My mum wants a Wii for Xmas

What to do when your mother wants tech for Christmas? I say buy it for her but be aware that you may spend your Christmas day (a) setting it up (b) explaining how the controller works (c) explaining how the game works, (d) yelling how the game works and finally (e) going to bed still crying.

Seriously the woman wants a Wii for xmas so she can “keep fit”. I have mentioned maybe it would be easier and cheaper to get a dog and just go for a walk but she is having none of it. All i know is how much grief i have had ever since my parents decided (each of them) to have a dvd player and set-top-box attached to their individual entertainment units. If it is not re-doing to surround sound system it is trying to put plugs back in that somehow “Accidentally” fell out [usually it is the cat’s fault – but really, why would the cat care?]

I can only imagine the trouble some of those Wii controllers are going to have.
Any way i say she should get one. I mean my grandma was like in her 80’s before she got a microwave and she loved it. Not that my mum is old by a long shot i just mean that you are never too old to have access to the latest tech. Ever.

What i have issues with is my mum making me play games WITH her. I am still scarred from what is now know as the “Pictionary Game Episode”. It is well known in my family that i am only allowed to have computer based opponents although my friend Steve and i use to have awesome fun playing “spite and malice” during our lunch breaks. I have attempted to kill him. Not even once. Not saying i have attempted such a thing on other people. All i AM saying is that i have been known to get quite upset when people take too long for their turn. In any game. At anytime. I may have even raised my voice at quite small children when they began to get distracted.....

...

I know this is “suppose” to be a sci (ish) blog...or at the least about my failures. This entry is so not that. In my defence let me say that i have been working quite hard and sometimes i just need a laugh (or a break). I will say that i was disappointed with the coverage of the email hack of a UK climate research facility – i would just like to reiterate that you should never put anything in an email you would not like to be made public. I KNOW some of the guys who are your admin people...and your boss (no matter where or what you do) usually owns your email account anyway. This of course is not true of personal accounts. In which case be aware that you could still be hacked or punked.

I will not say what my opinion is on the resulting back lash or even why it was done. Not do i have a “position” about climate change for/against people or opinion on the topic. Just let me say that do not confuse people who do climate research with policy makers, bureaucrats, politicians, journalists or anyone else (with their own agenda). Be alert not alarmed people!! Also, i think i might rename my research focus – i will in future say that i study “Antarctic Systems”. It is pleasantly vague. Might also help me pick up? No. thought not. *sigh*

In which I rant like an idiot about nothing

Be warned. This is a little rant that i have to get off my chest before i explode. Seriously it started last Sunday night and has just kept on building. It is about television and the choices that the tv executives make the (a) seem quite incomprehensible and (b) shit me right off.

I have the show i really like to watch, called Castle. It is on a Sunday night and stars Nathan Fillion. For those that know me (even those who only slightly know me) you would know how much i adore Fillion. I mean i even watched an episode of Desperate Housewives because he was in it. I am single, work with computers, am in my thirties, don't you judge me!

Last week i was watching when a the end the announces, casually, announced "join us next week for a double final episode". I thought to my self well i KNOW it got a 22 ep run and they are showing like, ep 10 or something. BASTARDS. i think i started to get that blood boiling thing going on. this was annoying because i was suppose to go to bed and get a nice peaceful nights sleep.

This just adds to my gripe. I have been unable to buy the book Heat Wave (tie-in) from an Australian bookstore (or even get a release date from anyone - though i think January now). Also i wanted to buy the first season of castle (DVD) for myself as am xmas gift....but no one can tell me when that will also be available.

now i know all this is available in the US. I have money and want to buy those things. In Australia. I can only conclude that there is a some marketing ploy to not selling me these things or that the makes of Castle just don't care about fans outside the US. Sure i KNOW i can buy on line and convert here but i shouldn't have to. As i say i FEEL as if this is a lack of respect thing. I can't help how i feel.

I think free to air television stations and makers of the programs perhaps are forgetting the power of fans. Also that the internet/pay-tv are going to make them obsolete if they are not careful. They seem to forget that they need viewers so that advertisers give them money. My kids play more games/use the internet/watch DVDs more than they watch TV. They are the future and their future doesn't seem to include much TV. [they watch enough tv to still worry me....]

Book publishers are the problem i think. I have come across some lovely shop owners and help me find things to read and locate difficult to find material. I place no blame on them except for those that hire staff who could care less about customers). Publishers seem unaware of sites like lulu which as a model allows you to have any book that you want, printed, and delivered to your door all the while giving more money back to writers and still provide jobs at a local level. Not to forget the prospect of self publishers gaining a stronger foothold.

Anyway. So ends my little rant. All 'cause i can't get what i want. i am acting like a spoilt child. I know there are other, more important things to worry about but gosh, sometimes i just get angry about the darnedest things! I think that if i had tried to verbalise this to any actual, live person i am sure they would have been left wondering what planet i have just arrived from.

But i I DO feel better now. The weight seems lifted. If you ever feel the need to get something petty off your chest. Without repercussions. Please feel free to email me and i will listen. Don't guarantee that i will understand but i will listen.

Ta. xx

Today’s Science Content

Guess what I found today? Well, you will never guess so i will just have to tell you. I found my supervisors’ old voyage diary. This is the hand written stuff (this is like my fav. Technical term BTW) that gets recorded which is not actual data but is important so that you have (a) a frame of reference of other things that happen and (b) written proof that you did something *grin*.

The supervisor in question was the most awesome guy. An excellent scientist and also a really nice guy. I don’t recall him having a bad word to say about anybody (but more importantly me), ever. The diary was from v1-99 (that is voyage 1, 1999). It is actually i photocopy of his actual diary. Bound and everything. It has additional notes and annotations from me. It records events, dates, times, positions and activities/data.

It is a wonderful document. Reading it i can remember the days on board the ship and the scientific activities myself and others carried out. What is also cool is that he drew pictures. Of sea ice conditions. Little sketches if you will. So after a decade i can still make those connections between the satellite data and processed products (which i made myself) and the perspective from the ground. Sure, it is not a scientific document but it is invaluable.

That is why you should always keep a diary. Even if it is just scribbles and little, badly written, notes. Well, i have to really. I have a poor memory for personal details and am the worst photographer. Ever. No, seriously i am shocking. This is where i get my belief that you need to live life and “see” it rather than take a picture of it for later.

I must go and find my own diary. This details all the things i was doing. Well, it would because it was my diary! I seem to remember that my diary had less scientific bits and more personal experiences. I think i wrote about the people i was expedition-ing with more than anything.
All this reminiscing has been fun. I wonder what those people are doing now and if they even remember the voyage (or me). Also makes me wonder about what could have been (personally and professionally).

This is the first page of the diary. It details a “station”. That is what you call it when you stop the ship and everyone gets buys recording/doing things! This page includes:

· Date, time, location
· Weather information
· Who was also working (and what they were doing)
· Diagram of ice (and where people were working)
· Details of ice and snow conditions
· What information collected

and also a large dose of nostalgia.

A Christmas Carol.....again?

I saw an advertisement on the telly for “A Christmas Carol” (Disney, animated) the other night. This got me thinking why are there so many versions of this Dickens classic? More importantly as they are sooooo similar in content why do they even bother to remake it?

This new version stars JimCarey. Well, it is the Disney Animated version of so i am not sure if star is the correct wording. Most (but not all) animated movies these days try to freak you out with how good they are with their animation technique. I think they do this at the expense of or rather than the story. This is a shame because let me I tell you my kids will happily sit through very old, visually crappy, cartoons. They don’t need to go to so much trouble and expense. I mean they will watch really old Scooby Doo or Bugs Bunny and everything!

I will say that The Movie Show (SBS) gave it an excellent review. They said that it was a great version of this tale. They also talked about what a great movie going experience it was. They did see it in 3D which at $15+ a pop is NOT how my kids are going to see it!!

I may not have seen the movie but what i am getting at is why waste time and money re-making a movie? Why not pay someone for writing something new? There is no way that mankind is out of ideas. Surely. Although i think Dickens is an amazing writer who provides a visual experience through the written word which is hard to match (IMHO).

My introduction to the Dickens tale was in the written form. In the media format known as a “book”. I re-read it for many years until i got to see a version on the telly. I think this was the version called Scrooged (1988) with Bill Murray. I love Bill Murray BTW. I also remember a weird Christmas movie that i liked called “Bernard and the Genie” (1991). Come to think of it i like a lot of shite and/or weird movies so i will never make it as a movie reviewer.

When Dickens wrote his story i bet he never imagined what was going to become of it. I wish there were new authors out there getting a chance for their Christmas tale to become so beloved. I wish there were more choices for Christmas night viewing. As much as i LOVE the re-playing of old movies (called classics....but aren’t) and the inevitable ballroom dancing thing. I hope you realise i was being sarcastic there.

What i do is make sure i buy something i know i am going to like and give it to myself as a Christmas present. This year it will be Torchwood series 2. I know i am going to have a lovely time this Christmas night and boxing day that way!

In conclusion i would just like to say that i think that The Muppets Christmas Carol is the best Christmas movie. It gives the essential message AND you get muppets. Never go wrong with muppets. Yep. I think that about sums it up.

[ps. i know there is no science in this blog. had a bad week. also the phrase "can't be arsed" springs readily to mind.]

What does your desktop theme say about you?

I find it is not until you have visitors that your desktop theme becomes an issue. Let me explain. I don’t know if everyone is like me and customises their computers desktop. I change icons and sound effects mostly. I have it set to a retro windows theme (very 10 years ago really). I like that style and never feel really comfortable until a new computer looks just like the old one *grin*

I don’t know what is popular these days. I just know what i like. I never change the desktop display . It is always blue (that light, sky blue). Icons are always on the left (important folders and several apps only). The Taskbar along the bottom and with a VERY tidy start menu. I like things just right. I like things to stay the same. I don't like being surprised by my own computer! I also like science fiction.

I bring this topic up because i keep forgetting about my sound effects. Then i have visitors and they make comments. They range from a total freak out because the computer is “talking” all by itself, laughter at my choices and sometimes just plain confusion [ok mostly confusion]. I will now make my confession. It is a combination of various star trek dialog and sound effects. When i empty the trash it says “take your Vulcan cynicism and bury it” and when there is a real problem it says “please state the nature of the medical emergency”.
Guess what my visitors today said? Well, it wasn’t complimentary. I only have this to say in my defence:

My computer. Bugger off.

I will leave with you with a short but amusing story of some guys i shared on office with YEARS ago. They had a server doing stuff that was usually only accessed late at night (very dodgy stuff...but that was then...not now. now the police might turn up and arrest you) and one day i had some clients come to the office. The clients were just sitting there, looking at my presentation when suddenly the boys server got an inquiry that it loudly declined. Late at night, working away, we use to laugh at the offensive nature of the boys “denial of service” sound effects. Not that day. Not with all the F words. To this day i do not know if those clients just thought they imagined the whole sordid affair.

[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelfth_Man http://www.myspace.com/the12thmanbillybirmingham ]

In conclusion i would just like to say that sure, have a theme. Just remember that you might not be the only one who hears/sees it....and first impressions will say a lot about you!

It is all so cloudy ...

People often wonder why i get so worked up about clouds. Why they are the bane of my life.

I like them, don’t get me wrong. Most of my research time has been spent on clouds. I don’t mean i a way that will tell you (or the world) anything about clouds they don’t already know either. I mean that i spend a lot of my time trying to write programs that identify/remove clouds from my satellite data. Not such a problem surely?

Well let me tell you something about polar clouds. Imagine your looking down on the Antarctic from high above. You can see land ice (the continent), fast ice, sea ice and clouds....imagine what colour they are? Sure after a bit of training a human can usually figure out which bits are what. A computer is not so lucky. A human brain is amazing. The way we can make assumptions, gather information and make decisions on the fly is astounding.

I have trained computer code to do the same thing and let me tell you they really aren’t that bright. So literal. Yes. I am being facetious. I have good programs now but they are not 100% and it took a long time to move past that and concentrate on the end goals. The thing is that i have thousands and thousands of satellite images and using a computer to do most of the work is the only way to do it. It also removes the human element. I know what i said previously but humans tend to make mistakes and have bias. Besides i once had to look through a lot of imagery for a book i wrote with my supervisor and it wasn’t as much fun as you think. Not even a little bit.

Now this is not as much of a problem really. Eventually i figure out that i was only really interested in the open water areas with the sea ice, mostly along the coast. I know where the coastline is and fortunately water is significantly different. Besides it was about looking for one variable rather than trying to identify multiple variables. But that is how you learn. Sometimes you take a few wrong turns. But you always learn something in the end.

Now take a look at the following sat image (AVHRR thermal band 4) and see if you can spot the cloudy bits without using the map!

pink and orange are cloud, blues are ice/water and green is land [yes. i know that land in Antarctica is not green. in anyway. it is my little attempt at humour.]