Furrfu!

PC bits

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:08:53 GMT

My PC's power supply just died. I think I've had enough of PCs for the time being. This means I have some bits going spare, for any reasonable offer (suggested in brackets, but open to negotiation):

Point of View GeForce GTX 260 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) (about £75?)
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS (£10?)
Gigabyte K8N-PRO SLI motherboard with Athlon64X2 of unknown speed and 2GB of RAM (£15?)

Any takers? The graphics card's still quite fast.

Forza 3

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:38:57 GMT

Even racing games need a certain... personal touch.

The Göteborg in Gothenburg.

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:58:30 GMT

I had to go to Sweden for work. It was exhausting, and the flight was tremendously unpleasant. I only managed to grab a few photos, but at least some of them include the East Indiaman Götheborg, which was quite impressive, even with its masts dismantled for winter.

Thankfully I wasn't too tired to plan ahead when our group was being split, so I managed to sneak on board with the first group when there was still some light.

Astronomy with an iPod

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:54:13 GMT

A while ago, I wrote an article for the newsletter of the local astronomy organisation. They apparently decided not to publish it, although they never told me why not. I figured I might as well post it here. Some of the prices and details may well be out of date, if not, they will be eventually. And other choices will no doubt come along. Caveat emptor.

Astronomy with an iPod
Owners of an iPhone or iPod Touch have a surprisingly powerful astronomical tool at their fingertips.

These days the Apple iPod is almost ubiquitous; it seems like almost everybody has one. Its latest incarnations, the iPod Touch and iPhone, have been a runaway success since their introduction only two years ago. Now, you might think this has very little to do with astronomy, wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to make this convenient handheld device useful for our hobby? A staggering amount of applications (or "apps", as Apple likes to call them) have been developed for it, ranging from utterly nonsensical to innovative and surprisingly useful. And that includes the astronomical software section...

As with all iPhone applications, it pays to do a little research before spending money. For example, there are quite a few applications that'll show NASA's excellent "Astronomy picture of the day", the most expensive of which costs £1.79. A small amount of money, but still staggering considering you can use the device's built-in webbrowser to see that same image for free!

However, there are some real gems to be found as well, if you're willing to dig just a little deeper.

For example, there's Julian James' "Moon Atlas" (£3.59) offering current phase and libration of the Moon as seen from any location on Earth, with the usual pinch/scroll controls and an overlay to identify craters and other surface features.

Then there's iEphemeris (and iEphemeris Pro). The "lite" version has its functionality limited to the ephemeris of the Moon, whereas the "Pro" version also offers sunrise/sunset. It also suffers from a timekeeping bug on some platforms, but at least it's cheap at £1.19.

"GoSkyWatch" (£3.49 at the time of writing) is a basic planetarium app with mixed reviews. It illustrates the need for Apple to introduce a "try before you buy" option on applications, since I, like some other reviewers, couldn't even get it to work!

"Earthview" (£1.19) is a pretty application, showing which parts of the globe are sun-lit or in darkness. It's quite satisfying to spin an entire planet with your finger, and hidden behind a second screen there's a handy sunrise/sunset calculator which understands astronomical twilight. Recommended.

However. Sticking with head and shoulders above all other apps is StarMap, by Frédéric Descamps (http://www.star-map.fr/). It comes in two flavours, a basic "StarMap" for £5.99 and "StarMap Pro" for £11.59. While that may seem pricey at first, it turns out to be a surprisingly fully-featured astronomy package.

I initially purchased the basic version, which looked like it would do enough for my needs, with 110,000 stars up to magnitude 10, planets and their satellites, 110 Messier objects and an "at a glance" overview of the night's sky as well as handy features such as "night vision mode" (which turns the screen red) and a torch (which makes the entire screen bright white, with a slider to adjust brightness).

However, once I started exploring this piece of software, it quickly became apparent that it would come in really handy while observing, and that I would need more than just 110 deep-sky objects.

Thankfully, the Apple Store people were friendly enough to give me a refund when I ticked the box "software purchased by mistake" on their support site. An annoying hoop to have to jump through, because there's no concept of "upgrading" (or "try before you buy", as I mentioned earlier). But at least now I could justify getting the full version.

