An upcoming birthday, the likes of which we won’t see for a long time…

On July 12 of this year Neptune will complete one orbit since its discovery. Happy first birthday!

T+50, again

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”
–John F. Kennedy, address to Congress, 25 May 1961

I believe that it is long since past time that we — as a nation and as a species — recommit ourselves to space exploration. The moon landings are further in the past to my nieces than World War II is to me. We’ve spent far too long walking along the shore line, getting our toes wet. And now it can be done as an international project rather than as Cold War chestbeating.

+40 and counting…

“Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here…”

Never forget what people are capable of when the situation demands the impossible.

T-plus 49 years and counting

Happy Yuri’s Night, everyone!

Half a century of wonders

Happy 50^th anniversary today, NASA.

P17/Holmes

Holy shit! I saw it last night, even with the streetlight in the partking lot out back, it’s a HUGE fuzzy spot in Perseus, super easy to see even in the middle of the city!

And every day is a record.

Happy 30^th birthday, Voyager II (for whatever reason, Voyager I was launched second…). NASA poses, on their internal blog, the question of “What would one item from the last 30 years would you add to the Golden Record?”

My addition was a detailed spectrum of the sun so that any finding civilization would have the data necessary to locate our star and know not only that they were not alone, but where someone else was. Even if they haven’t got fast interstellar travel, even if they haven’t found a loophole around the speed of light, they would know where to point their radiotelescopes, where to direct their “hello”…

Banned in China!

At least my personal domain which hasn’t really been updated since the middle of ’06 (and all of LiveJournal) apparently is. Are you? Poor China, forced to miss out on my NASA Oops! page… (which I will also entertain new comments for here… those, I’ll screen, though, so as to not ‘spoil’ people!)

And if you’re not interested in space or censorship, there’s always the Communist edition of Mario (who bears a disturbing resemblance to either Frank Zappa or Matt Howarth’s Ron Post).

One “AAAAUGH!!”, one “BWAAAH-hahahah!”, one “Egad!”

1. AAAAUGH!
   I contrived today to take a late break (0630) so I could slip outside and see if I could get a look at Comet McNaught before sunup, as I had every expectation of being sound asleep come sundown.

   At first glance, coming out the back of the building, all was well. The sky overhead was crisp and clear, stars visible, excellent!

   I stepped out from behind the building.

   Clouds all over the eastern horizon. AAAAUGH!

2. BWAAAH-hahahahah!
   I think I figured out how my aunt knits the heels on the xmas stockings she’s made for the family. Woot!
3. Egad!
   I’ve just been advised that in the office drawing, I won a digital camera. Details when I get my grubbies on it and can play with it a while. :)

Ho ho hooo, boy.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, trdsf sent to me…

Twelve mathematics drumming

Eleven cosmos piping

Ten astrophysics a-leaping

Nine numismatics dancing

Eight tornadoes a-milking

Seven cartoons a-writing

Six physics a-knitting

Five b mo-o-o-ovies

Four z movies

Three best brains

Two particle physics

…and an anti-bush in a special relativity.

Get your own Twelve Days: