Swedish actor Max von Sydow, famed for his roles as King Osric, Brewmeister Smith and the voice of Vigo the Carpathian, has died:
A pity, he was a hell of an actor.
In 1985 Rockwell International thought that there might be a business case for space based nuclear power systems. The customer base for nuclear reactors in space seemed to be restricted to military satellites (warning and recon mostly) and deep-space exploration systems. Advantages over solar power include resistance to the degradation of PV arrays due to passing through the ionizing Van Allen radiation belts and no need to track the sun. Costs, however, were high… high enough that in the end nothing came of it.
Say, that’s neato.
Italy has placed up to 16 million people under quarantine as it battles to contain the spread of coronavirus. Anyone living in Lombardy and 14 other central and northern provinces will need special permission to travel. Milan and Venice are both affected. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also announced the closure of schools, gyms, museums, nightclubs and other venues across the whole country.
Yeah, this ain’t rational:
An article from the Daily Fail describes and illustrates with a number of photos from Costco stores on the east and west coast that, apparently, a lot of people are freaking the fark out and buying mass quantities of things that they think they’ll need during the forthcoming plaguepocalypse. Somewhat rationally, disinfectants of various kinds – as I’ve mentioned – are in great demand. But so are toilet paper and bottled water. Why bottled water? Frak if I know. Things would have to get *real* bad before metropolitan water supplies either shut down or become tainted. Toilet paper? Ehh, I suppose that’s not *quite* so loopy as TP has a long shelf life and is something you’re eventually going to need anyway… if you can stock up a reasonable amount at normal prices, then, shrug. But going buggo and buying a carload of the stuff is not only silly, it’s *rude.* A lot of people might be legitimately just about out of TP, and if they can’t resupply because you wandered off with a truckload of the stuff… well, there’ll be unhappiness. THIS ARTICLE talks to some shrinks to try to figure out why people go buggo for TP, and according to them the reasons are all (SURPRISE!) psychological.
But it’s not just the US. Australia and Britain are also joining in the fun:
I’ve seen a lot of panic buying over the years as people go bugnuts over fears of a major winter storm, or a hurricane, or a petroleum shortage, or a gun ban or an ammo ban, and joy unbounded, now I get to add fear of a pandemic to the list. Curiously, I did some grocery shopping today and found that at a local grocery store not only was toilet paper fully stocked, it was on sale. But if things continue, then it’s safe to assume that these buying panics will spread further. The toilet paper manufacturers will of course bump up production to meet demand, but once things settle down I wonder if they might be hurt by this. Because there will be a *lot* of people with a *lot* of toilet paper and no need to buy more for months or even years. A healthy profit this year might not help if their sales plummet soon after.
Note: a whole buncha Tweeter posts after the break. some informative, most darkly amusing. Some refreshingly uncivilized Brits.
By 1985, the “Solar Power Satellite” program of the late 1970s was effectively dead. SPS rose to prominence atop the rising oil prices due to OPEC oil embargoes and the like, but in the early 80’s the global price of oil collapsed and potentially competitive systems such as SPS suddenly were no longer remotely competitive. Still, Rockwell International hoped that they could leverage their considerable experience with SPS to generate a [profitable business. But it was not to be.
“It belched out a buttload of dust in our direction” seems to be the explanation. If so… no supernova for you.
The star has begun regaining its prior brightness. An examination of its surface shows no cooling, only dimming, which is best explained by some of the light being simply physically blocked.
I was pointed towards THIS LISTING of the “Apollo 11” documentary, available on a 4K disk:
My first reaction was “Huzzah!” followed by “About time!” followed by “Huh? Wait a minute…”
It even ships from overseas… Britain, apparently.
Frak.
Anyone know if:
1) there are plans for a US release?
2) this UK release works adequately on US 4K players?
Or, in fact, *any* virus. This guy – who I’m shocked to not see the press (yet) declaring a MAGA-hat wearing Trump supporter – was apparently upset that an Asian-looking guy was standing near him on a subway, so he got belligerent, threatened violence, and sprayed the guy with Febreeze. Apparently some people got it into their noggins that since this virus comes from China, Asian people in New York are somehow to be particularly feared… by which logic the other guy here should be assumed to be a carrier of Ebola.
Nothing here makes sense outside of “somebody’s kind of a ᛞᛁᛈᛋᚺᛁᛏ”.
Posted by Doris Au on Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Things like this are what make people yearn for the Sweet Meteor Of Death.
