Dare Mighty Things

As a data engineer (of sorts) I've handled some cool data in my times, and created some interesting plots.

I still remember when I used rpad with stddev() in SQL*Plus to prove the data we had formed a bell curve.

More recently I've used Oracle APEX activity logs to identify bottlenecks and high frequency pages.

But this evening I was in awe as I saw a simple plot appear on my smartphone. This plot used data that spent at least 15 minutes travelling almost twice the distance from the Earth to the Sun to reach us, across an incredible network of computers.

Data from a craft that made history as it made controlled, powered flight on another planet.

First Martian flight plot

Sure, it's no secret I'm a big fan of all things space, and some may say that this achievement is a little overhyped. 

Not me. 

This is one of those moments that's going to inspire little future engineers that see a diverse group of people around the control room creating a moment in history that's justifiably likened to the first powered flight on Earth over 100 years ago.

This event is going to be the baseline for exploring Mars in ways that have only been dreamed about so far. And the drive to improve technology to improve the capability of this exploration is going to continue to benefit those of us living on Earth.

This doesn't mean us humble data engineers crawl deeper into caves of inadequacy. It may have taken a few people to cobble together a small engine on some timber roped together to fly a few hundred feet, but it takes a team of all sorts to send a rocket containing a nuclear powered rover containing a battery powered helicopter to another planet, land it, then fly it in an atmosphere so thin. 

And I feel for that team right now who can't hug their colleagues during tears of triumphant joy at their pent up success. Well done JPL.

We just need to dare mighty things. Even with our little apps - they make a difference to someone.

Cassini. So long and thanks for all the pics

Recently I stumbled upon an amazing documentary called The Farthest about the Voyager spacecraft and their grand tour of the solar system. You know the hub-hub caused as New Horizons flung past Pluto and we got to see that proto-planet close up for the first time? Voyager did that with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. With two spacecraft shot out during a convenient syzygy.

It was an amazing tale, even if you geek out to astronomy quite the way I do. I grew up being rather aware of space and the various spacecraft being sent far beyond our world. One of few, beyond the short news cycles:



I suspect there will be another spike for Cassini over the next week, since it crashes into Saturn on Friday night, twelve years after it's companion Huygens decended onto Saturn's moon, Titan.

I perceived Voyager through the lens of a growing boy. Cassini I have appreciated while I've grown as, and I'll use this term today, a software engineer. One involved with project management.

Some major events on the Cassini timeline paired with my life events:
- mission conceived when I was a toddler
- mission approved when I was in primary school
- rocket launched after I learned to drive
- (as the IT industry scrambled over Y2k, the Mars Climate Orbiter was lost due to a feet-metres calculation error. Cassini approaches the most massive planet in the solar system)
- probes flew by Jupiter when I left started my first programming job
- probes arrived at Saturn when HTMLDB was born
- huygens descended Titan soon after arrival, floated through the thick nitrogen haze and landed on a lake strewn surface
- Cassini conducted most of it's science operations during my APEX career (to date)
- and now it's about to be scuttled into the clouds of Saturn

I've been reading about Cassini science for a long time, enjoying stunning photos as Cassini loops around the Saturnian system, and learning from from this project during my entire programming career.

This is quite possibly one of my favourite images from space of all time. Of all time. Eat it, Kanye.

Titan's Haze PIA07774

I find crescents poetic; interesting information can be garnered from such perspectives; the atmospheric haze; the exotic colours; the distance involved; the engineering required; the timing.

I stand in completer awe of the planning, project management, engineering, communications, politics, and pure passion that has been involved in making this one of the most successful multi-decade projects in humanity's history.

That's a mighty statement, but I believe it shares space with some undeniably society changing projects across the ages. Multiple nations were involved - NASA built Cassini while ESA built the Huygens probes that landed successfully on Titan soon after arrival.

Titan's surface PIA07232

All this while communicating information back to Earth with a 70 minute communication lag.
With 1990's technology.
And this is the sort of project that can inspire the future generation of STEM students. And it's not alone, there are more amazing projects on that way destined to keep doing so.

What can replace this satiation? Hubble is aging, and next year NASA will launch a telescope that makes Hubble look small, and will be the one to stun us with new information for years to come, no doubt related to exoplanets as it studies the infrared spectrum it will see while hiding in the Earth's shadow, 1.5 million kms away.  No corrective lens surgery from charismatic spacemen for this one..

