Constant, low exposure to allergens have basically made most of my allergies disappear over the last decade. Or at the very least greatly increased the required amount of exposure to elicit a reaction.
What I'm saying is that imagine not being able to eat chocolate, nuts, citrus fruits, fish and a bunch of other things. Kinda gives the motivation to try it out.
Obviously you have to start small, and carefully. Luckily my allergies were not of the anaphylactic kind.
Also, post webinar I will answer any questions you have on the content or on meteorological related things they did not cover.
Didn't catch the webinar, but I've got a question about a more human component of storm chasing instead of the science of it.
Traffic. How bad can it get and does it ever get bad enough to piss you off? I ask because I've done a few camping trips to the Dakotas where bad storms pop up, and once I spent a day chasing after the storms. It was fun and interesting, but I was obviously far from the only tourist doing it, and I'm sure the OK/KS area gets even more of them (I know of at least 1 company that specializes in storm chasing tours for tourist groups in that area). I felt like I might have been a hindrance to science on more than one occasion during that day which is why I've never tried to do it again, but what's your take on it from your side of the road?
This is the single most annoying thing I encounter on the road when chasing and it is getting to the point that so many people are starting to follow us or emulate us that it is causing serious safety issues on the road. Thanks to movies like Twister and shows like Stormchasers on Discovery Channel thousands of amature and wannabe chasers and thrill seekers are now flooding the streets during storms and not only are they keeping professional chasers from doing their jobs, they are starting to piss off local authorities that see them as a nuisance and safety risk. Especially the ones that start to equip lights and sirens on their vehicles and drive as if they are an emergency vehicle that is running full code. In fact more and more veteran and professional chasers are chasing incognito in the field now with no markings and minimal antennas on their vehicles to avoid harassment and followers and to avoid drawing negative attention from local authorities. So much so that some police departments are now actually setting up rolling roadblocks to try and fend off from the onslaught of "chasers."
The vast majority of these problem makers are either emulators that want to be famous in the same ways that the chasers on TV are, or are locals from the surrounding communities that think it would be neat to see a tornado and thus follow any chasers they see drive by with out knowing if said chaser is of any skill or even an actual professional.
Let me show you some examples of how bad chaser convergences are nowadays.
I have had to stop streaming video publically and publicly displaying my location as the ad revenue is not worth the headache of having people track me down in the field just so they can follow me around without prior consent. I once had a guy drive from Dallas all the way to Texarkana, AR to find me and follow me around. He completely failed to understand why I was upset with this on a day that was forecast to produce very violent and fast moving tornadoes. Another thing I have had to do is radically change my chasing style to where I almost exclusively stay on dirt roads when on a storm and now chase mostly from within the bears cage. This helps me avoid all the morons but at the same time is significantly more dangerous.
It may look like fun on TV but chasing is very dangerous and unless you know what you are doing you need to stay home. I understand everyone is entitled by law to be able to drive on the road and go where they wish but please let us do our jobs in peace. It would be like if I came to your office and decided to follow you around all day or copy your work, only with a much lower quality, and then tried to give it to your bosses for free. I also understand that everyone has to start somewhere but doing it on your own or by following others is not how to do it. There are plenty of chasers out there that will let you ride along and mentor you safely. In addition to that there are a plethora of respected tour companies that will take you out for a week or two just about anywhere in the US to safely show you storms. These groups are not just localized in OK/KS and some even venture into the Canadian plains.
So in the end, yes traffic is a nightmare that only gets worse every year.
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ChimeraMonster girl with a snek tail and five eyesBad puns, that's how eye roll. Registered Userregular
Snowtron, a truck that melted snow into water, to be drained into the harbor, circa 1965. The practice of dumping excess snow into the harbor (either directly or via storm drains) was outlawed in 1997, as part of the harbor cleanup effort.
That's Snowzilla, a jet engine attached to a railroad car, made in 1980 and still in use today to remove snow from the above ground subway lines.
I feel like -tron and -zilla are suffixes that are really evocative of their time periods.
[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
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ShivahnUnaware of her barrel shifter privilegeWestern coastal temptressRegistered User, Moderatormod
Snowtron, a truck that melted snow into water, to be drained into the harbor, circa 1965. The practice of dumping excess snow into the harbor (either directly or via storm drains) was outlawed in 1997, as part of the harbor cleanup effort.
That's Snowzilla, a jet engine attached to a railroad car, made in 1980 and still in use today to remove snow from the above ground subway lines.
I feel like -tron and -zilla are suffixes that are really evocative of their time periods.
I have a guilty pleasure that I try to hide. The fact is I actually love Twister, but this is because I watch it as a comedy and not a drama.
