The Blog - The Archive

My Eyes Hurt (and 100 posts too)...

A short summary of the transit of Venus (I'll write up something that makes more sense once I've had a cup of tea, some sleep and the chance to get my photos up):

I missed first contact (when venus first touched the edge of the sun), as one of the other astronomers there wanted to look through my telescope and I was feeling generous. Plus I didn't have a watch.

Anyway, it's still going on in other parts of the world, but it's been dark here for a couple of hours now. I'm very tired, but I took a fair few photos when I got a camera, and I'll post the link to them when James gets home and has a moment in which to upload them all from his camera (he's pretty busy at the moment, so there's no pressure).

All in all, a fantastic view, and I'm so glad I got to play with a telescope all day to see such a history event. I kinda wish I'd had a watch (mine had its battery die the other day), so that I could have done the timing of the difference between first and second contact (when venus is first fully on the disk of the sun) and done the calculation of the distance between the earth and the sun (with the help of some other astronomer on the other side of the planet) so I could compare my value with Captain Cook's.

Anyway, there'll be a more lucid post with explanations later, I'm sure.

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Venus, Love-Me Chain!...

Hey dudes, I thought I'd better make sure I sent out an invite to everyone in Sydney to come to Macquarie Uni tomorrow afternoon from 3pm to watch the transit of Venus. We'll be on the vacant lot at the corner of Culloden and Talavera Roads (where the scceggs sports sign is, if I recall correctly). Clickie here for more info about Macquarie and what I'm doing.

To those of you not in Sydney, there are a whole bunch of webcasts going on, which should be fun if you're online. This is a really big event, so make sure you partake some how.

Use binoculars and make a projection of the image of the sun, by holding the binoculars a distance away from a plane screen (preferably in shadow) and angling them so that the image of the sun appears on the screen. When you focus it, you should be able to see Venus as a little circle on the face of the sun. You can also use a pinhole projection, by pricking a hole in a piece of cardboard. You'll have to keep it fairly far away from the target screen if you want to see Venus.

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   *giggles*...

Found an amusing article. Hope it amuses you too:

What's in a quack?

To the untutored ear it might just sound like a load of quacking, but British researchers have discovered that the country's ducks - much like its people - have distinct regional accents.

Ducks from London make a rougher sound which resembles shouting so that fellow birds can hear them above the hubbub of city life, whereas their country cousins make a softer sound, the study found.

The differences were uncovered after academics at London's Middlesex University recorded the calls of ducks at a city farm in the capital and at a tranquil location in Cornwall, south-west England, the Guardian newspaper said.

There was a clear difference in sound, English language lecturer Victoria de Rijke told the paper, with the London ducks "much louder and (more) vocally excitable".

"The Cornish ducks made longer and more relaxed sounds, much more chilled out.

"The cockney (London) quack is like a shout and a laugh, whereas the Cornish ducks sound more like they are giggling," she said.

"London ducks have the stress of city life and a lot of noise to compete with, like sirens, horns, planes and trains."

The result was that the ducks' accents mimicked those of the humans in their home region, Ms de Rijke said.

She noted that the London accent tends to use short, more guttural vowel sounds whereas those in Cornwall are open and drawn out.

--AFP (Source: ABC News)

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So busy...

Working my butt off trying to get myself to a conference in July. It's hard work applying for grants. All these silly justifications...

As promised, more spoetry:

While yo grammy is better
I can't think of any other reasons not to
Get Rich on Ebay,
Refinance without perfect Credit,
and
Get some free dog treats.
hey i did it why not you?? lability

I especially love the random word at the end.

Oh God it's
Ellen.
hi, long time no see....
yes, you finally found us...
how are you?
Emelyne said hello...
Do you know beans about coffee?
...
i'm srory i told eevyrobdy your sceret.
hey who cares about this anyway?
Enjoy your FREE trip!
bye.
another night on your own...

For more spoems, see this slashdot article.

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