Hubble vs JWST

Not only that, the James Webb Space Telescope reminds me a little of a star destroyer from Star Wars.

JWST. Bringing sexy back for telescopes

Space exploration is a nett gain for humanity. If you're not convinced by that statement, listen to this interview with David Grinspoon, and pay attention when he describes the lessons learned about CFCs while studying Venus, or the concept of nuclear winter while observing dust storms on Mars.

But back to Cassini.

Do yourself a favour. Set some time aside and let Phil Plait's passionate & informative writing guide you through the journey, and use a big screen:
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/commemorating-cassini-at-saturn-a-gallery-of-wonders

NASA/JPL also have a great hall of fame.

To get a sense of the now, I've been watching related Twitter feeds over this past week, and I feel for all the people involved in the Cassini/Huygens project.

Today is @CassiniSaturn flight team's final 8 AM status & scope meeting where reports are about a live spacecraft. I'm expecting tears.

— Jo Pitesky (@friedsky) September 12, 2017

Expecting tears? Heck, I shed a tear for you.
Need humour? Check out this interaction between the dude with the mohawk, Bobak Ferdowsi and Sarcastic Rover. Yep, that's a thing, and it's a great feed. Need to believe scientists can be more than just boffins, here, same guy.
And I've just discovered Australia's geographical location will be handy again to receive the final communications #CassiniAus

Stand proud, Cassini team, and thanks for all the pics.

#CassiniInspires

Educational Eclipse

Last night around midnight I laid in bed hoping that thousands of people on the other side of the world took the opportunity to experience the once in a life time experience that would be a total solar eclipse.

If you agree that a wonderful piece of prose can help recreate the experience, I recommend this literary non-fiction from 1982 by Annie Dillard.

Today I'd like to share three things I learned about the solar eclipse, considering I'm somewhat of an astronomy geek.

1) Shadow Bands

One of the amazing things about total solar eclipses is because they are relatively rare, there are still phenomena that science is trying to explain.

This video of an eclipse (which I recommend with a little sound) actually shows none of the classic imagery of a solar eclipse, but it captures so much of the awe.



And should I be lucky enough to witness one in future, I would have to ensure I experienced all that's available, even if it meant sticking up some big sheets of paper!

I think I might have a look like that of Katie Mack in the second photo, and probably the third.

2) Gravitational Lensing

In addition to the fact these eclipses are so awe inspiring, they do offer a bit of science, beyond helping calculate the dimensions of the solar system.

This example includes one of my favourite phenomena, more frequently associated with deep space imagery - gravitational lensing.

It turns out when the total eclipse happens, astronomers can take the opportunity to locate stars prominent enough to shine through. Compare distance between stars as observed at night, and astronomers can see how the sun's mass has nudged light, thereby confirming general relativity.
Stunning.

A concise article here with two great images, or google "Eddington 1919 eclipse"

3) Flight of the Concorde

All speeds involved with the eclipse are pretty wild, but back in the 70s, long before SpaceX started landing rockets on sea barges, there was a curious supersonic jet about to go commercial that took the public relations opportunity to fly faster than the speed of sound across Africa to accompany a 1973 eclipse.
Curious Droid - NASA chasing a shadow at 50k feet | Concorde 1973

I've been quite addicted to that channel recently, some great videos to watch during a lunchtime subway.

The first two I learned directly from Skeptoid Episode #584 by Brian Dunning. It's a great 12 minute podcast (now with ads) that I might describe as mixing science with anthropology. Very easy to pick a few interesting topics, then get hooked.

Did you see #Eclipse2017? Did you travel to get there?

Science Friday: Collect rocks, plant flag

Every year that goes by firms my realisation that putting people on the moon was an absolutely stunning achievement.

Almost 50 years ago a massive team of engineers helped put 3 highly skilled men in orbit around that giant rock in our sky, that is stunningly distant, yes infinitesimally close, then land, then take off again.

While still doing the math by hand.

I think the best perspective of the distance in a scale overhead.

Ranging the moon

It's best behind a bunch of black, or a view from a telescope orbiting Mars., but consider it in light seconds.

Wiki

Then put some men in a hunk of metal utop a chemical missile rocket over a period of days.

Last year the twitter account @ReliveApollo11 recreated the days surrounding the landing, to help those of us too young to have experienced the timeline over the wireless as it happened.

