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1-1-05 Stats and Referrers to OceanPark

Statistics and Referrers for OceanPark

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12-31-04 GameSpy's PC Games of the Year Honors

Casting all seriousness aside for the night, we're closing out the year with GameSpy's picks and our links to the top 10 pc games of the year, in David Letterman countdown style.

#10 -- Sid Meier's Pirates!; Meier/Atari. I don't know about you, but I can pretty easily think up a whole crew's worth of people who deserve to be hit with a few broadsides. Here's your chance to play Errol Flynn, Billy Bones, Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom. Just remember to stick to the Code (the Pirate version, you idiot, not geekspeak) and Parlay all night! I can't believe I just wrote that...

#9 -- Far Cry; Crytek/Ubisoft. I just watched the trailer for this and I think I know what game I'll be playing once I'm finished with Half Life 2 and still waiting for those greedy hogs at Macroshaft to come out with the pc version of Halo 2. Awesome graphics engine.

#8 -- City of Heroes; Cryptic Studios/NCsoft. This game is so damned good that its got Marvel Comics' Fruit of the Looms in a twist. The comic book company has lost whatever sense of humor it once had and is suing Cryptic and NC for harming its "existing and future business." Whatever.

#7 -- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War; Relic Entertainment/THQ. The makers of Homeworld have another winner.

#6 -- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005; EA Sports/EA Sports. I can't imagine playing nine holes of real golf, much less pretending to do it  in front of a computer screen. But, hey, to each his own, right?

#5 -- Rome: Total War; Creative Assembly/Activision. Now, that's what I'm talking about. I just loaded the game this afternoon and I'm already hooked. You know it has to be amazing if the History Channel decided to use the same game engine to revolutionize the battle reenactment genre for its own series, Decisive Battles. Strength and Honor, Maximus!

This is beginning to get exciting. I'm pretty sure that number one on this list has to be Half Life 2, but we'll see.

#4 --  The Sims 2; Maxis/Electronic Arts. Again, not my style, but if it rates a fourth place in this crowd, it must be pretty good.

#3 -- Unreal Tournament 2004; Epic/Atari. I've known guys who have disappeared for days while playing this online. Tapped by GameSpy and IGN as the multiplayer game of the year across all platforms.

#2 -- World of Warcraft; Blizzard/Vivendi Universal. Personally, I'll stick with Tolkien's version of Orcs (The Battle for Middle Earth), but some folks are really addicted to Warcraft.

#1 -- Half-Life 2; VALVe/Sierra.  The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. I've just gotten past those scary antlions and started on the Highway 17 segment of the game. It's too bad that I really can't compare the experience with my fumble-fingered Xbox skills on Halo 2, but this game might very well top it head to head (although GameSpy didn't think so). This is why we play computer games, to escape for an hour or so into an immersive, realistic and captivating fantasy. It doesn't get any better than Half-Life 2.

Happy New Year!

12-30-04 The Island of Sumatra-One of Earth's Most Unstable Places

So, why were so many unprepared to sound a warning??

The following is from Risk Management Solutions (a fascinating and informative site)...

Great Sumatra Fault Zone -- "The Indonesian Archipelago is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world located in the convergence zone of the three major lithospheric plates: the Indo-Australian plate, the Pacific plate, and the Eurasian plate. The interaction of these major plates, as well as the Philippine Plate to the north, leads to a great deal of seismic activity.

Although much of western Indonesia is located on a stable extension of the Eurasian plate, the Sumatra Fault Zone spans the entire length of Sumatra. This transform fault zone is analogous to the San Andreas Fault Zone in California, producing a significant number of shallow, destructive, high magnitude events. The seismic hazard arising from the Sumatra Fault Zone is among the highest in Indonesia.

Indonesia is also located in one of the most active and most complex subduction zones in the world. The two largest historical events in Indonesia (until the 9.0M on 12/26/04) happened in 1883 (Krakatoa) and measured M8.7-M8.8 and M8.3-8.5. Both caused massive destruction and generated damaging tsunamis along the southern coast of Sumatra. These events were generated from the subduction zone along the Sumatra and Java coasts."

