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Jamie Z

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Everything posted by Jamie Z

  1. Ah. Good one. Thanks. News from NASA website: "Dec. 8 - 6:15 p.m. EST Space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch Sunday, Dec. 9, at 3:21 p.m. EST, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Shuttle program managers made the liftoff decision after three days of reviewing data on a problem with fuel sensors." According to the AP, NASA has given itself a one-minute launch window in order to assure that the fuel level in the tanks doesn't deplete, and they've also tightened (rather than loosened, as many expected) the criteria that all four sensors must be operating properly. Previously, only three of the four had to work, and there was talk of lowering it to two-of-four. Management decided that in this case, all of them must work. See you tomorrow in the chat room, 3:21pm EST. 12:21pm PST. I hope I can make it... I've got some stuff going on tomorrow. Jamie
  2. I don't know for sure, but here's my thoughts: As you said, the space suits should be rugged enough to withstand a measly pool... Two things stand in the way. First is cost. The actual space suits are ridiculously expensive, so perhaps they have a "trimmed-down" version to use for training. Since they don't really need to have life support, perhaps they are connected by hose to power and air, rather than carrying an expensive life-support system. Second issue is that space is a vacuum. Under water is pressurized. That is, in space, the pressure in the suit would tend to blow up the suit like a balloon. Indeed, that's an issue, especially with components like gloves. Under water, with the same suit pressure, the suit would be pressed against the astronauts body. You'd have to pressurize the suit to that above the water pressure in order to correctly simulate space. So... my estimation would be that the training suits are near-identical to suits used in space, but not exact replicas owing to practical limitations. Oh.. and NASA is looking at a Sunday launch at the soonest. Jamie
  3. Interesting. Now that I've posted this stream as a link, it opens Media Player on my system, just like I was looking for. Jamie
  4. Right. But the consequences of some random bug is a bit higher when in space. I think a year or two ago, they were on the verge of having a shuttle in orbit on January 1. I think NASA's stance was that they would do it if they had to, but they'd prefer to avoid it, just in case something funny happens. The plan was to keep the Shuttle docked to ISS if it came to December 31. It makes me wonder if the date rollover was a design consideration. On another note, for those of you who want to watch it online, here is the highest quality stream I've yet found. http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368163 Full screen, this feed is almost TV-quality. Any way to play this stream in a standalone player like Real or Windows Media? Jamie
  5. Next launch attempt no earlier than Saturday. Curiously, if the launch doesn't go before the end of next week, they'll have to delay it until after Jan 1, since it's unknown how all the computers would handle the date rollover while on orbit. Jamie
  6. I used to have a cache on a college campus in Tennessee. Although I didn't have explicit permission, I had a "Sounds like a neat idea" email from the receptionist of the guy in charge, who never got back to me, even after I made several attempts to contact him. I decided if the receptionist thought it was ok, and the boss was too lazy to get back to me, then it was good to go. Never had a problem. Jamie
  7. Crap. NASA TV showing a screen stating "STS-122 Launch Postponed." An upcoming press conference is planned. I wonder how big of a problem this is, whether they'll have to empty the fuel tank, or possibly roll the shuttle back to the VAB. Generally, they can fix these things on the launch pad. Jamie
  8. Um. They're strapping seven humans to 6.75 million pounds of thrust to put them in orbit around the planet. If spaceflight in and of itself isn't significant enough, this particular launch will carry a major European laboratory to the International Space Station. Anyway... this just in, there's a potential problem with fuel sensors. As we speak, they're diagnosing the problem. Hope it doesn't delay the launch, as the last three launches have all gone on schedule. Weather is perfect. Jamie
  9. Right, but the box has about 15psi inside, so the pressure difference at 12 feet is about 5psi, which is still significant, although it sounds small. A long time ago, Buck8Point posted some photos after rescuing one of his ammo boxes from several months being underwater. The cache had barnacles (or something) growing off it. The inside was perfect. I'm guessing that thread is still around. Jamie
  10. I've made a tradition of hosting a launch party in the Geocaching Chat Room during significant (and usually televised) launches of both manned and unmanned rockets. We've watched a number of shuttles launch. We've watched the Mars Exploration Rovers launch and land. And we've watched (figuratively) a probe smash into an asteroid. It's time again. Shuttle Atlantis is poised to launch at 4:31pm EST, 3:31 CST and 1:31pm PST on Thursday, December 6. Join us if you can. Possibly you have NASA TV at home. Lots of cable companies carry it. Also, the launch should be on CNN and several other national news networks. Alternately, if you're like me and don't own a TV, NASA has several internet feeds, found here: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ I'd like to have more than two people there, like last time. Jamie
  11. Just in case you were offering me a useful solution. Nothing helpful. Um. Sorry I didn't meet your stringent needs. I've used a digital camera when I want to do "screen" shots of my Explorist, some of which have been published. It's what I use. I thought it was a helpful suggestion, not fodder for sarcasm. Jamie
  12. I'm looking for the patch for Magellan WorldWide Basemap for Windows XP. I don't seen the software or patch available on the site, and any links to the patch I've found are now broken. Anyone know where I can get it? Jamie
  13. And to further add to the other comments, this means you can do this with almost any of the more popular GPSs. Any Magellan or Garmin GPS (and possibly a few others) can communicate with GPSBabel. All you have to do is start GPSBabel, read the waypoints from your GPS, and save it to a Streets and Trips file. You don't need to search for any particular GPS model. If it works with GPSBabel, it'll work. Jamie
  14. Jamie Z

