JoeSchmuckatelli

So... whether its warmer or colder, American cities are going to underperform, more often than not?

Wonder if it could be captured and returned?

Telescope Q: Barlow adapter? With a short (400mm) focal length scope (100mm aperture), if I wanted a Barlow adapter would it be better to get a 1.5 x or 2x? (Current 17mm and 10mm lenses offer 40x or 24x magnification). also - anyone know whether filters can be used with a Barlow? (Just ordered a 4 filter set b/c the MOOON is BRIGHT)

I agree that someone tampering with a fetus in hopes of creating a super (or even improved) person is unethical. Here's a conundrum: A trope in cyberpunk is the person who modifies themselves. Should someone invent gene editing that works on adults - and the adult in question modify herself to become a superior long distance runner... Must she also sterilize herself?

You should see them with a good (read mil-grade) pair of NVGs! Had a 3-power monocle that would take your breath away. ... I grew up with a clear view of the Pleiades living in LA. Was one of my favorite constellations. Growing up in the West and living in the deserts, getting to see stars was commonplace. Mountains and high desert plateaus were fantastic. Milky Way clearly visible, shooting stars, constellations. Fast forward to my first deployment at sea with the Marines. Told all my East Coast Marines that as soon as we were in the middle of the Atlantic the stars would be amazing, given that we would be as far from city lights as possible.. They were not. Navy navigator explained the effects of humidity to me. So now I'm a midwest guy, and despite living in a MUCH smaller city than LA, I can't see the stars nearly as well. Humidity. Way worse than light pollution. ... That said: my daughter's reaction to seeing them is something I'll not soon forget!

This is cool: stars moving around Sag A: Watch stars slingshot around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole | Astronomy.com

@SunlitZelkova @StrandedonEarth @sevenperforce Thanks for the info / advice on telescopes! We saw 3 of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn's rings tonight (despite being in a city). Kid-girl is stoked! I ended up getting a good-cheap telescope (all things considered). Got a Zhumell 100mm tabletop reflector. Perfect size for her to carry around and not terribly expensive. Pleiades are barely visible with the naked eye: the telescope brought all into crisp view. Now she's already asking about our next trip to Arizona! Anyway - thanks again and Merry Christmas!

Well - if it all works out right: a Christmas launch and a birthday 'reveal' of the science / pics.

My 11 y.o. warned me last night to expect to be woken up at zero dark thirty. I relied on her. At 7:30 EST my 14 y.o. asked in his newly deep voice, 'Dad, are we going to do Christmas?'. (He then had to wake up his sister! :p ) She held me to the promise to only watch the video - loved being able to see the deployment! Amazing how much tension a video has

Let's all take a moment to reflect that this thread has been alive since 2016: Thanks Streetwind... what a long strange trip its been!

Well... low lying ocean front property. Anything on a decent hill will be fine, and may go up in value after the plebs in the lowlands are washed away

Disappointing, actually. Wanted to like it. So much flat acting and weird casting choices. Tropes for characters. Not great CG or set design. By comparison, Witcher is a different genre.

Wen Fly?

<looks at the broad time zone difference between the first three > Why does the ESA insistence to put Paris (or anything French) seem extraneous, unnecessary and pandering?

Not sure I'm hearing the argument correctly. If you are saying 'that with a brain, cogitates' then yes I'll agree. Anything with a brain has some measure of intelligence - even if we don't know how to measure it. If you are saying that ancient animals cogitated as well as modern... The fossil record does not bear that out. https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1007/s12052-009-0136-1/figures/2

<barks laughter > ... ... (maybe they're the ones behind it?)

This, right here, is why you know civilization is doomed.

I think the only reasonable 'care' to take is reducing the chances of false positives. I'm literally unconcerned about what happens after we confirm or deny the existence of domestic life on Mars, aside from the usual, don't just lay waste to everything because you can. Premise: we need to become multi-planetary, whether in this century or after the invention of FTL. When we do... one poop on the other planet and it's game on. Question: should we put humans on a thriving other planet with lots and lots of critters (none sentient) and plants, etc., and we begin eating them... how long before the 'human' becomes a non-earth human (you are what you eat, and all that)?

My 11 y.o. daughter tells me I'm not allowed to interrupt XMass to watch. "They'll have it on video, Daaaaad."

Monsanto agrees. No profits in self replicating improved strains. Now, before we proceed... Can we all agree that art direction for the Amazons should rely heavily on Frank Frazetta's work?

NASA brags about its contractors all the time. (*Contractor, not competitor)

Very nicely played, sir.

Isn't white a funereal color in China? I'd think it (and others) would be painted something festive

Q Interstellar.

I agree. We did it in 91. With little to really show for it, other than the fact that having them is an enormous psychological advantage. Fact is - Modern Navies know what they can do to other ships with modern toys, and also know 'the other guys' have the same toys... and it makes them nervous. You can look at the almost absurd requirements for the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. The Marines wanted a capable, amphibious fighting vehicle that let us use our current force structure. The Navy wanted it to be over-the-horizon capable. Why did it have to be OTH? Because of missile proliferation; while information warfare proliferation has not yet allowed proxy fighters to do OTH anti-ship (yet), they can use the same weapons in LOS mode and cause significant harm. You need aircraft to dominate the information space more than anything. For the last several decades the US has enjoyed almost exclusive information domination in the proxy war fight. RU and CN have learned a lot about our capabilities and have demonstrated some ability to interfere. Thus far, they've (mostly) kept their cards close to the chest vis their proxy fighters - but that could change. If so-called 'rogue' nations or factions gain the ability to use satellites to coordinate targeted strikes? It becomes a whole new ballgame. Mind you - almost everyone here is thinking along the lines of a WW2 proxy style fight with modern equipment in a Top Tier nation combat scenario... and I'm saying that by the time battleships are needed or useful again, current tech (read: information warfare capability) will have been reduced to almost WW2 levels and civilization as we know it will take a sharp left turn.