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Major Meteor Shower Next Weekend
IronClad writes: "By some reports, the annual Leonid meteor shower should be the best show in decades, and possibly until 2099. With meteors peaking November 17-18, and particularly over the Pacific, now is the time to check the predicted local meteor flux and buy chips for those star parties. Anyone adding a wireless hub and laptops for a star+lan party?"
How about some basic info on where to watch, eh?
Gleened from Space.com [space.com]
For North American skywatchers, Earth will enter the heavier parts of the stream at about 11 p.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 17. Activity will peak around 5 a.m. Sunday morning, when as many as 13 meteors per minute could be visible, likely for a stretch of time that lasts less than 1 hour. The peak corresponds to 4 a.m. CST, 3 a.m. MST and 2 a.m. PST.
First Post..... And here is some more stuff to get me past the lameness filter.
info for all the little meteorites that haven't taken baths lately
...will the people who thought Sept 11th was the first sign of the Apocalypse see this as the second?
*sigh*...some people are brainless sheep.
-Chardish
Let's have some fun.. who can guess which show this was in?
Nerd 2: Or we can watch Ms. Johnson shower..
Nerd 1: And you call yourself a scientist!
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
>>>"Anyone adding a wireless hub and laptops for a star+lan party?"
Doesn't it defeat half the geek factor of a lan party if its outdoors? I assume it _is_ outdoors if stars are involved.
Will East Tennessee get left out of this cool event, just like we are left out of reliable cable, good DSL and everything else I want?
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
If you want a good view:
- Get away from city lights. The farther the better.
- Get away from cloudy regions. Duh.
- Get lucky. Look at the right time. Only problem is that estimates of the right time are only estimates.
I take issue at your groundless assumption regarding others' groundless assumptions. Let's at least wait until the mistakes are made to be critical.
jerk off in the restroom at work???
Just dropped a load in the boss-man's gym bag thqat he left in there for a few hours...
Should be nice and ripe when he gets to the gym... heeheee
Is it just me, or is it every couple years that people say that we won't see "a show like this" for 50 years. I might watch, but I might not.
Damn...
I wish I had a genius like you when I whiped-out my tele at noon in downtown Phoenix yesterday...
Sent it back as defective...
Seriously though, I just thought it'd be worthwile referencing a very similar posting here on /. just a few days ago. It is cool to see that the flux estimator link made it onto the main page. If it's accurate, it'll really help all of us strange enough to go out and look (me being one of them) to actually find the best meteor shower show.
i need some RMS for my open sores
Anyone from the area (see subject) have a good spot to watch from? I was thinking of going out to the Rincon Valley hills.
Ideas?
"Not my manner of thinking but the manner of thinking of others has been the source of my unhappiness." - M
Woohoo! IAAAA (I Am An Amateur Astronomer). =) Anyway, I have two main things to say. The first is a rant about the media blowing things out of proportion, and the second is some tips on how to look for a meteor shower.
I hope it is really great this year, but please nobody assume that it's going to happen just because it's in a newspaper or on the news. Astronomy's one of those cost-benefit things where 99 out of 100 times there's a warning and you get up at 3 in the morning and nothing happens. The other time you see something and it's either average, or spectacular and a life-long memory. In 1966, everyone assumed that the Leonids had died, because they hadn't shown up at all in the 30's. A relatively small number of people went out at the time that they were predicted, and they saw a really awesome display.
The Leonids were again predicted to be really big in 1999, to the point where CNN was showing Japanese people in downtown Tokyo setting up deck chairs on the roof of office blocks. The whole thing fizzled, and immediately afterwards lots of the editorial media started complaining that nothing had happened. The same thing was predicted again for last year, and nothing really happened on the spectacular scale of what was expected.
This year, someone else has predicted that it'll happen by using a slightly different system. Like I said I hope it's right. I'll definitely be up in the morning watching with friends from my local club, and if nothing happens we'll drag out the telescopes nad look at other stuff in the sky.
We never bother bringing the media in on possibly "big" events anymore, though, because they just blow the entire general public's expectations out of proportion and then blame astronomers for being wrong when it doesn't come off. If something happens then we all get to see it and tell the media after it's happened - if we're lucky, someone got a good photograph.
