Small Portable Brick Computer Without Display

Have been seeking a small personal or embedded computer. The market is getting close but is still not there.

Want "laptop" or "palmtop" with power to run full modern Linux/Windows, but no screen nor keyboard nor mouse. All entry I/O attached via USB.

- Ethernet (up to Gigabit speeds)
- USB 2.0+ (4 port)
- HDMI
- eSATA or microSD (maybe)
- 6hr+ battery. No fan.
- Form factor of small brick like book/tablet. Under one kg.
- Power over Ethernet (PoE) 802.3af, or power from a USB outlet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet

No integrated display. One gets to choose the display. Most importantly one gets to choose to not to carry a display. Use with HMD or projector (mini LED projector) or display (like hotel LED/LCD TV, or desktop monitor).

No Wifi or other RF like 4G. RF is easy to attach via USB. The same attachment ease applies to external DVD/CD and other media and I/O. HDMI and eSATA can provide high bandwidth I/O.

Battery is for riding out glitches and outages, for portability, and for peaking when USB and PoE charging are insufficient in their continuous rating.

Distributed Systems, Small is Beautiful

Have been thinking about distributed "systems" lately... and how small components for such systems can be better, or how they are better. There are many systems in which resources can be distributed. This entry is about setting the stage for a series of entries on distributed ways of doing things, ways where small can be beautiful.

Here is a taste of the sort of systems meant:

• Computation or control.


• Storage.


• Housing or shelter.


• Workplace, office or shop.


• Transportation.


• Energy.

The question/issue might be about temporality of resources - permanent or transient, owned or leased/borrowed. Or maybe it is a question of scale and how big each element should be in the hierarchy.

Venus Brightness, Lunar Eclipse on Solstice

Early Saturday morning at about 6:00am December 18, 2010, happened to be out and see Venus very bright and high in the eastern sky. Had never seen Venus so unusually bright, especially here in Boston with all the light pollution.

Many things seemed to be "just so" for this.

• It was a cloud free and cold morning.
• Winter seeing tends to be better than summer - espcially near the ocean or other large bodies of water which generate humidity.

Venus is near greatest brilliancy the first week of December 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspects_of_Venus

Saturday morning probably had a greater number of city lights out around Boston.

Venus is very far above the eastern horizon (Its height in sky and phase are closely related.) in darker regions of the sky. And this is enhanced due to the earth's axis being maximally tilted due to closeness to winter solstice (first day of winter, longest day of year).

Maybe more significant, early morning December 21, 2010 was a total lunar eclipse on the winter solstice, which only happens every 372 years, and thus last happened in 1638... Galileo's time.

Elements for Small Business Success

Elements for Small Business Success:

1. Own space, assets.
2. Procure supplies and utilities on terms.
3. Hire good people.
4. Market.
5. Understand your industry.
6. See yourself as a professional service.

Own the longterm/permanent assets, and seek low cost rental/finance on short term assets/supplies, with a clear understanding of depreciation.

Own or have free the space/location for the business. Own the key tools of the business, even if they are computers, but be careful not to pay too much (buy trailing edge technology?). Rental on longterm assets is a leech. And for what? By definition 'longterm' assets have little or no maintanence costs.

Utilities, communication and supplies should be bought on terms. Be as self sufficient and efficient as you can and do not get locked into longterm contracts. Be Green and engender a spirit of eco-social-friendliness in employees.

Hire good pepole. If you cannot find good people, then WAIT. Reward your people financially and socially. Nothing is worse for morale and efficiency than human resource thrash. If you are running a sweat shop, or cattle farm, then one is not speaking to your business (you have other problems).

Establish a web (or media de jour) presence to get the word out - quickly.

Stick to knowledge-based, professional, relationship, special product/service business. Large scale commodity/services businesses are just that - large scale. One might grow to be that someday, but start with quality, attention and efficiency. Get to know others in your business and their stories of successes and failures. Attend industry meetings when you can. Get your people involved in the industry. Get to know the business zeitgeist.

