seanwillson.com

the messenger spacecraft (mercury surface, space environment, geochemistry, and ranging) is set to launch in 3 days, 15 hours, 38 minute, 40 seconds. at least that’s what is was when i started writing this. messenger is the seventh missing from nasa’s discovery program. it’ll be interesting to see how many of the future discovery missions get tossed with the new bush space initiative. something always has to go when a president drastically changes course and typically it’s the hard science programs that go first.

there are times where even i have little to say, i know, crazy huh? for days where you can’t get enough of my random blog entries like the last 3, yikes, check out my daily links page. does the format look familure? just giving credit it’s due. i’ve been posting links that i find interesting, want to return to at a later date, or just want to share with others. there’s also a short summary of what i found useful, tantalizing, or interesting from the link in question.


i’ve been trying to keep up with current events, watch le tour, release a major new software project at work, work on my website, my club website all the while trying to find a cool original objective-c project to work on (anyone got any ideas for one?) … needless to say i’m in information overload zone. so, i apologize for the lackluster blog postings with little to no insight or depth. sometimes all i can do is drop a link for friends to enjoy. i hope to get some decent pieces out soon as well as find another cool project to work on. till next post, i’m out …

seems the ansari xprize administration is planning a major announcement next week, they’ve scheduled a press conference. it’s likely that a few teams will be co-announcing their intent to attempt their qualifying flights. this is indeed good news for privatization of space. let’s just hope that if and when the prize is awarded that it doesn’t end there. nothing would hurt the privatization advocates and the opening of space launches more than not capitalizing on the media attention the xprize is receiving. i for one would be willing to pay a decent chunk of money to visit space. no, i couldn’t put a dollar amount on it but i would indeed give it a go if the price were reasonable. how about you?

own a apple laptop? maybe an ipod? looking for longer battery life? who isn’t right … seems apple has decided to share some knowledge about their batteries. not only do they explain how lithium-ion batteries charge, discharge, optimal temperatures and more but they also offer some icalender files you can subscribe too that will remind you to charge and discharge your ipod and laptop. it’s good seeing a technology company like apple educating their user base, they are indeed their biggest proponents and sales force.

looks like i’ll be able to woop my brother on his pc from my mac in wow (worlds of warcraft). i was wondering if blizzard was going to implement this right, unlike everquest where macs are second class citizens on their own servers. we wouldn’t want the pc and machead mixing would we verant.


i just picked up unreal tournament 2004 for my mac the other day and am looking forward to fragging my brother and my buddy mike a few times before wow releases. i was a serious gamer a few years ago and though i don’t think i’ll ever be that hard core again i am looking forward to playing a bit.

a congressionally mandated panel of the nrc (national research council) recommended a few days ago that nasa keep open the option of sending another space shuttle crew to service and upgrade the hubble space telescope. this ruling comes after months and months of meetings to address the nasa chief sean o’keefe memo where he quoted safety concerns as to why there shouldn’t be another servicing mission. thankfully we live in a democratic country where one person doesn’t make all decisions in a box. many scientists have been speaking out on this issue and finally this congressional panel has given it’s ruling. let’s only hope that nasa now takes the appropriate steps to service hubble and doesn’t again attempt to railroad this great observatory.

if your looking for tour de france news, look no further. the tdf blog is up to date and has a good swath of news from other locations. i’ve been really disappointed with the editorial coverage from cycling news and velo news. lackluster would be a kind word to explain their coverage. bloggers are really coming of age in cycling.