My View

May

2011

PlayBook Update: I Went With Plan B…

Well, I gave in. I just spent two weeks on the road — one week of family travel to attend my daughter’s college graduation and one week of business meetings in Germany. That mix of activities was the ideal test opportunity for the 64Gb BlackBerry PlayBook I’d ordered but when it still hadn’t arrived by 48 hours before my departure I called BestBuy to tell them I’d reluctantly take a 16Gb model rather than nothing at all. Luckily they had a 32Gb PlayBook so I took that instead.

I just returned from the extended trip and will assemble a more detailed review to share later. For now, here are a few quick observations:

I liked the 7” size as it was easy to pack along everywhere, was compact enough for convenient use in all sorts of settings including both one-handed and two-handed, proved excellent at watching movies on long plane flights, and was large enough to easily see and use.
It’s solid and well built, holding up to lots of jostling in travel bags, on planes, and being passed around by family and colleagues (including a couple of hours of vigorous use by my 7 year old niece who took a strong liking to Need for Speed).
Battery life was good. It typically only needed a charge every second or third day. I was able to watch 6+ hours of movies on flights to/from Europe.
Performance seemed fine. I don’t recall experiencing significant waits while apps or web pages loaded.
Lack of 3G wireless (cellular) support was far more of a limitation than I’d expected. Being tethered to my BlackBerry Bold phone was a major inconvenience while in Europe as I don’t have an international data plan on that phone. (Long story…) I therefore didn’t use the PlayBook much in Europe for network-related tasks: email, web surfing, checking travel plans, etc. except in rare cases where it proved convenient to do so via WiFi. Even with WiFi the lack of a built-in email app significantly reduces usefulness.
The larger display and good touch screen proved excellent for accessing the internet and the browser handled all my regular sites quite well.
The lack of off-line mapping was painful as I’ve gotten spoiled by having free off-line mapping with turn-by-turn navigation built into every Nokia smartphone.
There wasn’t much software in App World — few tempting games, no significant productivity or travel apps, and the tools I was eager to use (Pandora, Skype, Kindle, IM, TripIt, astronomy) aren’t available. This is a huge problem which RIM hopes to address by providing Android support at some point.

Overall I found the PlayBook to be well built, convenient, and excellent for viewing video. Where I could get access to WiFi it was nice for browsing the web. Most of the shortcomings are software related so hopefully they’ll be addressed soon. I’m keen to try out Android compatibility when it becomes available. My only major regret at this point is that there’s no built-in support for 3G wireless (cellular) connectivity and that’s a definite disappointment.

posted Saturday 9:12 pm

May

2011

BlackBerry PlayBook: Epic Disappointment Continues

My ongoing attempt to purchase a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet continues to get more and more unsatisfying, and in fact I’m starting to feel like I’m the victim of some sad prank. (Hey, perhaps it’s true that Punk’d is returning and with Justin Bieber as host.)

BlackBerry PlayBook Two weeks ago today RIM released the PlayBook. After many years as a BlackBerry phone owner and given my strong interest in the whole tablet space I’d placed a pre-order for the 64Gb model at BestBuy. Alas, RIM shipped only the entry level 16Gb model to Bay Area BestBuys and it became clear after several days of phone calls with my nearest store that I wasn’t going to get my 64Gb model any time soon. I clearly misunderstood the concept of preordering.

Today, given no further word from BestBuy, I thought I’d try alternative sources. Office Depot’s web site said they had models in stock, so I called the nearest store and was told they had inventory. Hurrah! I quickly motored over but learned that while their computer said they had one in stock that was apparently the (non-existent) display model and there were, alas, none to be had there or at any other Bay Area Office Depot stores. So, my open ended wait continues…

I’ve not been idle during these frustrating weeks, however. I’ve been watching various Internet sites for postings from others who’d decided on the 16Gb model and in doing so have learned something even more amazing than the fact that RIM apparently didn’t see fit to ship any top-of-the-line models to Silicon Valley.

