Software

As of late yesterday, I’m now developing and downloading code for Arduino in Eclipse.

My Raspberry Pi should arrive tomorrow. It is a credit card-size computer running Linux.

This image, with all camera controls on manual, is about 24 hours after the “super moon” maximum.

If you travel a little or a lot, there’s a huge amount of help you could be getting, and it’s free. Perhaps you are already using it. Regardless, for me, it’s a life saver.

This week had both. The free upgrade from Hertz was decidedly nice but the customer’s insistence on writing his ISR handler in C++ wasn’t.

For the geeky types out there, are you watching Raspberry Pi?

My recommendation is sincere: “Mandarin. Learn to speak and understand Mandarin.”

Two routes to get here, via Los Angeles or on secondaries, and two choices for the mode of transportation, flying or driving.

Open Source

Basically it means that the item, commonly a piece of software, is usually available in source code form, you can get a copy, read it, and modify it. It also says that, if you change it, you must also make those changes available to anyone and that you must do so without charging them anything.

Curiosity is on it’s way this morning to Mars for the next eight months. Launched this morning atop an Atlas V vehicle, Curiosity is the size of a small car, several times the weight, and carries many times the scientific instruments of its predecessor rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.