April 2010
1 post
Twitter
I’ve “found” twitter. So dont expect many more posts in the near future!
February 2010
2 posts
Virtual Revolution #2
Enjoying the second episode of Virtual Revolution. Lots of views on politics and censorship. Very interesting and very thought provoking. Gives me great faith in the future and a great curiosity on what will await my children in the coming decades. An end to party politics? An end to censorship? A single global community? Lets hope so.
Don't Grow Old (Horizon - BBC2) →
Very interesting episode of Horizon last night talking about ageing. I was expecting another re-hash of the Aubry de Gray nonsense but was surprised by new findings and actual products for sale. We certainly live in interesting times and I’m sure Ray Kurzweil is taking notes. Lots of potential “bridge” technologies on offer at the moment. Damn expensive though at £25,000 per...
January 2010
13 posts
The Virtual Revolution - BBC2
Just watching “The Virtual Revolution” on BBC2, excellent program about the birth and meaning of the Web. Looking forward to the next 3 episodes.
Mars and Moon conjunction
Last night was an very clear (and very cold!) night. The moon was full and Mars very bright. I didn’t get a chance to get the ‘scope out but the conjunction looked great. I can imagine there would be lots of great photos on the forums. Makes me wish we had more clear nights!
ST80 vs ST102
I recently wanted to purchase an ST80 or an ST102. I was undecided which to purchase and a wanted advert for an ST80 turned up 2 people wanting to sell me an ST80 AND an ST102. In such a pickle I decided to buy both so I could compare and then sell the one I liked least. I thought I’d share my findings here for those interested.
The ST80 is an 80mm f/5 (400mm) OTA and the ST102 is 102mm...
Lidl 10x50 Binoculars
I stood in a QUEUE outside Lidl this morning at 8am to get my grubby hands on a pair of the 10x50’s that they are selling for £9.99. I missed out last time they were selling these so made sure that I got a pair this time round! They are also selling a 90mm Spotting ‘scope for £99 but whilst I did consider that too, decided against it as it’s not ideal for astro work. Although i...
Meade 12" Lightbridge
Well my 12” Lightbridge arrived today thanks to Steve at First Light Optics. The ‘scope arrived in 2 large boxes, one for the IKEA style base and one for the OTA. The boxes were single skinned which is a shame as it wouldn’t have cost much more to double skin the boxes and even though my Lightbridge wasn’t mishandled and arrived intact, I can imagine others being easily...
Celestron Nexstar 6E
Well after much soul searching (and wallet checking) I finally made a decision on purchasing a new telescope. I was dead set on the HEQ5 Pro with a C8 OTA, but finally decided against this due to portability issues (and lack of funds!).
That left a fork mount. The CPC800 seemed favourite but I just can’t justify the near £2000 price tag. The alternative was the 8SE however I had some concerns...
Skywatcher ED100
Well I received my skywatcher ED100 today. I brought it second hand (3rd? 4th?) from astro buy/sell for £500. This seems expensive but it’s the full kit with metal case, eyepieces, finder, diagonal and rings. Initial inspection was good with build quality about average. No real niggles although the dew shield squeeked something terrible when I removed it to inspect the lens cell! The...
Ambermile AzTech Mount
I have been one of the lucky first owners of the new Ambermile Aztech mount my version of which arrived by courier first thing this morning. I’ve spent the last hour putting the mount together and gaining first impressions of the thing. The mount is very similar in design to others, including the Williams Optics EZ-Touch, the Teleoptic Giro II and the Bray Tablet. However the load capacity...
iPad - want one! →
Why am I washing my rubbish?
Just that really. Recycling shouldn’t involve washing stuff you would normally throw away. Fin
Weekend? What weekend?
I swear the weekends get shorter and shorter. I’m not sure if this is due to getting older, having kids, or both but I would much rather work for 2 days and take 5 days off! I’ve checked my lottery ticket and I didn’t win £26 million this week :(
Ebook Readers - redux
Well I finally caved over Christmas and purchased myself a Sony PRS-300. I have to say, I was dubious at first, but after using it for about two weeks I’ve already read about 3 novels and a number of short stories on the device so have a good feel for it.
I have to say it’s changed the way I read books. No mean feat.
First it’s a near instant download meaning no waiting for the...
Back to work and the "big freeze"
Well, I’m well and truly back to work now. Thursday and over the hump of the first week back after a break. Bloody cold though. My office has been at 6 degrees C most of the week… brrrrrrrr
That being said, it IS winter. It amazes me that the whole of the UK seems in shock that it’s cold… DURING WINTER! Who would have thought it possible?
Just wait till the conveyor stops...