No AT&T The PlayBook doesn’t actually work on AT&T’s network. (As luck would have it I am an AT&T subscriber…)

At first I thought that couldn’t possibly be true but after checking and double checking I am forced to conclude that it’s quite the case.

Here’s why. By design, the PlayBook is missing several pieces of functionality including 3G wireless connectivity, email, calendar, instant messaging, and contact management. Instead these critical services come by tethering the PlayBook to a BlackBerry phone and using the phone’s built-in capabilities remotely from the tablet through separate “BlackBerry Bridge” software. This “codependency” has been widely discussed in articles such as Walt Mossberg’s review in The Wall Street Journal.

What’s less widely discussed is that the Bridge software doesn’t ship with the PlayBook but must be downloaded and installed on the phone separately via the BlackBerry App World on-line store. However, you CANNOT download the Bridge software if your phone is on the AT&T network. That’s because AT&T has not approved the software for distribution to any of its customers. This means that AT&T subscribers cannot successfully tether their PlayBook to their BlackBerry phone to access the 3G wireless network and associated services. Total bummer.

AT&T’s official explanation is that they just recently received the Bridge software and are still testing it “to ensure it delivers a quality experience for our customers.” Some have speculated that AT&T isn’t happy that the Bridge software gives BlackBerry PlayBook owners free tethering access to data services when AT&T charges all their other customers (including BlackBerry phone customers) $20 extra a month on top of their existing data plan for the ability to do tethering. Hopefully that’s quite wrong and AT&T is just being far, far more careful as they are the only carrier blocking PlayBook owners from accessing and installing the Bridge software.

Not surprisingly intrepid geeks have circumvented AT&T’s efforts and made the Bridge software available unofficially through other web sites. Apparently AT&T hasn’t done anything to disable the Bridge software on their network so once installed the software works as required. That could change, I suppose, if AT&T felt duly motivated.

Certainly I could use my BlackBerry phone and PlayBook on any other operator’s network. Or I could download and install the unofficial workaround. And I could probably compromise and find a 16Gb model instead of waiting for a 64Gb PlayBook that would hold my normal collection of media. Many folks have encouraged me to just go order an iPad and save myself much anguish especially since it’d be the same price as the PlayBook. I am, however, seriously interested in fully experiencing the PlayBook to appreciate its hardware design and new operating system as well as contemplate what RIM has in mind for the future. Alas that curiosity and technological respect is taking a serious pounding from the sheer difficulty of getting a PlayBook and using it.

For now I’ll hang in there and see what happens first — my 64Gb preorder arrives, AT&T releases the Bridge software, or I give up and go with Plan B…

posted Monday 9:42 pm

Apr

2011

Making Good Coffee in your Suitcase

My daily routine has included coffee since I was about six years old. For many years now I make a pot first thing in the morning, take a travel mug off to work, and not infrequently have a cup in the evening after dinner. These days I spend a fair amount of time in hotels and like to preserve as much of my daily routine as possible. Hotels don’t seem to always have an in-room coffee pot (especially the hotels I frequent in Europe for some reason), room service isn’t cost effective or practical, and I don’t like to have to find and visit a Starbucks every morning or evening.

Solution? I’ve put together my own travel coffee kit. It had to be small so I could pack it in my suitcase, easy to use anywhere, and still produce a drinkable cup of coffee. It turned out to be easier than I thought.

Component #1: The Pot — This was a matter of good luck. I love hardware stores (but that’s another story) and during my January visit to Helsinki discovered a great hardware store just around the corner from my hotel. It’s called Clas Ohlson - a chain based in the UK with stores there as well as Sweden, Norway and Finland. While browsing the two floors of hardware store wonderfulness in Helsinki I found a great 0.5L electric kettle (a.k.a. “hot pot”) for only 6 euros. It’s fully automatic so turns itself off when the water is hot, is dual voltage for use world wide, has a tight sealing hinged lid, and is both sturdy and lightweight.