Process improvements and innovation are for after you get established, but in the longterm can be the difference of whether you merely survive or thrive/grow.

Model Steam Locomotives, Asters, Live Steam

Here is an LGB Spreewald garden size locomotive from Wikimedia commons..

Have been interested in Live Steam lately... Asters.
Was trying to figure out value for Asters and the following resources help
http://www.southernsteamtrains.com/
http://www.southernsteamtrains.com/reference.htm
http://www.southernsteamtrains.com/roster.htm
http://www.southernsteamtrains.com/misc/JvR-Aster-Development.htm
http://www.asterhobbyusa.com/
http://asterhobbies.co.uk/collecting/

One would think ebay would be helpful, but any given Aster just does not come up that often.

When thinking about pricing/values, I always think of the following article on sociology of model railroading. There is much therein I cannot fully embrace, but there are gems of wisdom nonetheless. It is, if nothing else, thought provoking.
http://www.trainweb.org/lfnwfan/html/Sociology.htm
There are also larger live steam like they run at Washakum.
http://www.waushakumlivesteamers.org/

IWL.ME - I Write Like...

Just tried "I Write Like" http://iwl.me/.
I actually fed in about ten blog entries and work related text.

Snippets make me out to write like -
- Cory Doctorow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Doctorow
- David Wallace Foster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace

I find these very interesting. I wonder if background has something to do with this? I grew up in Canada (like Doctorow), and am interested in his writing and blogging. I spent many years in Ithaca New York (like Wallace), and after reading about Wallace in Wikipedia, find many parallels in viewpoint - though I hope I do not have the depth of depression and pessimism he retained.

Embedded Systems Conference - Boston 2010

Was to ESC (Embedded Systems Conference) Boston 2010 in late September.
http://esc-boston.techinsightsevents.com/

Here are a few highlights:

The platform and OS (operating systems) wars/debates are largely over - so much so that no one even bothers to mention the issue of OS and processor anymore. It is "assumed".

When a generic OS is used, only a few generic interfaces are really supported in all cases - TCP/IP, and serial ports.

For 8bit and similar the continuing players are 8051, Atmel-AtMega and Microchip-PIC architectures. Again this is mostly implied and few speak of it.

Software houses and tool chains vendors are talking about the ways they go beyond simple TCP/IP to get information to "cloud services".

Companies who formerly only sold components or built PC boards are transforming into complete end-to-end design-build companies where they go all the way from design to delivering boxes of the required products ready for you to sell (even with labels and software installed and locked).

Other attendees included trade associations, magazine/book vendors, Flash/SSD providers, tool/environment vendors, logic/JTAG analyzers, emulator vendors and wireless vendors.

Trip to Russia in 2003.

In 2003 visited Russia. Flew into London and spent the morning there and then headed out to Moscow, Domodedovo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domodedovo_International_Airport
Domodedovo was actually under re-construction at the time I passed through in 2003.

Stayed at Hotel Rossiya (now gone - apparently demolition started in 2006). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossiya_Hotel,_Moscow
Here is a view out the window of my room looking northwards.



Saw many interesting areas, like the Arbat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbat
and Kremlin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kremlin
Here I am inside the Kremlin near one of the churches.



Was very pleased to take an overnight train to Kazan. It was sort of an "Orient Express" on the economy-plan so far as I was concerned, though my gracious Russian hosts thought it rather expensive and inconvenient I think.

Here I am in the carriage at Kazansky vokzal, just a few minutes before departure


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazansky_Rail_Terminal
Kazansky station had one of the biggest platforms I have ever seen (bigger than in London and Japan - and that says something) and the train had more carriages than any I had ever seen.

One of my most vivid memories of that trip is that the train ran late and we sat on a siding just before the bridge into Kazan in the early morning waiting for passing traffic. It was snowing and we were near a small village. It was peaceful, and intriguing to watch the villagers go about their early morning business. There were a few cars and trucks, mostly people were our for a walk. Given no automobiles, it could have been the turn of the century.

