Podcast review: Astronomy Cast
Today, as I drove to work, I plugged the iPod into the car stereo and listened to an episode of Astronomy Cast. (iTunes link)
Astronomy Cast bills itself as “your facts-based journey through the cosmos”. There are few surprises in the podcast for a hard-core space geek, but the presentation is good and the content accessible to almost anyone listening. The science expert for the show, Dr. Pamela Gay, becomes excited and passionate when talking about her fields of expertise, but seems ever so slightly impatient any other time. Overall, it’s entertaining and informative, and it’s usually one of my first listening picks.
Today I heard pretty useful advice about purchasing binoculars and telescopes for casual amateur astronomy – useful because I think there’s a telescope in my near future. (Suffolk is a short drive away and has nicely dark skies.) The previous episode, however, made *me* impatient; 30 minutes pointing out that higher dimensions, alternate universes, black holes, and FTL travel really do none of the fun things that science-fiction writers come up with. Hey, kids, human exploration will be over as soon as we land on the remaining solar planets – after that, it’s all data analysis! Check out this set of spectra!
I admit, based on what we know right now, all that’s probably true. But scientists have thought before that little remained to know, then been forced to change their minds when something new poked though the statistics. I’ll acknowledge the validity of thier statements for now, but I’m not yet ready to give up the dream of yearly trips to Alpha Centauri! In the meantime, the “serious scientists” need to stop being such bummers. Carl knew better.
Cheep cheep cheep
So, does anyone I know actually use this “Twitter” website? I thought I saw some folks mentioning it, but I don’t remember.
Little Creek Station – deactivating
The house on Flowerfield looked distractingly weird last night. My steps echoed through the empty bedrooms. There was once again room to park a car in the garage. The chipped marble tile in the dining room was no longer covered with brightly-colored foam flooring.
I headed over there at 10am Sunday, to let a friend in who wanted the old futon. 14 hours of numbing, back-breaking work later, it’s all empty. The last piece of Lego, the last click-base figure, the last six-sided die all found temporary homes in corrugated cardboard.
Last night I was too desperately tired to feel anything. This morning, I’m not sure what I feel.
At least I’m done battling the oil heater.
Ancient weapons and hokey religions
Many moons ago, the noble rattrap gave me a gift of an upgraded Macintosh SE. 20MB hard drive. 1.44 MB floppy drive. 9″ black & white monitor. New, the thing sold for $3500 or so. I got some good creativity going on that puppy, and I’ve never forgotten Jerry’s generosity.
Soon, the SE was replaced, as all computers are fated to be. The LC III, then the Performa 6214, then the G4 “Sawtooth” (with later processor and video upgrades). But I never got rid of the SE – I hate to throw away functioning (if obsolete) hardware. It seems wasteful. So, the SE sat quietly on a shelf, not even plugged in once for almost 10 years.
For no particularly good reason, I plugged it in tonight. It booted up just fine, and loaded A Mess o’ Trouble. (Great game. Worth installing a System 6 emulator to play, if you’re inclined.) The monitor’s starting to flicker badly while the hard drive’s running, but other than that, it’s not doing poorly at all for a piece of hardware released 17 years ago.
I guess a sane person would give it away or just discard it. OTOH, I’ve rarely laid claim to any sanity.
And more Tech memoriams
There are about a half-dozen full-size LCD billboards scattered along Hampton Roads highways. Distracting things, let me tell you.
Today, they are flashing luminous messages of support for the Tech victims.
Throat, meet lump.
Thunderous quiet
NASA Langley is actually rather pretty in many spots… away from the streets of the base, you get tree-lined walks punctuated with sculpture, providing lotsa good places to sit and eat lunch when the weather’s good.
One of those areas was colored purple and orange for an hour today as the base held a small ceremony for the Tech victims. I’m no good at counting crowds, but easily a hundred of the people here came out for the memorial. I exchanged small talk with Lloyd Eldred, and saw many of my Desktop Support co-workers as well. Some disturbance floated over from the Air Force base, where Joint Strike Fighters were practicing for next week’s air show, but we forged ahead.
Forging ahead – that was my epiphany during the ceremony. To hell with Cho Seung-hui. If the best legacy he can leave the world is the death of some innocent bystanders – if all he ever wanted was to remembered as a homicidal cretin – then he’s got it. The rest of us will mourn, and hurt, and then get on with our lives despite him.
There are folks out there who are already turning his sickness into works of art; turning his ugliness into beauty, and togetherness, and hope. We can always defeat these random acts of destructiveness as long as we’re willing to take a deep breath, straighten our shoulders, and forge ahead.
Blacksburg ugliness
Everyone here at the office is hanging on what I can tell them about the Tech situation from my LJ friends’ page – seems like all my officemates have been there recently or know someone there.
Keeping my fingers crossed that you’re all safe.
Edit: They’ve just routed CNN into one of the internal office TV system channels, in an attempt to keep everyone informed.
