http://roderickmann.org/log/ Plus: occasional raves, and hopefully, some useful info]]> en-us rmann@latencyzero.com Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:45:57 -0800 http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2010/01/how_not_to_seek.html I just got this email from someone looking for work. This is reminiscent of "please send me the codes." LinkedIn naiteek sangani has indicated you are a Friend: Hi Rick, I am a recent graduate from Columbia University and am... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2010/01/no_i_dont_want.html For the last several months, I've been subject to a dramatic increase in the number of cold calls from companies suggesting I invest in oil fields, precious metals, or some security or another. Lately, I've been receiving a call or... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/12/jumping_into_as.html Before you take anything in this post too seriously and drop $5000 (or more) on astronomy gear, know that I have yet to take a really good picture of anything. Partly, this is because I don't have all the stuff... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/12/i_love_summer.html A graph I made of sunrise and sunset times on the first of each month for Santa Clara, CA. Since today is the Winter Solstice, it seemed appropriate to look forward to the lovely, longer days. These are sunrise &... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/11/funniest_twitte.html This just happened a few minutes ago. I was watching the episode of Futurama where Fry stops by the First Amalgamated Church looking for a way to find his lost friend Bender. He sits down with Father Changstein-El-Gamal. I thought... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/10/red_light_strea.html I'm sitting at my desk in my home office, and I noticed strange red light coming in through the slats of the Venetian blind on the window. It looked fairly intense, as if coming from a good sunset. But it... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/09/tracking_antenn.html This weekend I'm working on a tracking antenna mount that we'll be using for our UAV and balloon tests in the next few weeks (months?). Block diagram: Here's what's inside. A MakeController and an alt-az gimbal mount that I don't... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/09/launching_a_bal.html I've seen a lot of reports lately of recent and past amateur balloon launches. People have been launching sounding balloons with payloads containing GPS and cameras, and have been very successful. I've wanted to do this for some time, and... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/09/missionclock_sa.html MissionClock has been in the iTunes App Store for a few weeks now, and I thought I'd post some sales information. The chart below shows the relative number of unit sales per day from July 30, 2009 to September 10,... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/08/watching_nasa_o.html UPDATED: 2009-10-19 I'm not sure for how long this little tip will work. I figure when Akamai & Apple catch on to the fact that people are watching a stream they intended for the iPhone, they'll put a stop to... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/08/apple_suppresse.html I went to the Apple store a couple weeks back, intent on buying the lovely new 24" Cinema Display. When I got there, I learned that it wouldn't work with my previous-generation MacBook Pro, and that there was no way... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/07/my_comments_on.html I wasn't sure the crude NASA feedback website reliably submitted my comments, so here they are again. These are my comments on Exploration Beyond LEO: Process and Progress (pdf, 144k) We lack the political and public will to see through... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/07/making_dots.html I am by no means a Photoshop expert, so there doubtless better ways to do this. With that disclaimer out of the way, hopefully this will help someone. Yesterday I needed a nice-looking dot, like the one next to unread... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/06/stream_overload.html I'm sitting here suddenly overwhelmed at the utter coolness of what I'm doing. I'm sitting at my desk in my home office, "working from home," as NASA's LRO/LCROSS mission prepares for launch in a few hours. In front of me... http://roderickmann.org/log/archives/2009/05/bird_races.html Last night I saw the most extraordinary thing. The shuttle bus to the Cairns Night Zoo stopped to pick up another passenger in the middle of the Cairns downtown area. A small parakeet, in flocks numbering in the thousands, was...