Component #2: The Mug — My idea for the mug was something that would fit inside the pot. That meant fairly small to start with and probably a folding handle. I also wanted something lightweight and sturdy. All that added up to a camping cup so off I went to REI. I first looked at some titanium mugs with folding handles but they were at least $30 and the insulated ones with a lid were over $40. While there, though, I discovered the REI Doppio, which is a stainless steel, insulated, has a lid, and is designed to not have a handle so it fit perfectly in the pot. And it was $9.50. It only holds 6 ounces so isn’t huge but that turned out not to be a problem (read on)…

Component #3: The Coffee — This was the clincher. I know from past travels and camping expeditions that instant or freeze dried coffee is not palatable. Starbucks, however, recently introduced their VIA instant coffee which is a cut above instant coffee and comes in a variety of blends so you can mix and match (and even get decaf if you like). I tried VIA when it came out and, although not as good as the Peet’s I brew every morning at home, it’s much better than typical hotel coffee. VIA comes in individual cup packets, and you can get a 3 pack or a 12 pack at any Starbucks anywhere.

Component #4: Mini Moo’s — Clearly I’m not going to go to all this trouble to make good travel coffee and ruin it with “non-dairy coffee creamer” which tastes horrible and contains enough phosphate to be a laundry detergent. The solution for travel cream is Land O’Lakes Mini Moo’s, which are individually sized containers of half-and-half (milk and cream) which don’t have to be refrigerated. A box of 192 Mini Moo’s is available at Smart & Final for $10.

On the Road: Packing is easy. Four individual Mini Moo’s fit inside the REI mug, which then goes in a Ziplock bag (just in case something leaks), which then fits inside the pot. The assortment of Via packets travels in the 12-pack box, inside its own Ziplock bag. More Mini Moo’s could go in that bag too. The whole collection takes up about as much space in my suitcase as one dress shoe. It travels quite well, even with rough handling from international baggage gorillas.

Brewing is fast and simple. About 0.3L of water in the pot makes two cups, each using one VIA packet (so the small size of the REI mug isn’t a problem). The REI mug with lid keeps the coffee hot for quite a while. I’m out less than $20 for the pot and mug, plus less than $1 a cup for the coffee and cream. Yum!

posted Monday 1:00 pm

May

2010

How Much is a Dime Bottle?

Several years ago I discovered by accident that a dime would just fit through the opening in a wine bottle, though I confess I can’t remember exactly why I even thought to try it. That begged the question, “How many dimes does it take to fill a wine bottle?” So every day as I was removing loose change from my pocket I’d toss any dimes I’d received into an empty wine bottle on my desk.

Recently, after what I’d guess must have been six or eight years, the bottle got full. My son and I sat down and counted its contents and discovered there were exactly 1500 dimes inside. That’s $150.00 worth of accumulated pocket change, which I’ve now rolled up so I can take them to the bank.

A dime weighs just over 2 grams, so the bottle contained abound 6 pounds 10 ounces of dimes.

Most of the dimes were the copper/nickel clad composition adopted in 1965 but we found three old silver dimes, the kind I remember from my childhood and which I collected for a while. Silver goes for about $18.50 an ounce today so each of those old dimes has about $1.30 worth of silver in it. (You can see why the US Mint wanted to take silver out of all our coins…) I’m keeping the silver dimes, by the way, though more for their novelty and sentimental reasons than their metal value.

Footnote: For the curious the wine bottle is a 2001 Kaikoura Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, which a close family friend brought back to us as a gift from a trip to New Zealand.

posted Monday 9:15 pm

May

2010

Great Weekend for Viewing the Night Sky

This is a fabulous weekend for getting out and taking a look at the night sky as two extraordinary things are happening. Venus and the Moon will be very close together in the west just after sunset, and the International Space Station (ISS) will make several very bright passes overhead. Depending on where you live, you may also be able to see the Space Shuttle (STS-132) as it approaches the Space Station. It’s absolutely worth getting out for a look, especially if you’re already planning to be out for a picnic, baseball game, or just walking the dog.

