We Choose the Moon

Today is the 40th birthday of the launching of Apollo 11. You can watch a simulated "real-time" reconstruction of it at the website We Choose the Moon, complete with recorded sounds and everything. Or you can follow Houston Control, Apollo 11 Spacecraft and the Eagle Lander on Twitter. Nature News is also Twittering it.
T -11 minutes.

Also, check out Aryeh's post from two years ago regarding the Rutgers Lunar Symposium where he met one of the few lucky men to walk on the moon.

Finally, be sure to see NASA's restored moonwalk videos.

No Bike

A week ago I brought my bike to Rutgers. In the evening I would bike while some friends ran, this was a good way for us all to get exercise and stay in shape. Additionally, due to the number of us we had momentum so that we would all encourage each other to keep going and not miss a night. Well this Sunday someone stole my bike, I left it at 8:22 PM and came back at 9:35 to go for a ride. It was not there, the friend I was with told me that he had gotten in at 8:40 and had not seen it. I of course reported it to the police that evening, and this afternoon I spoke with them and they said that the camera on the door near where I had locked my bike (to a brick wall) had picked up activity around that area at 8:30 I know the times because I friends with the person who controls the cameras in the engineering building and had him look to see the exact times, in fact the reason i had been at my bike at that time was so that he could show me counter steering. Also, when I told him about the theft he called the Rutgers people who monitor the cameras and told them what camera and what time, which is why I figure the Rutgers police department got the footage so quickly. so we shall see what happens.

You where a great bike I hope I get you back.

Fun with Matlab, why

Lately I've been running a few Matlab programs that take about 5 minutes to finish. Naturally I continue to use my computer - but then I don't know when its finished. To solve this problem I add a bit of code to the end of all my programs which will play a sound - like the beep of a microwave, or the ding of a toaster to let me know that my numbers are fully crunched.

If you would also like to have this for your own programs just slip the following into the end.

%% To play a sound

T=419*2; T2=419*4; st=[1:.3:T]; t2=[1:.3:T2];

S=(sin(t*pi/T).^.2+sin(t*pi/T).^2).*sin((t+sin(t/2)*.2).^1.0)/2;

S2=(sin(t2*pi/T2).^.4+sin(t2*pi/T2).^4).*sin((t2+sin(t2/2)*.2)*1.5)/2;

sound([S S],8192); sound(S2,8192);

Another great thing to do in Matlab: type "why" into the command line (without quotes) and see what it answers. Just the word 'why'. Now I would love to show you an example (they are quite funny) but the computer I'm using doesn't have Matalb. The person who posts a comment with the longest answer that matlab gives to that question wins.

An Exploratorium Book

I recently purchased a secondhand copy of the second edition J.D. Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics.  (I actually own the latest edition, but the 2nd has Gaussian units as opposed to the annoying MKSA in the 3rd.)

It's always interesting to get secondhand books and see where they came from.  Well, I now own a piece of the Exploratorium.

I wonder why they got rid of this book.

Machinists Vice

I am currently machining a machinists vice. It is part of a pseudo machine shop class.

This is a 3-axis end mill, this is the machine we are using most.

From right to left is the progress of the main part. From a large piece of stock, we then cut out the center, from there we flip it over and make a groove. More as I complete my vice.

Good for ages 1+

Franconia Notch State Park

Franconia Notch State Park, the park with the old man of the mountain profile for New Hampshire is very close to the highway. Its not only very convinient to drive too, but also supplies a great view from the top . . . of the highway.

I came, I saw, I lit a fire.

Note: this fire is smaller than it appears.

No marshmellows, but the toasted bread this fire provided was nice.

They have a tourist attraction there called the Flume Gorge, which is $13 a person to walk on a boardwalk style "hike" through this gorge with escalators in the steep parts. Not my cup of tea, though I remember it being nice when I went a long time ago - with the Lansey Brothers and the Parental Units.

Open Letter to IKEA

Dear IKEA,
I understand you enjoy having a strange naming convention.  And while Barnslig is a cute name for a rattle, and Slitbar is a reasonable (although somewhat creepy) name for a knife, Barometer already means something.  You see, this

is a barometer.  So is this

and this

And these:

are also all barometers.
However, this

is called a Lamp, not a Barometer.

I expect you will update your product line name in light of this letter.
Sincerely,
A Nut.

P.S. Love your Billy bookcases

Screaming in the Rain

A month and a half ago my windshield wipers broke. After much delay I finally opened up the cover over the wiper assembly, during which time I was twice stuck in heavy rain with my head out the window to see. I discovered that one of the arms inside the mechanism had broken, so I removed the whole wiper assembly and order the parts I needed. Then my mothers vans breaks broke, so my mother had my car. I was looking forward to being able to fix my car while my car was nowhere near me, however she got home an hour before the part came in. All the same I now once again have windshield wipers, which is very nice considering the weather we have been having.

This is where the windshield wiper assembly is supposed to be.

This is the wiper assembly, the two black posts with nuts on them are where the wiper arms connect.

This of course is the underside of the wiper assembly. The replacement arm is in place, you can see how rotational power from the electric motor is converted into reciprocating motion for the wiper arms (the posts are in the bottom right and in the top left).

The assembly has been re-installed, I figure I don't need to post a picture with the plastic cover and wiper arms re-installed as I am sure you know what that looks like.