DShomshak

The Dec. '17 issue of Discover has a couple articles relating to the Kuiper Belt. One is about the little Kuiper Belt object that's the next port of call for the New Horizons space probe. The other is about Pluto and Ceres. A few planetologists wonder if there's a connection: Ceres isn't much like other asteroids, what with its unusually large mass and evidence that it has a lot of ice under the surface. These guys suggest that if you took Pluto, moved it to the asteroid belt and let the nitrogen, methane and other volatiles evaporate, you'd end up with something like Ceres. This could have happened early in the Solar System, when the planets were shuffling around. As Uranus and Neptune's orbits move outward (and maybe switched), a lot of the icy outer planetesimals were scattered outward to become Pluto and the rest of the Kuiper Belt; but some surely would have been scattered inward, too.
 
Dean Shomshak

The Dec. '17 issue of Discover has a couple articles relating to the Kuiper Belt. One is about the little Kuiper Belt object that's the next port of call for the New Horizons space probe. The other is about Pluto and Ceres. A few planetologists wonder if there's a connection: Ceres isn't much like other asteroids, what with its unusually large mass and evidence that it has a lot of ice under the surface. These guys suggest that if you took Pluto, moved it to the asteroid belt and let the nitrogen, methane and other volatiles evaporate, you'd end up with something like Ceres. This could have happened early in the Solar System, when the planets were shuffling around. As Uranus and Neptune's orbits move outward (and maybe switched), a lot of the icy outer planetesimals were scattered outward to become Pluto and the rest of the Kuiper Belt; but some surely would have been scattered inward, too.
 
Dean Shomshak

Looking over the thread, images I posted years ago of Gordale Scar and Malham Cove in Yorkshire never showed up. Gordale Scar is reputedly Tolkien's inspiration for Rivendell. The two locations are within walking distance of each other.
 
Gordale Scar

 
Malham Cove

 
To these I might add Troller's Gill, near Appletreewick in Yorkshire, home on local folklore to a Black Dog known as the Barghest (yes, that's the one that gives the name to the fantasy monster).

 
Also near Appletreewick, The Strid is a narrow, low gorge where the River Wharfe narrows to a point where it's possible to jump across - but people have died trying. The river here is some 30 feet deep, undercuts the rocks, moves with the speed of an express train, and the rocks around are slippy. Fall and you die. Strid Woods are a site of special scientific interest - an untouched upland oak forest. Half an hour's walk downstream of The Strid are the ruins of Bolton Abbey. From the far side of the Wharfe to the abbey, a path leads up to the Valley of Desolation, which is actually quite lovely - it's retained the name since a sotrm a couple of hundred years ago blew the trees down. They grew back.

The Strid

 
Strid Woods - looking downstream from The Strid.

 
Bolton Abbey. I've ancestors buried in that graveyard.

 
Posforth Gill, Valley of Desolation

 
Keep heading up the Valley of Desolation, and you'll climb Barden Fell to the natural viewpoint of Simon's Seat, with views over Upper Wharfedale.

Batagaika Crater deep in Siberia is a bizarre, awesome and somewhat frightening place.  The crater is over 300 feet deep and half a mile long and grows 60 feet a year.  What was it caused by?  For a long time people didn't know, they suspected things like climate change, but the reality is that the Soviet government scoured the ground down to the permafrost and were digging up the dirt and rock for road material, and exposed to the sun the permafrost started to melt.  For decades it did, melting and eroding deeper and now its enormous.
 

that and companies who operate in more than one state, particularly in certain fields, prefer to abide by Federal Law. 
 
Actually, I am surprised Trump and his AG jackass have not tried to go after the tax profits of the states that have allowed medicinal or recreational sales.        A lot of my former co workers are heartfelt supporters of marijuana usage...  won't admit there could ever be any problems from it...
 
Every time I see  "it is a natural plant"  I want to say "so is Deadly Nightshade, do  you want to smoke it?"  or else " well, 100 years ago, sure.  at current levels of THC content due to selective  breeding and hydroponics?   not so much. "
 
I have become a curmudgeon...  :-(

The people who are willing to notice it have already done so. Polls suggest that may be the majority of Americans. The remainder don't want to notice, or don't care.
 
I'm reminded of the quotation from Stuart Chase: "For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible."

As the article notes, the probe would be moving so fast that the crash would create an explosion of nuclear intensity. Nothing could survive that!
 
(Except maybe a cosmically-irradiated tardigrade-turned kaiju.)
 
Dean Shomshak

A Zombie Star (original posted on teh other news Thread):
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41916738

The first visitor from another solar system has just ... - The Economist
The first voyager to another star may be a worm or a tardigrade - Worm ...

The Nov. 4, 2017 issue of the Economist has two articles on interstellar travelers. The first is about asteroid A/2017 U1, whose trajectory showed that it came from outside the Solar System and is returning to interstellar space. The article incidentally notes that it has not been named yet, and suggests that "Rama" is available and would be appropriate -- after Arthur C. Clarke's novel, Rendezvous with Rama.
 