This, Starmap Pro, comes with no fewer than 2,500,000 stars, or the entire Tycho 2 catalogue up to magnitude 16; as well as the full set of Messier (with images), NGC and IC objects. It also lets you define telescope optics to overlay a field of view, something the basic version lacks.

And it's a joy to use. Navigating the night sky couldn't be easier, scrolling around with your finger, and pinching the screen to zoom in and out as in any other application. Small gripes include the clunky lists to search for NGC and IC objects, the difficulty of fine control with cold fingers at the telescope, and a lack of a function to plan a night's observing. But these are minor quibbles, considering just how powerful an application it otherwise is. It can do nearly everything you might want from a planetarium package.

And that means I don't need a star atlas at the telescope anymore, just the iPod. And that's not bad going for what started life as a music player...

D'oh! A deer!

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:30:25 GMT

Spotted in the garden on saturday afternoon, after I threw open the curtains in dismay, not wanting to face an afternoon's gardening. And thanks to her (let's assume it's a female deer, we wouldn't want to accuse The Sound of Music of LYING, now would we?) I had an excuse not to.

The next day she'd gone (I don't know how, I don't know how she got in, either) but she left behind a present of, er, lawn fertiliser. Thoughtful.

I've had a grass snake, a duck with ducklings, many birds and squirrels, and now a deer. All in a rather small garden. I approve.

Darwin, redux

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:01:31 GMT

Incidentally, the current Darwin Exhibition at the University Library is called A Voyage Around the World and also worth seeing.

The Fitzwilliam Museum also have an exhibition on (Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts) but I haven't had enough time to inspect it yet. Last time I was ejected from the galleries for trying to take a photo (without flash).

But is it art?

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:50:19 GMT

The Museum of Zoology of the University of Cambridge has an exhibition on called Seeing the Light: Finch by Finch. Glass sculptures of the beaks of finches collected by Charles "Chaz" Darwin. Glowing red LEDs surrounded by skeletons.

Surely you don't need more of a reason to visit than that. And it's free.

Wherein our hero birefringes.

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:07:00 GMT

I could write about the uncouth youths terrorizing my street on the balmy summer evenings I would otherwise enjoy; or the neighbour who leaves a bright light shining into my garden all night (until he comes home from work at about 0:30). But instead I thought I'd post about SCIENCE!

What we have here is a photo taken of a typical (LCD) computer monitor. The camera is equipped with a circular polarizing filter, which is why the screen is dark – its light is polarized, and the filter is carefully oriented so that it blocks it.

Between screen and camera there's a star shape of several strips of sellotape, expertly constructed and gripped by m'colleague bjh21. The sellotape, because of the way it's made, does weird things to the polarized light. In one photo you can even see the screen through it. Nerdy people, such as myself, may enjoy reading this paper explaining how it all works.

Pretty colours, depending on the number of layers of tape.

Rotated about 45°.

Science. It's great.

Cable management

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:45:01 GMT

A week or two ago, when I was complaining about the difficulty of untangling ethernet cables from a big box, the office hive mind came up with the idea to use old switches to hang the cables up, given that they've got convenient RJ45 connectors anyway. Hence:

Solar car

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:20:32 GMT

Not a sight you see every day, not even in Cambridge: (and it was just parked off the street by the Corn Exchange!)

(More at Cambridge University Eco Racing.)

Petitiony

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:28:33 GMT

UKers, please sign this anti-BNP petition if you hadn't already done so.

Ta.

Somebody set up us the tea

Fri, 15 May 2009 21:58:11 GMT

I'm waiting for the World of Warcraft 3.1 patches to download, which gives me a couple of hours to kill. So I thought I'd write about some tea experiments I've been conducting, or "teasperiments" as I like to call them. When noone is around, anyway.

So, brace yourself for a rollercoaster story of intrigue! Steeping! Romance! Infusing! They said it couldn't be sipped! (May not contain actual romance.)