The Moon is in both shadow and earthshine, filling 3/4 of the hatch window. Neil says, “it’s a view worth the price of the trip.” #Apollo11

— Apollo 11 (@ReliveApollo11) July 19, 2017

Anyone can view it, and I highly recommend you try transport yourself to another time.

Blog title thanks to the 10c New York Times from that day #Apollo11

I'm still here.

It has been some time since my last confession.

It's been a while, but sometimes you get busy, ya know?

And a different sort of busy, the sort that left me wanting to escape to a different place. I spent a bit of time playing an old favourite, Civilisation.

I really like to write, consolidate ideas, and share insights in this forum, but it's rare that I have such a gap.

I also miss it.

I always have plenty of unfinished drafts, but I also usually have a few recent experiences that are like an itch waiting to come out.

There are also a few other factors. My laptop is just within warranty and I'm finally getting a line of pink pixels fixed. I'm also gonna wipe Ubuntu off it and go back to Windows.

I feel my OS sojourn was successful in that I realised in a career of learning such as development, some of us need to learn to swim in a pool, not the ocean. Not the best analogy, but close enough.

My workplace is always (usually) Windows, any exploration on my laptop can be within a VM from the comfort of Windows. I've also got accumulated decades worth of keyboard shortcuts, and the muscle memory alone keeps me to the original style keyboard, not the weird ones that Macs use.

And it turns out we're also gearing up to move house, well, start by putting our place on the market. That sounds like fun, right?

You'll find me escaping occasionally, back here, writing with passion about what I find to be an interesting career. That, and reading/listening to stuff about science. There is some amazing stuff going on in this world!

Review: The Martian

I think we have a new genre of films for those consumers yearning for science and exploration.

First Gravity took us on a cinematographic journey into low earth orbit.
Then Interstellar took us on an inception style ride.
If you liked these you may enjoy Europa Report, which has a 2001 feel to it.

Now we have The Martian, which only a few years ago was still in the imagination of write Andy Weir. The book has an amazing backstory, you should have a listen.

Thank you 20th Century Fox

This review from Kirstin Acuna nailed the comparison to Castaway (another of my favourite movies), but I'd like to comment on some of her conclusions.

Biggest obstacle: Science.

Let's think about the target demographic for a moment, shall we? Audiences have been yearning for this style of moview, and good, sensical dialogue should not be compromised for the lowest common denominator. Have a read of this parody [cached] regarding if sports was reported like science, then come back to reconsider.

Book vs Movie

I haven't read the book yet, but I would agree with Kirstin in that you should watch the movie first. I don't know how the book ends, but the cinema took me on an amazing journey, and I can't wait to go deeper in the book.
I didn't come out of movie bummed out with disappointment like Sphere, though perhaps in that case it shows movies just can't always translate to the screen.

Comparisons to Interstellar.

Movies will be compared to other movies all the time. You know the amazing thing about The Martian? No bad guy, no agenda, just the "love letter to science".

See it in 2D.

I beg to differ, see it in 3D. We don't need scenes constructed simply to satisfy an intense 3D experience. The Martian does an amazing job of taking you to the planet, go experience it in 3D to help with that journey. I also recommend sitting near the front where the screen fully immerses your peripheral vision, though I recommend taking a few things to cover the little arm rest lights we had in our cinema.

Conclusion

Watch this movie, I can't recommend it enough.
Thanks to my colleague for getting me pre-screen tickets - I think I will be seeing it again before too long to help my brain process it all!
Also, hang around for the credits. Not only does it start perfectly, the credits blend nice and neat.

Washington memorials

I'm no patriot, and I'm certainly not American.

I'm somewhat of a pacifist, but I appreciate the efforts of the brave in years past. I certainly felt an urge to to shake the hands of some of the aging veterans we saw as we passed the WWII memorial.

What moved me most, however, was walking through the Lincoln memorial.

There was some amazing prose on those walls. Considered words, unbiased by the various media of today.

It surprised me how much it touched me. As we walked towards it I thought about a joke I could share with friends upon discovering it wasn't a statue of an ape sitting up there.

But as we walked towards the elevator and read the history, then walked out towards the statue it commands respect.

I was familiar with much of it already, but to see the memorial first hand I really came to appreciate the hurdles overcome by those in our history. I recommend it.

Kudos, cousins.

