Rings
Before, during, and after shots (and a whole bunch more) from a day spent making wedding rings.
My Second Time
I was also recently asked why I want to go to Antarctica. Lots of reasons, but I’m reminded of the following semi-famous quotation, which so far holds true for my case.
First time for the adventure.
Second time for the money.
Third time because you don’t fit in anywhere else.
Not Enough Entropy
The web server has been having some issues. I’m not 100% sure, but I think I tracked it down to a lack of entropy. /dev/random was empty so various processes were hanging. I think I fixed it.
Anyway, I’m really just writing this to check that my post-via-email setup is working. Preparing for the trip, only 15 days to go…
Free Online Climate Textbook
The first version of the online textbook, “Introduction to Climate Dynamics and Climate Modelling,” by H. Goosse, P.Y. Barriat, W. Lefebvre, M.F. Loutre, and V. Zunz, and published by the Universite Catholique de Louvain is now available.
http://www.climate.be/textbook
The reader should be able to understand the dominant causes of past climate change and to critically evaluate the projections of climate change over the next centuries or millennia. The book is also intended to give the student the bases to understand how climate models are built and how they could be used to make quantitative estimates of climate variability and climate change, as well as to illustrate how models could be used to understand the most important concepts of climate science.
Climate Lawsuits
According to The Guardian, the scientific basis for climate lawsuits has been established.
It should be interesting to see what type of suits get filed, both legitimate and silly, and the type of payouts involved. Maybe some of the money could even go to those affected, or to solving the problem, rather than the lawyers…
New York City is Leaking
From the NYT:
New York City is leaking some 20 million gallons a day. To fix it, the city has enlisted six deep-sea divers who are living for more than a month in a sealed 24-foot tubular pressurized tank complete with showers, a television and a Nerf basketball hoop, breathing air that is 97.5 percent helium and 2.5 percent oxygen, so their high-pitched squeals are all but unintelligible.
In the 1820s, New Yorkers used an average of 12 gallons of water a day. Individual water use peaked in the 1980s, at more than 200 gallons. Through conservation, technology like low-flush toilets and repairs to the city’s leaky pipes, consumption is now about 150 gallons a day per person.
Thanks to Apollo18 for linking to the article.
How do I use less water? Take shorter showers. Low flow shower head. Don’t flush urine. Brick or two in the back of the toilet. I haven’t timed it but it takes about 200 to 300 seconds to get hot water up 6 flights. I capture some of the cold water to give the plants. Do dishes soon after showering so that the water is already hot.
Low Bandwidth Graphics
As I’ve said before I will have limited bandwidth from the boat. I’d like to send not only text but images of the boat, icebergs, Antarctic wildlife, and anything else worth photographing, so I’ve been experimenting with ways of getting images off the ship. Based on the results below, I think I’ll stick to text descriptions rather than text graphics, and perhaps a very low quality (but decently sized) image every once in a while.
Here is a an image of the boat. This image is 77K, which would use 3 days of bandwidth quota to transmit:
The Nathaniel B. Palmer. Image courtesy of NSF. Image size is 77kb
If I shrink the image to 25k, or one day of bandwidth, it is this size
Nathaniel B. Palmer. Same image as above but resized so that it is 25 kilobytes in size, or 1 days bandwidth quota from the ship.
Or I can reduce quality rather that size, in which case it looks like this. The only real difference appears in the now-blurry name of the boat:
Nathaniel B. Palmer. Same image as above but quality reduced so that it is 25 kilobytes, or 1 days of bandwidth quota.