So don't get your hopes up.
This year is supposed to be special, with astronomers predicting anywhere from 800 (North America) - 8,000 (Australia) meteors visible per hour...
;-)
Oh, so in other words, the conversion rate between American and metric is 10 metric units for each American unit.
If you celebrate Xmas, befriend me (538
THIS IS GOING TO BE LIKE ARMAGEDDON BUT IN REAL LIFE!!!1
Run for The Ark i say!!!! RUN AS FAST AS YOUR LEGS CAN CARRY YOU!
THE OFFICIAL TACO-SNOTTING FAQ
By The WIPO Troll
What is "Taco-snotting?"
Have you ever been Taco-Snotted? Why am I always receiving emails from CmdrTaco asking me if I would allow him to Taco-snot me? I can't stop receiving these emails from CmdrTaco!? What is a "Circle-snot"? Does Jon Katz get involved in this? I thought he was a paedophile, not a homosexual.$Id: tacosnotting.txt,v 1.4 2001/11/11 02:00:45 wipo Exp $
How many times are you going to make this post?
Here's a site that is predicting a ZHR (zenith hourly rate) of meteors during the height of the shower on the order of 1000-3000. Works out to one a second or so - which while not totally amazing - would be a much higher rate than I've ever seen.
They've got two models and both seem to be in relative agreement. It all depends on how the Earth is oriented and moving through the comet trail and the exact geometry of the dust distribution in the trail. But what the heck - I've hung out before, maybe this will be my year to get lucky!
For those on the East Coast, it'll probably be worth getting up a little (okay - a lot) earlier than normal. Check out Leo in the Southeast sky (about 45 degrees above the horizon) around 5 AM in the morning. That should get you right around peak.
The rate should start to ramp up after midnight EST peaking just before dawn. Those to the west will get to see the decline.
The only problem for those on the west is that with the constellation of Leo being the radiant (hence the name) and Leo being low or below the horizon, they'll be missing most of the show. It's just as bad or worse in Europe this time around, since they'll be in daylight during the predicted max.
In illa quae ultra sunt
Try and get as close to the metorite as you can. Yes, in space if you have to.
:P
Burn your eyeballs using a heated needle. That way you will be able to see the meteorite better.
Damage your brain by tearing out chunks of your skull to expose the brain, then use knifes or anything else sharp to cut out a few bits and bobs. That way you can see the meterors on a different plane of conciousness.
Jump off a cliff, maybe you can float up to heaven and see the meteorites on your way.
Use Instant Teleportation to rid the metorites, then use a Kame Hame Ha @ on the earth for fun
karma wh0re =P
In honor of the Leonids, thousands of identical stories - and identical posts!
sulli
RTFJ.
And thusly I post, logged in!
Hey, while we're out watching the meteors, I bet the /. crew will be trying to figure out how many copies of the same article they can dish out!
C'mon guys, this is like what, 10 repeats in 2 weeks? It's getting ridiculous. Do you read any of these comments or what?
And thusly I post, logged out!
And thusly I post, logged in again!!!
He copied this word for word from this comment.
Leonid Meteor Shower
And thusly I post, logged out, AGAIN!!!!
timothy has it wrong. The Leonids are peaking on the night of November 18-19, not on 17-18.
I live in Boston, but by an awesome coincidence, I will be in Australia on that very night. Here's to an awesome meteor shower!
The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool. -Crowe
I am posting thusly logged in!!!!!!
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=23508&cid=2536 443
The leonids were a let-down in 1999? Whatever. I drove 20 miles north of San Antonio (which has horrible light pollution) with my girlfriend. We sat out in my pickup truck bed and got the show of a lifetime.
- I throw rocks at retarded kids
"Adequacy.org: Where congenital stupidity is not an option, but a requirement."
This concludes my karma whoring for the day =)
-- Imagine how much more advanced our technology would be if we had eight fingers per hand.
THIS I KNOW BECAUSE TEH BIBLE TELLS ME SO!!!!
