Penny Arcade - Comic - Signs And Wonders

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Penny Arcade - Comic - Signs And Wonders

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

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Lttlefoot

Is boba fett that bad? I’m only a couple of episodes in so far

Also, I’m hearing about this star from people who hardly ever talk to me. I don’t know what makes it different from other weird science stuff that we usually get a natural explanation for a few decades later (like “the bloop”)

BloodySloth

I thought the first ep was disappointing, the second one worse, and the third episode was one of the worst episodes of television I've seen in recent memory. I stopped there, though I hear that the most recent episode was actually really good.

islington

Lttlefoot wrote: »

Is boba fett that bad? I’m only a couple of episodes in so far

Also, I’m hearing about this star from people who hardly ever talk to me. I don’t know what makes it different from other weird science stuff that we usually get a natural explanation for a few decades later (like “the bloop”)

I kinda is... ep 3. is where the bus hits the curb and goes airborne, ep 4. is the bus rotating through the air in slow motion like a Michael Bay sequence. I don't know what ep5. yet, but I can barely be bothered to look, maybe i'll check it out when the crash is complete and we can understand what if any is salvageable...

Zilla360

It's most likely just a Pulsar/Magnetar, IMO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar#Categories

No idea why it's getting so much attention in the media/press. They're very common throughout our galaxy.

Handkor

Anybody down on Boba Fett needs to watch episode 5, you can even skip all the other episodes and just watch episode 5.

Druex

Handkor wrote: »

Anybody down on Boba Fett needs to watch episode 5, you can even skip all the other episodes and just watch episode 5.

Episode 5 is out? I thought The Mandalorian started back early.

Tempest8008

Aren't those just Vegimals?

palidine40

All the news about repeating signals is hyperbole, its very satisfying to read though, but its usually a magnetar, or pulsar, or something else spinning like crazeballs. The real interesting ones are the ones that seem somewhat regular and/or erratic. Tabby's star was a nail biter there for a bit, but some later observations look like it might be a cloud of irregular dust or maybe odd orbits of something else.

We still gotta read them though, stay interested, maybe someday they're going to see one with a carrier signal, or maybe someday we'll have fast enough or new enough technology to read some other signal artificially generated. Or maybe the signal will piggyback off of one of these other loud radio sources through some means. Keep hope alive.

zepherin

2022 The Thing reboot is going to be real weird.

Anon von Zilch

Magnetar? Isn't that a Pokémon?

Hevach

islington wrote: »

Lttlefoot wrote: »

Is boba fett that bad? I’m only a couple of episodes in so far

Also, I’m hearing about this star from people who hardly ever talk to me. I don’t know what makes it different from other weird science stuff that we usually get a natural explanation for a few decades later (like “the bloop”)

I kinda is... ep 3. is where the bus hits the curb and goes airborne, ep 4. is the bus rotating through the air in slow motion like a Michael Bay sequence. I don't know what ep5. yet, but I can barely be bothered to look, maybe i'll check it out when the crash is complete and we can understand what if any is salvageable...

Episode 5 is good, but does not include Boba Fett or anyone else from the show (except a brief appearance from Fennec). Instead it's a bonus episode of The Mandalorian season 2 including Din, the ship mechanic, and the incompetent X-Wing cops.

dennis

Lttlefoot wrote: »

Also, I’m hearing about this star from people who hardly ever talk to me. I don’t know what makes it different from other weird science stuff that we usually get a natural explanation for a few decades later (like “the bloop”)

Zilla360 wrote: »

It's most likely just a Pulsar/Magnetar, IMO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar#Categories

No idea why it's getting so much attention in the media/press. They're very common throughout our galaxy.

It's different because it's something we have never observed before with the same conditions, and which they can't figure out a model for that produces the same results. That's always one of the most exciting things in science, no matter what the answer turns out to be. It's especially exciting in astronomy.

On the other hand, Hurley-Walker told IFLScience, a slow pulsar is also not possible. “If this were a pulsar it would need a magnetic field a 100 times stronger than anything else in the universe,” she said. “It would also decay very quickly.” Faster pulsars have more power, which is inconsistent with the bright and slow combination (GLEAM-X) J162759.5-523504.3 displays.

“Orbital periods of 18 minutes are possible,” she continued, but “there are no models that produce such bright radio emission from two objects in orbit with each other, with such precision, and any that would produce any kind of radio waves would also produce X-ray emission, which we don't see.”

In either case, GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3 would be unlike anything seen before. Hurley-Walker notes that the only other white dwarf known to produce similar pulses is 10 times closer to Earth yet 100 times fainter than the newly discovered object, raising the question of why these two objects would display such drastically different radio brightness. Meanwhile, all known magnetars rotate at a quick clip of under 10 seconds, not even close to the 18-minute period seen from GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3.

I think the "It's Aliens" explanation is almost certainly not the case. But no matter what, this is something new and will teach us cool stuff. Yeah, that's not why the popular press is running with it but they also report on things Dr. Oz says, so if you haven't figured out why I'm not sure what to tell you.

Quid

Hevach wrote: »

the incompetent X-Wing cops.

Sweet, gonna get a new Existential Troopers video.

NashKnight

I like Boba Fett. It's not great, but it is pretty good and entertaining. And whoever says something in the line that Mandalorian was great and Boba sucks will be forever labeled as a douchebag in my book (of Boba Fett). Sure, Mandalorian is a tad better, but basically it's the same damn show.

tastydonuts

Hyperbole? How else are we going to fund space exploration without the threat of an incoming alien space armada that we can't stop anyway except for hacking with Mac brand devices?!

We can't let Musk beat us to Mars and leave us to die here on Earth!

RatherDashing

NashKnight wrote: »

I like Boba Fett. It's not great, but it is pretty good and entertaining. And whoever says something in the line that Mandalorian was great and Boba sucks will be forever labeled as a douchebag in my book (of Boba Fett). Sure, Mandalorian is a tad better, but basically it's the same damn show.

I dunno. I like Boba and am giving it quite a bit of leeway. But the most recent episode was so far and above the rest in my mind that it really highlighted why I liked Mando better. Even the visual and audio design just felt better.

People point to the cyber teens as evidence that you can't do shiny and new in Star Wars and that they shouldn't add new ideas to the setting. But the Treasure Planet spaceport was a new idea, and was shiny and high tech, and just felt so much better.