However, if I convert it to ASCII art, it looks like this, and takes up a mere 1.6k. I could transmit 15 of these a day before I reach my quota.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-------------------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~--------------------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~-~---------------------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~-----------------------~&---------------------------~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~--------------------------++---..-----.-----------------~~~~~~~ ~~--~-----------------+&-&~--~*PRR~........-..----------------~~~~~~ ~~-~--------------------+.---*&&P##.............----------------~~~~ ------------------------+-...-~*++-...+..-.....-...----------------~ ------------------~+----+~~+*+$+P$+++*+-~--.....-......------------~ ----------------.$&#+##R&&&*~*+++++++++&&$&--...-.....-------------- -----------------~&&PPP&$+~~~R+~*$**$&&&PR&+**..P.....-------------- ----------------.......+~~++++++~+~~~~~~~~~~~$.&.....--------------- -----------------....-.~~~-~~+~~~~#+&~+~~~~~~PRPPPPPP*-------------- -------------------~#-~+~~+****$*&PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP----------~~ --------------+~-*P#+PP~~~PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP+--------~~~ --------------+$PRRP#$&&P&PPPPRPRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP~-------~~~~~ -------------$###R#P&$&&PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP-------~~~~~~~ -------------*~PPR#R&&&RPPPPPPRPPPPPPRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP~------~~~~~~~~ ---.....-......~&&$&&&PPPPPPPPRPPPPPPPRR#PPPPPPPPPPP---------....-.. ---.--.................. ~+. ... .+#R. &PP- --.-........... --------....--............... . . . . .. . . ...............-. -------..--...................... . .. .. ................----- ----------............................... .....................-----
Here is an image I took last time I was in Antarctica, and the ASCII art version too. Image size is about 20k (a day of bandwidth). Text size is less than 2k (I can send around 15 per day):
Penguin in Granite Harbor, Antarctica
---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- -------------$PRRRR#RR#RP--------------------- ------------------########-------------------- -------------------R#R#P*+R&------------------ -------------------+++++~~~P------------------ -----------------~~~++##P&PPRR---------------- -----------------~~+~#RPRPRRRRR--------------- ----------------~~~~~&#RRRPRRRR~-------------- ---------------~~~~~~~#PPRPRPRRR-------------- ---------------~~~~~~~~RPPRRRRRR-------------- ---------------~~~~~~~~RRRRRRRRRP------------- ---------------~~~~~~~~+RRPRRRRRR------------- ---------------~~~~~~~~PRRRPRRRRR------------- ----------------~~~~~~+RRRRRRRRRR------------- ----------------~~~~~~*RRRRRRRRRR------------- ----------------~~~~~~PRRRRRRRRR&------------- -----------------~~~~~&RPRRPPRRR-------------- -----------------~~~~~+PPRRRPRRR-------------- -----------------~~~~~~RPRRRRRRR-------------- ------------------~~~~~~RR~+RRR--------------- ------------------+~~~~~~~~+PRR--------------- ----------~~~----RP&~~~~~~*RRRR*~~~~~~~~~~~~-~ --------~~~~~~~~~~+RP+~+~+PRRRRPRRRRRR+~~~~~~~ -------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --------------------~~~~--~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -------------------------~----~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tags: Photos
MER-A Hanging On…
Below is a two-part image from The Planetary Society showing clean and dirty solar panels on MER-A (Spirit) on Mars. It is no wonder it is on the edge of survival. With luck, a small tornado will hit the rover and clean off the panels. It has happened before.
Dust cover on MER-A
Twitter Feed- mankoff: Scheduled to leave at noon. Will sail West through Straits of Magellan, then on to Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas, #Antarctica 2009-01-05
- mankoff: -53.170245, -70.905858 Moved on boat. Got ECW gear. Started unpacking lab. Ready to ship but won't leave for until the 5th early AM. 2009-01-03
- mankoff: 25.804916 -80.289114 Bye-bye Miami. Next stop is Santiago on the way to #Antarctica. 2009-01-01
- mankoff: 40.723972 -73.989334 Oops. Forgot to tag tweet with location to update tracking map. http://spacebit.org/maps/NBP09-01 2009-01-01
- mankoff: In Miami. On way south to #Antarctica. 24 hours to go to Punta Arenas. 2009-01-01
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