The Mission for NASA

"The aeronautical and space activities of the United States shall be conducted so as to contribute . . .to the expansion of human Knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space. The Administration shall provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof."
-NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ACT OF 1958

SimCity2000: Screen Shots and Building Tips

Feeling a bit nostalgic, I busted out my copy of SimCity 2000 and DosBox and went to work as the mayor of a thriving metropolis. But it wasn't a metropolis right away. I built this city, slowly, from the ground up. I was surprised that I had forgotten some of the intricate details and strategies for building a successful city. However, these mistakes only set me back a couple of decades of development as I waited for my coffers to refill. 
So, just for fun, here are a few screen shots of my city as it grew throughout the years. Enjoy!

"Commerce needs connections."  I kept getting this message until I realized what it meant. The commercial sector needed a way to do business with the world outside of my immediate city. Building roads that extend to to the neighboring cities is one way of connecting your city to the outside world. Additionally, building seaports and airports will also do the trick. Another tip regarding ports - they need roads and power like any other zone - however, unlike residential, commercial, and industrial zones, do not stretch power lines across the available squares to speed up development. The power lines actually hinder growth at ports. So, only stretch the power lines across the road in a few places and let the ports grow from there.

Your sims need to travel. You can use the query tool to check on how much traffic a section of roadway is getting. Add subways and rails, or build a complete highway system with on ramps and off ramps. The bus system, however, is one of the most effective at moving your sims along. This allows them to travel further distances and reduces pollution. Sims will only attempt to travel so far. They need to be able to reach each of the different zones. They need to live and go to work and go shopping. The better the transportation infrastructure, the further they can travel and the more valuable the zoning arrangement will be. Remember, this game is all about developing the most expensive real estate because property taxes are what fill your coffers at year's end.

As property values increase, you will notice the building types to look cleaner and crisper. Use the query tool to view each property and its characteristics.

Hydroelectric power is the overall cheapest method to power your city. Every other power plant looks cooler, is more expensive per megawatt, may produce lots of pollution, and also has the expensive requirement of needing to be replaced after every 50 years. Hydro is also nice because it can fit in nicely where ever you have a slope with water to build it on. While this is not very realistic sometimes, it also has the added advantage of spreading out your power supply. During an earthquake, any number of buildings could be lost - and if one of them happens to be a costly power plant - your city could be without power while you try to recover from the wreckage. Disasters are the primary reason it is recommended that your power and water grids be as interconnected as possible. In the event of a disruption on one block, power can still be rerouted around the problem center. Take the time and place extra power lines around the block.

Another trick I remembered was how well water pumps perform based on their location. The amount of water each pump can produce is directly dependent upon the number of fresh water squares that are adjacent to it. That is why most of my water pumps are sitting next to my hydroelectric dams - it increases their output tremendously. One adjacent square of fresh water will increase output by nearly 50%. This will ultimately help reduce the number of water pumps you need to quench your thirsty city.

The military will come knocking on your door when your population reaches 60,000 residents. Apparently, you need to have a pretty hilly terrain in order to get the elusive Army base. They are useful when you have a disaster because they are additional units to deploy to assist your police or firefighters in containing riots and fires and whatnot.

If you do not want to play the original SC2000 inside of DosBox - you can pick up SimCity4 along with its expansion and a few other games in the SimCity Box. I have been wanting this latest version for some time. If you have it and have played both, please share your comments below.

Hubble Telescope 20 Years of Awesome

There is still one gem that glimmers despite all the controversy surrounding NASA and how they have lost their touch and all they do is spend gobs of money on programs destined to be canceled: The Hubble Telescope. The greatest telescope ever imagined was set free from the Space Shuttle Discovery on April 25, 1990. I was just a kid in elementary school at the time. I grew up with Hubble and all its glory. I watched as the blurry images were corrected and was inspired by the awesome images it was sending back home from far away parts of the galaxy. Space is awesome and NASA was the discoverer of that final frontier.  

It is no wonder that I fell in love with space and went on to become a rocket scientist. Just look at the possibilities that lay before us if we just put our minds to a project and open our eyes to the wonders above.

Visit NASA Goddard’s Hubble resource Web site. This site features an extensive list of Hubble links, including the new Carina Nebula image. Remember, Hubble images are in the public domain and free to use. Your taxes already paid for them - so go out and enjoy them.

Popular Science

If you have not ever read an issue of Popular Science - you are missing out. Each issue is packed with futuristic ideas that might change our world, close-ups are provided into the tech gadgets we use, or the jobs that keep our worlds running smooth. My favorite part of the magazine is near the back and is the How 2.0 section aptly named the Tips, Tricks, Hacks and Do-It-Yourself Projects section.


