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LCROSS moon impact today
Oct 9, 2009

The engineers at NASA came up with an interesting idea some time back. As part of their LCROSS project to crash a spacecraft on the Moon, they started sending out regular tweets on Twitter, giving updates on the progress of the spacecraft as it neared it's target. They anthropomorphised the tweets, to give the impression that it was the spacecraft itself talking. So regularly enough, I would receive tweets such as "I am cruising at 150,000km from the Moon, travelling at 2,000 km per hour. Enjoying the scenery" etc.

Anyway, today LCROSS ended it's journey, slamming into the Moon at a tremendous speed. Detectors on Earth were primed to analyse the ejecta to determine if there is any water in the Moon's polar craters.

What's interesting to me were the twitterings from LCROSS at this time. It started saying things like "what's this object approaching me at great speed? I think I will call it my friend". "I should give it a name - 'oround', 'vound', ah - I think I'll call it 'ground' ".

These were the final tweets from LCROSS.

It was a nice touch, and I'm sure DNA would have been very proud.

No bowls of petunias were observed during those last few moments.

(7 replies, Latest reply: Oct 14, 2009)

The Cliffs of Bleugghh
May 26, 2009

A warning to would-be sailors. Try not to get sick. It is a little known fact that when you start vomiting, you cannot stop; and you will spend the entire rest of your journey hanging off the side of the boat staring at (and providing readily digested food to) the fishies.

I took a trip to the Aran Islands over the weekend. Normally a short 6 mile boat trip from Doolin to Inis Oirr, our boat set sail in a force 7 gale, with 10 foot breakers crashing against the pier. There were a ton of people on board from all corners of the globe. A small complement of the passengers, Americans mainly, shouted cheerily each time we crested and lurched into the troughs. Or at least that's what happened for the first 10 minutes. After that, a gloomy silence descended as the once happy-clappy complement began to regret ever having booked the boat-trip, or to wish murderous thought on the idiot who came up with the idea of booking the boat-trip in the first place. A woman beside me inquired about our proximity to the island once every minute, as if she was reciting some esoteric deliverance prayer.

When we arrived in Inis Oirr, almost the entire complement of passengers left the boat, as if someone had wet farted in a lift. We, the hardy remaining passengers, had the boat to ourselves for the onward journey to Inishmore. Conditions were much better from then on. The waves had settled down and flocks of razorbills, guillemots and terns accompanied us on our journey.

What you get on the islands is a kind of desperation not seen on the mainland. Everyone is either a taxi driver, a B&B owner or is renting out bikes. They are all waiting for you on the pier, fighting with each other to get your attention and more importantly, your custom. It would remind you of an Egyptian or Turkish resort where money is tight and competition is fierce. We strolled from Kilronan to Dun Aonghus and back again - a round trip of 9 miles. It was fairly rushed due to the tides and the boatman's need to leave, on the dot, at 3pm.

The trip back to Inis Oirr was again quite calm. It was only when we left the harbour of the last island that things went truly to the dogs. Almost immediately, the waves reached 12 feet high and for the next 2 hours we were buffeted around like a cork in a flushing toilet. The kid in front of me went green. Her mum tried to comfort her, but she too became a casualty. Then someone to the left started to throw up. Then another person behind us. Before we knew it, an international vomit festival was in full flow.

Now the bad news. We were not going back to Doolin. The port was engulfed by huge breakers and it would be too dangerous to land. We would have to go to Liscannor. This meant passing the Cliffs of Moher, some of the largest sea cliffs in Europe, where 20 foot waves are not unknown. On our way, the boat's engines briefly stopped working. This meant that for a few moments the stabilisers came to a halt, so you can imagine the scene on board.

Eventually we made dry land, and we were bundled onto a bus for the short journey back to Doolin. Thankfully I did not get sick myself. I kept my eyes firmly on the horizon and objects in the far distance, and it seemed to do the trick. Nevertheless, my stomach wasn't quite right for the rest of the evening and I went to bed early. Enough excitement for one lifetime.

Although I doubt if the boat was ever in much danger, I'm surprised that at no time were lifejackets handed out to the passengers. Neither were there any safety briefings for passengers before we embarked. If an accident had happened, it would have been sudden, swift and deadly. I doubt if anyone would have been prepared for it.

I have a short video of huge wave breaking against the cliffs on my blog. Pictures and videos of the scene onboard I will leave to your imagination.

http://woodpigeon01.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/a-boat-trip-to-remember/

(10 replies, Latest reply: May 26, 2009)

TAM London
May 12, 2009

I'm going! Or at least I think I am...

TAM ("The Amazing Meeting") is the brainchild of James Randi, a magician who has spent his life debunking psychics, UFOlogists, quacks and all sort of random frauds and charlatans. He is one of the main drivers of the modern skeptics movement, and an all round good guy.

I first came across him, wow, years ago, when the world was still in black and white and when a row of houses cost thruppence haypenny. Well, about 1995 to be more exact . Randi is pretty outspoken when it comes to people who make money by pretending that they have real psychic powers. Uri Geller and Sylvia Browne are some of his more high profile targets. He has even put up a prize of 1 million dollars to anyone who can prove a supernational occurrence (ESP, clairvoyance, dowsing etc, etc) in a controlled scientific test. Needless to say, the prize has never been claimed.

TAM is THE event for skeptics and to date it has only been held in the US. No more. In October it comes to London. Attending it will be Richard Dawkins, Simon Singh, Adam Savage and Phil Plait, the author of the Bad Astronomy blog. It's fantastic!

Access to the website yesterday was a bit of a joke. First of all, the order told me that the fee was 175 pounds, but shipping and handling would be 999.99 pounds. Oops. Then when that issue was fixed it wouldn't allow me to enter my order because I live outside the UK. My sister's address was promptly used and eventually my order went through. I still haven't seen a confirmation coming through as yet though. Nevertheless the demand was extreme. The whole event sold out in an hour or so, much to the amazement of the organisers. I'm lucky I persevered, I think.

If anybody is going to it from H2G2, I'd love to know.

(33 replies, Latest reply: Oct 5, 2009)

My year
Jan 4, 2009

2008 turned out to be a good year overall for me.

I got a new job which I enjoy very much; I left Dublin to be back closer to my kids; I walked the Kerry Way, raising over 2000 euro for charity in the process; I managed to be in the US during the election; I flew to the US in first class; I presented a paper at a conference; I climbed Ireland's highest mountain; I biked the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; I turned 40; I finally got an iPod and I discovered podcasting; I was in Croke Park to see my team win a historic All Ireland Final, I received an award for my Master's thesis; I visited the biggest cruise liner in the world; I walked the Ballycotton cliffs and the mountains overlooking Killarney and I brought my youngest boys to school on their first day and helped them as they swam for the first time; I met new, wonderful people and reaffirmed old friendships.

A couple of crappy things happened, but on balance they are not worth much of a mention.

Pretty good for a year, I would say.

Roll on 2009..

http://woodpigeon01.wordpress.com/

(18 replies, Latest reply: Jan 9, 2009)

Liverpool
Sep 10, 2008

I'm in Liverpool for the next few days to present a paper at the University of Liverpool. I've never done anything like this before, so it should be interesting.

I'm not sure how my presentation will go as yet.. I wrote it on a Mac, and when I transferred it over to a PC yesterday it was dreadful! I feel the phrase "ad lib" looming large in my ears...

(8 replies, Latest reply: Sep 11, 2008)