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The Outsider's Inside View - post#001
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KevinDouglasPhD Send message Joined: 6 Feb 06 Posts: 107 Credit: 23,981 RAC: 0 |
Thanks for that. This band is playing in SF next week. Maybe I'll go check them out. I'm only familiar with one of their albums. Check out this lovely image of interstellar hydrogen: It's not SETHI data; it's from another Arecibo-based project called GALFA. I'll write a bit more about that in next week's new post. |
Dr. C.E.T.I. Send message Joined: 29 Feb 00 Posts: 16019 Credit: 794,685 RAC: 0 |
That's an Understatement - 'lovely image' - it's quite Astounding to say the least - can't wait for your input regarding the aforementioned . . . Respectfully, richard |
Jim_S Send message Joined: 23 Feb 00 Posts: 4705 Credit: 64,560,357 RAC: 31 |
Kevin, You're the answer to an infoholics dream! Also I've not heard "Gentle Giant" mentioned in years! KUDOS for Brains and Good taste! BUT, NO PINK? I Desire Peace and Justice, Jim Scott (Mod-Ret.) |
Eric Korpela Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 1382 Credit: 54,506,847 RAC: 60 |
Back from the dentist with the new, permanent, cap. The rest of my teeth are pointing and laughing, but I assume the new one will be accepted as a brother before too long. I'll take a few minutes before getting back to work to explain the history of names. We tend not to repeat names, so once a machine goes, the name will probably go with it. When I started here people named machines after the research group leaders. Stu Boywer and Supria Chakrabarti had "stew" and "soup" repsectively. The rest of us had terminals. Then came "rocket," a 4MB, 16 Mhz diskless 68020, named so because that's what we worked on at the time. The came a big NASA mission, EUVE. At that point things divided up into multiple camps. There were the big servers which were usually named with acronyms, SOC1 (science operations center) and SDAF1 (super duper aerodynamic frog maybe? I dunno.) Then we got a optical disk jukebox, so it seemed obvious that "elvis" would run that. Around this time the SETI group got a machine named "serendip" Personal workstations were usually named after towns on the california coast. "pacifica," "bodega," "bolinas," "monterrey," and "laguna" all come to mind. When we ran out of those we moved on to single malt scotch varieties "highland," "lowland," "islay," "skye," "speyside," etc. Then I worked on the Far Ultraviolet Coronal Rocket and got a machine named "mofo" for obvious reasons. (Don't explain them unless you want to be moderated.) Following that, a trend for naming machines after famous scientists and writers developed, some fictional, starting with "albert" and continuing through "isaac," "asimov," "drake," "jill," "dyson," "clarke," "sagan," "ellie," "jocelyn," "herschel," "hawking," "jansky," "hertz," "galileo," "castelli," and "ewen." There was a brief stint of Simpsons characters, "marge," "homer," "lisa," "maggie," "bart," "skinner," "syzlak," "milhouse" mixed in with Scooby-do's "shaggy" and "scooby" Then there's the "K-rack" that when it was full contained "kosh," "kang," "kodos," "koloth," "kryten," and "klaatu" There was talk of a "G-rack" which gave birth to "gowron" Now we're onto Star Wars, although Matt named his new desktop machine "wahweap" which could start a trend toward naming machines after marinas on Lake Powell. @SETIEric@qoto.org (Mastodon) |
KevinDouglasPhD Send message Joined: 6 Feb 06 Posts: 107 Credit: 23,981 RAC: 0 |
Not on the mp3 player, no. Plenty of it at home, though. The Floyd are one of those bands I hardly listen to anymore, despite having so many good albums. I've just heard them all so many times - same with Yes, old Genesis (Hackett-era), King Crimson, etc. There are just so many lesser-known bands that play challenging, complex rock music that I'd rather discover. Finding out that Matt & Jeff & Court have similar musical tastes to me was yet another unexpected delight when I started working here. Maybe Dave too...not sure though. |
Matt Lebofsky Send message Joined: 1 Mar 99 Posts: 1444 Credit: 957,058 RAC: 0 |
