JoeSchmuckatelli

I've literally been waiting for years to see our species become multi-planetary just for this kind of wrangling to become common. Land us on another earth like and hospitable planet with a rotation of 27 hours and an orbit just under 16 Earth months... You thought Y2K was a mess?

Some mental gymnastics required to be sure.

I'd be interested to know that, too. But it's a cost-plus contract, right? So no harm in tossing away the old one and never explaining what went wrong SMH

That's my problem with the alarm rhetoric... There are a lot of assumptions and a range of possible outcomes. Instead of explaining that, the lazy journalist picks the most alarming possibilities and states those in affirmative language as if it is a foregone conclusion and inevitable result. I find it counterproductive.

"Global sea levels will rise two to six feet by 2100 on the current trajectory" Hmmmm.... https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/climate-change-impacts/rising-sea-level Melting glaciers contribute enough water for 3mm per year rise. 3mm per year for 10 years is 30 mm... which is ... 11 inches, right? Oh jeez, almost a foot per year? Oh wow, that is terrible! ... Wait, what? 3mm per year for 10 years is 30mm and 30mm is only 1.18 inch? https://www.google.com/search?q=30mm+to+inches&oq=30mm+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i433i512j0i512l2j0i433i512j0i512l4.4054j0j4&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 So 1.18 inch per decade? So a hundred years and not quite a foot? But they said 2-6 feet in 80 years...

Sometimes a thing gets FUBAR... and that becomes the only way to do it

Time, Newsweek and others were pretty good back in the 80s... not so much any more.

Now we know where all the Cat Videos originate!

My intrepid 11 y.o. decided she wanted to blow up some rockets try out KSP. I'm trying to let her figure stuff out on her own. Has me thinking about the tutorials and how some of the later added stuff was daunting for me as a Liberal Arts background player. How much more would it be for a kid? I love the idea of the 'cartoon' tutorials teaching basics, but I hope that the KSP2 tutorials extend to some of the other stuff - including things that Science background people just intrinsically 'get', but that the rest of us neandertals struggle with.

I think that if you were hoping for discipline from this bunch... Let's just say that was aspirational thinking. You could limit your own fun fact to once a day, or visit only once a day for several fun facts by various contributors... Lots of ways to skin that cat!

So I am guessing that the whole 'we gotta figure out Raptor mass production or go bankrupt' was about R2 production? Or have we heard anything about another, cheaper / easier to build option? (just thinking about it now... Usually when I see a '2' it means bigger, faster, stronger... Not more efficient and cheaper - so I did not connect the dots back then)

For those who want to believe: https://astronomy.com/news/2021/12/technosignature-from-proxima-centauri--and-why-astronomers-rejected-it

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/amazon-forests-underground-scientists-want-map-worlds-fungi-rcna7899 Fungi as part of the soil CO2 sink

There is not currently a white dwarf residing in the center of our sun. Some time down the road, after our hot, young and energetic sun becomes old, fat and red - it will no longer be able to support itself and will begin to collapse. The outer, fluffy stuff will get bounced and blown off into space and the heavy inner stuff will get compressed into an angry white dwarf grumbling at the neighbors

Why isn't the top of the tower the same "serious grey" as the rest. It looks almost festive - like a fop hat on a minister

OMFG! This is Monty Python level stuff! 8D Bravo!

Time is a made up construct. My boss at the restaurant I worked at 30 years ago (and was often late to) did not seem to care.

I know that weather is not climate... But it is December and we are talking about tornadoes. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wlky.com/amp/article/western-kentucky-tornado-mayfield-bowling-green-weather-beshear/38490463 Record setting tornadoes - and not just because of the month. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/12/11/weather/severe-weather-tornadoes-saturday/index.html

Never knew that fact. Thanks. "Negative Ghost Rider...."

That whole EM drive thing was fun, tho. Copper rocket? Very SteamPunk. I wonder, however, given both his prior NASA and DARPA history if he might, occasionally, touch on something functional. Would certainly be cool if this thing pans out. WHile there is criticism of the paper and publication - at least he's publishing (meaning peers can review) rather than dumping sciency stuff into the blogosphere.

Well, according to the author of the paper linked to by @insert_name it was "published in the open access (but often dubious) European Physical Journal C,"

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/galaxies-killed-spectacular-violent-external-forces-alma-gas-stripping-virgo-cluster-vertico-1645405%3famp=1 Virgo Cluster does not look like a fun neighborhood. Speaking of hostile environments: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/massive-planet-10-bigger-jupiter-discovered-orbiting-pair-giant-stars-rcna8085

That is correct but only in the context of military weapons. "Guided Missile" has its own internal or wire/other intput method for the operator or its own programming to adjust flight after launch to hit the target. Rockets are generally aimed by the firing agency (helicopter, katyusha, etc) and then go, hopefully, where aimed - but once launched don't make intentional changes to adjust for movement or refinement of the target. In the context of larger systems - like ballistic, orbital or sub-orbital systems, from what I gather the only difference between terminology is the purpose. "Missiles" are weapons with a purpose of destruction. "Rockets" are peaceful, scientific or commercial lifters (that can lift defensive or information-gathering military payloads) but don't have the immediate purpose of hostile action or destruction of a target. That said, there's likely little to differentiate the two; they both have guidance systems - both onboard and ground/satellite based. EDIT: this is what makes MAD really exciting. No one knows the purpose of the rocket when launched...

Neat Here's link to the pdf of the paper (hoping it works) for anyone interested in the source material. Worldline numerics applied to custom Casimir geometry generates unanticipated intersection with Alcubierre warp metric (springer.com) There's lots of pictures for people like me and formulae for you smart guys out there! ... It reads like, "Hey, we think we found something cool - and think we have a way to test it - and we don't think its a totally bonkers idea... what do you other smart folks think? Would this work, and can we get some funding for additional research?" (Emphasis added) (Emphasis added) Thanks @sevenperforce!