From the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, in 1997 -- "Possibly interesting seismic behavior is observed along the Sumatra fault, a well-pronounced right-lateral strike-slip fault system that runs in the upper plate parallel to the subduction zone and releases part of the oblique plate motion in the area. Viewing the data from the last 30 years, it can be noted that seismicity along the Sumatra fault in 1964-1976 is not pronounced (typical m_b is less than 5.4, with 1 event with m_b =5.8) but that it increases in the last 20 years (1977 to present) with events reaching M_w = 6.7 (in 1995). It seems that the Sumatra fault is currently more active and the seismic energy release is higher than before."

From the Smithsonian's Institution's Global Volcanism Program -- Its database for Sumatra contains information on 35 volcanoes. Along with Indonesia, it has been the site of three of history's largest recorded volcanic eruptions, including Toba (in very close proximity to the 9.0M earthquake on 12/26/04), Tambora and Krakatau.

From George Weber's "Lonely Islands: the Andamese" -- "The Andaman and Nicobar islands were deep within the main fallout cone of the Summer-time (Toba eruption) event. Life on them must have been largely destroyed in the course of that event and its aftermath."

From the Congressional testmony of Kerry Sieh, Professor of Geology in the Seismological Laboratory at Caltech, near Los Angeles, arguing for continued funding of earthquake hazards research -- "Efforts in earthquake geology beyond our shores have been meager. Most large earthquakes in foreign countries, for example, aren't even investigated. Yet, in an ever more global economy, foreign earthquakes will have increasingly serious impacts on American businesses and citizens here and abroad. American industry and the portfolio managers of baby-boomers retirement funds have almost no scientific basis for assessing the seismic risks to investments in Jakarta or Singapore, Munich or Zurich, Lisbon or Istanbul. The best risk-analysis software available to investors, money managers and FEMA incorporates natural-hazard models that are, with the exceptions of portions of the US and Japan, nearly devoid of the type of information I have been discussing above. We know how to assess the seismic hazards and quantify the hazards that put us at risk abroad. But in most places, we're not being asked or funded to assess those risks...As the writer of the Proverbs said, many centuries and many earthquakes ago: 'Where there is no vision, the people perish.'"

Death toll to date from the Sumatran Tsunami: 125,000+

12-29-04 Tsunami Update

From the World Health Organization, 12/29

Situation update

Indonesia

Close to the epicentre of the quake, Northwest Sumatra is most likely to be the worst affected area. Information availability from the Aceh province has been hindered by its recent conflict. The total number of people of affected could be anywhere between 1 to 3 million people. Unconfirmed reports indicate that 80% of the West Coast of Aceh, and similarly 50% of the province’s capital Banda has been badly damaged or destroyed. There is only one hospital is still operating in the province however its patient capacity is unknown. There is no electricity or fuel available and many roads are impassable. The province’s UN office has been completely destroyed and UN staff are currently operating out of IOM’s Banda Aceh Sub-Office.

Assessing need, and providing immediate relief in or as close as possible to all affected areas remains the top priority. The Government of Indonesia and some NGOs have already mobilized, and the WHO is participating in an integrated assessment mission and is pre-positioning human resources and medical supplies in order to expand its operations.

Sri Lanka

At least 1 Million people have been directly affected with infrastructure potentially having being destroyed as far as two kms inland. Much of the infrastructure is reportedly damaged or destroyed and the number of deaths is currently at 23,000. 500 camps/ad-hoc concentrations of homeless people have appeared and are in need of assistance. It is a priority that they have access to clean water, shelter, sanitation structures, food and health care. As well as supporting coordination through UNDAC, WHO has mobilized three outreach field teams. A first batch of medical supplies has been sent to Colombo to support health field staff.

Maldives

Approximately, some 100,000 people maybe affected. Access to clean drinking water is the immediate priority as the aquifers have been widely contaminated by salt water. Reportedly, cases of diarrhea are already increasing. At least in the accessible islands, the health network does not seem severely affected, except for damage to two hospitals.

India

Tidal waves hit the coast of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and Pondicherry and unto the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Coastal Tamilnadu, possibly Car Nicobar and Greater Nicobar were the worst hit. Twenty six million people live in the affected area and the current death toll is reported at 10,000. The Union MoH has dispatched full medical teams including epidemiologists, surgeons, etc. to the affected areas. The ministry is monitoring the situation, relief operations, and is in constant coordination with the local government officials, WHO and the local UNICEF.

Malaysia

The state of Penang was the most severly affected followed in order by Kedah, Perlis and Perak. The current number of deaths reported is 65. The MOH is providing medical treatment, safe water, sanitation facilities to prevent an outbreak of infectious diseases. WHO is monitoring the situation together with the MOH and the UN country team.