One silly and sad thing about the movie is that it actually predicted how chasing would evolve in many ways.
Oh and the farm you see get destroyed by a tornado early in the film (the one where Joe and Bill are hiding under the bridge) actually got destroyed by a real tornado in 2010.
Cosmos is not as fun when you already know this stuff
Is this how geologists and zoologists feel about Planet Earth?
You think that is bad? Try being a meteorologist and/or chaser and watch Twister or Into The Storm.
I just saw Into the Storm. I can say confidently that it's terrible no matter your background.
I would download a car.
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ChimeraMonster girl with a snek tail and five eyesBad puns, that's how eye roll. Registered Userregular
So new things are usually pretty rad, but this new camera may just be one of the raddestate ever. It is so incredibly sensative and fast that it can clearly film the movement of a photon. In addition. To that it is small and can be used very easily. In fact one could simply take it outside and just start shooting with it making it very practical for researchers who could find use for it outside of a lab.
Cosmos is not as fun when you already know this stuff
Is this how geologists and zoologists feel about Planet Earth?
You think that is bad? Try being a meteorologist and/or chaser and watch Twister or Into The Storm.
I just saw Into the Storm. I can say confidently that it's terrible no matter your background.
The movie's producers reached out to storm chasers all across the country in hopes that we would attend the local premiers with our vehicles, equipment, and be wearing Into The Storm swag, in exchange for free tickets and a tshirt. Needless to say many serious chasers stayed home.
I find it funny how much the guy who made the movie went around on record professing that his tornadoes would be realistic and true to nature.
So new things are usually pretty rad, but this new camera may just be one of the raddestate ever. It is so incredibly sensative and fast that it can clearly film the movement of a photon. In addition. To that it is small and can be used very easily. In fact one could simply take it outside and just start shooting with it making it very practical for researchers who could find use for it outside of a lab.
...or look bellow at a gif of some video it shot of a laser beam pulse being bounced between some mirrors.
That clip was shot at 20 billion frames per second and is of 6 nanoseconds of real time! WOW!
Now if only it shot a larger area as I would kill to see it shoot lightning.
Alright, so it's filming photons. Why isn't it showing a slowed down version of all photons? Like, why isn't the reflected light from the lightsource in the room slowed down and visible in the same way that the laser is?
So new things are usually pretty rad, but this new camera may just be one of the raddestate ever. It is so incredibly sensative and fast that it can clearly film the movement of a photon. In addition. To that it is small and can be used very easily. In fact one could simply take it outside and just start shooting with it making it very practical for researchers who could find use for it outside of a lab.
...or look bellow at a gif of some video it shot of a laser beam pulse being bounced between some mirrors.
That clip was shot at 20 billion frames per second and is of 6 nanoseconds of real time! WOW!
Now if only it shot a larger area as I would kill to see it shoot lightning.
Alright, so it's filming photons. Why isn't it showing a slowed down version of all photons? Like, why isn't the reflected light from the lightsource in the room slowed down and visible in the same way that the laser is?
Probably a silly question.
It is showing some tiny portion of the a shit load of photons that are getting scattered towards the camera by the air the chunk of light is passing through as it bounces between the mirrors.
The reflected ambient light is getting scattered the same way, it just isn't as bright as the light being scattered from the laser pulse.
Though it appears well lit. The room is probably very dark. The video also has probably been edited and composited a lot so that moving things and green things show up brighter than static and grey things.
@chimera
we are starting to have the same issue in the infrared predictive maintenance field as well. IR cameras are coming down in price and a bunch of wildcats and mom and pop companies are starting to form up and they have no idea how the infrared spectrum works or how to use the cameras. It doesnt help that the manufacturers are also promoting the point shoot and click mentality either.
My company and other thermographers around the world responded by making the Pro Thermographers Association and the Thermosense convention to try and regulate the professionals from the amatures.
It might behoove you and other storm chasers to try and (lack of a better word) legitimize your field of research. You need to be a member or an associate of the Storm Watchers Association to be able to do what you guys are doing, and if the police pull you over, you need to be able to produce paperwork of your membership or face steep fines.
Its not easy to set up, it took us years to get where we are in our field, but we've definitely curtailed the number of amatures in the field simply because the companies we work for know to only hire prothermographer associates because at the minimum, they know what they are doing.
ChimeraMonster girl with a snek tail and five eyesBad puns, that's how eye roll. Registered Userregular
The idea of legitimization via a union or organization has been batted around but ultimately it is impossible to enforce since the police often have more important things to do during a natural disaster other than pulling chasers over and asking for their papers.
