Ubergeek Kelly's World- Life, technology, science, rants

Vicarious world travelling: chasing ship registries for fun

Post author:Kelly Adams
Post published:March 1, 2006
Post category:Geek Miscellany
Post comments:0 Comments

I mentioned in one of my gallery photo entries that I sometimes take pictures of ships so I can research them later on. Actually, this is something I can’t really call a “passion” or a “hobby”: I’ve checked into ship backgrounds a couple of times, and found it kind of interesting.

The first time I did this, I didn’t have a photo to work from. My wife and I were staying downtown at the Fairmont Waterfront one night as a special treat. Right outside the front door of the hotel is the Canada Place cruise terminal, and docked next to it was an unusual looking ship with what looked to me to be some sort of robotic submarine on its deck. The ship also had a Christmas tree on its deck, and that also intrigued me. I tried to memorize its name…Maersk something. Maybe Maersk Defender?

How does a fragmented name turn into real information on the ship? Read on…

Technorati Tags: Googling, Internet, Maersk Defender, Ship chasing

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Argh…comment spam, and delayed comment approvals

Post author:Kelly Adams
Post published:March 1, 2006
Post category:Site news
Post comments:0 Comments

My apologies to folks who have posted here in the last several days and never say their words of wisdom appear on the site. I’m calling out here to Daren (who commented on my Linksys/Linux connection failure item), James Lynch (who commented on my NSLU2/ Linux Samba post), and my very own sister, Connie, who probably didn’t post exactly where she wanted to but I love her anyway.

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Stupid hands…

Post author:Kelly Adams
Post published:March 1, 2006
Post category:Geek Miscellany
Post comments:1 Comment

I’ve been trying very hard to learn the piano now for something like three years. I can make a ton of excuses for why its so hard for me:

I never learned to play any kind of musical instrument as a child…although I tried a couple (ukelele, recorder, a Casio keyboard I bought)
I never even tried to learn to read music
I’m over 40 years old, and everyone knows that having one foot in the grave makes it hard to concentrate

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What the president really said…

Post author:Kelly Adams
Post published:February 27, 2006
Post category:Geek Miscellany
Post comments:2 Comments

Sometimes a little judicious editing can reveal the real truth in what even someone like George Bush says.

Hurrah for the President! And even without editing, its clear he really knows his sovereign is really…sovereign.

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Science, persistence, and NASA

Post author:Kelly Adams
Post published:February 23, 2006
Post category:Geek Miscellany
Post comments:0 Comments

I was reading Discover magazine today and found an article about the New Horizons project. Basically, its a robotic exploration craft being sent to Pluto to gather some close-in data on the 9th planet. If you want to see some insider photos of the New Horizons craft and its launch, you can check out this photo library on Flickr.

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Back from Victoria…

Post author:Kelly Adams
Post published:February 21, 2006
Post category:Life
Post comments:0 Comments

We had a pretty good weekend in Retirementland this past weekend. The stay at the Empress was good fun, and we had a decent visit with Irene’s folks. You can click the picture below if you want to browse through the photos I took.

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On my way to Victoria…

Post author:Kelly Adams
Post published:February 18, 2006
Post category:Life
Post comments:0 Comments

My wife and I are heading over to Vancouver Island to visit with her folks. To turn it into a bit of a “vacation”, we’ll be staying in the Empress hotel. I’ve walked past it several times before, but this will be the first time I’ve actually gone in…and certainly the first time I’ve stayed there.

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Toxoplasma parasites a cause of schizophrenia?

Post author:Kelly Adams
Post published:February 12, 2006
Post category:Geek Miscellany
Post comments:4 Comments

I was reading today about a new study that shows that rats infected with toxoplasma parasites are “controlled” by the parasite to perform acts beneficial to it. Some of these acts are decidedly suicidal for the poor rat, unfortunately, like being attracted to the smell of cat urine.

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World record set for human flight distance

Post author:Kelly Adams
Post published:February 12, 2006
Post category:Geek Miscellany
Post comments:0 Comments

Steve Fossett, a millionaire who likes to break records, has successfully completed a flight setting a new world record for solo non-stop distance. His plane, the GlobalFlyer, was designed and built by Scaled Composites, the same folks who designed and built the first privately funded “space ship”, SpaceShipOne.

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Fun with search engines…or why the title of this site changed today

Post author:Kelly Adams
Post published:February 11, 2006
Post category:Geek Miscellany Site news
Post comments:5 Comments

Hello, my name is Kelly Adams….and I’m a searchaholic.

I like to Google. Google is my friend. Well, most of the time its my friend. Until, that is, I search for myself on the vast frontier land that is the Internet. Go ahead, try it yourself: search for “Kelly Adams” (use the quotes). You won’t find my presence on the web on page one…or page two…or even page five. In those first few pages, you’ll discover an actress named Kelly Adams and some fan sites for her, a couple of authors of pornography with the name “Kelly Adams”, and some other sites I just don’t have the time to look at. But my site is somewhere in the Google results: keep looking…on page 12 or so. Now try uber geek “Kelly Adams”. There I am, page one. Or “Kelly’s World”: there my site is again, page one.

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