Saturn Orbit Insertion

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View of Saturn from CassiniTonight’s the night: SOI! (Saturn Orbit Insertion) Cassini has just passed through Saturn’s ring plane, and if it survived the crossing, should now be on the start of its SOI burn, a 96-minute engine firing which should slow the craft down enough for it to enter orbit around Saturn. SpaceflightNow has a Cassini SOI timetable in EDT, and a Cassini mission status center with live updates. The Planetary Society has a much more detailed timeline in UTC/PDT.

SOI burn time is the moment of truth for Cassini; this makes or breaks the mission, because if it fails to burn, the craft will be travelling too fast to enter orbit, and will fly past Saturn to be lost in deep space. (It’s not quite as easy as “Standard orbit, Mr. Sulu.”) There’s a time delay of about 80 minutes between here and Saturn, so when it starts sending back telemetry and science data again, we won’t know till the signals get here. Stupid light barrier.

(The image used above is a screenshot from my copy of Celestia, showing Cassini’s position, live, and the view of the planet and its rings. Unfortunately, Celestia for OS X is a bit out of date, so I’m not sure the downloaded Cassini orbit data is correct, and that’s definitely not what the spacecraft looks like. Still, close enough for the view.)

Things I Have Lost

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‘Tis truth, Valerie, a list of things I have lost would fill a weblog all by itself. Through the years, I have lost:

  • A Panasonic G350, my very first cellphone, which slid out of my pocket in a jeepney.
  • A Nokia 3390, which fell out of my pocket in a Baltimore taxi.
  • A Palm Zire 21, which also slid out of my pocket in a Baltimore taxi. (Sensing a pattern here…)
  • A Pencam Mini, which disappeared into the snows of Baltimore, 5 Dec 2002. (This was the last photo it ever took.)
  • A $18.90 Metro farecard, which I had managed to use exactly once before I lost it between the office and the turnstile.
  • Any number of sunglasses, hats, ballpens, socks, and black clips.

As you can see, loose slacks pockets are often the culprit, so I’m usually a lot more careful about what I put in my slacks nowadays.

Not-so-simple Bits

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Dan Cederholm’s book Web Standards Solutions is definitely not for beginners. He hits the ground running, right from the first chapter, jumping into full CSS syntax with tips and tricks for styling lists and headers; not much in the way of “getting started” or “style basics.”

For advanced users, it’s an excellent reference to extend existing markup knowledge in different creative and technical directions. This book recommends standards-based markup practices to achieve various results within different contexts, from simple padding and floating to Fahrner Image Replacement. Much of the content is rehashed and rearranged from the Simplequiz, which is a great way to contrast current presentational “tag soup” conventions with proper structural markup. So far it’s all been stuff that I already know and use in my day-to-day design, but I’m seeing a few things in later chapters which should pose both unique solutions to as-yet-unmet CSS design challenges.

Don’t start with this if you want a starter’s XHTML/CSS manual or a comprehensive syntax guide. If CSS isn’t like a second language to you yet, you’ll probably want to read Web Standards Solutions with a couple of cheat sheets close by. And of course, the easiest way to learn is to do: fire up a text editor and a [real] browser and hammer out that code as you read about it. The sooner you’re out of the tag soup, the better.

Friendster Testimonials

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I don’t use Friendster anymore, so I cancelled my account. The testimonials were worth saving though, so I’m recording them here for posterity:

Angie, 10/31/2003: Had a secret crush on him for a few minutes during our ORSEM even if he badly needed a haircut then. And I will forever remember him for the first (and only) person to use “pulchritude” for my description (eternally grateful i still am, pau). Hilarious Sean Connery impressions. Mean roller-blading skills. Unfortunate Barry Manillow resemblance. Famous Block & White Ad. More known for his wit and intelligence… but people should also be famous for his heart! Miss ya, ordo.

Toni, 09/29/2003: Rollerblades. Star Trek. Barry Manilow. Photography. Incredibly smart. Cats. The Pioneer Blogger of LHC. How Now Brownpau. Sketches of Human-like cats (or cat-like humans?) in our college logbook. These are some of the things I remember about you. Hope you can come home soon and hang out with LHC so we can reminisce some more. We miss you, Ordo. :)

VicManlapaz, 09/25/2003: The Man.. The Legend..! Ladies and Gentlemen.. Barry Manilow! Who’s the man???! :) Good to see you again in cyberspace pal!

Raffy, 09/23/2003: Pau and I were schoolmates in highschool, classmates in college, workmates in hell, and even here I still can’t get rid of him! Hehe. My Washingtonian buddy has been my web guru, my spiritual stonewall, and one of my closest friends that I don’t get to speak to except through e-mail and blogging. I’m happy that I have a friend who I can relate to on so many levels. Pau, you’re my hero. (mustn’t…cry…)

Kage, 09/22/2003: There may be three Ordos in the history of the Ateneo… but I do think that we lucked out and got the pick of the litter! Silently sentimental, subtly quirky and smoothly verbose… Paulo inline skated his way into our lives. Gr8 98 would not have been the same without our resident Guidon boy and Star Trek fan.

Rowie, 09/18/2003: Paulo (or Ordo, as I still call him) is one of the most endearing, lovable people I know. His heart is kind and gentle, his intellect and creativity are estimable. Miss you, Paulo! But I’m happy to know you’re happy in the U.S. So … while we’re getting all nostalgic about college here … I have to ask: whatever became of those roller blades? ;)

Jay, 09/18/2003: Personally Ganns, I liked him better in “Somewhere Down the Road.” ORDO!!! US based huh? So that’s where you’ve been keeping yourself! I remember Paulo’s sardonic wit and deadpan humor and…awww, who am I kidding…AT THE COPA…COPACOBANA!!!! THE HOTTEST SPOT NORTH OF HAVANA!!! Everybody jump in! COPA…COPACOBANAAAAHHH!!!

Ganns, 09/18/2003: I’ve known Pau as a solid, grounded individual who loves with all his heart and lives for his God. I totally love the quality of his work, and know that someday, we, his friends, will watch him proudly as he claims some award for his many talents. Oh, and he rocks when he dishes out, “her name was Lola…”

SnotRokit, 08/02/2003: paulo has to be one of the nicest people that i have met. he’ll help with anything that he can, and i don’t think i ever saw him get mad at anything. paulo rocks.

Aaron, 06/16/2003: Paulo is the kindest, warmest, bravest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life, and even now I feel that way – this minute

Steph, 06/03/2003: paulo does great sean connery, star trek, and redneck impressions. i can’t think of anyone on earth that i would rather share a computer with than this guy. and ladies…this guy is a true gentleman (remember what those are?). steph says paulo rocks!

Jesper, 06/02/2003: I tell you, it was Paulo who really introduced me to weblogging. Lynch him, not me.

rajan, 05/30/2003: paulo fixed my website! for that, i’m eternally grateful, or at least grateful up until my next trip to Arby’s.

Suborbit, Saturn, and Mars

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It sure has been an exciting year for space news, and things are just getting better and better:

  • SpaceshipOne has made Earth’s first manned private suborbital spaceflight, paving the way for future space travel outside the government’s space program. The “X-Prize” is not won yet, however, until the craft is able to lift off with three people aboard, attain suborbit, land safely, and do it again in two weeks. Problems in flight may delay that prize attempt.
  • Meanwhile, over Saturn, Cassini has flown by the icy moon Phoebe, and in two days will pass through Saturn’s ring plane as it falls into orbit around the majestic gas giant, there to stay for a four year tour. I’m especially looking forward to December, when the orbiter drops ESA’s “Huygens” probe into the thick, murky atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s most enigmatic moon.
  • Mars Rover Opportunity slowly descends into Endurance Crater, at risk of never being able to come out again; but the geologic data that should emerge from those steep, blueberry-strewn slopes should be well worth it.
  • Spirit, at the base of the Columbia Hills, examines a strangely shaped rock dubbed “Pot of Gold,” which, to my completely untrained eye looks like a frozen lava splatter, or sand fused by lightning.

Fancy Schmancy

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Conrado de Quiros, who I thought had better analytical skills than that, falls for the poor revisionist history of The Da Vinci Code; hook, line, and sinker.

“I was afraid it would damage my faith,” a Couples for Christ member told him. Hah. Small chance that a piece of garbage like Da Vinci Code could damage one’s properly informed faith, any more than Left Behind could turn me into a pretrib dispensational premillenialist.

Bananaphone

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Ring > ring > ring > ring > AAAGGHHH PLEASE MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP.

(Caveat: blood and swearing in the last one.)