The way chasers make any form of profit or income in chasing is through the sales of video via live streaming, stock footage, and ENG (electronic news gathering) packages. In this sense we are essentially paparazzi of storms and other meteorological phenomena. Any legitimate research or public safety work done by chasers is strictly out of pocket and voluntary as a way to give back to the community since we often profit from disaster. There are also strict codes of ethics and conduct that are understood between established chasers.
One thing that is really hurting chasers right now is that because of the glut of amateurs flooding the field, customers have become far pickier and cheaper in what footage they will purchase from the professional chasers. The reason for this is that many of the hobbyists and thrill/attention seekers are giving video away for free in exchange for having their screen name on the air (Think CNN iReporter, etc). This is pushing us to get in closer to the storm, get faster with our uploads, and invest heavily in better equipment for higher quality video. In fact one can no longer sell their own footage, brokers are needed to sell the footage before the one has completed even filming it in order to beat the free footage available to news stations now. These brokers, although effective, often charge 20-40% commision rates.
The value of video is also decreasing as competition increases. News stations know they can charge less and in many cases have to as profit margins for them narrow and news pushes further and further into entertainment models and less into actual news reporting.
Many chasers, such as myself, now are branching into other fields of breaking news journalism and also have second jobs and careers.
Basically the same thing is happening to chasing that is happening to your business or even.... well lets look at professional wedding photography. With DSLR cameras improving and editing becoming push button easy in some cases you are having a flood of low priced and even free photographers made up of mostly bored and unemployed spouses that are flooding the market with cheap and poor quality wedding and family portrait companies.
So new things are usually pretty rad, but this new camera may just be one of the raddestate ever. It is so incredibly sensative and fast that it can clearly film the movement of a photon. In addition. To that it is small and can be used very easily. In fact one could simply take it outside and just start shooting with it making it very practical for researchers who could find use for it outside of a lab.
...or look bellow at a gif of some video it shot of a laser beam pulse being bounced between some mirrors.
That clip was shot at 20 billion frames per second and is of 6 nanoseconds of real time! WOW!
Now if only it shot a larger area as I would kill to see it shoot lightning.
Alright, so it's filming photons. Why isn't it showing a slowed down version of all photons? Like, why isn't the reflected light from the lightsource in the room slowed down and visible in the same way that the laser is?
Probably a silly question.
It is showing some tiny portion of the a shit load of photons that are getting scattered towards the camera by the air the chunk of light is passing through as it bounces between the mirrors.
The reflected ambient light is getting scattered the same way, it just isn't as bright as the light being scattered from the laser pulse.
Though it appears well lit. The room is probably very dark. The video also has probably been edited and composited a lot so that moving things and green things show up brighter than static and grey things.
Yeah, this isn't a slow motion video of a single laser pulse, it's a composite of 2 million pulses.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
I have! Give me a bit to drive home and I'll explain what is happening in that video step by step.
OKAY! As promised I will describe what is happening in this video. What you are seeing is a standard negative CG (cloud to ground) lightning bolt which is the most common kind of cloud to ground strikes you will encounter in any storm.
First let us examine the electrical field of a thunderstorm.....
As you can see near the base there is pocket of positive charge, and above that is the main negative charge of the core of the storm. These are the two fields we will be focusing on for this video. It is also important to note that the prevailing charge on the surface of the Earth under a storm is positive and so since only opposites attract this sets up a stable environment between the storm and the ground that prevents an electrical discharge. Now lets get started!
Part one - INTRACLOUD CHARGE TRANSFER
In the very first few seconds of the video a brief flash occurs just out of frame near the top of the video which you can see the edge of its glow. This flash is a very localized transfer of charge, allowing a portion of the storm's base to become negatively charged. This results in the storm base now being the opposite charge of the ground and sets up the next step in the process. In real time this flash is not visible to the naked eye and happens too fast for us to see.
Part two - STEP LEADER AND PLASMA STREAMERS
Now after the brief initial flash you see a jumpy stream of electrons start to crackle down out from the base of the storm, branching off in different directions as it searches for the path of least resistance to the ground. This reach of the negative electrons will coax out positive streamers to rise out of the ground and objects on it. A good example of this would be how your hair stands up right before a lightning strike. This is because of the plasma streamer coming out from your head and reaching up for the base of the storm. This process is also not visible to the naked eye as it happens too quickly.
