Shuttle Atlantis just lifted off on its final voyage. There are 2 shuttle missions left before the end of the shuttle program. I suggest not missing a single launch, and if possible seeing them live. The shuttle program has to be the most inspirational scientific program currently operating. Nothing really makes me more proud to be a human being, or living in the times that we do than watching one of these rather good looking vehicles get launched into the heavens and far beyond.

Really looking forward to another more ambitious space program from anywhere at all, since it seems NASA won’t be pursuing constellation. =(

But let’s look at Atlantis’ rich history. This good ship has flown 32 missions ( 31 of which have completed successfully, with 32 looking beautiful ). She’s been in the shuttle fleet since her flight readiness firing Sept. 5, 1985. 25 years this shuttle has been in service, defying a decision to decommission it in 2008. Atlantis was intended to be relegated to a support role for Endeavor and Discovery, but Atlantis was born to fly and that’s just what she’s doing right now at 2500 mph.

Atlantis made history June 29 of 1995 when she was the first shuttle to dock with the Mir space station as part of STS-71. Before that during STS-30, Atlantis launched the first interplanetary probe launched from a shuttle. The Magellan probe was sent to explore Venus.

Many people have contributed to Atlantis’ successful missions over the years, but Rockwell International has the distinction of having built her. So to the engineers over there, I am sure today’s flight is especially gratifying.

Anyways, Atlantis, from all the folks at NYC Resistor. Thanks for being utterly amazing. Enjoy retirement, I hope you find a really great home.

Fun Fact, Atlantis has traveled 115,770,929 miles ( 186,315,250 km ) and counting…

“In order to play the theme 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities.”
In the 1890s, Erik Satie wrote a very short piece called Vexations, with a note suggesting that it should be played 840 times in a row. That’s a challenge, right? Jack Straw Productions in Seattle is putting on a Vexations marathon this weekend, starting Saturday at 4pm Pacific time, with more than 30 pianists playing non-stop through the night until they reach #840, and you can listen in on Hollow Earth Radio. It’s a great idea, but we have machines to do our dirty work for us, so the robot toy piano is going to play Vexations at NYC Resistor 840 times, or until it falls apart. It’ll start at 7PM (Eastern time) this Saturday, and you can watch and listen online, or in person on Saturday at the Halfway-to-Halloween Party, or on Sunday at the Vexations Meetup & Jam Session.

Yes, on Sunday (May 16) from 3-6PM, join other music nerds to jam along to Vexations until your head explodes, or we reach #840, whichever comes first. Bring instruments if you want. (Bring your own 1/4″ cables, if your instrument is electronic. Inputs are limited so if you can bring a small mixer to share, that would help!) Feel free to bring vexing drinks or snacks to share. NYC Resistor is at 87 3rd Avenue, 4th Floor, in Brooklyn.

As long as you’re in the neighborhood on Sunday, consider going to Share at ISSUE Project Room (3rd Av & 3rd St), a weekly open jam session for experimental music! When we get sick of Vexations, we’ll take a dinner break and head over there.

Let’s get lazzzoring every Monday night! Come get some work on your projects on this laser focused* open hack night.

The laser will be available on a first-ready first-served single job basis. If you haven’t been trained on the laser you will need to enlist the assistance of an operator. Look for the hacker with an eye patch.

* see what i did there?

How do you keep an iPhone running for long periods of time when you are off the grid? You can’t change the battery in the phone, so carrying a spare isn’t an option. Devices like LadyAda’s excellent MintyBoost use AA batteries and can keep you going indefinitely, but unfortunately the MintyBoost and several other similar products don’t work with the iPhone 3GS. And anyway what I really wanted was a device that would take power from the high capacity 12V NiMH rechargeable pack that I use to power my portable ham radio gear. I could have re-purposed a charger meant for use with cars, but many of them use linear regulators and are therefore very inefficient, or aren’t compatible with the 3GS; plus they are overpriced. So instead I built a charger to suit my needs: the MintyBuck.

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Four talented hackers from NYU are planning to spend the summer building Diaspora “the privacy aware, personally controlled, do-it-all distributed open source social network”.

This is a particularly timely project in the wake of the recent “open” graph announcements at F8 and the debate about data ownership.

Project Diaspora will be open-source, with a subscription hosted solution. They’re raising money to pay for their time developing the project over the summer.

You can read more about the project and the business plan and pledge your support on their Kickstarter page.