Comet Holmes visits Mirfak - Photo by Ed Johnson, Los Angeles, California

Comet Holmes visits Mirfak
Originally uploaded by edhiker

For no apparent reason, it erupted from a very dim magnitude 17 to about magnitude 2½. Within a day its starlike nucleus had expanded into a perfectly round, bright little disk in binoculars and telescopes. It looked like no comet ever seen" , S&T www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/observingblog


Enhanced version of
www.flickr.com/photos/edhiker/2040198939

Canon RAW 9572-82 (11) 1600 30s
Comet_Holmes_Up_Levels_SlightGC_Cr 11/16/07

All night Comet Holmes visits Mirfak

All night Comet Holmes visits Mirfak
Originally uploaded by edhiker

This is a full frame jpg ride-along to a series of RAWs - will do more to this capture when I have time. Note light clouds in lower right. Low clouds covered some of Los Angeles light pollution, just under my level of 2200'.

Why did Comet Holmes brighten by a factor of a million - the puzzle is discussed at
www.skyandtelescope.com/news/11372856.html

Map of area around comet and Mirfak is at : media.skyandtelescope.com/images/Holmes_findr_640px.jpg

About the star Mirfak - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91_Persei
MIRFAK (Alpha Persei). Perseus, the ancient hero who rescued Andromeda.

Telescope setup is at www.flickr.com/photos/edhiker/35109522/

Comet_Holmes_CRW_9584jpg_C ..... Friday, November 16, 2007 10:58 PM

All night Comet - seen by eye at 8pm and 6am 10/30/07

All night Comet - seen by eye at 8pm and 6am 10/30/07
Originally uploaded by edhiker

All night Comet - seen by eye at 8pm and 6am 10/30/07

See adjacent pictures and links.

Increased brightness by a factor of one million this week, going from magnitude 17 to 2. This makes it visible to the unaided eye as well as binoculars and telescopes, offering a unique viewing opportunity for sky watchers.

Where to look = www.spaceweather.com/images2007/24oct07/skymap_north_holm...

Comet Holmes, at a distance of 151 million miles is a remarkable sight even under city lights. www.space.com/spacewatch/071023-comet-holmes-update.html How many naked eye comets have you seen at this distance?

IMG_9518-CG_Cr_Comet........... 15 second shot, ISO 400, 750mm

Uploaded by edhiker on 29 Oct 07, 10.08PM PDT.

Lady in the Moon, by edhiker
Originally uploaded by edhiker

MoonAfocal_Kodak3600cs_DCP_2017gForm_50pc

Why did I add this to flickr, see edhiker.50webs.com/Time_Warner.html and web.archive.org/web/20060614114511/http://edhiker.home.co...

Comcast had a lifetime customer, Time Warner wants me gone.

I have this a thousand more to recreate.

Dante's View has water (as of 8-26-07).
Originally uploaded by edhiker

The trail to Mt Hollywood is now open from the Observatory side.
I took quite a few pictures, some posted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/edhiker/1246670222/ Click on "browse" (the small photos)

Elaine and I hiked up from Fern Dell after I noticed hikers on the mountain Sunday morning.
Griffith Park info is at http://lagriffithpark.blogspot.com/

The quickest way to the Observatory would be a short hike from the lot and trail just south of the Greek Theater.
Map at http://angeles.sierraclub.org/griffith/griffith_park_map.html

Don't forget the eclipse tonight, about 2am

Edhiker

Computer musical chair nightmare
Originally uploaded by edhiker

Computer musical chair nightmare

PCI Express x4, x16, x1, and x16 slots, as well as a standard 32-bit PCI slot

Read about it at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:PCI_Express

I upgraded my computer a bit, but it took (as usual) longer than I expected when the above design obsolescence stuff was tossed at me. How about "Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed - support.microsoft.com/?kbid=253912

Uploaded by edhiker on 8 Jun 07, 7.21AM PDT.