Part three - CONTACT AND THE FLASH
This is the part that gives you super speed.... j/k, this is the part that gives you death or severe trauma. When the step leader makes contact with the streamers a high-current discharge rapidly travels into the ground from the step leader, initiating the flash you see as lightning. This flash first happens near the surface of the earth and then quickly races up into the cloud as the return stroke returns a positive charge to the base of the storm in a high-current discharge. This is why it is said that lightning actually strikes upwards, that saying is only partially true and is referring to the positive return stroke. It only applies to a negative CG strike like the one we are talking about here. The direction of this flow is actually what makes this kind of lightning bolt easier to survive than a positive strike.
Part four - RINSE AND REPEAT
You may notice that a lightning bolt may sometimes flash multiple times, what you are seeing here is multiple return strokes. If the charge is sufficient in the base of the storm a leader, referred to as the dart leader, will travel down along the return stroke channel and initiate another return stroke. This does not always occur but on average most bolts will have 4 to 5 return strokes. Each consecutive return stroke is usually of a lesser current and thus not as bright as the previous return strokes.
One interesting note is that because the return stroke travels so fast the entire step leader's shape with all its forks will appear to flash at once when in actuality the return stroke is actually traveling up from the ground and into each fork and the base of the storm. Because this happens between 1/10 and 1/2 the speed of light it appears as if the whole step leader channel lits up at once instead of it being a wave.
Here is some more slow motion video of lighting filmed by a late friend of mine for your enjoyment. Not how it looks like the bolt is superimposed on top of a still photo. The person in the shot is actually walking across the frame but the bolt of lightning happens so fast that the video is slowed to the point that the person appears to not be moving in the least. Even his hair is not appearing to wave in the wind which is just further testament to how fast a bolt occurs.
If saturn had those rings, this is what we'd see from earth
Universe, why do all the cool things have to be so far away? We're just stuck with a single boring moon in a sea of white dots.
Isn't the size of that planet pushing the boundaries of what's considered a star? Like, at 40 times the mass of Jupiter, isn't it basically a binary star system with the smaller star being a brown dwarf?
Or am I janking up my terminology?
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
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ChimeraMonster girl with a snek tail and five eyesBad puns, that's how eye roll. Registered Userregular
If saturn had those rings, this is what we'd see from earth
Universe, why do all the cool things have to be so far away? We're just stuck with a single boring moon in a sea of white dots.
Isn't the size of that planet pushing the boundaries of what's considered a star? Like, at 40 times the mass of Jupiter, isn't it basically a binary star system with the smaller star being a brown dwarf?
Or am I janking up my terminology?
Size and density are not constant and while it may be massive it may lack the density to be hot enough to have a nuclear reaction within it...... I think. I may be mistaken about this as my science of choice kinda stops at the edge of our atmosphere.
Chimera on
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ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
Cosmos is not as fun when you already know this stuff
Is this how geologists and zoologists feel about Planet Earth?
You think that is bad? Try being a meteorologist and/or chaser and watch Twister or Into The Storm.
That's basically the same for any professional watching their own field on screen.
Storms / sharks / IT systems / Ancient tombs / banks / World War 2 decrypting machines do not work that way!
My pet peeve is movies about the game industry. Where investors are wowed into throwing money at you by a pitch that consists of "imagine a game... with great graphics... that's really fun!" And some guy working in his garage in his spare time can single handedly make Grand Theft Auto 6. And yet every game ever made sounds like Atari 2600 Pac-Man.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
If saturn had those rings, this is what we'd see from earth
Universe, why do all the cool things have to be so far away? We're just stuck with a single boring moon in a sea of white dots.
Isn't the size of that planet pushing the boundaries of what's considered a star? Like, at 40 times the mass of Jupiter, isn't it basically a binary star system with the smaller star being a brown dwarf?
Or am I janking up my terminology?
40 Jupiter masses is about half a brown dwarf.
A brown dwarf is about 15 times the volume of Jupiter.
This is talking about volume, not mass. So... Basically it is a lot less dense than a brown dwarf probably.
They moistly come out at night, moistly.
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ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
edited January 2015
Well then.
I agree that other solar systems get all the rad stuff. We just get some stupid blue marble infested with hairless monkeys.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
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TraceGNU Terry Pratchett; GNU Gus; GNU Carrie Fisher; GNU Adam WeRegistered Userregular
I am completely fine being in a boring backwater part of the galaxy with nothing astronomically exciting happening around us.
Cosmos is not as fun when you already know this stuff
Is this how geologists and zoologists feel about Planet Earth?
You think that is bad? Try being a meteorologist and/or chaser and watch Twister or Into The Storm.
That's basically the same for any professional watching their own field on screen.
Storms / sharks / IT systems / Ancient tombs / banks / World War 2 decrypting machines do not work that way!
