Shower thoughts

[SunlitZelkova]

I think that Carl Sagan's "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" is not the gotcha a lot of people think it is.

What is extraordinary is subjective.

So for example, if raw milk being unsafe is extraordinary to a person, they can then require evidence extraordinary evidence to be convinced it is true.

They are free to set the definition of extraordinary at an astronomical extreme so that they will never have to change their mind.

I think when it comes to convincing people to believe something, the character and conduct of the people involved is much more important than the content of the notion in question. A person can dress up their claim with all the cool educational videos and perfectly crafted PR materials, but at the end of the day if the people they are trying to convince are inclined to stick to their own way of life, the attempt to convey the information will fail.

[Nuke]

thinking about starship, specifically the non explodie v1, and wondering how to improve tps systems.

then thinking about the capabilities of heat pipes and how hard it is to desolder them from heatsinks without destroying them with how good they are at doing their job.

starship is covered in stainless steel, the perfect heat sink (at least the back half).

so lets say we attach a small network of heat pipes from the flap joints to the back of the hull where its cooler.  the pipes would be insulated anywhere there are tiles.

the flap half of the joint is heat piped to the top panel on the flaps.

this led to an internal debate about the optimal frequency of showering, likely inspired by the deluge system and all the dirty falcon boosters. i realized that there are really 3 forms of showering: vanity showering, people who need 3 showers daily, or the thorough shower you take before a hot date. then there is social showering, which is the common once a day shower that usually lasts 10 minutes tops, mostly intended not to offend the people at work. then there is minimal hygene showering which is the bare minimum not to succumb to disease from your own filth. im somewhere between the latter two due to electricity being expensive and water heaters being inefficient.

this led to the realization that most people are still operating on the miasmatic principal about the concept of hygene. even though that hasn't been popular since the plague doctor was a thing. most perfumes, colognes, and deodorants need to add some disgusting component to the fragrance for it to smell right. they also hide the fact that maybe your date isnt as clean as they smell. rasputin never had that problem and he considered bathing a mortal sin, and never harmed his ability to sleep with half of the royal court. strong disgust reflex is a sign of low intellegence and perhaps reducing your shower frequency gets all the stupid people away from you. its probibly good for the environment too. the former being the better advantage. but maybe if you are showering less frequently than a maximum security prisoner, you might be going too far.

then i started thinking about when it would be likely that falcon boosters might benefit from a scrub down every now and again. taking all that dirt to space every time probibly bites you in the fuel budget. since those deluge tanks are there, you might be able to hook some pumps up to the main tanks, and put a big shower head in the megabay and have space-x employees go at it with a bunch of push brooms. then came the question of soap residue. then i realized i was thinking about heat piping a starship which is better than bathing a falcon. it probibly wouldnt work, copper is heavy. and finding a heat pipe medium that can operate at arc welder tempuratures without exploding is probibly a nontrivial amount of materials science.

[ColdJ]

The song that is stuck in my head today is "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce. While I was looking up one to link to on YouTube I read a comment and learned something that I didn't know.

Jim Croce had sent a letter to his wife, saying that he was giving up touring to spend the next 30 years with her and their 1 year old son.

He died in a plane crash 3 days later.

I wanted to sob, but today's world has already stolen all my tears.

[SunlitZelkova]

  On 3/25/2025 at 10:39 AM, ColdJ said:

The song that is stuck in my head today is "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce.

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This song actually came up in my YouTube suggestions a couple days ago. I'll have to give it a listen now.