December 2009
22 posts
Seasons Greetings
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year etc
Ice and snow... and ice.
Well due to the recent inclement weather I managed to slip on black ice and fall badly on my left ankle. When I hit the floor I had some nice white flashes and nausea, leading me to believe I had broken something.
As it turns out my ankle was simply sprained, (it has now gone a rather fetching shade of black and purple). I was surprised at the time though as a few bystanders rushed to assist me...
Service
Had a very odd and pleasantly surprising day today.
First I had to arrange a same day courier delivery at work and received excellent service from TNT “Special Services”. The man at the end of the phone actually rang me back when he said he would and kept in contact throughout the delivery. Amazing.
Second I had to sort out my pension with Standard Life. Rang them up and initially...
Waterworld found →
Liquid water? On a planet? Fairly nearby? Wow. I mean, really…. wow. This means that there is a very high chance of finding earth-like worlds out there. Infact this one was found fairly easily, which means either they were very lucky or these things are super common. Now all we need is FTL to get us there!
Dark Matter found? →
More science wow. We may have directly witnessed WIMP’s for the first time. Half a mile beneath the crust and wearing a boiler suit may be worth it for a nobel prize?
Sunlight Glint Confirms Liquid in Titan Lake Zone →
Wow. A blury photo, but this shows a methane lake on Titan.
“Rejection of Commercialism, what a great idea.
Christmas is about being with...”
– Present Sense: village group exports recycled gift idea worldwide | Life and style | guardian.co.uk
Charles Stross: Designing society for posterity →
Charlie Stross talking about designing a social fabric to last 1000 years.
Far left politics and post scarcity idealism
Dont ask…. it’s been a long night and an odd journey through wikipedia. No real conclusion but I dont agree with enough of the UK Respect Party’s manifesto to stump up the £10 joining fee. Perhaps in another 10 years the Parpolity may be a little closer. Although by then the capitalists will be moving onto the moon and asteroid belt and from there where does it end? Zero...
Remember Remember...
…the annual ”lets turn the UK into a war zone” night! My garden is full of rocket sticks, my dogs are shaking in the corner, my 3 year old daughter has just about stopped crying and I need to go and check all my windows for cracks. Yes, another guy falkes night successfully survived! I swear the noise and duration gets louder and longer each and every year. I thought we were in...
Google Chrome OS
Well there was a recent flurry of activity as google released more information about it’s new operating system “Chrome OS”. Basically this “OS” is simply a web browser that is installed on the bare metal with the minimum amount of guff required for networking and drivers. At first I thought “what a load of rubbish, it will never work!” but after thinking...
eBook readers
I’m currently looking at purchasing an ebook reader. After a recent visit to my mothers I’ve re-acquired hundreds upon hundreds of books put into “storage” I had forgotten about, and in fact some of which I have re-purchased not realising I had already purchased books by specific authors I like. After trying to work out WHERE to store all these books (I already have around...
Nuclear batteries
I came across an article on the BBC News website detailing the introduction of tiny nuclear batteries (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8297934.stm) which got me to thinking how long it would before these would be found in mobile phones and laptops. I can just see Dell’s new unique selling point (after wireless charging) being a battery life of 5 years. I know I would buy one…...
Early Mornings
Well, I was politely woken this morning by my daughter who is nearly 3. She wanted to get up to watch the television. We came downstairs and I left the missus in bed snoring. I’ve come to the conclusion that early mornings are not so bad as long as you don’t mind being in bed at 9pm! We probably have saved a fortune on electricity as it’s rare we need to turn the lights on! This...
Lunatic
I spent an enjoyable hour or 2 tonight with my old friend the moon. Using my ED80 on a vixen portamount and a selection of Televue plossl’s I had forgotten how simple stargazing (or rather moon gazing) can still put a smile on my face. Roll on the dark nights even if the weather is a little nippier now. Global warming has a lot to answer for, but warm nights are not one of them! Brrrrrrr. I...
Astronomy
I’ve added an astronomy section and added a few pages that were originally posts on forums regarding equipment I’d purchased. I’ll add more as and when I have the cash! In the mean time feel free to ask me a question using the comments
Ideas
Well, I’ve been playing with freemind (http://freemind.sourceforge.net) which is an open source implementation of mind mapping, a way of “brainstorming” ideas. It’s surprisingly good to get thoughts and ideas down on “paper” and i recommend it to anyone used to doodling on paper and postit notes to collect ideas. Anyway, i’ve used the software to come up...
Once more into the breach dear friend
I’ve moved my journal to tumblr. Seemed a lot easier to use than google sites given the content.
I’ll cut n paste my posts so far but note the time stamps will be wrong…
