UMSF@10, We've come a long, long way together... |
UMSF@10, We've come a long, long way together... |
Feb 10 2014, 09:53 PM
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#31
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
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Feb 10 2014, 10:03 PM
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#32
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
For those wondering where the UMSF logo came from - the little stylized spacecraft is a 3D version of the spacecraft icon from the plaque onboard the Pioneer spacecraft....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pioneer_...olar_system.svg |
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Feb 10 2014, 10:47 PM
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#33
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IMG to PNG GOD Group: Moderator Posts: 2254 Joined: 19-February 04 From: Near fire and ice Member No.: 38 |
The earliest snapshot in the internet archive is from the 20th Feb 2004 - 12 days in. Banner is lost, but here is a screen-grab. So many memories. And with me as the newest member . And this was 10 years ago - wow. Time flies. UMSF has had a big 'indirect' effect on my image processing skills over the years (especially when dealing with really complex seamless mosaicking and shape from shading generation/processing). If I see that something (for example an exceptionally high quality in an image processing product) is possible it encourages me to try something comparable - usually with success if I have enough time available. But the biggest fun (and challenge) has been to experiment with something new (e.g. stereo and shape from shading DEMs, really big Voyager Jupiter color mosaics etc. etc.). |
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Feb 10 2014, 10:52 PM
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#34
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
If I'm not mistaken, UMSF has also been the conduit for your work & that of many others to be published rather widely, Bjorn. That's a terrific thing right there…pure outreach with pure beauty.
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Feb 11 2014, 11:44 AM
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#35
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Chief Assistant Group: Admin Posts: 1409 Joined: 5-January 05 From: Ierapetra, Greece Member No.: 136 |
Whenever I look back at the beginning of the MER mission and the first years @ UMSF, I smile.
It was the first time in my life I really felt part of something. That something was like a dream come true. I did not have the luck to be raised in a family where education was stressed to be of vital importance, and by the time I realised this for myself, it had become hard to catch up on anything, especially maths. This frustrated me to hell. I was forced to start working at the age of 13 and in my spare time I read Ciel et Espace, Astronomy and Sky & Telescope. I tried to catch up on math, at my own pace. It was as if was two persons in one, a moaning & frustrated working class young man, and a kid that kept 'dreaming' about graduating in astronomy. In the years I worked I managed to educate myself a bit for the problems that had arised at school I could not seem to make up for. I bought myself a big telescope, learned photography, and combined the two for some basic astrophotography. At the age of twenty, I bought myself a big fat computer my mother had kept promising me for over 5 years, and a high-class internet account. I learned everything I needed to learn about computers to work with image data in general. Then came Pathfinder and very soon I found myself downloading, archiving and processing colors and mosaics. I remember the extreme joy of local contrast enhancement to isolate giant dust-devils in some of Pathfinder's horizon-images... I could not share the images though since I lacked knowledge on html so I started learning about that. But then I started working more, as it was needed, and then came children... I began to accept I had become a 'viewer' and I could still enjoy astronomy and Mars in general and just be happy being a hobby photographer and 'armchair'-amateur-astronomer. But then, finally, one night, I watched Spirit's descent being broadcasted. As I write this I still shiver just as back then... as I enjoy watching the people behind any mission today when a milestone is reached. I started making time to download and processing 'pretty pictures' again, and I stumbled upon the 'MER' forum. Doug introduced me to PTgui, and then the fun began! I started sharing mosaics and panoramas and this time I was not alone, there were others and I wasn't any longer the 'lone' geek playing around with Photoshop. I explored other software, started reading technical articles, and cooperated with other 'Spaced out maniacs'. I got to meet Steven Squyres himself and Emily Lakdawalla thanks to Doug, and got splendid source material for my panoramas thanks to 'slinted', who wrote software to create true color calibrated data, and who sparked my interest for coding and automating some tasks. After some years, my kids started needing more and more attention, and to keep this part as short as possible, since 'nature' or 'god' or whatever you call it was the only reason for this; my wife got cancer. I found myself frustrated again not having time to pursue my involvement on the forum, and tried to stay optimistic. I missed out on a lot of things in the last months of her life, including the big change in Doug's life, and many more exciting events and stories here on UMSF and elsewhere. In my darkest hour, a few years back, I even wrote Doug to 'take me off the list', as I felt awkward not having time nor the right set of mind to be of any value here.... but he would not accept. I'm forever very thankful for that! Last year I started to feel better again, my 'purple pills' started working ( ) and, all joking aside now, I'm slowly succeeding to get back at 'living' again... I started promoting my photography work and I hope for this 10th anniversary, to dig up some stuff from Spirit and Opportunity too, in these coming months. I'm not telling this because I feel pitty for myself though, instead, I've learned to be proud of myself for the things I've managed to achieve despite my childhood and happenstance, and to encourage others, that whatever happens, you can learn from it and often, even use it to your advantage, if one accepts 'time', and effort. My biggest achievement I cherish, is to witness the wisdom and knowledge I seem to pass on to my kids. They have dreams just like I had; one of my daughters says she wants to visit the ISS one day. I will help her with that, or for any dream they will have in the future, just by keep repeating that life is all about learning, and practising what we've learned in a wise manner, with the future in mind, yet making sure to enjoy each split-second of life today. Cause split-seconds are all we can call present, all the rest is past, or unknown. I hope they have more luck than me, but it's still up to them of course... This guy sums it up, really, in a letter to his daughters; http://blogs.esa.int/luca-parmitano/ Thanks to all of you, for your understanding, your involvement and dedication, to one of the coolest hangouts on the net! And thank you, the MER team and Spirit & Opportunity, to be there, and share. Nico -------------------- photographer, space imagery enthusiast, proud father and partner, and geek.
http://500px.com/sacred-photons & |
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Feb 11 2014, 04:26 PM
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#36
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Member Group: Admin Posts: 976 Joined: 29-September 06 From: Pasadena, CA - USA Member No.: 1200 |
Thank you for sharing. I wonder how many other similar stories are tied to MER. I will make sure to mention how our work affects people on Earth next time I get asked why we explore Mars.
