November 04, 2015
Space Geysers
The massive south polar geysers of Enceladus from the night side. Picture taken by Cassini on approach during its historic pass through the plumes last week.
"Because Astro Oceanographic Vulcanology is AWESOME!"
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November 03, 2015
That'll Learn I'm!
Well the penalty for the NASA official who gave a Chinese official unfettered access to the Langley Reasearch Center for just under two years has been sentenced....to six months probation and 250 dollars.
Woodell permitted Bo Jiang "complete and unrestricted access†to the NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia, according to the indictment filed October 20. The indictment stated that he had violated NASA’s security and IT regulations over a two-year period, from Spring 2011 to January 2013.
I feel so safe that I might cry.
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Some Shows...
...have tremendous amounts of action that doesn't advance the plot or mean anything.
Contrasting with that sort of thing, in the latest episode of Owarimonigatari two highschool students stand and listen as a third reflects upon her middle school years for twenty two minutes. They never leave the room and nothing else happens.
This episode had me on the edge of my seat.
Owarimonogatari is supposedly the last in this supernatural dramedy franchise, and has, aside from its first episode (and the unremarked upon mystery of what happened to a certain characters irises) not had a lot of supernatural anything in it. Despite this it has been genuinely surprising and at times rather disturbing.
People can be the worst monsters, and perfidy is a wretched thing.
This is a very well written show. I'm not sure where they are going with it, but I am anxious to find out.
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I'd Trade My Blackberry for a Flying Car
Tam finds the money quote in a William Gibson interview.
"Holy crap. That's right!"
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November 02, 2015
98 Years Ago
World War One changed everything.
On this date in 1917 the Balfour Declaration was announced.
This effectively eliminated other areas from consideration for the location of a Jewish state. For several years up to this point, Kenya, Uganda and Madagascar* had been proposed as Jewish homelands by the British and French governments in cooperation with the Zionist movement (which had begun actively looking for a homeland for Jews in part as a result of the Dreyfuss Affair). However, it was always a low priority. Part of the reason for the declaration, and certainly the motivation behind sending it to lord Rotshchild, was that Balfour wanted to do something for their mutual friend Chaim Weizman, a brilliant chemist who had saved Britain from defeat early in the war by inventing a means of making artificial acetone (thereby breaking the German near monopoly on the stuff). However, the overriding motivation was the Sykes Picot treaty that resulted in the British and French** carving up Arabia. With the French getting Lebanon and Syria, the British needed some way to get non-arabs to move to the Trans-Jordan /Palestine region and so the idea of a Jewish homeland went from "nice idea, let's maybe do it sometime" to "something in the strategic interests of the Empire".
One of the first things that was learned (to the European's surprise and dismay), was that the Ottomans had, in fact, been keeping the more egregious anti-Semitic tendencies of the Palestinians in check by threat of military force. Shortly after the British took over, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem began a series of pogroms against Jews aimed at their extermination. Of course, with the Jewish homeland now designated by the worlds largest empire, the other options fell by the wayside and Israel became the last best hope, especially after the post-Holocaust exodus and this ultimately resulted in the formation of the state of Israel in 1947.
* Interestingly, Nazi Germany revived the Madagascar plan in 1940-42 and made it part of their program of Jewish expulsion until they decided on total extermination in 1942/43. This does add an intriguing note to certain recent assertions that have caused so much sturm and drang.
** The Russians were promised things in Sykes Picot too, and this was affirmed after the February Revolution, but following the fall of Kerensky and the ascension of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution, France and Britain decided it was time for some white-out. Russia had been promised Istanbul (probably to be renamed Constantinople) Turkish Armenia and control of the Sea of Marmara and Bosporus. While invoking that treaty is certainly dubious to say the least, Russia has had considered the area to be of profound importance and a high priority for bringing into its sphere of influence since Catherine the Great and their interest in the region was the main focus of the Crimean War.
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Regrettably, We Must Interrupt Your Monday For a Moment of Whimsy
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November 01, 2015
So Her Sigil is Like a D.O.T. Placard
"By the power of Greyskull...I'm Queen of the Castle!"
"By the power of Greyskull...I'm Queen of the Castle!"This season's second episode of RWBY was happily devoid of vomit. On the other hand it was just fights: Rather silly ones at that. Neither of the fights were as good as the one from last episode, though there was a bit of character development. We find out for instance that Jaune Arc is getting progressively better, alas the derp is still strong with him.
The implication is that he did not discuss the playbook with his team before hand. However, Nora did remember what he was talking about after a moment and was trying to explain it to Ren, indicating that he had discussed this, but the others had not been listening or had dismissed it as unserious. Fortuitously for JNPR, few problems cannot be solved by having Nora hit them with her hammer a lot. 
Team NDGO was actually pretty awesome...
I was particularly impressed with the leader's weapon and the girl whose dress consists of pez dispensers for throwing knives
This was OK but despite much action, not much happened.
Fortunately, there are indications that the plot resumes next week.
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October 31, 2015
Drive Carefully
...the kids are about tonight!
Art by Cii.
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A Want Ad: If Fortran is Your Thing, Your Time is Now
One of Dr. Pournelle's correspondent's passed this along.
Voyager needs a programmer
Dear Dr. Pournelle,Perhaps someone in your reading audience would like to take up the challenge. It seems the current engineer for Voyager 1/2 is retiring.http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a17991/voyager-1-voyager-2-retiring-engineer/So they need someone who is greatly skilled with Fortran and Assembly languages to step in and keep the probe running. This is old-school programming at its finest; there are only 64kb of memory to work with, and this will be real-time programming , I suspect, with hard constraints.I’m a little disappointed. Voyager is the reason I got into computers in the first place, but now after years of writing database and object-oriented programs I don’t have anywhere near the experience required to do this kind of work. I’d be willing to learn .. but I suspect "willing’ isn’t enough. "Willing†doesn’t instantly make you an expert in real time software.Respectfully,Brian
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Ghosts, Goblins and Girls
Yomuu, Kosaga and their familiars by Mazume'
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Spooky Goings On
It's Halloween.
Let's sit around and tell scary stories.
...and Ichabod Crane never saw his chips again.
Russia just conducted a combined arms exercise that included live firing of several strategic missile systems in a coordination.
On 30 October 2015, Russia conducted a test of the command and control system that involved a number of strategic and non-strategic systems. As part of the exercise, K-117 Bryansk submarine of the Project 667BDRM/Delta IV-class launched a R-29RM missile from the Barents Sea. K-223 Podolsk submarine of the Project 667BDR/Delta III class launched a R-29R missile from the Sea of Okhotsk. The Strategic Rocket Forces conducted a launch of a Topol/SS-25 missile from Plesetsk, while the Tu-160 strategic bombers launched cruise missiles toward targets at the Pemboy and Kura test ranges. In addition, Velikiy Ustyug small missile ship launched a Kalibr cruise missile from the Kaspian Sea. The exercise also involved a launch of an Iskander cruise missile from Kapustin Yar.
So, yeah. A comprehensive nuclear strike drill involving all the nuclear capable services as well as actual expenditure of ICBMs and SLBMs.
Of course all militaries need to train (I wish ours would do more drills of this nature than it does) so this would not automatically be a concern if it weren't for all the other stuff going on with Russia right now.
To wit...
Russia's authorities should revive the old Cold War practice of training civilians on how to respond in the event of a large-scale nuclear attack, a senior government official said on Friday.
Note that the article couches this in terms of a response to the U.S. nuclear weapons modernization (which consists of improving the accuracy and lowering the yield on a group of existing bombs designed 45 years ago). No mention is made of the Russian deployment of 2 different ICBM types and current development of a new super heavy ICBM, no less than 3 different types of SLBM and a new cruise missile that is in direct violation of the INF treaty.
Meanwhile, we are sending troops into Syria to help the people the Russians are shooting at. This could easily result in American and Russian forces shooting at each other. Does anyone see a downside to this?
Of course, one of the main problems in Syria is ISIS, which, as this article points out, has beyond it demonstrated depravity and stated goals a considerable potential to cause chaos in Europe even if they continue applying pressure indirectly via the refugee crisis.
Meanwhile:
North Korea looks to be prepping for a new nuclear test. This would be logical since there are indications that they have some advanced, lightweight weapon designs they probably want to evaluate. Furthermore, given that their nuke program has a lot of technical exchange with Iran, It probably won't be just a Nork Nuke being tested.
Speaking of which, in a development that comes as a shock to only the most obtuse, the Iran Nuclear Deal is pretty much scuttling all efforts at non-proliferation of nuclear weapons as nations that gave up their nuclear programs look at the terms Iran got and conclude they were saps, those that are pursuing them conclude that the days of consequences for such actions have passed and a general feeling begins to take hold that the controls are off and everyone who values their sovereignty had best get them soon.
Some folks think that the huge fissure opening near Yellowstone (well, in the same state) indicates renewed vulcanism is imminent at the worlds largest advertisement for storable food. THe government isn't making any preparations for ashfall, and they are saying that the phenomena is a peculiar type of landslide...so it's probably just craboids.
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October 30, 2015
Remember. Trick is an Option
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October 29, 2015
Where Politics Inevitably Leads
I actually heard someone ask today, if, during his jujitsu moment during the debate last night, Ted Cruz had made an Anti-Semetic joke about Bernie sanders.
Because obviously Senator Sanders was the alluded to Mensch-kevik.
OK. In fairness, that's not a completely unwarranted etymology error.
However, if one did not know what the Mensheviks were one may be surprised to lear that one has numerous options other than flinging casual and stupid allegations of anti-semitism about.
One could ask. " Umm...what did he mean by Mensheviks?"
One could think about the context of the word in the sentence and, assuming one knew what a Bolshevik is, conclude that a Menshevik is some other faction...given the sarcasm in the delivery, perhaps not that far removed from the Bolshies.
Or one could reach for THAT COMPUTER ON YOUR HIP WHICH CAN ACCESS VERY NEARLY THE SUM TOTAL OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE (wisdom not included).
This has troubling implications for our society.
It gets worse:
This exchange got me to thinking what Mensch - Kivak would actually be. Regrettably, I inadvertently pondered Mensch-Kiviak and...and I cannot unsee it no matter how hard I try.
But enough of such unpleasantries; here is a picture that has naught to do with the Russian Revolution or cannibalism.
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October 28, 2015
PLUME DIVE!
One of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes reacts to the news that Cassini has survived its plume dive.
Allow us to explain...
Saturn's moon Enceladus is known to have a global, ice-covered ocean. It also has massive geysers in its southern hemisphere that spew the contents of its ocean far above its surface.
Well, in order to find out exactly what is in its ocean NASA has turned to its only probe in the Saturnian system (Cassini). Since Cassin'is only deployable sub-probe was sent down to Titan, and since scientists have learned about all they can by spectroscopy and other remote methods, they've decided to go for broke and fly the probe on a low pass right through the plume.
Pictures and other data should be coming in within 48 hours!
In the meantime here is the closest picture ever taken of Enceladus's northern hemisphere which was taken last week...
Stay Tuned!
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October 27, 2015
I Know I'm Human
....and I know some of my commentors are human too.
But it will take longer than I have before work to figure out which of them aren't.
I'll be back later to make things right.
In the meantime, make sure you eat out of cans as you amuse yourselves trying to figure out which of you is real.
But ponder this.
This...thing...it knows what color an orange is.
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October 26, 2015
Be Concerned. Be Prepared...But Don't Lose All Historical Perspective.
IBT notes that they are shocked to learn that the Russians are poking around undersea cables with their submarines.
They are not the only paper to point tis out.
Cdr. Salamander has a sublimely titled response.
First of all, if anyone in government service in the national security arena is surprised or shocked by this, please go work somewhere else.If those who are responsible for maintaining connectivity have not been refining our branch plans to respond to this eventuality, will someone please fire them?
Do read the whole thing.
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In Another Totally and Utterly Unexpected Development...
The death toll in Mexico from the most powerful hurricane ever recorded appears very likely now to be approaching...naught.
As a rule I dislike with increasing intensity whenever zeroes show up in these sorts of statistics, unless there's just one of them by itself in which case it's a joyous thing.
Math is weird that way.
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October 25, 2015
RWBY Volume 3 Begins
Somewhere, Monty Oum is surely smiling.
The opening of RWBY:Volume 3 continued the shows general trend of considerable improvements in production quality and pacing seen over the last two seasons. The Vytal Festival, which has been "right around the corner" for most of the last two seasons and somewhat hyped, has finally arrived. Naturally, this episode has a fair amount of "smashies" and "splodies"which allow us to conclude that Dillon Gu (who was hired as action animator/choreographer after Mr. Oum's death) is, indeed, up to the task.
Action aside, the pacing and writing of the episode are quite good as is the voice acting.
Apart from the fact that this is a tournament cour that will last at least a couple of more episodes, we do find out three things of varying levels of importance.
"Oooh! Oooh! What things? What Things?"
Well for one thing, to everyone's astonishment, it's revealed that...
"RWBY's dad wears Lederhosen!"
No. just. No.....I mean he does, but...Dammit...
Fine..
Amongst the MANY things that we've learned...
The hapless shopkeeper, who, do to the local crime wave, has switched from a high overhead retail establishment involving crystal MacGuffins to a more easily insurable noodle kiosk, may, in fact, be more than meets the eye. He is certainly well versed in the esoteric art of card-fu.
'That was rude, but kind of awesome."
Somewhat surprisingly, we are quickly introduced to that new character from the trailer who has been getting so much fan attention for the last week. While her time on screen is brief we do get a surprising amount of insight into her character and motivations.
Liquorice
Apparently, Team JNPR has been having some extracurricular adventures of their own, albeit off camera...
"You know. All those times WE dealt with murderers."
It was an offhand comment, but it was certainly interesting.
Equally offhanded but rather less likely to be a continuity error, was the revelation that Rin and Nora are not only both orphans, but they both no longer have homes to return to.
Not so much revelation as confirmation is the fact that the episodes are 17 minutes and three seconds with credits. This means that we've got to wait a week to see that bit at the rest of the next fight and whether or not the lowbrow foreshadowing will pan out.
This season is off to a resoundingly promising start.
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October 24, 2015
Jellyfish!
...that's what this reminds me of!
That time at the Chinese restaurant I decided to try something completely new and off the wall...and so I ordered the jellyfish.
Well, there are similarities: I have the sneaking suspicion that a terrible prank has been played on me and a general sensation of horrible wrongness. On the other hand, the Jellyfish did not make me fear I had lost brain cells.
MILPOM however....
Can't unsee eyes
After watching the show I checked the '"about" bar to see if any side effects were listed, what their symptoms were and if there were any counter agents recommended.
But all I got was this...
The story takes place in a certain ordinary town where it is natural for everyone to wear an animal costume head. It depicts the everyday life of the main character MILPOM and her friends who live there, filled with the essence of Kawaii and a little bit cynical girls.
I read it twice and it didn't put me at ease at all.
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There's Going To Need To Be A Re-Release
One of The Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes points out the obvious application for the blackest substance ever synthesized by humans.
Art by S. Zenith Lee
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