My pet peeve is movies about the game industry. Where investors are wowed into throwing money at you by a pitch that consists of "imagine a game... with great graphics... that's really fun!" And some guy working in his garage in his spare time can single handedly make Grand Theft Auto 6. And yet every game ever made sounds like Atari 2600 Pac-Man.
or any footage ever of people playing games via the hyperactive molestation of the controller method
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ChimeraMonster girl with a snek tail and five eyesBad puns, that's how eye roll. Registered Userregular
Cosmos is not as fun when you already know this stuff
Is this how geologists and zoologists feel about Planet Earth?
You think that is bad? Try being a meteorologist and/or chaser and watch Twister or Into The Storm.
That's basically the same for any professional watching their own field on screen.
Storms / sharks / IT systems / Ancient tombs / banks / World War 2 decrypting machines do not work that way!
My pet peeve is movies about the game industry. Where investors are wowed into throwing money at you by a pitch that consists of "imagine a game... with great graphics... that's really fun!" And some guy working in his garage in his spare time can single handedly make Grand Theft Auto 6. And yet every game ever made sounds like Atari 2600 Pac-Man.
or any footage ever of people playing games via the hyperactive molestation of the controller method
...or how anything ever on a computer requires constant random button mashing on the keyboard while looking at the screen. I am pretty sure that if a movie or a tv show had a character watching a youtube video on screen they would be told by the director to just keep random fake typing the whole time the camera is on them. This also applies to the button mashing they make on screen gamers do when playing any game.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
edited January 2015
So, to people out there who may know...
Is the whole vacuum metastability event a thing? Or is it more of a bogey man thing? Because that shit terrified me the first time I had read up on it.
Cosmos is not as fun when you already know this stuff
Is this how geologists and zoologists feel about Planet Earth?
You think that is bad? Try being a meteorologist and/or chaser and watch Twister or Into The Storm.
That's basically the same for any professional watching their own field on screen.
Storms / sharks / IT systems / Ancient tombs / banks / World War 2 decrypting machines do not work that way!
My pet peeve is movies about the game industry. Where investors are wowed into throwing money at you by a pitch that consists of "imagine a game... with great graphics... that's really fun!" And some guy working in his garage in his spare time can single handedly make Grand Theft Auto 6. And yet every game ever made sounds like Atari 2600 Pac-Man.
or any footage ever of people playing games via the hyperactive molestation of the controller method
That footage directly lead to the development of the Wii.
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ChimeraMonster girl with a snek tail and five eyesBad puns, that's how eye roll. Registered Userregular
Cosmos is not as fun when you already know this stuff
Is this how geologists and zoologists feel about Planet Earth?
You think that is bad? Try being a meteorologist and/or chaser and watch Twister or Into The Storm.
That's basically the same for any professional watching their own field on screen.
Storms / sharks / IT systems / Ancient tombs / banks / World War 2 decrypting machines do not work that way!
My pet peeve is movies about the game industry. Where investors are wowed into throwing money at you by a pitch that consists of "imagine a game... with great graphics... that's really fun!" And some guy working in his garage in his spare time can single handedly make Grand Theft Auto 6. And yet every game ever made sounds like Atari 2600 Pac-Man.
or any footage ever of people playing games via the hyperactive molestation of the controller method
That footage directly lead to the development of the Wii.
I think that footage was based on my reactions when I play anything as I am waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too animated.
If saturn had those rings, this is what we'd see from earth
Universe, why do all the cool things have to be so far away? We're just stuck with a single boring moon in a sea of white dots.
This picture was bothering me, so I did some math.
The estimated angular diameter of the ring around J1407b is 120 million km, and the closest approach Saturn makes to Earth is 1.2 billion km. Doing some basic trig in a spreadsheet gives me an angular diameter of 5.7 degrees. The moon's angular diameter varies from 0.49 to 0.55 degrees, so the ring system from J1407b should be between 10.4 and 11.7 times the diameter of the moon (I can't tell where the moon is in its orbit based on that picture, obviously). Measuring in paint based on pixel locations (imprecise, but it's the best I have), the ring system in that picture is 13.3 times the diameter of the moon.
So, I guess that's actually pretty close. The ring system in that picture is exaggerated by around 14%-25%.
Is the whole vacuum metastability event a thing? Or is it more of a bogey man thing? Because that shit terrified me the first time I had read up on it.
I think it's still a thing in that it's theoretically possible that our sector of the universe is in a false vacuum that could somewhat be disrupted. But it usually gets brought up I the context of "New Science Thing will totally trigger an event, it's dangerous, everyone be afraid, DOOOOOOOOOM."
