Satellite launch
This isn't about politics, so perhaps nobody cares... ;-) I forgot to mention earlier that I dragged myself out of bed at 3:15 Friday morning to see if I could see a weather satellite launch from Vandenberg AFB, which is about 250 miles south of here. Sure enough, it was visible, an orange dot just above the horizon. With binoculars, the dot resolved into a bit of a pillar of fire, so to speak. The vehicle was a Delta II, which makes a nice bright orange fire from its first stage, but the second stage is liquid fuel, much less bright, so I only saw it for 30-40 seconds before it vanished when the first stage went out. Not realizing that there was more than a few seconds betweeen stages, I may not have watched long enough to see the second. .. and it was fading fast and heading for the horizon rapidly. The launch was to the south, so it was moving directly away from me the whole time. It would have been 75 miles downrange when the first stage shut off, 40 miles altitude. Not a spectacular sight, but pretty cool knowing what it was. Dave Land was quite a bit closer and also saw it, so he might add his impressions. My only disappointment is that I wasn't on board. Well, I would have wanted a few other things on board with me. Food, oxygen, etc. When I was a kid, they promised me we'd all have a chance to go into space! And here I am a (unusually young) grandpa, but can I buy a ticket? No. (This wasn't nearly as spectacular as the Peacekeeper launch we saw a while back. Peacekeepers climb much higher initially and it was just after sunset, so the sun lit up its exhaust dramatically.) Nick -- Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Satellite launch
In a message dated 5/23/2005 9:43:48 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I forgot to mention earlier that I dragged myself out of bed at 3:15 Friday morning to see if I could see a weather satellite launch from Vandenberg AFB, which is about 250 miles south of here. Was this the same one that Steve had a closer view of? I remember back in ye olden days in Phoenix, of being able to see the trail of a White Sands missile launch WAY before Phoenix went mega-metro. Vilyehm ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Satellite launch
On May 23, 2005, at 9:43 AM, Nick Arnett wrote: Not a spectacular sight, but pretty cool knowing what it was. Dave Land was quite a bit closer and also saw it, so he might add his impressions. I got up a few seconds too late to see it from the beginning. I was about 80 miles north of Vandenberg, so it probably would have been quite impressive. When I got outside, I saw what I thought was a sodium vapor street light on a nearby hill, so I walked a little further out into the hotel parking lot. Only then, when it didn't move relative to the background stars -- or rather, when it moved much, much more slowly than it should have -- did I realize that what I was looking at was the launch. It was pretty small already (maybe 1/5 of the moon diameter, or about 6 minutes) and getting smaller rapidly. I had talked to my 8-year-old son about it earlier in the evening, and I'm actually pretty glad I didn't wake him up for it: it took my knowledge of what I was looking at to make it interesting. To a kid, it would have been not much more than an unusually orange star moving ever so slowly towards another star and getting smaller as it did. He's watched satellites with me a couple of times, so I know that he has some tolerance for underwhelming celestial events, but probably not at 0320. As it was, the weekend was a real bust for Ryan: we drove down to CalArts in Valencia from San Jose (about 7 hours' drive and back) to see his cousin graduate from film school. For a school that has graduated the likes of Tim Burton, Ralph Eggleston, Ed Harris, Brad Bird and John Lasseter, they sure don't know how to produce a graduation ceremony, at least not one that keeps a reasonably bright 8-year-old entertained. A drum circle. Some Alanis Morissette wannabe singing L.A., L.A., L.A., what have you done to me? Grey-hairs accepting their honoris causae. 3-1/2 hours ... and only *then* his cousin cross the stage. Anyway, the launch was, well, an unusually orange star moving ever so slowly towards another star and getting smaller as it did. Dave ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Satellite launch
On Mon, 23 May 2005 12:57:19 EDT, Medievalbk wrote Was this the same one that Steve had a closer view of? Steve? Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Not Re: Satellite launch
