Catherine Conner
Archive for October, 2009
Snapshot of a Tudor Sailor: the Mary Rose Museum
Oct 22nd
I strongly believe that history is not only the story of one-off big events, larger-than-life characters, and impossible-to-memorize dates. It is the story of everyday people and their daily hopes, dreams, struggles, and passions – set against the backdrop of different times, places, and beliefs than our own. Unfortunately the study of history does not often present opportunities to experience their stories, until the rare occasion they suddenly appear in front of us.
In 1545 the flagship of Henry VIII’s navy, the Mary Rose, sank with almost all hands. A tragedy for the volatile monarch and for the souls lost. But in 1982, her discovery and raising provided a complete snapshot of the life of a Tudor sailor. Certainly there are weapons to delight the military historian, but also thousands of more personal items (shoes, bags, tankards) that provide us a glimpse into the daily life of a Tudor sailor. A not always pleasant life, to be sure, as evidenced by the tools to inject warm mercury into sailor urethras – treatment against the syphilis rampant among sailors at the time.
With luck, the new Mary Rose Museum will open in 2012, and I for one hope to be among the visitors.
Compact Mirrors and Tudor Man-Bags: Mary Rose Gives Up Her Treasures
Remembering Women Who Deserved to Go Into Space
Oct 12th
I thought I knew the history of the American space program. But I was shocked to learn that NASA had a program for women astronauts long before the first women actually made it into space. In honor of those women whose performance was equal to (in some cases better than!) their male counterparts, but because of contemporary social norms and prejudices did not participate in the glory that became “The Right Stuff”, I encourage everyone to read this article.
“They were all extraordinary women and outstanding pilots and great candidates for what was proposed,” said Donald Kilgore, a doctor who evaluated both male and female space flight candidates at the Lovelace Clinic, a mid-century center of aeromedical research. “They came out better than the men in many categories.”
…
Women are lighter than men, requiring less fuel to transport them into space. They’re also less prone to heart attacks, and Lovelace considered them better-suited for the claustrophobic isolation of space.
Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: NASA’s Lost Female Astronauts: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/mercury-13/ (via Neatorama)
Fingering the Culprit
Oct 9th
I’ve just noticed that my keyboard is dirty. How’s that for a spectacular intro to a blog post? Well, it isn’t (a spectacular intro, I mean. It is definitely a dirty keyboard — this wasn’t meant to be an existentialist post). Anyway, as I was saying…my keyboard is dirty, which is nothing new. What is new is the odd pattern.
I use one of these. It’s a nice size for my hands, and the individual key mountings mean that it tends not to collect crumbs (a big problem with other keyboards I’ve owned). But what I noticed today is that there are two keys on the board that are visibly filthy… the P and the ‘ (I mean the single quote mark…the key one to the right of the semicolon). On the surface of each key is a perfectly round clean white space surrounded by a ring of brown…I believe the technical term is “gunk”. This disturbs me. More >
How To Download Podcasts in Windows
Oct 6th
This TechTip post discusses specifically how to download podcasts using podcatching software on an Windows computer. You may wish to first read my more general post “How to Find and Download Podcasts” for an overview of podcasts and podcasting.
Podcatching with Windows can be a little tricky. Windows XP and Vista operating systems usually come with their own audio/video players already installed (Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center, respectively). As of this writing, neither of these softwares includes podcatching functionality by default. So what are your options? More >
How To Download Podcasts on a Mac
Oct 6th
This TechTip post discusses specifically how to download podcasts using podcatching software on an Apple Macintosh computer. You may wish to first read the more general post “How to Download Podcasts” for an overview of podcasts and podcasting.
If you own a Macintosh computer, you’ve got it easy. A podcatcher is already included, and is one of the most widely used podcatchers around. It’s called iTunes. You thought iTunes was only a music and video player? Well it also has built-in podcast management. More >
How Do I Find and Download Podcasts?
Oct 6th
I wrote about podcasts recently in an article I did for a local club magazine here in Hamburg. Since then many friends have asked for more information on the technical aspects of using podcasts and podcatcher software. I decided to post those answers here. (If you don’t know what a podcast is, you might first want to have a look at this.)
You may already be familiar with searching for and downloading music and/or video from the Internet to your computer. This is essentially what happens when you identify a podcast you want to listen to — you download it and then either listen to it directly on your computer, or copy it onto an iPod or other MP3 player to listen to on the go. But what makes podcasts special is that you can subscribe to them, just like you would a print magazine or email newsletter, and have your computer automatically download new episodes of your podcasts as soon as they become available. The tricky bit is, how do you do that? That’s what this article is all about.
A Day That Will Live In Parody
Oct 5th
40 years ago today occurred a very important event in my life. Yes, even though I wasn’t yet born, October 5 was a very important date: the birth of the comedy language that would enable me, years later, to communicate with geeks and humorists around the world. Oh, and that still makes me laugh, years later, after many many viewings.
Happy Anniversary Monty Python, and thanks for all you’ve done for me 
Celebrity Favourite Monty Python Moments: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8287931.stm
