MKI

Being concerned and being able to do something about it are two very different things. Hearing screaming and going to investigate is a singular choice that is either made or not made. When it comes to ocean acidification, idk what choices even exist. Or more broadly, how does one care for their environment? Sure you can end up with the same level of concern for both, but the actions you can take, or even know you can take are vastly different. As Joe said, "we muddle along", and I don't think its just willful ignorance on a vast majority of people, I think it comes down to lack of clear actions that can be taken. Its one thing to be a hero and go to someone screaming, its another to make all the "right" decisions on a vague problem you know exists, but with no clear direct solutions. However, I do think bad things will happen simply because I don't see how they wont happen. Either now or later. Its easier to stick on that path and ignore screaming, when your not in a forest, but in a forest of society and that voice requires you and the rest of society to make the right choices every day for decades to even get to that voice. Meanwhile that society/forest is more like a river with a waterfall at the end, and your only now getting into the rapids.

I can't believe I've missed this thread. I've been grinding through a number of Sci-Fi Novels the last year+ of the pandemic. I'm no where near as much as my "high-school summer peak" of grinding entire series, but I gotta work now haha. My latest read was more of a palette cleanser from finishing up Dune, which took a few months. I just finished reading Recursion by Blake Crouch, it was an interesting read with some interesting ideas. It took me a while to actually understand its sci-fi mechanics, which are hard to talk about with spoiling the book. However, it does mix in a number of concepts and has good "fun" with them. I'm now debating if I continue on with the rest of the Dune series, or read something else that doesn't require as much commitment haha.

I didn't realize I brought up magnets for perpetual motion Its an identical picture once you factor in that "Coriolis forces" right?

I'm believe long term/big builds should be done around the Moon. Where its vastly easier and cheaper to get things into orbit, and there is a vast amount of raw materials that should be able to allow you to build whatever you'd want. Assuming you have enough infrastructure to build/mine it.

I'd put the Mandalorian up there as the best starting point, with the Clone Wars 2nd (which is vastly longer and requires a much bigger commitment) The Mandalorian, if anything else, is pretty approachable from hard-core fan to the average person. Easily one of the best things to happen to Star Wars. (That and Rise of the Resistance hahaha)

I'm not trying to come up with differences only identify that there is one. The Coriolis forces you mention sound like a difference. So besides the "Coriolis forces" , there is no difference. Wha?

Running on a curved surface is not directly comparable to running on a flat one due to the angle of impact. Otherwise why isn't running up-hill or downhill as easy as running on a flat surface? The gravity is the same!

Episode 2 of The Book of Boba Fett Boba is Paul Atreides!!!

What about the concept that aliens took pre-existing a Coronavirus and "manipulated" it to become what it is now? Obviously simpler solutions, even one such as it was humans who manipulated it rather than nature, still suffice and what I'd pick, but if an evil person or aliens wanted to manipulate the virus to make it how it is now, what would they do? Do humans have that capability of manipulating viruses in such a way? Again, I disagree with the premise that humanity actually did this, but for the sake of the thread, what would it take for some super-smart-alien to manipulate it themselves. (Why they'd want to do that is a whole other conversation in itself) In this scenario the virus is somewhat of alien origin, it just doesn't look like it at a high level.

First, aren't they in orbit around Earth and just "running up the curved wall?" the whole time? Which I guess would mean your continuously running up a very steep hill that curves toward you. Lot easier than a flat surface, or "downhill" (!!!)

I'd like to try all the foods I see on the The Great British Bake Off. Half of them I never heard of before, but they all look good. Also Prue makes everything sounds delicious!