The second is about proposals to include living organisms on the first interstellar probes. Some organisms, such as the nematode C. elegans, or the tardigrade, can provably survive 20+ years freeze-dried. So, put a few in the CD-sized, laser-propelled probes to Alpha Centauri and see if they can be revived at the end of the journey.
 
 
Dean Shomshak

This makes me sad, as I like Nolgroth -- not least for reminding me that people can vote Republican and self-identify as conservative, and not be evil or stupid. I had hoped to learn more of his views as a way to expand my own horizons.
 
Perhaps I should take a vacation from the thread myself. Happy trails, all.
 
Dean Shomshak

This makes me sad, as I like Nolgroth -- not least for reminding me that people can vote Republican and self-identify as conservative, and not be evil or stupid. I had hoped to learn more of his views as a way to expand my own horizons.
 
Perhaps I should take a vacation from the thread myself. Happy trails, all.
 
Dean Shomshak

This makes me sad, as I like Nolgroth -- not least for reminding me that people can vote Republican and self-identify as conservative, and not be evil or stupid. I had hoped to learn more of his views as a way to expand my own horizons.
 
Perhaps I should take a vacation from the thread myself. Happy trails, all.
 
Dean Shomshak

Interlude:
 

 
Carry on.

Actually, I hope Trump continues his Twitter tirades. From what I've been hearing and reading, the things that seem to be making a dent with supporters of Trump's policies, making them question whether to continue backing him, are his undisciplined conduct and embarrassing remarks. You won't get many of them to change their minds about his positions that they like, but popular politics has always been more about a person's image than his or her policies. If they stop liking and trusting the man, what he says he wants to do won't really matter.

Every time I click on someone's "Like This" button, I feel I am contributing to the inevitable downward spiral toward the future "Majority Rule" showed us. 

"Majority Rule" gave me a few shudders and a few amused snorts with its "pushed just a little further" view of social media and the moral-mob vigilantism that, I am told, really does happen on it. But it also made me wince a few times with the characters' stupidity. As mentioned, the aspects of farce, satire and drama still don't mesh very well. But I've seen worse.
 
I also must compliment the show on its opening credits. They make space look beautiful. Awe-inspiring, even. I hope that at some point they can give more of a nod to the exploration aspect -- just the sheer gobsmacking beauty and strangeness of the universe. Like, an episode in which they have to land on that tumbling comet, or in a forming planetary system. No rubber science required; the real situations can be exotic enough.
 
Dean Shomshak

"Majority Rule" gave me a few shudders and a few amused snorts with its "pushed just a little further" view of social media and the moral-mob vigilantism that, I am told, really does happen on it. But it also made me wince a few times with the characters' stupidity. As mentioned, the aspects of farce, satire and drama still don't mesh very well. But I've seen worse.
 
I also must compliment the show on its opening credits. They make space look beautiful. Awe-inspiring, even. I hope that at some point they can give more of a nod to the exploration aspect -- just the sheer gobsmacking beauty and strangeness of the universe. Like, an episode in which they have to land on that tumbling comet, or in a forming planetary system. No rubber science required; the real situations can be exotic enough.
 
Dean Shomshak

"Majority Rule" gave me a few shudders and a few amused snorts with its "pushed just a little further" view of social media and the moral-mob vigilantism that, I am told, really does happen on it. But it also made me wince a few times with the characters' stupidity. As mentioned, the aspects of farce, satire and drama still don't mesh very well. But I've seen worse.
 
I also must compliment the show on its opening credits. They make space look beautiful. Awe-inspiring, even. I hope that at some point they can give more of a nod to the exploration aspect -- just the sheer gobsmacking beauty and strangeness of the universe. Like, an episode in which they have to land on that tumbling comet, or in a forming planetary system. No rubber science required; the real situations can be exotic enough.
 
Dean Shomshak

One thing Trump has achieved: A lot of us are realizing, or remembering, how important such fuzzy and archaic concepts as "honor," "character," "tradition," and "trust" actually are to maintaining the sort of society we want to live in.
 
Back when I attended the University of Washington, I heard a talk from an emeritus professor who was one of FDR's advisors back in WW2. Early in the war, there was debate about media control. Should the government try to suppress news about military defeats or domestic labor unrest?
 
He said no. He argued that "The government of the United States must never be seen to lie." Or even to hide the truth. His reason: "If our enemies see that we tell the truth when the truth is bad for us and good for them, they will believe us when the truth is good for us and bad for them." Roosevelt agreed.
 
The payoff came at the end of the war. The administration knew the US was going to defeat Japan eventually, and began planning for the war's end. This led to what the professor called the most narrowly targeted propaganda campaign in history: aimed solely at Emperor Hirohito and the few other people with real power in the Japanese government. The message: Though we demand unconditional surrender, we in fact offer some conditions. There will be no revenge -- and the Emperor will live. In this, it is safe to surrender.
 
