Comment Re:OK, maybe I'm a bit grumpy today. (Score 1) 226
I was comparing the attention space opera related articles receive with that garnered by real space related articles. The latter typically receive far fewer comments.
Comment Re:OK, maybe I'm a bit grumpy today. (Score 1) 226
Aren't Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong more inspiring? To bring it even closer to this crowd, how about John Carmack? He's working his way up from first principles - developing real hardware. It surprises me that the technical people ostensibly filling this discussion site are apparently more interested in wildly inaccurate space opera.
Comment Re:OK, maybe I'm a bit grumpy today. (Score 1) 226
Good thing you posted as an AC. If the initial response to my post is any measure, your "blasphemy" would result in crucifixion. :-)
Comment Re:OK, maybe I'm a bit grumpy today. (Score 1) 226
Interesting. It appears to be akin to a religious issue for you (assuming you are really that upset with me).
Comment OK, maybe I'm a bit grumpy today. (Score 5, Interesting) 226
Why is it every time there's an article posted in connection with some soap opera in space, so many
Fun and entertaining as he is (and indeed, happy birthday to the man), Shatner is an actor. Neil Armstrong, Wernher von Braun, Burt Rutan, Carl Sagan are/were the real deal - scientists, engineers, astronauts.
Of course, I might be jumping the gun. Perhaps this article will garner few posts.
Why is my karma going up in smoke?
Submission + - GLOBE at Night Aims to Map Global Light Pollution (globeatnight.org) 1
Kilrah_il writes: Light pollution is a big problem this days, affecting not only astronomers and wild life, but also everyone else because of wasted energy. GLOBE at Night aims to raise awareness by urging people to go outside and find out how much light pollution there is in their area. "The campaign is easy and fun to do. First, you match the appearance of the constellation Orion in the first campaign (and Leo or Crux in the second campaign) with simple star maps of progressively fainter stars found. Then you submit your measurements, including the date, time, and location of your comparison. After all the campaign’s observations are submitted, the project’s organizers release a map of light-pollution levels worldwide."
Submission + - Sludge in Flask Gives Clues to Origin of Life (sciencemag.org) 1
sciencehabit writes: In the 1950s, scientist Stanley Miller conducted a series of experiments in which he zapped gas-filled flasks with electricity. The most famous of these, published in 1952, showed that such a process could give rise to amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. But a later experiment, conducted in 1958, sat on the shelf--never analyzed by Miller. Now, scientists have gone back and analyzed the sludge at the bottom of this flask and found even more amino acids than before--and better evidence that lightning and volcanic gasses may have helped create life on Earth.
Submission + - Google spends $1 million for throttling detection (arstechnica.com)
foamrat writes: Google has awarded $1 million to Georgia Tech researchers so that they can develop simple tools to detect Internet throttling, government censorship, and other "transparency" problems.
Submission + - China starts censoring phone calls mid sentence (nytimes.com) 1
bhagwad writes: "Several reports have emerged that China is cutting off phone calls mid sentence when contentious words like "protest" are used. Seems like China's draconian censorship regime is going into overdrive with even more sophisticated censoring. Of course, this comes on the heels of Google accusing them of mucking around with Gmail as well."
Submission + - Cold 'Star' No Hotter Than a Summer's Day (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: Researchers have found two brown dwarfs--so-called failed stars that are too small to sustain the stable burning of hydrogen--that are colder than any previously seen. They're so cold and so small that they are almost like giant planets. One's temperature is barely 300 kelvin--about as warm as a bright summer day on Earth. The two objects could be the first examples of a proposed class of ultra-cool brown dwarfs known as the Y-class. And because they are almost as cold as "gas giant" planets—Jupiter is about 150 K—studying them could offer a better handle on what the atmospheres of alien worlds look like.
Comment One more reason why... (Score 1) 237
... I don't like eBooks. There is no problem with APIs, DRM, ravenous megacorps, etc. when lending a paper book to someone. There is no lending fee and the loan event is not recorded.
As eBook development ascends the experience/technology curve (robustness, display quality, etc.), such devices could become a realistic alternative. But all this tethering and associated DRM kill the idea stone dead for me.
Submission + - FDA Bans Sale of Primatene Mist Spray (washingtonpost.com) 1
ScientiaPotentiaEst writes: The only over-the-counter asthma inhaler sold in the United States soon will be banned from store shelves because of environmental concerns, and replacement medications may cost more, the U.S. Food and Drug administration acknowledged.
According to the FDA news release, replacement medicines for Primatene Mist may cost more.
According to the FDA news release, replacement medicines for Primatene Mist may cost more.
Comment Re:You'll miss them in a disaster (Score 1) 309
While I agree with you, I think you missed the parent poster's joke. Of course, that makes the non-trivial assumption I understand the joke.
Comment Re:No Surprise (Score 1) 541
Meaning yourself, right? You're just smarter than the vast majority of climate scientists -- and that's a reasonable position. Good for you.
Instead of appealing to authority, just read the emails. Then come back and tell me you'd accept that kind of behavior from someone in, say, the medical research field.
Comment Re:No Surprise (Score 1) 541
And there's no "huge political agenda" opposing global warming?
Yes, of course there is. But that doesn't change the fact. Just read the emails. The manipulation is obvious. A real scientist would not talk of hiding and deleting data.
