Amazing Video of the Moon Transiting the Sun

I’m an astronomy geek. I’ve always been an astronomy geek. But never have I seen anything as amazing as NASA’s beautiful video of the moon transiting the sun. (A transit is, essentially, the same as eclipse, except that the forward body does not fully occlude the rear body.)

Here’s an image of the transit:

But an image cannot do this justice. Do yourself a favor and watch this on video. NASA has three video sizes: small, medium, and large. Watch the large version.

If this doesn’t blow your mind, you fail to comprehend the cosmic scale involved here. This is light-years (ha!) better than any movie special effect. This is real life! That is our sun. That is what allows all life on Earth. It’s awesome.

Here’s some info from the NASA web site:

“The images have an alien quality,” notes [NASA scientist Lika] Guhathakurta. “It’s not just the strange colors of the sun. Look at the size of the Moon; it’s very odd.” When we observe a lunar transit from Earth, the Moon appears to be the same size as the sun — a coincidence that produces intoxicatingly beautiful solar eclipses. The silhouette STEREO-B saw, on the other hand, was only a fraction of the sun’s diameter. “It’s like being in the wrong solar system.”

The Moon seems small because of STEREO-B’s location. The spacecraft circles the sun in an Earth-like orbit, but it lags behind Earth by one million miles. This means STEREO-B is 4.4 times further from the Moon than we are, and so the Moon looks 4.4 times smaller.

STEREO-B has a sister ship named STEREO-A. Both are on a mission to study the sun. While STEREO-B lags behind Earth, STEREO-A orbits one million miles ahead (“B” for behind, “A” for ahead). The gap is deliberate: it allows the two spacecraft to capture offset views of the sun. Researchers can then combine the images to produce 3D stereo movies of solar storms.

Of particular interest are coronal mass ejections (CMEs), billion ton clouds of electrified gas hurled into space by explosions on the sun. “STEREO’s ability to see these clouds in 3-dimensions will revolutionize our understanding of CMEs and improve our ability to predict when they will hit Earth,” she says.

The STEREO mission is still in its early stages. The two spacecraft were launched in Oct. 2006 and reached their stations on either side of Earth in January 2007. Now it’s time for check-out and calibration. The first 3D views of solar storms are expected in April.

I can watch this video again and again. If anything is going to make believe in a god, it’s going to be something like this. Amazing. Don’t you folks be lobbying to cut my space program!

[NASA: Stereo eclipse, via kottke]

Rating the Bond Films: The Brosnan Era

In December, I watched all the Sean Connery-era Bond films. In January, I watched all of those from Roger Moore. Last month I watched all of the films from the Pierce Brosnan era, which also includes Bonds Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig. This final group of films shows signs of life, then plummets the series to a new low. Fortunately the most recent Bond film is the best yet.

The Living Daylights (1987) – Timothy Dalton [6.6] – B-
The first 25 minutes of this film are baffling. The second 25 are just boring. But despite the rocky start, about midway through I became accustomed to Dalton’s style and accepted him for what he is. He’s a softie. He melds into the picture more than Roger Moore did. (Moore always stood out like polished silver in a drawer of stainless steel flatware.) The story here is very strong (continuing a trend — the last few Bond films have had stronger stories). Maryam d’Abo doesn’t fit the mold of previous Bond women. She has a different look. She’s lovely.

License to Kill (1989) – Timothy Dalton [6.4] – B+
The strongest Bond story since the 1960s, and a solid Bond film indeed. No secret agent stuff here, just pure vendetta.

GoldenEye (1995) – Pierce Brosnan [6.9] – A-
Bond seems to have finally hit its stride. A magnificent opening shot. Hell, a magnificent opening sequence. Sure the final stunt defies physics and probability, but it’s AWESOME. The cinematography is gorgeous, like nothing before seen a Bond film. (Though it reminds me of Casino Royale in many ways. (Aha! Upon compiling this roundup I learned that the director and cinematographer were the same on both films.)) A fine cast, including two X-Men and Borimir. I love the Russian dancers singing “Stand By Your Man” — best comic scene EVER in a Bond film. The only thing that really keeps this from making it to the top of the list is a lack of “tightness”. The story is fantastic, the directing is fantastic, the acting is fantastic — but things just aren’t as smooth as they should be. Two-thirds through there’s an extended chase scene with a tank that’s just tedious. Also, there are far too many explosions. A top-notch bond flick. (And, seriously, it’s just gorgeous.)

