sidreal

sidreal @ 2006-08-25T00:37:00

2006-08-25T07:37:43Z

Just got done doing some research on google earth, getting info on some of my old childhood haunts, for something I'm working on (to be posted here at some point). Boy, was that a bad idea. I coulda done without some of those particular little sidetrips down memory lane.

sidreal @ 2006-05-01T03:52:00

2006-05-01T10:54:05Z

I feel so tired.

sidreal @ 2006-02-02T04:09:00

2006-02-02T12:58:56Z

Online webcams. This is a list of some of my favorites so far. I've tried to post this twice before, each time with fairly well-written intros, and both times the browser crashed. Theoretically, it was due to the different routines the cams were asking my browser to perform, but I think it was actually karma.

Anyway, in an effort to actually get this post posted, I'm working in two browser programs and skipping the intro. It works better without me leading in, anyway.

They'll be designated controllable (which are almost always streaming), live (streaming) and still (which refresh periodically, in anywhere from five to thirty seconds, usually.) Have fun.

Nola.com has a collection of live and still cams. There's another new orleans still cam here, at Tropical Isle. (Jesus, it's dawn there as I write this. yeesh.)

There's another collection of still cams at London Cam, looks like they update every five seconds or so.

Seattle's got a cam on the Space Needle. It says live, but I didn't see it update while I was watching. Maybe every minute or so? The interface is cool, though, and check out the time lapse feature, too.

Alcatraz has a controllable cam, come to think of it. Not usually anyone fighting for control of it, either. Go nuts.

I'm not sure exactly where this is (somewhere in japan), and I'm not sure exactly what it is. Horror shop? Tourist attraction? There's four or five streaming cams in there, though. Click around. Don't click the bugs, though. http://www.medamaoyaji.jp/index.html

There's another still cam on an Australian beach, at the Mooloolaba Surf Club. I like this one because I'll probably never ever get to visit australia. Damnit.

I like weasels.
I also like bengal kittens. I'm not sure when they come out, though.
I like lizards, too, but mostly this cam is usually about watching paranoid grasshoppers.

Here's a couple of live controllable cams:
http://www.us-tec.com/live/index.html (Osaka, Japan)
http://www.us-tec.com/live/index.html (Hotel Meridien, Tokyo, Japan)

I like the controllable cams the best, really. Even if you're not moving them yourself, you can sit there and watch what other people do with the cam, without any other connection between you. It's maybe more entertaining that way.

I left out the antarctica cams, because I didn't want to do that subject to death. Scroll back if you're jonesing for ice and wind. :)

sidreal @ 2005-12-07T02:36:00

2005-12-07T11:41:34Z

Been browsing webcams the past few days. No, not those webcams.

US Amundsen-Scott South Pole station

There's this one, from The Joint Australian Centre for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica (JACARA). Updated once a day, I think.

Here's an animation / movie they made by putting over a day's worth of sequential shots together (2.2 megs, in quicktime.) Smaller version (0.8 megs) here.

Neumayer
There's the German station, Neumayer. Webcam(s) here. They've got a number of fun things goin on, including a LIDAR set up at Koldeway Station to measure the ozone (nifty pic here. Oooo, shiny...)

There's one at the German Antarctic Receiving Station. I'm not sure exactly what they're doing there (the site's in german), but there's a big honkin' dish featured prominently in most of the photos. This would be a valuable clue if I had more sleep. As it is, it just makes a nifty new desktop wallpaper for me.

(Seriously, though, I think it's something to do with astronomy, and the dish is synched to a satellite in orbit. It can't be radio astronomy, it's only one dish, and it's pointed in all sorts of different directions at different times. But then again, the news page</i> features flying penguins in capes, so it could just be some hopelessly doomed attempt at world domination, using penguins as minions. I wish I could read german.)

Australian Antarctic Division
Casey Station, updated every ten minutes.

Here's a movie collage of some under-ide diving (1.5 megs, quicktime). Filmed at Newcomb Bay. I dunno what, exactly, the editor was thinking (there's a few seconds where everything goes pink. Pink? Wha?), but I'm pretty sure that some of the background audio is Weddell Seal noises. Interesting note: from what I understand, they still don't know what some of the calls mean, because they're unable to correlate the noises with seal behavior; they don't get a whole lot of dive time due to the conditions, so they can't observe the seals under the ice. Mostly they've got information just on the behavior around breathing holes, naturally. Found some sound files here (both .wav and .au).

Also from the AAD
Davis Station, updated every ten minutes, Macquarie Station, updated every ten minutes, and Mawson Station, yadda yadda, ten minutes. While I like all of these, I've got to say that Macquarie Station is not the photo montage that's going to draw in the tourists.

Looking at a lot of these images isn't going to be incredibly interesting at first glance, especially if you don't know much background information. Some of the stations down there have really fascinating projects going on, but I'm just posting the pretty pictures, and I'll let you find the fun stuff yourself.

My big attraction is the idea of being that far away from the bulk of humanity, in a place that's almost completely inhabited by people who want to be there and are excited about why. I'm vaguely thinking about applying for a support staff job there, but that's probably just a daydream. I'll get over it when winter really hits SF. I'm a southern boy in a lot of ways.

This isn't everything I found, or even all of the best stuff, but it's a good selection of highlights. I'm thinking I should cut it short now, because I'm getting a little goofy (see: penguin minions) and I'm going to go to sleep.

Edit: Okay, okay, a few more links. Like I ever go to sleep when I need to, right?

Nova Survival Stories

sidreal @ 2005-12-05T01:43:00

2005-12-05T09:45:54Z

Revamping the page, I think. I'm understanding why these kanji-a-day pages die off before too long; after the first handful of entries, is gets to feeling like work. Which would be okay, but it feels like redundant work, which is one of the things that's always driven me insane about any of my actual jobs.

So. Look forward to the new kanji-and-other-stuff-maybe-not-quite-every-day page. Go me.

sidreal @ 2005-11-30T00:24:00

2005-11-30T08:33:55Z

Found what seems to be a wonderful kanji dictionary online, at http://www.nuthatch.com/kanji/ . I'll link to entries on that site for now, and if this journal gets anything more than twenty or so people following it, I'll check in with the owner to see if it's still okay. No need to be rude about bandwidth.

The link above was the into page. This link ( http://www.nuthatch.com/kanji/demo/frame.html ) is a framed version indexed by radicals. Very nicely done. The only problem I've had so far is that it doesn't have a lookup-by-stroke-count function, which means that I'm having a little problem finding the radical(s) for the entry on Nov. 27th

Also, I'm thinking of upping this to three kanji a day, and/or including hiragana and katakana. Personally, I could use the practice.

(43)

2005-11-30T08:19:37Z

GEN, GON, koto
げん、ごん, こと

Word / Say

This kanji is a radical.

dictionary link

(546)

2005-11-29T22:24:42Z

KYU, miya
きゅ、みや

Shrine / Palace / Prince

Radical: 宀 (crown)

dictionary link

(547)

2005-11-27T20:47:57Z

SHI
し

Teacher, Army

(550)

2005-11-27T11:42:36Z

KAI, hira(keru/ku), a(keru/ku)
かい, ひら（ける／く）、あ（ける／く）

open

Radical: 門 (gate)

dictionary link