In Kazan my hosts showed me great hospitality. Stayed at a very nice spa near the Volga. We had some great meals in restaurants and in my hosts's homes. Saw many interesting and historic sites in Kazan. I especially remember the building with spires of many religions.


And my hosts took me out to a Russian (in name/type, place and ownership *smile*) 2-10-0 locomotive.


Also passed a display of the Buran (or variant) at one of the institutes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_program
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)
but it might have been a BOR-4 or other relative.

Took the train back to Moscow, and the plane out from Domodedovo, and then back to London for a few days with my wife (business and sightseeing).

Trip to Japan 2005

My wife and I visited Japan in 2005. We went to the Aichi Expo
http://www.expo2005.or.jp/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_2005
Saw lots of Morizo and Kiccoro. Saw many interesting exhibits, including ones about new high speed trains.

Also got to see Satsuki and Mei's house at the Expo...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Neighbor_Totoro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Expo_2005_of_Satsuki_and_Mei%E2%80%99s_House_01.jpg

Also got to visit Kyoto and Nara.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nara,_Nara
The deer at Nara are adorable, but also very very cheeky (read aggressive). Watch your back when you feed them wafers!



Saw the (possibly) largest wooden building at Todai-ji
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Ddai-ji
And (possibly) the oldest wooden building at Horyu-ji
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C5%8Dry%C5%AB-ji
These are just two of many National Treasures of Japan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Treasures_of_Japan_(temples)

Trip to Canada in 2005

We took the route to Nova Scotia via the Gaspe.
Stayed near Mont Albert.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasp%C3%A9_Peninsula

and near Isle Bonaventure, famous for the Fou de Bassan colonies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonaventure_Island

visited Forillon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forillon_National_Park

Spent some time picking blueberries in Nova Scotia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberries
http://www.nswildblueberries.com/



Visited Halifax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Public_Gardens

Saturn, Mars and Venus are in Conjunction July 2010

It is July 2010 and a great time to see Saturn, Mars and Venus. They are in the constellation Gemini near Pollux and Castor, and Regulus in Leo - if that means much to you.

Just after sunset (the sun sets in the West by the way) look directly West and there should be bright stars that are "not quite right". Mars and Venus are both reddish and disks (not a point source of light like a star) and will not really twinkle (at least will twinkle less than a star). Saturn is a little harder to find, but with binoculars it should look like an enlongated disk. As the evening progresses these will all set following the sun.

It is difficult to find the moons of Saturn, but one can look for maps and try to find them
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/3308506.html
Saturn's moons are not as easy to find as Jupiter's moons which are on a line with Jupiter.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/planet-triple-play-venus-mars-saturn-100602.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0602/Rare-sky-show-Saturn-Mars-and-Venus-appear-together-this-week

http://www.jackstargazer.com/
(look for July 2010 episodes)
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance
(look for July 2010 editions)

Where in the World

Where in the world am I in this photo?

Small hint... It is not New York.

DCC and networking for Model Railroads

DCC and networking for Model Railroads... XpressNet seems an interesting RS485 way of network controllers and automation together.
http://www.dccwiki.com/XpressNet
http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/html/hardware/XPressNet/index.shtml

And here is some overall information about DCC aka Digital Command Control
http://www.sodigi.com/What_Is_DCC.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Command_Control

And one can get books like "DCC Projects" at library or various online booksellers.

Another Mobile Camera from Spy Gear ala Clark Call Car Cam

And there is a new followup to the Clark Hall Car Cam, an even better version, the Spy TRACKR

http://hackaday.com/2010/05/24/bamf2010-spy-trakr-no-lasers-14861-cheaper/

http://gizmodo.com/5470621/trakr-rc-car-lets-you-spy-with-the-power-of-apps

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/10/spy-video-trakr-runs-custom-kid-built-applications-for-stoppin/

http://www.spytrakr.com/

This is apparently a follow-on to the ATV-360 also from Spy Gear (aka Spy Trakr)

http://www.spygear.net/spy-gear/spy-toys/spy_video_atv_360

Have not seen them in stores yet though.