So CEASE and DESIST your rock throwings!!!!!!!!!
Heh... I'm waiting for the bath.
Rub-a-dub dub mates.
sweet, i'm going to be spending the next week in the remote areas of New Mexico, at about 6000 ft. the closest real town is over 50 miles away. this ought to be quite a show.
And Jesus said unto thee, let there be goatse.cx! And they rejoiced.
- I throw rocks at retarded kids
"Adequacy.org: Where congenital stupidity is not an option, but a requirement."
Only six days until Bellis!!!!
What are you guys, a bunch of raving homosexuals?
Chips are for pussy's. Real men bring rectum rippers to their lan/star parties.
P.S. Yes, I can see the irony calling them rectum rippers and having the nerve to call you guys fags. ;p
- I throw rocks at retarded kids
"Adequacy.org: Where congenital stupidity is not an option, but a requirement."
I don't think that would work to well. Normally you need to get your eyes adjusted to low light in order to see a lot of meteors. I don't think staring at a laptop screen would help with that...
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
And if you're paranoid: :-)
- Get away from the beach to avoid any tsunami
We may even have live updates on a web page during the show (if I write the code in time anyway :)
A beowulf cluster of these promoted by RIAA...held during a Linux conference, and hosted by Cowgirl Bob...all the anime and robots anyone with a homemade wireless network could ever want! Now if we could get the CIA's servers /.'d, and take time out from standing in line for Monster's Inc. and ET2, we could find time to trash Bill Gates and take another survey on the best way to DIY CPU chillers! I love meteor showers, even when they don't happen! Nerds unite! The time has come!
a hint for all the unwashed geeks assembling to watch them meteorites :-)
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
Can someone tell me what the estimates will be in Dallas for the duration of the shower? I can't view the page using Mozilla 0.9.5 on OS X. phooey :P
Methinks it has already started...Friday night, I was flying a Cessna 152 from Oklahoma City, OK to Indianapolis, IN. I saw several meteors, including a couple of strange ones--one was greenish in color, had a strobe-ish sort of effect, and appeared to be at about 20,000 feet; another was normal white, but again, looked fairly low. I was already talking to Center, and asked them about it, thinking maybe the Air Force was doing some sort of exercise, but they confirmed that there were no other aircraft in the area. There's some cool stuff up there, and even at 5,500 feet, you can see a whole lot more than you can on the ground. I will never forget some of the ones I saw last Friday.
"Make it ten--I am only a poor corrupt official."
--Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains), Casablanca
Actually the least funniest show in history was a bukakke film your mom was in. After watching 65 guys jizz on her, I was quite sick and not at all in a mood to laugh.
C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
get lucky...
;)
:)
very good tip. you aren't going to do that (unless you found one of those amazing computer chics) w/a wireless LAN.
www.thehun.com doesn't count
myself, I would have a blanket, something nice to eat, something great to drink, and my fine lady
:)
Thanks for highlighting it. I'm flattered but I'm glad the moron isn't getting credit.
To see the shower but TAKE your laptop. Sheesh. It'll be there when ya go back in, trust me.
to my trolling. I also refuse to disclose thst I am in fact using a second account due to my banning at
the hands of thos sexually repressed hairy palmed editors over at
Now you know the reeessst of the story...
I do it wrong
Laying here in the shadows of my room, I squint up at my love. My Ms. Portman.
I am sore and tired after fucking her for eight solid hours. My chapped and aching
dick is soaking in grits to relieve the pain. She gets on her knees and starts lapping
the grits up out of the bowl. She places her beautiful hands on my penis and starts to
lick the grits off my achy piece.
Massaging my nutsack she....
WAIT, I DO IT WRONG!!!!
Yanking my dick out of her mouth I throw her to the ground and shove it in to her
gaping freshly fisted ass.
"OH BIG ASS SPORK, err, OOOHHHH BANNED IP!! Fuck my ass, fuck my ass good. DEEPER, my stallion, deeper!!
Make a Beowulf cluster of sperm on my back!!"
"Imagine a Beowulf cluster of this baby!"
I DO IT WRONG!!!!