PCI slots are such an integral part of a computer's architecture that most people take them for granted. - not any more

Smaller PCIe cards will fit into larger PCIe slots. The computer simply ignores the extra connections. For example, a x4 card can plug into a x16 slot. A x16 card, however, would be too big for a x4 slot. http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pci-express.htm

I can now reboot between two operating systems with the flip of a switch, have two monitors running, and plug in five hard drives (but can use only three at once).

Two Gold Metals at Santa Monica - Annual Santa Monica Classic Run

Two Golds at Santa Monica - Annual Santa Monica Classic Run
Originally uploaded by edhiker.

Elaine beat the 2nd place finisher by 4 minutes, and by 7 minutes last November - www.flickr.com/photos/edhiker/291688614/

Notice that I'm wearing my lucky "force be with me" hat again. An obstacle race day - more to the story.

More about this race at www.santamonicaclassic.com/
Some professional race photos at www.santamonicaclassic.com/photos.asp

Just before the start, I noticed my bib was wrong, ran back to registration, filled out computer card again. No timing mat/chips, so got a bit closer up.

How the race was timed (registration and mayhem) at tigger.uic.edu/~dbhale/timming.htm

I was downgraded in the transition from Comcast to Time Warner

No response to an email sent on 4/23, so this morning, I sent this mail:

................................................

Dear Time Warner:


How much web space is allocated/ or willing to allocate to my account?

Time Warner told me "Your existing web pages will be transferred in their entirety." (email March 14, 2007 6:48 AM, received in April)
Comcast had a web space allocation of 182 megabytes, I was using about 160 megabytes

Time Warner technical support phone contact and email response is "You are offered 25 free megabytes of web space!"

I am now told that only one of my email accounts qualify for Road Runner Personal Home Pages.
Comcast gave personal web pages to all my seven screen names. If I had a teenager, he or she would not be able to publish at all on Roadrunner.



When will I be able to view and manage my web space file structure and size from your site?

Time Warner's setup site has the following:
Where do I setup/maintain my Road Runner Personal Home Pages?
http://www.adelphiapowerpage.com/synacor/rr/test/Home_Page_Options.html and Manage your web site account at https://home.roadrunner.com
Change Personal Home Page Account Password - Temporarily Unavailable
Recover Personal Home Page Password - Temporarily Unavailable
Change Personal Home Page Account Details - Temporarily Unavailable 4/23 4/24 5/25 4/26/07



My thousands of Comcast links are now dead ( see http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=edhiker&btnG=Google+Search )
Why was the personal web page URL structure changed in the first place? Note that the host server name is ftp://upload.comcast.net
( from General FTP Setup, from http://www.help.rr.com/HMSFaqs/e_ftpsetup.aspx?topic=Personal+Home+Pages )

Please reply, sincerely

Ed
----------------------------------------------
To make me feel worse.. on 9/24/07, got two emails to my non-public Road Runner address, it said
"Comcast is upgrading the Personal Web Pages product to include up to 40 times more online storage than before! As part of the product upgrade, your online storage will automatically increase from 25 MB up to 1,000 MB per Comcast.net e-mail address - that's a full gigabyte - at no additional cost. And if you have opened secondary Comcast.net e-mail addresses for your account you will get 1 GB of online storage for each of them.

The product upgrade will take place over the next months and there is nothing you need to do to receive the increased storage."

... Called both Comcast and Time Warner, nobody could tell me what it's about or how I got the mailings.

Comcast to Time Warner transition failed in Los Angeles
Originally uploaded by edhiker.

Comcast to Time Warner transition failed in Los Angeles

Los Angeles Time Warner is being phased out by me after at least five fruitless contacts with Time Warner. They took over the Los Angeles franchise from Comcast early this year. Comcast had a web space allocation of 182 megabytes, I was using about 160 megabytes

Today, their website and email response is "You are offered 25 free megabytes of web space!" - this after they said "Your existing web pages will be transferred in their entirety." (email March 14, 2007 6:48 AM)


They say:
"Sorry for the inconvenience". I say I'm leaving after assuming that I would be locked into cable for the rest of my life. Now free to go DSL or any other ISP.

