Almost there...

Hiya, thanks for looking - this site is under construction  ALMOST fully functional.
The about me section is rather blank...go figure. Thus far, the only content I can think of for that section of the site would be about as helpful as the 'about the author' section of an autobiography.
...waiting to be inspired... or maybe,  or maybe I will leave it blank to add that ever desirable element of mystery.

Beam me a note: rokitnerd@gmail.com 

Canon 7D...

looks like Canon is going to have a new 'all in one' ...almost. It is the Canon 7D DSLR and I think it is going to put some real pressure on the D300. I am really glad to see that the camera technology is getting pushed harder and faster for lower prices - maybe some day I will own a full frame censor after all.

Thats my bird...

It is kinda fun knowing I handled hardware that is currently in orbit...

SIRIUS XM ANNOUNCES SIRIUS FM-5 SATELLITE HAS BEEN PLACED INTO SERVICE

New satellite increases broadcast power and delivers improved reception to SIRIUS subscribers

NEW YORK – September 9, 2009 – SIRIUS XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) announced today that SIRIUS FM-5, the newest addition to the SIRIUS XM satellite fleet, was recently placed into service on the SIRIUS network. The new satellite, which was manufactured by Space Systems/Loral, provides improved signal penetration and reception to millions of SIRIUS subscribers nationwide.
FM-5 is now fully operational and broadcasting SIRIUS XM programming and data services to SIRIUS radios in North America. The satellite launched June 30, was guided to its final orbit position, and has successfully completed all post-launch testing.
SIRIUS FM-5 is one of the world’s most powerful communications satellites and is the first geostationary SIRIUS satellite, complementing the SIRIUS fleet of three non-geostationary satellites. SIRIUS FM-5’s addition to the current SIRIUS fleet significantly increases the broadcast power of the total SIRIUS network.  SIRIUS FM-5 is designed to provide more focused power in areas of peak population, such as metropolitan areas on the east and west coast, as well as significantly improving reception when driving under heavy foliage.  Its location in a geostationary orbit position over North America (approximately above Texas, at 96 degrees west longitude) assures that home receivers can aim at a fixed point in the southern sky to receive a signal on a constant basis. 
 “For our SIRIUS subscribers, FM-5 brings significantly improved performance to their cars as well as their homes and offices, or wherever they use their SIRIUS radios,” said Terry Smith, Chief Engineering Officer of SIRIUS XM Radio. “We expect FM-5 to provide exceptional service for many years to come, while improving the overall performance, reliability and longevity of our satellite fleet. We congratulate our engineering team on a successful launch and implementation."
The satellite was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton.

You need to know about mydl.me

Quiz: What is a photographer's/digital artist's worst nightmare?

Answer: Data loss! Corrupt, lost, stolen, crashed, and dropped...media storage devices are always meeting their doom much to the dismay of  their owners.
That is why I would like to point out MyDigitalLife (mydl.me) an excellent blog full of solutions to the media loss problems...some of it may sound overdone to you at first like it did to me - but I just finished a 4 hour shoot that ate nearly 20Gb of memory...one event...so I am thinking BRING ON THE TERABYTES! 
That being said, as you plan for your photography business/hobby pursuits...plan in a little cash for redundant storage.

TWIP

I cant resist, I have to tell you about my latest addiction, and it is called TWIP.
This Week In Photography or TWIP is a photography blog/community/podcast and so much more.
 Over at twipphoto.com there is advice, news, contests with awesome prizes, and the super informative podcast (RSS)that I am completely addicted to.
I realize the shutternerd is coming out strong here, but the info in the podcast is really helpful for anyone on the go who is interested in keeping up to date with the photo tech and trends. I find it useful for keeping tabs on what laws apply to photography and the incessant infringement on photographers rights...
It also is a great source for resources - findind out about other photographers and what they are up to - and some tips from pros for everyone (and when I say pro I mean charging $25k per shoot pros).

So, if you are not fully up on Drobos, Lensbabys, and Photojojo - check out TWIP for the hook ups. 

I.O.U...

...big time.

I feel like a complete slacker - so much going on and so much I want to share, yet I have not posted in ages. And the worst of it is that I don't have many good reasons either...seriously, aside from working overtime, house-hunting, migraines, prep-ing for a wedding shoot, narcolepsy, and making a presentation to the big wigs at work... I have no good reason not to have posted.

But the show must go on...and so it will, lots of exciting stuff coming up and lots of great new resources to tell you about. So, with one eye in the view-finder, keep the other looking out for the myriad updates to come.

New Banner

A tremendous THANK YOU to Aimee Nugent (my amazing wife) at TheTwistedPixel (custom blog banners and more) for the rawkin banner - skillz I tell ya.

