shawThings.net : a collection of shaw things ...

Daylight Saving Time finished yesterday, which was unusual as it normally finishes on the last Sunday of March. This has caused the usual assortment of problems.

We witnessed one of the best lunar eclipses last night. Indeed it was one of the best views of a space event I think I've ever seen. It was late enough to be completely dark, but not too late that the kids couldn't stay up to watch. The skies were completely clear and we had a perfect view from our backyard. Although, no doubt, Sydney's light pollution reduced the effect. We saw the full moon go from completely in view, through to totality and back out again. The colour of the moon during totality was superb - not quite the blood red that was promised - but an orangey-red nonetheless. Brilliant.

We visited the Melbourne Planetarium today. It was very cool. They even had Fisher Space Pens (background) in the gift shop, so I bought myself one. Very cool.

Ever gone into a shop and ended up purchasing more than you planned? It should come as no surprise that this is not an accident. All sorts of scientific research has gone into determining the ideal conditions to encourage you to spend. Here's a nice A-Z list from the Space Hijackers of some of the tricks (if you can bear the annoying background image). See if you can spot any next time you shop.