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) – Pierce Brosnan [6.4] – C+
This film features two great supporting players. Jonathan Pryce is Elliot Carver, a media mogul bent on causing World War III so that he can reap the rewards of increased viewers (and get an exclusive century-long deal in China). Michelle Yeoh is Wai Lin, a Chinese secret agent working alongside Bond. The script, at times, is great. But this Bond is undone by some of the worst features of the series: nonsensical action scenes (the teaser is just lame, the parking garage scene is not much better, and the motorcycle chase is the kind of thing that has made me walk out of movies in the past). There’s also a dreaded mass-combat ending, though it’s just Bond vs. the army of bad guys. This is the weakest film since the end of the Roger Moore era.

The World is Not Enough (1999) – Pierce Brosnan [6.3] – D-
Lame, idiotic opening boat chase. It’s sheer lunacy. Want to see a boat drive through the streets of London, knocking over market stalls, crashing through restaurants, making things explode that couldn’t possibly explode? This is your movie. Dumb dumb dumb. A huge step backward for the franchise. There’s yet another ski chase, but it’s dumb. There are far too many random explosions, and each of them features Chinese fireworks to “add” to the effect. We have to endure “hilarious” witticism after “hilarious” witticism. Puns are not funny when they’re stretched over the thinnest of frameworks. “He was buried with work…” Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha. So damn funny. This film’s worst sin is that it’s boring. It should have been called “20,000 Explosions are Not Enough”. There are more explosions here than in all other Bond movies combined. That is not a good thing.

Die Another Day (2002) – Pierce Brosnan [6.2] – F
James Bond meets CGI. This film is awful on nearly every level. It has three redeeming features:

An intriguing plot.
An effective credits sequence that also serves as exposition.
Rosamund Pike

Pure dreck.

Casino Royale (2006) – Daniel Craig [8.0] – A
Ah: the creme de le creme. Casino Royale is far, far more violent than the Bonds that have come before. It’s a product of its day: a loud, visually exciting piece. It’s also overly long, though I’m not sure what I’d cut. But damn, it’s exciting. The opening credits sequence is the best of any Bond film. The soundtrack is a thing of beauty. (To really appreciate it, you have to have seen several of the Bond films recently, I think. It begins with a unique theme, which is close to, but not the same as, the traditional Bond theme. This is fitting since this is ostensibly the first Bond adventure. As the film progresses, this new theme gradually changes, always drifting closer to the Bond theme we know and love. But it’s only at the final scene of the theme that we finally hear what we’ve expected to hear the entire time. Nicely done.) I’ve seen this film twice now, and like it more after a second viewing (and after having viewed the entire series). I’m buying the DVD when it’s released tomorrow — the first DVD I’ve purchased in a long time. After I took Kris to see it, I asked her how she liked it. “I’d only give it a B,” she said. She paused. “But compared to the other Bond films, it stands head and shoulders above the rest. It was actually good in spots.” Many spots, if you ask me.

Keeping score
On average, the Connery-era Bond films received a rating of 7.1 from users of the Internet Movie Database. They received a GPA of 2.47 from me. On average, the Moore-era Bond films received a rating of 6.6 from users of the Internet Movie Database. They received a GPA of 2.09 from me. The Brosnan-era Bond films received a rating of 6.7 from IMDB. I gave them a GPA of 2.39. (Note that without Casino Royale, these scores are 6.5 and 2.12.)

Which Bond is best?
This is a tough question to answer. Each actor has his strengths. (Well, except for Lazenby.) Timothy Dalton doesn’t get a lot of credit, but I like what he did in his two films. Moore did a fine job with the glitz and glamour side of Bond, but he was inept at the action sequences. For my part, Moore and Brosnan did the best job of capturing all sides of the character. Brosnan, though, was, except for his first outing, handicapped by terrible scripts and, at times, bad direction. Daniel Craig’s turn showed much promise, and an exciting new direction for the character, but I’m withholding judgment until I’ve seen a couple more performances.

In conclusion
I’m glad to have watched all the Bond films in rapid succession. I don’t feel the need to ever do it again. I think that the reboot of the series in the most recent film is exactly what needed to happen. The series has, it seems, returned to its secret agent roots, ditched the comic book character villains, and decided to take itself serious. Now if they can tone the action scenes down even further, the producers may have finally found that fables lost era of Bond gold. (Because despite all of its cultural capital, the series has never been able to sustain a run of good films.) I look forward to the 22nd installment!

I’m Writing a New Book Every Month

Amy Jo — who has re-opened From a Corner Table, by the way — forwarded a link to Write-a-Go-Go, a site which challenges people to write 36,000 words in 3 months.

Welcome to your new challenge. Ready? 36,000 words sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? 144 manuscript pages? But when you break it down to 1,000 words, three times a week, isn’t that something you can do?

This got me to wondering: is it something I can do? Is it something I already do? I don’t know. But because I’m a geek, I knew could find out. A little digging turned up a word count plugin for WordPress. I installed it and voila! Now I have word count stats at GRS.

