The Pod Bay - 2013-10-11

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PearsonArtPhoto

1:02 AM

My latest android app is coming together at last!

@PearsonArtPhoto yey goodies for my fone :)

what's it gonna do? :D

PearsonArtPhoto

Well, it's still a work in progress, but it's primary purpose is to assist amateur radio operators figure out where they are, in amateur radio operator speak.

1:37 AM

@PearsonArtPhoto ah cool, yup I can see how that could be useful ... you'll only include US call sign map, or international?

PearsonArtPhoto

I'm trying to determine exactly what I'll do, but ideally international, probably US centric at first.

2 hours later…

4:04 AM

If the celestial sphere were mapped to the Earth's surface, astronomy would get a LOT easier; you'd just need a magnifying glass.

2 hours later…

5:39 AM

@PearsonArtPhoto Will mobility apps for amateur radio operators be on-topic in AR.SE? (+:< E.g. Sky Command More importantly is your android app using grid-squares? Not that I'm aware of an alternative

@Chris Eh? That can't be right ... where are the remaining 5?

@Chris Never mind ... you meant a spacer, not a Spacer

@PearsonArtPhoto If Jupiter does not occult Sol, there're all those satellites winging by... Anyway, as Tildal says at times "Wait and watch we must" ; or was that Master Yoda who said that ... ?

1 hour later…

7:11 AM

hello

7:45 AM

@TildalWave wakey wakey :D the party is here :P

2 hours later…

PearsonArtPhoto

10:08 AM

@Everyone Sure, why not. As far as what it will include, I'm still working out those details.

Ultimately I hope to include anything an amateur radio operator would ever want to know about where they are, at least, for logging purposes.

4 hours later…

1:44 PM

0

Q: We need to step it up with the questions!

All right, currently our biggest "Needs Work" area (in my opinion) is our questions per day. Our visits per day is also in the "Needs Work" but we are still a fairly young beta and we have been doing some promotion. Our questions per day is pretty bad though. Currently we have about 861 users, an...

discussion questions

PearsonArtPhoto

2:02 PM

Looks like Amateur Radio will be launching really soon. Hmmm...

Great, I'm excited for you!

Unfortunately I know little about Amateur Radio.

PearsonArtPhoto

area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/43029/… , if anyone's interested.

@PearsonArtPhoto Lol, you only need one more person?

PearsonArtPhoto

2:17 PM

Yep, that's right.

3:09 PM

@TildalWave: You fill up my feed everyday... :P

(More, today) :D

user image

2 hours later…

5:10 PM

@RhysW Party? Oh, you're a smurf member now! Welcome to the club :)

@CrazyBuddy hehehe good!

@TildalWave Yep - we got our PT's!

@Undo yup, you're not too upset you're not in the list, are you?

@TildalWave A little surprised, TBH.

There has to be something I'm not doing right - somewhere to improve. And I want to find it.

@Undo Maybe the devs just think it's not your time.

I'm too but you have to consider community managers have to weigh a lot of stuff and make decisions they feel comfortable with. If they had more than 3 suitable candidates, then they had to cut some out. I imagine it's not easy either.

5:13 PM

I was also surprised.

It has to be hard. And it probably isn't my time, I just want to know why :)

it may not necessarily be something you can fix

I don't know

@called2voyage Eh?

I'm just spitballing

lol

PearsonArtPhoto

5:14 PM

15

A: What is the Stack Exchange (Staff) process of launching a site?

This is a rundown the major milestones each site goes through from proposal through graduation. The process may vary from time to time as we improve the process or take on “special projects” as opportunities present themselves, but for the most part, this is the gist of it. Area 51 Proposal Su...

and honestly, one doesn't have to be a mod to be a high value member either ... in fact, I could list a few sites on SE where that's almost problematically the other way around... but I won't, not to upset anyone with my opinion again LOL

PearsonArtPhoto

@BESW prides himself on being a valuable contributor, and not a moderator.

actually... it might be a lot easier to be a regular member, I know I miss a few stuff from when I was one here (even though I'm still one everywhere else)

And he is a very valuable contributor in most cases

@PearsonArtPhoto BESW?