The Energy Guru – Arthur Rosenfeld

Saw an LA Times article in January 2010 about Arthur Rosenfeld.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/11/business/la-fi-rosenfeld11-2010jan11

One could do worse than Rosenfeld’s list of accomplishments in the energy field…

Having your own Wikipedia article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_H._Rosenfeld
Getting an effect named after you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenfeld_Effect
Being one of the last students of Enrico Fermi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi
Winning the Fermi Prize.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_Prize
Being involved with the development of compact fluorescents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp
Pushing the idea that it is cheaper to conserve than to build new power plants
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/11/energy-saving-much-cheaper-than-building-power-plants

Lost Knowledge at Alexandria

Found inscribed on the bottom of a reused limestone block at the Q'am Mosque in Cairo, "If you enjoyed our stelae on the great works of Pharaoh Khufu, then see our scroll 'How its made - the Pyramids' now in the library at Alexandria".

This is an ironic story, fictional at many levels, all in one sentence...
Sometimes the disclaimer takes the bite out, and has to be read as carefully as the material, so imagine you had not read the above disclaimer line.

I thought such a one sentence construct would be an accepted form of story/literature, but I could find no reference to such a form? What is a one sentence story called? Ultra short story?http://www.onesentence.org/stories/popular/
The above one sentence entities are based on reality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_story
Short stories, though short, are typically longer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdote
Anecdotes are typically based on reality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable
Parables have an instructive moral.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable
Fables involve anaimals or supernatural aspects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke
Jokes are meant to evoke laughter or humour.

The one sentence fictional story above is meant to provoke thought through thoughtful (not humourous) irony.

Cornell Clark Hall Car Cam and from Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) has many uses: http://www.archive.org/index.php

Was trying to find my old webpages at the Cornell Materials Science Center (roughly 1995 onwards)http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://msc.cornell.edu/~putnam
http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu/~putnam/clcarcam.html
Had to navigate through link changes. http://web.archive.org/web/19990417232519/http://www.msc.cornell.edu/~putnam/clcarcam.html
So here is the record of my build archived in 1999. The actual Cornell Clark Hall Car Cam construction was in 1996. Wireless camera mounted on an RC car transmitting (on weak UHF) to a battery operated TV. But cannot claim to be first... it was based on an a segment on Letterman in 1994/1995.

There was one in toy stores in 2008.
http://dvice.com/archives/2008/10/-snooping-just.php
The ATV-360 camera on a tracked vehicle.
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Planet-Gear-Video-ATV-360/dp/B0016A7PGU

Make Magazine 20 page 120 has a similar thing, but for a recording camera. http://makezine.com/20/
http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol20/?folio=120
ala George C Hale, Hale Tours - where cameras were mounted on trains, footage taken and shown in cinemas.
http://www.vintagekansascity.com/halestours/
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Ride
Oddly enough only gets a reference in German - not in English?

Book Collecting and Bookstores

Always in favour of libraries, except that increasingly they seem to not be in the business of "books" anymore. Seems egregious to me that a library would throw away a book that it took the time to acquire and catalog. But space and money are not infinite for such things. And libraries do the best they can. Where education in school stops, the library begins.

So where one demands continuity and loves a subject, to the best of ones ability - time, space and finance-wise, one collects http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_collecting

I am lucky to live in Boston Metro and can take the MBTA to http://www.brattlebookshop.com/
You may have seen Ken Gloss on Antiques Roadshow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiques_Roadshow
I used to work nextdoor to Brattle Books, but at that time the book bug had not bitten me.

And there are, of course, places worldwide.

London http://www.visitlondon.com/attractions/shopping/book-shops

Japan http://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia24/en/travel/index.html
Kanda, Jimbocho, Yasikuni Ave.(and interestingly enough even if you are not fluent in Japanese Japan has some of the best technical and picture books in the world).

