As part of our Christmas eve festivities, the girls prepared a treat for us:

For a look at giant space ribbons, bubbles millions of miles across, photos of extrasolar planets, objects visible to the naked eye from 7.5 billion light years away, avalanches in action on Mars, cosmic smiley faces in the sky and more, visit National Geographic's Top 10 space images of 2008

On Christmas day when we went down to visit my parents, i received an envelope from them as my Christmas present. It was a ticket for a helicopter ride the following day. Needless to say i was very excited. My brother-in-law Kevin also received a ticket to ride. I was hoping that my brother, who just received his helicopter pilot license about a month ago, could fly us, buthe doesn't have enough hours to take passengers yet so he was also going to go along as a passenger. On the plus side, we got to go up with Brad's favorite instructor: Chase.

The next morning we were a a little worried because the wind was picking up and it looked as if we might not get to go. Fortunately things worked out and the winds stayed stable enough that although it was a bit bumpy on take-off, it wasn't so windy that we had to cancel. The flight lasted 30 minutes, which seemed to pass extremely quickly. We flew over the city initially, and then went for a big loop around the surrounding countryside at about 90 knots (That's just over a hundred miles an hour). We asked Chase if he would fly over my parents house on the way back to the airport so we could get some pictures from the air. Every time a helicopter flies over my moms house she always runs outside and waves, hoping that it's my brother. Of course this time she was at the airport waiting for us, so nobody came out to wave.

Enjoy the pictures!

Here is some video of our flight. My brother and brother-in-law were kind enough to let me have the front seat since they've both been in helicopters before. (If you ever get a chance for a helicopter ride, try for the front seat - the view is amazing.)

It's amazing how technology can have interesting and often really cool side-effects that it was never designed for. Take this article for example: New forest discovered via Google Earth. According to the article:

The mountainous area of northern Mozambique in southern Africa had been overlooked by science due to inhospitable terrain and decades of civil war in the country.

However, while scrolling around on Google Earth, ... scientists discovered an unexpected patch of green.

A British-led expedition was sent to see what was on the ground and found 7,000 hectares of forest, rich in biodiversity.

So far three new butterflies and one new species of snake have been discovered but it is believed there are at least two more new species of plants and perhaps more new insects to discover.

Jonathan Timberlake, expedition leader, said digital imagery has helped scientists to discover more about the world. He believes there may be other small pockets of biodiversity around the world that are yet to be discovered that could be stumbled upon by searching on Google Earth, especially in areas like Mozambique or Papua New Guinea which have not been fully explored yet.

Time to install Google Earth and start searching for the land that time forgot.

For all three of you that read my blog that might appreciate this, here's a wonderful, funny, and somewhat true statement about many programming languages and how they might translate into religions. This was passed along by one of my fellow code-monkeys. I've recreated the list here in case the original site goes away at some point. And yes all of the languages listed below (including LOLCODE) are real.

C would be Judaism - it's old and restrictive, but most of the world is familiar with its laws and respects them. The catch is, you can't convert into it - you're either into it from the start, or you will think that it's insanity. Also, when things go wrong, many people are willing to blame the problems of the world on it.

Java would be Fundamentalist Christianity - it's theoretically based on C, but it voids so many of the old laws that it doesn't feel like the original at all. Instead, it adds its own set of rigid rules, which its followers believe to be far superior to the original. Not only are they certain that it's the best language in the world, but they're willing to burn those who disagree at the stake.

PHP would be Cafeteria Christianity - Fights with Java for the web market. It draws a few concepts from C and Java, but only those that it really likes. Maybe it's not as coherent as other languages, but at least it leaves you with much more freedom and ostensibly keeps the core idea of the whole thing. Also, the whole concept of "goto hell" was abandoned.

C++ would be Islam - It takes C and not only keeps all its laws, but adds a very complex new set of laws on top of it. It's so versatile that it can be used to be the foundation of anything, from great atrocities to beautiful works of art. Its followers are convinced that it is the ultimate universal language, and may be angered by those who disagree. Also, if you insult it or its founder, you'll probably be threatened with death by more radical followers.

C# would be Mormonism - At first glance, it's the same as Java, but at a closer look you realize that it's controlled by a single corporation (which many Java followers believe to be evil), and that many theological concepts are quite different. You suspect that it'd probably be nice, if only all the followers of Java wouldn't discriminate so much against you for following it.

Lisp would be Zen Buddhism - There is no syntax, there is no centralization of dogma, there are no deities to worship. The entire universe is there at your reach - if only you are enlightened enough to grasp it. Some say that it's not a language at all; others say that it's the only language that makes sense.

Haskell would be Taoism - It is so different from other languages that many people don't understand how can anyone use it to produce anything useful. Its followers believe that it's the true path to wisdom, but that wisdom is beyond the grasp of most mortals.

Erlang would be Hinduism - It's another strange language that doesn't look like it could be used for anything, but unlike most other modern languages, it's built around the concept of multiple simultaneous deities.