Paolo -------------------- Disclaimer: all opinions, ideas and information included here are my own,and should not be intended to represent opinion or policy of my employer.
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Feb 12 2014, 11:17 AM
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#37
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1619 Joined: 12-February 06 From: Bergerac - FR Member No.: 678 |
Looks like I missed all the fun while I was doing a trip in Britain, in France .
I just want to wish a very happy 10 Years birthday to UMSF, on of the best places I know over the Internets . For me, it's the place where I have truly share my work. And thanks to Emily, Stu, and some other, outside the web, on paper, even on TV screens ! This place is inspiring to me and is giving me the envy to continue This is also the place where I met my guru : Olivier de Goursac. Thanks to his books, I literarily dreamt of Mars, touch the sands of the dunes near Viking 1, feel the cold air around Viking 2 during Winter. Thanks to him, I was able to conduct my work in the right way. And all of this will probably never happened without UMSF . So, happy FIRST 10 years UMSF Oh, and I would like to thank UMSFers about their tolerance concerning my transition -------------------- |
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Feb 12 2014, 02:12 PM
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#38
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Member Group: Members Posts: 796 Joined: 27-February 08 From: Heart of Europe Member No.: 4057 |
As I see, in comparison with other members, I'm still newbie here.
I also didn't found UMSF due to MERs but because of other missions, especially Voyagers, Galileo and Cassini. UMSF was (and still is) place where I can found new products based on data from my favourite missions and lots of answers on every questions. I found here many friends and inspired by many members (Ted Stryk, Björn, Ugordan, Emily and others) I begun with my own works and this was life changing experience for me and for this I sincerely thank to this forum and its founder - Doug Ellison. -------------------- |
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Feb 12 2014, 04:15 PM
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#39
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Member Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700 |
Very hearty thank you to Doug, Emily, Stu et al for growing a beautiful Tree of Knowledge. And very special thanks to posters and mods who have patiently answered my rather n00b-ish questions over the years! It has taken me a while to learn better discipline about simply asking something here when many of the answers to my questions are available on the webs if I dig a little deeper, which usually means those answers are already here in threads at UMSF! I often have a similar problem in markets. Just yesterday, I was looking for cat litter; I could see cat food, no litter. A uniformed worker walks by and I ask her where I can find the cat litter; she smiles and points right behind me. Voila!
I am also grateful for many real-life friendships I have formed with participants here. |
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Feb 12 2014, 06:55 PM
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#40
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Chief Assistant Group: Admin Posts: 1409 Joined: 5-January 05 From: Ierapetra, Greece Member No.: 136 |
@Paolo; I guess there's quite some stories tied to MER and other missions. I just felt like it was time to elaborate on my absence here for years, and sadly, the reason I have lost my domainname awalkonmars.com.
But I'm working on something, especially this year! Best regards and please, keep on 'rocking' us @Ant103; Thank you, for keeping up my link to awalkonmars.com on your website, as did Jim Bell, and Tedstryk. I'm working long days these last weeks to make those links 'working' again. I'll let you know the new name/extension for that when I'm done, as now awalkonmars.com is some chick's blog Nico -------------------- photographer, space imagery enthusiast, proud father and partner, and geek.
http://500px.com/sacred-photons & |
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Jul 30 2014, 04:46 AM
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#41
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2492 Joined: 15-January 05 From: center Italy Member No.: 150 |
After nearly (10 years / 2.5 kposts) of activity, I decided to leave the forum.
It was a great stay, I met fantastic people and most of them appreciated my contribution ... Thank you for this! Bye. -------------------- I always think before posting! - Marco -
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Jul 30 2014, 08:19 AM
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#42
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2431 Joined: 30-January 13 From: Penang, Malaysia. Member No.: 6853 |
I for one will miss your contributions to this Forum and hope you will return one day soon...
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Jul 30 2014, 07:48 PM
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#43
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Member Group: Members Posts: 334 Joined: 11-December 12 From: The home of Corby Crater (Corby-England) Member No.: 6783 |
Dilo, your contributions will be greatly missed. The statistics you presented were like a good pie(chart)...a bit dry on the outside but full of juicy meat when chewed over. Thanks.
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Jul 30 2014, 10:19 PM
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#44
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Member Group: Admin Posts: 976 Joined: 29-September 06 From: Pasadena, CA - USA Member No.: 1200 |
This is sad, when the actions of a few force old timers that helped make this forum so great feel they are no longer welcome. We all lose when this happens.
Paolo -------------------- Disclaimer: all opinions, ideas and information included here are my own,and should not be intended to represent opinion or policy of my employer.
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Jul 30 2014, 10:40 PM
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#45
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
Agreed!
Stalwart, linchpin, statistician extraordinaire...what's happened??! |
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