Re: host names. Eric pretty much spelled out most of it below, but there were a couple of Mac's we had early on called "jobs" and "wozniak" as well as a PC called "gates." That PC disappeared and, oddly enough, the name was indeed reused on a Sun Ultra 10 (ha ha). I'm also an old Amiga-head, so we named a few machines after Commodore types like "miner" and "peddle" but those machines ended up not getting used very much (how ironic). "Wahweap" refers to an impossible-to-get-to section of southern Utah where I found these. Re: musical tastes. Dave is a very accomplished pianist whose tastes trend towards classical (romantic through modern). He and I had several musician friends in common before we met here at the lab (which we only discovered later). - Matt -- BOINC/SETI@home network/web/science/development person -- "Any idiot can have a good idea. What is hard is to do it." - Jeanne-Claude |
Odysseus Send message Joined: 26 Jul 99 Posts: 1808 Credit: 6,701,347 RAC: 6 |
Do you guys specialise in only listening to obscure music? The only ones I have heard of on that list are Pierrot Lunaire (and I kind of wish I hadn't) and Queen. My ‘familarity percentage’ on that list is pretty low, too. Gentle Giant is one of my favourite groups, especially their earlier stuff: their In A Glass House (1973â€â€one of my favourite years for music, come to think of it) would definitely be on my short list for a ‘desert island’ scenario. Classic ‘art rock’ (if a bit quirkyâ€â€I can’t think of anyone else who’d use a xylophone, for example) with thoughtful lyrics and very fine singing voices. Adrian Belew was in King Crimson, another of my favourite bands, in their 1980s reincarnation, but I’m afraid I’d choose either Fripp or Bruford over him without the slightest hesitation. |
kinhull Send message Joined: 3 Oct 03 Posts: 1029 Credit: 636,475 RAC: 0 |
"Wahweap" refers to an impossible-to-get-to section of southern Utah where I found these. Wow! What are those formations, are they rock, salt, something else? Great geology. As mentioned by Eric, I take it the pics were taken here: Lake Powell Join TeamACC Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. |
Misfit Send message Joined: 21 Jun 01 Posts: 21804 Credit: 2,815,091 RAC: 0 |
Then I worked on the Far Ultraviolet Coronal Rocket and got a machine named "mofo" for obvious reasons. (Don't explain them unless you want to be moderated.) Click sig email addr for explanation. me@rescam.org |
Jim_S Send message Joined: 23 Feb 00 Posts: 4705 Credit: 64,560,357 RAC: 31 |
How about "Quicksilver Messenger Service"? I Desire Peace and Justice, Jim Scott (Mod-Ret.) |
Brock Send message Joined: 19 Dec 06 Posts: 201 Credit: 774,488 RAC: 0 |
@ Jim S- Since it's 0 degrees Fahrenheit here in Minnesota I think I'll have "another hit of cool air" (QMS lyrics). |
Clyde C. Phillips, III Send message Joined: 2 Aug 00 Posts: 1851 Credit: 5,955,047 RAC: 0 |
I believe they call Don Williams "The Gentle Giant". Among a lot of other songs he had popular were "You're My Best Friend" in 1975 and "Til The Rivers All Run Dry" in 1976. |
mrglenning Send message Joined: 11 Jan 07 Posts: 2 Credit: 443 RAC: 0 |
Greetings, SETI enthusiasts. As someone who primarily works "at arm's length" from the SETI@home/BOINC group most of the time, I mostly want to use my blog to give a behind-the-scenes perspective of what goes on here, from a sort of "fly-on-the-wall" point of view. I hope such a thing would be entertaining as well as informative. I guess that remains to be seen...hence the blog title, The Outsider's Inside View. Don't like it? Then suggest something else. I thought "The ET Insider" might get me in trouble with Paramount. Not that I watch such dreck anyway. |
mrglenning Send message Joined: 11 Jan 07 Posts: 2 Credit: 443 RAC: 0 |
What the point of all this. I was watching a google video (i forgot which one) where some group did make contact. The military came in and shut the frequency down. When it was reopened nothing could be found. The military must have haad them change channels. IF TRUE, what's the point? |
Dr. C.E.T.I. Send message Joined: 29 Feb 00 Posts: 16019 Credit: 794,685 RAC: 0 |
What the point of all this. I was watching a google video (i forgot which one) where some group did make contact. The military came in and shut the frequency down. When it was reopened nothing could be found. The military must have haad them change channels. IF TRUE, what's the point? mrglenning - if you would - please see you *History* in that Google Thread - and Post the Link you refer to . . . *WE* shall see what's up with Re: ;) [edit]". . . in our childrens childrens children" - the *opportunity* to find results - via SETI@ home - is reason enough for those that 'ave the Patience and are willing to work towards that goal . . . ;) |
