Leonid Meteor Shower

As they orbit the sun, comets release particles of icy dust about the size of a grain of sand which ignite as the earth’s atmosphere passes through. Dust from comet Temple-Tuttle is responsible for the Leonid shower. This years shower results from the pass through a lane of dust which was left in 1466. It is the same lane which produced spectacular results in 1966.

Therefore the Leonid Meteor Shower is expected to be spectacular this year and is predicted to reach its maximum on the nights of November 17th & 18th. Because the new moon, when the nights are darkest, is on the 16th, those nights will be perfect for meteor watching.

Meteor shower intensity is measured by how many meteors the observer records per hour. If the count reaches 1000 per hour it is classified a meteor storm. The Leonids often reach over 100 per hour with recorded maximums as high as a rate of 40-50 per second on the morning of November 17, 1966.

“On Nov. 17, 2009, we expect the Leonids to produce upwards of 500 meteors per hour,” said Bill Cooke of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. “That’s a very strong display.”

“We predict a sub-storm level outburst on Nov. 17, 2009, peaking sometime between 21:34 and 21:44 UT,” Cooke said. That favors observers in Asia, although Cooke won’t rule out a nice show over North America when darkness falls hours after the peak. “I hope so,” he said. “It’s a long way to Mongolia.”

Unfortunately, this peak occurs in the afternoon for those of us in central Texas, 3:34 – 3:44 pm CST. However, it still means there should be quite good meteor watching on both nights.

For information on where to look in the night sky and a very interesting discussion of the Leonids, read the following.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/04dec_leonids2009.htm

http://meteorshowersonline.com/leonids.html

http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/

Facebook’s invasive advertising scheme

Today I learned from Elizabeth Froebel Dahan that Facebook is now able to use your name and photos in ads to people on your friends list.

To opt out follow these steps:
1) Log in to Facebook
2) go to Settings>Privacy Settings>News Feed and Wall
3) Click Facebook Ads tab near top of pg
4) Set “Appearance in Facebook Ads” to “NO ONE”
5) Click “Save Changes.”

You’ve now opted out of an incredibly invasive advertising scheme.

Conner was baptized in the Guadalupe River today

Today, July 23, 2009, Conner Jacob Strickland was baptized in the Guadalupe River in Kerville, Tx. After singing, blessings & praise from many of his brothers & sisters, baptism was performed by Rusty Freeman & Ryan Barnett.

Click CJS Baptism to see a short video clip taken with my iPhone.

My First Tweet was Aug 7, 2007

Apparently I am nearing my August 7, 2007 Twitter Anniversary !

scobleizer.com ff strangeness ?

@Scobleizer Love scobleizer.com with the live FF stuff on the side, but what is up with this? It happens when I drag the scroll elevator down to see more comments. Mac OS X 10.5.7, Safari 4.0.2.

Why does Twitter notify me via email?

On twitter.com my updates are protected. I like to know when I’m being followed and by whom.

Also on settings > notices I have enabled Email when someone starts following me

The more I use Twitter, the less attention I pay to email.

However, oddly, I keep an eye on the email watching for new requests to follow me on Twitter.

That don’t make a lick-a-sense!

On settings > notices I should be able to enabled Direct Message me when someone starts following me, perhaps with an additional option to send email.

.dws

2001 Motorola Flip no sync to 2009 iPhone 3Gs !!

In 2001 I used a Motorola flip phone, and loved it. However I was annoyed having to maintain contacts in the phone with no way to sync or even copy then to my computer. I tried various cables and searched for software, but it all stunk and was worthless.

In 2003 I got a Sony Ericsson phone with Bluetooth which would sync with my Address Book on Mac OS X! After that I refused to ever have a phone that would not sync with my computer. Next few years I moved to better & better phones with BlueTooth, each time just syncing with my Address Book and I’m ready to go with the same contacts I’d used on the previous phone.

In 2007 I got an iPhone, 1st generation. Bluetooth was not fast enough it synced the following via a USB connected dock; Music, Pictures, Video, Podcasts, Calendar, Email, Contacts, Bookmarks via iTunes !

Today, 2009, I got an iPhone 3Gs. Via USB it syncs all of the above along with Notes, Ringtones, Apps & Games ! After one sync it feels like home, with all the same content I had on the first iPhone and this one is now less than half full ! If I want (which I don’t yet) I can sync contacts, calendar & bookmarks via push.

If you still maintain a contact list in your phone by hand and don’t understand why sync is so great … please ask me.

~ dws.

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

Michael Jackson

artist pain success wealth fame loved alone influential confused followed lost heroic unknown gone

as a kid & young man I joked, “he who dies with the most toys wins.”

not funny anymore

TinyChat looks cool!

Posting this mainly as a reminder to look at it later https://tinychat.com/

Too early to tell

From CNet, KNOWN to drool all over Microsoft announcements )

Too early to tell
While there’s no doubt that Microsoft caught everyone’s attention with the Project Natal announcement, it’s by no means certain that it will be a business success. For one, the company gave no indication of when the technology would be in users’ hands. Nor did Microsoft say whether it would be sold as an Xbox accessory or be bundled with the console.

… afterward, Microsoft could not provide any additional details about the technology.

What this all means, then, is that while it’s very clear Microsoft has some seriously cool technology on its hands, there’s no way to judge–based on what we know right now, at least–whether Microsoft can successfully integrate Natal into its larger Xbox ecosystem.

~
Let me remind you of the desperate demo of Microsoft Surface trotted out just before the iPhone introduction two years ago. We were told we’d see them by fall … yeah right. The ONLY Microsoft Surface I’ve seen was in a lame movie (along with Aliens, a 40 ft robot with a Laser Eye and Intergalactic Orbs).
~ dws