Be advised that details will vary somewhat from location to location. It’s easy to find out specifics for wherever you’ll be thanks to web sites like Heavens Above or NASA’s SkyWatch. I’ll describe conditions for the San Francisco Bay area (where I live) and also for Nashville, Tennessee (where I have lots of family and friends).

Venus and the Moon At Conjunction

About 20 to 30 minutes after sunset on Saturday, May 15th you should begin to look just above the horizon to the west. (This time of year, and given Daylight Savings Time in the US, sunset will be around 8:15pm and twilight will end around 8:40pm.) The moon will be a very thin crescent and Venus will shine brightly just above it and to the left. It won’t be dark until after 9pm but if you don’t have a clear view of the western horizon you may lose sight of the Moon and Venus before then. Watch for as long as you can, as the darker it gets the more of the unlit portion of the Moon you’ll be able to see.

On Sunday night, May 16th the Moon and Venus will be also very close together, but the Moon’s position will have moved so that Venus is closer to the horizon and the Moon is to its upper left, nearly an exact reversal in position and spacing from Saturday night. The two objects will, therefore, be higher in the sky and you’ll have more time to enjoy seeing them before they disappear below your western horizon. Also, the crescent of the Moon will be twice as thick on Sunday as on Saturday. (About 10% of the Moon’s surface will be illuminated on Sunday compared to about 5% on Saturday. This means the Moon will be twice as bright on Sunday too.)

I use Stellarium, a free open source planetarium program, to view the night sky and plan my observing sessions, and it here’s its view of Venus and the Moon looking slightly northwest from my back yard on Saturday evening, May 15th:

The International Space Station

By astonishing coincidence on Saturday and Sunday evening, just as the Sun goes down and the Moon and Venus drift together low in the west, the International Space Station will pass west to east and shine very brightly over head - almost as bright as Venus. I’ve seen ISS pass overhead several times in the last few months and believe me when I tell you it’s startlingly bright and mesmerizing when you realize it’s a man-made craft, with people on board, passing approximately 200 miles overhead.

It’s important to note that for some US cities (generally those in the western US) the bright pass will be on Saturday night and for others(generally those in the eastern US) it the bright pass will be on Sunday night. Exactly when it will appear, how long it will be visible, and how high in the sky it will go varies greatly so you’ll want to consult Heaven’s Above or NASA’s SkyWatch to be sure.

For the San Francisco Bay Area ISS will make a bright pass overhead starting at 9:35pm Pacific Time on Saturday night, May 15th. It will appear on the horizon in the northwest, pass very close to the Moon and Venus, and continue rising as it speeds eastward. Watch closely and you’ll see ISS pass close to the planets Mars and Saturn before it disappears out of sight in the Earth’s shadow just a few seconds after 9:41pm. The entire visible pass lasts about five and a half minutes so you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy it. Here’s the detailed path as calculated by Heavens Above:

Courtesy of Heavens Above

Path of ISS over the San Francisco Bay Area — Saturday, May 15th. (From Heavens Above)

For Nashville, Tennessee the bright overhead pass of ISS is on Sunday, May 16th. Interestingly the path taken is almost exactly the same as the above chart. ISS appears low in the northwest at 8:55pm Central Time, moves past Mars and Saturn, and disappears into Earth’s shadow at 9:02pm Central Time.

Special Guest - The Space Shuttle

If you can see ISS on either Saturday or Sunday there’s a good chance you can spot Space Shuttle Atlantis too. It lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Friday, May 14th as the last scheduled Space Shuttle mission ever (STS-132) and will be spending the weekend catching up with ISS prior to docking late on Sunday. Consult Heavens Above or NASA SkyWatch for specifics.

