Science!

User avatar
Bal
Posts: 761
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 9:13 pm

Re: Science!

Postby Bal » Thu Feb 14, 2019 8:28 am

The Opportunity rover has finally died. There are dozens of stories and tweets out there, so pick your favorite but here are some stats.

Image

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Science!

Postby Mongrel » Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:24 pm

Image

User avatar
Büge
Posts: 5440
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:56 pm

Re: Science!

Postby Büge » Fri Mar 08, 2019 1:42 pm

Well, sure.

Need I remind you,

Image
Image

User avatar
mharr
Posts: 1583
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2016 11:54 am
Location: UK

Re: Science!

Postby mharr » Fri Mar 08, 2019 2:03 pm

I need that monster movie so hard.

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Science!

Postby Mongrel » Fri Mar 08, 2019 2:11 pm

Well, the same article DOES in fact say that the T-Rex almost certainly had a crest of feathers on its head and down along its spine!

One interesting thing was that while I thought the T-Rex had been dethroned by several similar dinosaurs as the most fearsome predator dinosaur, it turns out that T-Rex is still the all-time champion - by a very large margin - for sheer chomping power among land animals, live or extinct.

T-Rex's bite was something like 7,800 Newtons.
Image

User avatar
Büge
Posts: 5440
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:56 pm

Re: Science!

Postby Büge » Fri Mar 08, 2019 2:29 pm

Mongrel wrote:it turns out that T-Rex is still the all-time champion - by a very large margin - for sheer chomping power among land animals, live or extinct.


and yet

Mongrel wrote:
Image

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Science!

Postby Mongrel » Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:11 am

EDIT: Wrong thread.
Image

User avatar
Büge
Posts: 5440
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:56 pm

Re: Science!

Postby Büge » Thu Mar 14, 2019 7:17 am

...wrong thread?
Image

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Science!

Postby Mongrel » Wed Mar 27, 2019 11:12 pm

Image

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Science!

Postby Thad » Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:23 am

I think that, for the time being, at least, we can assume people won't be intentionally stepping out in front of AVs assuming they'll stop for them. At least, not at any higher rate than they do for traditional cars.

That could change as AVs become more common, if collisions are rare and the fatality in Tempe comes to be seen as an aberration.

A potentially scarier possibility is what happens if people go into full-on loom-smashing rebellion against AVs and start causing accidents on purpose.

But I'm really not sure that's a real risk. What I'm a lot more sure of is that an increased police presence, and increased enforcement of jaywalking laws (along with all the other hassles and harassment that come with increased police presence), make that sort of backlash more likely to happen, not less.

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Science!

Postby Mongrel » Thu Mar 28, 2019 1:14 am

And that's not even getting into the fact that the central horror here is that the auto industry guy's attitude to selling dangerously half-baked technology is to get law enforcement to try and strongarm people into adapting.

I'd like to at least hope he's not an engineer by trade.
Image

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Science!

Postby Thad » Wed Apr 10, 2019 10:21 am

First ever black hole image released

(BBC link; American readers note that when people outside the US say "billion" that's 10^12 and when they say "trillion" it's 10^18.)

User avatar
mharr
Posts: 1583
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2016 11:54 am
Location: UK

Re: Science!

Postby mharr » Wed Apr 10, 2019 10:39 am

Are we still doing that? I thought computers and the internet had moved everything to the American standard because not having a name for 1000 million is dumb as rocks.

User avatar
Bal
Posts: 761
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 9:13 pm

Re: Science!

Postby Bal » Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:07 am

It's mostly a preference thing. Since everything is reduced to scientific notation in the publications, it comes down to local preference.

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Science!

Postby Thad » Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:11 am

mharr wrote:Are we still doing that? I thought computers and the internet had moved everything to the American standard because not having a name for 1000 million is dumb as rocks.

But so is starting a 3-based numbering system at 6.

Course, we manage to get by with a calendar system where our ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months are called Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten, too.

User avatar
Blossom
Posts: 2297
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 8:58 pm

Re: Science!

Postby Blossom » Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:04 pm

mharr wrote:Are we still doing that? I thought computers and the internet had moved everything to the American standard because not having a name for 1000 million is dumb as rocks.


Yeah, mostly people stopped doing that a while ago.
Image

User avatar
Thad
Posts: 13165
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:05 am
Location: 1611 Uranus Avenue
Contact:

Re: Science!

Postby Thad » Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:31 pm

Then it's possible I'm wrong!

I can't find the numbers expressed in SN offhand, just references back to the BBC piece. So they may be American billions and trillions after all. If anyone can find SN values to clarify, please feel free.

User avatar
Mongrel
Posts: 21290
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line

Re: Science!

Postby Mongrel » Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:41 pm

Well, I can't speak to the rest of the world, but up here 1 Billion has been the American "That's niiiiine zeros, boy!" for as long as I've been alive.
Image

patito
Posts: 281
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:56 pm

Re: Science!

Postby patito » Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:19 pm

mharr wrote:Are we still doing that? I thought computers and the internet had moved everything to the American standard because not having a name for 1000 million is dumb as rocks.


it has a name, it's a thousand millions.

User avatar
mharr
Posts: 1583
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2016 11:54 am
Location: UK

Re: Science!

Postby mharr » Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:08 pm

Kilomillion? Wait, no, that's a kind of steak.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests