NovaSilisko

Given Elite Dangerous is an MMO, isn't it just as likely that's another player? Or is there some identifier to say it's an NPC which I'm not recognizing?

Welcome to The Science Labs!

What the hell's a quantum radio?

As of Wednesday, I began a trial run of Debian on a partition on my laptop (I managed to forget which specific flavor already, whoops). This is a preparation step for a future potential partitioning of my desktop and, maybe, if enough software gains support, a possible Full Transfer. Also handy for directly testing linux versions of games.

Popping in again just to give a general "we're not dead" message (like New Horizons did)

Voyager 2 flew by Uranus at quite possibly the most boring time it could have. Since that flyby, it's developed cloud bands similar to those of Saturn.

It sure found something indeed. A rock. It found a rock.

PT2 was eliminated a while back, then there was a PT4 which was eliminated as well. The tradeoff between PT1 and PT3 is that one of them (I forget which, I think 3) is larger and would be preferred scientifically, but the other requires less delta-v, meaning there might be a chance for another encounter after that assuming a new object can be found.

No no, you've got it wrong. Why have a launch escape system in a universe with superman in it? They just keep the grid fins and empty shell of a tower on so they don't have to redo all the aerodynamics of the vehicle. No but really, I'm more willing to let it slide with the unspoken assumption that the LES failed to trigger due to some glitch. It's not impossible; could've been wired wrong during assembly for instance.

Look at that. It's all cracked and crumbly straight below where Charon orbits... and that's the hemisphere we won't see during the flyby. This is the best picture we're gonna get... http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/new-horizons-last-portrait-of-pluto-s-puzzling-spots

Mmmmbump. New thing! https://soundcloud.com/silisko/wip-new-horizons

Don't even think of attempting to repair or resurrect an existing mod without considerable experience in programming. You need to be able to easily interpret the style of programming contained within, or else you're in for A Bad Time. Start small with plugins, with something new and simple. A part that spits out "hello word" when you click a context menu item, for instance.

Eh, not much point. The decision to do this has already been made, so we just have to wait until it blows over, really.

The response. I don't support the idea of taking out frustration on the users, especially the users who want nothing to do with the whole situation (like me)

This is dumb.

Not to derail the topic but you've reminded me of two points 1. Google will do that with whatever browser you use unless you go out of your way to block their stuff 2. Firefox will soon start using your browsing history to produce targeted ads on the new tab page (or it might have already started)

As I recall, the atmospheric falloff on Jool has been flawed for a long time. It doesn't fade out smoothly - there's a cutoff, for some reason. It's mostly manifesting itself as a more serious problem now due to reentry heat.

Yes, exactly, which is why this thread should never have existed in the first place, but science rarely has a place in the science labs it seems.

No. Just... stop it. Stop being an idiot. Nobody is immune to failure, not even SpaceX. Mistakes happen, a mistake happened yesterday, and a vehicle was lost. Do you think Challenger was shot down by the soviet union, too? SpaceX is a company comprised of real people. Real people screw up from time to time, or overlook things. Somebody screwed up and overlooked something. You don't need an idiotic conspiracy theory about corporate warfare to explain that. I'm pretty sure we have rules here against conspiracy theories, anyway.

On the subject of people voting Antarctica... it's not without precedent: http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/2qmsjl/driving_to_the_kerbin_north_pole_sounds_hard_so/

To peeve a bit - is it that terribly difficult to include the second dot in the version number...?

This is basically what happens to meteors in real life, see Chelyabinsk

They weren't static images. They were rendered as they were now, but at a very low FPS. The kerbals were 3d models with a noise effect applied over them, just as they are now. Just lower poly, rougher models. Their tongues were sharp-cornered trapezoids.

No. It's a great way to make yourself miserable and make you into that guy in the eyes of others.1 I try to shrug at what's done wrong and praise what's done right. I've developed a high tolerance for it, otherwise it's like trying to stop the tide coming in with a teaspoon. Better to laugh at it than get yourself all riled up over it. Anger leads to hate, hate leads to blah blah something something dark side. Total disregard for common sense bugs me more than a fudging of some laws of physics - I was more annoyed, for instance, at the astronauts in Gravity behaving so unprofessionally as opposed to the unrealism of the orbital mechanics depicted. I will now add a quote from a synopsis of the hilariously awful Impact miniseries as a tangentially related aside: 1. If, that is, you present it in a nitpicky way. There's a finesse to pointing out inaccuracies without coming off as a pedantic jerk, and this is a finesse most people passionate about such things do not have. 2. This was later seemingly adopted as a major plot point of the Doctor Who episode Kill The Moon, which is one of the few items of media that actually readily gets me angry just to think about.

My guess: Jet contrail illuminated by the brilliant orange light of sunset at its altitude. It's a very striking phenomena - sometimes local atmospheric conditions will leave only a short span of contrail, which makes a short dash of flaming orange in the sky without an apparent source. And, sometimes, they disappear almost as soon as they're formed, which could create what you observed.