All in a Daze Work: "Assured Communications"

This week we take a quick look at the strange and wonderful hardware behind the entire world's wireless communications networks. I have selected just a few photos from the net to showcase some of the most cutting edge communication technology in use (well, the unclassified stuff anyway). And when I say use, I want you to think of every wireless device you know of…all the cell phones, satellite radio, satellite TV, military communications, NOAA weather, the entire FAA air traffic control… the list goes on.
The images below are a mix of ground and space communications terminals, some are curently in use, some have not been launched yet, some are just artist rendering of the actual system - but all are examples of what I have been working on for the last two years. 

Been working on many different permutations of this military antenna - one goes on the back of a HMMWV (humvee)

Govcomm.Harris

Space satellite antenna - 

Yup, I get to dress in a funny smock and hairnet when working on these in the hi-rel area - stylish I know.

SpaceDaily

This is like the one we launched in late 2008 from Kennedy Space Center.

 

SatNews

Another one we have permutated a few times - sort of a special system for me because it was the first one I analyzed for performance optimization using FEM software when I started at Harris.   

  

PEO C3T

  

PEO C3T

I was working on this one a few months back and it will be launching it this year.

 

SatNews

This one is HUGE...and still a work in progress. 

  

SatNews

I think the most amazing thing about the space antennas that we build (the gold mesh part and boom in the pictures above) is their weight - or lack thereof. The last one I was working on was larger than 40ft in diameter and weighed less then me...
Another amazing part is the precision that they must meet before being launched. The gold mesh surface (larger than 40ft in diamater  - and thats a small one) must be a perfect parabola to within a few hundreths of an inch - and that is what I do. I generally refine an adjustment plan to assure that the surface meets specifications.
And that double duty (space and ground) update is another look into what a 'Rocket Scientist' might work on in the course of a 'Daze Work'.

-TheNuge*

"So, what do you do?"... aka All in a Daze Work

ahhhhhhhh that's a fun one to answer... "ahh yes, humm *adjusts pocket protector* I am a professional nerd"... that is what folks (JamieOcoughcough*) usually hear when I say "I am an Aerospace Engineer"...
and then they say "thaaats niiice!?!?" heeehee
ok, so in defense of my occupation... I have decided to start the "All in a Daze Work" series where I will try to give the 'pretty picture' explanation of what I do, or what I studied in school, or what kinds of stuff I would generally do in my job field.
To start out we have...

 

 ...I thought about assigning homework and making you guess what this is...but I am too...ah well

this is a horizontal tornado... really, it is. It is caused by the end of the wings where the high pressure air under the wings surges toward the low pressure air above the wings and thus creates a wing tip vortex. (The red in the picture is simply a smoke flare they used to visualize the air currents.
Cool looking picture...very bad winds...but that's what rokit nerds are for...fixing those kinds of problems.

Here is another sweet one...

 

SCRAMJET anyone? That little sliver is an experimental vehicle (the x43a) that NASA uses to test flight at hypersonic speeds...that is greater than Mach 7 if you are counting.
it is generally deployed from the wing of a B52 bomber mid-flight ...then accelerated to supersonic speeds by a modified rocket...then takes about a 10 second flight on its own power...then crashes (intentionally) into the ocean where it is recovered. Ten seconds is not a long time...but at those speeds, it will go quite a long distance.
The most interesting thing about the scramjets is their 'engine'...takes in air like a regular jet, but there is no rotors ...virtually no moving parts. It has to be such, because anything that gets in the way of that airflow through the engine would be melted instantly by the heat. These special engines...only start working above speeds of Mach 6...
The image above is actually a simulation using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) to visualize the shock waves that form around the vehicle.
Sound off with questions or comments.

-The Nuge*

ohhh yeahhh...

Have you noticed that things of yesterday's 'sci-fi' flicks are todays newest technology? I think it is totally insane and cool (this is where the nerd comes out)
*warning warning rokit-nerd alert*

Technology Review is a nice little compilation of new technology and tech news for all the techies out there...

Sweet advances in new materials - so many fun aplications.

Most folks don't think of microbes in a good way...but what if they could work for you.

And I quote "Gecko feet have long been a source of inspiration to scientists" ... and yet 'leading scienists' believe that these naturally occuring wonders came about from a huge caotic cosmic 'bang' and then crawled out of a puddle of mud... yet today, we are still baffeled by these things and seek to emulate them by creating something of a similar nature... so we spend our lives trying to make copies of something that is claimed was NOT brought into being by a creator in the first place? Caaaan we all think about this rationally for a moment?


I think I may try to keep a running list of cool tech sites and interesting info...maybe just make a new post, but keep the list of links... we will see.
Time to jet

-The Nuge*