Copenhagan Suborbital

BoingBoing ran this earlier today. I'm adding a similar write up here. Most people who know me know that I'm pretty positive about any space-based activity. But I gotta say THESE GUYS ARE FREAKIN' CRAZY!!!










C O P E N H A G E N S U B O R B I T A L S

Rainier!

I was talking to my Mom on the phone this afternoon as I drove home. It was a picture perfect sunny autumn day. The sky was cloudless and the temperature had just touched 70 degrees in the afternoon. The deciduous trees are starting to turn, dotting the hillsides along the I 205 corridor with the colors of pumpkin, newly-pressed bricks and latte cremas.As I talked to Mom, I crested the hill and rounded the curve near Johnson Creek. Locals will know the one I mean. I interrupted a　thougｈt I was sharing with her to point oug that Mt St Helens was beautiful in front of me. "Hey Mom, I said, "you won't believe how beautiful Mt St Helens is today. There's a fall moisture in the air that works like a magnifying glass, you know -- the same way the autumn moon gets so huge? Well it's making Mt St Helens look ..." And thats when I saw it. I couldn't believe it. Poking out from behind Mt St Helens, like a class clown making funny faces behind the teacher, was the summit of Mt Rainier.

"Mom! I can't believe it. I can see Rainier!"

I truly cannot recall a time when I could see Mt Rainier from the Portland metro area. Not while on the ground, anyway. It was one of those subtle, sublime moments. I'm glad I noticed it. I could so easily just have missed it altogether.

But I didn't!!

And The Number of Intelligent Civilizations In Our Galaxy Is...

31573.52

No really. At least according to Duncan Forgan at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh.

The Drake equation famously calculates the number of advanced
civilisations that should populate our galaxy right now. The result is
hugely sensitive to the assumptions you make about factors such as the
number of planets that orbit a host star that are potentially
habitable, how many of these actually develop life and what fraction of
that goes onto become intelligent etc.

[link]

Changes In Habits

I've spent the weekend getting to know the Asus Eee. Easy enough to do, since we were at the beach visiting Grandma and Grandpa. I took the work-issued laptop along, and vowed not to fire it up unless I absolutely had to.  All-in-all, I was quite successful. The swith to Linux is generally uneventful, except that I'd like more access to the desktop, not a program launcher.

The biggest issue so far has been finding a blog authoring tool. I've been using Microsoft's Windows Live Writer. It's a tool that's quite easy to get used to. Blogging from there is a delight. I found that, while there are a number of blog authoring tools for the Linux world, none of them jump out as being on par with Live Writer. So I'll be trying out some new ones.

Right now, for instance, I'm using Scribefire, which runs from inside my linux version of Firefox. It connected easily to my blogger account, and took about 30 seconds to get started with...as evidenced by this very blog entry. It's not, um,... as beautiful an experience as blogging in Live Writer, but it'll get the job done. I'll play with some of the other choices, though. I may still find what I'm looking for.

anybody have any Linux-based blog authoring tools they'd recommend?

Cloud Eee

I just picked up one of these:

No, it's not a full-sized laptop. The photo hides the fact that the unit has a 9" screen and weighs a bit more than two pounds. When folded up, it's about the size of a Franklin Planner. It is my intention to use this as a personal unit, utilizing 'cloud' computing as much as possible.

Wish me luck. I'll keep you informed of my adventures in Linux-based ultra-mobile cloud computing!

Readying for Winter

The front porch is, as of yesterday, ready for winter. We did a number of little things here over the past few weeks. The mailbox is new; gone is the little mail tray thing that was attached to the window frame. Now we have a family-sized, locking box. Better. I, uh, poured the concrete for the mailbox myself, you know...

 

A couple weeks ago, I removed the front screen door. This resulted in our needing to do some rehabilitation on the door frame (scraping, sanding, hole-filling, painting) to finish up.

C and I tag-teamed the work, a bit here  and a bit there, until C finished it yesterday with a fresh coat of paint all around the porch. All traces of the screen door are now removed, and the front entry just gleams.

Remember how we started? No? Well, prepare yourself. Like this:

Constance*

I put some time into the Jaguar over the weekend. The car's condition is a bit of an unknown quantity right now ... when was the last time it was waxed? Oil changed? ... you know, all that jazz. Because I got the car on consignment, it didn't get any dealer detailing attention. So I gave her a basic all-over detail this weekend. While the weather is still nice, you know...

• Hand wash
• Hand wax
• Wheel chrome polished and waxed
• Tires conditioned and blackened
• Detail brush along all edges and grooves (thanks for that simple, elegant tool, Paula!)
• Engine degreased
• Engine compartment rain gutters cleared of all pine needles, and 'gunk'
• Engine compartment plastic parts refreshed with protectant, for a like-new shine
• Trunk contents organized (first aid kit, tool kit, roadside assist kit, etc.)
• Trunk rain gutters cleaned and polished
• Floor mats cleaned of all grime spots

It took about half my day, but she gleams now. Inside and out. Ready for winter. Here's the engine, just as an example:

See what I mean? The plastics are once again clean and well-conditioned.  That just-built sheen has returned to the exposed metal bits. The scattering of pine needles are gone.

Sunday afternoon, R walked up to the car - unaware that I'd detailed it the day before - and casually ran his hand along the rear fender, just as a daydreaming boy is likely to do.

"Hey! The car's been waxed!" he hollered, surprised and excited. I was flattered, personally. He's not really one to notice things like that. It jumped out at him THIS time, though. He made my day.

I also spent time on the garage this weekend; I finished the interior painting. The garage doors themselves needed paint, as did a few stray 'missed spots' on the walls. Once I tidied up the paint, the next logical step was to finally organize my tools and equipment. It was great to be organizing the space. The garage looks good and, with a detailed car emitting the odors of wax and protectant, smells good too!

The kids were pleased to end the weekend with their computer now properly ensconced in the common room upstairs, instead of hiding out on my basement workbench. I succeeded in getting the desk moved up from the basement, and verified that their shared PC would both connect to the internet and connect to the wi-fi enabled printer. They're all hooked up now, and ready to do their homework as needed, in their own environment.

Which leads me to the basement itself. Organization there continues. We're steadily putting things in an order that makes sense, the end result being a sense of 'spaciousness' instead of oppressive clutter. It's good.

 

* Some, but not all, of my vehicles had names.

	Car	Name
1984 - 1989	1978 Honda Civic	Gertrude
1989 - 1994	1989 Honda Accord Coupe
1991 - 1993	1986 Saab 900 Turbo	Bette
1993 - 2006	1992 Isuzu Trooper	Bessie
1995 - 1998	1995 Kawasaki GPZ1100	Prudence
1997 - 2005	1996 Pontiac Grand Am
2005 - 2008	1992 Mercedes E300 4matic	Babych
2006 - now	2006 Honda Odyssey	Ulysses
2008	1994 Mercedes S320
2008 - now	2004 Jaguar XJ8	Constance