All my thousands of URLs originally on Comcast were deleted with no notice.

And on every visit, things like this "Personal Home Page Account Details - Temporarily Unavailable"

I will attempt to give a more complete story of what seems to be a poor move by Time Warner on my webpage at: http://edhiker.50webs.com/Time_Warner.html


Try Google search "home roadrunner com"
Then try search "home.comcast.net"

Shows web page usage on Roadrunner (Time Warner) and Comcast
- how about 3000:1 Looks like I'm not the only one that can't make it work.

More about Los Angeles Time Warner. I add this post after at least five fruitless contacts with Time Warner.

Time Warner took over the Los Angeles franchise from Comcast early this year.

Time Warner said "Your existing web pages will be transferred in their entirety." (email March 14, 2007 6:48 AM)

Comcast had a web space allocation of 182 megabytes, I was using about 160 megabytes

Today, their website says: "You are offered 25 free megabytes of web space!", this noticed at http://home-admin.rr.com/ while I was talking to Dave (senior technician) as he was telling me that Time Warner would only give me 5 megabytes of web space. He thought that the website was incorrect - 4/18/07

In addition, the customer "must manually edit the absolute references to point to your images or pages using a relative path. Absolute references to links or images in your html files will need to be edited and changed to relative links referring to your directory structure (see image below for an example of a directory structure). Editing the html to change to relative references in your directory structure means that you should change absolute links to images and files within your Personal Home Pages"
(My web pages, if migrated from Comcast will have thousands of these issues)

I see no good reason that personal web page URL structure needed changing in the first place, especially that the host server name is ftp://upload.comcast.net
( from General FTP Setup, from http://www.help.rr.com/HMSFaqs/e_ftpsetup.aspx?topic=Personal+Home+Pages )

The technician and I got messages like this "Road Runner Help & Member Services information is unavailable at this time" several times while on the phone, 4/18/07.

These specific questions remaining unanswered.
1- How much web space is allocated/ or willing to allocate to my account?
2- Where do I find the specifications for this account?
3- Where do I view and manage my web space file structure and size from your site?
4- Why couldn't the former Comcast web space contents be left in place? (at least for a year or two)

Comments or answers can be addressed to ed506 (at) edhiker.com

Related links: http://home.roadrunner.com/~edhiker/ http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=edhiker&btnG=Google+Search

http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-cable20mar20,1,5332870.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business

Today's Time Warner's website space hosting comments by edhiker, after four tech support calls.



Which best describes the Time Warner adventure in taking over Comcast's Los Angeles franchise?

1- A thousand monkeys...
2- How to keep a Pollock busy
3- Gross incompetents
4- Scam

Last August, I asked them in an email, .... "My home page alone has "Comcast" embedded 53 times, and that's just a start.
Your TV ads and welcome page ignores this problem.
Advise as how to proceed.

Ed "

--------- I got no answer till April when my thousands of URL's containing "edhiker.home.comcast" went dead. ---------

I called tech support three times and was assured that all would be fixed, they did the following for me - what a great favor!


You have successfully set up your Road Runner Personal Home Page!

This page is a temporary placeholder which should be overwritten with your own start, or home page, named index.html. If you need basic information or require assistance in uploading your documents, visit the Personal Home Pages topic on http://help.rr.com/ - Road Runner's Online Help Desk!

To make any changes on your Personal Home Page account, please refer to the Member Home Pages page. (very slow site)

------------
Looking further, (no small task). "You must manually edit the absolute references to point to your images or pages using a relative path. Absolute references to links or images in your html files will need to be edited and changed to relative links referring to your directory structure (see image below for an example of a director y structure). Editing the html to change to relative references in your directory structure means that you should change absolute links to images and files within your Personal Home Pages" Edhiker has thousands of URL's This is only part of the story.

