The Porter Method

So I received a sales e-mail tonight from the musical instrument website Musician’s Friend (great store by the way, highly recommend them) and one of the 6 just for Tuesday only sales items they are highlighting is this:

How To Master Spinning Drumsticks

So I just have to wonder, is a full book (and DVD) really needed to learn how to spin drumsticks. Maybe there are secret techniques I’m unaware of. Could it be that the art of spinning drumsticks is like Chinese Kung Fu and can only be passed down from a Master to a Student under strict supervision? If so is this author of this book risking his life by divulging the ancient secrets of this black art? If we hear of a drummer being killed by drumstick impalation (is that even a word?), then we will know the answer.

Oh, and notice the top of the book.. Once you master these techniques, you will be a certified master of…….Spinology. Now that is rock and roll!! Spin On!

I just came in from outside, and sure enough. I can see Jupiter from my house. How, you may ask, did I figure out which bright shiny dot was Jupiter? Elementary my dear Watson, I used a free open source program called Stellarium.

I just heard about it from a blog post by J Aaron Farr and had to give it a try. I must say that it is pretty amazing. I would love to get away from the city lights and give this a try with some good binoculars, but even from my home in the city I could make out quite a few constellations. Pretty impressive piece of software. And it is open source too.

You can’t beat the simplicity of this program.

Step 1. Install
Step 2. Set your location (this part kind of sucks, but I was eventually able to get Mobile, AL keyed in, just took some good coordination on my laptop touchpad, probably an easier way if I would RTFM)
Step 3. Take laptop outside and rotate it till it matches the sky.
Step 4. Marvel that the bright shiny dots now have names.

Here is a screenshot of Jupiter: