Shower thoughts

[adsii1970]

17 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

Large-scale hydroponic farming is definitely a thing. 
This is a farm in India:

Wow, see, I was unaware of that. But that's just one story of stacking trays. In the older Popular Science magazines, imagine that - but the size of a multi-level parking garage!

Here's a reference article - apparently the author has thought the same as the folks did in the 1970s as I remember. The article references parking garages but the image it includes shows the side of a skyscraper where the balconies have been turned into hydroponic farms.

http://www.agandt.com/wordpress/hydroponic-parking-garages/

[TheSaint]

2 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

This morning, I was thinking as I was waiting for the coffee to brew (technically, I guess this would not be a shower thought... ), I was thinking about a few of the research "fads" I remembered following as I was growing up. When I was a child (think 1970s), I read a lot of National Geographic and Popular Science. Between the two and their reporting, the future looked bright. Some of the things that fascinated me then were:

• Hydroponic farming: Popular science had a lot of articles where that was a major subject. The idea was you can grow more crops vertically with the use of a water and nutrient mixture and artificial light than you could on a traditional "flat" field.
• Arcology architecture: Another big series of articles about huge, multi-storied constructions (think of the tall buildings you see in the Star Wars prequels) where you would work, live, and shop in a self-contained community. In some of the articles, hydroponic farming was considered as a viable part of the arcology as a way to utilize as much vertical space as possible. 
• Orbiting farming platforms: One of the earliest experiments on NASA's Skylab was germinating seeds. And Popular Science picked up on this idea and ran with it. Self-contained orbiting agricultural platforms were thought to have possibilities not available on Earth, such as a completely controlled climate, possible larger crop yields. And even at the age of 8, I had realized how inefficient these would be.
• Edible packaging for products: When the threat of global cooling was all the rage in the 1970s, one of the ideas was to create edible packaging for foodstuffs. No more cellophane, card stock, cardboard, plastic, or Styrofoam containers. The containers themselves would also be edible. The idea was it would reduce consumer waste and provide nutritious food supplements to the consumer. ("Hey, can you pass me a piece of the pop-tart box? That really tastes good!")
• Flying personal transportation: Not only flying cars, but jetpacks, too. I'm not surprised this didn't develop. Even as a kid, I knew that flying cars could be trouble. Can you imagine jet packs, too?
• Space colonization and exploration: Yeah, this has been the biggest disappointment. By now, according to Popular Science, we'd already have colonists on the Moon. They'd be living in domed cities using hydroponic farming to provide oxygen and foodstuffs. The belief was such colonization would be the results of coordination between the private sector (corporations and educational institutions) and government.  There were more than a dozen articles highlighting different things which would be needed to make such a reality happen - everything from improvements in education to emphasize the sciences and math, international agreements forbidding the militarization of space, international cooperation, and the development of related industrial processes and spaceflight.

I'm not saying that none of these things still might/might not happen. But it is disappointing that now, some 40 years after those things were said to be in our future - and by the end of the first decade of the new century - none of these things have happened or are in the process of happening. Maybe my grandchildren will live long enough to see a few of them.

IKR? The future was supposed to be awesome. Instead we got "smart" phones and the Internet. I want my money back. I mean, there have been a lot of things that have gone right, but the whole technology thing has been a disappointment. 

I think I need to make a t-shirt. "I went to the future and all I got was this lousy smartphone."

25 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

Large-scale hydroponic farming is definitely a thing.

Right now, vertical farming, the kind of large-scale-hydroponics-in-a-building that was being envisioned back in the 70s, is still in its infancy. It's stupid expensive, and consumes a ton of electricity. There's only one industry I know of that makes extensive use of hydroponics/vertical farming, and, well, that's because the crop has a very high market value and they don't want it to be easily visible and/or accessible.

Remember The Land at EPCOT in Disney World? Where they have the hydroponic garden that you ride the boat through and then you go to the restaurant afterwards where they serve you food made with the plants grown in the hydroponics? Yeah, there's a reason why, forty years after The Land opened, Disney still buys the rest of the produce at Disney World from traditional farmers.

