Oleg Zabluda's blog: July 09, 2012

Oleg Zabluda's blog

Monday, July 09, 2012

Everybody must be asking themselves in the evening: what is that planet near Spica?

Everybody must be asking themselves in the evening: what is that planet near Spica? And what is that other reddish planet to the right of Spica half-way to Denebola/Regul?

Can't be Mercury (too far from the Sun), can't be Venus (just crossed the Sun during transit, and is now on the other side - a morning planet). Their magnitude is ~= to Spica/Regul (+1.0), too dim to be Jupiter (mag -1.6 to -2.9) or Venus for that matter (mag −3.8 to −4.9). BTW, Jupiter is also on the other side of the Sun, near Venus.

By elimination, the reddish one is Mars, God of War, and the white one is Saturn, God of Agriculture, right at home in Virgo, near Spica (колосок). So it's either a Ménage à trois (Virgo my ass) or the two are going to fight over her (I put my money on Mars).

See also:
Non-alcoholic cocktail "Saturn отлично виден in Virgo, with Mars". Ménage à trois, бесстыжие or Immortal Kombat (Test your Might!)
https://plus.google.com/112065430692128821190/posts/Vov6AdXirTP

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

Non-alcoholic cocktail "Saturn отлично виден in Virgo, with Mars". Ménage à trois, бесстыжие.
Non-alcoholic cocktail "Saturn отлично виден in Virgo, with Mars". Ménage à trois, бесстыжие.

Frozen berries (blueberries, strawberries)
Body-building vanilla cream protein powder from Costco in bulk
Apple juice
Ice

Blend the hell out of it in 1000W Black Ninja Blender

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

Awesome song about love and passion
Awesome song about love and passion
Дюна - Блонда (1991, aka Ох-ох, что ж я маленьким не сдох)
Дюна - Блонда (Что ж я маленьким не...)

Ой, да над речкой, над рекой
Пролетают птичьи стаи в Лондон.
Ах, лучше был бы я слепой,
Чтоб твои глаза не видеть, Блонда, Блонда
Иль лучше был бы я глухой,
Чтоб не слышать голос твой, Блонда
Поверь мне, я давно стал большой
И давно стал большой…
Поверь мне, Блонда.

Тяжёлый мой крест,
И рядом нет мест
С тобою рядом нет свободных мест
Best of best
Пока горит свет.
Пока кипит кровь
Я знаю, не вернуть любовь

Дорогая мама,
Ох-ох-ох-ох-ох
Что ж я маленьким не сдох?!
Ох-ох-ох-ох-ох
Что ж я маленьким не сдох?!

Взял я белый макинтош [1]
И купил машину марки "Honda" [OZ: just like me]
Мне бы в сердце острый нож,
Лучше б я кривым родился, Блонда, Блонда
Лучше б ножку волочил
Иль безвременно почил, получил орден,
И открывалась бы крышка в ночи
Чи-чи-чи, чи-чи-чи…
Ты слышишь, Блонда?

[1] see comment by blond-fatale (роковая блондинка) Anna Chernova

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duna_(band)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJryVmi_G5Q

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

Stanisław Lem (Станислав Лем) "Return from the Stars" (1961) ("Возвращение со звезд" (пер. 1965)):
Stanisław Lem (Станислав Лем) "Return from the Stars" (1961) ("Возвращение со звезд" (пер. 1965)):
[...]
- Я только вчера вернулся... из очень далекой экспедиции.
- Откуда?
- Фомальгаут.[...] [1]
- Сколько вам теперь лет? Биологических...
- Сорок.
- Я мог бы [...]
- Не жалейте [...]
- Почему?
- Потому что мне нечего тут делать, - ответил я. - Я никому не нужен. И мне... никто.
[...]
на дверях одной из них я увидел небольшой листок с четко выведенными словами: "Здесь, Брегг". Я постучал, и тотчас услышал голос Турбера.[..]
- Работаешь?..
- Да.[...]
- Какие у тебя планы?
- Никаких, - ответил я, не покривив душой. [...]
Бумага шелестела, развертывалась у него в руках. Я увидел красную, словно кровью нарисованную, рыбу в разрезе.
- Турбер!
- Да, - ответил он спокойно, обеими руками сворачивая рулон и опираясь на него, как на ружье.
- Когда? Куда?
- Не скоро. В Стрельц, к Центру [2]
[...] а я ... начал спускаться по осыпи на юг, туда, где был мой дом.

[1] 25 ly away, round-trip took 127 years Earth time, 10 years ship time. Fomalhaut (α Piscis Austrini), from Arabic "fum al-ḥawt", meaning "mouth of the [Southern] fish"
[2] i.e Sagittarius, center of Milky Way, 26,000 ly away.

http://lib.rus.ec/b/156001/read

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_from_the_Stars
http://lib.rus.ec/b/156001/read

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

Jojoba (pronounced "Hohoba", not, as erroneously written on Russian wikipedia as "Жожоба"), is one of the few native...
Jojoba (pronounced "Hohoba", not, as erroneously written on Russian wikipedia as "Жожоба"), is one of the few native North American desert plants, that can be cultivated (for its unique oil, used in cosmetics) in a desert without irrigation (the bush has 40 ft deep roots). It is currently the Sonoran Desert's second most economically valuable native plant, after Washingtonia palms, used in landscaping.