Myanmar

National media reports that seventeen coastal villages are destroyed, 200 people homeless, 34 people dead, 45 injured and 25 missing. There are concerns about the possible pollution of water points, and consequent problem with drinking water. WHO is working with partners to develop a more comprehensive assessment.

Other Countries

Bangladesh, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and the Seychelles were also hit by the tsunami. Only Somalia has reported substantial loss of life with UN field staff reporting 110 deaths. WHO African and Eastern Mediterranean Offices are following up.

Health Priorities

The immediate concern is to ensure the health of the survivors. We are working to determine their number, location and condition. We know that there has been massive damage to infrastructure and that between 3 to 5 million people throughout the region are unable to get the basic requirements that they need to survive and cope.

The priorities:

• First: Provide medical and surgical care to the injured. Some hospitals are overwhelmed by the influx of injured. Doctors and health workers are working around the clock to cope.
• Second: Ensure that clean water in adequate quantity is available to all affected populations, together with adequate and sufficient sanitation facilities in temporary camps and settlements to reduce the risk of outbreaks of different diarrhoeal diseases such as diarrhoea and dysentery.
• Third: Ensure that survivors who have lost their homes do not live in conditions that are overcrowded, unhygienic and/or dangerous: These conditions increase the risk of acute respiratory infections that can quickly develop into pneumonia and emerge as major causes of death - especially among children and old people, if left untreated. Across the region, essential medicines and trained health care workers must be easily accessible for all affected population.
• Fourth: South East Asia is endemic for malaria and dengue fever. Flooding and stagnant water will create especially favorable conditions for the mosquito vector and heighten epidemic risk for individuals and communities in overcrowded conditions and temporary shelters.
• Fifth: We are concerned about the contamination of the environment by toxic chemicals if hazardous industries, pesticide warehouses for agriculture, gasoline tanks, oil pipelines and/or waste disposal sites are flooded and destroyed. Flooded and destroyed facilities are prone to release chemicals into the environment resulting in immediate health risks as well as medium to long-term health consequences from direct contact of the chemicals with humans as well as indirect exposure such as through chemically contaminated drinking water or food.
• Donation and Relief options: American Red Cross; unicef; the Center for International Disaster Information; Lutheran World Relief; Habitat for Humanity International; Save the Children USA; CARE USA; Project Hope.

12-28-04 GameSpy's Game of the Year Honors

Halo 2 has earned the GameSpy 2004 Game of the Year honors, beating out such stiff competition as World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3; Snake Eater and Ninja Gaiden.

(From GameSpy's public relations people)

"The editorial staff of GameSpy.com compiles a Game of the Year list each December to recognize the outstanding PC and console video games for each major platform, and then names the 10 best overall games.  This year's Game of the Year winners are:
 
1) Halo 2 (winner); Xbox, Bungee/Microsoft; A sequel to the classic first-person shooter with enhancements in just about every area.

2) Half-Life 2; PC, Valve/Vivendi Universal; A follow-up to the classic online first-person shooter, taking realism to a whole new level.

3) Metal Gear Solid 3; Snake Eater; PS2, Konami TYO/Konami; The highly regarded stealth-espionage franchise takes the series to
new heights.

4) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas; PS2, Rockstar North/Rockstar Games; The much-anticipated San Andreas draws upon a new conceptual style.

5) World of Warcraft; PC, Blizzard/Vivendi Universal; The new installment in the Warcraft series gives players a new perspective
in the world of Azeroth.

6) Unreal Tournament 2004; PC, Epic Games/Atari; Taking the core of Unreal Tournament 2003, this year's version improves every aspect of the game.

7) Ninja Gaiden; Xbox, Team Ninja/Tecmo; Ninja Gaiden takes the classic side-scrolling series into an action packed third-person adventure.

8) Burnout 3: Takedown; Xbox/PS2, Electronic Arts/EA Studios; The Burnout franchise heats up with a new concepts, a special effects
engine and online play.

9) Metroid Prime 2: Echoes; GameCube, Retro Studios/Nintendo; This new installment in the critically acclaimed series introduces
the light and dark world.

10) Katamari Damacy; PS2, Namco/Namco; One of the most original games of the year brings a new premise to videogames.

