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?