At 12:29 PM Monday 5/23/2005, Dave Land wrote: As it was, the weekend was a real bust for Ryan: we drove down to CalArts in Valencia from San Jose (about 7 hours' drive and back) to see his cousin graduate from film school. For a school that has graduated the likes of Tim Burton, Ralph Eggleston, Ed Harris, Brad Bird and John Lasseter, they sure don't know how to produce a graduation ceremony, at least not one that keeps a reasonably bright 8-year-old entertained. A drum circle. Some Alanis Morissette wannabe singing L.A., L.A., L.A., what have you done to me? Grey-hairs accepting their honoris causae. 3-1/2 hours ... and only *then* his cousin cross the stage. One (at least one who is cynical^H^H^H^H^H^H^H realistic about the industry) question one might ask is whether keep[ing] a reasonably bright 8-year-old entertained is the primary purpose of the film school graduation, or is it possibly acknowledging that although the ones you mention did graduate from there, the odds are good that for at least some of the graduates the graduation ceremony may indeed be the high point of their film careers . . . ? Would You Like Fries With That Maru -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Not Re: Satellite launch
At 04:47 PM Monday 5/23/2005, Dave Land wrote: On May 23, 2005, at 1:50 PM, Ronn!Blankenship wrote: At 12:29 PM Monday 5/23/2005, Dave Land wrote: As it was, the weekend was a real bust for Ryan: we drove down to CalArts in Valencia from San Jose (about 7 hours' drive and back) to see his cousin graduate from film school. For a school that has graduated the likes of Tim Burton, Ralph Eggleston, Ed Harris, Brad Bird and John Lasseter, they sure don't know how to produce a graduation ceremony, at least not one that keeps a reasonably bright 8-year-old entertained. A drum circle. Some Alanis Morissette wannabe singing L.A., L.A., L.A., what have you done to me? Grey-hairs accepting their honoris causae. 3-1/2 hours ... and only *then* his cousin cross the stage. One (at least one who is cynical^H^H^H^H^H^H^H realistic about the industry) question one might ask is whether keep[ing] a reasonably bright 8-year-old entertained is the primary purpose of the film school graduation, or is it possibly acknowledging that although the ones you mention did graduate from there, the odds are good that for at least some of the graduates the graduation ceremony may indeed be the high point of their film careers . . . ? Even as I wrote my message, I realized that the purpose of the graduation ceremony was certainly not to keep Ryan entertained. That is his parents' job. If, indeed, it is anyone's other than his own. A number of attendees opined that the purpose of the ceremony seemed to be to prepare the students to attend events like the Emmys, Oscars, the American Music Awards and so forth. Remember the comment made in the _MAD Magazine_ satire of (the original) _Star Wars_ wrt C-3PO? As for your other comment, I suspect that graduating from CalArts may represent the career pinnacle for many graduates, whether from the film and video, theater, fine arts, or other schools there, but that's true for many, many schools and many professions around the world. Which I realized, but that would have diluted the sarcasm. (Speaking of which, see the article I posted to the list . . .) -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Not Re: Satellite launch
Ronn!Blankenship wrote: Remember the comment made in the _MAD Magazine_ satire of (the original) _Star Wars_ wrt C-3PO? No, I don't, and we only got 2 or 3 issues of MAD Magazine per year around that time, and that was one of them. (Dang!) So, would you please be so kind as to refresh my memory? :) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Not Re: Satellite launch
At 05:33 PM Monday 5/23/2005, Julia Thompson wrote: Ronn!Blankenship wrote: Remember the comment made in the _MAD Magazine_ satire of (the original) _Star Wars_ wrt C-3PO? No, I don't, and we only got 2 or 3 issues of MAD Magazine per year around that time, and that was one of them. (Dang!) So, would you please be so kind as to refresh my memory? :) For those who have their stash handy (either on dead trees or CD-ROMs), it's issue 196 (Jan 1978), page 5, the panel at the lower right hand corner of the page. (For those who have it in the latter format, it's on disc 4.) For those who don't, let me know and I'll send the panel to you off-list. (I guess we could try that service Robert mentioned for sending attachments . . . ) -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Satellite launch
At 11:43 AM Monday 5/23/2005, Nick Arnett wrote: My only disappointment is that I wasn't on board. Well, I would have wanted a few other things on board with me. Food, oxygen, etc. When I was a kid, they promised me we'd all have a chance to go into space! And here I am a (unusually young) grandpa, but can I buy a ticket? No. Have you read the article I posted about the disappearance of true innovation? -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Satellite launch
On Mon, 23 May 2005 18:05:29 -0500, Ronn!Blankenship wrote Have you read the article I posted about the disappearance of true innovation? I did, but I saw nothing new in it. Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Satellite launch
At 06:31 PM Monday 5/23/2005, Nick Arnett wrote: On Mon, 23 May 2005 18:05:29 -0500, Ronn!Blankenship wrote Have you read the article I posted about the disappearance of true innovation? I did, but I saw nothing new in it. Groan. -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