5:16 PM

It's probably that I seem like I want to have a diamond - and it's true, TBH. I've always been intrigued by the moderation system here, and wanna help more. I guess I just wait for the next elections... :)

And I would bet that wanting a diamond is a big red flag.

Because it is.

Ultimately there are elections as you have mentioned.

I dunno... I've never had to select pro tem mods :| I'll tell you when I do :P

And if you get high enough rep you are effectively a mod anyway minus a few tools

@TildalWave Lol.

PearsonArtPhoto

Wrong site, but BESW seems to hang around most SE sites that I hang around at.

5:18 PM

@called2voyage Well... not really. I'm 4k here, still a big gap.

ah that's a user, OK

PearsonArtPhoto

@Undo Not really. I wanted the diamond here, and got it. I've seen many sites where that is the case.

not on sites I frequent tho

PearsonArtPhoto

RPG, SFF, GD, just to name a few.

not my cups of tea

5:19 PM

I know there's something I'm doing wrong, but I don't want to go up to Jon and say something like 'why you no pick ME?' - that would be...wrong.

PearsonArtPhoto

If you want, just talk to Jon. I'm sure he'll set you straight. You could even do so in a private room, I suspect.

@Undo I don't know. If you don't sound too needy when asking, it is probably a great thing to ask.

@Undo No, it wouldn't be wrong. Why? It's all about community, not individuals. I'm sure he'd be a lot better at digging himself out than any of us here LOL

In RL in most cases an interviewer will tell an interviewee what issues they had if the interviewee asks.

pro tem mod is a lot less stringent than a job interview

I guess it's worth a try - I would at least learn something about myself :)

5:21 PM

I can't imagine it counting against you to ask.

PearsonArtPhoto

There really isn't an interview.

@called2voyage so true

How do I get one of those private rooms?

@PearsonArtPhoto Exactly my point.

PearsonArtPhoto

It's a mod power. Just ping @JonEricson

5:22 PM

@JonEricson If you're here, could we have a private room? I have some questions.

@Undo humpteen of ways? Click on a user you wanna directly invite, for one

PearsonArtPhoto

Somehow they let me in after only a few months here, no idea why...

@TildalWave Dictionary: Humpteen: No results found :P

@Undo that's because it's an imaginary big number

Oh.

We need to get it put in a dictionary.

5:24 PM

umpteen

humpteen is just a variant

5:37 PM

Do I get a hat or a t-shirt or something for being in the running?

You get a rabbit with a waffle on its head.

YES!!!

;)

It's a bunny, but ok.

Hmm... I'm the only non-blue in here, huh.

So, @TildalWave, now that Astro has its own mods, can I flood them with comment flags?

We'll expect no less of you.

5:41 PM

<points secret comment flagging app at Astro>

And yes, I did make an app for this.

What does the app do?

How does it determine what to flag?

@called2voyage rng

@called2voyage It shows a nice list of recent comments, sorted according to a 'risk factor' - including trigger words and length.

@DavidFreitag That's what I'm worried about ;)

@Undo Cool

And if they're authored by mods, they get bumped up higher. I like to flag things that mods wrote :)

5:44 PM

lol

I imagine shorter length comments rank higher?

Is it on GitHub @Undo?

as well as ridiculously long ones

@DavidFreitag No. It's on my hard drive and my iPad.

I don't think it would be wise to turn the world loose with it.

@Undo It's an iOS app? Eww..

GitHub has private git repos

If I were to make it public, it would be on my server :)

5:46 PM

I was just interested in seeing the guts of it.

@Undo pah, vanity

They're not pretty, TBH.

It's objective-C, of course it isn't pretty :|

@Undo hehe yes, go ahead ... let them feel the pressure early on, adjust to what is expected of them LOL

don't flag too new comments tho... it's still early days, some of them might be relevant to what later develops into a meta thread

Mods! You have two flags in the queue! Those have been there for MINUTES! Go handle them! Go go go!

they probably all think they got two new gold badges?

5:51 PM

@TildalWave LOL

Woohoo! They got handled!

@Undo Handled them while on the phone. ;)

@called2voyage You have the makings of a great mod.

I guess if I can't have a diamond I can at least boss them around.

@Undo I hope so. I have a little non-SE modding experience.