And the message was believed. Not to undervalue the importance of nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the professor argued it was just as important that the Japanese government -- in particular, Hirohito himself -- believed the back-channel promise that he would be spared.
 
I have remembered this story every time it has come out that the US government or president has lied through its teeth. When strict honesty was the rational strategic choice in the greatest danger the country faced in a century, what's your excuse for lying now?

One thing Trump has achieved: A lot of us are realizing, or remembering, how important such fuzzy and archaic concepts as "honor," "character," "tradition," and "trust" actually are to maintaining the sort of society we want to live in.
 
Back when I attended the University of Washington, I heard a talk from an emeritus professor who was one of FDR's advisors back in WW2. Early in the war, there was debate about media control. Should the government try to suppress news about military defeats or domestic labor unrest?
 
He said no. He argued that "The government of the United States must never be seen to lie." Or even to hide the truth. His reason: "If our enemies see that we tell the truth when the truth is bad for us and good for them, they will believe us when the truth is good for us and bad for them." Roosevelt agreed.
 
The payoff came at the end of the war. The administration knew the US was going to defeat Japan eventually, and began planning for the war's end. This led to what the professor called the most narrowly targeted propaganda campaign in history: aimed solely at Emperor Hirohito and the few other people with real power in the Japanese government. The message: Though we demand unconditional surrender, we in fact offer some conditions. There will be no revenge -- and the Emperor will live. In this, it is safe to surrender.
 
And the message was believed. Not to undervalue the importance of nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the professor argued it was just as important that the Japanese government -- in particular, Hirohito himself -- believed the back-channel promise that he would be spared.
 
I have remembered this story every time it has come out that the US government or president has lied through its teeth. When strict honesty was the rational strategic choice in the greatest danger the country faced in a century, what's your excuse for lying now?

One thing Trump has achieved: A lot of us are realizing, or remembering, how important such fuzzy and archaic concepts as "honor," "character," "tradition," and "trust" actually are to maintaining the sort of society we want to live in.
 
Back when I attended the University of Washington, I heard a talk from an emeritus professor who was one of FDR's advisors back in WW2. Early in the war, there was debate about media control. Should the government try to suppress news about military defeats or domestic labor unrest?
 
He said no. He argued that "The government of the United States must never be seen to lie." Or even to hide the truth. His reason: "If our enemies see that we tell the truth when the truth is bad for us and good for them, they will believe us when the truth is good for us and bad for them." Roosevelt agreed.
 
The payoff came at the end of the war. The administration knew the US was going to defeat Japan eventually, and began planning for the war's end. This led to what the professor called the most narrowly targeted propaganda campaign in history: aimed solely at Emperor Hirohito and the few other people with real power in the Japanese government. The message: Though we demand unconditional surrender, we in fact offer some conditions. There will be no revenge -- and the Emperor will live. In this, it is safe to surrender.
 
And the message was believed. Not to undervalue the importance of nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the professor argued it was just as important that the Japanese government -- in particular, Hirohito himself -- believed the back-channel promise that he would be spared.
 
I have remembered this story every time it has come out that the US government or president has lied through its teeth. When strict honesty was the rational strategic choice in the greatest danger the country faced in a century, what's your excuse for lying now?

At this point, if he left the job of decision making to anybody else and spent the rest of his term "basking in the adulation" of rally crowds, I'd be satisfied. I actually don't want him to do the actual job because he has no idea how to. His gross incompetence goes beyond being unfamiliar with the traditions and expectations of the office. It is a stubborn, deliberate refusal to even try to learn.

American Gladiators was a mixed bag. Some of the sports were cool, others were just weird. Still, kudos for trying.
 
As for music, here are some strange instruments.
 
Edit: The theremin and moog synthesizer aren't new, but they seem pretty futuristic as well.

Thing is, the studies I've seen of Trump active supporters (not merely the "Any Republican" or "Anyone Who's Not Hillary" voters) is that they aren't really hurting. Not lost-the-house, how-will-we-eat hurting. Sure, many of the working-class supporters aren't as sure of their economic security as they once were. But many of them are quite well off.
 
Economically and culturally, the chief grievances seem to be what Arlene Hochschild (in her Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right) called "line-cutting." Other people seem to be getting ahead, getting the rewards of wealth and social approval that these people -- virtually all older and white -- think are their due. You're white, and every authority figure you've ever seen before is white (and oh, but authority and the social order matter the world to you!) -- and suddenly there's a black president. Your Christian faith and traditional marriages matter the world to you too, and suddenly there are Mooslims in the country and Gay Pride parades on the news.
 
A less charitable person than Hochschild would say it's their white Christian caste privilege they see in danger. And that danger's been building long before the Great Recession happened. White Nationalist rage has been building for decades. Some politicians have stoked it and exploited it. And now it's given them Trump.
 
Plus there's just a lot of people who still think in terms of a tribal village surrounded by other hostile villages, not a humungous country in a very large and very complicated world.
 
Dean Shomshak