Due to excessive bad posting from this IP or Subnet, comment posting has temporarily been disabled. If it's you, consider this a chance to sit in the timeout corner. If it's someone else, this is a chance to hunt them down. If you think this is unfair, please email jamie@mccarthy.vg.
HAHAHAHAA fuckers! I am not ssooo wrong I can't recover! All your trolls are belong to... forget it...
The
This is version 0.6 of a troll HOWTO, sort of a companion piece to jsm's excellent troll FAQ. As a draft, comments and criticism are always welcome, if not appreciated
Section 1 - Trolling techniques
There are techniques used by successful trolls to elicit the maximum amount of responses from unthinking
Timing
Because you're posting as an AC, your troll will generally be ignored in favour of posters using their accounts, and so getting in early is essential. A good guideline is to get into the first 20 posts, so that people reading the article will see the troll before it is swamped out. One way of increasing the speed with which you get your troll into play is to prepare them beforehand, and then quickly customise them for the current article. This is easier than it sounds since
Note that this is why Jon Katz stories are pretty worthless as trolling material - by the time you've found the article and prepared a troll there's already 50+ posts on it, most of them flaming Jon Katz anyway
Exposure
Once you've got your troll in, you need people to actually read it. You also want replies -
Accounts
An alternative to the time-honoured tradition of AC trolling is that of creating a "troll" account. This gives you the advantage of posting at 1 rather than 0, and slashbots are more likely to take you seriously, especially if you at least sound reasonable. If you do this, try to avoid posting stuff where it is obvious you're a troll under the account - post it anoymously instead - some slightly more canny readers actually check your user info before they reply. Not many though
The ultimate goal of the troll account is to secure the +1 bonus, which is currently received once you hit 26 points of Karma. To get there, employ the techniques of karma whoring that we see every day on
Layout
To get people reading it a troll needs to be easily readable. Make sure you break it down into easily digestible paragraphs, use HTML tags where appropriate (but always make sure you close them properly) and use whitespace appropriately.
Size
Generally a troll shouldn't be too short, otherwise it'll get lost in the crowd. A workable minimum is a couple of medium paragraphs. Conversely, it shouldn't be too long, or no-one will bother to read it. Keep it to a happy medium.
Spelling
Whilst spelling is important if you want the troll to be taken "seriously", key spelling mistakes can draw out the spelling zealots, especially if you mis-spell the name of a venerated
Subject
The subject line needs to draw attention to your post without making it obvious that it is a troll. A simple statement of the main point of your argument can work here.
Style
Once you realise that most moderators don't bother to read past the first paragraph or two, you can use this fact to craft trolls that can be moderated up as "Insightful" (note that I mean this in the
Linking
As we all know, a post with links is considered "informative" by the
Feeding
The ideal troll requires no feeding - it runs on its own, generating flamewars between clueless
Know your audience
Always keep in mind the kind of things advocated on
Arrogance
Be arrogant. You, as a troll, know that you're right. No other explanation could exist. The wronger the "fact", the more assertively you should state it. Make it clear that you are better than everyone else - you know the truth and they are just too stupid to realise it. Use plenty of sarcasm, and use "quotes" to show it to people too dumb to realise.
Offensiveness
Being offensive in your initial troll can be counter-productive - it causes moderators to mark you down as flamebait in general. But if you're feeding, then you can get away with calling
Indifference
Great for articles with a political or social bent, this kind of troll expresses complete indifference to the topic at hand, wondering who on Earth cares about it. An alternative method is to say that the topic only concerns a certain group of people - criminals, idiots, hackers (always use this instead of crackers) or whatever group you want to offend.
Sympathy
Appear to take the same stance as the people you're trying to troll - claim you're as much a fan of Linux as the next man, but... This way you can make all kinds of claims in the sure knowledge that you actually know what you're talking about. A great phrase to use here is "In my experience". Remember to act like all the things you're pointing out are unfortunate but true.
The common touch
Always accuse
The 31337 touch
The opposite of the above. Claim that technology or whatever is only for the elite of society and that any attempt to open it up for everyone is wrong, an attack on intellectualism and possibly even dangerous. If people were meant to understand these things then they would, and it's their fault if they're too stupid to learn.
