Amazing — a 400MB HDD that as on-board the Columbia during her disasterous 2003 re-entry was recovered and the data has been used to complete the project. Completely amazing.

The Kroll people managed to recover 90 percent or so of the 400MB of data from the drive with its cracked and burned casing. Now, a few years on, Berg and his team have analysed the data and reported the experiment and its results in the April edition of the Physical Review E journal. These showed that, rather liked whipped cream which changes from a fluid to a near-solid after being whipped or stirred vigorously, the gas Xenon change its viscosity from gas to liquid when similarly treated in very low gravity. The phenomenon of a sudden change in viscosity is called shear thinnin

Data recovered from Seagate drive in Columbia shuttle disaster [Blocks and Files]
Thanks Koz

Wow. I wrote a bad review of Cameta Camera and they offered to PAY ME to take it down.

Really the depths these guys will sink to knows no bounds. I recently purchased a Nikon D3 from Cameta Camera, via Amazon. I trust Amazon with these purchases and they’ve never really let me down. The one decent local camera store in Marin never has much in stock and I wanted this camera body to arrive in time for a special event (plus I just hate the city.)

I know NY area camera stores are notorious, but this one had the D3 in stock and said it’d arrive on time. How bad could it be?

Well for an extra $75 in shipping they basically tossed the D3’s box from Nikon loose in a larger box and sent it along. It got here on time but the box looked like a cow had sat on it. I was kind of shocked — but the D3 was fine. Nikon’s packaging was pretty good.

I called Cameta, they were just flat out rude to me. Grumpy and bitchy like an Amazon buyer didn’t count and if I had the camera and it worked, why was I called. I decided to leave an Amazon review. The text of which is in the email I am about to block-quote. I was shocked, within 1 day of leaving this review to get back the following response from Cameta. Know ye this — they sent it AGAIN 1 day later as if I may have missed it.

Bullshit. $75 back is nothing compared to the risk they took with a $5000 camera that is likely to become an extension of my arm. This thing is going to be my best friend — I’ll carry it everywhere. If the D3 had shown up broken, I’d have been so sad AND the hassle of sending it back and waiting for a new one would have made me extra sad.

From: Auctions On Behalf Of maryann
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 11:18 AM
To: ‘jweisberger@***.com’
Subject: Amazon Order 103-2015980-719****

Dear Jason,

We are writing you in regards to the recent order placed through Amazon, shipped from our company Cameta Camera. We have become aware that you had an unpleasant experience with our company according to the feedback that you left as seen below:

“Rude on the phone. Really, Really, poorly packaged. I think they could have used enough bubble wrap or packing materials when sending a $5k camera. It was shifting around in the box. Would not buy from again.”

After looking into the said situation, we are not sure who you spoke to. However, we are looking into the situation as customer service is our number one priority here at Cameta Camera. In addition, we are also going to be speaking to the shipping manager in regards to how the unit was packaged and shipped. We also have the following option to offer you as a remedy.

We are ready to issue you a credit for $75.00 back to your Amazon account (which is the original freight paid). Our’ only concern is that in the past we have made an accommodation for a customer but they have left us negative feedback anyway. If you would be willing to remove your negative feedback remark to our account (and then email me to let me know that it has been done) I will issue the credit right away. We pride ourselves on good customer service and we are willing to work with you.

If you do decide to remove the feedback left in exchange for the refund please follow the instructions below.

Removing Feedback You’ve Left

If you’ve left feedback on a Marketplace or Merchant seller and would like to remove it, you can do this through Your Account. Please note that feedback cannot be edited, only removed; once you have removed feedback for a seller, you will not be able to post new feedback for that seller.

Go to http://www.amazon.com/your-account.

Find the pull-down menu next to “View by Order.” Select “Orders placed in the past 6 months”, and hit the “go” button.

After you sign in, you’ll find a listing of your recent orders. Select the relevant order and click the “View order” button.

You will find a feedback section 2/3rds of the way down the page. To remove feedback, click on the “Remove” link in the feedback section of the order summary.

You may only remove feedback if it is 60 days or less since you left the feedback.

We thank you for your time and consideration and hope that you can resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Kindest Regards,

Maryann

Customer Service

Cameta Camera

Clicking the Photo opens a screenshot of the email.

