amazing science/nature images
- ukimalefu
- Posts: 44237
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Y'all want to stay away from Brazil
https://gizmodo.com/imagine-walking-int ... 1831706419
2 videos there

https://gizmodo.com/imagine-walking-int ... 1831706419
2 videos there
The Guardian on Friday reported recent accounts of such an occurrence in Brazil, where people have reportedly claimed it’s “raining spiders.” A video recently shared to Facebook of the phenomenon in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais appears to show hundreds of spiders suspended in the air—like something straight out your worst arachnid nightmares.


Low tides have revealed a relic from World War I -- the skeleton of a German U-boat visible again off the coast of northern France.
The metal frame of a UC 61 can be seen about 100 meters (more than 300 feet) from the sand dunes of Wissant, France just down the coast of Calais in the North Sea, according to the news agency Agence France-Presse. The submarine ran aground on July 26, 1917.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/12/europe/g ... index.html
"TOS ain’t havin no horserace round here. “Policies” is the coin of the realm." -- iDaemon
- ukimalefu
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Plants on the moon!


China’s miniature biosphere experiment has yielded sprouting cotton seeds, and they are the first plants to germinate on the Moon—an important first step in creating a viable, self-sustaining lunar colony.
China’s Chang’e 4 lander arrived on the Moon’s far side on January 3, 2018. Among its cargo is a miniature lunar biosphere developed by scientists at Chongqing University. This experiment consists of a 7-inch-long, airtight container filled with soil, air, water, various seeds, yeast, and fruit fly eggs. Together, these components are meant to kickstart a simple ecosystem, the purpose of which is to test the viability of sustaining a future colony on the Moon. A built-in heat system facilitates growth and prevents the biological material from freezing, reports the Xinhua news agency, while two small cameras allow for observations.
- ukimalefu
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Space plant is dead, because of course it is
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/1 ... lant_dies/
Now we won't get t-shirts made out of space cotton.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/1 ... lant_dies/
Although the cotton seedling was nurtured with water, natural sunlight, and, apparently, a temperature regulator, it proved no match for the Moon's frigid temperatures, which can drop as low as -170 degrees Celsius (-274 degrees in Freedom units) on the arid satellite.
Now we won't get t-shirts made out of space cotton.
obvs wrote:TIL the temperature on the moon drops below absolute zero.-274 degrees in Freedom units
Absolute Zero in Fahrenheit is -459.67.
Unless that was a snide remark about the preferred measurement systems used by most of the countries that rank higher than the US on various "freedom" scales.
- macaddict4life
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I don't get the hate for Fahrenheit (besides trying to spell it). Metric is definitely more logical for distance units. But for temperature, the freezing point and boiling point of water are just as arbitrary as any other metric, and are not really a useful reference day-to-day. On top of that, there have been plenty of times where I've found 1°C to be too big of a step when adjusting an air conditioner, but lots of air conditioners here only do complete degrees, not half degrees.
Ernest
TOS wrote: the only freedom units i still use are pounds a feet, the latter, now that i think about it, only for height
I use most F.U.s, usually right alongside their metric equivalents. The best are recipes. Even in commercial kitchens I'll see three or four systems used, along with meaningless personal measures.
MacAddict4Life wrote: I don't get the hate for Fahrenheit (besides trying to spell it). Metric is definitely more logical for distance units. But for temperature, the freezing point and boiling point of water are just as arbitrary as any other metric, and are not really a useful reference day-to-day. On top of that, there have been plenty of times where I've found 1°C to be too big of a step when adjusting an air conditioner, but lots of air conditioners here only do complete degrees, not half degrees.
Not to mention that the boiling point of water varies due to altitude and even barometric pressure.
Not even duct tape will fix stupid, but it can muffle the sound.
- ukimalefu
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MacAddict4Life wrote: I don't get the hate for Fahrenheit (besides trying to spell it). Metric is definitely more logical for distance units. But for temperature, the freezing point and boiling point of water are just as arbitrary as any other metric, and are not really a useful reference day-to-day. On top of that, there have been plenty of times where I've found 1°C to be too big of a step when adjusting an air conditioner, but lots of air conditioners here only do complete degrees, not half degrees.
0º C : water freezes
100º C : water boils
That's better than 32 and... whatever.
And the air conditioner thing? blame the manufacturer.
- ukimalefu
- Posts: 44237
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Mercury
see it rotating here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/8497 ... likes_hd=1
(it doesn't seem to work for me there, and if I download the video, it only plays half way)
Pariah wrote:MacAddict4Life wrote: I don't get the hate for Fahrenheit (besides trying to spell it). Metric is definitely more logical for distance units. But for temperature, the freezing point and boiling point of water are just as arbitrary as any other metric, and are not really a useful reference day-to-day. On top of that, there have been plenty of times where I've found 1°C to be too big of a step when adjusting an air conditioner, but lots of air conditioners here only do complete degrees, not half degrees.
Not to mention that the boiling point of water varies due to altitude and even barometric pressure.
it's actually the boiling point of water at 1 atmosphere
"TOS ain’t havin no horserace round here. “Policies” is the coin of the realm." -- iDaemon
- Metacell
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ukimalefu wrote:MacAddict4Life wrote: I don't get the hate for Fahrenheit (besides trying to spell it). Metric is definitely more logical for distance units. But for temperature, the freezing point and boiling point of water are just as arbitrary as any other metric, and are not really a useful reference day-to-day. On top of that, there have been plenty of times where I've found 1°C to be too big of a step when adjusting an air conditioner, but lots of air conditioners here only do complete degrees, not half degrees.
0º C : water freezes
100º C : water boils
That's better than 32 and... whatever.
And the air conditioner thing? blame the manufacturer.
Not to mention its at least base 10 and other units of measure are tied to it, such as the calorie (the amount of energy required to raise 1 cubic cm of water by 1 degree C).
Remember, people, to forgive is divine. In other words, it ain't human.
"deep blue," largest great white shark known to exist, was spotted off hawaii feasting on a dead whale
so naturally folks dived in to snap some photos
the shark is 20 feet long, weighs around 2.5 tons, and may be 50 years old ... she was last seen, in the 1990s, off mexico


so naturally folks dived in to snap some photos
the shark is 20 feet long, weighs around 2.5 tons, and may be 50 years old ... she was last seen, in the 1990s, off mexico


"TOS ain’t havin no horserace round here. “Policies” is the coin of the realm." -- iDaemon
user wrote: Is it going to tell us the answer to life, the universe and everything?
We know that already. It's 42.
• Resident Photoshop Guru & Car Guy •
ukimalefu wrote:sean wrote:user wrote: Is it going to tell us the answer to life, the universe and everything?
We know that already. It's 42.
but what's the question?
I always figured it asked how old will the universe get before it explodes, using a high magnitude unit of measurement.
Metacell wrote: No, it's "What doyoug et when you multiply 6 x 9?"
Which is stupid
but then again this universe has a message in the stars that apologizes for the inconvenience so oh well.
Betonhaus wrote:Metacell wrote: No, it's "What doyoug et when you multiply 6 x 9?"
Which is stupid
That's the joke.