This is just a test. Testing an application that purportes to allow me to make blog posts from my cell phone. Curious as to what that looks like.

A Tale of Two Shuttles

Two space shuttles sitting on the pad at the same time is a rare sight. But the reason behind this picture is the stuff of summer blockbusters.

Sometime tomorrow afternoon, the shuttle Atlantis will lift off on the last mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a mission that was actually taken off the flight schedule after Columbia tragedy because it was deemed too risky.

Every shuttle mission since Columbia has been to the International Space Station. The shuttle always rotates in front of a view port before docking and high resolution pictures are taken of the heat shield tiles and leading edges to inspect for damage.

If the shuttle were damaged and unable to survive reentry, the shuttle crew could just camp out in the ISS, for months if necessary, until a ship could be launched to bring them back.

The HST orbits the Earth about 100 miles higher than the International Space Station. The space shuttles do not have enough fuel on board for the change in orbit that would be necessary to get to the ISS from the HST. If the shuttle sustained damage during lift off and were unable to come home, they would be stranded in space. Consumables such as food and breathable air would be gone in a matter of days. A couple of weeks at most.

That's where the second shuttle, Endeavour comes in. Should the worst happen, Endeavour would be launched in a matter of days to rendezvous with Atlantis. The last time the United States has had two manned space craft flying in close formation was during the Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 missions in 1965.


But during those missions, all they did was rendezvous, maneuver around each other, take some pictures, and go their separate ways.

This is very, very different.

As I understand it, the plan would be for Endeavour to come close enough to Atlantis that Endeavor could reach out with its robotic arm and latch onto Atlantis. At this point they would be facing each other cargo bay to cargo bay.



A tether would be strung between the two shuttles. Over the course of 2-3 days, using extra spacesuits carried up by Endeavour, the Atlantis astronauts would pull themselves, hand over hand, 350 miles up, over to Endeavour.

Before leaving the Atlantis, the commander would configure the flight deck so that it could be controlled from the ground.

After the Atlantis astronauts were safely aboard the Endeavour, ground controllers would put the Atlantis on a de-orbit burn that would destroy the Atlantis over the ocean.

I hope it doesn't come to that. But if it does, it will be high drama that will capture the world's attention, with a guarantee of a big budget movie to follow.

Star Trek Rebooted

Today I had the pleasure of seeing the new Star Trek on an IMAX screen with Average Jane and her hubby, Logtar, Betizuka, Michelle & Eric, and of course A Librarian, or as I like to think of her, The Librarian.

Here is my in depth review.

It was fucking awesome. Absolutely perfect. I can't think of a single thing that J.J. Abrams could have done better.

Review over.

Oh sure, there were certain plot elements that a little critical thinking could shoot huge, gaping holes through. But after you have suspended your disbelief regarding warp drives, time travel and "red matter", plot inconsistencies seem rather trivial.

I was particularly pleased to see the influence of Caroline Porco who served as Science Advisor to the movie.


Her touch was most evident in the scene when the Enterprise emerges from the clouds of Titan and you see Saturn and it's rings in the background. That is no visual effects directors artistic version of what they think Saturn might look like. That was a high resolution Cassini image, in natural light, with no enhancements. If you were in the Saturn system, that is what Saturn would look like to your eyes. But in high resolution on a fucking IMAX screen!


But the important thing is, Star Trek is back. It's new, it's fresh and it's fun. The old crew of Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Bones, Sulu, Uhuru and Chekov, but with a new young cast that won't keep the franchise alive, but bring it back from the dead.


The audience actually applauded as the ending credits rolled. It is that kind of movie.

We'll know the reboot has run it's course when we see Chris Pine doing nostalgic reboot of T.J. Hooker.

Model Rocketry On Steroids

"SnapShot™
Snap fantastic aerial photos from 500 feet (152 m) high when you launch the Estes SnapShot! This RTF (Ready to Fly) rocket and camera comes from the factory fully assembled and ready to launch. The Kodak 110 color print photos are taken during the ejection stage of the flight, meaning you'll literally get sky-high photos of the park, your house or other great locations! After it safely lands using a 12 inch (30 cm) pre-assembled parachute, you can get your film developed. Be prepared to be amazed at the aerial view of your launch site!"

It probably won't surprise anyone to learn that a geeky space nerd like me built and flew model rockets when I was a kid.

For those of you unfamiliar with the hobby, here is a very brief (by my verbose standards) primer.


You have a cardboard tube with a plastic nosecone and plastic fins. The nosecone and the cardboard tube are connected by a rubber band (shock cord). Attached to the base of the nosecone is a parachute.

As shown in the diagram above, there is some fireproof "recovery wadding" that sits atop the rocket engine in the cardboard tube.

The rocket engine is solid propellant and they come in various sizes and thrusts. They are cylindrical cartridges with funnel-shaped bottoms. Much like some of my ex-girlfriends. But that's another story.


The rocket is launched via a metal igniter that looks like "bobby pin" inserted into the base of the rocket motor and attached by two wires to a battery powered launch controller.


When the controller is armed and the ignition switch is flipped, a current runs down the cord to the igniter, which lights the motor.


The motor burns from the bottom up until the rocket reaches its maximum height. The last thing the rocket motor does before burning out completely, is to set off that small explosive charge at the top.

This propels the recovery wadding towards the nosecone, ejecting it from the cardboard tube, trailing the attached parachute.