[Hotel26]

I learned something today.

"What does 'The Hunt for Red October' have in common with 'Fawlty Towers'?"

Spoiler

The XO in Red October is named Василий ('Vasiliy') which is the Russian equivalent of 'Basil'.

 

[StrandedonEarth]

6 hours ago, TheSaint said:

smart" phones

Edited July 20, 2021 by StrandedonEarth

[adsii1970]

4 hours ago, TheSaint said:

IKR? The future was supposed to be awesome. Instead we got "smart" phones and the Internet. I want my money back. I mean, there have been a lot of things that have gone right, but the whole technology thing has been a disappointment. 

I think I need to make a t-shirt. "I went to the future and all I got was this lousy smartphone."

Don't get me wrong, the smartphone and Internet are pretty amazing innovations but it should never have become the "crowning" accomplishment of this era. All it takes is a good power outage and well, we're living large in the late twentieth century but without the corner payphone.  

Meatloaf has a song, "Life is a Lemon" which contains the lyrics, What about your future? It's defective....

4 hours ago, TheSaint said:

Right now, vertical farming, the kind of large-scale-hydroponics-in-a-building that was being envisioned back in the 70s, is still in its infancy. It's stupid expensive, and consumes a ton of electricity. There's only one industry I know of that makes extensive use of hydroponics/vertical farming, and, well, that's because the crop has a very high market value and they don't want it to be easily visible and/or accessible.

Remember The Land at EPCOT in Disney World? Where they have the hydroponic garden that you ride the boat through and then you go to the restaurant afterwards where they serve you food made with the plants grown in the hydroponics? Yeah, there's a reason why, forty years after The Land opened, Disney still buys the rest of the produce at Disney World from traditional farmers.

It is still promising technology. It is just a shame it has not been developed as has so much more of the promising technology. I remember visiting my grandparents during the summers and he would watch some of those older movies on television. Cities under the ocean, cities on the Moon, cities even made on floating balloons in the upper atmosphere of earth. And those goofy movies were always set in 2010, 2030, or other far off date. And as bad as the special effects (and acting) were in those movies, it was always the vision of humankind progressing beyond contemporary technology. It seems that the last four decades have been stagnant compared to the decades of the 50s, 60s, and early 70s.

And yes, it's been about ten years since I have been to the House of Mouse. I even remember the ride that you're referencing. It's a shame that all it is at the Epcot center is a novelty thing.

[cubinator]

I think the renewed interests in Mars exploration and sustainability are driving some technological growth in the area of vertical farming. I don't know so much about plants, but I know the insect food industry is growing, and it is similar in that insects are farmed indoors. Maybe I should work on some more complete urban farming systems too? 

I haven't seen any produce advertising as being grown indoors, but it seems like a logical next step after the insects.

[TheSaint]

1 hour ago, adsii1970 said:

It is still promising technology. It is just a shame it has not been developed as has so much more of the promising technology. I remember visiting my grandparents during the summers and he would watch some of those older movies on television. Cities under the ocean, cities on the Moon, cities even made on floating balloons in the upper atmosphere of earth. And those goofy movies were always set in 2010, 2030, or other far off date. And as bad as the special effects (and acting) were in those movies, it was always the vision of humankind progressing beyond contemporary technology. It seems that the last four decades have been stagnant compared to the decades of the 50s, 60s, and early 70s.

"2010: Odyssey 2" LOL. It was 1982 when Clarke wrote that. He thought we'd be making our second trip to Jupiter by 2010. Here it is 2021 and we haven't even been back to the Moon yet. I think the monoliths have given up on us.

I watched a lot of sci-fi as a kid too. Saturday afternoon movies on all the independent TV stations in LA. When I didn't have my nose in a book or wasn't busy playing wargames. I was a nerd from an early age.

1 hour ago, adsii1970 said:

And yes, it's been about ten years since I have been to the House of Mouse. I even remember the ride that you're referencing. It's a shame that all it is at the Epcot center is a novelty thing.

