Manterre
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Manterre" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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09:45 pm
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The Rings in Spring, and Other Things
( pretty picture of Saturn and moons (see 4th bullet) )
ETA (20 Mar): Added another pic in bullet 2.
Current Music: The Megas - The Annihilation of Monsteropolis
Tags: planetary news, pretty pictures
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12:13 am
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A question for the masses...
For the Cosmic Encounter fans out in cyberland:
I have cobbled together a Mayfair version of Cosmic Encounter out of Simply Cosmic (which has only a subset of the original Mayfair CE powers), the expansion More Cosmic Encounter, and "Cosmic Parts" (two more hexes and some blank cards). I am missing some of the original CE powers, but have replaced most of them with printouts and custom Flare cards.
However, I am now out of blank cards. I want to add more powers (both some of the originals and some interesting new powers), but they need Flares. I can't find more blank cards online, so it looks like my only other option would be to have cards redirect to a cheat sheet... and that would clue the other players in regarding the cards in your hand.
Any suggestions?
(Or, anyone know where I can get some more blanks?)
Current Mood:  powerless
Current Music: The Megas - Man on Fire
Tags: requests
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08:17 pm
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the third-party vote in toss-up states
...or, which states you may want to glare at.
Via the election results over at The Green Papers, I have determined that in five places, the (local) winner for President did so with less than 50% of the vote. In other words, if enough of the third-party voters preferred the other candidate, they could've altered the result if they'd voted for him.
Here the locations are (color-coded by who won), along with the percentage of the third-party vote the opponent would have needed to steal victory away:
- Indiana (89%)
- Montana (78%)
- North Carolina (55%)
- Omaha [NE-2] (44%)
- Missouri (16%)
EDIT: Looks like I did my math wrong the first time, seeing how many additional votes were needed to bring the runner-up to 50% of the total vote, instead of simply enabling him to outperform his opponent. The above percentages have been corrected.
The Bob Barr vote could've given McCain the win in Indiana and North Carolina, but McCain couldn't have won Omaha without some Nader or McKinney votes as well.
The Nader vote could've given Obama Missouri, but Obama would have also needed the Ron Paul votes to take Montana.
However, these toss-uppy states (and district) account for 41 electoral votes--less than Obama's margin of victory--and thus changing them would not have affected the outcome of the overall election.
Current Mood:  calculating
Current Music: The Megas - The Quick & The Blue
Tags: politics, statistics
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09:52 pm
[Link] | My blue marker is drying out. :(
Tags: politics
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08:06 pm
[Link] | An online color quiz I've been meaning to link to for a while:
100 Hue Test
How good is your perception of color?
( how I did, and thoughts on the test )
Current Mood:  artistic
Current Music: The Megas - The Quick & the Blue
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07:12 pm
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Haumea
A fifth dwarf planet has now been recognized: Haumea. Another Kuiper Belt object, Haumea (neé 2003 EL61) is of similar size and location to recent inductee Makemake.
( more about Haumea )
Current Music: Scaredism - Illusion of Gaia - Will is the Lord OC ReMix
Tags: planetary news, planetary nomenclature
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10:18 pm
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Mike Brown and Makemake
First, some news. Somewhat obscure news, as I haven't seen the story at any major news outlets*. The number of dwarf planets in the Solar System has increased to four. The list now consists of Ceres, Pluto, Eris, and Makemake. It wasn't that a new body was recently discovered; Makemake (née 2005 FY9) was discovered over three years ago. Earlier it wasn't known if it met the qualifications to be considered a dwarf planet, but now its application has been accepted, so to speak.
It's kinda neat how symmetric the Asteroid and Kuiper Belts are. If we look at the Asteroid Belt, the largest member is the dwarf planet Ceres. Vying for the #2 spot are Pallas and Vesta, each about a quarter Ceres' mass. (Vesta is a little more massive, but Pallas may be slightly larger in size.) The situation is similar in the Kuiper Belt: #2 and #3, Makemake and fellow applicant 2003 EL61, are each about 30% of Pluto's mass. (More like 28% if you include Charon.)
But one thing I would like to do is offer praise to Mike Brown, leader of the team that discovered Makemake (and numerous other transneptunian objects), who also came up with the name. As an unhealthy fan of planetary nomenclature, I am very pleased that he took the trouble to come up with an appellation that seems fitting for the object, instead of drawing a random mythological name from a hat. The story behind naming Makemake, which I won't spoil, is on his blog here.
* Except Wikipedia. Their front-page news blurbs are excellent at catching major stories that I don't hear about on CNN, the BBC, or elsewhere.
ETA: Well whaddyaknow, it's also tomorrow's APOD. (The one for 16 Jul 2008.)
Tags: astronomy, planetary nomenclature
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12:51 pm
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Ticket Art
Some pre-movie ticket stub art, from a earlier this week:
( Read more... )
Current Mood: ironic
Current Music: still nothing - see 20 Aug.
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10:31 pm
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Electomap
If anyone's interested in a more convenient map of the Democratic primaries' pledged delegate results, I whipped this up. And I'll be trying to keep it current as new results come in.
