FishmanPut your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain.Registered Userregular
My 5-year-old recently drew a picture full of blue wavy lines. When we asked him what it was, he said it was the sky, and the lines were all the air molecules.
My 5-year-old recently drew a picture full of blue wavy lines. When we asked him what it was, he said it was the sky, and the lines were all the air molecules.
My wife got an older solar system book because she is a Pluto supporter, and she gets mad whenever I read it to our daughter because I intentionally leave Pluto out.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
FishmanPut your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain.Registered Userregular
edited March 2018
So as an amateur enthusiast I've gone out of my way to see interesting and varied events in the nights sky; eclipses and conjunctions, supernovas and meteor showers, comets and just unique expeiences where I can find them. But there's still a few things I've been meaning to check off, so for the past few months I've been keeping an eye out for nearby Iridium Flares.
I've actually caught one or two before, completely by coincidence, but they were out-of-the-corner-of-my-eye things, and not bright and centered, but still, I wanted to see something that was 20 times brighter than Venus at its best passing above in a dark night sky. So I kept an eye out on the predictions, and while there were a few close possibilities, they were generally undone by poor timing or unfortunate cloud cover.
Until this past weekend.
I had been keeping an eye on this one for a few weeks; Iridium Flares predictions are calculations based on observations, and over time they tend to move in slowly decreasing amounts as the final flare location is determined. But this one was predicted for Sunday, and the center of the flare radius was looking pretty good on a day the weather turned beautifully clear and cloudless for a beautiful late Summer farewell. As an added bonus the Moon wasn't rising until well after midnight, so there was a good chance the sky would be reasonably dark by 9pm, a pretty civilised hour to be out and about.
Well, that doesn't look too bad. Pretty close to the center, so should be nicely properly bright.
Hmm. A bit far west though. I could hike up the trails to the old ridge fenceline, but that's a rough climb and I haven't been walking over there in a while so I'm not familiar with the condition of the trails at the moment. Maybe there's a park or something easier with some dark sky down near Johnsonville?
Oh.
So last night I shot over to my brothers around 8:45pm, watched the ISS pass over, sat in the backyard and talked shit and videogames for 20 minutes while adjusting my eyes to the dark and watched the stars come out, witnessed a couple shooting stars and a handful of satellites (plus an A320 jet) before a tiny dim little streak of light wandered across the sky and turned into the most ridiculously bright fuck-off spectacle I've ever seen. I'm not going to lie, I was properly impressed at how bright and shining a tiny panel the size of a small door 780km away could get in the night sky. A good reminder of how ridiculously bright the Sun actually is.
So yeah. That's another off my bucket list. I'll keep an eye out for future opportunities, but with Winter coming up again it might be next Summer before I start checking to see if there's any flares in the sky again on a regular basis. Still it was pretty easy to do and flares are pretty frequent, so hopefully the opportunity to repeat the experience is not hard as it was a a good excuse to sit outside and look at the stars and sky on a pleasant clear and warm evening.
If you want to see if there are any flares coming up near your location, the Heavens-Above website has you covered. Punch in your location, check the page for Iridium Flares, and scroll forward to check out what might be coming your way in the next couple months. A flare can be a few Km wide at the base, so you don't need to be directly under the middle of the pass, although finding a good darksky location not too far away will likely improve your viewing experience.
Yeah, I've tried searching for iridium flares with my kids before, but it's proven to be a lot more difficult than I originally thought. I haven't tried that website before, maybe I'll have better luck with it.
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
A website tracker is definitely the best way to do it (and ISS passes). They'll tell you exactly when and what direction to look in. And you can just wait for the absolute brightest ones.
If this can be brought to commercial viability, it's gonna be AMAZING. Tesla batteries are cool and all, but they still depend on lithium-ion production - proton fuel cells are more sustainable, and potentially have a higher power density.
At the very least, it could revolutionise mobile robotics.
Researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia have demonstrated for the first time a working rechargeable "proton battery" that could re-wire how we power our homes, vehicles and devices.
