today is Thank Your Computer's Processor Day

[swan_tower]

<pets the desktop computer>

You've been such a good little thing tonight. Hardly even complained at all. I promise I'll do my very best never again to make you run not one but two massive astronomical simulation programs at the same time.

But because of your hard work, I now know that I have to rewrite one of the scenes in this book.

Er, thanks. I think.


Love,
Your Friendly Neighborhood OCD Novelist


ETA: P.S. Sorry. I lied about the "never again" thing. That's what you get for being so cooperative.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

did you really run astronomy simulations just to figure stuff out for your book?? What type of simulation?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did. I've been using Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/) for a while now to see what the skies above London were like (position of the mooon, etc) at different points in history, and as of last night, I added Celestia (http://www.shatters.net/celestia/), which (unilke Stellarium) lets me go wandering around the solar system, hitching a ride on the back of Halley's comet.

They're pretty awesome, actually.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

There is not a shorthand to say, "I really just want to hang out with you and hear tales of research badassery," but there needs to be, because I'd say it a lot.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I had help from a NASA-employed friend. That's the real secret to research badassery: get the actual badasses to help. :-)

[scribblemyname]

I love it! I should really thank mine more often for when I work it waaaaaaay too hard and...um...:coughs quietly:...DON'T offer any assurances of not doing it again.

[zunger.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what it says about me that my first response to "Oh, she's computing the phase of the moon in early 18th-century England for her book" was "I hope her software takes the different dates of adoption of the Gregorian calendar into account."

(It does, right?)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

By the point I'm up to now, the Gregorian difference is no longer an issue. Not sure what Celestia does (since I just started using it last night), but iirc, Stellarium follows the main continental shift; I did indeed have to adjust when using it for previous books.

Though for actual moon phase, I use this (http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phase/phasecat.html). Which likewise follows the continental model.

As for what it says about you . . . you're a geek. <g>

[zunger.livejournal.com]

Ah! That explains it. :)

Anyway, I wouldn't trust that web page for England -- it uses 1582 for the Gregorian reform, which means that anywhere except the Papal States it's going to be off by a quarter-phase or more for several centuries.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yes -- I adjust for that one, too. If Stellarium can actually show moon phase, I haven't yet figured out how.