Monthly Archives: December 2010

A Little Ode to Winter

Posted on 21 December 2010 by josephshoer

I love winter. Maybe it’s just my New England heritage, but you know, I really enjoy it when the temperature drops below freezing outside and there are eight or ten inches of snow on the ground. I love when it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Photography, Weather | Leave a comment

Inventing New Uses for Dropbox

Posted on 18 December 2010 by josephshoer

After buying my third computer (I have a work desktop in my office, a personal laptop, and a personal tablet), I became a big fan of Dropbox. The service is a paradigm of cloud computing: I get a folder on … Continue reading →

Posted in Gadgets, Graduate school, Research | Leave a comment

House Republicans Hate Science

Posted on 11 December 2010 by josephshoer

I wish I were kidding. I really, really, do. I recognize that the way political parties supposedly work is to offer different solutions to problems – not “good” or “bad” solutions: they are all patriotic, and none of them are … Continue reading →

Posted in Graduate school, Politics, Science, Skepticism, Social commentary | 8 Comments

How to Watch Some Sci-Fi Shows: A Quick Guide

Posted on 10 December 2010 by josephshoer

Babylon 5 Don’t watch the first or last seasons. Also don’t watch the season 4 finale. Battlestar Galactica When they escape from the planet at the beginning of the third season, HUMANS WIN. End of show. Doctor Who It’s supposed … Continue reading →

Posted in Science Fiction, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Sailing into Light

Posted on 9 December 2010 by josephshoer

This week, the NanoSail-D mission successfully deployed from FASTSAT. This is, apparently, the first time a nanosatellite has ejected from a microsatellite. (In spacecraft lingo, engineers grabbed the term “microsatellite” to just mean “a small satellite,” where “small” was in … Continue reading →

Posted in NASA, Science, Space | Leave a comment

Space Access Gap: Closed!

Posted on 8 December 2010 by josephshoer

SpaceX’s second successful Falcon 9 launch has just inserted the Dragon capsule into Earth orbit! The Dragon vehicle will perform a series of check-outs over the next few orbits before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. If all goes well, then this … Continue reading →

Posted in NASA, Space | Leave a comment

Atheist Vuvuzelas Making Noise in Texas

Posted on 7 December 2010 by josephshoer

I sometimes find myself a visitor to College Station, TX and have, over the course of those visits, made a few acquaintances. Today, I checked out an item from the Bryan/College Station local news that involved one such acquaintance: Keri … Continue reading →

Posted in People, Skepticism, Social commentary | Leave a comment