Moscow http://www.waytorussia.net/Moscow/Shopping/Books.html

Business Novels

Ever wonder if there are a whole new genres of literature you might have missed? Manga amd cyberpunk come to mind as new forms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novel
Older forms included romance, mystery, historical novels and so on.

Now comes the "business novel". Which has had "incidences" but never has really coalesced into a new genre...

Tracy Kidder's "Soul of a New Machine" is more of a documentary than novel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine
Here is a list of business novels
http://www.american.com/archive/2007/january-february-magazine-contents/0116-the-ten-best-business-novels/
And certainly the Cryptonomicon fits and comes to mind http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon
But what of general business working and economics? trade? corporate structure?

The Japanese seem to have a quiet stream going in this area...
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/heath-row/novel-ideas-0
http://abe.villanova.edu/proc2006/white.pdf
http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/RDavies/bankfiction/japan.html
Just do a search for "Japanese business novel".

Fine Art Model Galleries

When I visited London in 2008, I had it my mind to visit the Bassett Lowke shop on High Holborn. http://www.bassettlowke.co.uk/ But it is long since gone.

I like hobby shops just fine, but I always envision visiting a model gallery... like Lannan Ship Model Gallery on High Street in Boston. http://www.lannangallery.com/lannan_gallery/Index.html

Admittedly Lannan is rather high end. And many shops have interesting and impressive displays. Charles Ro in Malden MA always seems to have a nice selection of large scale models (which are great in displays) in its showroom. http://www.charlesro.com/store_tour.htm

And I was lucky enough to visit Aster in Japan in Spring 2009 http://www.asterhobby.com/.
Much like the visit by Jason Musheno and Joel Taylor. http://www.southernsteamtrains.com/misc/aster-japan-visit.htm
See this page too for the Aster gallery...
http://www.southernsteamtrains.com/misc/aster-japan-visit-02.htm .
Aster was just re-running a C11 lot. The C56 and C11 are my favorite Japanese prototypes. Many thanks to Fujii-san and Yamato-san for their kind hospitality.

My main like is steam locomotives. And what sort of things would be in the gallery apart from finest steam examples from Aster? -
USA Trains http://www.usatrains.com/,
LGB http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGB_(Lehmann_Gross_Bahn),
Bachmann http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/index.php,
Accucraft http://www.accucraft.com/,
Osaka http://www.oslivesteam.com/english/corporate/index.html
and other art pieces.

Would that there were more of such. It is a toss up between fine master works of true mechanical function from Aster and the great details from those like USA Trains.

There is simple fine art like those made by Wilbur Frey http://www.walkertrans.org/WilburFrey.htm
and working fine art like that from Kozo Hiraoka
http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Hiraoka.htm
And an assortment from others like Heinz Holtz http://www.steam-model.ch/

And on a smaller scale... Chris Schmuck (simply amazing - the details make it look like Chris is working two scales larger) http://hon30tinker.blogspot.com/

Optimizer Energer Energist

Friends and family ask what I do, and it takes a couple of sentences to describe products and services to help people save energy, reduce maintenance, move data, and improve governance. Lawyers and doctors and physicists and accountants and politicians and economists have it much easier. They can describe their professional services in a word. My thought is to make up a couple of professional classes.

If an "X"er/""X"ant/"X"ist/"X"ian is a professional expert in the "X" field who understands the science, technology, sociology and economics of "X". And offers professional services in "X"... then

1. Energist or Energer: Professional expert in the energy field. Understands the science, technology, sociology and economics of energy. Offers professional (often technical) energy consultation.

2. Optimizer: Professional expert in the optimization field. Understands the science, technology, sociology and economics of optimization. Offers professional (often technical) optimization consultation.

So I would style myself an Optimizer with a specialization in Energy and Metrology.

There are other parallels to such professionals too. It is considered "comic" (except amoung family and closest friends) to ask professionals specific service questions, without tacit realization you are engaging them in their profession (and the livelihood by which they feed their children). It is the age old funny story of meeting an orthopedic surgeon at a dinner party and asking about your backache.

