off rumor chasers and to make competing firms waste research dollars trying to keep up with vaporware. But since Apple filed this one on my birthday, clearly they wanted me to post it. It turns out the iPhone could look a lot like a 2G iPod nano. Shocking, huh?
What Wear The Watchmen?
OK, I have no idea how many Watchmen movie posts I've made on ATW in almost four years now. So far, though, they've all been along the lines of "They're making a Watchmen movie!" "They're not making a Watchmen movie anymore!" "They're making a Watchmen movie again!" "So-and-so's directing the Watchmen movie!" "So-and-so's not directing the Watchmen movie anymore!" "Someone else is directing the Watchmen movie now!" etc. etc. etc.For the first time, though, here's a link to a story about someone actually doing something on the Watchmen movie, to wit, Adam Hughes working on costumes. So, yeah, how's this for the first thing you'll read about actual work on the movie: "In short, Hughes isn’t looking to reinvent the wheel, or throw out Gibbons’ designs. What he is trying to do is take the original costumes, and make them…easier to swallow as something you'd see - and believe - on screen."
I mean, yeah, I hear what he's saying ... but the first thing I'm reading is what they're going to change? Lovely.
Under His Thumb
For all the people who have been coming to ATW running search about "arlo janis thumb" and the like, Jimmy Johnson explains, sort of, on his site. And I would mention that it relates to last week's strips, but if you've been running the search, you probably already knew that, huh?
Saturday, 30 December 2006
Ani-me
(Read Entry)Friday, 29 December 2006
Teaching Rover
(Read Entry)Thursday, 28 December 2006
Same Seth, Different Year
(Read Entry)
Regular Richie Feature
(Read Entry)
iVend
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 27 December 2006
RIP Gerald Ford
Former president dies. (Read Entry)
Path Of NEO Update
(Read Entry)
Shatner In Huntsville
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 26 December 2006
Trek Server
(Read Entry)
MWSF
(Read Entry)Friday, 22 December 2006
iPhone Update
(Read Entry)
STS-116 Update
(Read Entry)Thursday, 21 December 2006
The Twelve Days Of Nerdmas
(Read Entry)
STS-116 Update
(Read Entry)
Microsoft Microcosm
(Read Entry)
License To Ill
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 20 December 2006
A Page Right Out Of History
(Read Entry)
Hair Today
Suni Williams cuts hair for charity. (Read Entry)Tuesday, 19 December 2006
STS-116 Update
(Read Entry)Monday, 18 December 2006
STS-116 Update
(Read Entry)
iPhone Unveiled
(Read Entry)
Star Trek Cell Block
(Read Entry)Friday, 15 December 2006
Catchphrase In The Wry
(Read Entry)
TrekLinks
(Read Entry)
FoxTrot Ends Daily Run
(Read Entry)Monday, 11 December 2006
Pete And No Repeat
(Read Entry)
Picture Of The Day
(Read Entry)
STS-116 Update
(Read Entry)Friday, 8 December 2006
STS-116 Update
(Read Entry)
Apple Got Game Update
(Read Entry)
Another One For Tutor
(Read Entry)Thursday, 7 December 2006
The Unkindest Cut
(Read Entry)
The King Of All Storage Media
(Read Entry)
STS-116 Update
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 6 December 2006
Liquid Assets Update
(Read Entry)
STS-116 Update
(Read Entry)
Apple Got Game
(Read Entry)
MWSF Speculation
(Read Entry)
I Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmm.....
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 5 December 2006
The Broken Triad, Book V Update
(Read Entry)
Liquid Assets
(Read Entry)
STS-116 Update
(Read Entry)
Life On The Moon
(Read Entry)
ShuffleBud
(Read Entry)Monday, 4 December 2006
On The Moon
(Read Entry)
STS-116 Update
(Read Entry)
Get Yer iPhone Rumors
(Read Entry)Friday, 1 December 2006
Galactic Prospects
(Read Entry)
Food For Thought
(Read Entry)
Messages To The Moon
(Read Entry)
Pete's Best
(Read Entry)
Shape Of Things To Come
(Read Entry)
What Wear The Watchmen?
(Read Entry)