Bee celestial navigation‏

(30/08/09)

Have you ever wondered how bees manage to tell the other bees where the best flowers are to make honey? It turns out they are very competent at using our closest star and the moon to tell the other bees (by fancy bee dance work) in what direction and distance the flowers are, they even outsmarted the professor while he was doing his bee experiment! So spare a thought next time you put honey in your tea

"It takes about 6 bees life work, and thousands of miles flown, to make one teaspoon of honey"

http://www.space.com/searchforlife/090827-seti-bees-navigation.html

Photo: Another wedding on the Pontoon, Opera House dropoff.

The Matrix revisited: Is the Universe a giant computer?

(27/08/09)

A nobel prize winner Physicist has recently published a theory (which has problems) that basically concludes Einstein's views that Nature or "God does NOT play dice" when it comes to quantum mechanics ie quantum mechanics is deterministic rather than probabilistic and there is a hidden mechanism that determines if a state is in A or B for eg rather than say 50% chance for state A and 50% chance for state B. Without getting into the physics, it says

"The universe is a cellular automaton in which reality is simply the read out of a giant, fantasticallycomplex computing machine"

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24044/

You bloody hope that this computer doesn't run on Windows Vista!!! hehe ;-)))
Attached photo: today True Blue pulling into King Street Wharf, still whale watching season.

Ultimo Science Festival starts this friday‏

(20/08/09)

In case you people didn't know, the Ultimo Science Festival kicks off this friday night at the Powerhouse Museum with "Psychology, live jazz, physics, space-art, dark matter and more…", be there or be square:

http://www.ultimosciencefestival.com/usf09/

I'll be there ;-) Attached some recent photos dumped from my camera:

Photo 1: Golden Georgia in Athol Bay.
Photo 2: Beautiful ferry "Bundeena" at the Fish Markets.
Photo 3: In the bow thruster compartment on Bella Vista.

A moonbow and a rainbow‏

(10/08/09)

You have all seen a rainbow and perhaps a double rainbow but have you seen a moonbow at night? This time it is the sunlight reflected from the Moon (moonlight) which creates the effect via refraction from water droplets, checkout this excellent video:
 

Attached some photos sent by Pete, one of my former students who skippers the ferry Sun on the Hawkesbury River out of Brooklyn. This ferry being just under 12m only requires Coxswain, goes to Dangar Island, Wobby Beach and back 364 days a year early morning till evening. There's also the Hawkesbury Explorer and Hawkesbury (both Master 5 boats) which do regular cruises up the river including the last riverboat postman run. I used to work there for a year after I just got my Master 5 ticket a few years ago, all good fun.

Are there realistic options for going to the stars?‏

(25/07/09)

Some of you may have wondered when looking up the night sky if interstellar flight is at all possible or is it the dreams of couch potato StarTrek fans? We went to Moon, hopefully Mars not too long, what's next? Here's a recently written readable article that gives a good introduction on the subject:

http://www.peregrinus-interstellar.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=149&Itemid=28

In short yes there are currently options that could work given our current understanding of Physics, however they would be prohibitively expensive, impractical, too slow etc. The other option is to improve our knowledge of Physics to make interstellar flight less expensive, practical and come up with a fast transport method so the question is still open, good for us! Attached photos: Saw this interesting dredger ship De Bougainville in White Bay yesterday, they're doing work in Botany Bay:

http://laperouse.info/?p=551

40 years ago people were on the moon!

(20/07/09)

Well it's all over the news so no need to elaborate but here are some interesting links for you people if you missed it:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/apollosites.html
http://www.space.com/news/090714-apollo11-40th-ann-druyan.html

I like the interview with Ann Druyan (widow of Carl Sagan) especially the last bit:

"pure scientific research can change and even create vast amounts of wealth for us. The Maxwell equations begin as an exercise in mathematics, how to make an equation more beautiful. And they end by completely creating, single handedly, the communications revolution that has made our age."

Attached photo: Tyco, cable layer ship getting refuelled by Amorena last night inWhite Bay (notice the red lights on top).

Re: The Captain is always right‏

(15/07/09)

Someone forwarded this classic video, most of you have probably seen it already:



The USS Montana should have the following plaque as some boats have in the wheelhouse ;-)

Standing Orders
1) The Captain is always right.
2) If the Captain once isn't right, goto 1)

Attached photo: boat rounding Peacock Point today outbound, roomy wheelhouse!

Stability problem‏

(30/06/09)

Checkout the interesting slideshow of this boat rolling over while at the berth! The crew might need a bit of brushing up on stability...

http://www.heimsnet.is/iceship/hsmyndir/Slideshow/index.html
http://www.cargolaw.com/2009nightmare_seaflower.html