In addition to the Overall Game of the Year list, top 10 lists were selected for PC, PS2, Xbox, GameCube and GameBoy Advance, as well as for N-Gage, wireless and multiplayer games.  The games are evaluated by technology, artistry, story line, gameplay and originality.  The lists contain a mix of genres, judged independently on their abilities and what makes them shine."

Since I'm primarily a pc gamer by choice, GameSpy's top ten pc games will be listed here soon, too.

12-27-04 The Ten Most Powerful Earthquakes Ever Recorded

1) Valdivia, Chile. 5/22/1960. Magnitude 9.5.

2) Prince William Sound, Alaska. 3/28/1964. Magnitude 9.2.

3) Andreanof Islands, Alaska. 3/9/1957. Magnitude 9.1.

4) Kamchatka, Russia. 11/4/1952. Magnitude 9.0.

5) Western Coast, Northern Sumatra. 12/26/2004. Magnitude 9.0.

6) Esmeraldas, Ecuador. 1/31/1906. Magnitude 8.8.

7) Rat Islands, Alaska. 2/4/1965. Magnitude 8.7.

8) Assam - Tibet. 8/15/1950. Magnitude 8.6.

9) Banda Sea, Indonesia. 2/1/1938. Magnitude 8.5.

Kamchatka, Russia. 2/3/1923. 8.5M

Kuril Islands. 10/13/1963. 8.5M

Sources: U.S. Geological Survey; Kamchatkan Experimental-Methodical Department (KEMSD), Geophysical Service; Seismological Society of America.

12/26/04 Worldwide Earthquake Activity in the Last Seven Days

13 earthquakes of magnitude 5.7 or greater near the Andaman Islands, India region, in the past 24 hours.

8 earthquakes of magnitude 5.7 or greater in northern Sumatra, including a magnitude 9.0, in the last 24 hours. The 9.0 is the fourth largest in recorded history.

5 earthquakes of magnitude 5.5 or greater near the Nicobar Islands, India region, in the last 24 hours.

The following is from the U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

Magnitude 9.0 - OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
2004 December 26 00:58:50 UTC

Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

A great earthquake occurred at 00:58:50 (UTC) on Sunday, December 26, 2004. The magnitude 9.0 event has been located OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

Magnitude	9.0
Date-Time	Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:50 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 6:58:50 AM = local time at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location	3.298°N, 95.779°E
Depth	10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region	OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
Distances	250 km (155 miles) SSE of Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia 320 km (200 miles) W of Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia 1260 km (780 miles) SSW of BANGKOK, Thailand 1605 km (1000 miles) NW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 9.2 km (5.7 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters	Nst=157, Nph=157, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.35 sec, Gp= 29°, M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=9
Source	USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID	usslav
Felt Reports	At least 3,000 people killed in Sri Lanka, 2,300 in India, 2,000 in Indonesia, 289 in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia, 8 in Somalia and 2 in Bangladesh by tsunamis. Tsunamis also occurred on the coasts of Maldives and Cocos Island. At least 200 people killed, buildings destroyed or damaged in the Banda Aceh area, Sumatra. Felt widely in Sumatra. Also felt in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. This is now the fourth largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and is the largest since the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska earthquake. The following is from Reuters Asian Tsunami Kills 12,300, Many More Homeless

By Simon Gardner

COLOMBO (Reuters) - More than 12,300 people were killed and tens of thousands left homeless after a powerful undersea earthquake unleashed giant tsunami waves that crashed into the coasts of south and southeast Asia.

The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra early on Sunday was the biggest in 40 years.

It triggered waves that reared up into walls of water as high as 10 meters (30 feet) as they hit coastlines in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

Aid agencies rushed staff, equipment and money to the region, warning that bodies rotting in the water were already beginning to threaten the water supply for survivors.

Rescue workers also spoke of bodies still caught up on trees after being flung inland by the waves.

"I just couldn't believe what was happening before my eyes," Boree Carlsson said from a hotel in the Thai resort of Phuket.

"As I was standing there, a car actually floated into the lobby and overturned because the current was so strong," said the 45-year-old Swede.

"I heard an eerie sound that I have never heard before. It was a high pitched sound followed by a deafening roar," said a 55-year-old Indian fishermen who gave his name as Chellappa.

"I told everyone to run for their life."

In Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, one official said nearly 4,500 people had died.

