Science Friction

What a weekend

I spent the weekend in Swindon attending Construction II, a convention/meeting for staff members of Interaction, the 2005 Worldcon. The weekend was quite constructive (no pun intended). I ended up with a promotion to Area Head, more details of which later.
One interesting thing I noted was the number of Macs being used.
I had originally planned to come home on Monday morning but Microsoft scheduled a briefing about the new Office for Mac on Monday so I dashed home this evening. Unfortunately when I tried booting my iMac it refused to do so. I booted off the CD and ran disk utility. It seems that there's a problem with the B-Tree of my hard disk but Disk Utility can't fix it so it looks like I'll be looking for some disk repair software.

Lost and Found

Thump, thump. That sound you hear is me banging my head on my desk. I've stopped now and it feels wonderful. But why, you ask, was I banging my head on my desk? Well I'm off to lovely Swindon tomorrow for an Interaction staff meeting (I'm the irish agent) and it's been a litany of lost and found. For a start I couldn't find my Agent: Ireland badge, the one I wear at Science Fiction conventions to identify myself as Agent: Ireland. I'd looked everywhere but no luck. So I dashed off an e-mail to Bjorn, my immediate superior in the Interaction chain of command. Then I couldn't find the mini-VGA/VGA adapter cable that allows me to connect my Powerbook to an external monitor or projector. I last remembered having it when I was giving a presentation in January. Fortunately, Compustore has replacements in stock for €32 so off I toddle into town this afternoon to get one.

Now, here's were it gets interesting. I get out my small suitcase - actually it's not mine. I 'borrowed' it from my parents - open it and what do I find? Why my Agent: Ireland badge of course. I immediately dash off a message to Bjorn informing of my good luck.

Later that evening i go to get my USB Flash Drive. You know, the one that's been lying on my desk for weeks now and that I've seen every day. Of course it's nowhere to be found. Then in comes an e-mail from Bjorn. Ooops. It may be too late. The person with the badge machine may already have made the replacement. I reply saying it's always useful to have a backup and I make some humorous remark about not being able to find my USB Flash Drive. Within seconds of clicking the Send button and without even looking, what do i spot? Why my USB Flash Drive of course. And what's that entangled in the cord supplied for hanging said USB Flash Drive around ones neck (which I never do of course)? Why it's the VGA adaptor cable that I just spent €32 replacing.

Thump, thump, thump..........

Unique view of Olympus Mons

Mars Express is sending back some superb photos of the Martian surface including the above image of the caldera (summit crater) of Olympus Mons. According to the ESA Website, this image was taken from a height of 273 km. The image is about 102 km across with a resolution of 12 m per pixel. South is at the top. For more photos putting the above into context, visit this report.

Boffins baffled by spheres

Opportunity has photographed these spherical particles on the Martian surface, baffling mission scientists as to their origins. [SPACE.com]

Linux on the Mac

Macworld UK reports here that IBM has released a guide to installing and running Linux on PowerPC-based machines, including the Mac.

"For many Linux users, the best reason to buy a PowerPC machine will be, quite simply, the range of well engineered and reasonably priced machines available from Apple."

According to the Macworld report, the guide's author ran four Linux distributions on an iMac, and found that the Yellow Dog and Mandrake distributions were "well-polished and easy to use", while Linux systems from Debian and Knoppix were "not ready yet".

"The killer problem I found with Debian/PPC was my inability to get X11 working on it – the installation seemed wholly unaware of any remotely relevant video card models, and some post-installation attempts at configuration proved fruitless, too. I am certain that there are Debian/PPC users who have worked out the configuration issues, but compared to the ease of installation of other distributions, I have trouble recommending Debian to many users," the report states.

Apple Fans Sneak Peek at Store

Even I'm not this bad:

The new Apple Computer retail store in San Francisco is already having problems with break-ins. Not that intruders want to take anything -- except digital photos. Leander Kahney reports from San Francisco. [Wired News]

The Guardian explains the Offside Rule

The Guardian explains the Offside Rule here with Flash animation.

Another year...

I didn't want to make a fuss. But I was 44 on Tuesday. On Monday, while purchasing a newspaper I overheard part of the conversation between a teenage sales assistant and the woman who rang up my purchase.
Teenage sales assistant: She was an old woman.
Other sales assistant: How old?
Teenage sales assistant: About 40
I was tempted to interrupt at this point and say that 40 is NOT old but something told me not to.

It's funny. I don't feel old.

MarsClock for Palm OS

Ken Mankoff is offering a Palm OS version of Mars24, the software developed by NASA to display a Mars sunclock. The software displays a map of the Martian surface showing the areas in daylight and night and plots the locations of Viking I, Viking II, Beagle II (presumed location), MER A (Spirit), MER B (Opportunity), Custom and Sojourner. I've downloaded it and it runs on my Palm Tungsten T although it should work with any Palm device running PalmOS 3.5 or later. [Martian Soil]