It is considered declasse as a customer (but not as friend or family) to ask professionals to offer their service as an educational programme without paying a large multiple of the costs for the actual service itself. I mean if you, as a customer, ask a lawyer/doctor to teach you or your organization how to be a lawyer/doctor, he/she is well within their rights to ask for ten to twenty times their hourly rate to teach you how to do their job. I guess I am only bemused with individuals, but company-types should know better.

On the flip side of the equation, that is why some companies which have core law and finance needs have in-house lawyers and accountants, but they are paid well and have been trained in professional schools (which had a high initial cost) and are key to the company. The company realizes the value of having devoted personnel in such a core company function.Most companies are not there yet for energy and generalized optimization.

Human Spark with Alan Alda on PBS

Have been watching PBS's Human Spark with Alan Alda.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Alda

Always like Alan Alda in science shows. But the science in this show is especially interesting.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/humanspark/

There are threads in the show that what makes us human is our imagination and our urge to understand the world around us. And we seek as humans to map the intentions of others, remember our past and map our future and be outside the limits of our self. In a way, this show is both about that and helps us to some extent do that.

It is especially exciting to learn something new when that new something is about how we learn something new, or the conditions around our interactions and innovations. That is precisely what this show proposes to touch.

Learned some great stuff about to what level we can read others intentions... "Mary is thinking that, Jim is thinking that Bob may be worried about his children." Doubly neat that the same areas of the brain that work on these problems of intent may be what allow us to imagine other times and places.

Snippet about mimicry was very enlightening.

The idea that we attribute intent, beyond merely social interactions, to everything sheds a powerful light on why we think about a universe driven by externalities. It almost sets one at ease to know, writ small, this is extremely useful, but also that, writ large, it may be a simple source of some of our deepest social problems.

Mars and Jupiter January 2010

It is January 2010 and a great time to see Jupiter and Mars.

The opposition of Mars happens on January 29, 2010. Mars is in the constellation Cancer. What does that mean? Most websites go into lots of details. That's fine, but where is Mars in layman's terms? Just after sunset (the sun sets in the West by the way) look directly East and there should be a bright star that is "not quite right". Mars is reddish and it is a disk (not a point source of light like a star) and will not really twinkle (at least it will twinkle less than a star). As the evening progresses Mars will rise and cross the sky (like the moon/sun/stars do).
http://www.earthsky.org/tonightpost/astronomy-essentials/best-time-to-see-mars-in-2010-is-january-and-february

Jupiter is in the southwest in January. Jupiter is in the constellation Aquarius. It was probably best on January 17, 2010 when one could find it near the crescent moon. But it is still there late January 2010, though low in the sky. It takes fairly dark regions to be able to see anything well near the horizon at sunset. Jupiter sets following the sun in the West, so you cannot see it all night. Jupiter is not really very colorful, but it is a disk (not a point source of light like a star) and will not really twinkle (at least it will twinkle less than a star). If you have a telescope or pair of binoculars, you can go hunting bright spots and, if you find Jupiter, you will be rewarded with it having a disk shape (maybe with some bars seen) and a nice little line-group of Jupiter's moons around it. If you watch night to night, and make little drawings of what you see you might be able to track Jupiter's moons' motions. Jupiter's moons are easier to track than Saturn's because they are more-or-less on a line. Saturn's are in a cloud because of our tilted view of their orbits.
http://www.earthsky.org/tonightpost/es-tonight/moon-and-jupiter-move-eastward-through-the-stars

My biggest gripe about Astronomy webposts and blogs is they often omit what YEAR they are writing about. You can spend a half hour trying to figure out what they mean about Saturn only to realize they mean February 14, 2004 (not 2010 or whatever). Please everyone, write out a date and include the YEAR when giving guidance.

Ideas for a first time traveller to Japan

Ideas for first trip to Japan.

