Steve Allen

Publications, Bibliography, References

A bibliography of references to papers and books that I have helped to write.

I read my e-mail as MIME type text/plain

If I receive e-mail as HTML or in proprietary (e.g., Microsoft) document formats, then that e-mail will not be read. There are security problems with the former, and ideological problems with the latter. E-mail should be sent to me as MIME media type text/plain.
As a rule it is likely that I will view other mail content (e.g., attachments) if it is in a widely-used, non-proprietary format registered as a MIME type with the IANA or defined by an IETF RFC.
If you do not know what this means, or if you are not sure about a particular format, it is polite to inquire whether I will accept non-plain text e-mail before sending it to me.

UCE is abuse

If I (or anyone else at UCO/Lick) receive Unsolicited Commercial E-mail the likely response is that the originating domain(s) will be added to the sendmail UCE blocker. If that happens, no further e-mail from the abusing sites will be possible.

FITS info

Syntax and semantics of keywords used in FITS images generated by the UCO/Lick data acquisition systems.

The Future of Leap Seconds in UTC

Some folks would like to discontinue inserting leap seconds into UTC. Discontinuing leap seconds would require many observatories and other organizations to procure new hardware and rewrite software that deals with time and earth rotation.

DEIMOS SWPDR draft docs

The DEIMOS project has built the next great imaging spectrograph which is situated on the Keck II telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. This spectrograph was constructed at the Santa Cruz facilities of UCO/Lick Observatory.

You might call me if I'm out

I am often delocalized. When I am between places I often have an active cell phone.

Unofficial MOS home page

The MOS project is nearly complete. A few docs are seen here.

IRAF cl scripts for Lick images

These help astronomers with images from Lick use them in IRAF.

The HIRES Spectrograph

I constructed the X11 user interface for the HIRES instrument simulator.

detector focal plane diagrams for instruments at Keck and Lick

anticipation that a full set of FITS WCS keywords might eventually be inserted into the headers from each instrument

What's Where at Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton

There's more than a century of history up there, and without a guide it's hard to figure out what your looking at or through.

What's Where on Mauna Kea

Much of the recent work at UCO/Lick Observatory has been aimed at supporting the Keck telescopes in Hawaii.

Electricity and Magnetism

do you find that introductory E&M texts confuse you with SI, MKS, cgs, esu, emu, etc? If so, try this unit conversion page and see if it alleviates any of the difficulty.

I authored a MIME type for online music

The abc language can be used to encode music in ASCII text.

I'm a Dad

Once, twice.

I have ancestors

My grandmother had a little book of relatives, and starting from that here is my tree

Folk Dancing

This is stuff you don't particularly need to know about. Info on morris in Santa Cruz, contra and English all over California, and other places.

Other words

The Great Bird of the Galaxy liked them.

PGP info

Pretty Good Privacy is available for security and authentication.

ssh info

Tips and tricks about using Secure Shell

DEI

B.S., Caltech, Dabney House 1978-1982

You lose

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Courtesy of Freedom to Tinker this one is mine, all mine:
FC 4B DB 55 AB B3 60 AB 49 45 F9 36 D4 4A 9A 90