Yeah, when I graduated boot camp in Orlando in '87, my parents came out to watch. On my liberty day we went to EPCOT. I've got photos around here somewhere.

[StrandedonEarth]

1 hour ago, adsii1970 said:

"Life is a Lemon"

"... And I want my money back!" Great tune, my favorite off that album (not a very high bar, I know, but hey)

As for the hydroponics thing, I had my own little Aerogarden experiment going. I even built my own copy of it, not quite as efficient, but it worked. Currently mothballed during our kitchen reno,  but the herbs were fantastic!

Spoiler

I didn't get any pics of my homemade unit at full bush before my wife chopped it, but here's the Aerogarden in a well-developed state. The tomatoes on this batch ended up discolored, possibly they didn't get enough food with the other grow light there too for awhile (barely visible dangling in the background).

Don't mind the knife; I was mesmerized by how the LEDs reflected off it. I suppose I was also reminding the plants what their ultimate fate would be.

 

[Admiral Fluffy]

On the general subject of hydroponics, the grow fresh plants in Antarctica using stuff like that.

[kerbiloid]

5 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

the smartphone and Internet are pretty amazing innovations but it should never have become the "crowning" accomplishment of this era.

The internet and computers already have allowed everything they promised in XX century sci-fi, without need to build its material implementations, and always fresh and upgraded to the nowadays sense of beauty.

Just virtual. But cheap and available.

Just the VR suits should get more cheaper and availabler.

Anyway, after I had visited in Google Earth various famous place_ous, I realized that I don't need to spend time and money on most if not all of them even I had both enough.
Even my own city looks like a candy when you watch a promo, but if turn the camera a little, or make its angle wider, the magic evaporates.
The same was about <the world city list skipped to be polite>. A fantasy city from above, a dusty village on street view. A fantasy palace in wiki, a dog kennel on street view.
Thanks to the internet, now I know everything about this deceptive  world.

5 hours ago, cubinator said:

I haven't seen any produce advertising as being grown indoors, but it seems like a logical next step after the insects.

The termites. They are edible, they live indoors, and you even don't need to feed them, they will find something on their own.

[Selective Genius]

I was literally crying under the shower when I realized that Liquids are just gases shoved in together by atmospheric pressure.

Also, when Hydra raised its heads again after its defeat by Captain America, would it have killed the members to do a rebranding? Instead of calling it Hydra, they could call it something non-threatening like 'Bob'. Instead of the ominous sounding 'Hail Hydra' they would be saying 'Bonjour Bob' 'Bye Bob' 'Bon Voyage Bob' and no one would suspect anything. They would not be associated with the no-no Germans from World War 2, they would just be another kooky cult.

 

[Hotel26]

On 7/21/2021 at 11:20 AM, kerbiloid said:

The same was about <the world city list skipped to be polite>.

I was going to +1-or-even-more your always-humorous entry in Shower Thoughts (although I deeply suspect you are having Shower Thoughts at all times (are you a sauna attendant, perchance?  or just the world's cleanest guy?)), but you left me hanging on which were those much-maligned cities, skipped to be polite -- now I can't sleep...

Is my city one of THOSE?  I could be living knee-deep in filth and not even know!!

<Sleepless in <Snipton>>

Edited July 22, 2021 by Hotel26

[kerbiloid]

37 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

I deeply suspect you are having Shower Thoughts at all times (are you a sauna attendant, perchance? 

No, just often feel a shower of cold sweat on the neck reading some API things.

40 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

Is my city one of THOSE?  I could be living knee-deep in filth and not even know!!

I started from Europe. The American ones were not so disappointing, as I didn't expect so much.