The worst affected area was Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, where 3,000 were killed. More than 200 prisoners escaped from a jail when the tsunami knocked down its walls.

In Sri Lanka, the death toll also reached 4,500 and 1 million people, or 5 percent of its population, were affected.

It was the worst natural disaster to hit Sri Lanka.

Hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans sheltered in schools and temples overnight, and officials expected the death toll to rise further once rescuers resumed searches after daybreak.

In southern India, where at least 3,000 were estimated to have died, beaches were littered with submerged cars and wrecked boats. Shanties on the coast were under water.

Thai government officials said at least 392 bodies had been retrieved and they expected the final toll to approach 1,000.

NO WARNING SYSTEM

In Los Angeles, the head of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said U.S. officials who detected the undersea quake tried frantically to get a warning out about the tsunami.

But there was no official alert system in the region, said Charles McCreery, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's center in Honolulu.

"It took an hour and a half for the wave to get from the earthquake to Sri Lanka and an hour for it to get ... to the west coast of Thailand and Malaysia," he said. "You can walk inland for 15 minutes to get to a safe area."

"We tried to do what we could," he said. "We don't have contacts in our address book for anybody in that part of the world."

The earthquake, of magnitude 8.9 as measured by the U.S. Geological Survey, struck at 7:59 a.m. (1959 EST). It was the world's biggest since 1964, said Julie Martinez at the USGS.

The tsunami was so powerful it smashed boats and flooded areas along the east African coast, 3,728 miles away.

In the Maldives, where thousands of foreign visitors were holidaying in the beach paradise, damage appeared to be significantly more limited, according to initial reports.

Twenty-eight people were estimated to have died in Malaysia and 10 in Myanmar.

SCALE OF DISASTER NOT YET KNOWN

Aid agencies said with communications cut to remote areas, it was impossible to assess the full scale of the disaster.

The Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was seeking 7.5 million Swiss francs ($6.5 million) for emergency aid funding.

The United States said it would offer "all appropriate assistance," while the European Union pledged an initial three million euros ($4 million).

Experts said the top five areas to be addressed were water, sanitation, food, shelter and health.

"We've had reports already from the south of India of bodies rotting where they have fallen and that will immediately affect the water supply especially for the most impoverished people," Christian Aid emergency officer Dominic Nutt said.

A tsunami, a Japanese word that translates as "harbor wave," is usually caused by a sudden rise or fall of part of the earth's crust under or near the ocean.

It is not a single wave, but a series of waves that can travel across the ocean at speeds of more than 500 miles an hour. As the tsunami enters the shallows of coastlines in its path, its velocity slows but its height increases.

A tsunami that is just a few centimeters or meters high from trough to crest can rear up to heights of 100 to 150 feet as it hits the shore, striking with devastating force.

12-25-04 Merry Christmas

Two hours -- putting Hot Wheels Slimecano for my four year old son. Thirty minutes -- waiting for the nursing home in Cleveland to find my mother so that I can wish her a Merry Christmas. Thirty minutes -- calling grandma to thank her for the giant construction excavator she gave my son. Ten minutes -- my son only wanting to tell her how much he really loved getting Slimecano from someone else. One hour -- installing the new 250 gig hard drive on my gaming computer. Ninety minutes -- driving down to grandpa's house to exchange gifts. Thirty seconds -- My father-in-law suggesting that someone else say grace at dinner and everyone looking at me. All afternoon -- not watching the Lakers game or the football game on the giant high definition television so that my son can watch Jimmy Neutron on it. Ninety minutes -- driving back home. Two hours and one minute -- how long it took me to start swearing under my breath about the freaking Slimecano, which STILL isn't finished. Ten seconds -- the amount of time it took to realize that we have left without any of the goodies we were suppoosed to have departed with, like an entire blueberry pie, my personal favorite. Twenty years, give or take a few months -- how much time passed between today and the previous time that my mother told me she loved me. Three hours -- how long it took my wife to start yelling about Slimecano slime on her carpet.

Much of the day -- realizing that we had given our son the first really dumbass gift of his life, Slimecano.

Several minutes -- the amount of time I spent later at home thinking that it had been a pretty darned good Christmas.

