I really wonder how the family roped into this publicity stand for the Catholic Church. As if this old goat is going to be any use, or maybe, it might, if the culprit is a Catholic priest he might listen to his Vicar of Christ. Sheeesh...
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Mr Wolf, meet Miss Sheep...
Come on! How can this happen? The parents of the missing child meet the head of the biggest organisation who has protected sex abusers for so long, namely the Catholic Church and this religious bigot is supposed to be good just because he claims he is The Man of the God and he is completely infallible. I suppose he and his organisation use this infallibility when they ignore the pains of the abused.
Observation log
Yesterday, by the time I came back home, the weather was clear which is quite incredible itself, since it's been raining for the last week. Suddenly the clouds went away and a perfectly clear sky appeared, with an almost-full moon. We watched some stuff, then I saw Venus from the window (this is about 11pm). I set up the scope in the middle of the room but both Venus and Saturn didn't look that good. Having two people in the house is quite useful, we just took the kit outside and set it up very quickly.
Then we had a good look at Venus, unfortunately it appears to be in its gibbous phase so it wasn't much fun to look at. We peered at Saturn, which was nice but the conditions were not great. We could not see any of the gaps in the rings.
We looked at the Ring Nebula, which was great! I could not believe how easily I found it, considering that in the past many times I failed to locate it. It's just unbeliveable. Then we looked at Epsilon Lyrae and Deneb. I could not split the double-double, which really pissed me off. Wee peered at Castor and Pollux for fun.
What next, we looked at Mira in Ursa Major, which is not that spectacular on the scope.
Then we looked at the moon for a while using the moon filter, which really helps. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of craters to look at, since it was almost full moon.
Still, it was fun. By the time we packed up and went back upstairs, it was about 1am.
Missed opportunities: Andromeda Galaxy (I couldn't see it at all, I couldn't see Andromeda full stop, the light conditions were not great), double cluster (too low), all sorts of Messiers including Prasepae (which I completely forgot about). We could have done better but anyway, at least we used a very rare opportunity.
Todo list: maintenance on the EQ Mount, it's unbeliveably wobbly, you can't use the focus because it's so rigid and the telescope moves too easily, if not wobbles so bad, you can't even focus. Anyway, that can be done during any rainy evening... Heh, I'm not short of those lately.
Then we had a good look at Venus, unfortunately it appears to be in its gibbous phase so it wasn't much fun to look at. We peered at Saturn, which was nice but the conditions were not great. We could not see any of the gaps in the rings.
We looked at the Ring Nebula, which was great! I could not believe how easily I found it, considering that in the past many times I failed to locate it. It's just unbeliveable. Then we looked at Epsilon Lyrae and Deneb. I could not split the double-double, which really pissed me off. Wee peered at Castor and Pollux for fun.
What next, we looked at Mira in Ursa Major, which is not that spectacular on the scope.
Then we looked at the moon for a while using the moon filter, which really helps. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of craters to look at, since it was almost full moon.
Still, it was fun. By the time we packed up and went back upstairs, it was about 1am.
Missed opportunities: Andromeda Galaxy (I couldn't see it at all, I couldn't see Andromeda full stop, the light conditions were not great), double cluster (too low), all sorts of Messiers including Prasepae (which I completely forgot about). We could have done better but anyway, at least we used a very rare opportunity.
Todo list: maintenance on the EQ Mount, it's unbeliveably wobbly, you can't use the focus because it's so rigid and the telescope moves too easily, if not wobbles so bad, you can't even focus. Anyway, that can be done during any rainy evening... Heh, I'm not short of those lately.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Snow in May:: Anti-global warming pundits: STFU!
Rain mixing with snow, 0 degrees Celcius... 27 of May... Global warming denial crowd: just shut the fuck up, this is not supposed to happen!
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Trains
I want to see some railtrack and some trains... Shiny railtracks and heavy, dark, sleepers... That would be fun fun fun. And photographing them.
Friday, May 25, 2007
200705242030_slightly_more_relaxed_now
I love the channel tunnel. OTOH, I have serious issues with the train operators. They treat it like an airplane, whereas it isn't. It isn't that fully booked either, about half of the seats are empty right now. OK, it is middle-of-the-week late evening run but still you would have expected more people on it. I bet more people are flying between Brussels, London and Paris I write this thing. Also there aren't a lot of trains - I mean why would they, this carriage is half empty. On the other hand, they could have reduced the ticket prices and increase the frequency of the trains, more people would use it. It would really make a difference and it is much more civilised.
On the other hand... It's quite hard to get to. I mean, it starts at Waterloo, which is a pain in the ass to get to, or you can (maybe) get a train from Ashford but then you have to drive to Ashford, which is a significant distance for me (round trip around 200 miles) which sucks.
Technomaniac note: There's a problem with the focus on the laptop, quite a lot of times clicking doesn't actually grab the focus - it really pisses me off but I'm too tired to get angry about.
We're about to enter the tunnel, we've slowed down considerably now. The sun is setting and it's crystal clear. I should have been at home, observing.
Wohoo, the sun is beautiful, straight at the horizon... Or was.. Now we're going into the tunnel, I won't be able to see it again I think.