Good Luck - I Hope You Have Clear Skies!

I’m planning to be outside both Saturday and Sunday evenings enjoying the view of the Moon and Venus, watching for ISS, and hoping for one last glimpse of the Space Shuttle before it retires.

posted Saturday 9:15 am

Dec

2009

Geek Stocking Stuffers

In the course of my on-line Christmas shopping and hunting for good gift ideas I’ve come across a few items that I think would make excellent stocking stuffers for any geeks you might have on your gift list. They’d also be good for any low-price gift exchange you might have at the office or school. Some of them I own so can review directly, others I’ve only seen but find appealing. In the spirit of “give a gift you’d like to have for yourself”, these are all items I’d love to find in my stocking on Christmas morning.

iBend

iBend stand for iPhone/iPod If you like to watch movies or TV shows on your iPhone or iPod touch you’ve learned to cradle it in your hands for long periods of time or rest it against something. On long flights you figure out some way to set it on the seat-back tray and prop it up. Instead, consider the iBend - a clever piece of small, flexible plastic that curls up to form the perfect stand. When not it use it’s small enough to fit in your iPhone/iPod case. For $5.99 plus shipping you get two of them and there are several colorful designs. I have one and it works great!

Emergency Flashlight Charger

Emergency Flashlight Charger There’s nothing worse than having your cell phone, GPS, MP3 player, or other critical gizmo run out of battery power while you’re on the road and away from an electrical outlet. External battery packs are readily available to help with that but you need to keep them charged too. I’ve seen a few emergency chargers that would take a AA battery, which is great, but now you can have one that’s also a bright LED flashlight. It comes with three connectors that fit a wide range of devices - mini-USB, BlackBerry, Motorola, Samsung, LGE, HTC, etc. The case is metal so it’s very sturdy (though that makes it a bit heavy.) It’s available from Wireless Ground, on sale for the holidays at $14.95 plus shipping. I have one of these and keep it in my travel kit. I’m not sure that it’ll charge an iPod but plan to see if I can make that work.

Monster Outlets-to-Go

Monster Outlets-to-Go Hotel and meeting rooms simply don’t have enough open electrical outlets. Even finding one to use can be difficult unless you’re prepared to unplug a lamp or alarm clock, and one open outlet is never enough. Carrying a regular extension cord isn’t an option, and simple outlet multipliers aren’t spacious enough to accommodate several charger plugs or power bricks. Monster Outlets-to-Go is just what you need. They come in 3 outlet, 4 outlet, or 6 outlet models in several colors and cleverly have the outlets on front and back to give more room for wide plug-ins. I don’t have one (yet, hint) but they look like a perfect addition to my travel kit. $15-$20 plus shipping from a variety of sources including Amazon.

Math Mug

I already have a cupboard full of coffee mugs but how could I not love this one? The Math Mug sports 20 of the most popular and important math formulas, including the one that is my car license plate (Euler’s Identity, e^iπ+1=0), Dirac’s Equation, Newton’s Second Law, Schrodinger’s Equation, and many more. What a great conversation starter, too, as folks gathering for a meeting can ask you about each formula and you can give an impromptu math class to get everyone’s brain going. $12.95 plus shipping from Signals. (I don’t have one of these, either…)

Power Outlet with Built-in USB Charger

Power outlet with USB The outlet in our master bedroom is constantly in use to charge a steady stream of phones, MP3 players, headsets, and other gizmos. That means there’s also a pile of power adapters nearby cluttering up the counter. How nice it will be to replace that outlet with this one from FastMac, which has not one but two built-in USB charger ports. It’s $9.95 plus shipping, but alas won’t be available until sometime in early 2010 when certification testing completes. Still, you could pre-order it or perhaps wait until it’s ready and use instead as a birthday or anniversary gift.

posted Saturday 11:00 am

Nov

2009

Netbook Project #1 - Navigation & Travel Fun

I’m enjoying my Asus Eee PC netbook and have been tinkering around with a few projects to let me get more out of it. The first one that struck me was to use it as an in-car navigation system on family automobile trips, rather than my laptop as I have done in the past. (Before going any further let me point out that my role on long family driving trips is as the navigator so I’m not simultaneously driving and attempting to use a computer. When it’s my turn to drive someone else in the family takes over as computer navigator).