Act one, scene one: Peacock's Tearoom, Ely. Our protagonists are minding their own business and a fruit scone when KAPOW, they are BLOWN AWAY by the taste of some rather nice Assam leaf tea. Such was their consternation that jam was spilled onto the tablecloth! Well, more jam, anyway. In fact, the extra jam hardly showed up. If one were to be brutally honest, one could point out that the tablecloth had already, in the intervening steeping period, become the main jam receptacle. Indeed, of all things in the tearoom, few could have been accussed of being more jammy than the cloth 'pon the table; save perhaps for Mrs. Nugent on the next table, who doesn't really exist, but who had just won the lottery and thus was, in a very made-up way, also rather jammy.

Still.

The main character, whose attention had been drifting during the whole jam interlude, returns to the tea in hand (and also in a fine bone china teacup). He wonders: "would there be a way to re-create this authentic taste sensation at home?" And thus, a goal was set, an Undertaking Begun. It was Genesis – not the band with the whiny drummer, but the Genesis... OF TEA.

The acquisition of tea leaves happened soon enough, under the cover of daylight. An unmarked £10 note changed hands, a packet of Assam tea quickly stuffed inside a coat pocket. However, the method of infusion, the modus immersandi, that would take time. The Bodum teapot was rejected for being plasticky and not up to the job. Pah. Amateurs.

So, then was purchased the Whittard tea infusor, a small metal tube, square of cross-section and made of the finest unstain'd steel. Lo, how it glintèd! It lured the unweary buyer with promises of tea, the most honest of brews, suffused with pure moral fibre!

But there lurked evil in its heart. Maybe it had been led astray by a caffetière. Mayhap its noble purpose had been corrupted by a dark influence from Mordor itself. It could happen. Orcs, when making tea, rarely bother to warm the pot. I have it on good authority that Shelob, her heart filled with pure malice, uses UHT milk. Even the most glorious implement would find it hard (positively strenuous, aha, ah, ah) to strain tea effectively under such harsh conditions.

And indeed, it didn't. For the only tea made by this Tool Of Darkness was weak and, ironically, not dark at all. At best one could say it added a faint colouration to the water, possibly removing some of its taste. Bah! Such perfidy! Such disappointment! Woe! Verily, stronger cups of tea have been made by shouting "darjeeling!" loudly at some boiling water.

Thus, the quest continu'd. The protagonist, while wasting time on the internets, was pointed at the Ringtons Teafuser. Which is not only a fantastic name for a supporting character, but also a rather clever device for making tea. It may also be a transformer, solving crimes at night, but let us not go there, for that is a silly line of reasoning. And we are not at home to Mr. Silly.

Truly, it is a most ingenious device, even if it does look like a beer stein. In the bottom is a valve, which is opened by placing the device upon a suitable tea receptacle, for which purpose one might employ a cup or mug. One commences the steeping process by placing inside Fusor the required amount of tea leaves and an equally necessary amount of boiling water. Then, after the perfect length of time (relatively), the resulting broth is drainèd into the drinking vessel, resulting in a perfect cup of tea.

And, as I sit here sipping some Vietnam Yin Mei tea, I can only say the end result is most enjoyable.

(The author wishes to point out that he does not bear a grudge against tea bags, which may appear to have been cruelly ignored in this posting; but there is a time and place for everything. And sometimes one just Has to be posh about tea.)

La Palma, uno.

Fri, 08 May 2009 23:26:51 GMT

View from Roque de Los Muchachos

Some photos from La Palma have been processed. More to come, but as and when. Mostly views and rocks, but also one canarian lizard.

Covered in bees!

Wed, 06 May 2009 13:47:24 GMT

One of the buildings at work is currently hosting a swarm of bees. They're swarming, so they're quite docile, and most people don't even seem to notice them. Fascinating, really. Of course I had to go out in the end and take a photo myself. Otherwise it's not real.

Southerly backing southeasterly 5 to 7, veering southwesterly later.

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:18:39 GMT

Even though I've never been in a position to have any use for it, I love the shipping forecast. And somehow, today, it triggered a memory of hearing, on the Belgian radio, similar reports on the situation of various inland waterways. A lot of people will remember, with some amusement, things like "opgehaalde schotbalken" and "geopende doorlaatklepjes".

Sadly, some research reveals that Belgian radio ditched these reports many years ago, and most weirs have now been motorised and automated anyway.

So much for writing an interesting post about shipping forecasts. Damn you, progress.

(And if there is an English word for "peilgebied" then Wikipedia doesn't know of it. Anyone?)