mikey Send message Joined: 17 Dec 99 Posts: 4215 Credit: 3,474,603 RAC: 0 |
What the point of all this. I was watching a google video (i forgot which one) where some group did make contact. The military came in and shut the frequency down. When it was reopened nothing could be found. The military must have haad them change channels. IF TRUE, what's the point? The long ago reported procedure behind the signals Seti might find is that they will first verify that signal with several other places around the World to weed out any possibility of it being man made or caused by some star going ballistic or whatever. This should stop the you-tube theory from happening, too many Countries involved to shut them all down. |
dragon1 Send message Joined: 17 Sep 05 Posts: 33 Credit: 4,438,013 RAC: 0 |
Welcome to the board Kevin....hmmm..a fellow Canuck eh! You mention that Eric brought you in to the project..I wonder if in one of your future posts, you might mention what part of Canada you are from and if you are currently 'on loan' from a University up here and what projects you might have been involved with prior to coming to Berkeley. You know us, always interested in ex-pats...lol. Oh !....I live in the heart of University country (Waterloo,ON) and thought I'd mention that any other Canucks in the area might be interested in an upcoming 'talk' being given at the PERIMETER INSTITUTE in Waterloo by Dr. Jill Tarter, Director, Center for SETI Research. Anyway, thanks for providing us with an insight into what you're working on...much appreciated. |
Byron Leigh Hatch @ team Carl Sagan Send message Joined: 5 Jul 99 Posts: 4548 Credit: 35,667,570 RAC: 4 |
Welcome to the board Kevin....hmmm..a fellow Canuck eh! You mention that Eric brought you in to the project..I wonder if in one of your future posts, you might mention what part of Canada you are from and if you are currently 'on loan' from a University up here and what projects you might have been involved with prior to coming to Berkeley. You know us, always interested in ex-pats...lol. Hi dragon1 I'm not Kevin , but here is some information Hope this helps :) Penticton , in the Okanagan Valley , British Columbia , Canada Dr. Kevin Douglas, Postdoctoral research associate Kevin is a radio astronomer, specializing in the study of the interstellar medium. He is an expert at observing Galactic hydrogen with the Arecibo multibeam receiver called ALFA, to which SETI@home recently installed its new data recorder. Kevin is married, with one son. You can read more about Kevin's interests by visiting: Kevin's Home page http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/~douglas/ I hope this helps :) Best Wishes Byron I'm retired now and living in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada |
KevinDouglasPhD Send message Joined: 6 Feb 06 Posts: 107 Credit: 23,981 RAC: 0 |
Welcome to the board Kevin....hmmm..a fellow Canuck eh! You mention that Eric brought you in to the project..I wonder if in one of your future posts, you might mention what part of Canada you are from and if you are currently 'on loan' from a University up here and what projects you might have been involved with prior to coming to Berkeley. You know us, always interested in ex-pats...lol. Hi dragon1, I consider myself a western Canadian. I've got a brief bio on my homepage (Byron provided a link) but if there's anything missing there I'm happy to answer questions. I'm not on loan - I got my PhD from U.Calgary in '05. I was involved with the International Galactic Plane Survey before coming to Berkeley to do more Galactic science. I went to a star formation/astrochemistry conference in Waterloo in August 2002. I didn't see much of the city though. I did see the Research In Motion building (the company that makes the Blackberry) though. Thanks for the post - I'm on "post#003" this past week, so try and keep up eh? |
dragon1 Send message Joined: 17 Sep 05 Posts: 33 Credit: 4,438,013 RAC: 0 |
Hey Kevin...thanks for the additional info and thanks Byron for the links. I hope the 'Yanks' down there appreciate your sense of humour...I sure do...hehe. As you know guys don't multi-task as well as women do. That's my excuse for not noticing I was still viewing post #1..Now onto post #6, or is it #3. |
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