Perl would be Voodoo - An incomprehensible series of arcane incantations that involve the blood of goats and permanently corrupt your soul. Often used when your boss requires you to do an urgent task at 21:00 on friday night.

Lua would be Wicca - A pantheistic language that can easily be adapted for different cultures and locations. Its code is very liberal, and allows for the use of techniques that might be described as magical by those used to more traditional languages. It has a strong connection to the moon.

Ruby would be Neo-Paganism - A mixture of different languages and ideas that was beaten together into something that might be identified as a language. Its adherents are growing fast, and although most people look at them suspiciously, they are mostly well-meaning people with no intention of harming anyone.

Python would be Humanism: It's simple, unrestrictive, and all you need to follow it is common sense. Many of the followers claim to feel relieved from all the burden imposed by other languages, and that they have rediscovered the joy of programming. There are some who say that it is a form of pseudo-code.

COBOL would be Ancient Paganism - There was once a time when it ruled over a vast region and was important, but nowadays it's almost dead, for the good of us all. Although many were scarred by the rituals demanded by its deities, there are some who insist on keeping it alive even today.

APL would be Scientology - There are many people who claim to follow it, but you've always suspected that it's a huge and elaborate prank that got out of control.

LOLCODE would be Pastafarianism - An esoteric, Internet-born belief that nobody really takes seriously, despite all the efforts to develop and spread it.

Visual Basic would be Satanism - Except that you don't REALLY need to sell your soul to be a Satanist...

Anyone have any suggestions for Pascal? Dave?

About 4 1/2 years ago i blogged about work on 3D operating systems. Not a lot has really happened in this space between then and now. However, Apple is supposedly working on a 3D OS. Here's a link to a detailed article about what they're up to. With much faster processors and better video cards it seems much more tenable to do nowadays. I am still looking forward to a 3D os that's gamelike. This isn't quite that, but it would be a great step in that direction.

The other day as i driving into work in the early morning hours, i saw a beautiful fireball in the sky. It lasted about 10 seconds and gave off a sparkly glow as it slowly moved across the sky. But it was nothing compared to this fireball (caught on camera by a police car in Canada):

Update: The meteor has been found. According to a report on Space.com

"University of Calgary scientist Alan Hildebrand and graduate student Ellen Milley found several meteor fragments near the Battle River along the rural Alberta-Saskatchewan border, near the city of Lloydminster late Thursday."

Hildebrand, who also coordinates meteor sightings with the Canadian Space Agency, estimated the meteor could have been seen from as far as 434 miles away, into the northern United States.

The meteor contained about one-tenth of a kiloton of energy when it entered the earth's atmosphere, roughly the equivalent of 100 tons of the chemical explosive TNT.

For anyone who's interested in space, this is probably old news, but for everyone else, here's something very cool that happened this week: The first photograph of a planet around another star.

I got one of those self-perpetuating internet era chain letters today. But since it was my mom, i'll go ahead and do it. However, i'm NOT going to pass it on to four other people. And hey - the message didn't come with any warning saying i would die in 3 hours if i didn't pass it on, so i think i'm safe.

Without further ado, here are six quirky things about me that you may or may not know:

1. I want to write a novel. Several of them actually. I've got lots of (what i think are) great ideas rattling around in my head. I was even going to do NANOWRIMO this year but apathy set in. ;) Perhaps some day™ i'll get around to it.
2. I love to paint miniatures (dragons, drawves, elves, etc..) and build miniature dioramas. Life always seems to get in the way, and i'm lucky to squeeze in 3-4 hours a month. Click here to view some of my work.
3. Annoying Habit: I often don't give straight answers to questions. And usually it's not that i'm trying to be obtuse. It's just that there are many ways i could present the answer and i'm trying to figure out which is most precise. Ask my wife about this - she hates it.
4. Back in my senior year of high school i took AP English. We had an assignment to read a novel by Charles Dickens. We read "Little Dorrit". Or ... we were supposed to. I never actually did. But I still have the book, it's still sitting on my nightstand, and 18 years later, i'm STILL reading it (i actually do pick it up and read a chapter now and again ... i even have two pages dedicated to it: Page 1, Page 2)
5. I believe in the technological singularity. A few years ago people had no idea what i was talking about. Now, only most people don't. Oh, and i even know when the end of the world (as we know it) is going to occur, but i won't tell you. Muah ah ah hahaha!
6. There's nothing better than a cheesy vampire and/or zombie and/or martial arts movie.

Ok, almost the coolest app i've found yet for my android g1 ... the TunesRemote. It connects over wi-fi and allows you to control your itunes music library from your phone. (coolest app is the compareanywhere barcode scanner - which, btw, was written by the same guy). - Tunes Remote

In other android news, i'm making great progress on my game. it's completely playable, works great, and is quite responsive. the only things left are extras like high score lists, save/restore game state between app runs, an extra tileset, and a page with instructions. hopefully i'll have it ready to go within a week or two.

Oh, also in android market news: here's a great site to check in addition to the official market: http://www.androidapps.org/