I average 29,300 words per month at Get Rich Slowly. It’s not as easy to use plugins with Moveable Type, so I’m not going to try to calculate my word count here. I suspect it used to be in the 25,000 word per month range but has probably fallen to around 15,000 words per month. Do I write another 5,000 words per month at my other sites? Probably. I think it’s safe to say that I’m publishing 50,000 words per month. I’m writing 1,500 words per day. (I’m actually probably writing double that — I figure half of what I write never sees the light of day.)

How much is 50,000 words per month in real-world terms? According to this guide to average manuscript lengths, novels are generally between 25,000 and 150,000 words. A 50,000 word novel would be 200 pages long. I’m writing the equivalent of a 200-page book every month.

Holy shit.

Now, there are a lot of considerations that go into writing a book that I’m not having to cope with. Short articles are much different than a book-length manuscript. I’m not saying that one is harder or that one is easier — they’re just different.

But still.

I’m writing a book each month.

The mind boggles.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Wow is it warm outside.

I just made a 3-1/2 mile walk to run some errands. I had thought about bundling up in a turtleneck. I’m glad I didn’t. The air feels room temperature, except that there’s a strong wind. There’s a little mist hanging in the air. It’s nice.

I had hoped to listen to my iPod, but I updated its OS this morning, and when it was finished it asked me to plug it into the wall adapter. Fine in theory except that I’d just sent it to Virginia with Kris. She’s gone for a week of “glass training” at the FBI headquarters.

So instead I walked without a book playing in my ears. I listened to the wind. And to the birds. And to the dogs. And to the children playing in the park. I smiled to see the blossoming cherries, and the green of the willows, which are already showing tiny leaves.

I reached the library around noon. As I deposited my books in the return slot, I was tempted by the smells emanating from the Chinese buffet next door. I resisted. I walked up the highway to the grocery store, pausing to admire the shiny BMW 325i at the used car lot (“pre-owned” car lot — ha!). I resisted. At Safeway I bought a bag of greens, a tub of olives, and some lunch meat. (Kris managed to find some preservative-free lunch meat for me, which is keen.) I was tempted by the cookies. I resisted. I did stop to buy 25 cents worth of chiclet gum on the way out the door, though.

On my walk home, I passed several people out walking their dogs. The Asian man who owns the Buy-Rite was on the sidewalk in front of his store, cigarette dangling from his lips, swinging a golf club — whish, whish, whish.

At home, Meatball decided he could go outside to join his brothers. Toto followed me around, moaning piteously. “Where’s mom? Where’s mom?” Eventually she decided I would do for company. She followed me upstairs and purred as I watched my last James Bond movie.

It’s already lonely without Kris.

Safari: A Love/Hate Relationship

The default Macintosh browser is Safari. It’s a lovely piece of work. It’s by far my favorite browser to work with on a daily browser. But it has a problem. It’s woefully unstable. It crashes all the time, on every Mac I own. (And I have four of them.) It’s been like this since day one. This is a Bad, Bad Thing.

Because of what I do — maintain an infinite number of weblogs — I keep approximately 10-20 browser tabs open at all times. These are things about which I am currently writing, or hope to write soon. When Safari crashes, it takes those tabs with it, and there’s little hope of recovering them. (In extreme cases, I do sort through the hundreds of pages of browser history in search of a particularly important page, but mostly I just give the sites up as lost.)

For a long time, I switched to Firefox. Firefox crashes, too. But when Firefox crashes, recovery is easy. Firefox saves your “session”. That is, it remembers which tabs you had opened at crash. There is no excuse for Safari not to incorporate saved sessions. This is an easy thing to program. I could program it. Seriously. It’s basic.

There are other reasons to prefer Firefox, too, of course: extensibility, speed, etc. The thing is: Safari offers a better user experience. It’s more pleasant to use. Sites look much better in Safari. I prefer Safari to Firefox. Except…

At this point, I really have little choice but to move to Firefox. I simply cannot continue to work like this. It sucks to have a dozen prime page get flushed down the drain.

Where is John Galt?

I’ve never been sympathetic to anti-tax rhetoric. Taxes are the price we pay for living in a country like the United States.

Sure, I wish the government had different spending priorities. But that’s why we have elected representation. If our legislators don’t do what we want, we vote them out of office. Taxes are the “price of admission” for civilization.

That’s what I’ve always believed.

Still, it’s one thing to have taxes withheld from my paycheck. That’s been going on my whole life, and I’m accustomed to it. I’m also used to paying taxes on the manufacturing business that I own with my family. That’s routine.

But it’s an entirely different thing to pay estimated taxes on my expected web income. I just wrote the checks for the first quarter payments. It’s as if a part of my soul has been ripped from me! (It’s certainly as if one month of my time has been taken from me.)

