If the Whats Up 2006 whetted your appetite for free downloadable astronomy guides you might like to take a look at some handbooks that the folks in the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies have been working on.
At the moment there are 3 handbooks written, we are working on more.
1. The Novice Observing Challenge Compiled by Seanie Morris this handbook provides the perfect introduction to the hobby and science of astronomy. Everything that a beginner, or nearly-new, astronomer needs to know is covered here with explanations and advice as well as practical observing projects.
2. The Binocular Observing Challenge Subtitled "110 extraordinary objects to see through ordinary binoculars" this handbook, which was compiled by John Flannery, serves as an excellent incentive to dust off the binoculars and see what you can really see through them. John's handbook has diagrams and charts to help find the objects as well as detailed descriptions to help appreciate what you are seeing.
3. The Messier Objects Observing Challenge Mick O'Connell has put together a lavish observing guide to the next level of observing. This book gives detailed background information on Charles Messier, his catalogue of objects, and the deep-sky as well as star-charts and guides to help navigate your way through the most famous list of deep-sky splendours.
ok that makes a little more sence. Though Solaris has always been available for x86 provided your hadware was compatible with the hardware compatability list. And Sun has been selling x86 kit since the LX50 came out over 2 years ago.
Has Sun learned from the demise of SGI workstations that relying on one processor architecture is harmful?
Huh? The ultra 5, 10, sunblade 1500 and 150 were single processor.
The ultra 60, sunblade 2000, sunblade 2500 are dual.
Sun was never relying on one processor, there have always been dual options.
The W1100z is the single processor version of the W2100z described in the article.
http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/hardware/d ocs/Workstation_Products/Workstations/index.html Suns workstation docs.
This unique telescope will have twin 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) mirrors that sit on a single mount
Considering the ESO's VLT I dont understand why this is such a big deal.
The VLTI has four 8.2 meter telescopes supplemented with a further three 1 meter telescopes. All with adaptive optics, can be used as an interferometer etc.
http://www.eso.org/projects/vlt/VLT
http://www.eso.org/projects/vlti/VLTI
Now if only the Irish government would sign up to the ESO
In the US you need to win states, then each state has a number of votes in the electoral college right? So how can Nader ever hope to get anywhere if he has to top the poll everywhere? Yes ok hes making a point by standing, but is he not damaging Kerry in the process, someone who from what I have read about him he has more in common with?
If the system was based purely on the number of votes cast all over the country, none of this electoral college, and if PR/transferable voting was used then I could understand his candidacy, and there would probably be plenty of other candidates too. But with the current system if you are not the GOP or Democrat candidate you don't stand a chance. And with the system set up in their favour I can't see electoral reform coming.
The other thing that I don't get with the electoral college system is that it is possible for a candidate to get more votes than the other guy but still loose due to what states the votes came from and how they get allocated. (please dont mention the Al Gore case again!). Do those of you in the US think the electoral college is a fair system?
The Sony-Ericsson K700i can do Chinese input.
Mine was bought in Hong Kong, so you may need to get the store to install the Hong Kong firmware (R2A041 prgCXC 125882_HONG_KONG_C). Oh, and yes it can do English too.
You use only 8 keys (6 numbers, left, right) to enter the characters, as it uses T9 predictive texting. Basically you enter the strokes as you would write them.
Also, LEDs are becoming very usefull light
sources in torches, automotive (brake)lights,
traffic signals etc. etc.
Unfortunately this could start to become a problem for thouse of us trying to do something about light pollution also. Especially if and when LED's can be used for street and security lighting.
However as with most forms of light pollution it will depend on how they are applied. Plastering them all over the side of a building = bad. Directing/shielding them so that no light can spill above the horizon = good.
Recently I did a project involving discrete event simulation. A certain task took 11.827 second on a PIII 500Mhz system running linux, and 16.588 on a SPARCII at 300Mhz. The equivalent time for a 500Mhz SPARC would be 9.953 seconds (I think, just scribbled out the calculation now!).
This gives the SPARC the edge, but there are other factors like the OS to consider. Both machines had 256Mb memory and used gcc to compile.
However if cost is an issue, this will give the x86 chips an advantage. Depends on who is paying really!
Then you have to look at whether you are writing your own code in say MPI to work over a cluster of machines or something to work on a highly SMP machine, like an SGI or high end SUN box. It very much depends on what you plan on using it for; high end maths physics applications - get a nice sun or sgi box if you have the budget!; if you dont have the budget or dont need 'that' kind of high end then a PC will do. And im sure there are plenty of people willing to carry out the which processor is better argument here!
After getting interupted from a game of AOE...I noticed that www.zone.com wasnt responding..nor was microsoft.com..nor ibm.com...nor novell.com.
ok big deal so I kicked the network cable....
not so: traceroutes to these sites show that packets are getting close but then stopping: traceroute to microsoft.com (207.46.131.30), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 15 * icpmscomc7501-a0-00-1.cp.msft.net (207.46.129.3) 176.680 ms * 30 * * * the other sites stop at different routers btw.
3:37~> ping www.sun.com www.sun.com is alive 3:37~> ping www.microsoft.com no answer from microsoft.com
earlier on www.zone.com wasnt resolving at all either.
connections to european sites still seem ok though
Hi, After getting interupted from a game of AOE...I noticed that www.zone.com wasnt responding..nor was microsoft.com..nor ibm.com...nor novell.com. ok big deal so I kicked the network cable.... not so: traceroutes to these sites show that packets are getting close but then stopping: traceroute to microsoft.com (207.46.131.30), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 15 * icpmscomc7501-a0-00-1.cp.msft.net (207.46.129.3) 176.680 ms * 30 * * * the other sites stop at different routers btw. 3:37~> ping www.sun.com www.sun.com is alive 3:37~> ping www.microsoft.com no answer from microsoft.com earlier on www.zone.com wasnt resolving at all either. connections to european sites still seem ok though bit wierd..or perhaps Im just tired:) Cheers al
there were mentions of trojan attacks against sites which in turn were to be used to create distributed DOS attacks mentioned in security forums recently. Here is an analysis of the stacheldraht distributed DOS attack. Cheers Al
After getting interupted from a game of AOE...I noticed that www.zone.com wasnt responding..nor was microsoft.com..nor ibm.com...nor novell.com.
ok big deal so I kicked the network cable....
not so: traceroutes to these sites show that packets are getting close but then stopping: traceroute to microsoft.com (207.46.131.30), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 15 * icpmscomc7501-a0-00-1.cp.msft.net (207.46.129.3) 176.680 ms * 30 * * *
3:37~> ping www.sun.com www.sun.com is alive 3:37~> ping www.microsoft.com no answer from microsoft.com
earlier on www.zone.com wasnt resolving at all either.
The secondary school (high school to those of you in the US) required us to wear uniforms.
It was a bit annoying, but at least I never had to try to work out what I was going to wear for the day!
However one advantage to having uniforms is that kids can be freed from a lot of peer pressure, and parents freed from the expence of this pressure. My school had mostly working class students, many of the kids there could afford to wear brand X jeans, brand Y trainers, or Brand Z tops. Having a school uniform meant that none of this mattered.
The secondary school (high school to those of you in the US) required us to wear uniforms. It was a bit annoying, but at least I never had to try to work out what I was going to wear for the day! However one advantage to having uniforms is that kids can be freed from a lot of peer pressure, and parents freed from the expence of this pressure. My school had mostly working class students, many of the kids there could afford to wear brand X jeans, brand Y trainers, or Brand Z tops. Having a school uniform meant that none of this mattered. Al
When the pint is pulled propperly you fill all but the top inch and a half of the pint glass and then leave it sitting on the bar for a minute or two.
This gives you plenty of time to stare into the depths of the pint and observer the bubles rising and the blak stuff sinking and nice horizontal wavy patterns appear throughout the glass. And just as you think you have managed to see a 3D picture appearing of a lamppost, the barman picks it up and fills it and asks you for £2!
Course if you just pour it without waiting you miss this whole expierience!
Ah well its nearly lunchtime... I think Ill grab a few physicists out of the next building and carry out some experiments on this theory...
Al
note: any images seen depends greatly on the amount of guinness previously consumed.
I think it was more than just not on form. True Paxman's field is more for attacking politicaians, but he never really tried to get in on Gates. He seemd in awe of Bill and the on-queue laughter from the (hand picked) audience, does leave the suspicion of on-queue questions too. The Register have a pice on the interview btw; its critical of Paxman also. Ive seen Mr. Paxman ask very akward questions to politicians on Newsnight and not let them dodge the question, and to see him last night reduce the conversation to jokes.
Slashdot Mirror
If the Whats Up 2006 whetted your appetite for free downloadable astronomy guides you might like to take a look at some handbooks that the folks in the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies have been working on.
IFAS Observing handbooks.
At the moment there are 3 handbooks written, we are working on more.
1. The Novice Observing Challenge
Compiled by Seanie Morris this handbook provides the perfect introduction to the hobby and science of astronomy. Everything that a beginner, or nearly-new, astronomer needs to know is covered here with explanations and advice as well as practical observing projects.
2. The Binocular Observing Challenge
Subtitled "110 extraordinary objects to see through ordinary binoculars" this handbook, which was compiled by John Flannery, serves as an excellent incentive to dust off the binoculars and see what you can really see through them. John's handbook has diagrams and charts to help find the objects as well as detailed descriptions to help appreciate what you are seeing.