Tyres

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:18:04 GMT

Car tyres are boring, so I'll keep it short: I recommend Cambridge Performance Tyres for people needing new tyres in the Cambridge area. Good, friendly service; quite good prices; and they listen to your requirements. Although they made a slight mistake with the wheel alignment on friday afternoon, they fixed it straight away when I dropped by this morning, without argument. (It was probably a friday afternoon mistake.)

And, to round off the tedium, I'll mention I got some Goodyear Ultragrip tyres, which have grooves that get wider as the tyre wears, and thus perform extremely well in the wet. Recommended by the German motoring organisation ADAC and that's enough for me.

Yellowstone

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:38:27 GMT

I just discovered Yellowstone on the BBC iPlayer. A documentary series currently being broadcast on BBC2 on sundays at 20:00, by the looks of it.

Pretty pictures, but with a voiceover that would be more at home at a funeral. The narrator sounds pretty depressed about Yellowstone, in fact. There's none of the enthusiasm that you'd get from Sir Dave. Still. Very pretty.

Worth checking out.

Link to the first episode, while it's available.

Edit: I'll upgrade that to "highly recommended", having just seen the bit with a red fox catching a mouse in the snow. Wow. And there's the coyote bit, and... oh, just watch it already.

Awesome customer service

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:17:20 GMT

Last week, I bought a Joby GorillaPod SLR Zoom from Amazon. Sadly, when it arrived the adapter screw (which allows the use of a tripod head, see photo of dubious artistic merit) was missing.

I couldn't find any for sale online (not wanting to deal with Amazon's returns department), so I mailed Joby. And they sent me two in the post the same day! Now that's fantastic customer service, which I thought was worth mentioning in public.

Scott's final written words in the Antarctic

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:04:44 GMT

I'm scanning (bits of) Ponting's book about Captain Scott's failed Antarctic expedition. Ponting died 75 years ago, so copyright-wise I'm safe. The book's rather old and yellowed. Vaguely haunting to see Scott's final written words.

On energy

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:11:53 GMT

If you take any interest at all in climate change or energy use, you should read the (free) book at http://www.withouthotair.com/ . I'm not saying it's all true, but it's informative.

The boring science bit.

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:23:11 GMT

In the photograph: condensation on the outside some "double-glazing" foil on a Velux skylight window. Where "outside" is, in fact, the inside, or at least, the side facing into the house. I like to think that the swirly pattern depicts the turbulent airflow between the cold outter glass layer and the foil, channeled to the sides by the blind. Because otherwise it's just some damp patches. And who cares about them, anyway.

And yes, I thought it was sufficiently interesting – and aesthetically pleasing, that random air currents could create twists and eddies of such exuberance, enough to make Mr Whippy green with envy – to take several photos of. I don't see why you're acting all surprised at this.

The little stripey thing at the bottom, by the way, was my poking finger, when I checked which side the moisture was on, like a clumsy, pokey chimp who can't see anything without poking it in a pokey way. Pokey, pokey, poke, poke, poke. Tchah.

Groundwork

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:39:56 GMT

You may (but probably don't) remember the sanatorium from such previous Livejournal posts as this one. Site cleanup has started; the developer currently seems to be planning service flats and a restaurant "to maintain the semi-public nature of the building".

The building has lost its melancholy; now it's just a building site. But it should come out so much better.

Firefox is colour blind

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:45:42 GMT

Firefox is rubbish at dealing with photos. It manages even to get images in the supposedly dumb and bulletproof generic RGB colour profile wrong.

Now, Firefox 3 was supposed to support colour management, but can't (yet?) be controlled from the preferences. But someone made a tiny add-on that sets up all the about:config variables.

So, if you use Firefox, and care at all about the colours of the photos you're looking at, you may want to install this add-on. It does make a huge difference to many photos. Go on, it's only a couple of clicks.

(Of course, assuming that you're using an OS that supports colour management in the first place. It's enough to make one despair about this electronic age, and to long for paper proofs.)

Libraries

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:02:30 GMT

The Kansas City Library car park is made of pure awesome.

More tilt-shift timelapse goodness: Monster Truck Rally!

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:52:54 GMT

Here.