[Stormpilot]

“50% of the word Canada is the letter A”

[adsii1970]

1 hour ago, Selective Genius said:

Also, when Hydra raised its heads again after its defeat by Captain America, would it have killed the members to do a rebranding? Instead of calling it Hydra, they could call it something non-threatening like 'Bob'. Instead of the ominous sounding 'Hail Hydra' they would be saying 'Bonjour Bob' 'Bye Bob' 'Bon Voyage Bob' and no one would suspect anything. They would not be associated with the no-no Germans from World War 2, they would just be another kooky cult.

This is the problem with most movies in our time. Imagine how much worse the movie industry would be and how little money they would make with a fifteen to thirty minute movie. 

Some of the science fiction and horror movies are the worst. We do all of these things throughout the course of the movie but solve the problem in the last fifteen minutes. Wait... if that were an option almost an hour and a half ago, then why now? Why not just do it then?!

Jurassic Park? Design flaws all over the place. Why not have the circuit breakers in the main control building, where they belong? Backup power supplies for the velociraptor and tyrannosaur paddocks? Common sense. The software used to secure the facility did not have any sort of double redundancy (requires a second log-in and authorization before shutdown and reboot). Now yeah, Jurassic Park is now just thirty minutes long.

I simply chose that one for the reason my daughter loves that movie, as I once did, but once you've seen it about 90 times...

[Admiral Fluffy]

This a a contraverisal thought that i had.

Climate change isn't bad. Its the effects that are.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Admiral Fluffy
Please don't blast me for this.

[ColdJ]

48 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

I simply chose that one for the reason my daughter loves that movie, as I once did, but once you've seen it about 90 times

You need to watch a good independent movie where plot is more important than action.

2 hours ago, Selective Genius said:

I was literally crying under the shower when I realized that Liquids are just gases shoved in together by atmospheric pressure.

Then this will freak you out. Glass is actually an extemely high viscosity liquid. Given a very long time it will actually get thinner at the top and thicker at the bottom. Give it a couple of hundred years and it will spill out of the frame.

I wonder if the people in charge ever think about an end goal of balanced sustainable living, or if they just think that building more and more over the planet will just go on forever?

[BuranAce]

Why do we shower in water? why can we shower in soap or Windex, maybe even milk.  but why water?

[kerbiloid]

6 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

You need to watch a good independent movie where plot is more important than action.

Got it. Independent.

Spoiler

 

3 minutes ago, BuranAce said:

Why do we shower in water? why can we shower in soap or Windex, maybe even milk.  but why water?

'Cuz cognac and champagne are too expensive for showering.

Edited July 22, 2021 by kerbiloid

[cubinator]

10 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

Then this will freak you out. Glass is actually an extemely high viscosity liquid. Given a very long time it will actually get thinner at the top and thicker at the bottom. Give it a couple of hundred years and it will spill out of the frame.

Pretty sure this is a myth. Millennium-old glass pieces have not spilled.

[ColdJ]

1 minute ago, cubinator said:

Pretty sure this is a myth. Millennium-old glass pieces have not spilled.

Not a myth, science. Though I probably shouldn't have generalised the spill out of the frame period as that depends on many factors. So I will say give it a million to spill to be safe. As for the first, go take a caliper micrometer to some 50 year old single pane glass and compare top to bottom. Remember that when it was cast it was floated flat on Tin to give it an even thickness all over, so any difference shows the point.

[Selective Genius]

33 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

Then this will freak you out.

I was not crying under the shower because of the realization,  I came upon the realization AS I was crying under the shower. But you can ignore the crying part.

[kerbiloid]

48 minutes ago, cubinator said:

Pretty sure this is a myth. Millennium-old glass pieces have not spilled.

See the Pyramids?

They were cubic.

[TheSaint]

44 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

Not a myth, science. Though I probably shouldn't have generalised the spill out of the frame period as that depends on many factors. So I will say give it a million to spill to be safe. As for the first, go take a caliper micrometer to some 50 year old single pane glass and compare top to bottom. Remember that when it was cast it was floated flat on Tin to give it an even thickness all over, so any difference shows the point.

Nope. Myth.

Does Glass Flow?

[ColdJ]

8 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

Nope. Myth.

My Science teacher Father is not going to be happy.