There is nothing we humans can do right now that are anywhere close to the energies created by mundane cosmic events all the time, so if the universe hasn't asploded itself, were not going to manage it.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Posts
What I'm saying is that imagine not being able to eat chocolate, nuts, citrus fruits, fish and a bunch of other things. Kinda gives the motivation to try it out.
Obviously you have to start small, and carefully. Luckily my allergies were not of the anaphylactic kind.
Is this how geologists and zoologists feel about Planet Earth?
But yeah, the mind blowing element is certainly a bonus.
This is the single most annoying thing I encounter on the road when chasing and it is getting to the point that so many people are starting to follow us or emulate us that it is causing serious safety issues on the road. Thanks to movies like Twister and shows like Stormchasers on Discovery Channel thousands of amature and wannabe chasers and thrill seekers are now flooding the streets during storms and not only are they keeping professional chasers from doing their jobs, they are starting to piss off local authorities that see them as a nuisance and safety risk. Especially the ones that start to equip lights and sirens on their vehicles and drive as if they are an emergency vehicle that is running full code. In fact more and more veteran and professional chasers are chasing incognito in the field now with no markings and minimal antennas on their vehicles to avoid harassment and followers and to avoid drawing negative attention from local authorities. So much so that some police departments are now actually setting up rolling roadblocks to try and fend off from the onslaught of "chasers."
The vast majority of these problem makers are either emulators that want to be famous in the same ways that the chasers on TV are, or are locals from the surrounding communities that think it would be neat to see a tornado and thus follow any chasers they see drive by with out knowing if said chaser is of any skill or even an actual professional.
Let me show you some examples of how bad chaser convergences are nowadays.
I have had to stop streaming video publically and publicly displaying my location as the ad revenue is not worth the headache of having people track me down in the field just so they can follow me around without prior consent. I once had a guy drive from Dallas all the way to Texarkana, AR to find me and follow me around. He completely failed to understand why I was upset with this on a day that was forecast to produce very violent and fast moving tornadoes. Another thing I have had to do is radically change my chasing style to where I almost exclusively stay on dirt roads when on a storm and now chase mostly from within the bears cage. This helps me avoid all the morons but at the same time is significantly more dangerous.
It may look like fun on TV but chasing is very dangerous and unless you know what you are doing you need to stay home. I understand everyone is entitled by law to be able to drive on the road and go where they wish but please let us do our jobs in peace. It would be like if I came to your office and decided to follow you around all day or copy your work, only with a much lower quality, and then tried to give it to your bosses for free. I also understand that everyone has to start somewhere but doing it on your own or by following others is not how to do it. There are plenty of chasers out there that will let you ride along and mentor you safely. In addition to that there are a plethora of respected tour companies that will take you out for a week or two just about anywhere in the US to safely show you storms. These groups are not just localized in OK/KS and some even venture into the Canadian plains.
So in the end, yes traffic is a nightmare that only gets worse every year.
You think that is bad? Try being a meteorologist and/or chaser and watch Twister or Into The Storm.
That's basically the same for any professional watching their own field on screen.
Storms / sharks / IT systems / Ancient tombs / banks / World War 2 decrypting machines do not work that way!
I feel like -tron and -zilla are suffixes that are really evocative of their time periods.
So far the text of my thesis is "shit be whack, yo"
I have a guilty pleasure that I try to hide. The fact is I actually love Twister, but this is because I watch it as a comedy and not a drama.
One silly and sad thing about the movie is that it actually predicted how chasing would evolve in many ways.
Oh and the farm you see get destroyed by a tornado early in the film (the one where Joe and Bill are hiding under the bridge) actually got destroyed by a real tornado in 2010.
I just saw Into the Storm. I can say confidently that it's terrible no matter your background.
Check it out here: http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/7920771/laser-captured-on-video-moving-through-air-for-first-time
...or look bellow at a gif of some video it shot of a laser beam pulse being bounced between some mirrors.
That clip was shot at 20 billion frames per second and is of 6 nanoseconds of real time! WOW!
Now if only it shot a larger area as I would kill to see it shoot lightning.
The movie's producers reached out to storm chasers all across the country in hopes that we would attend the local premiers with our vehicles, equipment, and be wearing Into The Storm swag, in exchange for free tickets and a tshirt. Needless to say many serious chasers stayed home.
I find it funny how much the guy who made the movie went around on record professing that his tornadoes would be realistic and true to nature.
Spoiler alert!....
....they aren't.
Try the inexplicable universe.
Alright, so it's filming photons. Why isn't it showing a slowed down version of all photons? Like, why isn't the reflected light from the lightsource in the room slowed down and visible in the same way that the laser is?
Probably a silly question.