Though I’ve had good success using my laptop for navigation they are large, consume lots of power (and so even get hot), don’t fit well anywhere in the car, and are harder to stow out-of-sight when we stop. The netbook form factor is much better on all counts.

Here’s my solution:

Netbook Project #1 - Navigation

Mapping Software: I’ve been using Delorme’s Street Atlas USA program for a long time and had a copy of the 2005 version at hand. Like most netbooks mine doesn’t have an optical drive so installing Street Atlas meant copying the CD onto a USB flash drive on a desktop system then installing on the netbook from the flash drive.

Data Communications: My netbook doesn’t have on-board Bluetooth and while I could have used a USB cable to hook it to my GPS that would have limited placement of both items in the car plus meant dealing with a cable. Instead I added the well-reviewed Asus USB-BT21 Bluetooth mini-dongle ($10 from Newegg.com with free shipping). Installing the driver and Widcomm (Broadcomm) Bluetooth stack again required copying the CD to a flash drive though could have also been done from the Asus web site.

GPS & Data Logger: My GPS unit is a Wintec WBT-200, which I bought several years ago. I like that the WBT-200 is small, has good battery life, supports Bluetooth and USB communications, recharges through the USB port, and is both a GPS receiver and data logger capable of recording over 12,000 points. Even though I now have a GPS receiver in my cell phone I tend to carry the WBT-200 with me whenever I travel. While the WBT-200 is now discontinued there are other similar (but better) units available.

Setup: Configuring everything was easy. I inserted the Bluetooth mini-dongle into one of the Eee PC’s 3 USB ports, turned on the GPS and paired it with the netbook while it worked out a position fix, then launched Street Atlas USA and told it to connect to the GPS via the comm port identified during the pairing process. My position showed up on the map and I was set.

Using Street Atlas means I can plan and save routes then navigate along those routes, getting real time updates on distance to next turn, distance to next stop, etc. And I can use the netbook for anything else I might need while in the car, such as checking a TripTik downloaded from AAA, transferring photos from my digital camera, listening to music, or even watching a movie. (Again, I am not driving while doing any of this. Honest.)

Extra Credit: Two other items make the setup even more usable:

Netbook Project #1 - optional enhancements

I ordered a car power adapter for the Eee PC from Semsons.com so I am not limited by the battery life of the netbook. I also have a USB “finger trackball”, which is like wearing a small trackball (with buttons) on your index finger. When used with the netbook instead of a mouse the finger trackball lets you move the cursor, click buttons, and interact with applications from a comfortable distance. This is perfect for in the car when the built-in track pad is hard to control precisely and a mouse requires a working surface. You can find them lots of places, including Amazon.com.

Final Thoughts: I have a big cross-country driving trip planned in mid-December and will use it to test my netbook navigation and in-car entertainment system. Clearly I’ll let you know how it goes. (“Hey, are we there yet?!?!?!…..”)

posted Tuesday 9:44 pm

Nov

2009

LRO and the Apollo 11 Landing Site

NASA has just released some higher-resolution photos of the Apollo 11 landing site taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Detail in these new photos is good enough not only to see the Lunar Module (LM) descent stage but several of the experiment packages left behind, the primary TV camera, and the tracks Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left as they explored the site:

The boulder strewn area around West Crater is where the LM had been designated to land, but Neil Armstrong recognized the danger and took control manually. He guided the craft to a safer area just to the west, landing with just a few seconds of fuel left.

