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Old Man

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  7. Genre-crossover nightmares

    in Other Genres

    Posted

    Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

     

    Actually I went and did some serious googling after I posted that. It seems BB's right hand either doesn't move or is attached to his head with a wire (I'll be looking for this next time I'm stuck watching Sesame Street). The muppeteer has a monitor in there so he sees what the audience would see. It all sounds very... difficult.

  9. Genre-crossover nightmares

    in Other Genres

    Posted

    Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

     

    Just be glad you don't see the appendages controlling those puppets these days.

     

    You laugh, but I sit and watch and I try to figure out how they're controlling the muppets. It looks like most muppets take at least two people to control--two hands and a mouth. Some are obviously radio-controlled, like Elmo on a trike. And lots of the new shows are shot against a bluescreen to make it easier to hide the operators. But I still can't figure out how Big Bird's beak moves, or how the guy in the suit can see past all the feathers.

  19. Mars has water!

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Mars has water!

     

    Repeating an assertion does not constitute a proof. Until such time as you actually hammer out the math on centuries in not a millenium or more of terraforming work and compare it the construction of orbital habitats you are flailing at windmills. especially since reclamation technologies are advancing at such a pace that we may be able to create water via engineering on the molecular level long before a terraforming project would be completed. Further' date=' and inevitable part of a terraforming project would be... large scale orbital habitats that would span several generations. Also, genetic engineering may allow modifications to the human genome that would allow long-term habitation on Mars without serious health side-effects, but until it happens long-term human habitation of Mars remains less than ideal - and a matter for science fiction. I think, without many more advances in technology, and much more understanding of projects being taken on a global scale, there's nothing to talk about.[/quote']

     

    So you concede that you were wrong to claim that orbital colonies would be cheaper than colonies on the surface of Mars. Thanks!

  20. Exoplanet detection news

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Exoplanet detection news

     

    I'm afraid you misunderstood in what sense the hot Jupiters are "too big." It's not a matter of their masses' date=' but of their radii. Given mass and temperature, the expected radius can be deduced. However, among such hot Jupiters as have had their radii "measured," almost half have radii larger than what the best current models predict.[/quote']

     

    That's exactly what I meant. Accretion of more, lighter volatiles should create larger planets (as measured by radii) for given mass. Not sure if that would enlarge them to the point that is being observed, though. There's only one way to find out.

  21. Musings on Random Musings

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Musings on Random Musings

     

    That reminds me of the time I showed up for my databases final and no one was there. I spent half an hour running around trying to find out what room they'd moved the final to before I finally realized I'd shown up an hour early. Haaaaaa. (slaps forehead)

  24. Exoplanet detection news

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Exoplanet detection news

     

    That could be anything. It could be that K stars emit too weakly and so the oversized planets are able to hoover up more volatiles during accretion. Or tidal forces could be to blame. Or it could be some kind of statistical or spectroscopic error in the measurements that just exaggerates the perceived Doppler effect on K stars.

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