3. The Messier Objects Observing Challenge
Mick O'Connell has put together a lavish observing guide to the next level of observing. This book gives detailed background information on Charles Messier, his catalogue of objects, and the deep-sky as well as star-charts and guides to help navigate your way through the most famous list of deep-sky splendours.
ok that makes a little more sence. Though Solaris has always been available for x86 provided your hadware was compatible with the hardware compatability list. And Sun has been selling x86 kit since the LX50 came out over 2 years ago.
http://www.georgewbush.com/ is back working again from .ie anyway.
Has Sun learned from the demise of SGI workstations that relying on one processor architecture is harmful?d ocs/Workstation_Products/Workstations/index.html Suns workstation docs.
Huh? The ultra 5, 10, sunblade 1500 and 150 were single processor. The ultra 60, sunblade 2000, sunblade 2500 are dual.
Sun was never relying on one processor, there have always been dual options.
The W1100z is the single processor version of the W2100z described in the article.
http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/hardware/
This unique telescope will have twin 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) mirrors that sit on a single mount
Considering the ESO's VLT I dont understand why this is such a big deal.
The VLTI has four 8.2 meter telescopes supplemented with a further three 1 meter telescopes. All with adaptive optics, can be used as an interferometer etc.
http://www.eso.org/projects/vlt/VLT http://www.eso.org/projects/vlti/VLTI
Now if only the Irish government would sign up to the ESO
In the US you need to win states, then each state has a number of votes in the electoral college right? So how can Nader ever hope to get anywhere if he has to top the poll everywhere? Yes ok hes making a point by standing, but is he not damaging Kerry in the process, someone who from what I have read about him he has more in common with?
If the system was based purely on the number of votes cast all over the country, none of this electoral college, and if PR/transferable voting was used then I could understand his candidacy, and there would probably be plenty of other candidates too. But with the current system if you are not the GOP or Democrat candidate you don't stand a chance. And with the system set up in their favour I can't see electoral reform coming.
The other thing that I don't get with the electoral college system is that it is possible for a candidate to get more votes than the other guy but still loose due to what states the votes came from and how they get allocated. (please dont mention the Al Gore case again!). Do those of you in the US think the electoral college is a fair system?
The Sony-Ericsson K700i can do Chinese input.
Mine was bought in Hong Kong, so you may need to get the store to install the Hong Kong firmware (R2A041 prgCXC 125882_HONG_KONG_C). Oh, and yes it can do English too.
You use only 8 keys (6 numbers, left, right) to enter the characters, as it uses T9 predictive texting. Basically you enter the strokes as you would write them.
I dont think the folks at sparc.org can be considered a niche either.
Yea, us amateurs really love it too... some discussion, and a picture from my back garden about 10 miles away at the Irish federation of astronomical societies forumhttp://www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopi c.php?t=707
And just when we were starting to make progress on light pollution... At least this is only going to be there for a couple of weeks.
Cheers,
~Al
Irish Light Pollution Awareness Campaign
www.irishastronomy.org/ilpac
Also, LEDs are becoming very usefull light sources in torches, automotive (brake)lights, traffic signals etc. etc.
Unfortunately this could start to become a problem for thouse of us trying to do something about light pollution also. Especially if and when LED's can be used for street and security lighting.
However as with most forms of light pollution it will depend on how they are applied. Plastering them all over the side of a building = bad. Directing/shielding them so that no light can spill above the horizon = good.
Cheers,
~Al
--
Deputy Chairperson, Irish Light pollution Awareness Campaign
www.irishastronomy.org/ilpac www.darksky.org
Course this bug woudld have been fixed ages ago if it was Open Sourced.
~Al
Hi,
Recently I did a project involving discrete event simulation.
A certain task took 11.827 second on a PIII 500Mhz system running linux, and 16.588 on a SPARCII at 300Mhz. The equivalent time for a 500Mhz SPARC would be 9.953 seconds (I think, just scribbled out the calculation now!).
This gives the SPARC the edge, but there are other factors like the OS to consider. Both machines had 256Mb memory and used gcc to compile.
However if cost is an issue, this will give the x86 chips an advantage. Depends on who is paying really!
Then you have to look at whether you are writing your own code in say MPI to work over a cluster of machines or something to work on a highly SMP machine, like an SGI or high end SUN box. It very much depends on what you plan on using it for; high end maths physics applications - get a nice sun or sgi box if you have the budget!; if you dont have the budget or dont need 'that' kind of high end then a PC will do. And im sure there are plenty of people willing to carry out the which processor is better argument here!