I couldn’t help but wonder how much of what Apollo 11 left behind can be seen. I’ve taken that image and zoomed in on the landing area, annotating some of the features you can make out:

LRRR is the Laser Ranging RetroReflector, which reflects laser pulses sent from Earth and allows precise measurement of the distance to the Moon. PSEP is the Passive Seismic Experiment Package, designed to detect moonquakes and impacts. Little West Crater is about 50 meters from the LM, and the tracks leading to it were left by Neil Armstrong as he walked to its rim and took photographs of it and the landing site. It’s hard enough to make out in this image that I’ve drawn a line outlining its rim. (Interestingly this same crater is sometimes called East Crater because it was East of the LM.)

The USGS created a detailed map of the Apollo 11 site showing reference craters, equipment locations, tracks left by Armstrong and Aldrin, and fields of view from several key locations. It compares very favorably to the LRO image (though doesn’t cover all the way to Little West Crater).

The TV camera, LRRR, PSEP, Double Crater, as well as Armstrong & Aldrin erecting the US flag are all visible in this panoramic photomosaic made from images taken out the left window of the LM.

The map makes it easy to spot the items in the panorama, and also corresponds to where those items are in the LRO image at the beginning of this post.

Someday the Apollo 11 site will be a museum, meticulously protected to preserve everything left behind exactly as it was when Armstrong and Aldrin departed in the LM ascent stage on July 21, 1969. How I’d love to visit that museum and see in person what I watched so intently on TV as a space-crazed thirteen year old. For now, I’ll study NASA archives and LRO images and use my imagination. I’m told even more detailed LRO images will be available soon, so there’s more to come.

posted Sunday 12:41 am

Nov

2009

Check out the 2009 Leonid meteor shower this week!

1833 Leonid storm over Niagara Falls The Leonid meteor shower occurs ever year around November 17th and so will paying us a visit this coming week. It is one of our more famous annual showers because it has the potential to produce stunning meteor storms and has done so a few times in the past. (The picture to the right is based on the extraordinary 1833 storm as viewed over Niagara Falls.) Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through the orbit of a comet and sweep up debris left behind as the comet makes its regular trip around the sun.

So what should we expect this year? Meteor shower prediction is an imprecise science based on computer models of cometary orbits, and attempting to account for perturbation of those orbits by the Sun and planets over long periods of time. Analysis for this year’s Leonids have produced a wide range of results. I’ve seen some articles predict a nice, fairly normal meteor shower with peak rates of about 20 to 30 meteors an hour. That’s quite a show, actually, and one that’s absolutely worth watching especially since all you have to do is take a comfortable chair outside and sit where you have an open view of the night sky.

Some computer models, though, indicate Earth will pass through dense swarms of debris left by the Leonids’ parent comet (P/Tempel-Tuttle) when it passed by in the years 1466 and 1533. Those models project much higher peak rates of 120 to 150 meteors an hour and perhaps as high as 900 to 1500! Any such peaks would last only for a few minutes and be visible only by observers in Asia (see this map).

No matter where you live please do plan to observe the Leonids. Observers in the US should venture outside just after local midnight in the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 17th. The later you can stay up, the better. (Call in sick on Tuesday if you have to.) Take a warm beverage, perhaps a blanket, and sit where you have a clear view of the eastern sky. One other note — New Moon is on November 16th so there will be no moonlight to diminish your meteor watching this year. For more information and observing tips check out these articles from Sky & Telescope, Space.com and National Geographic

posted Sunday 8:58 pm

Nov

2009

ThinkGeek What could possibly be better than a real Tauntaun sleeping bag, complete with light saber zipper pull, simulated fur exterior, built-in embroidered Tauntaun head pillow, saddle, legs, tail, and best of all printed intestines pattern on the inside of the bag? Thinkgeek.com has done it again! The description says it’s large enough to fit an adult. (I wonder why they did that??) Fortunately it doesn’t smell really bad but it is still every bit as warm as the real thing.

posted Tuesday 7:06 pm

"My trade is to say what I think", Voltaire