Somewhat Useful Facts Thread

[captain_obvious]

I think the space elevator would cost a hell of a lot more than that! I mean, we don't even have the necessary substances and materials strong enough to allow us to build it for starters!

Barbara Windsor has decided to quit Eastenders.

And no I don't watch it. I have half a braincell not one third of a braincell

[Senator]

Ares I-X breaking the sound barrier.

[limey BSc.]

This is pretty cool. A timelapse video of the arrival and assembling of the Ares I-X

[Armondikov]

:roll

There is some light I've been told  that there's apparently ?600 million just gone to a research chemistry group to do some altnernative fuel stuff based on funding from supposedly "evil" petrochemical companies. They do actually fund this stuff, occaisionally...

[JimmyB76]

before 1941, fingerprints were not accepted as evidence in court...

[Armondikov]

before 1941, fingerprints were not accepted as evidence in court...

Interestingly, in some cases, DNA evidence is more acceptable in court (well, it's more "given prominence as evidence as guilt") than actual physical observations. This may be tied in to something that later developed into the "CSI effect", where judges and juries demand more of genetics and forensics than they're actually capable of because of televised hype.

[JimmyB76]

'Jedi' is an official religion, with over 70,000 followers, in Australia...

[Senator]

:roll

There is some light I've been told  that there's apparently ?600 million just gone to a research chemistry group to do some altnernative fuel stuff based on funding from supposedly "evil" petrochemical companies. They do actually fund this stuff, occaisionally...

If it is from petrochemical companies then this is private money. So that's kind capitalists spending out of the goodness of their heart 600 million for us, not the government wasting money more intelligently.

Useful fact: There are now 128Gb USB sticks.
Obviously they cost. Lots. But still. 128Gb.
The moment they hit 256, they will be competing with the majority of portable external hard disks...

[JimmyB76]

every year, Alaska has about 5,000 earthquakes...

[Armondikov]

:roll

There is some light I've been told  that there's apparently ?600 million just gone to a research chemistry group to do some altnernative fuel stuff based on funding from supposedly "evil" petrochemical companies. They do actually fund this stuff, occaisionally...

If it is from petrochemical companies then this is private money. So that's kind capitalists spending out of the goodness of their heart 600 million for us, not the government wasting money more intelligently.

Very true, but still, there is some hope to cling to.

[Senator]

And a video from our favorite video database.

Unfortunatly we won't be seeing Ares V (which is the cool one) until 2018 so enjoy what you see here...

[Armondikov]

Unfortunatly we won't be seeing Ares V (which is the cool one) until 2018 so enjoy what you see here...

That really is a total bastard. Though did you watch the test of the SRBs for it?

[Senator]

Nope.

On the plus side. 6 missions remaining for the ISS completion. So that's at least one thing done, next year.
By that time, it would have taken 13 years to construct it, and only 1 minute if it collides with the wrong kind of space junk / meteror, to destroy it.

In other news:
Space fact #445452:



The Lunar Ultralight Flying Vehicle. Except that, since the moon doesn't have air for wings to work, "flying" in this case means sitting on a chair with a rocket engine and making 8km or so "ballistic jumps" with it in a matter of minutes.

Moon: The place where hydraulic pogo sticks will reveal their true potential.

[Armondikov]

In other news:
Space fact #445452:



The Lunar Ultralight Flying Vehicle. Except that, since the moon doesn't have air for wings to work, "flying" in this case means sitting on a chair with a rocket engine and making 8km or so "ballistic jumps" with it in a matter of minutes.

Moon: The place where hydraulic pogo sticks will reveal their true potential.

I'd like to see the guy with the cojones to fly that thing.

[Armondikov]

The Inner Life of a Cell

Interesting fact; this video was produced by XVIVO for BioVisions at Harvard University in 2006. It has been stolen several times by creationists. First time, William Demski took it, stripped off the voice over present in the final 8 min short and replaced it with his own woo-ful one. The second time, the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed used it. Both parties had their arses handed to them by DMCA claims from the video's owners/creators - in the case of Expelled, it pushed the release date back a few months while they scrambled to cobble together their own, almost identical but slightly more brown, animation.

[Senator]

The Large Helical Device is a fusion research device in Toki, Gifu, Japan and is the largest superconducting stellarator in the world, employing a heliotron magnetic field originally developed in Japan. The objective of the project is to conduct fusion plasma confinement research in a steady state in order to elucidate possible solutions to physics and engineering problems in helical plasma reactors. The LHD uses neutral beam injection, ion cyclotron radio frequency (ICRF), and electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) to heat the plasma, much like conventional tokamaks.

It sounds and looks like bad hollywood technobubble, except it's real.
And it is doing SCIENCE to stuff.

[captain_obvious]

Would bad stuff happen if it went *kaboom* whilst working at full power??

ANFO.
Ammonium Nitrate + no.2 fuel oil aka diesel.
A good mix is about 0.42 TNT equivalence  i.e. 1lb of anfo is about as powerful as 1lb of TNT.

It is by far the most widely used explosive in coal mining, quarrying, metal mining, and civil construction: it accounts for an estimated 80% of the 6,000,000,000 pounds (2.7?109 kg) of explosive used annually in North America. It also sees service in improvised explosive devices, where it is also known as a fertilizer bomb.

[Armondikov]

Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki... later adopted a strict "no-edits" clause for future foreign releases of its films. On hearing that Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein would try to cut Princess Mononoke to make it more marketable, one of Studio Ghibli's producers sent an authentic katana with a simple message: "No cuts".

Moral of the story: Don't fuck with anime producers.

[JimmyB76]

the powder on chewing gum is finely-ground marble...

[Senator]

The little angel on top of the fountain in Piccalilli circus, London, is not actually of Eros/Cupid but of Anteros who is supposed to be about giving back/mature love etc.
It is actually a memorial to a philanthropist.