In a struggle to be happy and free

Drystone Wall

Month: March 2012

Technical documentation, Microsoft-style

Do not use slang that may be considered derogatory, such as pimp or bitch.

Microsoft Manual of Style, Fourth Edition

Me and Julio, down by the Mac’s

Wait. I suppose it should be Me, Julio, and that other guy, down by the Mac’s. And no, for the record, I’m not in the photo.

4M6C0003.CR2: 5D Mk.III, EF 70–200mm 1:4L IS @ 200mm, 1/125, f/4, 12800 ISO

4M6C0003.CR2: 5D Mk.III, EF 70 – 200mm 1:4L IS @ 200mm, 1/125, f/4, 12800 ISO

The universe in a year

The ChronoZoom project is pretty cool. It shows you a graphical timeline of the entire history of the universe. You can zoom in on the interesting parts to see more and more detail. As it stands right now, there isn’t a huge amount of detail to see, but the project is still in beta so I expect that will change. The only weakness I see is that when you zoom in, you lose the overall scale of the part you’re looking at relative to the whole, and this gets worse as you continue to zoom. Still, it’s wicked cool.

It reminds me of another way to conceptualize the age of the universe in comparison to the events we know, and it doesn’t suffer from losing the overall scale in the same way as ChronoZoom. I believe I read it in a Carl Sagan book, but I haven’t been able to find it. What he did was compress the entire 13.7 billion year history of the universe to a single year. Thus, the big bang occurred on January 1 at 00:00:00 and today is 24:00:00 on December 31.

While I can’t find that text, I figured that it couldn’t be too hard to figure out the means to do it myself. With that in mind, I present you with this timeline:

  • The big bang occurs on January 1 at 00:00
  • The Milky Way galaxy forms on January 14
  • The sun first ignites on August 30
  • The Earth forms on September 1
  • The oldest discovered rock forms on September 15
  • Single cell life appears on September 23
  • The oldest discovered fossil is laid down on October 1
  • Multi-cellular life appears on November 15
  • The earliest land plants appear on December 19
  • Dinosaurs appear on December 24, around 9:30 PM
  • Mammals appear on December 25, at 4:34 PM
  • Dinosaurs disappear on December 30, around 6:30 AM

Everything after this point occurs on December 31

  • Earliest known hominid (Great Ape) appears 7:32 PM
  • Human and Chimpanzee lineage splits over time between 8:03 PM and 9:04 PM
  • Early humans first use stone tools at 10:51 PM
  • Neanderthals appear sometime between 11:37 PM and 11:46 PM
  • Modern humans appear between 11:52:21 PM and 11:54:16 PM
  • Humans first migrate out of Africa at 11:57:42 PM
  • Earliest known cave art is painted at 11:58:47
  • Neanderthals disappear at 11:58:52 PM
  • Plant and animal domestication begins at 11:59:47 PM
  • Recorded history begins when writing is invented at 11:59:46 PM
  • The bronze age begins at 11:59:46 PM
  • The iron age begins at 11:59:53 PM
  • Julius Caesar captures Rome at 11:59:55.28 PM, turning the Republic into a dictatorship
  • Christopher Columbus arrives in the Americas at 11:59:58.81 PM
  • Leonardo DaVinci finishes the Mona Lisa at 11:59:58.85 PM
  • The United States declares independence at 11:59:59.46 PM, though the British fight for another 0.0115 seconds before giving up
  • Confederation of Canada at 11:59:59.67 PM
  • The Titanic sinks at 11:59:59.77 PM
  • World War II ends at 11:59:59.85 PM
  • Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon at 11:59:59.90 PM
  • The Berlin Wall falls at 11:59:59.95 PM
  • December 31, 24:00:00.00 — I post this entry.

What I like about this thought experiment is how easy it is to see the relative position of events, and their durations. For example, the dinosaurs were around for far longer than we’ve been, comparing their six days with our six to eight minutes. And all of our remarkable and embarrassing history begins only 14 seconds before midnight of the last day. Saying that recorded history encompasses the last 4000 of 13.7 billion years makes it sound really short in comparison, but the last 14 seconds of a whole year gives a far more comprehensible idea of exactly how big the difference really is.

I love stuff like this!

VW diesel refuel #96

February 23 to March 14
Odometer: 84036 to 84790
Distance travelled: 753.8 km
Fuel used: 52.967 litres

Calculated fuel economy:
7.0 l/100 km
33.5 miles/US gallon
40.2 miles/imperial gallon

Drawing a line

I sent an e‑mail message to Anthem Entertainment:

I read with great interest about CIMA’s demands as presented at the Bill C‑11 hearing. The current bill and even SOPA look like minor changes compared to what CIMA wants.

As a result, I went to cimamusic.ca to see what record labels were members of CIMA. I was shocked to see Anthem listed among them. CIMA represents you, and unless you speak up for yourself, I have to assume that you agree with the changes CIMA is proposing.

I’ve been a Rush fan since 1980, have purchased all of their CDs and most DVDs, and have seen them multiple times on every tour they’ve had since I’ve been a fan.

I’m hoping you don’t stand firmly behind CIMA in their demands because if you do, we have some fundamental disagreements about the relationship between a record label and those who buy their products. Perhaps an irreconcilable difference.

Either way, I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt and hear your stance directly from you.

Rick.

cc: http://www.alienshore.com/2012/03/drawing-a-line/

If you know me, you know this is a huge deal. I love Rush, but this may be more than I can accept. I look forward to their response.

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