“The Eagle has landed”
It’s the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon mission. Join in real time as they land on the moon and experience it just as our parents would’ve during that July day.
Link of the Day [3.25.09]
Here’s an illustration of what I meant by how awesome the crescent moon in the dawn looks with the morning star, Venus. I just love astronomy. Also, I know you’ve already bookmarked it, but you’ve got to keep going back to APOD (Astronomy Picture Of the Day). It really is frakking awesome.
That Thin Crescent Moon Waning
Anyone up early this morning (and yesterday) see the spectacular crescent moon (and venus)?
It’s a sight to behold. I think I’m loving it, but it won’t last long as this morning it’s so thin that tonight should be a new moon. But it was still a lovely moon over these two mornings.
My commute goes east and I spent all the drive watching the sky get brighter and the moon disappear. The color gradation was spectacular: a pink rosy horizon, that really pale blue of the morn, then the inky blue of the night sky. I don’t remember any cars on the way.
I’m blown away by how beautiful these cold mornings are. Spring is officially here, but it don’t feel that way.
Link of the Day [3.13.09]
The ACM gave out its Turing award to a pioneer in computer programming, Barbara Liskov. This stands out for me because I am deeply indebted to her eponymous Liskov Substitution Principle. In plain English, if you have an object which inherits attributes from another object, then that derived object can and should stand in place of any other types of objects of the parent object. Hunh? It’s the basis for Object-Oriented Programming and it governs the software development today. It makes programming slightly easier and it makes for cool extensions of the software.
Link of the Day [3.11.09]
Someone get me one of these!
http://www.shinyshack.com/product.php?prid=211612&pn=Mini-Drinking-Bird
Quote of the Day [1.18.09]
“I think that a particle must have a separate reality independent of the measurements. That is an electron has spin, location and so forth even when it is not being measured. I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it.”
Albert Einstein
Link of the Day [1.18.09]
Has January really gone this quickly? Time sure is flying as I am getting older. It was almost two weeks ago that the year changed. Where does that go?
Quote of the Day [1.12.09]
“Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft, and the only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor”
Werner von Braun
Link of the Day [12.31.08]
Was watching Nova last night on PBS. It’s been a long time watching anything on PBS. It was about the last Mars missions. It’s pretty cool to explore another planet. They said the next mission will be the Mars Science Lab. That’ll be cool to hear about that in the years to come.
Quote of the Day [12.12.08]
“Klaatu barada nikto.”
Helen Benson (Patricia Neal), The Day the Earth Stood Still