------------------------

>From this page https://home.roadrunner.com/cgi-bin/ccxfer.cgi , I am sent to here:
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, root@localhost and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error. More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Apache/2.0.52 (Red Hat) Server at home.roadrunner.com Port 443

-----------------------
An email sent on 3/14/07 to a non-active address and not found till 4/17/07 had a link that says "Your existing web pages will be transferred in their entirety." I used 160 MB of space on Comcast. I now believe that the email was a lie, keep reading.


Now I notice this: "How much storage space will I have?
Your existing Comcast web pages will be transferred in their entirety, up to 25 MB, to Road Runner High Speed Online Personal Home Pages. Any new Road Runner Personal Web Page accounts created will receive up to 10 MB of storage space."

--------------------------------------

Today's news (4/17/07) Time Warner Board Could Cut Cable Stake Time Warner executives are weighing whether the company should reduce its cable-TV holdings amid competition from the Internet, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Tuesday.

.....................
My pages will be placed elsewhere

I have a new test site at Google http://edhiker.googlepages.com/

I am now free to move from what I thought was a lifetime connection to cable

Comcast to Time Warner transition failed in Los Angeles

All my thousands of URLs that were originally on Comcast were deleted with no notice.

I will attempt to give a more complete story of what seems to be a poor move by Time Warner on my webpage at: http://edhiker.googlepages.com/




Previous post follows:

I sent the mail below last Aug, but no answer, now all my many web pages are gone.


I see a nightmare (for the third time) in this conversion from Comcast to Time Warner.
I have thousands of URL's containing "edhiker.home.comcast" - try that in Google just to get a glimpse.

My home page alone has "Comcast" embedded 53 times, and that's just a start.

Your TV ads and welcome page ignores this problem.

Advise as how to proceed.

Ed

-----------------------------------------------------

Sorry for the inconvenience.

As you probably know, Time Warner Cable is in the process of welcoming former Comcast customers to our family. Recently, you and some of these former Comcast High-Speed Online customers may have experienced some service issues as we made the conversion to Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner High Speed Online service.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. We’re working hard to make things better.

---------------------------



FAQ >> Road Runner High Speed Online

Q:		Will I be able to create a personal home page?
A:		Yes. Personal Home Pages is a free premium service offered to you by Road Runner. This service allows you to create your own personal place on the web where your friends and family can access it anytime from their computer. - .... but I can't find Time Warner's personal home page site at all for Los Angeles -------------------------------

Time warner http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/82769 http://www.timewarnercable.com/SoCal/?x=22&y=6
http://www.timewarnercable.com/CustomerService/FAQ/TWCFaqs.ashx?faqID=83&MarketID=23&CatID=748
feedback http://www.timewarnerla.com/support/feedback/

( Google email says "You are currently using 118 MB (4%) of your 2839 MB")
---------
Phoned them, they say they will work on it and let me know

Prognosis looks bad...

Any help or comments would be appreciated
email ed506 (at) edhiker.com

edhiker edhiker.com www.edhiker.com

Link


a

Vernal Fall, Map by Google

Vernal Fall, Map by Google
Originally uploaded by edhiker.

Google Maps may onto something. This is their "hybrid view" which overlays trail maps on photo. URL for this one is
maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.727426,-119.543773&spn=0.0...

The above was found from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernal_Fall

I was testing the Google photo thing at picasaweb.google.com/edhiker/EdhikerPhotosFromFlickr
... one thing leads to another.

