JoeSchmuckatelli

So... Only a few decades of investment and concerted efforts before commercialization

Live 2 Mj in, 3Mj out. Also 'they're hiring'! Frigging Sky News cut away just as the actual LLNL person started talking

I first thought it was a posting for an upcoming KSP2 DLC. They've got so much invested, it just seemed like a clean inference that was what they were doing. Problem is that since the the job announcement, they've announced EA and its roadmap. When I compare the two - I don't see DLC as likely. So... What then? Well - they have enormous IP and goodwill over a game rumored to be very hard and only for the committed. Lots of people are charmed by the idea and the Kerbals, try the game and are daunted by the complexity... Then drift away. From a business standpoint - how do they capture those people? They know people already like the idea of Kerbal - so if the devs make an entirely different game, they can sell Kerbal-Lite without offending the current player base. More casual players who want to build stuff and explore the universe in a fun and undaunting way, can, and with the core features not being so heavily tilted towards orbital mechanics they can make the science and exploration a richer experience. Mind you - I've pulled this out of thin air ...but then again - it's Magic!

It's a third person science exploration game utilizing the Kerbolar universe; but you don't have to do the difficult stuff of flying a craft using the physics-based rules governing KSP/2. You do, however, need to build / design spacecraft that can take you where you need/want to go and have rovers and other tools to help you get the job done when you get there - again, using assets from KSP2 likely. You just don't have to worry about Delta Vee and understanding orbital mechanics (at least not to the extent required by KSP/2). You advance by making discoveries, combining knowledge from different fields and follow a fairly light 'story' to develop your Kerbal and their knowledge of the universe. Lots of 'sandbox' like interactions; you're free to do what you want, play at your own pace or follow the story to the end. There may be creatures.

Thanks!

FIe! I will add: as you progress through the city you discover that the Babel of languages is an integral part of the storytelling

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/12/nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-doe-00073518 The findings, which Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is expected to announce Tuesday, still leave many obstacles to be resolved in turning the nuclear process that powers the sun into a source of Earth-bound energy. But scientists are embracing the historic milestone nonetheless, cheering that researchers have finally created a fusion reaction that produces more energy than it takes in. The amount of handwringing and tempering of expectations - along with Global Warming Grousing - that accompanies this, yet again (but better written) reporting on a scoop by the Financial Times is amazing. Needless to say - look for an announcement by the Secretary and LLL tomorrow Apparently only Financial Times has any direct info, and everyone else does not want to let them take all the credit ... Edit: Timely and basic explanation of Fusion It does a fantastic job of explaining why Fusion power - even with the expected advancement - isn't going to be an immediate panacea to our energy and pollution control needs.

A few weeks ago we saw images of scaffolding and missing tiles on SS. Clearly they were doing some work on the craft and it looked like it would be a while before it was ready to fly. We also heard about work being done on the launch table and maybe a to-do with Booster engines. Any updates?

Oh yeah - the German acting is spot on... the English dub reminds me of old Japanese movies. The music is great. The seasons are also pretty good; writing remains consistent. (I won't share my critiques, yet, but I did watch the whole thing twice, which is very rare for me).

I'm expecting Kerbol to be exceptionally bright - unless perhaps viewed via some special probe/scanner part we can unlock. Otherwise? It will look weird to be at Mun and see that.

Maths question: If I have a 1% chance of winning a lottery (1/100), and I buy 80 lottery tickets... what's my over-all chance of getting a 1? (win). (Any win = a win. i.e. any time I get a 1, I win) So I've googled this and just keep getting confused. Mainly because they all want to talk about 6-sided dice rolls, and I don't have the background to convert what the websites are telling me about a 6-sided die into 'how many rolls of a 100 sided die are required to get a 1'). TIA.

It's certainly been colder.