It is showing some tiny portion of the a shit load of photons that are getting scattered towards the camera by the air the chunk of light is passing through as it bounces between the mirrors.
The reflected ambient light is getting scattered the same way, it just isn't as bright as the light being scattered from the laser pulse.
Though it appears well lit. The room is probably very dark. The video also has probably been edited and composited a lot so that moving things and green things show up brighter than static and grey things.
we are starting to have the same issue in the infrared predictive maintenance field as well. IR cameras are coming down in price and a bunch of wildcats and mom and pop companies are starting to form up and they have no idea how the infrared spectrum works or how to use the cameras. It doesnt help that the manufacturers are also promoting the point shoot and click mentality either.
My company and other thermographers around the world responded by making the Pro Thermographers Association and the Thermosense convention to try and regulate the professionals from the amatures.
It might behoove you and other storm chasers to try and (lack of a better word) legitimize your field of research. You need to be a member or an associate of the Storm Watchers Association to be able to do what you guys are doing, and if the police pull you over, you need to be able to produce paperwork of your membership or face steep fines.
Its not easy to set up, it took us years to get where we are in our field, but we've definitely curtailed the number of amatures in the field simply because the companies we work for know to only hire prothermographer associates because at the minimum, they know what they are doing.
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The way chasers make any form of profit or income in chasing is through the sales of video via live streaming, stock footage, and ENG (electronic news gathering) packages. In this sense we are essentially paparazzi of storms and other meteorological phenomena. Any legitimate research or public safety work done by chasers is strictly out of pocket and voluntary as a way to give back to the community since we often profit from disaster. There are also strict codes of ethics and conduct that are understood between established chasers.
One thing that is really hurting chasers right now is that because of the glut of amateurs flooding the field, customers have become far pickier and cheaper in what footage they will purchase from the professional chasers. The reason for this is that many of the hobbyists and thrill/attention seekers are giving video away for free in exchange for having their screen name on the air (Think CNN iReporter, etc). This is pushing us to get in closer to the storm, get faster with our uploads, and invest heavily in better equipment for higher quality video. In fact one can no longer sell their own footage, brokers are needed to sell the footage before the one has completed even filming it in order to beat the free footage available to news stations now. These brokers, although effective, often charge 20-40% commision rates.
The value of video is also decreasing as competition increases. News stations know they can charge less and in many cases have to as profit margins for them narrow and news pushes further and further into entertainment models and less into actual news reporting.
Many chasers, such as myself, now are branching into other fields of breaking news journalism and also have second jobs and careers.
Basically the same thing is happening to chasing that is happening to your business or even.... well lets look at professional wedding photography. With DSLR cameras improving and editing becoming push button easy in some cases you are having a flood of low priced and even free photographers made up of mostly bored and unemployed spouses that are flooding the market with cheap and poor quality wedding and family portrait companies.
Yeah, this isn't a slow motion video of a single laser pulse, it's a composite of 2 million pulses.
Also, they found some 11 billion year old planets.
They also found a monstrous planet (10 to 40 times the size of Jupiter) with a giant ring system that's 200 times the size of saturns
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31001936
If saturn had those rings, this is what we'd see from earth
Universe, why do all the cool things have to be so far away? We're just stuck with a single boring moon in a sea of white dots.
There's so many cool things they're finding out with Kepler. Also, terrifying things.
OKAY! As promised I will describe what is happening in this video. What you are seeing is a standard negative CG (cloud to ground) lightning bolt which is the most common kind of cloud to ground strikes you will encounter in any storm.
First let us examine the electrical field of a thunderstorm.....
As you can see near the base there is pocket of positive charge, and above that is the main negative charge of the core of the storm. These are the two fields we will be focusing on for this video. It is also important to note that the prevailing charge on the surface of the Earth under a storm is positive and so since only opposites attract this sets up a stable environment between the storm and the ground that prevents an electrical discharge. Now lets get started!
Part one - INTRACLOUD CHARGE TRANSFER
In the very first few seconds of the video a brief flash occurs just out of frame near the top of the video which you can see the edge of its glow. This flash is a very localized transfer of charge, allowing a portion of the storm's base to become negatively charged. This results in the storm base now being the opposite charge of the ground and sets up the next step in the process. In real time this flash is not visible to the naked eye and happens too fast for us to see.
Part two - STEP LEADER AND PLASMA STREAMERS
Now after the brief initial flash you see a jumpy stream of electrons start to crackle down out from the base of the storm, branching off in different directions as it searches for the path of least resistance to the ground. This reach of the negative electrons will coax out positive streamers to rise out of the ground and objects on it. A good example of this would be how your hair stands up right before a lightning strike. This is because of the plasma streamer coming out from your head and reaching up for the base of the storm. This process is also not visible to the naked eye as it happens too quickly.