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08:36 pm
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MESSENGER at Mercury
Prior to this week, the only space probe to visit Mercury was Mariner 10, which conducted three flybys during 1974-1975. It managed to map out most of one hemisphere of the planet. But this changed with MESSENGER, which flew by on Monday. MESSENGER will eventually be a Mercury orbiter, mapping the entire planet. But getting there is tricky: the fuel-conserving itinerary involved a flyby of Earth and two flybys of Venus. Monday's Mercury flyby was the first of three such flybys (the other two being on 2008-OCT-06 and 2009-SEP-29) before orbit insertion in March 2011.
Images have been slowly trickling in, and can be seen here.
At first glance, Mercury greatly resembles the far side of the Moon.
Some features to look for as more Mercury images come in:- Large impact basins like Caloris Basin, shown here as a broad lighter region in the upper left.
- Flatter topography than on the Moon - partly due to the larger scale, partly due to surface gravity that is twice lunar.
- Scarps like on the left side of this image, which seem to be ridges and furrows in Mercury's crust that formed after some of the craters. They are thought to be a result of Mercury cooling down since its early days, causing its core to shrink somewhat and its crust to get all wrinkly.
- Craters with central rings instead of central peaks, like Vivaldi (at 2:00 in the image). You don't see these too often on the Moon, but they have been seen on Mars.
And now the planet that has been encountered least recently is Uranus, whose only visit was when Voyager 2 flew past in 1986. :(
Current Music: I really should get a CD of Holst.
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12:28 am
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voting strategy
I am thankful to the B- and C-list Democratic candidates for bowing out of the primaries this early. It makes my voting easier. Now I don't have to decide between voting practically, or throwing my vote away on a choice I prefer (with the possible hope of their 0.000001% greater support somehow Sending a Message).
I am excited by what seems to be a loophole in New Mexico's primaries. The state will have a Democratic caucus (which here seems to be essentially just a primary) on Crazy Tuesday. However, on the Republican side New Mexico is tied with South Dakota for last place - holding a primary on June 3.
Now the rules say I must be registered with a party in order to vote in their primary/caucus, and said registration must be enacted at least one month prior to the event in question. However, I haven't found anything that says I cannot switch alignment in order to vote in both. And I'll probably switch again back to "no party" afterwards to cut down on phone calls and junk mail.
I also won't have to worry about whether I should throw my Republican primary vote away because by then, it will already be thrown away.
EDIT: (25 May 2008)
I decided a while back that I wouldn't go with the crazy plan after all. Back when Michigan was considering a re-vote, one of the pressing concerns seemed to be that it would be a Bad Thing if people who voted in the Republican primary (even if registered Democrat) were allowed to vote in the Democratic re-primary. So it seems that there is at least a strong unwritten rule stating that voting in both is verboten. I'll be playing it safe (and lazy) by not voting in the NM Republican primary after all. I missed the deadline to switch parties for this anyway.
Current Mood: calculating
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06:01 pm
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Equinox!
Today was equinox for the planet Uranus.
As we know, the seasons are due to a planet's axial tilt. The more this axis is tilted with respect to the planet's orbit, the more extreme variation in insolation pattern throughout the year. Uranus is a particularly interesting case in this regard because its axial tilt is nearly 90º - the only planet whose axis is angled more than 30º from vertical.
When Voyager 2 flew by in January 1986, Uranus was a few months away from solstice. The southern hemisphere was in nearly complete daylight, and the northern hemisphere was mostly in darkness. Practically no day/night variation whatsoever. The atmosphere appeared very quiescent, with only a few cloud features barely visible.
Now the Sun is shining directly on Uranus' equator, and it is behaving like a normal giant planet again. There is day and night, and there are numerous bright cloud features visible. The seasons have changed dramatically.
Unfortunately, Uranus' 84-year orbital period makes studying the seasons difficult. Only about 2.7 Uranian years have elapsed since the planet's discovery in 1781. The hemisphere viewed by Voyager 2 will experience winter solstice in the year 2028, and vernal equinox in 2049.
Currently, I and another grad student here at NMSU are studying Uranus' atmosphere and the changes being wrought therein.
Pics:
Uranus, 2001-2007, in the K band
Uranus' rings seen edge-on
Changes in Uranus' atmosphere, 1994-1998
Current Mood:  celebratory
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06:17 pm
[Link] | CICLOPS - the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS - has put out a game in which you can go golfing on Saturn's moons.
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10:07 pm
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lack of foresight
Attention all writers of fiction and other creative consultants:
The name Prometheus has in recent times been overused as a mythological name (or code name) for various characters, vehicles, research projects, and other persons or things. Whereas once the name was powerfully symbolic, it is now beginning to reek of half-hearted attempts at profundity. As a result, this name is being forcibly retired until further notice. From this point forward, all uses of the name Prometheus for new appellations are now forbidden.
If a writer has carefully considered the subject to be named and still feels that, out of a wealth of available mythological names, Prometheus is by far the most fitting, an application to use the name may be submitted to the proper authorities for consideration.