Log_0704_19_Vernal_Fall_Map_Google

Two Computers, using one keyboard - I find it much easier to use only my detached desktop keyboard (and mouse, and copy/paste) for the laptop also. Synergy allows this.... but the latest version has a problem with Win98. The fix was time consuming to find. Here it is

---------------------------

Date: 2007-03-16 09:21
Sender: nobody
Logged In: NO

Keyboard Typing Yields Double Characters --

THANK YOU patrick123 for posting "I did not have this problem with Synergy
1.2.7"

I now have a working system using Win 98se server and either Win XP or Win
98se clients after installing Synergy 1.2.7.

If the Win98 bug is fixed, someone let me know at ed412...at..edhiker.com


Ed Johnson (on the web, Edhiker)


Date: 2007-03-15 22:31
Sender: nobody
Logged In: NO

I am having the same issue. Client is xp and server is 98se

Edhiker ed412...at..edhiker.com


Date: 2006-10-11 14:22
Sender: patrick123
Logged In: YES
user_id=1618882

Same problem with synergy 1.3.1 :
- server on Win98
- client on Win XP

I did not have this problem with Synergy 1.2.7



Date: 2006-09-25 19:46
Sender: nobody
Logged In: NO

I have the same problem if I use the 98 as server and XP as
client. The problem goes away when I use XP as server and
98 as client. Not sure sure why and not my preferred set
up so a true fix would be nice.

My letter to K-Mozart, which was the best radio station in Los Angeles ( http://www.kmozart.com/ ) 105.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I found 105.1 playing country music, so now I find a 128Kbps stream on the net.

Sorry, 128Kbps is NOT "high-performance digital".
Have grave doubts about "HD2 Multicasting"

Sincerely, your long term K-Mozart listner,

Ed Johnson (RF engineer, edhiker on the net)
ed412..at...edhiker.com
-----------------------------------------------
More about this inferior broadcast system can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Radio
...The FM system digital audio is 98.4kbps.
----------------------------------------------
More background,

"HD" in HD radio doesn't stand for the same thing as HD in HDTV. It's "Hybrid Digital"

The Frauenhofer Institute ran tests with listening panels in 1998-1999 as they were bringing out MP4 AAC coding. They determined that only when one had reached 320kbits transfer rate could their listening panel not tell the difference between the AAC stream and a cd (16 bit).

Now Apple Computer falsely lists their default 128 kbits iTunes coding rate as equivelent to "cd quality." Read the Frauenhofer paper! ( still at http://web.archive.org/web/20060425145107/http://www.tnt.uni-hannover.de/project/mpeg/audio/public/w2006.pdf

A local station here has started touting their new HD radio
broadcasting. Not sure what that means except in my car their signal now fades 10-15 miles closer than it used to.

http://www-gatago.com/rec/audio/pro/29724628.html
.................................

My note: control + shift + a = Link

New star in the sky - Nova Scorpii 2007 - click on picture

New star in the sky - Nova Scorpii 2007
Originally uploaded by edhiker.

Nova Scorpii 2007 peaked at magnitude 3.8 on February 16th. Captured from Tujunga on Feb 21, 2007 when it was at magnitude 4.9 (below red mark). Five second exposure @ f6 , ISO 800 using 135mm lens, fixed tripod. The bright star is Epsilon Scorpii. Sky above Los Angeles not the best, naked eye limiting mag about 4. Best viewed at 1024 x 683

For more, see
skytonight.com/observing/home/Nova-Sco-2007.html

IMG_4936GC_Nova_Sco_2007_marked

Uploaded by edhiker on 21 Feb '07, 4.26pm PST.
spacer image


Some links about this nova are at:

http://skytonight.com/observing/home/Nova-Sco-2007.html

http://www.aavso.org/publications/specialnotice/33.shtml

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=5215

Rebate problems, rejection, and refused - stories to learn from

My Hewlett-Packard rebate refused because of poor copy of instructions


I just had an $80 HP rebate refused because the store (Office Depot) gave me 12 loose sheets for four rebates on a laptop system - two of them had in bold letters "mail before 1/30/07", the other two, had "45 days" buried in the other 12 sheets, in weak gray color - missed those (of course).