Contradiction
Never be afraid to contradict yourself, even in the space of a single sentence. The phrases "I am a top programmer who codes in VB" or "I am a supporter of open source who uses NT at work and 95 at home" will be sure to get a response from some weenie smugly pointing out the contradiction. Confuse the issue more by engaging in contradiction when you are feeding - this will confuse
Clues
If you're feeling brave, give the reader clues that this is an obvious troll. The classic example here is dmg's stock phrase "I am often accused of trolling (whatever that is)", but also feel free to use phrases like "I have not read the article, and I don't know much about XYZ but I feel I must comment". If anyone responds to a troll with these kinds of clues in it, feel free to bask in the glow of knee-jerk
Denial
If you're unlucky someone will accuse you of being a troll (surely not!) and try and ruin it for you. If you don't want it all to end there, then be sure to counter it by accusing them of being small-minded and petty, saying that it's easier for them to say it's a troll than to accept that people have different opinions. Be sure to say this in the subject line, especially if their subject was the infamous "YHBT. YHL. HAND."
Claiming credit
Given that
As for when to post it, that's a matter of opinion really. You can either post it straight away or leave it will after people start biting. Remember that the troll forum is also frequented by non-trolls, and sometimes you may get a self-declared "troll-buster" try and expose you. But remember,
There is no real current forum at the moment thanks to various spammers hitting the sids, but try trolltalk, the original troll sid started by 80md and osm way back in the day. Generally all postings are done there as an AC, with your name at the end of the post. Include a link to the troll somewhere in the text, which ideally will be directly to the post and its replies - click on the #XX link in the thread to get there.
Ending the troll
Sometimes you just get bored with a troll, or people start posting genuinely thoughtful stuff in reply (it does happen). When this happens it might be time to own up to the troll with a helpful "YHBT. YHL. HAND." post. Sometimes people will carry on a discussion of the issue, and if you're really lucky (and it was a great troll) they will completely fail to believe you and carry on arguing. If that happens, pat yourself on the back for writing a great troll
The cheap $3 crack
Finally, when all else fails and your troll gets moderated down to (-1, Troll) within ten seconds of you posting it, the only honourable thing to do is to accuse the moderators of smoking the cheap $3 crack (again) and give up
Section 2 - Types of troll
The Maniac
Probably the most popular kind of troll, the Maniac holds an opinion on something, and won't budge from that opinion no matter what evidence to the contrary is presented. If challenged, the Maniac will simply get more and more agitated and abusive, deriding his opponents as "idiots", "wrong-thinking", "dangerous" and "subversive". Generally the Maniac takes a position that opposes the prevalent
Maniacs can be crafted for practically every article
Here are some fruitful avenues to explore:
The Right-Wing Maniac
Always popular, the right-wing maniac (RWM) is a God-fearing, gun-toting, flag-waving American, and proud of it. They don't care about the rest of the world, unless it's to "prove" that America is better than everything else, and they cannot stand liberal whining over civil rights. They hate the moral decay of America and want it to revert into a nation of heterosexual, Christian whites like it was meant to be. Woe betide anyone that dares to suggest otherwise.
Religion
There are two ways to approach this kind of maniac. The harder to pull off is the militant atheist, but this is quite common amongst
Ideology
Pick a philosophy, any philosophy. This troll is a troll with a cause - they have found some kind of ideological truth, and are out to expose every other philosophy as a sham. Whether it be libertarianism, objectivism, communism or capitalism, this troll will point out the obvious "flaws" in any other philosophies, whilst spouting dogma about their own. And the best thing is - you don't even need to know that much about what you're spouting - making doctrinaire mistakes will get both sides of the argument flaming you, adding to the fun.
Software
This is an old favourite and crops up in many forms, covering the gamut from OS maniacs (Linux zealots, MS-apologists or embittered BSD fanatics), language maniacs (Pascal vs. C, C vs. C++, C++ vs. Java, Perl vs. Python, VB vs. everything), application maniacs(GIMP vs. Photoshop, Netscape vs. IE, vi vs. emacs) and also includes people who complain about how technology should only be for the 31337 hackers.
