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  • 4 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Real-time Apollo 11 on this 45th anniversary of the mission, if you're reading this just now:

 

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#.U8yLkrFZCME

 

1024px-A11.plaque.jpg
 

Replica of the lunar plaque from the Apollo 11 mission. Humanity has yet to live up to its words, and we may not for a very long time, but it doesn't make it any less worthy to aspire to.

Edited by Agiel
  • Like 1
Quote
“Political philosophers have often pointed out that in wartime, the citizen, the male citizen at least, loses one of his most basic rights, his right to life; and this has been true ever since the French Revolution and the invention of conscription, now an almost universally accepted principle. But these same philosophers have rarely noted that the citizen in question simultaneously loses another right, one just as basic and perhaps even more vital for his conception of himself as a civilized human being: the right not to kill.”
 
-Jonathan Littell <<Les Bienveillantes>>
Quote

"The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshipped. Any state, entity, or ideology becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures territories, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, but convinces nobody. When it is naked, yet puts on armor and calls it faith, while in the Eyes of God it has no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete."

-Rod Serling

 

Posted

Feels a bit weird that Richard Nixon's name is on that plaque. Still...

"It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"."

             -Elwood Blues

 

tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp.

Posted

In regards to that recent "Lionfish" science news..

 

io9 - Sixth Grade May Have Stolen Biologists Research

 

 

There's a new development in the story about 12-year-old Lauren Arrington's remarkable science fair project about the invasive potential of lionfish. A marine biologist is now claiming that the project was based on published work he did back in 2011 — and that the girl is the daughter of his former supervisor's best friend.

 

Stories of lead researchers stealing the work of their grad students is not uncommon, but this represents a major twist. It seems that in this case, a proud parent (and close friend of a college professor) encouraged his daughter to conduct a science fair project that was largely based on the work of that professor/friend's graduate student. Arrington's science fair project seems to have been inspired by the work of a grad student, Zack Jud, who published very similar results back in 2011 — work that Arrington's father was an author on.

Since the story broke a couple of days ago it's been picked up by numerous media outlets. The news eventually got the attention of Jud, who claims that his many years of groundbreaking work on lionfish in low salinity estuarine habitats is being completely and intentionally ignored.

 

"At this stage in my career, this type of national exposure would be invaluable...if only my name was included in the stories," Jud wrote on his Facebook page. "I feel like my hands are tied. Anything I say will come off as an attempt to steal a little girl's thunder, but it's unethical for her and her father to continue to claim the discovery of lionfish in estuaries as her own."

 

Unethical, indeed. Clearly, it's important that this scientific work — which highlights a worrisome ecological problem — receives the media attention it deserves. But it's also important that credit be given where it's due.

And it appears that Jud has a strong case. Here's what Fischer Aitchtuoh from the Central Florida Aquarium Society has learned:

 

 

D. Albrey Arrington, the father of Lauren Arrington, appears as an author on this paper released June 2011. He had absolutely nothing to do with the research however, he was clearly aware that lionfish were found in low salinity parts of the estuary years before the science fair project was carried out. By this time, Jud had planned on running salinity tolerance trials for quite a while before Arrington executed her project, invalidating the premise that any related research had been ultimately replicated or expanded upon by ecologists. Jud's work further revealed wild lionfish in salinities in as low as 8 ppt, just a hair above the young girls 6 ppt "breakthrough" in captivity.

 

A subsequent paper that Jud published in 2012 that documented movement patterns of lionfish within the estuary. The "discovery" was made years before the science fair project was carried out. Arrington's project lowered the salinity bar from 8 ppt (Jud's previous finding, which Arrington knew about) to 6 ppt. Jud subsequently demonstrated that lionfish could survive in salinities as low as 5 ppt for extended periods of time, and as low as 1 ppt for brief periods (in the wild, around low tide during the wet season).

 

 

Frustratingly, there's actually a petition going around demanding that Arrington's name be added as an author to Jud's most recent scientific publication.

Jud is now trying to figure out what to do about the situation without doing anything to discourage the girl.

 

"Most of you are aware of the massive amount of time I put into exposing kids to science, and I obviously don't want to do anything to diminish this young lady's curiosity or enthusiasm," he writes. "I'm thrilled that she chose to look at lionfish for her science fair project, but encouraging an outright lie is poor parenting and a horrible way to introduce a youngster to a career in the sciences."

 

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

Posted

Couldn't decide where this would best fit in.. so I thought I'd just throw it here.

 

http://youtu.be/CbIZU8cQWXc

  • Like 4

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."

Posted

Check the comments of that article. Seems the article is a bit fear mongering.

"only when you no-life you can exist forever, because what does not live cannot die."

Posted

 

How the hell does that thing work to begin with? It's like putting a bunch of pigeons in a car and they making it lift if they were all flying at the same time. 

 

Did i miss something?

"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

- Some guy 

Posted

 

 

How the hell does that thing work to begin with? It's like putting a bunch of pigeons in a car and they making it lift if they were all flying at the same time. 

 

Did i miss something?

 

if you put enough birds...

The words freedom and liberty, are diminishing the true meaning of the abstract concept they try to explain. The true nature of freedom is such, that the human mind is unable to comprehend it, so we make a cage and name it freedom in order to give a tangible meaning to what we dont understand, just as our ancestors made gods like Thor or Zeus to explain thunder.

 

-Teknoman2-

What? You thought it was a quote from some well known wise guy from the past?

 

Stupidity leads to willful ignorance - willful ignorance leads to hope - hope leads to sex - and that is how a new generation of fools is born!


We are hardcore role players... When we go to bed with a girl, we roll a D20 to see if we hit the target and a D6 to see how much penetration damage we did.

 

Modern democracy is: the sheep voting for which dog will be the shepherd's right hand.

Posted

 

 

How the hell does that thing work to begin with? It's like putting a bunch of pigeons in a car and they making it lift if they were all flying at the same time. 

 

Did i miss something?

 

 

http://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/5058/Propulsion-on-an-Interstellar-Scale-the-Quantum-Vacuum-Plasma-Thruster.aspx

 

Article that goes bit in science behind that engine

  • Like 1
Posted

Thank you!

"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

- Some guy 

Posted

It's probably an experimental error, just as the faster than light neutrinos was a couple of years ago. Phil Plait on Bad Astronomy speculates about this, and he is not alone.

 

But one can hope. :)

Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. - H.L. Mencken

Posted (edited)

Daewoo has designed an exoskeleton which can lift 65lbs and is equipped with a power unit that lasts for 3 hours

They plan to build a more powerful unit with an increased load capacity of up to 220lbs/100kg. 

 

Which is still very disappointing, I'm a squishy human and I'm still way stronger than their current model. I'd also be way stronger than their updated model. Lifting 220lbs/100kg is nothing for anyone who does some weight lifting in their spare time.  

Edited by Woldan

I gazed at the dead, and for one dark moment I saw a banquet. 
 

Posted

You gotta start somewhere.

 

IMO the human body is already a great machine, I think scientists should focus more on methods to strengthen bones, joints and artificial muscles which are ten times stronger than human ones. We're already equipped with a pretty good battery. Update what you have before going with completely new stuff. 

  • Like 2

I gazed at the dead, and for one dark moment I saw a banquet. 
 

Posted

 

Still no consciousness yet though, a pity.

"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bull**** is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."

- Some guy 

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