SCIENCE! and stuff

Here's today's random space fact. Say hello to Bill Nye, CEO of the Planetary Society, and former science guy.

Alpha Centauri wrote:Here's today's random space fact. Say hello to Bill Nye, CEO of the Planetary Society, and former science guy.

What they fail to mention is how easy it was to "fabricate" (interesting word) the new fender, as the "astronauts" did it on a sound stage in Hollywood.

What they fail to mention is how easy it was to "fabricate" (interesting word) the new fender, as the "astronauts" did it on a sound stage in Hollywood.

Yes, because we all know the reason why legendary directory Stanley Kubrick filmed The Shining. Why, only to apologize to America that he filmed the men visited the moon on a soundstage.

Why a child's rocket shirt? Is he about to take off? (Or is he?)

What's with the insane number of stuffed bears found within the hotel? A red menace?

Why room 237 instead of 217 from the original novel? Perhaps there are 237,000 reasons between our Terra and the moon.

And by the by, if you think I'm spouting nonsense at this point, feel free to click on the link below to receive this gospel in its entirety...

http://news.discovery.com/space/faked-moon-landings-and-kubricks-the-shining.htm

The best thing about the Internet is that anyone can publish anything they want. The worst thing about the Internet is that anyone can publish anything they want.

More than a decade ago I stumbled on a self-published website that "proved" that the moon landings were faked based on the physics of the moon and space. It was horrible, yet amusing to read. "It's not cold in space! It's a vacuum! Thermos uses vacuum bottles to keep coffee hot in the winter!"

It's fun to read physics facts from someone who has probably never gotten a passing grade in high school physics debunk the moon landing.

It sounds like that gentleman may have fit in with this particular crowd.




Oh, Principal Skinner. When will you learn that reasoning with people about sound scientific fact will only get you burned as a witch in the end.

A space fact that proves a popular cliche may not apply in every circumstance.

I learned somewhere in school that lightening is more likely to strike somewhere that it has already struck. This is because there is a reason that the object was struck in the first place: higher than surrounding objects, well grounded, etc. This is why lightening rods work so well.

I learned somewhere in school that lightening is more likely to strike somewhere that it has already struck.

And this just goes to show you that fact will always triumph over humanity for humanity is dumb.

Here's an idea to consider. Putting the boundaries of our Solar System aside, scientist Jim Bell postulates that we are in a new age. His idea is that when the Voyager probe left the Solar System boundaries a few years ago, it marked a new point in human development, a new era called the Interstellar Age. He has written a book highlighting this idea and the Voyager mission as it unfolded in a book called The Interstellar Age—Inside the Forty-Year Voyager Mission.

So, what do you think? Does this idea have merit or is it grasping at ethereal space?

You can listen to a Planetary Society podcast where Jim Bell explains his ideas here:

http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/planetary-radio/show/2015/jim-bell-welcomes-the-interstellar-age.html

You can look up the Amazon listing of the book here:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Interstellar-Age-Forty-Year-Voyager/dp/0525954325

A bit grandiose. The Interstellar Age? Hardly. Heck, we haven't even put a man on another planet, much less sent a probe to another star. If we're in the interstellar age, we've been in it since prehistoric man looked up at the stars.

The Interstellar Age? Hardly. Heck, we haven't even put a man on another planet, much less sent a probe to another star. If we're in the interstellar age, we've been in it since prehistoric man looked up at the stars.

There is merit in the idea. I do agree that we may be a little to early, from a historical standpoint, to say whether this is an remarkable achievement or not. This is nowhere more obvious than the date NASA sets for sending people to Mars being pushed forward ten years for every ten years we live in actual time.

Here's my problem with the idea. Ages of Man describe things that happen to us, i.e. humanity as a whole, or nearly so. It doesn't take an anthropologist  to explain the effects that the Iron Age, Stone Age, Information Age etc had on human beings. But Voyager crossing the heliopause changed absolutely nothing here on Earth. It hasn't brought us new technology, medicine, or science. Did it figure out some stuff about the solar system? Sure, but I would make the argument that Galileo's extraordinary discoveries about the solar system dwarf those made by the mere passing of an unmanned satellite through a nearly imaginary boundary.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade. Lack of membership in any interstellar societies aside, I am as enthusiastic about the possibilities of humans crossing interplanetary and interstellar space as a wide eyed kid in a planetarium. The Final Frontier is not just a tagline for a series of TV shows and movies, but an actual idea than can and should drive the whole of humanity to push through obstacles and create new boundaries. Sadly, we're not even close to that yet.

That's one small step for bakery items. One giant leap for pink frosting with sprinkles...

Ok that was really neat. It was fun when the camera started to shake around and debris appeared in the view. "Oh, the balloon popped." It was also fun to see the three dimensions of the airliner contrail as it followed the curvature of the earth.

Ok that was really neat. It was fun when the camera started to shake around and debris appeared in the view. "Oh, the balloon popped."

Yes, it was really neat. Sadly the donut did not survive the fall into the sea. But I suppose the sacrifice was worth it. or is it?



I for one cannot wait for the sequel. It will happen when that same Swedish group stows a Bavarian creme-filled donut into the payload of the next rover bound for Mars.Get your marshmallow ass to MAAAUUURRRSSS!  

Oh. My. Gosh.


Did you have those images ready to go just in case a pastry-in-distress joke need to be told???

Maybe..

Vote for geographical names for Pluto!!!


http://www.ourpluto.org/vote

This random space fact gets puts things in the Solar System in their correct proportions. Man, the sun is really, really colossal.

Vote for geographical names for Pluto!!!

Oh, man. The New Horizons mission is so close to the dwarf planet. Next month is when the survey of the Plutonian surface begins!

That space trivia guy has WAY too much time on his hands.

Also, you guys at the Planetary Society just successfully tested a Solar Sail. Nicely done. This is science fiction become science fact.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765675328/Planetary-Societys-solar-sail-test-a-success-in-space.html

Can you freeze lightning?

https://i.imgur.com/77zPLjz.gifv

Peludo wrote:Can you freeze lightning?

No. Well, I don't think so.


Maybe?


What the heck is that?

Saule wrote:What the heck is that?

It is lichtenberg figure art.

That block of acrylic is alive ALIVE!