I look at the three little structures ('little') down in the little valley at the front of the Colony. Those look like resource extraction. Moving up from there, we see the dark cylinders on stilts. Those look like ore containers. So to me, the broad cylinder (grey) with the darker gray spheres on top is likely a fuel conversion facility; take ore make fuel. Atop that I see a crane with what looks like an excavator bucket on a track; perhaps that means we will get some 'automation' animation as that pulls stuff from one part of the 'unit' (likely the 'hopper' looking thing between the two spheres) and dumps it into another (maybe the light gray cylinder on top). Now - this WHOLE thing might be an old version of a Colony Fuel factory (see link below). If you look at the large one - there are design elements shared between what we see on this image and the large fuel factory. The only problem with this is the cylinder supporting the spheres looks to be exactly the same cylinder seen in the central tower. Similarly, I first thought the conical building on the right of the image was familiar; it looks kind of like one of the New Power Generation Modules (see second link). But on further review - it's just the same 'unit' as the tower on the left... just flipped. The domes are hab/greenhouses. We've seen those before. What the purpose of the hexagonal segments on either side are, one can only guess. I'm thinking 'Generic Colony Part # 3'. VAB already identified. Now... having looked at all of this... I'm wondering if any of this stuff will make the core game. I think that given how we've seen it, they're likely to use it; but in reality these images are quite old. The team may have gone a completely different route with Colonies since these were built. The 'large prefab units' (links below) came out well after this image. While I think it would be fun to be able to build whatever wacky colony structure I might like (which is a very Kerbal thing to do - see how far you can extend something until it breaks) - we might have quite limited options of planting 'seed parts' for pre-fab structures that effectively build themselves on site.

That was fun - and likely to be the only way I'd enjoy KSP2 MP; tooling around with people in wacky vehicles. But it also showcases the 'ground has no friction' thing I hope they've addressed.

<deleted > Thinking that the US has the foresight to anticipate RU attacking Ukraine and consequently having a first strike package ready and waiting really gives us waay too much credit.

It's a Fox News article quoting a Financial Times article... So no meat. So... Tuesday is the announcement - either something interesting or '20 more years'. @Codraroll - a bit more info: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nuclear-fusion-lawrence-livermore-laboratory-b2243247.html%3famp

https://www.foxbusiness.com/energy/us-scientists-make-major-breakthrough-limitless-zero-carbon-fusion-energy-report U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and under-secretary for nuclear security Jill Hruby are expected to formally announce "a major scientific breakthrough" at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Tuesday The scientists, working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, recently achieved a net energy gain in a fusion reaction, the Financial Times reported, citing three people with knowledge of the experiment.

One of my favorite books to never quite read. I get a section done here read something new there and years later find myself rereading something as if for the first time! His paper caused a bit of consternation when it came out. From what I understand he's (and team) actually respected enough that he could not be written off as a quack.

https://tenor.com/6wwq.gif

Nice video - thanks. Oddly enough, I started the 'Science Articles' thread because all the 'Crisis in Cosmology' articles I was linking in 'Questions That Don't' faded uppage quite rapidly. I've been following Freedman's work for some time. I knew we were waiting for JWST info and missed the article she links to (the one where some researchers looked at a different team's view of the one galaxy, compared it to Hubble data and showed that Freedman's team might not find what they're looking for). It's one of those 'fun to be on the sidelines' controversies - where people who've made their entire career pursuing proof of LCDM and expansion actively resent people suggesting their presumption might be incorrect. Even when housed in language where 'your ladder measurements may be off' (not directly saying expansion is incorrect), some of the LCDM proponents have been intense in their reactions. (In the late 90s it was actually almost career-ending to question its presumptions.) Frankly - I like the idea that LCDM is 'wrong' simply because I don't like the idea that we know everything already. Yes it has been a fantastic tool - but if it becomes non-career-ending to nibble at the edges of the theory, we are likely to get researchers who make new discoveries that give us an even better refined view of the cosmos than we currently enjoy.

Typically reserved reporting from the popular media https://www.foxnews.com/science/oldest-known-galaxies-spotted-james-webb-space-telescope Question - how much longer until they decide the universe is older than the current expectation?

I'm wondering whether these are procedurally generated for the hype campaign... or something we might expect in game? i.e. are these in-game assets or not?

Try a different browser?

I'm wondering if there's a process to psychologically screen these folks. Like - have they all already passed? Do they need to undergo some kind of testing / evaluation before there is some final clearance review to allow them to be cargo for the round trip? While it sounds quite exciting - there are going to be some very, very long hours with nothing to do as they hurtle through space. Last thing you need is someone having a panic attack and losing their shiz during the flight.

I thought about being a spy once, but then I'm bad at basketball.