The fact that the hydrogen is stored chemically bonded to carbon instead of as hydrogen gas (if I am understanding it correctly) is a really good feature
+1
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
The fact that the hydrogen is stored chemically bonded to carbon instead of as hydrogen gas (if I am understanding it correctly) is a really good feature
They're split off from water, the carbon is an electrode, but yeah not using hydrogen diatoms == a++++
It sounds like it's an open cell though?
That on use, the hydrogen comes out and bonds to oxygen 'in the air'?
I'm a little worried about what that means if the battery shorts.
It sounds like it's an open cell though?
That on use, the hydrogen comes out and bonds to oxygen 'in the air'?
I'm a little worried about what that means if the battery shorts.
Can I interest you in a Note 7? Very cheap. Can't find anywhere else on the market.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
the strong odour of total bullshit was absolutely streaming off everything this woman did. The idiots 'venture capitalists' who gave her money should have their wealth redistributed for their own good, since they're clearly not able to distinguish their arse from a hole in the ground.
the strong odour of total bullshit was absolutely streaming off everything this woman did. The idiots 'venture capitalists' who gave her money should have their wealth redistributed for their own good, since they're clearly not able to distinguish their arse from a hole in the ground.
Theranos, the digraced medical-technology startup that infamously inflated the capabilities of its devices, has secured $100 million in new funding in the form of a loan.
The loan, reported by the Wall Street Journal, will come from Fortress Investment Group. Fortress, whose other underdog bets include a private passenger rail line under construction in Florida, is set to be acquired by Japan’s SoftBank.
although this still puzzles me
like this is barely three months ago
why would you give a known fraud operation, with revenue of less than $100 000 a year, a loan of $100 000 000
Theranos, the digraced medical-technology startup that infamously inflated the capabilities of its devices, has secured $100 million in new funding in the form of a loan.
The loan, reported by the Wall Street Journal, will come from Fortress Investment Group. Fortress, whose other underdog bets include a private passenger rail line under construction in Florida, is set to be acquired by Japan’s SoftBank.
although this still puzzles me
like this is barely three months ago
why would you give a known fraud operation, with revenue of less than $100 000 a year, a loan of $100 000 000
There's layers of weird here.
Normally I'd suggest they know something we don't, but nothing has indicated any of these people know a damn thing about anything.
Softbank are no strangers to throwing money down a dubious technology toilet (hi Pepper) but usually their purchases do roughly what it says on the tin, at least.
Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
I'm curious if DOJ will have more to add. Although the SEC is coming down about as hard as they're allowed, $500K and no public CEO position for ten years is a slap on the wrist compared to $700M in fraudulent fundraising.
I'm curious if DOJ will have more to add. Although the SEC is coming down about as hard as they're allowed, $500K and no public CEO position for ten years is a slap on the wrist compared to $700M in fraudulent fundraising.
How would my punishment compare if I stole 700M from a bank?
I'm curious if DOJ will have more to add. Although the SEC is coming down about as hard as they're allowed, $500K and no public CEO position for ten years is a slap on the wrist compared to $700M in fraudulent fundraising.
How would my punishment compare if I stole 700M from a bank?
Life in jail, easily.
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
The number of commercial U.S. honeybee colonies rose 3 percent to 2.89 million as of April 1, 2017 compared with a year earlier, the Agriculture Department reported. The number of hives lost to Colony Collapse Disorder, a phenomenon of disappearing bees that has raised concerns among farmers and scientists for a decade, was 84,430 in this year’s first quarter, down 27 percent from a year earlier. Year-over-year losses declined by the same percentage in April through June, the most recent data in the survey.
The number of commercial U.S. honeybee colonies rose 3 percent to 2.89 million as of April 1, 2017 compared with a year earlier, the Agriculture Department reported. The number of hives lost to Colony Collapse Disorder, a phenomenon of disappearing bees that has raised concerns among farmers and scientists for a decade, was 84,430 in this year’s first quarter, down 27 percent from a year earlier. Year-over-year losses declined by the same percentage in April through June, the most recent data in the survey.
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If it doesn't sound like Robocop stopping crime, what is even the point?
The robot overlords would probably just find it easier to make it so humans have worse hearing and it doesn't bother them anymore.
Well, it's either that or the drone of a small internal combustion engine driving a pump for pneumatics or hydraulics...