Where’s John Galt when I need him?

A Clean Mess

I’m in the process of cleaning my desk. It’s a mess. It was smart to set aside space in the guest room for my office: I’m able to come here for peace and quiet when I need to get writing done, especially on Sunday afternoons. But setting aside a space for writing hasn’t helped with my tendency toward clutter. If anything, I’ve become messier.

I have a habit of jotting down story ideas on whatever scrap of paper is at hand when I have the inspiration.

Here’s a broad overview for “Get Rich Slowly: The Book” scribbled on a napkin from a restaurant.
Here’s a barely legible note — “How much in an emergency fund? — on last week’s shopping list.
On letterhead from my day job, I’ve neatly printed notes describing “how to test-drive a career”. I have a rough outline for the entry. I’ve even written a quote from a Broadway musical related to the subject.
I often get ideas while driving to and from work. I listen to many self-development books on my iPod while commuting. These frequently spark ideas. Here’s one: “Small town personal finance”
On the back of library receipt I’ve jotted ideas for improving site layout. I remember writing these down while stuck in traffic.
My wife and I recently watched a screener for an upcoming film about credit. I have several pages of notes on that. Far more notes than will ever make it to the actual review at Get Rich Slowly.

These are just a few of the notes cluttering my desk. Add to that the stack of personal finance magazines, the tumble of books, and the dirty tea mugs and you have a very messy space.

In fact, I shouldn’t even be writing this. I should get back to cleaning!

Obey the Traffic Laws!

I almost hit a pedestrian this morning.

I was driving along, listening to my “chillout” music, lost in the drone of darkness and rain. I was in the right lane. I slowed as I approached a red light on McLoughlin, but the light turned green while I was still a couple hundred feet away. I accelerated.

“That’s odd,” I remember thinking to myself. “Why aren’t the cards in the left lane moving?” There were four cars just sitting there, as if the light were still red.

Then it dawned on me, just as I was about to enter the intersection, and I braked hard before I even knew there was somebody there. And there was somebody there: a man in a hooded jacket, head down, ambling across the far crosswalk, oblivious to everything around him.

A very close call, and not the kind of fright I like first thing in the morning.

This is why you’re not supposed to cross when you don’t have the walk signal. This is why you’re not supposed to run red lights. This is why we have traffic laws.

One morning about a decade ago I was making sales calls in Salem. I was in the right lane, coming down the hill next to the library toward downtown. I was behind another vehicle. As we approached the red light at the bottom of the hill, we slowed. But just as we reached the intersection, the light turned green. The car in front of me proceeded through the intersection, just as I would have done in its place.

You see where this is going: the car in front of me t-boned a pickup that had decided to risk the yellow light.

The thing that amazed me was that the other drivers who stopped as witnesses — the drivers who were in the left lane waiting for the light to turn green — all swore that the guy in my lane had run a red light. That’s not the case. I was watching the light, too, and know for a fact that it went green just moments before we got to the intersection.

I have no idea how that accident resolved, but I fear the driver in front of me got screwed.

Have I complained about stupid bicyclists lately? Or walkers?

I have no problem sharing the road. I walk a lot. I bike a lot. But, for the most part, I follow the rules of the road, which can be summarized as follows:

When walking on the road, walk against traffic.
When biking on the road, bike with traffic.
In almost every location it is illegal to bike on sidewalks.
Bicyclists must obey traffic signs.

Eighteen months ago I wrote about seeing a bicyclist get pulled over for violating traffic laws. I wish it happened more often.

Last month I made a right-hand turn onto a side street. My view of the street was obscured by a fence and by parked cars. Imagine my shock to find myself face-to-face with a bicyclist riding on the left side of the street. (Better yet, imagine his shock!)

Seriously: when you’re biking, there are few things more dangerous than biking on the left side of the street or riding on the sidewalk. Personally, I’m guilty of not stopping at lights and signs. Out here in the country, especially, I blow through stop signs on my bike. (Someday that’s going to get me killed.) Finally, please please please don’t let your kids ride on the sidewalk. And don’t do it yourself!

Three Out of Four Cats Agree…

Mom’s lap is the best place ever!

This American Life Coming to Television

I love This American Life. I don’t listen to it as often as I should. (I have 62 podcast episodes of the show downloaded but unheard.) But as much as I love it as a radio program, I’m even more excited at the prospect of the new television version:

“They can’t do this on TV,” Kris told me the other day. “It won’t work the same. Part of the charm of the show is that it’s iconic, that you don’t get to see the people, that you can project your own images.”

She has a point, but I have to say that the above teaser for the show does a lot to dispel my fears. I’m praying that the iTunes Music Store carries this show, because I’m not about to subscribe to Showtime to get it. I don’t want to have to resort to BitTorrent.