Now we're under the sea. I love this thing. Such an engineering feat, it should be used by more people, more often and the prices should be cheaper (so that even more people will be using it). They can make money by selling fuel and snacks, it'd be quite lucrative.
On the other hand... It's quite hard to get to. I mean, it starts at Waterloo, which is a pain in the ass to get to, or you can (maybe) get a train from Ashford but then you have to drive to Ashford, which is a significant distance for me (round trip around 200 miles) which sucks.
Technomaniac note: There's a problem with the focus on the laptop, quite a lot of times clicking doesn't actually grab the focus - it really pisses me off but I'm too tired to get angry about.
We're about to enter the tunnel, we've slowed down considerably now. The sun is setting and it's crystal clear. I should have been at home, observing.
Wohoo, the sun is beautiful, straight at the horizon... Or was.. Now we're going into the tunnel, I won't be able to see it again I think.
Now we're under the sea. I love this thing. Such an engineering feat, it should be used by more people, more often and the prices should be cheaper (so that even more people will be using it). They can make money by selling fuel and snacks, it'd be quite lucrative.
200705242018 on the eurostar
Location: Eurostar speeding towards England
Mood: Depressive and extremely tired
This has been a distastrous week.
First... I had a very poorly tested software.
Second... I forgot my passport at home and found about it when I was just about to check into Eurostar.
Third... After postponing the trip to Tuesday morning, I forgot to phone the hotel to talk about the reservation.
Fourth... I had a lot of problems with WebSphere shite.
Fifth... I found about the cancelled reservation, it took a while to find an other hotel room since it looked like all of Lille was fully booked.
Sixth... The second day wasn't that good either (but I did have some progress and finally ended up with one serious problem.
Seventh... I was asked to stay an other day, which I was completely cool about but the only hotel that had a room was a single star and it was VERY basic. Unbeliveable BASIC. (At least that night I had a good dinner with my colleauges and had some fun).
Eighth... WebSphere is still a pile of shite.
Ninth... Finally, after managing to escape, I find out that the return ticket for Eurostar WOULD NOT STOP AT ASHFORD. FUCK FUCK FUCK! I had to beg and beg, finally they gave me a seat on the next train, A FULL TWO HOURS LATER! Well, the Eurostar staff were brilliant, polite and helpful, I am really grateful.
Tenth... I dunno.. Something's bound to go wrong.
Update: Tenth... Fuck it! You can't make this up. After I got out of Darmouth tunnel, a huge HGV tried to run over my Volvo! He pushed me into the next lane, I hardly controlled the car. If there were any traffic on the lane I was pushed into, it would be a very serious accident. It's so fucking unbelievable. Also roadworks on M11 and M25 made the journey far too long with heavy delays. This sucks.
Mood: Depressive and extremely tired
This has been a distastrous week.
First... I had a very poorly tested software.
Second... I forgot my passport at home and found about it when I was just about to check into Eurostar.
Third... After postponing the trip to Tuesday morning, I forgot to phone the hotel to talk about the reservation.
Fourth... I had a lot of problems with WebSphere shite.
Fifth... I found about the cancelled reservation, it took a while to find an other hotel room since it looked like all of Lille was fully booked.
Sixth... The second day wasn't that good either (but I did have some progress and finally ended up with one serious problem.
Seventh... I was asked to stay an other day, which I was completely cool about but the only hotel that had a room was a single star and it was VERY basic. Unbeliveable BASIC. (At least that night I had a good dinner with my colleauges and had some fun).
Eighth... WebSphere is still a pile of shite.
Ninth... Finally, after managing to escape, I find out that the return ticket for Eurostar WOULD NOT STOP AT ASHFORD. FUCK FUCK FUCK! I had to beg and beg, finally they gave me a seat on the next train, A FULL TWO HOURS LATER! Well, the Eurostar staff were brilliant, polite and helpful, I am really grateful.
Tenth... I dunno.. Something's bound to go wrong.
Update: Tenth... Fuck it! You can't make this up. After I got out of Darmouth tunnel, a huge HGV tried to run over my Volvo! He pushed me into the next lane, I hardly controlled the car. If there were any traffic on the lane I was pushed into, it would be a very serious accident. It's so fucking unbelievable. Also roadworks on M11 and M25 made the journey far too long with heavy delays. This sucks.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Importance of checklists
Fuck... Left the passport at home. Rescheduled the train journey to tomorrow morning. Wasted money. Wasted time. Pissed off. Angry. Ass, meet kick.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
patrickMoore := arse
It's a sad thing. A person who has done so much for the popular science can act like an arsehole bigot. It's a well known fact that Sir Patrick is a Tory but behaving in such an immoral way? Argh, an other hero bites the dust. I'm really really sorry for him.. No, that's a lie. I'm not. How can a clever man like him utter such stupid words, it's just unbelievable. It appears that finally senility hits him, or maybe not, maybe we can't blame his gray matter aging, maybe he really meant it - which is worst, a hero like him getting completely nutty or his hidden feelings about women finally coming out and shaming him?
Monday, May 07, 2007
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