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Comment Re:The wind might blow the cloud towards Russia (Score 1) 458

Another possible positive. The wind might blow the cloud towards Russia.

It would depend on the weather pattern prevailing if and when radioactivity would be released. Looking at plots from the 00z March 4 GFS meteorological model dataset, the parent is, for the time being correct, it looks like the airflow is currently toward the east in that region.

Comment A case for a space-based laboratory (Score 1) 77

We should think through what is going on here. If this technology were to get out of control, we can expect there to be major repercussions both in terms of scientific research guidelines and possibly society at large. Are there other examples of dangerous things that escaped from laboratories? Sure, we have secure facilities to do this work, but how secure is secure?
In order not to muzzle scientific progress, which could happen if a societal backlash resulted from a mishap, it probably is time to see major efforts made to develop and study ecosystems in space-based settlements, and then to do the more dangerous experimentation in those facilities so that our environment on Earth is not placed under serious risk.

Comment Re:Garbage Story (Score 1) 173

Like it or not, all of our "non-social" sciences, including computer science, have social implications. My field, atmospheric science, is a prime example. We should not carry forth our activity without considering the social implications of our research. Regarding the implications of AI, I'd recommend a book, published just before the pandemic, by Amy Webb entitled "The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity." I don't agree with everything promoted here, but do think this contains a lot of good information.

Comment Re: I'd prefer permanent daylight savings time. (Score 1) 130

If we go to permanent standard time, those of you who would rather have DST, you can get closer to that experience by choosing to live in the far western part of a time zone. For example, for the U.S. Eastern time zone, Georgia and the lower part of Michigan would work well.

Comment Re:There is no FIRE IN SPACE YOU DUMBA (Score 0) 146

The temperature and pressure at which water boils are interrelated. If you access a "steam table" from an engineering thermodynamics textbook, look at a table entitled "properties of saturated water, temperature table," you will find an entry called "saturation pressure." That is the pressure at which water boils at that temperature. If you look at something near your body temperature, say, 38 degrees C, the pressure is about 0.066 bars (or about .066 atmospheres). If you are in the upper atmosphere or in space with no pressurized suit and the pressure is below 0.066 atmospheres, your blood will boil.

This is not a complete answer to this question, however. There are concerns about bubbles of nitrogen ("the bends") due to rapid depressurization, etc. that also need to be addressed.

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