Here’s a very nice article about the game phenomena that was Lunar Lander:
Forty Years of Lunar Lander | Technologizer
Addendum: Here’s a screen grab of the arcade version of the game. I used to love this game.
Tonight the amateur satellite AO-51 made an evening pass that was almost directly overhead, and was sending a congratulatory message for Apollo 11, along with a slow scan TV image. I managed to record it, although not the greatest quality, using my little Yaesu VX-3R and my Arrow antenna. Here are links to the recording as well as the four tries at the SSTV image:
July 20th, 6:40PM recording of AO-51 over CM87
Here was the pass as predicted by my Python code (times are in UTC):
01:39:06 +0.0° 165.4° ? 12.8°N 115.9°W - AOS 696.4 01:40:00 +3.6° 165.4° ? 16.1°N 116.6°W - 695.9 01:41:00 +8.3° 165.5° ? 19.7°N 117.4°W - 695.6 01:42:00 +14.2° 165.4° ? 23.3°N 118.3°W - 695.6 01:43:00 +22.4° 165.3° ? 27.0°N 119.1°W - 695.8 01:44:00 +34.9° 165.0° ? 30.6°N 120.1°W - 696.2 01:45:00 +55.9° 163.8° ? 34.2°N 121.0°W - 696.9 01:46:00 +88.1° 99.1° ? 37.8°N 122.1°W - 697.8 01:46:01 +88.2° 80.1° ? 37.8°N 122.1°W - MAX 697.8 01:47:00 +57.1° 349.6° ? 41.4°N 123.2°W - 698.9 01:48:00 +35.9° 348.3° ? 45.0°N 124.4°W - 700.3 01:49:00 +23.3° 348.0° ? 48.5°N 125.7°W - 701.9 01:50:00 +15.1° 348.0° ? 52.1°N 127.2°W - 703.7 01:51:00 +9.1° 348.0° ? 55.7°N 129.0°W - 705.8 01:52:00 +4.4° 348.1° ? 59.2°N 131.0°W - 708.0 01:53:00 +0.4° 348.3° ? 62.7°N 133.4°W - 710.4 01:53:06 +0.0° 348.3° ? 63.0°N 133.7°W - LOS 710.7
And here are the resulting SSTV images as decoded with Multiscan under Mac OS X:
Addendum: I played back the recording with some adjusted settings, and got this picture (somewhat better):
Last night’s reading reminded me that I have never really been satisfied with my understanding of how siphons work. Apparently I’m not the only one, since there was this interesting exchange on Straight Dope which pointed out some of the disconcerting issues that surround explanations of their actions. I’m still not convinced I have a good understanding of their action. For example, in the cartoon above, it implies that air pressure pushes down on the tank above, but surely it also applies to the water below in the bucket, yes? I’m guess I’m skeptical about this “air pressure” idea. Tom suggested briefly in lunch that as long as the fluid’s vapor pressure was such that the weight of the downward column was insufficient to introduce cavitation, that the siphon action would continue. That sounds more like the truth to me, since it doesn’t rely on any notion of “atmospheric pressure” pushing on things. But I’m still not 100% satisfied with my understanding.
via The Straight Dope: How does a siphon work?.
Addendum: Wikipedia has a nice article, including some helpful math.
It was originally my intention to compare and contrast Loren Carpenter’s Vol Libre, a mile stone in computer animation, the first film to use fractal techniques with the second video, which is a 4KB demo contest winner, but sadly, I was unable to find Vol Libre on Youtube. So, instead, I’ll compare it to the Genesis effect sequence from Star Trek (what was I thinking? Thanks Robert!) II: Wrath of Khan. After all, Loren worked on that one too.
What a difference a couple of decades of hardware makes, huh? I’ve managed to live through both of these periods. The field still amazes me some times.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has begun its mission around the moon, and has managed to image most of the Apollo landing sites. Check out the following link:
Thanks to Bob @ work for mentioning this to me. I think I appreciate this guy not just for his knowledge of batters and their stances, but for the self-deprecating way in which he presents his “least marketable skill”. That, my friends, is a baseball fan.