Part three - CONTACT AND THE FLASH
This is the part that gives you super speed.... j/k, this is the part that gives you death or severe trauma. When the step leader makes contact with the streamers a high-current discharge rapidly travels into the ground from the step leader, initiating the flash you see as lightning. This flash first happens near the surface of the earth and then quickly races up into the cloud as the return stroke returns a positive charge to the base of the storm in a high-current discharge. This is why it is said that lightning actually strikes upwards, that saying is only partially true and is referring to the positive return stroke. It only applies to a negative CG strike like the one we are talking about here. The direction of this flow is actually what makes this kind of lightning bolt easier to survive than a positive strike.
Part four - RINSE AND REPEAT
You may notice that a lightning bolt may sometimes flash multiple times, what you are seeing here is multiple return strokes. If the charge is sufficient in the base of the storm a leader, referred to as the dart leader, will travel down along the return stroke channel and initiate another return stroke. This does not always occur but on average most bolts will have 4 to 5 return strokes. Each consecutive return stroke is usually of a lesser current and thus not as bright as the previous return strokes.
One interesting note is that because the return stroke travels so fast the entire step leader's shape with all its forks will appear to flash at once when in actuality the return stroke is actually traveling up from the ground and into each fork and the base of the storm. Because this happens between 1/10 and 1/2 the speed of light it appears as if the whole step leader channel lits up at once instead of it being a wave.
Here is some more slow motion video of lighting filmed by a late friend of mine for your enjoyment. Not how it looks like the bolt is superimposed on top of a still photo. The person in the shot is actually walking across the frame but the bolt of lightning happens so fast that the video is slowed to the point that the person appears to not be moving in the least. Even his hair is not appearing to wave in the wind which is just further testament to how fast a bolt occurs.
Isn't the size of that planet pushing the boundaries of what's considered a star? Like, at 40 times the mass of Jupiter, isn't it basically a binary star system with the smaller star being a brown dwarf?
Or am I janking up my terminology?
Size and density are not constant and while it may be massive it may lack the density to be hot enough to have a nuclear reaction within it...... I think. I may be mistaken about this as my science of choice kinda stops at the edge of our atmosphere.
My pet peeve is movies about the game industry. Where investors are wowed into throwing money at you by a pitch that consists of "imagine a game... with great graphics... that's really fun!" And some guy working in his garage in his spare time can single handedly make Grand Theft Auto 6. And yet every game ever made sounds like Atari 2600 Pac-Man.
40 Jupiter masses is about half a brown dwarf.
A brown dwarf is about 15 times the volume of Jupiter.
This is talking about volume, not mass. So... Basically it is a lot less dense than a brown dwarf probably.
I agree that other solar systems get all the rad stuff. We just get some stupid blue marble infested with hairless monkeys.
most of that stuff would kill us
or any footage ever of people playing games via the hyperactive molestation of the controller method
...or how anything ever on a computer requires constant random button mashing on the keyboard while looking at the screen. I am pretty sure that if a movie or a tv show had a character watching a youtube video on screen they would be told by the director to just keep random fake typing the whole time the camera is on them. This also applies to the button mashing they make on screen gamers do when playing any game.
Is the whole vacuum metastability event a thing? Or is it more of a bogey man thing? Because that shit terrified me the first time I had read up on it.
That footage directly lead to the development of the Wii.
I think that footage was based on my reactions when I play anything as I am waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too animated.
The estimated angular diameter of the ring around J1407b is 120 million km, and the closest approach Saturn makes to Earth is 1.2 billion km. Doing some basic trig in a spreadsheet gives me an angular diameter of 5.7 degrees. The moon's angular diameter varies from 0.49 to 0.55 degrees, so the ring system from J1407b should be between 10.4 and 11.7 times the diameter of the moon (I can't tell where the moon is in its orbit based on that picture, obviously). Measuring in paint based on pixel locations (imprecise, but it's the best I have), the ring system in that picture is 13.3 times the diameter of the moon.
So, I guess that's actually pretty close. The ring system in that picture is exaggerated by around 14%-25%.
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I think it's still a thing in that it's theoretically possible that our sector of the universe is in a false vacuum that could somewhat be disrupted. But it usually gets brought up I the context of "New Science Thing will totally trigger an event, it's dangerous, everyone be afraid, DOOOOOOOOOM."
There is nothing we humans can do right now that are anywhere close to the energies created by mundane cosmic events all the time, so if the universe hasn't asploded itself, were not going to manage it.