Bloomingstars.com - Emmanuele Sordini 's astronomy and computing homepage - Miscellaneous category

Eyjafjallajökull's volcanic ash cloud in Google Earth

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:27:00 GMT

I haven't posted anything on this blog for a long time. For once, I come back with something that is not related to my main hobby, astronomy. As was the case for many other people, my vacation plans got screwed up by the Eyjafjallajökull icelandic volcano spewing a cloud of ash that caused thousands of flights in most Europe to be grounded.

The entity responsible for issuing periodic updates and forecast on the evolution of the ash cloud is the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center of the UK Met Office. I managed to turn my missed vacation into a programming opportunity, by writing a very simple java program that turns these bulletins into KML files, which can be visualized using Google Earth's advanced 3-D features:

Click on the link below ("Read more...") for the full story!

Snow and sunshine in the Apennines

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:54:00 GMT

On January 4, 2009, it was very cold, but crystal clear and sunny. I could not pass up this opportunity, and decided to go snowwalking with some friends on top of Monte Penna, one of Ligurian Apennines' most famous and prominent peaks (el. 1735 m); the conditions were really favorable also for trying to put together a panoramic view of the gorgeous landscape we enjoyed from up there.

This trip turned out to be one of the most beautiful snow walks I've ever done in my life. Click on the link below to read the full report!

International Astronomical Youth Camp (IAYC) 2008

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:44:00 GMT

From July 20th to August 9th, 2008, the 44th IAYC (International Astronomical Youth Camp) will take place in Sayda, Germany. I myself took part in these camps six times between 1991 and 1999, and in my opinion there is no better place where one can find such an ideal and balanced mix between science, friendship and amusement. The editions I participated in account for some of my nicest memories in my life. So, I am more than glad to put an "advertisement" (or, better, endorsement) on my website. Click on the "read more" link below to find more detailed info (both in English and Italian) directly from the organizing team!

Dal prossimo 20 luglio al 9 agosto 2008 si svolgerà a Sayda, in Germania, il 44esimo IAYC (International Astronomical Youth Camp). Io stesso ho partecipato a sei di questi campi giovanili internazionali tra il 1991 e il 1999, e secondo me non esiste posto dove trovare un mix migliore tra scienza, divertimento e amicizia. Delle edizioni a cui ho preso parte conservo alcuni tra i più bei ricordi della mia vita. E allora, più che volentieri lo pubblicizzo sul mio sito, invitando tutti coloro che fossero interessati a cliccare sul link sottostante "read more" (in inglese e in italiano).

Vodafone Internet Box e Windows Vista

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 16:36:00 GMT

I apologize but this post is in Italian, as its content is meant to solve an issue with mobile communications in the Italian market. However, I may consider to translate it in English if I get enough feedback from users.

Vi è mai venuto in mente di utilizzare con Windows Vista la prima versione della Vodafone Internet Box (lo “scatolotto bianco” con velocità massima teorica a 1.8 Mbit massimi, tanto per intenderci), trovando porte sbarrate e nessuna assistenza da parte della Vodafone? Niente paura, non scoraggiatevi: questo tutorial spiega in dettaglio come fare, senza dover sborsare un solo centesimo.

Cliccare sotto la foto per saperne di più! (Attenzione: si tratta di una pagina con molte figure e pertanto abbastanza lunga da caricare)

JUG Genova Meeting, 18/09/2007

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:33:00 GMT

Last September 18th, 2007, another JUG Genova meeting was held at DIST (Dipartimento di Informatica, Sistemistica e Telematica) of the University of Genova. It featured a very interesting presentation by Carlo Bonamico and Corrado Alesso on the Spring framework.

Next meeting is scheduled on November 20th. Stay tuned!

Click on the link below to read the full story!

YAJGM: Yet Another JUG Genova Meeting!

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:00:00 GMT

Another JUG Genova meeting was held at the local NIS office on Monday, July 23rd. Although the turnout was not as large as what we had back in May's meeting, it was still a success. Two presentations were held:

Fabrizio Giudici and I reported on our Jazoon '07 experience: see the full (flash-converted) slide presentation (sorry, but it's written in Italian)
Fabio Bonfante held a very interesting presentation on Aspect-Oriented Programming. Definitely a must-see!

Here are our Jazoon '07 flash slides embedded as a Flash object:

We also came up with a few cool projects which we'll try to implement and turn into real deeds and events. For the moment we'd better not give any further details since they all are just concepts. You'd better stay tuned by checking JUG Genova's brand new website back often.

Needless to say, we ended up wolfin' down some very yummy pizzas :-)

Jazoon '07: wrap-up

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:00:00 GMT

Just back home from Jazoon, and also back to work and to everyday's hassles . Also, the time has come to make a comprehensive judgement about the conference.

A shot from the closing session

All in all, I must say I came back with a good impression of the conference, which was quite well arranged and brought along a whole bunch of interesting topics and issues.

Wanna know why? Click on the link below for the full story!

Jazoon '07: the first two days

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:26:00 GMT

On Monday June 25th, a thick layer of clouds rolled in which soon brought along some downpours and a really gloomy atmoshpere. But well, the time had come to dive into the newly started Jazoon conference, so let’s have a closer look at the conference. Jazoon’s venue, the brand-new Sihlcity shopping mall, just off the city center to the southwest, is a top-quality place with boatloads of entertainment facilities, including a big move theather where the conference itself was hosted.

There we go! Come Monday, we got to the conference center in the late morning, just in time to have a peek at Ted Neward’s keynote on the future of programming languages (picture courtesy Moritz Petersen):

Click on the link below for the full story!

Zurich at first glance

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:24:00 GMT

I arrived in Zurich in the evening of Sat June 23th. The following day there would be the Jazoon opening, but only the paying tutorials were scheduled which we didn’t follow. Plus, I was greeted with a beautiful sunny day; therefore, I got a chance to go around sightseeing, since it was my first time ever here.

Bluetooth Blues

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:06:00 GMT

Yesterday, I was tinkering with my new bluetooth GPS antenna. Since my 3-year old laptop has no bluetooth support, I also purchased a USB-bluetooth dongle (D-Link DBT-122).

When I installed the dongle driver, the bluetooth COM port was mapped to COM14: much to my surprise, the GPS antenna diagnostic application allowed COM port numbers only up to 12: this prevented me from using the GPS receiver.

2007: here it comes!

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 20:59:00 GMT

Here we are. A new year has just begun... and once again we have to trash our old calendars and daybooks. It's also time to look back at the year that has just slipped away and make plans for the upcoming times.

As far as I am concerced, who knows what I'll be faced with in the time to come... Anyway, I do have quite a few upcoming astronomical and software projects, and a huge backlog of astronomical imagery (both deep-sky and planetary) to process (No additions to my astrophoto gallery in the last six months).

So, please stay tuned and check back often as more updates will show up on this blog!