12-24-04 Titan's Secrets May be Revealed

By Cynthia Phillips
SETI Institute

On December 24^th, 2004, at 7:08 PM Pacific Standard Time, the Cassini spacecraft will release a probe that has hitched a ride all the way from Earth out to Saturn. The Huygens Probe, named after the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens, who discovered Titan and Saturn’s rings in the 17^th century and built by the European Space Agency, will spend 22 days traveling to its rendezvous with Saturn’s mysterious moon Titan on January 14^th. Titan is one of the remaining puzzles of the solar system – while Cassini’s imaging cameras and radar instrument have begun to reveal the details of its surface, the Huygens probe will be the first spacecraft to venture beneath Titan’s thick clouds

Since the Huygens probe doesn’t have its own means of propulsion, its release point will be carefully timed so that its trajectory will take it right to Titan. The Cassini spacecraft will change course slightly so that it flies past Titan, but doesn’t impact it. Once Huygens is released, it will be in a coasting configuration, with its scientific instruments turned off except for a timer that will wake up the spacecraft just before it reaches Titan.

Huygens’ first encounter with Titan will be when it reaches the top of Titan’s atmosphere. Due to Titan’s low gravity, its atmosphere is ten times deeper than Earth’s – the outer limits are at 600 km above Titan’s surface! The probe will wake up when it first detects the outer fringes of atmosphere. As Huygens descends on its parachutes through Titan’s thick atmosphere, it will use a group of six instruments to study the mysterious moon. Huygens has enough battery power to survive for between 2.5 and three hours, which includes a descent time to the surface between 2 and 2.5 hours, plus at least a few minutes (and up to half an hour) of operating time on the surface, assuming it survives the landing.

The descent through Titan’s atmosphere is carefully choreographed, with a series of parachutes deploying at certain intervals to slow the probe’s downward trajectory. Once the velocity is slow enough and temperatures are safe, the heat shield at the bottom of the spacecraft will be jettisoned and the scientific instruments it was protecting can begin to take data. These instruments include the Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) and the Aerosol Collector and Pyrolyser (ACP), both of which will measure the composition of Titan’s atmosphere.

The Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI) will deploy on a boom to measure the structure of Titan’s atmosphere, including its density, pressure, and temperature at various altitudes, and the Descent Imager / Spectral Radiometer (DISR) camera will begin taking panoramic images as the spacecraft spins on its parachute. DISR is planned to take more than 1100 images during the descent. Shortly before landing, DISR will switch on a special lamp to measure the reflection spectrum of Titan’s surface, to help determine its chemical composition. Also during Huygens’ descent, the Doppler Wind Experiment (DWE) will use the shifts in the radio signals sent from Huygens back to Cassini to determine the wind direction and magnitude at various points in Titan’s atmosphere.

Once Huygens reaches Titan’s surface, the Surface Science Package (SSP) will make surface measurements with nine different sensors. Since we do not even know if Huygens will land on a solid or liquid surface, the sensors are designed to take measurements of a wide variety of materials, including both solid and fluid properties. These measurements include such basic physical properties as conductivity, thermal properties, acoustic properties, fluid permittivity, fluid density, and refractive index.

The Cassini spacecraft has a three-hour window to listen to the signals transmitted from Huygens; after that time has elapsed, Cassini’s trajectory will have carried it out of sight of the probe (and the probe’s battery will be used up soon after). Cassini will then turn its antenna toward Earth and start transmitting what it has received from Huygens. Stay tuned on January 14^th and beyond for some amazing discoveries!

12-23-04 Numb3rs

Most television shows bore me, but I'm really looking forward to this one, Numb3rs, which is scheduled to air on January 23 on CBS at 10 p.m.

FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) recruits his mathematical genius brother (Krumholtz) to help the Bureau solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles. From two very different perspectives, the brothers take on the most confounding criminal cases. Inspired by actual events, the series will depict how the confluence of police work and mathematics provide unexpected revelations and answers to the most perplexing criminal questions.

The creators have modeled the university in the show on Caltech, developing characters loosely based on a Caltech professor and students. Portions of the series have been filmed on the school's  campus.

Cast (alphabetically): Judd Hirsch - Alan Eppes
David Krumholtz - Charlie Eppes
Sabrina Lloyd - Terry Lake
Peter MacNicol - Larry Fleinhard
Rob Morrow - Don Eppes

Most promising things about the show, other than the remarkable cast: two of the executive producers are Ridley Scott and Tony Scott.

Special Advance Screening: Monday, January 10, 2005 at 8:00 PM
Beckman Auditorium, California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
FREE; no tickets or reservations required.