Cheers
~Al
(yes I know what the preview button is for!)
:)
Hi,
After getting interupted from a game of AOE...I noticed that www.zone.com wasnt responding..nor was microsoft.com..nor ibm.com...nor novell.com.
ok big deal so I kicked the network cable....
not so:
traceroutes to these sites show that packets are getting close but then stopping:
traceroute to microsoft.com (207.46.131.30), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
15 * icpmscomc7501-a0-00-1.cp.msft.net (207.46.129.3) 176.680 ms *
30 * * *
the other sites stop at different routers btw.
3:37~> ping www.sun.com
www.sun.com is alive
3:37~> ping www.microsoft.com
no answer from microsoft.com
earlier on www.zone.com wasnt resolving at all either.
connections to european sites still seem ok though
bit wierd..or perhaps Im just tired
Cheers
al
Hi, After getting interupted from a game of AOE...I noticed that www.zone.com wasnt responding..nor was microsoft.com..nor ibm.com...nor novell.com. ok big deal so I kicked the network cable.... not so: traceroutes to these sites show that packets are getting close but then stopping: traceroute to microsoft.com (207.46.131.30), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 15 * icpmscomc7501-a0-00-1.cp.msft.net (207.46.129.3) 176.680 ms * 30 * * * the other sites stop at different routers btw. 3:37~> ping www.sun.com www.sun.com is alive 3:37~> ping www.microsoft.com no answer from microsoft.com earlier on www.zone.com wasnt resolving at all either. connections to european sites still seem ok though bit wierd..or perhaps Im just tired :) Cheers al
there were mentions of trojan attacks against sites which in turn were to be used to create distributed DOS attacks mentioned in security forums recently.
Here is an analysis of the stacheldraht distributed DOS attack.
Cheers
Al
Hi,
:)
After getting interupted from a game of AOE...I noticed that www.zone.com wasnt responding..nor was microsoft.com..nor ibm.com...nor novell.com.
ok big deal so I kicked the network cable....
not so:
traceroutes to these sites show that packets are getting close but then stopping:
traceroute to microsoft.com (207.46.131.30), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
15 * icpmscomc7501-a0-00-1.cp.msft.net (207.46.129.3) 176.680 ms *
30 * * *
3:37~> ping www.sun.com
www.sun.com is alive
3:37~> ping www.microsoft.com
no answer from microsoft.com
earlier on www.zone.com wasnt resolving at all either.
bit wierd..or perhaps Im just tired
Cheers
al
The secondary school (high school to those of you in the US) required us to wear uniforms.
It was a bit annoying, but at least I never had to try to work out what I was going to wear for the day!
However one advantage to having uniforms is that kids can be freed from a lot of peer pressure, and parents freed from the expence of this pressure.
My school had mostly working class students, many of the kids there could afford to wear brand X jeans, brand Y trainers, or Brand Z tops. Having a school uniform meant that none of this mattered.
Al
The secondary school (high school to those of you in the US) required us to wear uniforms. It was a bit annoying, but at least I never had to try to work out what I was going to wear for the day! However one advantage to having uniforms is that kids can be freed from a lot of peer pressure, and parents freed from the expence of this pressure. My school had mostly working class students, many of the kids there could afford to wear brand X jeans, brand Y trainers, or Brand Z tops. Having a school uniform meant that none of this mattered. Al
Of course Bubbles are facinating in Guinness!
When the pint is pulled propperly you fill all but the top inch and a half of the pint glass and then leave it sitting on the bar for a minute or two.
This gives you plenty of time to stare into the depths of the pint and observer the bubles rising and the blak stuff sinking and nice horizontal wavy patterns appear throughout the glass.
And just as you think you have managed to see a 3D picture appearing of a lamppost, the barman picks it up and fills it and asks you for £2!
Course if you just pour it without waiting you miss this whole expierience!
Ah well its nearly lunchtime... I think Ill grab a few physicists out of the next building and carry out some experiments on this theory...
Al
note: any images seen depends greatly on the amount of guinness previously consumed.
Another way in 6:
:)
1. e4 f6
2. Nf3 Kf7
3. Nh4 Qe8
4. Qg4 a6
5. Ng6 a5
6. NH8#
ok black needs to be really stupid but....
now more coffee to see if I can get it in 5
Al
I think it was more than just not on form. True Paxman's field is more for attacking politicaians, but he never really tried to get in on Gates. He seemd in awe of Bill and the on-queue laughter from the (hand picked) audience, does leave the suspicion of on-queue questions too. The Register have a pice on the interview btw; its critical of Paxman also. Ive seen Mr. Paxman ask very akward questions to politicians on Newsnight and not let them dodge the question, and to see him last night reduce the conversation to jokes.