Unauthorized use of Prometheus as an appellation will be punished by chaining the any offenders to a mountain to have their livers eaten by an eagle for all eternity.
----- THE MANAGEMENT.
Current Mood:  annoyed
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01:22 am
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Random angry rant
The problem with having two roommates is that the larger apartment becomes a popular location for parties and such. And with the crowd here, it degenerates into everyone being very drunk, very loud, and vile late into the night. And I just want to go to sleep.
Every time this happens lately, I reiterate my vow to myself. Once I'm done with my PhD. and I'm outta here, I will not have roommates at my next residence. No matter how cost-effective it seems.
Current Mood: cranky
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10:54 pm
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Comet Holmes makes an amazing appearance
Yesterday, the periodic comet 17P/Holmes was at its typical magnitude 17 - about 25,000 times too faint to see with the naked eye. But within 24 hours, it got about half a million times brighter, and is now around magnitude 2.8. What happened? Did it break apart a little? Did a new jet form on its surface? Unknown at present. The last time it got this bright was in 1892, when it was first discovered.
I just got back from looking at it at the on-campus observatory, where it appeared in the telescope as a large bright round blob. No tails or anything yet.
The comet is at present bright enough to see with the naked eye, and is expected to slowly get fainter over the next few weeks. Currently, to the naked eye it simply looks like a moderately-bright star.
( how to find it )
Relevant links:
Bad Astronomy Blog
The Cosmic Mirror
Cometography
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10:31 am
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Real World events, for a change
I think I've become something of a political junkie.
Since the 2004 presidential election felt to me like voting for the lesser of two evils, I decided to get more involved in the primaries this time around. I've been trying to look at the candidates on both sides, since that might influence which primary I decide to vote in. And it turns out that my top picks from both sides are in the B- and C-lists. So now I'm trying to devote special attention to the A-list candidates as well.
I've been informing myself by trying to watch all of the debates. However, it occurs to me that many people out there consider themselves informed, yet have acquired their info through other means. So, I ask to you readers, what have you been doing?
(I ask in the guise of being even better informed, but it's probably mainly that I have become a political junkie.)
(I may post my findings in about a month or so, after I've better formed my opinions on everybody.)
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07:01 pm
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Cassini visits Iapetus
Saturn's outermost large moon, Iapetus, is a rather strange and interesting moon. (Although given the other satellites, this seems to be similar to describing a particular cloud as "rather white and fluffy".)
Iapetus' most distinguishing characteristic is that its surface is divided into two regions with vastly different colors: one half is as white as snow, while the other is as dark as asphalt. The two halves go together like the two halves of a baseball: as Iapetus orbits around Saturn, its leading side is the dark half (in a region extending east-west), while its trailing side is the bright half (extending north-south). This extreme contrast resulted in puzzlement among 17th-century astronomers, since Iapetus was bright enough to see in a telescope on one side of Saturn, but not the other. It was Giovanni Cassini who finally figured out that Iapetus must be really dark on one side.
Hundreds of years later, the space probe bearing Cassini's name has gotten a much closer look at Iapetus. It has flown by a few times already, but on September 10, it flew by at the closest distance yet: just 1000 miles above the surface. An awesome global mosaic of the snapshots from this visit can be seen here. You can also read about the flyby results here.
Iapetus is also noteworthy among science fiction readers, as the site of the monolith in the novel version of 2001: A Space Odyssey. So in honor of Cassini's Iapetus flyby, a video greeting from Arthur C. Clarke is up on the Cassini homepage.
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02:47 am
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Elemental abundances
...in my playlist:- Hydrogen: 1
- Carbon:
0 1
- Oxygen: 1
- Neon:
3 4
- Nickel:
0 1
- Silver:
4 6
- Gold: 7
Huh. I was expecting more.
There do seem to be one or two surprising omissions.
20 Aug 2007: edited in light of comments below.
Current Location: 20 miles from Radium Springs
Current Mood:  inquisitive
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05:52 pm
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Look! Up in the Sky!
A handful of interesting night-sky events are coming up.- The Perseid meteor shower will peak at the end of this weekend, on the night of the 12th/13th. The Perseids are one of the more consistently good showers each year. And this time, there's the added benefit of a new moon, making for darker skies. You can read more about the event here and here.
- There will be a lunar eclipse early in the morning on Wednesday, August 29 (i.e., on the night of the 28th/29th). For most North American viewers, the moon will set (and the sun will rise) before the eclipse finishes, but the farther west you are, the more you'll be able to see. More info here and here.
- And lastly, a less popular meteor shower may be more spectacular than normal this year. The Aurigid meteor shower is expected to peak on the morning of Saturday, September 1 (i.e., the night of the 31st/1st). While the Aurigids are normally one of the more minor showers each year, this year some are predicting it will be a meteor storm. Meteor showers are caused by the Earth passing through (or near) the trails of debris left behind by comets in their orbits. And this year, due to various perturbations on Earth's orbit, we will be passing right through the middle of the debris trail left by comet Kiess instead of grazing it. There might be a couple-hour period where the meteor rate will increase dramatically. More info here and here.
Current Location: darker skies than LA and LV
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