Bawston

Boston is a nice city, smaller than expected but full of culture.

The weather was great for us and we took one of the Duck tours which took off from right outside our hotel.

From out piggy tumblr

We don't get much in the way of American history in Australian schools, and most of what I know comes from movies or general interest. We had an amazing character driving our duck, a fella named Tim Burr. He was Canadian, loved his sport and his adopted town of Boston. What an amazing history this town has.

We also met up with someone we only knew from some facebook game Tracey played years ago, such is the weird world we live in. He ended up being great and after a cruisy lunch at Hard Rock (I'm still cut they played Rihanna at one point) we taxied, trained, and walked a great distance through some pleasant locations (bar one set of smelly train station elevators).

I didn't hear too many iconic accents, but our friend laid it thick a few times and we drank plenty of warta.

Next stop - Washington.

Review: Ex Machina

Do yourself a favour and buy, beg, borrow (don't steal) the movie "Ex Machina".

Don't watch any trailers, don't read any articles, and don’t even read up on IMDB. Just trust that if you have any interest whatsoever in what it means for a machine to be self-aware - this is the movie to watch.

I'll just say it does a brilliant job in exploring the philosophical repercussions of the Turing test. For me it filled the void left by my expectations of "The Imitation Game", and then some.

It is the sort of movie that will be spoiled by the trailer, and I watched the trailer afterwards and thought it made some of the dialog sound real cheesy - so don't do it.

Immerse yourself then give yourself time afterwards to process what went on.

I've been thinking about it for days. I heard about it through one of my favourite podcasts, and they do an interesting breakdown review in SGU Episode 515, if you want to hear a great deconstruction.

Scott.

The moon is a sphere

I was fairly excited at the prospect of seeing tonight's lunar eclipse but I neglected to take into account not being able to see the eastern horizon from my house.

I missed most of the total but enjoyed the crescent of the partial eclipse re-emerging. It's amazing how distinct the shadow leading to the penumbra.

My friend said there will be some good shots in tomorrow's paper. I laughed and said here in the 21st century I could probably get a high res online right now that matched the view I had through my binoculars, with the moon sitting on a bed of a few dozen stars.

A Twitter search for #lunareclipse gave me this gem from Australian based astronomer Katie Mack.

Another #LunarEclipse moment, showing gorgeous blood-red Moon just before clouds swallowed it. #Melbourne pic.twitter.com/aHSFix60MQ
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) October 8, 2014

Not quite hi-res, but certainly true to the view I had. Bring on the next of the tetrad.

My friend also suggested I could listen to update on the wireless, then I wondered at how the utilisation of radio waves were so revolutionary - being able to transmit signals with no telegraph poles.

I wondered what bit of kit we have today that our grandchildren will snigger at - and I figure it's probably smartphones.

"What do you mean we can't send signals by thought?"

Katie posted a few other great snippets, just as Neil Tyson often does with physics. I'll leave you to ponder this gem

Won’t it be wonderful when we have people living on the Moon, watching eclipses in the other direction? #LunarEclipse
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) October 8, 2014

Europa Report

Today I watched Europa Report - a movie that plays the same sport as Gravity, but seemed to go straight through to the keeper since I only heard about it while listening to a science podcast - which I think was StarTalk Radio hosted by the charismatic Neil deGrasse Tyson - of recent Cosmos fame.

Anyway - bloody brilliant movie. If you liked Gravity, you'll like this. And it does a fairly good job with the science, only a few minor issues if you really want to get picky. I'm often happy to ignore a few to help the plot along, though there was a horrible faux pas regarding 'absolute zero'.

A small cast includes Sharlto Copley of District 9 fame, who almost succeeds in hiding his thick south african accent. I love this critic's response:

"Claustrophobic and stylish, Europa Report is a slow-burning thriller that puts the science back into science fiction."

I recommend this review by Britney Schmidt - a planery scientist advising actual planned missions to Europa. Though I'd suggest only reading it once you've seen the movie - it's a movie worth not knowing much about before you see it, but soaking up some background detail after the fact.

The cinematography cleverly combines some real photos from NASA/JPL catalogues, including this iconic shot of Europa from the aptly named Galileo spacecraft.

Look familiar?

I find it gorgeously reminiscent of the Apollo 11 descent of the LEM.