The rebate mail-in submission form given to me at the store was 8 1/2 X 11, single sided and had no "must be mailed within..." statement.

First call on 2/2/07... From Mr P at HP: "All HP rebates are 45 days, the store should have told you. ... nothing I can do..".

Second call on 2/6/07 - I carefully explained about the incorrect, single sided rebate form given to me at Office-Depot. Ms B at HP Rebate center made an exception and I will get the rebate.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I call this a scam, HP is aware that retail stores often make photo copies of rebate forms. The submission form given to me was a single-sided 8 1/2 X 11 with lots information, even a "must be bought by date" , but the HP "must be received within 45 days" requirement is not on it.

All about rebate pitfalls on my detailed page called "HP Rebate Scam" at: http://edhiker.home.comcast.net/rebate_scam.htm

Most important: Tell Senator Figueroa: http://www.dra.ca.gov/legissues/sb1737.pdf *** Amend SB_1737, add "mail before" and "must be bought by date"items on face of all rebate forms.

The bottom line for now is to carefully check "mail before" and "must be bought by date" before leaving the store.

Daytime Comet with clouds, the brightest to appear in 41 years. Perihelion passage, just 7° from sun.
Originally uploaded by edhiker ( Ed Johnson ) Click on photo for larger version

I like this best out of the nine posted.
Comet McNaught ( C/2006 P1 ) taken on 1/12/07 by Ed Johnson (edhiker)

Daytime Comet McNaught. The comet was visible during daytime hours for several days around 1/12/07, the day of it's closest approach to the sun.


3D orbit visualization http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?des=2006+P1

Sky and Telescope selected shots (has Ed Johnson's image) http://skytonight.com/community/gallery/skyevents/5129766.html

Comet pictures, selected by edhiker
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=353230950&size=l
http://flickr.com/photos/edhiker/357774577/ (from http://flickr.com/photos/edhiker/ )
http://media.skytonight.com/images/McNaught+070114+Karrer.jpg
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=352861845&context=pool-68076698@N00&size=o
http://www.spaceweather.com/comets/mcnaught/13jan07/Finazzi1.jpg Sun, Green Flash, and Comet perspective

Siding Spring Observatory - about the discovery and extensive discussion http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~rmn/C2006P1.htm
The real Rob McNaught http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~rmn/mcnaught.jpg

Links http://spaceweather.com/
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2006P1/2006P1.html
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2006P1_1.html C/2006 P1 (McNaught)--Daily Ephemeris
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=comet+McNaught Google search results

Flickr

HOW TO ADD HOT LINKS Select the text you want to link and then hit ctrl+shift+a.

________________


This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Daytime Comet, the brightest to appear in our skies in more than 30 years, seen at NOON on 1/12/07 at it's closest approch to the sun.
Originally uploaded by edhiker. http://www.flickr.com/photos/edhiker/357774577/

The daytime photos were taken with a Canon DSLR attached to a 8" f7 telescope.

It was at perihelion about the time this photo was taken (around 19:00 UT on January 12th)

--------------------------------------

Daytime Comet with clouds, the brightest to appear in our skies in more than 30 years. Perihelion passage, just 7° from sun

Going through my shots of 1/12/07, I found the one in the entry above with clouds - adds some perspective. Taken midday in the city of Los Angeles, Canon DSLR, 1400mm. Home ground optics.

It was fun watching the clouds passing comet McNaught, too bad I didn't have a video camera running for this event. A time-lapse after sunset series (movie) from a local 6800' mountain (darker skies) would have been neat.

I can't ever recall seeing a comet surrounded by wispy afternoon clouds, let alone from Los Angeles California
......................
This picture is on page 91 of April Sky &Telescope
......................
Half size image, 640x478 on about page 10 at: skytonight.com/community/gallery/skyevents/5129766.html?p...