Science!
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The Opportunity rover has finally died. There are dozens of stories and tweets out there, so pick your favorite but here are some stats.
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I need that monster movie so hard.
- Mongrel
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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.
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.
Re: Science!
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:
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EDIT: Wrong thread.
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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.
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.
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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.
I'd like to at least hope he's not an engineer by trade.
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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.)
(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.)
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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.
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It's mostly a preference thing. Since everything is reduced to scientific notation in the publications, it comes down to local preference.
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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.
Re: Science!
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.
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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.
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.
- Mongrel
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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.
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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.
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Kilomillion? Wait, no, that's a kind of steak.
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