Kudos 'merica

I won't include my favourite perspective/scene as not to spoil anything, but ever since I was a young space enthusiast I've dreamed of seeing Jupiter up close.

Keep looking up.

Off topic - 2014 predictions

Here are my predictions for 2014.

I realise that traditionally yearly predictions are made in the first month of the Gregorian calendar year... but I've been busy. So I'm going to make some predictions in my birthday month and see how things eventuate over the next 12 months. Many sites do this over the new year, and I do love the commentary when one looks back over the previous 12 months. It's amazing, well not really, how bad the "psychics" do.

While listening to my favourite podcasts over the new year I found myself thinking about stuff and I started noting some things down that while I didn't necessarily think would eventuate this year - I sure hope it comes soon! Other items just got me thinking where technology might eventuate at some point.

My evernote entry on these predictions were dated Jan 13th, and I promise I haven't cheated & backdated any predictions, not that any have already come to pass ... except one - see if you can spot it.

1. Observational technology will enable astronomers to accurately determine the composition of exoplanet atmospheres and isolate even more "earth like" planets.
   
2. There will be major outcomes regarding the sex scandals in the catholic church - broad statement, but outcomes that humanists will be agreeable to. Definitely Australia, hopefully worldwide. Faith in the church (pun intended) will recede further.
   
3. In a similar vein, marriage equality will experience similar liberation racial issues received last century (some good news in March on this topic in the UK)
   
4. Various worldwide easing of marijuana laws will facilitate more comparative studies which will eventuate into more targeted medical use with certain compounds.\
   
5. A plane will go missing, sparking international interest and new conspiracies.
   
6. In the nex twelve months we'll have another paradigm shift with smartphone capabilities - potentially relating to folding screen technology.
   
7. Power storage technology is very slow moving, but we will overcome some big hurdles, providing order of magnitude increase in storage capacity and/or charging window.
   
8. Augmented reality will become very popular in the "app" market, after experiencing slow and steady increases over the past few years, aided with Google Glass.
   
9. We will learn key information about ocean ecosystems, such as cracking exactly what goes on with shark migrations - hopefully not too late due to us guiding selective pressures in the wrong direction

I think the faux-prediction is obvious, but I think you'll find none of the "professional" psychics & grief vultures will have predicted such a unique event.

My prediction on the outcome - few pieces of the wreckage will be salvaged, but confirmed as part of the plane. Conspiracy theorists will deny it & claim it all relates back to Rothschild. 

The black box will be recovered but possibly not for a few years and only by lucky, persistent searching. It will be determined the pilot went rogue.

My 5 cents

Thursday Thought - Look up & avoid boring

In the last slot of last year's Perth user group conference, my boss Penny Cookson & I presented a talk that was originally written by Tim Daniell in Queensland. It was called "Being Productive in IT", and it was an interesting, light-hearted comparison of how the human brain works using analogies with computers systems.

One of the lessons learnt was allowing yourself to be bored. Even to the point of doing some menial task while letting your creative side go nuts. It's kind of how rubber ducking works.

And it's also why the advert I'm seeing on Australian television for a mobile company really irritates me.

In the age we live we're all doing our best to close the laptop lids, put the smartphone in the pocket (even leave it at home occasionally) and turn the music players off - and we get an advert telling us to "avoid boring.". Click on that link to check out the ad.

No doubt many will tell me I'm just David vs the goliath marketing engine, but don't you think we should allow ourselves some time to sit at the bus stop and look around - or as Dr Karl or Neil Tyson would say... look up, even during the day. You'll never know what you'll see... or what you'll think of.

APOD

Off topic: If the moon were a pixel...

I love infographics that demonstrate the sheer scale of the world around us, I've posted on this topic before.

One that's been doing the rounds recently is this one from Josh Worth: If the moon were only one pixel
His website is also worth checking out, and you can find him @misterjworth

Universe Today has a nice summary of it. It reminded me of doing this Solar System Walk at the Gravity Discovery Centre in Gingin, Western Australia.

Click the icons at the top to shortcut to the celestial bodies, and look at the page source to see all the funny commentary text. Worth the 5 minutes to check it out and ponder the universe...

If you were on a road trip, driving at 75mi/hr, it would have taken you over 500 years to get here from earth

Space travel sure will be boring if we can't figure out a way to go faster...

Mr Amazing, is gone...

Random co-incidences happen all the time. Sometimes we notice them, other times we don't. Sometimes they are remembered for a lifetime.