1. Go with someone who has been to Japan.

2. Keep to areas of navigation where at least some signs are in English. That would say stay in Tokyo and Osaka and stick to train lines between city locations and to and from the airport.

3. It is a cash based society. So take/acquire cash. Get some from those who have been before. Check if your ATM will work with some of the big banks and withdraw in local currency. UBJ comes to mind.

4. DO NOT drive.

5. No special visa is required for Japan for US, Canadian/Commonwealth citcizens.

6. Fly JAL or ANA if you can afford it. Their service is much better than United, Northwest and American and on the long flight it is worth it.

7. Get a phrasebook and try to get the following:
-W5 (Who, What, Where, When, Why) and How,
-Greetings (bear in mind honorific and differences in first greetings vs later and family),
-Numbers (though deeper topic than expected in Japanese where counting depends on what is counted),
-Phrases for transit/directions, fast food, restaurants, washrooms, and your hobby/work/interests.
-Basic alphabet/syllabary (go for Katakana for foreign words first - more fun)
-Something interesting related to your work/goal/hobby (just one or two words).
-"Particles" are interesting to give you a picture of how the language works.If it helps the techno-types, Japanese is more of a stack context language than most. If you push an item onto the stack/context in a given role, it remains until you change that item.

8. Get a JR railpass (period - unless you are only there for a few days). There is no better mass-transit/train-pass deal in the world, and for any techno-types the Shinkansen is a must see. In Tokyo and Osaka the JR "subway" system is extremely useful. So even if you never leave Tokyo the JR Railpass is a great deal. Do not hesitate to try a short Shinkansen hop (like say out to Yokohama and back). Or ride out to the first stop north of Ueno and back. If you do rides at times of fair density you will only have to wait a few minutes for the return trip on major lines... or try a local train. Learn the stops on the Yamanote or Osaka-Loop Line.

9. See a museum related to your field.

10. Eat at Depato. Go to top floors or basement. Look at food models. Try something new. Enjoy. You will not generally run into anything too exotic first time out in a food hall (no fugu or whale or dolphin or horse or...). Try katsu. Try tempura.

11. Pick a cultural site to see. Tokyo: Asakusa Temples, Akihabara Electronic Town, Imperial Palace, Meiji Park, Ueno Park/Zoo, Tokyo University. Osaka: Temples, Den Den Town, shopping arcades.

12. Get an international cell phone plan or a Skype/SIP type device for WiFi. Getting plans inside Japan is hard becasue of ID and residency requirements (in post 9/11 world).

13. Japan is safe. If someone looks like they will help you, ask them for help. Accept their graciousness and be polite.

14. Exchange of business cards is important. You only get one shot at getting it right at first meeting. Have your cards clean and near at hand. Hand it over with two hands facing the recipient. Accept with two hands from those giving. Consider the card a moment. A polite question is not inappropriate (like what part of Yokohama is this district in your address? Or how do you exactly pronounce "x"?). Status is often assessed by card exchange.When you put away cards do not shove them in pants pockets. Show the card the same respect as the giver. Put it in a jacket pocket or a case or in your portfolio.

15. Stay at an international hotel near a JR station on a major metropolitan rail line. Leave ryokan and minshuku and such for later trips.

16. If you go off the beaten path in a metro area, you will probably get lost unless you have a great sense of absolute direction. It is not much of a worry if you have time to shift around a bit. Japan is safe. Try to find a map at an intersection. Try to get to a JR station.

17. Toilets: Western/Asian. Most hotels and department stores have western style toliets (at least as an option). It is helpful to know the Kanji for male/female in some off the beaten path spots, but if the postings are only in Kanji you will probably only get Asian style toilets.Carry some tissue (and a handkerchief?) with you. Some public toilets have no toilet paper or paper towels or dryers.Tissue lucklily is easy to come by from all the hawkers near major JR stations, shopping districts and department stores. Do not be offended by hawker snubs. It is probably more the case that hawkers are targetting male/females then Asian/foreign recipents. Be thankful you do not end up carrying arround tissues which have advertisements for hygiene products for the opposite sex.