Guns
Americans love their guns, and will always fight passionately for their Constitutionally guarenteed rights to bear arms and shoot people. Even the slightest hint of criticism of this will bring down the wrath of a thousand and one enraged gun-owners on you, so it's always a great point to work into a troll
The Expert
The Expert is someone who is "savvy" in their particular field, and is perfectly willing to give their opinion on any topic even vauguely related to their field. The Expert is most likely to be from a field which
Some possible angles to exploit:
Industry knowledge
The expert knows the computing industry from the inside - as a long-term pro, they can dispense knowledge knowing that they can "speak for the industry". Their smug self-satisfaction is bound to annoy, as is any suggestion that things aren't the way that
Helpful hints
With their tech-savvy (or law-savvy or whatever) experience, the expert is obviously the best person to point out what's wrong with things or to give out useful "factual" information. In fact this probably works best with lawyer trolls - for all that
Offtopic Trolls
Not really a "troll" in the strict Jargon File sense of the word, but they certainly should be included here
Offtopic trolls, like any other, come in almost as many colours as an iMac, but generally not as cute. But then again, a good offtopic "troll" can affect more people than a repulsive little gumdrop on your desk, because you need to have someone SEE your desk before they can react. Simple? Moreso than even my overblown prose could indicate. Some basic examples:
The serial troll
Write a story. Keep expanding it. It doesn't matter what article you post it under, so long as it's high up. If you want people to recognize you, pick a couple themes or symbols, and carry them on throughout the story. Other alternatives include back linking or including the entire story, but adding more each time. Be funny if you want. Or if you don't feel like being funny, just be really weird. Someone will react.
The random troll
This has nothing to do with anything. Be it a stream of consciousness rant, or a description of the corner of your desk. Another favorite is a monologue, read as if spoken from any one given entity to another. The more outlandish, the better (a pair of socks talking to a mousepad, for example). If you really wanted to be artsy, work in an actual metaphor or legitimate meaning behind it, but it's not necessary.
The vaguely related troll
Start out with a comment about the article. Have a definite opinion of it. Then, after a little while, disintegrate into randomness. All roads eventually can eventually lead to cheese (yum), Natalie Portman, cannibalism, toasters, squirrels, futons, you name it. All it takes is a little bit of creativity. Oh, and feel free to use other trolls' motifs. Open source and all that
General tips:
If it's funny for a fleeting moment, then it's worth posting.
Puns. Puns are only less vile than mimes, but it's hard to mime on
Obscure cultural references and injokes are always good. SOMEONE will get them eventually.
Several drafts of a serial or random post are common, but true elegance is being able to come up with something on the spot that still makes the top 40 posts (on a post-heavy article)
Section 3 - Useful trolling links
The following links contain background information useful for trolls needing quick quotes and "expert" opinions to include.
General purpose links
ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/trollfaq.html - How to deal with USENET trolls - learn your enemy
www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.h
www.altairiv.demon.co.uk/troll/trollfaq.html - USENET troll HOWTO
www.baiting.org - Baiting.org
www.fieldingtravel.com/df/index.htm - Fielding's DangerFinder - A guide to what and where's dangerous
Religious links
www.godhatesamerica.com/ - God Hates America
www.chalcedon.edu/creed.html - The Creed of Christian Reconstruction
www.demonbuster.com - How to cast out your demons and do spiritual warfare
riceinfo.rice.edu/armadillo/Sciacademy/riggins/
www.icr.org/ - Institute for Creation Research
www.xenu.net - Operation Clambake - The fight against Scientology on the net
www.hom.net/~angels/ - Citizens for the Ten Commandments
www.bju.edu/rcnbc.html - The difference between Catholics and Christians
www.geocities.com/prazske00/biblequotes.html - Bible quotes by category
Political/economy links
www.aynrand.org - The Ayn Rand Institute
www.reason.com - Libertarian site
www.freerepublic.com - Right-wing stuff
www.jbs.org - Excellent site for all kinds of right-wingery
www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html - Web economy bullshit generator
Crackpot science links
www.fixedearth.com - The Earth Is Not Moving
www.jir.com/index.htm - The Journal of Irreproducible Results
The second significant peak will begin around 12 noon EST and last until 2 pm EST on the 18th of November. The best viewing for this peak will be over Australia and the Far East. The level of activity for this event could be anywhere from 7000 to 15000 meteors per hour!
