2007-03-29 10:17 pm
Entry tags:

Bird albinism?

Oh just great [livejournal.com profile] sammka, now you've got me totally paranoid.
2007-03-28 04:34 pm

Histograms in a spreadsheet?

I want to do a histogram - that is a count of frequency of reply - in some sort of spreadsheet program. I want to be able to input each person's responses (for example, from a survey) and have it tally up the number of responses for me. As I understand it, Excel cannot do this, I'd have to tell it how many people gave each reply. Anyone know of another (free) program that can do this for me, or will I have to relearn C++ and find a compiler, or just do it by hand since there's "only" going to be 68 people?

ETA: I've been told that Access can do this, so I'm goign to play with that. And with Excel according to what [livejournal.com profile] kadath says.

ETAA: In MS Excel, go to the Tools menu and Data Analysis... If yours doesn't have that menu, first click "Add-Ins..." to install it (no CD required). Use the Help dialogue to figure out how to install it and use it.
2007-03-25 10:09 pm
Entry tags:

I'm famous!

My name's in a book! Along with a few hundred other past employees of NRAO Tucson. :-P
2007-03-22 07:55 pm
Entry tags:

Oh, Arizona

Former AZ governor "comes out" that he believes a famous "sighting" in in 1997 called the Phoenix Lights was an alien spacecraft, and says the burden of proof otherwise is on the DOD. *rolls eyes*
asterroc: (doll)
2007-03-01 07:43 pm
Entry tags:

"Who wants to save an ugly animal?"

I'm sure that [livejournal.com profile] sammka does - the pic's of an aye-aye. *grin*

ETA: Ack, we're selectively breeding endangered species for cuteness!
2007-03-01 09:17 am
Entry tags:

Don't try this at home

Will It Blend.com is my new favorite website due to the glowstick experiment. Apparently they take all sorts of things that you shouldn't stick in a (-n industrial strength) blender, and see what happens.

I'd really like to see what the blades look like afterwards.

(And btw, it turns out to be a marketting gimmick for Blendtec, but that doesn't make it any less cool.)

Link found on [livejournal.com profile] theferret.
asterroc: (Astro - 2MASS)
2007-02-26 09:14 pm

Today's Astronomy lesson

In local coordinates, besides 0º altitude being the (ideal) horizon, we have two other key points - the zenith at an altitute of +90º, and the nadir at -90º. These are both originally English words, though they're used less often lately. Zenith means "peak, height, best", for example "The pop star was at the zenith of her career." And nadir means "lowest, worst," as in "Brittaney Spears is at the nadir of her career."

x-posted
2007-01-30 08:25 pm

Music of the Ages

This video of someone playing the Legend of Zelda theme on a theremin would've been amusing even if it didn't introduce me to the only instrument I know of that operates on the same principles of an RLC circuit.

Meanwhile, Gabe prefers this one, chirruping in time to it, and on pitch too. :-P

ETA: Oh, and if you can get me a better description of the physics behind the theramin, you get a virtual cookie!
asterroc: (doll)
2007-01-14 11:57 pm

Temperature curve

Ah, finally it is a comfy 75ºF. I got home around 7pm at 55º, and it's now 12am at 75º, so that's Δ20ºF/5hr = 4º/hr = 1º/15min ... and I could now go on and look at my 2 heaters' wattages and calculate the power that went into the room temperature and figure out how lossy my bedroom is, but I don't feel like it. Yay math! Yay laziness! If anyone else feels like it, go ahead and I'll check your results. :-P
2006-12-10 01:38 pm
Entry tags:

25 years ago

On this day 25 years ago, the top article on the BBC was about a mystery outbreak of simultaneous pneumonia and skin cancer in the US. If you aren't already going "ah hah!" then go read the article now.
2006-11-22 04:06 pm

Silicon Dreams

Oh man, why didn't someone tell me about Silicon Dreams before my Halloween Party? Anyone have mp3's?
2006-11-21 04:40 pm
Entry tags:

Credentials?

WTF?! What were this person's credentials? A substitute teacher in a high school bio class had students pricking their fingers to take a blood sample, and then pass the needle on to someone else! If this isn't a good reason to require all teachers to have degrees in their subjects, including substitutes, I don't know what is. I don't even get why they'd let a sub run a lab anyway. STUPID STUPID STUPID!!!
asterroc: (Astro - H-alpha)
2006-11-07 11:48 pm

On the lighter side,



Man, the things you miss when you lose all your bookmarks and don't remember which webcomics you used to read until months later...
2006-11-02 05:21 pm
Entry tags:

Were you?

You paid attention during 91% of high school!
 

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Make a Quiz



I bet it's one of the history ones... I'm not entirely sure what the Immaculate Conception one was doing in there.
2006-10-31 03:59 pm

Hubble Saved!

*Squeeee!*

It's official, there's going to be one more mission to service Hubble in 2008!

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/oct/HQ_06343_HST_announcement.html
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/10/31/hubble/index.html
http://www.hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/53/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6102690.stm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15489217/

As I described in more detail elsewhere, there's a few things that I feel are crucial to a useful mission:

  1. Boost the telescope's orbit

  2. Replace the dying batteries

  3. Replace the dying gyroscopes


Things like upgrading cameras are a bonus. Also, keep in mind that this mission does NOT solve the issue of what to do when it "dies" - re-enters the atmosphere. Parts of the main mirror will probably survive re-entry (that is, not burn up), and it's been estimated that there's up to a 1 in 700 chance of human fatality from an uncontrolled descent. NASA still has not addressed that concern.

x-posted
asterroc: (Astro - H-alpha)
2006-10-22 05:35 pm
Entry tags:

Accessible Evolution!

Not only are the entire works of Charles Darwin being scanned, converted to text, displayed side-by-side, and translated, they're also being made available in mp3 format for people with visual disabilities, or if you just want to listen to them on your iPod while jogging. Awesome!

Now if only they'd do the mp3's as a podcast so it'd be easier for me to download them all at once. :-P
2006-10-19 03:31 am
Entry tags:

Almost done!

with the grant. I'm getting there. I'm putting on finishing touches. I need to finish off the budget. i wish i didn't screw up on the signatures on the online cover page. i need to finish and print it before I can go to sleep. nearly there. i'll be proud of it when i'm done, but i'm not quite yet. if i get it, i'm going to splash it all over the page w/o any friends lock so those of you who haven't figured out yet who i am will get to know then. yay
2006-10-15 10:35 pm
Entry tags:

Woo-who?

W00t! I just syndicated my other blog as [livejournal.com profile] modern_science. If you want to read that one here, add it to your friends also. ^_^
2006-10-14 11:11 pm

Cockatiel colors

In response to a comment by [livejournal.com profile] l0stmyrel1g10n on my last post, I've now written up a bit more about cockatiel colors. And it's still not everything under the sun...