Warning I'm going to drop spoilers. The film actually directly points this out indirectly and directly. The studio always wanted more Matrix movies. The Wachowski never wanted to do anymore, its also why Lilly wasn't even involved. This is also probably why the latest matrix is more about The Matrix as a series whole than anything else set within the actual movie universe. It isn't common for a franchise to have so much self references to itself and still make sense. And yes even more self referential than even something like Deadpool. I also was finding the movie vastly more hilarious and light hearted, which is somewhat refreshing to be honest. The 2nd and 3rd ones were very droll affairs. Its basically impossible to be "more matrix" than the original. With most of the cast decades older, the original story being complete and all really ground breaking stuff already being "done with". The creators always felt like this, but studios gotta fill out their streaming services if anything. Ultimately, I found the movie to be more about the love of the matrix than the matrix itself, which is also directly referenced multiple times. So I can see why some group of people didn't like it as much as the originals, because it never tried to be anything like the originals because you can't be like the originals. I found it enjoyable, if nothing else to revisit it via a meta-narrative and wait for John Wick 4. Which has a hell of a lot less kung-fu, but will have a hell of a lot more gun fights and dogs ;D

They can't just build a bigger faring to maximize the life capabilities?

I just watched a video on Starlink and a question hit me. Whats the breakdown as to why SpaceX never launches more Starlink satellites with a Falcon heavy? I'm pretty sure its due to costs... but what are the costs breakdowns compared to how many more satellites you can send up? I'm sure there is a clear cut answer out there somewhere, but idk what it is haha.

I don't feel I'm flexible enough to do this as much anymore, let alone do that in some low gravity configuration. Now if I had some sorta machine/device to help my move around on a low gravity surface, would it still be a car? hmmmm....

So regardless of what you end up doing = lower gravity = slippy slidy. I remember listening to a science podcast about how "off world sports" would be vastly more interesting since basically everyone would be doing superhuman feats bahaha. I guess that not only means I could finally dunk, but I could probably dunk from the midcourt line ;D

We all know about how Apollo astronauts ended up "hopping" on the lunar surface to get around. However, I was thinking they were also wearing bulky heavy space-suits, and had other basic problems with mobility. Lets assume a human was under a pressurized dome, or wearing a near non-existent space-suit. What would be the optimal "mobility technique" for getting around on a body such as the Moon, or Mars, or any other terrestrial planet in our Solar System? Has any research been done on such problems? In the near term humans would still be in their bulky space-suits, but to ignore the problem of the suit's design, what would be the optimal way to move if all restrictions were removed besides the different gravity?

I've seen Dr. Thaller involved in a number of NASA projects, like I remember her asking questions in person for one of the rover/lander missions a year+ ago. I'm glad JWST is getting this much effort and production put into its deployment. I guess all those billions of tax dollars went to things beyond extensive testing and development ;D I was somewhat worried how it would be promoted, since there aren't actually any cameras, or anything to "see" beyond whatever photos it takes. So having 3d animations and graphics and high quality resources to help keep track of what is going on is very nice

I'd agree, except I'm still terrified of all the other stuff that needs to happen. I'd fully exhale once the first pictures come in. I'd say something positive, but I don't want to magically jinx this!

I got the game bigfoot where you can hunt Bigfoot. Been playing it with my significant other and having a good time for an early access game. Its somewhat disturbing, and discouraging when you Bigfoot takes thousands of rounds to the face and still ends up eating you because you couldn't find enough "evidence" of the big-guy's deeds, and thus are left in what is essentially a fight to the death. Like taking a picture of the guy wacking me in the face and getting foot prints and finding multiple dead bodies isn't enough? LET ME LEAVE! Regardless, its a fun alternative to Phasmaphobia, where I at least get a pea shooter weapon and the ability to sprint beyond 3 feet.