Today I arrived at work to do some on-site training and noticed an ambulance roaring along the other way. The receptionist knows me well and informs me our friend Paul has been taken away to be resuscitated.

My friend, university classmate, four year work colleague, facebook socialite, lover of technology and lego, swing dance extraordinaire, Oracle... well he wrote SQL, bringer of smiles, puzzle solver, workaholic, traveler, magic master and extremely hirsute man... never woke up.

You may know him well from where he's been working since graduating from University. You may know him from chance encounters at the AUSOUG conference. You may know him from his swing dancing passion. You may be one of his 500+ facebook friends, alll of whom I'm sure he knew personally; or you may know him by one of his many other interests as he really did live life to the best he could.

It was a tough day for friends of Mr Amazing (known to everyone else as Paul Verevis), I'm sure everyone (including myself) appreciated the support provided by the wonderful team they nuture there - it was like an extended family.

You can find a little of his legacy on twitter, and he's most certainly trending on facebook.

And finally, I found this one of him and some photo-bomber in my e-mail archive. It was from our paint balling session in August 2005. I'm sure I have a few from our uni days somewhere, but I'll have to have a think about where.

Goodbye, mon ami.

ps - I'm pretty sure one of those adjectives of Paulie written above isn't true, I'm sure those who knew and worked with him will spot from a mile away which one ;-)

No doubt others have all sorts of words of their own to describe him

Friday Fun - I, Robot

DECLARE
    There is a variety of comics in my RSS feeds, not too many - but what I think are some quality selections ;-)
IF you're interested THEN
    I can send a list;

BEGIN
    -- The timing is impeccable, but I think this calendar is an awesome purchase for anyone, any time - thought I'd share.
    safe_link := 'http://www.lulu.com/product/calendar/calamities-of-nature-2012-calendar/18623636'
    READ_IMAGE_FILE(

  );

    I particularly like July - the second one reminds me of an episode of Family Guy.

    Another favourite of mine => I'm a large;

EXCEPTION
    Ooh, and check out what my sister does;
    -- you might have seen it on penny's laptop at the AUSOUG conference
END;
/


SP2-0079: Procedure created with compilation warnings


SW_INTERNAL> SHOW ERRORS
Errors for PROCEDURE SCOTT_WESLEY:


LINE/COL ERROR
-------- -----------------------------------------------------------------
1/1      PLW-06009: procedure "SCOTT_WESLEY" has no coherance or distinguishable humour.


SW_INTERNAL>

Wake up, Neo.

He started a fruit company...

Sometimes I find it hard to think of some people without thinking of references to pop culture.

Edit: This post from Brian Dunning is a timely & worthy read regarding treatment of health issues with modern medicine vs naturopathic woo

There are people in this modern world live their lives as best they can - grow up, get a job, get married, work hard, retire when they can. No doubt making many mistakes along the way, hopefully learning from each and every one.

Other people also live their lives the best the can, making similar mistakes, but for whatever reason taking hold of different opportunities, then start affecting the lives of many others - either directly or indirectly.

Two sets of people, different paths, same result. We all have an expiry date. Some sooner than others, some know when the end is near, others find it unexpectedly - some don't even see it coming.

One person might end their life with billions of dollars in their pocket, the other may have saved enough for a dream holiday one day once they retire.

Either way, I just hope both of them have enjoyed their life, perhaps finding a profession they love. One where they can go to work every day and do it with enthusiasm.

And if they are lucky enough to finish up with mega-bucks in the pocket, I hope they eased off the hard work, regularly spent time with the people they love, and doing the things they enjoy.

Because at the end of the day, there are some people out their with the sole purpose of seeking wealth - but to what end? If you die with a million dollars in your pocket, but haven't found happiness or contentedness - has it been worth it? Did you "win" because you finished with more money than the next person, or did you enjoy your life because of what you did every day, because of the people you touched?

Idle thoughts.

My condolences to the family & friends of Steve Jobs.

Oracle in pop culture

Twice this week I noticed Oracle mentioned in a web comic.

The first was Dilbert joking about the patent infringements amongst all the major companies at the moment - of which you could probably find a zillion info-graphics looking like this these days. I think Scott Adams had a flaw in the middle frame however - there is no way Google, Apple, Microsoft and Oracle would join forces. Oracle & Microsoft alone are justification for that - evidence in that the Windows version of SQL*Plus is no longer available from 11g, and SQL Developer is as portable as my Android phone.