Or t̷he̴y̡ ͏coul͡d͜ c̴͟͞ǫ̴v̴͠e̴r͏ ͜t̀͡h͘e̵͞ ͘͠i͘n̸̛̛té̶̶r̢͜͠nál҉ ẃ̧̢̕o͜r͟͏̧̛k̛i͟҉͝͏n͏̛g̢̧̨͝s͘͡ ̀͞҉̸́w̢҉i̧͘͟͝ţ̵h̢͝͠͠ ̡͢f̛͢͟͏ĺ̀́͡͞e͟ş͜҉̡h̶҉
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
My wife got an older solar system book because she is a Pluto supporter, and she gets mad whenever I read it to our daughter because I intentionally leave Pluto out.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
wasn't it calculus?
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/02/researchers-combine-artificial-eye-and-artificial-muscle/
I've actually caught one or two before, completely by coincidence, but they were out-of-the-corner-of-my-eye things, and not bright and centered, but still, I wanted to see something that was 20 times brighter than Venus at its best passing above in a dark night sky. So I kept an eye out on the predictions, and while there were a few close possibilities, they were generally undone by poor timing or unfortunate cloud cover.
Until this past weekend.
Well, that doesn't look too bad. Pretty close to the center, so should be nicely properly bright.
Hmm. A bit far west though. I could hike up the trails to the old ridge fenceline, but that's a rough climb and I haven't been walking over there in a while so I'm not familiar with the condition of the trails at the moment. Maybe there's a park or something easier with some dark sky down near Johnsonville?
Oh.
So last night I shot over to my brothers around 8:45pm, watched the ISS pass over, sat in the backyard and talked shit and videogames for 20 minutes while adjusting my eyes to the dark and watched the stars come out, witnessed a couple shooting stars and a handful of satellites (plus an A320 jet) before a tiny dim little streak of light wandered across the sky and turned into the most ridiculously bright fuck-off spectacle I've ever seen. I'm not going to lie, I was properly impressed at how bright and shining a tiny panel the size of a small door 780km away could get in the night sky. A good reminder of how ridiculously bright the Sun actually is.
So yeah. That's another off my bucket list. I'll keep an eye out for future opportunities, but with Winter coming up again it might be next Summer before I start checking to see if there's any flares in the sky again on a regular basis. Still it was pretty easy to do and flares are pretty frequent, so hopefully the opportunity to repeat the experience is not hard as it was a a good excuse to sit outside and look at the stars and sky on a pleasant clear and warm evening.
If you want to see if there are any flares coming up near your location, the Heavens-Above website has you covered. Punch in your location, check the page for Iridium Flares, and scroll forward to check out what might be coming your way in the next couple months. A flare can be a few Km wide at the base, so you don't need to be directly under the middle of the pass, although finding a good darksky location not too far away will likely improve your viewing experience.
At the very least, it could revolutionise mobile robotics.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180307153947.htm
Finally?
They're split off from water, the carbon is an electrode, but yeah not using hydrogen diatoms == a++++
That on use, the hydrogen comes out and bonds to oxygen 'in the air'?
I'm a little worried about what that means if the battery shorts.
Can I interest you in a Note 7? Very cheap. Can't find anywhere else on the market.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
And then make the video publicly viewable.
Science!
Preferably with a high speed camera.
PSN:Furlion
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/03/14/theranos-chief-executive-elizabeth-holmes-charged-with-massive-fraud/
the strong odour of total bullshit was absolutely streaming off everything this woman did. The idiots 'venture capitalists' who gave her money should have their wealth redistributed for their own good, since they're clearly not able to distinguish their arse from a hole in the ground.
ah, these quotes
although this still puzzles me
like this is barely three months ago
why would you give a known fraud operation, with revenue of less than $100 000 a year, a loan of $100 000 000
There's layers of weird here.
Normally I'd suggest they know something we don't, but nothing has indicated any of these people know a damn thing about anything.
Softbank are no strangers to throwing money down a dubious technology toilet (hi Pepper) but usually their purchases do roughly what it says on the tin, at least.
so ... IDK.
I love what they named this phenomenon.
How would my punishment compare if I stole 700M from a bank?
Life in jail, easily.
I'll fucking take it.
It was the rapture get it right