If you have the grades, the drive, and the curiosity, then you really just need some luck to get noticed. I think any of those degrees would be fine. As said above, "rocket science" requires a number of disciplines. I'd also leverage your school counselors as best as you can to help you make a decision between the few you are thinking of. I'd also like to share a saying I recently acquired that seems applicable: "Preparation and perseverance make your ready for opportunity" - Dr Sian Proctor

Steam is evil great in that it keeps track of play-time of games. However I think my favorite games I've ever played aren't tracked within steam. Furthermore, I've played the same few games for over a decade and still have a good time. (looking at you Supreme Commander) However, my favorite all time game that I can't play anymore, but still love and cherish was Battlefield 2142 The intro music still gives me shivers. From future weapons (that where oddly very traditional lol), cloaking tech, drop pods, Jet-chopters, EMP strikes, battle walkers, and hover tanks, all set on an bleak (and somewhat boring) landscape fighting over rocket pads to break the Titans (flying battleships) shields so your team can drop onto the the Titan and fight inside in a close quarters brawl to get to its "power core", of which you can destroy and win the match. After years of playing Star Wars battlefront on the playstation, only to realize this is the franchise it ripped off was inspired by, it blew my me away. Sure Battlefield 2 got more credit, but I loved BF2142 and all its charm. I still wait for EA to get some guts and remaster/rebuild this game. I've retired from FPS, but I'd come out of retirement to play a new version of this game in a heart beat. I thought 2042 was going to show off some "titan mode" but instead they gave everyone a tornado and portal mode.

I was thinking back on this. Wouldn't this mean the "ultimate virus" is a virus that kills no one, and does whatever it can to get its host help it reproduce? This would also mean, the "ultimate virus" would benefit if its host actually lived more often. To the point its possible we could only live with the virus within us... making us a virus!!! Agent Smith was right!!

There are actually a few games that are designed with the well being of their players in mind. Games that remind you to "get up and stretch", are easy to implement. Some games could even go further and limit what you can do, and how long you can play, or disrupt your game to remind you to focus on your well being, rather than continuing to grind for hours on end. I'm not sure if this should be laws, if it is in the future I wouldn't be surprised though. Simply adding a "time-limit" to prevent people from spending unhealthy amounts of time "in the simulation" or game should be good enough. However, even today there aren't too many cases of people who play so much they literally hurt themselves due to ignoring their actual needs. There is a scale however, and a limit to how much a game/simulation can actually do. Its one thing to remind people to get up a stretch, or eat some food, its another to keep them from ignoring loved ones, and limiting social activity (especially in today's day an age) in the real world.

To expand on this, would it be possible to technically create a vaccine for all the coronaviruses this way? I believe I've heard some news stories about a "super vaccine" that can protect against all types of coronaviruses, using the same technology as the COVID vaccines. Plug and play indeed. The simplest explanation in this scenario is probably the most likely. IE their cancer was affecting them. Its true that its possible COVID-19 was spreading before December 2019 due to more recent studies via secondary data points such as increased hospitalizations, and records of increase in "flu-like" symptoms before December 2019. However, its also possible this was just increased flu rates as-it-was. The other issue about this is no one is sampling for COVID-19 before December 2019, so while its possible it also is "lost to time", there is no way to know these things beyond guesses. My significant other's father was down and out for a week sick in December 2019, and were joked it was COVID. However at the time no one really guessed/assumed it was already in the US at the time. Looking back its possible it was actually COVID, but no one else got sick, and doctors treated him with antibiotics as an infection, rather than looked into it as COVID. It could be a coincident, which again is probably lost due to time even with antibody testing, which can show if someone has previous infection and thus has the antibodies to fight against covid. Anything is possible, but many things are unlikely. For COVID to be of alien origin, to many things need to go perfectly right. Where-as only a few things need to occur for a bat to human "jump" of a coronavirus to occur. With many conspiracy theories, there is an idea that "big events must have big explanations" fallacy. The idea that big and disruptive events must have big origins isn't always true. COVID is a big deal, but its origins don't have to be. It might seem like since COVID is such a big disruption, and history changing event, that its must also origins must also be exceptional, except that isn't automatically true. The current explanations are "boring", and simple because that really is all it takes for it to occur. Finally, when it comes to aliens. It isn't aliens, until its aliens ;D