Anybody who can corroborate..
I really wish the timing for meteor showers would not conflict with my sleep schedule.
How come every time I read about an upcomming meteor shower, they always say it's going to be the best ones ever, and the best one in the near future.
[nt]
anyone know of one of the better places to see it?, i was planning on going upstate NY into the appilation mountains to check it out. anyone else have any ideas?
The American Meteor Society clues the public in on how to view the Leonids: They are referring to the Pleiades, or what my friend and I refer to as "the big question mark in the night sky".
Related links: North American Meteor Network, The American Meteor Society
Is there any hope for us people on the East coast, or will there be a live webcast of it or anything, or are we screwed out of this like many other things that occur on the left coast. If anyone has more info I would be forever grateful for it. Thank you, that is all.
I hate sigs.
Why is it that every time there's a major meteor shower, people say it's going to be the best show for the next hundred years? I've heard this said at least once a year since about 1994 or so.
smackin' my cock against the tub!!! i shit on this site and piss on it's editors!!!
Does this mean Osama and his buddies are going to dress up in purple sheets and Nikes and off themselves?
I love metor showers!
Hammer of Truth
Anyone adding a wireless hub and laptops for a star+lan party?"
No... But I'll be adding a wireless keg.
You're about to get modded down so far you'll be IP banned! Have fun, chump!
Anyone know of a good spot to watch in the San Francisco Bay area? My first though was that the top of Mount Diablo would be far enough away from the light pollution to see it well, but the park closes at sunset.
That's the joke! The starting post was redundant, you morons. It's ok for you, but you slam anyone else...well, at least you've confirmed your duplicate story was worthless...thanks :)
Smile while you're faking it...laugh while you're taking it...all the way home.
How is this moded "Insightful"? fuk ups
* * Always question "the National Interest" - 9 times out of 10 it is a cover for evil
Woohoo! IAAAA (I Am An Amateur Astronomer). =) Anyway, I have two main things to say. The first is a rant about the media blowing things out of proportion, and the second is some tips on how to look for a meteor shower. I hope it is really great this year, but please nobody assume that it's going to happen just because it's in a newspaper or on the news. Astronomy's one of those cost-benefit things where 99 out of 100 times there's a warning and you get up at 3 in the morning and nothing happens. The other time you see something and it's either average, or spectacular and a life-long memory. In 1966, everyone assumed that the Leonids had died, because they hadn't shown up at all in the 30's. A relatively small number of people went out at the time that they were predicted, and they saw a really awesome display. The Leonids were again predicted to be really big in 1999, to the point where CNN was showing Japanese people in downtown Tokyo setting up deck chairs on the roof of office blocks. The whole thing fizzled, and immediately afterwards lots of the editorial media started complaining that nothing had happened. The same thing was predicted again for last year, and nothing really happened on the spectacular scale of what was expected. This year, someone else has predicted that it'll happen by using a slightly different system. Like I said I hope it's right. I'll definitely be up in the morning watching with friends from my local club, and if nothing happens we'll drag out the telescopes nad look at other stuff in the sky. We never bother bringing the media in on possibly "big" events anymore, though, because they just blow the entire general public's expectations out of proportion and then blame astronomers for being wrong when it doesn't come off. If something happens then we all get to see it and tell the media after it's happened - if we're lucky, someone got a good photograph. So don't get your hopes up.
I'm in the Napa Valley...if there is any chance of fog, we are just going to turn it into a camping trip to Nevada. Hey, it is supposed to be the best of my lifetime, better not take chances with the weather!
Go out very very far from city lights. Bring blankets, warm clothing, binoculars/telescope, and big sack of weed. Smoke a fatty joint, lay back, and enjoy the wonder of the universe.