Since the nosecone is attached to the rocket body by a rubber band, the entire assembley floats back to the ground to be recovered, reassembled, and launched another day.

It generally goes something like this.

Dylan's model rocket


But check out this guy.

He built a 1/10th scale, 1/10th thrust model of the most powerful rocket in the world, the Saturn V.




Here is the actual launch.



Amazing! I love the way it lands upright, on it's tail fins! Absolutely incredible!

Here is a video of the real thing. Apollo 11 lifting off to send the very first humans to ever set foot on the moon.



The white chunks you see falling are pieces of ice. The Saturn V was fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The only way to get gases like oxygen and hydrogen to become liquid is to get them really, really cold. Whatever containeryou have them in (the rocket) will tend to form ice on the outside from moisture condensation.

Amazing stuff.

Then the first stage burns out and the second stage ignites in a HUGE display!



This, people, is the "Rocket Science" you have heard so much about.

Apologies

Hey, peoples. Many, many many apologies for neglecting you the past weeks but the day job has been brutal. I'll be back soon, as soon as I get some breathing space.

Peace to all.

Disasters in Dating Part 5

For those of you who don't know, online dating sites are filled with bogus profiles.

"WHAAAAT??? Say it ain't so, XO!"

It's very fucking much so, Virginia, you gullible little slut.

The most benign form of bogus profile is the mildly dishonest profile. I'm not packing "a few extra pounds", I'm "average". I'm not "overweight", I'm packing "a few extra pounds". Smoker? "I'll tell you later". Want kids? "I'll tell you later".

These folks are mostly harmless.

Then you have the pocket pickers.

You create a profile on a singles sight for free which gives you a certain level of access and communication with other members. Then you start getting "emails" from other "members" at the higher level of membership and the only way you can respond to them is to upgrade to a paid membership.

BOOOOGUS! I call shenanigans!

I've been the recipient of such emails from women allegedly in their 20's or 30's, accompanied by incredibly hot pictures, containing the most generic compliments imaginable, and promising all manner of hedonistic enticement.

I'm not an idiot. This ain't my first rodeo. There are only two possibilities. Bogus profiles created by the website to entice me to up my membership, or hookers.

Umm, NO! Not responding to either one, but thanks for stopping by. GFY.

But today, I spotted a new variety. I'm gonna give it to you in reverse order. I received an email and was compelled to click through to the profile. Here is the profile.

*****

People often use words like vibrant, dynamic, and outgoing when describing me. I consider myself to be an intelligent, personable, attractive woman who enjoys meeting others--especially those possessing that same zest and passion for living that I have made a part of who I am everyday. I am well traveled and can enjoy a conversation with people from all walks of life and all interests. I value intelligence, wit and humor. I'm not much into sports, but would rather spend the afternoon walking around one of the lakes, seeing a movie, or taking in the arts. I am fortunate to have a large circle of friendly acquaintances and a close circle of family and trusted friends. I am not here looking for a soulmate or a spouse, but rather to meet new people, make some new friends, and possibly find a special someone to make new memories with, share new adventures and dream big dreams. I remain a hopeful romantic. Let's talk and explore the possibilities!

*****

Well that was a well written, articulate profile. No picture attached to it, but still, not bad.

Here is the email that this articulate and well spoken woman allegedly sent me that compelled me to learn more about her. Other than blanking he email address, it has not been edited or enhanced. This is exactly he way I received it.

"Xavier, Hello!

I to write to you yahoo,have casually encountered on your photo and it was pleasant to me,I read your history and I even have smiled,I wish to have with you acquaintance and I hope,that you here are with the same purpose-to find the friend. Write to me ##########@yahoo.com I attractive,but the lonely girl and I search for acquaintances. "

I'm guessing she has an uncle in Nigeria who is a government official who needs my assistance getting funds out of the country and only needs my account number to transfer the money.

I guess I'll find out Thursday over lunch. Wish me luck!

It's Really, Really Dead

Back in November I posted about the apparent demise of my cherished Dell XPS super computer.


At the time, I blamed a Microsoft Service Pack download and was milking their customer support for all it was worth. When was the last time you had a Microsoft technical resource from India spending hours on the phone with you trying to solve your problems?


I was absolutely giddy with geeky infatuation.

But as it turned out, Microsoft was not to blame. I was.

A CSI-like post mortem by the awesome logtar made an initial assessment that I had cooked my motherboard via suffocation. I had allowed so much dust to clog the ventilation that the computer overheated and fried the capacitors.

What I needed to bring my dead XPS back as Frankenputer was a new motherboard.

After much procrastination on my part facilitated by the charitable donation of a replacement computer by my friend Kanga, I finally ordered and received a new motherboard!

Arrangements were made for myself and logtar to converge on Kanga and MySpyderWeb's casa today to loft the kites, flip the switches, culminating in a frenzied "IT'S ALIVE" by yours truly.



But, alas, it was not to be.

Due to Dell douchebaggery, there was no way to connect the "On" switch from the XPS case to the non-Dell motherboard and actually turn the computer on.

So I now have a motherboard to return to Tiger Direct, some components to sell on E-Bay, some components to cannibalize for re-use, and some components to safely recycle.

I also have the memory of an awesome afternoon spent in the company of friends.

We capped things off by swapping comic books and enjoying a Watchmen related DVD containing "Under The Hood"



and "Tales of the Black Freighter"

It was a good Saturday.