Send your name to the moon

As you may or may not know, NASA aims to return to the moon. In 2010, the Space Shuttle will fly for the last time, to be succeeded in 2013 by the Orion crew vehicle (part of project constellation), a capsule which looks a lot like a modern version of the Apollo command modules that between 1968 and 1972 sent 24 humans to the moon, half of which walked on it (one major difference is that the Orion will be reusable up to ten times; the Apollo capsules could be used only once).

The Orion will not only be used for supply missions to the International Space Station (taking over those duties from the Space Shuttle), it will also take humans to the moon (no later than 2020, according to NASA). Further plans include establishing a permanent settlement on the moon, learning to live and work on another planet, and to use this knowledge and technology for human exploration of Mars in the first half of the 21st century (again according to NASA). As a fan of space exploration I regret not having witnessed any of the original moon landings, so it would be great if they could pull all this off (especially if they go to Mars in my lifetime that would be awesome).

To gather detailed information about the moon (e.g. about possible landing sites) NASA is first sending the unmanned Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter. And you can send your name with it. If you register your name on this site, it will become part of a database that will be put on a chip on the LRO, so your name will be in orbit of the moon.

Yes, it's completely pointless. I don't care, it's just a fun idea. :)

Category: Random stuff
Posted on 2008-05-02 11:21:15 UTC. Show Comments (0)

Awesome flight simulator video

As some of you know, I play Flight Simulator. I tend to go for the serious, realistic simulation.

This video shows you can also have fun with Flight Simulator when you relax realism a bit. :)


Watch the video on YouTube

Categories: Personal, Random stuff
Posted on 2008-04-20 03:23:42 UTC. Show Comments (1)

Blast from the past

For a joke on Channel9 I needed a screenshot of Channel9 in Internet Explorer on Windows 3.11, and for a laugh I also decided to make a screencast of setting up Windows 3.11 in Virtual PC. It's not very useful, but maybe a bit of nostalgia for people who used this OS. :)


Watch the video on YouTube

The cursor is a bit wonky at times. It seems Windows Media Encoder (which I used to take the screencast) shows Vista's own cursor even when the cursor is captured by Virtual PC and isn't actually visible. This is why you get an additional cursor when I'm using the mouse in the Virtual PC. Nothing I can do about that, though.

Categories: General computing, Random stuff
Posted on 2007-11-07 04:30:02 UTC. Show Comments (0)

A look at my future

In just a few years, this will be me!

PHD Comics

Go read PHD Comics! Recommended by leading experts as the number one way to procrastinate when you should be studying. :-P

Categories: Personal, Random stuff
Posted on 2007-09-09 13:59:23 UTC. Show Comments (0)

Rebuild of Evangelion

If you know anything about anime, you probably know Neon Genesis Evangelion. Evangelion is said to have revitalised the anime industry when it first came out in 1995. It is also well known for its deep psychological themes, religious undertones and incomprehensible ending. As such, it's probably also the most over-analysed anime in history. :-P

Anyway, somebody thought it'd be a good idea to remake the TV series into a series of movies, with updated animation and computer graphics (the budget for the original series was very small so it suffered from low production values at some points), as well as some plot changes. The first of what will be four movies premiered in Japan on September 1st.

As an anime fan, I have of course seen Evangelion, and I thought these movies would be interesting to see in the theater. Of course, Japanese theaters are not in the habit of putting English subtitles on Japanese movies, so considering my current level of Japanese, that'd pose a problem. But I went to see it anyway. And I must say, I was impressed. The updated animation was great (while still retaining the style of the original Evangelion), and the sound was fantastic! The version of Eva I saw, the platinum edition, already had an updated 5.1 surround mix (the original 1995 series had a mono soundtrack), but this movie blows it away. Lots of good use of the surround and LFE channels during the battles. Just hearing that on a big sound system made it worth seeing in the theater.

As for the dialogue... I could understand about half. It definitely helped that I already knew the plot. Hopefully when the second movie comes out sometime in 2008 my Japanese will be better. But still, it was a very cool movie, and I definitely don't regret going to see it.

For those interested, a trailer.

Categories: Personal, Japan, Random stuff
Posted on 2007-09-07 14:14:18 UTC. Show Comments (0)