18. Watch out for language restrictions in Internet/WiFi and web access. Not saying they will be there, but they have tripped users up before.

The following little PDF might be interesting...
http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/tokyo/guide/
http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/tokyo/guide/onscreen.html
Search for "Justin Tokyo" or "Just in Tokyo".

Green at Work, Nexus

Stumbled across this book, and have been using it as a sort of checklist as to how my workplace is "green"
http://www.amazon.com/True-Green-Work-Environment-Geographic/dp/1426202636

Not everything applies, but it is amazing how much does apply.

Interesting resource on all things green
http://www.nexusboston.org/

Nexus has a nice showroom and library and host interesting events. They have courses for LEED and sustainable practice.

Books and Wikis

I favour books over other media. Books have a tangible quality and a permanence (up to issues of fire and flood).

The web is a fine thing. I could not get through a working day without a search engine and knowledgebase wikis. I often sprinkle Wikipedia
http://www.wikipedia.org/
references through my notes. But Wikipedia is more about what is believed to be true, than what is true, but, sometimes, that is actually what one is seeking. The key is realizing this.

I think my favorite reference works are technical tomes from just before the micro-electronics era - good solid volumes about gears and fasteners and levers. They are books with lots of tables and diagrams. The micro-electronics era made it easier to skim over the details and leave solutions to software. Do not misunderstand me, this hiding of complexity is a fine approach to real world problems, but it makes for unsatisfying reading in pursuit of knowledge.

I always used to enjoy leafing through the multi-volume McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. I guess they have a sort of reflection of it in
http://www.mhest.com/
But the paper copies had lots of interesting 1960's diagrams and explanations of how complex things work.

Flow and Consumption

The most basic metrology, no matter what you are actually measuring, comes down to two basic things FLOW and CONSUMPTION. Beyond that there can be issues of qualities of what flows or is consumed. And there can be issues of the toppolgical/spatial distribution of flow/consumption. For the sharp, FLOW is just the time rate of change of CONSUMPTION (dCONSUMPTION/dt), but it is sometimes thought of inversely as CONSUMPTION being the accumulation of FLOW over time (the time integral of FLOW).

Enough generalities. Water is a good concrete thing to think about. We can measure its flow, or we can measure totals of water consumed. One can look at qualities of water too like temperature or purity/salinity.

Electricity is the omniprsent modern meterable. And it is the most often confused. One loses sight of Energy=CONSUMPTION and Power=FLOW at one's peril. Too many people lightly ask "How much Power am I using?" when they really mean Energy. Most people understand interest versus principle/capital better (which is also arcane at best), and that is part of why we have such problems getting the rational economics of energy policy right.

Natural Gas and Steam are much like water, though pressure and changes of "quality" due to the nature of the plumbing/transport system are key for gases.

Oil flow tends to be exactly analagous to water.

Then one can go to more exotic materials like printing ink in a printing plant, or grain in a feedmill, or spirits in a distillery, soda cans in a vending system, bits in a router, or even coins/bills in a cash control system.

And one can go to smaller or larger scale. It is one thing to talk about flow past a given point through a given conduit. A network of meters demands a topological analysis, and there are economies to be had through understanding detailed distribution.

Think about why people use just in time manufacturing and ask how they could do such without monitoring flow in the supply network.

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start"

Apologies to the writers allied with the "Sound of Music".
The first thing I have to figure out is how to make sure my postings go smootly to archive and I do NOT end up with a page that has to load over a thousand objects so that people can read my post from the middle of 2010.

My plan is to muse about energy and metrology and other things which interest me.
Those things might include:
Travel - like to Japan, Britain and Russia.
Trains - both real and in models and fiction - like in Japan and Europe.
Complex interfaces - like those in trains and air or space craft.
Energy - conserving it, measuring it, undestanding its science, technology and sociolology.
Virtual systems - machines, services and so on.