The ban on importing whale oil to the US in 1971 led to the discovery that jojoba oil is very similar chemically to the highly prized sperm-whale oil, and in many regards superior to it. At that time US federal government started giving "7:1 tax incentive" to jojoba desert farmers (освоение целины), which triggered mad "gold rush" for jojoba tax write-offs.

Jojoba oil is widely and easily available, so, if you always dreamed about getting Spermaceti (Спермацет), just get jojoba oil instead. It could also be used as green, renewable, AGW-friendly $640/gal bio-diesel.

Jojoba oil was first produced commercially during WWII, as a high-temperature lubricant, because it is stable up to 300 C and does not become rancid even after decades of storage. Current world production is 3500 metric tons per year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jojoba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jojoba_oil

"California Gold" (1991-current) is a PBS travel program that explores the numerous natural, cultural and historical wonders of the Golden State, is a goldmine for amateur regional historians (Краеведов-любителей), like us. Relevant episode:

California's Gold #11014 - JOJOBA

Huell Howser visits with Larry and Donna Charpied at their 10-acre "La Ronna Jojoba Company" farm (http://www.laronnajojoba.com/) located in the Eagle Mountain CA / Desert Center CA of Eastern Riverside County, in the shadow of Joshua Tree National Park Wilderness.

http://www.calgold.com/calgold/Default.asp?Series=11000&Show=1077
watch episode free here:
http://ec.libsyn.com/p/3/4/d/34d3939194ade712/hhpcg11014.mp4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California's_Gold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jojoba_oil

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

1978 Nobel prize in Physics was awarded to American radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson for their...
1978 Nobel prize in Physics was awarded to American radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson for their serendipitous discovery of CMB in 1964. The story and the controversy is well-known, and the best quote on the subject is by the Robert Wilson himself from

Nova "Origins: Back to the Beginning" (Sep 29, 2004)
"""
ROBERT WILSON: When the Nobel Prize was announced I think probably one of the first things that I thought about was, "Do I really deserve this?" And "Should my name be on the same list with as Einstein?" Which just seemed completely wrong. Over the years I guess I've come to understand that the Nobel Prize is given for discovering something, not for being the smartest person around. So while there are much smarter people around, we did something significant and I feel comfortable with it now.
"""
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_microwave_background_radiation#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_cosmic_microwave_background_radiation
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/origins-series-overview.html#origins-back-beginning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_microwave_background_radiation#History

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

"Ну, погоди!" ("Союзмультфильм", 1969-1986) is a classic Soviet cartoon, 16 episodes, 10 min each.
"Ну, погоди!" ("Союзмультфильм", 1969-1986) is a classic Soviet cartoon, 16 episodes, 10 min each. Technically, quite primitive by US standards, but good enough.

What makes it unique, though, is the music. 152 melodies and songs were taken from private collections of creators, and used without any attributions or even records. They cover tremendous range of styles, countries, and years. Each one is superb. Being included in the series is an authoritative stamp of quality. Some are [still] known only due to inclusion in the series.

People were trying to make a complete list of what exactly each tune is, and its performer, which turned out to be very hard. Even massive online collaboration, and searching studio archives was not enough. Contacting musical editor of the series Alexander Goldstein, turned mostly wrong leads as he remembers almost nothing. The director Котёночкин (1927-2000), Hare voice Клара Румянова (1929-2004), and Wolf voice Анатолий Папанов (1922-1987), are all long dead.

On Apr 22, 2003, on forum www.beatles.ru somebody asked this very question. It was prettu dormant till Feb 14, 2009 when a new user DM2, revived it with vengeance, accumulating 250 pages. The thread, basically, separated from the forum (having nothing to do with Beatles), and moderators stopped reading it, while participants never post into other threads. DM posts summaries about once every 2 years.

Last update: 04.06.2012
http://www.beatles.ru/postman/forum_messages.asp?msg_id=5684&cpage=246#1752601

33 tunes (20%) are still unknown

For illustration: the very first melody from the very first episode, tentatively titles "Garbage Can" (под условным названием "Урна"), is not identified.
"""
О ней на данный момент известно только то, что кроме "Ну,_погоди!" она использовалась в самых первых выпусках прогноза погоды в программе «Время» (ещё до «Манчестера-Ливерпуля» Франка Пурселя!), в сюжетах киножурнала «Фитиль» «Приехали-уехали» и «Люди и манекены», а также просто периодически звучала по радио «Маяк». Также эту мелодию процитировали: группа «Red Elvises», вставив её в Венгерский танец Брамса в саундтрек к буржуйскому фильму «Шестиструнный самурай», и литовский певец Эдмундас Кучинскас для песни «Огонёк счастья». Несмотря на всё это, НИКТО так и не знал ни автора, ни исполнителя, ни названия этой мелодии.
"""
http://lurkmore.to/Ну,_погоди!
http://lurkmore.to/Ну,_погоди!#Музыка
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ну,_погоди!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu,_pogodi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu,_pogodi

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

Agent Higgs is an iPhone game.
Agent Higgs is an iPhone game. The whole world is after the elusive Higgs particle. Turns out, he doesn't want to be found! In Agent Higgs you take the side of Higgs, keeping him hidden from view using known Standard Model particles. Dodging the physicists of the world is no easy task!

The game is based on the real rules of physics: opposite/like charges attract/repel, heavy particles decay, particle-antiparticle pairs annihilate, etc...

http://www.testtubegames.com/higgs.html
http://www.testtubegames.com/higgs.html

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

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