I don't know bash either (been dabbling on learning to code), I see this headline thinking, "looks like I picked the wrong week to learn about bash."

For past 50 or so years, US says it will send a man to Mars in 20 years. For past 50 (uh wait, 30) or so years, USSR/Russia says it will send a man to Moon in 20 years. Like we will have fusion power in 10 years like they've been saying for past 50 years. And next year we will have Hover-Cars, including conversion kits for people with vintage '80s DeLorean. But then these days we do have Picture-Phones.

I always thought there was something else besides just code, like also learning terminal (and to learn whats this "bin/bash" stuff).

Thanks for being honest, I hate it when everyone says it is easy. hey, even landing a F18 on a carrier is easy. Just line up on the glide slope, drop the gear and hook, and land. (not). Oh gawd, hipsters... one project this person who put together a project and it was real whizbang, etc. But updates and other specifics was kind of mysterious. He'd "disappear" then come back with the solution but when I ask certain questions, I get a run-around. Then this project got all screwed up, this person no longer with it, and then we found out the coding was done by someone in Russia (we never knew who it was or a contact) but lots of code with all kinds of scripting. This was pre-Putin days, I cannot imagine if such a thing were to happen now. Aaggg.

but them ST communicators were so 20th century. No photos, no video, no music, no surfin' the web, etc. However, I'd love to have one with long range communications with stage quality audio.

Linux, that seems to be almost a must if want to be a coder. I have a mac. Now this bash shell and vim I guess I need to learn about these before coding. That's what I was talking about, other "stuff" to deal with in addition to learning code.

OK, I admit I'm not much of a coder. But there are times when someone says, "oh, all that is needed is a script to do this and that, etc." Looks simple enough, maybe I will see about writing some basic (no, not BASIC) code. Not that it is perfect but enough to git er dun. I find lots of websites on how easy it is to do various code languages with "hello world" examples. But the $500,000 question(s) I have is where do I write the code? Purchase an editor or use a simple editor (i.e. Notepad). Then when that is done, what next? There is a compiler but I find nothing about these (I heard there are so many variations, not possible to list). OK, maybe the info is out there and maybe it is simple to find, but I find is a lot shlock of copy/paste of same bankrupt discussions that originated in Usenet.

Michael Collins, Apollo 11 CMP, wrote in his early 1970s book "Carrying The Fire" you are given a finite number of heartbeats. So when he goes out for a run, he runs to get his heart rate as high as he can (he describes when getting to a fast run is a rush, like having sex). Then when at rest [or at a desk doing horribly bureaucratic paperwork], the heartrate is much lower than for a rest rate if he was not a runner. Overall heartrate over the years is lower, so he gets more years living.

maybe not extreme sport but years ago when Villa Felice restaurant existed in Los Gatos, and they had live band to play ballroom dance music, there was a 90-something who would be out there for every dance with his wife (about same age). And was there every Saturday. He couldn't move fast and it seemed he was in some pain, his wife was even slower but he danced like, "The only way I'm leaving the dance floor is feet first!" One day, he didn't show up so he didn't quite leave the dance floor feet first but everyone regarded that's how he departed.

Occasionally I fire up my APRS unit (ArgentData Open Tracker 3 to radio on 144.39 MHz) which I have a Nonin pulseox sensor placed over the finger to measure heart rate and blood saturation levels (SpO2). Interesting to see the data while driving, varies from high 60s to 90s (calm easy traffic to the 'oh s---'). I need to take measurements while sitting at the desk (maybe see variations when reading journals to whining on the forums).

I learned about APRS and using pulseox from http://parachutemobile.wordpre...

One time I rigged up my unit during a ballroom dance private lesson, pulse varied from 80s to 120s. Later did same during a Zumba class, pulse rates in 140s and 160s. I used a T3-mini APRS unit to small HT at 250mW on 144.33 which I had a receiver with TNC to laptop at studio. The pulseox on my finger and cable taped along my arm first alarmed zumba instructor, she thought I had a heart condition of some sort. Last thing they need is someone collapsing in class from overdoing it. I explained I am in excellent shape, it was a part of geeky experimentation.

Friday night at Ames Visitor Center (the big white tent just before main gate) had presentations by Ames project scientists on bioscience payloads, and had Q&A from audience. Also nice pamphlets and brochures for these programs were handed out (real cool to get hardcopy unlike typical webpage downloads). They intended to show launch on the big screen (NASA-TV) but it was scrubbed.

Ames student Fruit-Fly Experiment (AFEx)
Rodent Research-1 will examine how microgravity affects the rodents.
Seedling Growth-2 will germinate and grow seeds of the Arabidopsis thaliana plant.
Micro-8 will examine how spaceflight affects potentially infectious organisms.
More at http://www.nasa.gov/ames/resea...

Actually there are some Ansel Adams photogs still out there. At Mountain View, CA Art and Wine festival earlier this month, a photographer had awesome and beautiful photographs (and they weren't cheap) of various nature shots including nighttime exposures. He uses film, yes that material where you press the button on the camera and hear various mechanical noises. But no idea if it is good or not until film is developed. Then continuing on in a dark room expose these negatives on to paper which immerse into different trays (develop, stop, fix). I forgot his name but I was impressed. He does the same thing Ansel does. Hike long distances packing camera equipment, food and water. Wait for the right conditions to take the shot. Then once back at the darkroom to see how it turns out. I asked what is it like when the pic is great (as opposed to the several not-so-good), "it feels good."

It was interesting when he explained to people his photographs are not digital and they are not photoshopped. For many film photography is very mysterious.

I had many pics, still do, on Flickr along with descriptor paragraph but when they re-arranged the site with lots more scripting or whatever it may be, it became disorganized and sssssssoooooooo lllllllllooooonnnnnngggggg to view. Actually I better archive those images and descriptors before the site gets "myspaced."

I'm still using my XP and Win98, I bought a Win7 laptop couple years ago and hearing all about Win8, I sure glad I got Win7. I know some people that when Vista came out, they immediately abandoned their XP but saved their files (which most were no good under Vista). Then Win7 came out, they did the same thing again (which I don't blame them for doing so). But they also abandoned Win7 for 8 and suffered problems. Win7 is fine and can do everything (these people are not developers, mostly use Office and surf the web). I don't get it, why do some people do that? I can somewhat understand about getting a new car that has various gadgets to impress the chicks. But a computer?

It seems very wealthy have become very good at gaming the system. Watching the PBS program "The Roosevelts" it mentioned of the time when very wealthy controlled almost all commerce and markets. Then there was everyone else that got "Morganized" with lower wages and grueling work hours with almost no chance to get ahead, i.e. whatever earnings made had to be spent at company store. Teddy Roosevelt broke this trend with "big government" and these guys JP Morgan, Rockefeller, etc. said TR doesn't have that power in the Constitution. But TR said Constitution was for the people. But nowadays we see growing wealth inequality and favoritism like "corporations are people too" and this trend of going back to what it used to be in late 1800s is not a good sign. Though all the Ayn Rands say, "too bad" but do consider US doesn't have industrial base like it used to.

It will be interesting to see how all things line up after we know the details and backroom discussions. Earlier aerospace vehicles looked vastly superior but never went anywhere. While lots of conspiracy theories, it was later documented Howard Hughes with innovative and creative designs (and also a celebrity engineer) did not have industrial capacity to build aircraft in quantity. I'm certain B36 was chosen over the B49 flying wing because USAF needed range and payload the Flying Wing could not deliver. Then there was the issue of having to pay taxes on used XB49s so all the Flying Wings were destroyed. Though unmanned Dragon has flown and manned Dragon seems just around the corner, does SpaceX have capacity to make spaceships in quantity? But maybe there really isn't a need for large quantities of manned spacecraft? Or maybe it's just backroom deals. Almost all of us don't really know as virtually all information is third hand or presentations by key people but they really don't give us all the juicy facts.