So the shuttle finally launched last night, and it was one of the best launches I've ever seen. There were light clouds with removed the corona from the view of the rocket exhaust. As a result, you could see details of the turbulent gasses shooting out of the solid rocket boosters. It made it look even more powerful. In addition, they mounted a camera in the flight deck looking over the shoulders of the astronauts and out the front windows. It allowed me to see the strong vibration of the main engines coming online, the shock of the SRBs activating, the rocky first two minute ride, then a blinding flash when the SRBs separate. For the next six minutes, the view out the window gets considerably less blue and more black, just like I imagined it would. As it gets darker, the bright flashes of the RCS jets firing can be seen at seemingly random intervals. By the time of main engine cutoff, it is very dark in the cabin and the RCS flashes are like lightning. It was a very odd view. Surreal. Having seen it, I feel like I know what it's like to launch.
After watching the launch replays, I went to my first radio show of the season. I had a great lineup of MP3s to play from my laptop, but the damn thing is still gimped up. My MP3s skip when played from the laptop. I don't know where the problem is. I copied the MP3s from my NT box, where they play fine. Winamp plays CDs and .WAVs fine, so it must be the OS. Bill Gates, you are the eternal pain in my proverbial arse. I was subbing for the show before me, so I did a four-hour super show. It was a good one. The new Underworld live album (Everything, Everything) is great!
On the way home, I met Rob and we checked out the Mass Ave. construction. There's a 5'6" drain that they're laying down the middle of the street. Currently, it goes from in front of Necco to Albany St., where it ends in a brick wall. Presumably, it'll eventually connect to the big 10' square conduit that is being layed down Mem Dr.
So apparently, ever since I posted My sister's URL, she has been getting email from peOple looking for me. Is my email address Unbearably hard to find? It's linked from the linkS page in the old interface. It's also linkEd from all of the megaball pages, each of the bomb descRiption pages, and @ the main beeps & whistles page.
I guess soMe AOL users named Amy dOn't like to dig for it. Well, just for her, I've inclUded the address somewhere in this poSt...
Anyway, an Exciting day in the news! Looks like the middle east is going to go to waR. A war between Israel and various Arab nations would be a bad thing for us. Without our assistance, Israel is screwed. With Our assistance, OPEC hates AmeRica. I'm sure Glad I'm not running for president... And to boot, a terrorist attack on a US military vessle, and one of the fifth-largest drops in the stock market ever. Pop some popcorn and fire up the CNN.
