Feb

23

Lunar eclipse rekindles my interest in social astronomy

Filed Under Photography | Leave a Comment

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Lunar eclipse rekindles my interest in social astronomy (image: )
Credit: Lance Taylor

The February 20th event where the drifted between the Sun and the Moon was an interesting one for me.

After Tess mentioned the night before that it’d likely be visible here (, , ), and that we do have a nice little telescope, some binoculars, and a couple of cameras, that maybe we should make an effort to actually watch it.

Lunar eclipse rekindles my interest in social astronomy (image: )So, after a quick exchange with a couple of friends, an impromptu eclipse party was set up on a good ’s driveway (hi Scratch!). It was also fortunate his driveway faced east, right toward the rising moon.

Now to the part. This was coordinated over the course of a few hours during the day, mostly by .

The degree interest, and participation was awe-inspiring. Ranger Bob brought out his atom-smasher 8″ scope with camera mount. He also brought a few other scopes and binoculars. Ranger Bob wins the Gear award :)
Another had a digital camera mounted on the scope, and recorded over 2000 frames to be compiled into a movie.

Lunar eclipse rekindles my interest in social astronomy (image: )Tess and I brought our gear, Scratch had a few items of optics, as well a few other brought support supplies, Coffee and Donuts. The driveway looked like the pit at a shuttle launch!

Neighbourhood families wandered by. Kids kept oohing at the view through the scopes and binoculars.

Lunar eclipse rekindles my interest in social astronomy (image: )The most interesting part of the evening occurred when we realized we were getting some glare on Ranger Bob’s scope from the overhead streetlight, right above us. Out came a large black umbrella, and turns were taken holding it up to shield the scope.

You can sort-of see the umbrella (the blurry thing) just below the moon.

But for me, the evening wasn’t just about the planetary event, though that was , it was about hanging out with friendly, like-minded and sharing the .

I need to do more of that :)
For more info on the event and many more photos, check out:

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Feb

19

New Moo Cards

Filed Under In the life, Review | 1 Comment


New Moo Cards (image: )

It’s about time. I’ve been running low on my last batch of Moo cards, so a couple of weeks ago decided to have a new batch made.

I’ve been a little more , but had to get the in there too.

Feb

13

Jott now offering local Canadian phone numbers

Filed Under Social Media, Web | 4 Comments


Jott now offering local Canadian phone numbers (image: logo_beta) I’ve wanted to post about Jott before, but have held off because this wasn’t available outside of Toronto. Contrary to popular , many Canadians live in towns, villages and cities other than Toronto.

To bring you up to speed quickly, Jott is a telephone-based -message-to-text that utilizes human and recognition to create reminders, and text messages. Just call one number, leave a message for the system, addressed to yourself, someone in your address (including a group), or even leave ‘tweets’. Leave the message and a few minutes later it’s transcribed and delivered.

So, no? But only for those in the “Centre of the Universetm” for the rest of us, it was a long distance call to Toronto to use Jott’s . And in , long distance rates are not all that inexpensive.

Now, things have changed. Earlier today I received this :

We are happy to announce that local numbers are finally here!

As most of you know, we have had a Toronto Jott number (647-724-5814) for some time and have been working on acquiring more local numbers across .

Still confused as to why we are not releasing a toll number? Jott requires caller ID to know who is sending a Jott to what contact information. In an effort to protect your , most mobile providers have blocked caller ID information from being passed to toll numbers. This leaves the alternative of using local access numbers across the country, so that everyone can send Jott messages without having to pay long distance fees.

Below is the list of available Jott numbers in . Find the number in your area code and program it to your speed dial today!
AURORA : +12898020110
CALGARY : +14037751288
: +17806287799
HALIFAX : +19024828120
HAMILTON : +19054819060
KITCHENER : +15199572711
LONDON : +15194898968
MARKHAM : +12898000110
MONTREAL : +15146670329
OTTAWA : +16136861502
QUEBEC CITY : +14189072209
SAINT JOHNS : +17097570047
SHERBROOKE : +18193401636
TORONTO : +16477245365
TORONTO : +14168001067
VANCOUVER : +17787868229
VANCOUVER : +16044841347
VICTORIA : +12509847093
WINDSOR : +15198000031
WINNIPEG : +12042728154

Now I’m a much happier camper. The only downside is if you a lot, you’ll need to keep these Jott local numbers handy.

Welcome to the rest of the Great White North Jott!