In the April 2010 issue they covered things like making an atomic clock, compressed air fires, award winning Transformers Movie inspired projects, and Virtual PC's. In the article they covered Microsoft's Virtual PC which is available as an integral part of Windows 7. However, I thought they were remiss in not mentioning some of the other options. If you have ever wanted to try out Linux or if you have ever wanted a repair tool then Knoppix and Ubuntu should be on your list. Ubuntu comes in a full OS or like Knoppix can be booted and ran directly from the disk. I used this feature on occasion to familiarize myself with the Linux operating environment and to just generally try out new things.

FrankenTech

Success! Finally!
As I sit here writing this I am finally experiencing the relief and joy that only comes as you patiently watch as Ubuntu installs on your newly assembled system.

I have come a long way in building computers and playing around with them. This recent construction project was a ground up approach. I bought the pieces all separately and began assembling them inside a old case that I owned, an eMachines computer that followed the rest to a sudden and unexpected death. Unexpected until I read story after story of the poor quality power supplies, Bestec, that failed and consequently fried your motherboard one day.

I took my time and downloaded the manual for this board as it was slightly used and verified and checked myself at every step. I was being a bit more meticulous than I usually am when tinkering around with my old PII's or PIII's I have cluttering up my basement much to the ire of my wife.

This build was slow and methodical and I was like a kid waiting for Christmas when I pushed the power button for the first time only to have my hopes dashed as nothing appeared on the monitor. The fans were running but nothing was happening.

A note that I think should be made about using a motherboard from someone else - it might be a good idea to clear the CMOS settings back to factory default to prevent the system from running as it shouldn't - overclocked when you weren't expecting it. If you knew how it was ran before and under what setup - then this might not apply.

My system will not boot!
Two possible choices - software failure or hardware failure.
Since I wasn't even making it to POST, power on self test, or even the memory count, I couldn't even enter the BIOS. Software was definitely not my problem.
I actually found this website to be the most helpful in uncovering the root of my problem.
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread27079.html#

As you guessed, I had built the system and wanted it to just run perfectly the first time it powered up. It was not to be. So following the general advice of a trouble shooter I eliminated possibilites and started with a barebones system.
Still, with only the motherboard, one good stick of RAM, and the CPU with heatsink - -nothing was happening. Edit - I was seeing the motherboard graphic appear on the monitor about half of the time.
Since the system was not even entering the BIOS portion of the boot sequence I knew there was a problem with my barebones system. Had I received a bad board?

I tried the advice listed in the website above and swapped out the CMOS battery.
Voila! The motherboard graphic on screen gave way to a RAM count and a system halt on the error of no floppy drive connected. I was in!
This is where I made my next mistake. Thinking I had solved all of my problems I promptly reconnected everything again and triumphantly pressed the power button only to see the motherboard graphic stare me in the face and refuse to proceed on to the normal boot sequence.

Now what? Back to the basics. Try it, yes it works. Okay, back to trouble shooting mode.
One by one I reconnected the floppy, test, the optical drive, test, and the hard drive, test. And I failed.
Now what? Was it the IDE channel, the cable, the drive, or a jumper setting? First, I swapped cables. Test - failed. Cable is not the problem.

Secondly, I swapped drives because I could see the jumper setting and had verified it was set to master. Test - failed. Drive was not the problem.
Finally, I tried a third hard drive that was actually working and not supposed to be an empty drive. Test - successful.

Then I connected my first attempted HDD as the slave. Test - failed.
Why? Oh, yeah, switch the jumper on my drive to slave if I am going to have two hooked up. Test - Successful.
Then I realized that this supposedly empty drive must not have been empty and may have been used previously as a slave and did not like being hooked up as a master.
Next I rechecked that jumper. I switched it to cable select instead of master. Test - successful

I reset up the original configuration, including resetting the jumper pin on the hard drive this time to cable select, knowing the drive worked and popped in my install cd and let the installer tell the drive how to behave.
The result - just as I finished writing this, my installation of Ubuntu is complete and I am smiling once again!

Lessons learned -
That CMOS battery is actually important.
Don't disregard the rules of trouble shooting. Eliminate possibilities and work slowly not skipping ahead cause your excited.
Provide a flow diagram that visually shows the steps and the tests and their outcomes.

Here is something else that might help. What are those POST codes?
http://www.postcodemaster.com/

I am reinstalling windows on an upgraded machine and now my recovery discs don't work!
http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/index.php/t-252418.html
-Yes, call Microsoft to get an activation code and download an iso, also slipstream in sata driver support.
Or use a Dell recovery cd with your own coa, certificate of authenticity.