today is Thank Your Computer’s Processor Day

Disabled

<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.

0 Responses to “today is Thank Your Computer’s Processor Day”

  1. Anonymous

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

    • Marie Brennan

      Yes, I did. I’ve been using Stellarium 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, 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.

  2. diatryma

    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.

    • Marie Brennan

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

  3. scribble_myname

    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.

  4. zunger

    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?)

    • Marie Brennan

      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. Which likewise follows the continental model.

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

      • zunger

        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.

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