Carolyn and I saw it passing through the SF bay with 2 black tugs. No name visible on the ship. This was the sharpest I was able to grab with my D70. I didn’t have a cable release handy, sigh.

**UPDATE**

BoatingSF shows two tugs leaving the bay at the same time I saw this ship with two tugs — the Lynne Marie and the Narragansett listed as TUG-WITHOUT-A-TOW. Strange.

It appears to be an LHA Amphibious Assault Ship — but whats on its deck and where is it going?

Even more: there are only 5 of them and 2 are decommed. One of those two? Can’t be the one under construction…

The answer is in comment 3!

Albert and Otis go to pick up their friend Euripedes.

I always end-up running out of things to read on vacation. I hoped to have that beat by bringing my Amazon Kindle on vacation, but alas — it had not arrived yet (I got it the day after I came home, will take it traveling soon. I love it at home).

I lugged a ton of scifi stuff I picked up from reading recommendations all over the net, but never have time to read at home. Never takes long before I’ve burnt through it all. This is what I found in a giftshop: 50 Ways to Save the Ocean.

The book manages to put a great, inclusive presentation around recommendations that all too often come off as preachy. When people find the right tone, and I believe the authors have, this kind of informations becomes a lot of fun. Its short lists with a descriptive introductions around categories of ways to fine tune your life towards to eco-friendly. While many of the things aren’t Ocean-specific, they go to great lengths to explain how dependent our ecology is upon the sea.

Certainly a fun under-the-umbrella-on-the-beach read and it shared a few new ideas. Certainly made me more sensitive to the amount of plastic that I’m throwing away on a daily basis. I believe the number they shares was that the averae American throws away 70lbs of plastic a year. If true, that is crazy. I’m sure it’ll get passed around the family.

50 Ways to Save the Ocean (Inner Ocean Action Guide)

After a shit day yesterday, this is exactly what I needed to see. Thanks, John!

Trip down memory lane…

Michael Dietsch attended a butchering demo at Brooklyn Kitchen, where a Berkshire hog from upstate New York was dismembered and divided into twelve portions. He’s posted a large photoset showing the entire process, which is only grisly if you never thought about where your meat comes from.

Butchering the pig [Flickr via Kottke]

I’ve been enthralled with this pen since I was a teenager. In college, I had a part-time job selling men’s clothes in an upscale shop on an upscale shopping street. Every day I would wander into this small vintage gift shop across the road and look at the 2 or 3 Parker 51s they had in the case. They seemed complete out of reach, price-wise, for a college kid.

Later in life I saw one that was just beautiful. I should have bought it for myself but I made a mistake and gave it to someone as a gift. I’ve regretted it for years. These pens are just marvels. Its part engineering and part history that make them so “I gotta have it” for me. From its early use of Lucite, to the Tonight, in chatting with one of my bestest pals, I was led to search on them and came across this fantastic website, VintagePens.Com

This site has a lovely collection of pens from all over the world, including a special edition Parker DuoFold I’m now just head-over-heels for.

I bought one of their Parker 51s. **UPDATE** The pen I bought was already sold. Oh well. I’m still looking, but someday I’ll get one.

Sometimes, we all just need to laugh. When I do, I pull the Court Jester DVD off the shelf. While no one will ever Out Fox the Fox, this may be one of the funniest moments in movie history. Danny Kaye is one of my favorite comedic actors of all time; Basil Rathbone is just excellent and the young Angela Lansbury makes me wonder about that old bat on Murder She Wrote.

**WARNING** You may caught wandering around work muttering about the Flagon with the Dragon

I know I promised to review the Flip Ultra a few weeks back, but I wanted to wait until I had a chance to really mess around with it. I have. It rules.

There isn’t much to say — low light, bright sunlight: it doesn’t matter! There is really only one button to press: Record.

The real win, for me: the $40 UNDER WATER HOUSING. I wanted to take it diving, I have used many of these clear housings before; Olympus and Panasonic. They rule. They tend to work well-below their rated depth, but the buttons get funky. I’ve never had one leak, but I have seen MANY people flood them on dive trips. Be careful.

I was too stuffed up to dive, but I did get a lot of family video with it and took it on a waterslide. Enjoy!