What I did enjoy however was this from BonkersWorld.

Having just come from an Oracle conference, the comparison of more power for less cost seems spot on! Mind you, the other vendors seem well represented also. Looking through the archives, I found another suggesting Oracle will just sue you if necessary - I think perhaps they might buy you out!

Nothing quite so simple as this though, comparing computer updates for Apple, Windows & Mac.

My question for you is - have you seen Oracle mentioned in a web-comic or something similar and you think it's worth a giggle? Please comment below.

Scott.

Off topic: Friday fact

Being the fact it's Friday, I'm home sick, it's related to my interests and that this picture moved me - I thought I'd share it.

I'm a regular reader of Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog, and recently he posted this image from NASA's Juno spacecraft heading to Jupiter.

It's a picture of Earth and our moon from almost 10 million kilometers away. Now just for a moment, contemplate the sheer scale of what's being mentioned there - a tenth of the distance from Earth to the Sun, and this is all we see.

It also helps highlight just how far away the moon really is, and it's not even at an angle which reflects the true distance spanning the two.

As in Phil's blog, this reminded me of part of what I think is my favourite literary piece ever, from Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot.

"The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that in glory and triumph they can become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot. The only home we've ever known"


He is of course referring to a different image, taken from 6 billion kilometers away - but it works just the same.


Have a great weekend :-)


Scott.

An random insight into computing history

In the days of reaching the moon, we amazed ourselves with the mathematical capability we empowered our machines with.

Apollo's 32kg guidance computer was basically 2Mhz and it's memory measured in kilobytes, and gave Neil Armstrong a cryptic memory error just seconds from landing on the moon.

It used to be said that the apollo spacecraft technology is blitzed by "today's" vehicles. Well, today's vehicles are way ahead now, and we can find electronics that exceed Apollo computing power everywhere. This article compares the guidance computer to a 2009 smart phone. I tried to find the exact specifications for something less conspicuous like anti-lock brakes but alas.

Where am I going with this? Recently I was cleaning out the extended garage and found an old computer I was yet to dispose of. This was partially due to nostolgia, and another part of me thought I might be able to find some use for it - well, I did find a use - amusement.

As I pulled it apart, I thought I'd take a few photos and document the occasion. It was dated 1999 so I imagine this is what got me through university. I know 1999 isn't exactly looking through a wondrous time portal, but it was enough to keep me amused for a while - amusement which started with the 5 1/4 inch disk drive!
Looking in the guts I'm surprised at the lack of a modem, unless I moved that 56k beast to a different pc. Another look at the front shows it is a bit of a mutt, with cd drive upgraded to dvd & pasty old disk drive installed to pilfer data off old disks.

The computer belonged to the era where hard disk space was doubling and this affected what (and the amount of) software you could install. Today, space requirements for software such as your operating system is simply absorbed into the mass amount of storage available. I could tell you DOS6 fitted on a handful of 3.5" disks, I can't tell you how much Windows 7 now consumes. Yes, my first computer was an XT using DOS 3ish.

Here is a fuzzy look at the mutilated insides, the close-up shows the original 1GB HD, and the 8GB upgrade, with the Pentium II core and 64mb RAM.

The back of the PC shows the March 1999 build date, with pride by PLE Computers - our local mainstay.

I just noticed the whopping 2 USB ports, wasn't much need for them back then, because at this time for data transfer we all used ZIP drives.

A nice 100/250mb of data in the one iomega disk, great for holding (and potentially losing) all my university work. I was prudent with my backing up - apart from theft and stupidity, with excessive use we also had to avoid the click of death, which (why should I be surprised) you can listen to on Wikipedia.

And on a side thought, one of the podcasts I listen to talked about how much data capacity exists around the world (if that's the right phrase to use) - a result of some study. A secondary finding to that was much of the world's data is redundant. Isn't that a fascinating conclusion, but when you think about it, it becomes completely obvious. We are all consumers of data, downloading what companies around the world have to offer. We also share information - music, videos, photos - all of which could easily be replicated on multiple computers, backup disks, internet servers. I'd like to know how much purely unique data might exist out there? Perhaps a mass amount - I wonder how much the LHC would produce in a few minutes?

Random mentations of an Oracle developer...