3.8 Kilotons

 awesomeness, news, science  No Responses »
Apr 232012
 

SIERRA FIREBALL DECODED

“The energy is estimated at a whopping 3.8 kilotons of TNT, so this was a big event,” he continues. “I am not saying there was a 3.8 kiloton explosion on the ground in California. I am saying that the meteor possessed this amount of energy before it broke apart in the atmosphere. [The map] shows the location of the atmospheric breakup, not impact with the ground.”

“The fact that sonic booms were heard indicates that this meteor penetrated very low in atmosphere, which implies a speed less than 15 km/s (33,500 mph). Assuming this value for the speed, I get a mass for the meteor of around 70 metric tons. Hazarding a further guess at the density of 3 grams per cubic centimeter (solid rock), I calculate a size of about 3-4 meters, or about the size of a minivan.”

BAM!

 Posted by at 7:01 pm

Invisible Comments

 AARRRGH, blather  5 Responses »
Apr 232012
 

FURTHER UPDATE: I received this note from someone who could not previously see the comments:

I think that I have found why I have a problem and it is at my end – nothing to do with you. Even though Linux is relatively safe on the Internet, this paranoid guy has cookies and Javascript disabled by default. Most sites that need them show a message if this is the case. Your site is one of the exceptions. If I enable Javascript, I can see the comments and also the message:- Warning: A browser setting is preventing you from logging in If I also enable cookies, this goes away and I can post.

Via email I’ve been informed that at least one person can see my blog posts, but sees absolutely no evidence of comments, nor any hint of how to comment. My best guess is that there is something screwy with the Disqus system… since it is separate from  the blog proper, my thought was that nannyware might be blocking the comments. However, the same person can see the comments on another website that uses the Disqus system, so… I dunno.

If you cannot see comments, let me know via email. If you have some sort of idea as to what might cause this, feel free to comment. Or email.

Also acceptable: write your suggestions on the back of a fully filled-out check made out to me…

UPDATE: this post has garnered a total of one comment (so far), but also an email from another reader who says he’s seen no comments on this blog in months. What you should see when you look at this post is something like this:

Note the “1 comment and 0 reactions” in the upper right.  If you don’t see that, then something is amiss. A Google search on Disqus problems came up with this page which has some suggestions if you are using Firefox and can’t see the comments: one of your addons might be causing trouble. Firefox suggests starting Firefox in SafeMode; if you can then see the comments, then it’s one of your addons/extensions that’s blocking Disqus comments.

 Posted by at 10:34 am

That was unfortunate

 cats, Gah.  3 Responses »
Apr 232012
 

A few minutes ago, I introduced Fluffmodeus the cat to catnip. The other cats were of course in on it; Raedthinn, as always, was unimpressed; Fingers and Buttons thought it was pretty good stuff, worth snorting and rolling around in. But Fluffy freakin’ lost control. It was clearly an awe-inspiring experience, which made him go bonkers.

But the problem: he lost control. As in, he lost control of his bladder and cut loose, emptying himself in situ. Bleah.

This ever happen to anyone else?

 Posted by at 12:00 am

We’re doomed

 AARRRGH, dumbassery, Gah., news  5 Responses »
Apr 222012
 

In order to save $1.7 million, the University of Florida has decided to get rid of the Computer Science Department. And then they increased the athletic department budget by $2 million.

Sure. That’s a good idea. Who’s ever heard of one of them there “computer” thingies, anyway?

University of Florida Eliminates Computer Science Department, Increases Athletic Budgets.

The athletic department budget is $99 million. That’s right, prit near a tenth of  *BILLION* dollars so the dumber of the students at the university may play games.

 Posted by at 10:45 pm

Pioneer Anomaly Solved

 awesomeness, news, nukes, rockets, science, spacecraft  8 Responses »
Apr 222012
 

For some years the Pioneer spacecraft have been demonstrating a phenomenon that has had astrophysicists tearing their hair out. They are drifting out into interstellar space; the only forces acting on them are gravity from the sun, drag against the fabulously thin interplanetary medium, incredibly weak photon pressure/solar wind from the sun, and a few other minor effects. All together, the result should be a slight deceleration (mostly due to the suns gravity). But careful measurements have shown that the spacecraft are actually decelerating more than physics says they should.

So, the Pioneer Anomaly has resulted in theory after theory, with physicists (and others) suggesting new phenomena that would generally overturn Relativity or introduce unseen words Out There, or something. But it appears that a careful examination of all the data has produced an explanation that explains everything and requires no new physics:

Pioneer Anomaly Solved!

The short form seems to be that heat being radiated from the spacecraft is producing the thrust needed for the deceleration. The level of thrust is incredibly low… keep in mind, this is produced by low-energy infra-red photons leaking away from the spacecraft. The dying RTGs radiate somewhat equally in all directions, but some of that heat is reflected off of the main antenna dish, producing that slight flicker of thrust.

Think of it as the thrust produced by a nearly-dead flashlight.

 Posted by at 2:01 am

Movie review: “Cabin in The Woods”

 awesomeness, blather, reshaping the world, science fiction  2 Responses »
Apr 212012
 

Saw it today: My recommendation: go see it. It’s good. It’s *really* good. Sadly, I can’t say too much about it, or I’ll give away plot points that you really need to be surprised by. I read the basic plot of the movie in a review and decided it was worth seeing; in retrospect, I’d’ve been happier being surprised.

All that said: about half of it is a stock-standard “dumbass kids in the woods getting set upon by nasty killmonsters” plot. But as it turns out… there is a good reason why it sounds like such a cliche, and that reason makes this movie rather more than the run of the mill slasher/monster flick. Suffice it to say… this is the most HPL-ian movie I’ve seen in a  *looooooong* time.

Lots of violence, literally truckloads of gore, even *GASP* some girlie-nudie-bits. Mostly stars relative unknowns and some recognizable character actors… one *Star* makes an appearance, and Thor before he was Thor (the movie was shot in 2009 and then MGM went bankrupt). And the best stoner character you’ve ever seen.

And it presents a rather interesting major moral quandary.

 Posted by at 12:57 am
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