    Sneak Peak

    Isn't your daughter growed up now and moved out? Jamie
  15. Hasn't anyone bought a used Garmin and tried to register it? Surely somebody has. Jamie
  16. Mush, No problem. It's possible that you have NASA TV at home. Lots of cable companies carry it. It's interesting programming all around. Lots of kids-oriented stuff, mixed in with lots of technical stuff. A replay of the launch will be shown numerous times over the next weeks. It's really cool when they show the video from the solid rocket boosters, since they are jettisoned two minutes into launch and parachute back to earth. Yesterday I was watching as a group of students asked questions of one of the astronauts on ISS. He demonstrated the food he eats, where he sleeps, and described his first spacewalk. Then his mother got on the line and told him it was nice to see him. He choked up and when he told her he missed her. Jamie
  17. dadgum double post. Can't we delete posts? Sheesh. Jamie
  18. In the old days, at least in my area, it was common to write your log on a separate page, and most people wrote enough on the page to use most of it. In the past few years, I've noticed that a majority of logs are simply name and date, and people fit multiple names on each page. Therefore, I make a point of writing my log on a separate page. It's too bad that people don't write more than TFTC and sign their name. Jamie
  19. Not much of a turnout. I guess I'll have to hype it up a little more next time. Jamie
  20. Hm. She's just a baby. I thought this thread was going to be something good. Jamie
  21. I now possess four GPSs, and I don't need all of them. I'm thinking of putting my Quest 2 up on eBay to see what I can get for it. Of course, when I bought the unit, I registered it on the MyGarmin website. So what happens when I sell it? Can the new owner re-register the GPS? Will he be able to update the map software if he chooses? Even now that I own and use several Garmin GPS units, I still don't understand how the map lock/unlock and product registration works... Surely someone here has experience with this. Jamie
  22. What: STS-120 launches Tuesday, October 23, 2007, 10:38am CDT. Where: Clayjar's Official Geocaching Chat Room: http://www.gcchat.clayjar.com/ Who: All interested geocachers. Maybe we can get Rocketman to come in. Is he still here? Why: Ever watched a Shuttle Launch? If you have cool cable TV, you have NASA TV right in your home. If not, you can watch internet feeds here: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ See you there. Jamie
  23. Well, this makes three posts in a row in my own thread... After some fussing around, I think I may have figured out the issue. I hope there is a way around it. If I send the route to MapSource, and then have MapSource calculate the route, and then send it to the GPS, it will accept oodles of via points. If I haven't done the calculation, though... 48 is the max. Jamie
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