If you have a wideband receiver you can count how many meteors pass per hour. Set the radio to 73.90 in FM mode and the sql to something like 3.
Those were just UFO's. Don't get to worked up just yet. :)
"There are more important things than stopping terrorism. Upholding the Constitution is one of them." - Ars Forumer.
I've spent more nights than I care to remember out with my little red torch looking for leonids, taurids, younameitids with minimal success.
/. make money idea! start charging us for heavenly activity warnings - I'd pay $20 a year for that kind of service!
My best exerience was a chance aurora a couple of years ago - huge pulsing green, red blue, white for about an hour - amazing. Didn't see more than half a dozen meteors though!
Hopefully next weekend will be better. Hopefully.
What we need is an email / SMS service that will inform us if its turning out good - so we can leap from bed and have a squiz out the window!
Now THERES an
It will be pretty bad since the peak will be around 11h00, 18h31 and 19h19 CET, on November the 18th, but you can still have a decent show the night between the 18th and the 19th.
Anybody has some more information about the sighting in Europe?
No way! AT&T Starlan didn't talk wireless!
I haven't touched that stuff since '91.... It's still too painful to think about. Think Ethernet on crack.
Why is this news? Slashdot covered it only four days ago.
I only hope that Quake 3 runs in red-screen mode...
Beware if you use one of the predefined locations at http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/estimator.html , at least for St. Louis the coordinates are way, way off.
They say we're located at 43 North 85 West, which would put us where, like, Michigan or something? Were actually closer to 39 North 90 West. The timezone is also off, we're not GMT-7 we're GMT-6.
Earl
Ads run constantly on TV advertising the fact that "Gabbo is coming." Springfield gets whipped into a frenzy of excitement, and then Gabbo turns out to be the ventriloquist dummy you just linked to.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Of course, this time of year, if you live in the Willamette Valley of Oregon (Portland, Salem, Eugene, etc.), you know to expect clouds and rain for this weekend.
The upside is, you can drive to Central/Eastern Oregon and probably have clear weather, and less light pollution.
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
here
From Long Island, looks like I either have to buy a boat to go into the ocean or drive 120 miles.
See you near Monticello, NY Sunday morning!
The above post is an editorial, the poster cannot and will not be held responsible for all or in part for it's contents
coming from a faggot with a fufme toy. fucking cock sucking kids these days.
Well to add to the influx of links I feel forced in justifying the pain involved in teaching my Father to create and maintain a website.
It looks a little amateurish, but I recommend those interested in the field to take a look, with comments and information from Australia's lead Researchers/Observers of NEO's and Lunar Occultations. *Exit Stage Left*
The meteor storm is travelling at 160,000mph and will pass near Earth next weekend.
Nasa has already taken steps to protect the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.
The controls for the countermeasures can be found here.
--
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
I grew up in Rincon Valley, and I don't recommend it at all. Santa Rosa is just too bright for it to be any good. If you can't go too far, head out towards Sonoma and up Lawndale road towards the back of Annadel state park; it's tucked away from much more light.
If you can travel a bit, head north. I'll be at Lake Sonoma, at the overflow parking for the docks, because it's relatively high and far enough from major lights.
If you can travel more, and really want a good view, just keep going north. If it's not fogged in, Point Arena on Hwy 1 is far from any lights and shielded by hills, or up the 101 into Mendocino County just gets you far enough and high enough for good viewing.
Of course, for the best viewing, spend the weekend camping in the Sierra's. But failing all of these, the hills of Rincon Valley are better than nothing.
Will the metor showers be visible enough to be caught on standard photographic film ? Would one-minute or longer exposures with 1000+ ISO film catch much? Would B&W pick up more than color? I do not have access to anything greater than a 300 MM telephoto lens and have a Canon EOS 300 camera. As I live in Wellington, New Zealand I am alsowondering when the best viewing times are...
I very happy to hear this in advance it seems I always hear about these things after the fact lets see if the weather cooperates
http://Lenny.com
4 great justice!
sounds like a great idea to me. wink wink -fine lady-