‘

Webcams are pretty cool. Beyond the Jennie-cam variety I mean, which is fine if you’re into that. But they’re the kind of technology that can be applied in imaginative ways, ways the inventor may not have thought of. For example, you can set up live cams outside of rocket launches; NASA has done that as have some private space companies. These aren’t your $30 Logitech cams, but still, the principle is the same.

One of my favorite uses now is for spying on critters that are a bit shy. Naturalists and other nature lovers have set up cameras near birds’ nests, so they can check up on the feathery fowl. Two of my favorites:

a Peregrine falcon cam

and

a bald eagle cam.

I like to keep them open in a browser in the background and check up on them every now and again. It’s pretty cool.

Maybe I need to install one on my hummingbird feeder…’

Now J.J. Abrams is saying the Trek movie rumors are not entirely accurate:

“The whole thing was reported entirely without our cooperation,” says the director with a hint of regret. “People learned that I was producing a Star Trek film, that I had an option to direct it, they hear rumours of what the thing was going to be and ran with a story that is not entirely accurate.”

To be clear, it does look like he will direct Trek XI, but he is being coy about the movie revolving around Kirk and Spock.

‘

Got a few minutes? Then check out Emily Lakdawalla’s always-fun Planetary blog, where she has some big images of the paths the rovers have taken over the past two years. Bear in mind, they were only supposed to last for three months! People complain about NASA cost overruns, but forget that sometimes good engineering can save you money too.

After you’ve seen that, check out these images from SMART-1 which is orbiting the Moon. It has a 3D anaglyph! It’s the one displayed above, but bigger. I love those. I have several pairs of red/green glasses just in case one pops up.’

‘

Hey– if you’re dying to hear the sound of my voice, and wondering what I sound like dissing astrology, egg-standing, and Intelligent Design– then point yer browser to WVOX and listen in at 7:00 a.m. Pacific time (10:00 Eastern, 14:00 Universal Time). I’ll be talking about that and more for an hour with Bob Lebensold on his "Environmentally Sound" show.’

I’m on the road today, winging my way to DC to give a talk at Goddard Space Flight Center, my old stomping grounds. Well, I never stomped there, really. Actually, it’s more like I actually fled from there, but still, it’ll be fun to be back for just the day.

Anyway, a few months ago I did an interview for a podcast with my old bud Chris Pirillo, who runs the wildly successful Lockergnome website. I met him when he was hosting the show "Call for Help" on what was then "TechTVB" but has now horribly mutated into "G4" (a web search on our names together, with the name of the show, will yield some interesting results).

Anyway, Chris asked if I’d talk to him on his equally wildly successful podcast, and I said sure. So to keep you entertained in my absence, here it is. It’s fairly long. I haven’t even listened to it yet! I plan on it while I’m on the plane. If it stinks, then I’m pretty sure it’s Chris’s fault.

As a followup to my run-in with a Playboy bunny (oops, more googleness), I give you here a clip from an interview I did with my local news station, KFTY Santa Rosa, a couple of years ago on the vernal equinox.

‘So in my usual manner, I get in to my office in the morning after dropping the Little Astronomer off at school, plop my bag onto my desk, start up my coffee, and grab my phone to listen to my phone messages.

The normal morning ended there. But in a good way. Well, a weird way at first, but then good.

One of the messages was from a woman with a New Jersey accent. Here it is in its entirety:

Hi Phil. I was just reading your article on the equinox and the egg. You mentioned it’s a hard boiled egg. Try standing a raw egg up on that day. That’s the way it goes. It’s a raw egg not a hard boiled egg. Have a good day.

That’s it. No name, no specifics. The caller ID listed the number as being from Jersey, so that matched the accent, but I had no clue who the person was. I wasn’t even sure what article she was talking about! The message was left shortly after last week’s spring equinox, when this legend gets attention. I have my egg standing article on my website, of course, but I also wrote one for Night Sky magazine.

So I had a laugh over that, wondering who this person was and how she got my number.

Then I checked my email.

DEAR DR. PHIL PHLAT [sic]:

YOU’RE A KILL JOY!

IN REGARD TO YOUR ARTICLE:
AOL Research & Learn: Night Sky – The Equinox and the Egg

P.S. THE EGG SHOULD BE RAW, NOT HARD BOILED. THAT’S CHEATING!
BUNNIES KNOW THESE THINGS! LOL!

Buh-Bye
BUNNYJOEY(ON HEF’S LEFT)

I must say, the last line certainly caught my attention. "Bunny"? "Hef"? I am but a man, and so I felt the need to investigate. I don’t open attached images, and my website mailer won’t let me see them anyway. So I did a search on "bunnyjoey", and voila:

OK then. I’m not sure when that picture was taken, but then, I’m not sure I care.

And yes, I am clearly not above using sex in this blog. Duh. But I also figure that using the words sex, Playboy, and bunny in this blog entry are bound to get it to rise a bit in Google. In that vein I should mention the link above about using sex in this blog contains nudity (sorta) and which, of course, means someone in the picture is naked.

I wonder how popular this particular blog entry will become? Think of this as a scientific experiment in social marketing. Oh, and did I mention that I saw the movie XXX with Vin Diesel? No? Yeah, that XXX, not a great movie, and Vin Diesel is kindof a boob, but it’s worth mentioning at least twice here. Yes. Maybe three times. XXX.

Anyway, I replied back to BunnyJoey and told her a hard boiled egg spins well, but yes, a raw egg is what you need if you want to stand one up (I’ll note that I never mentioned in the article that you should try this with a hard boiled egg– and incidentally, the article on AOL was a reprint of my Night Sky article). We’ve been exchanging lighthearted emails (she’s interested in what I know about Orion’s belt– given that Mrs. Bad Astronomer sometimes reads these entries, I’ll note that I avoided the obvious and steered Joey to my friend Jim Kaler’s pages about those stars).

OK, so not much astronomy in this entry, but what the heck. I’m human, despite being a scientist, so sex I like to mix it up naked sometimes and write about other things Playboy bunny. I obviously have no ulterior motives.’