@called2voyage You know about the teacher's lounge, right?

@Undo Yes

5:55 PM

Good.

Tell them that they get to have another month of not having to tolerate me bugging them.

'sup @Manish?

@ManishEarth !

I may be sick.... again :(

:(

NOOOO

ok

I actually don't know what you had in the first place

sorry to hear that

6:07 PM

If hissatron were around, i would have him throw you a bowl of hot chicken noodle soup.

@ManishEarth So now I'm sure that Comms really tarnished me in the community team's eyes :(

@Undo ?

@ManishEarth I just can't think of what I'm doing wrong.

There has to be something to improve, something...

context?

4

Q: Moderator Pro Tem Announcement

Throughout the beta, we need members from the site whose focus is to engage the community, both in community-building issues and site management. That's why we select a few members from each community to act as temporary, provisional Moderators. You can read about the program here: Moderators Pro...

discussion featured moderators

6:10 PM

that was early

I know.

I don't want to sound like I'm questioning their judgement (the community team knows their stuff), but I'd like to know why I'm not in the list. For education on what I can improve, of course.

@Undo it may not be a question of quality, but instead quantity. Four may be unnecessary this early on.

@DavidFreitag There still has to be a reason that I'm not in the top 3 - something to improve.

Something.

Of course, the three chosen mods are top notch.

@Undo I know the reason, but I can't tell you for reasons that should be obvious. So I can't really respond well here :/

No hints? Nothing?

6:16 PM

Part of it is probably what DF said

ok

And part of it is classified. Shoot.

For the rest ... maybe Jon or another CM could help

I've pinged Jon, no response :(

Probably busy.

> Almost certainly. There are members who are actively involved and very deserving of recognition. My failure to account for everyone this early on is in no way a slight against them. Ideally, Moderators are elected by the community and that's why you'll have your elections several weeks after graduation

Is it something that is improvable, or is it a permanent black mark?

6:18 PM

improvable

Whew.

But I suggest you don't focus on it

Eh? What do I focus on then?

Normal participation :)

You're hurting my head.

6:29 PM

tosses rocks @Undo

dodges rock @Everyone! Be careful with those things!

@Undo I read that as private moons )+:

lol

I was like ... Yey!

Am I allowed to know about chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/info/4/teachers-lounge or is it something I don't need to know about?

@Everyone You can know about it, you can't get into it anyway.

6:33 PM

I'm sure you could have found out other ways. It doesn't really matter as its an invite-only room.

@called2voyage Anyone with a diamond can get in to it.

Oh ... so it's not for Everyone

@Undo Correction, anyone with a diamond who is invited can get in to it

@Everyone I see what you did there.

@called2voyage I don't think so... no one is supposed to be on the access list.

@Everyone If they made you a mod, things would get really confusing.

6:34 PM

this is making my head hurt ...

But there I go acting like I actually know something.

'o @called2voyage

@Undo I'm not saying non-diamonds get invited.

I'm saying even diamonds have to be invited.

@called2voyage Really?

@Undo Yep

Though all do

6:34 PM

Hm.

I just realized that almost all my friends have been taken away, whisked away to the great mod cloud, were they throw lightning down upon mere mortals. Shoot.

@called2voyage: All do get invited?

@Everyone Get out from under that tree!

@Everyone All mods get invited, yes.

_ looks up at the tree_

Does lightning travel at the velocity of light through all those zigs and zags, and forks, and merges?

TY @Undo

@Undo @called2voyage no, diamonds have default access. Certain non diamonds (usually employees) are on the ACL

6:37 PM

Whew, I get to keep my Meta rep :)

@ManishEarth Really? Then I guess the system just took a while to recognize me.

@called2voyage Nah, parent user

For it to work, two things need to be done:

@ManishEarth What do you mean?

1) Change parent user to Astro or whatever you have a diamond on

I did that, and I still didn't have access for several hours.

6:38 PM

2) Force refresh profile from parent site, OR wait for the profile to catch up .. which can take a while

Must have been that latter part.

@called2voyage I could have fixed that. That's what I did for Rhys, if you notice he's not in the ACL

shouldn't that be on the ACL?

(just being pedantic)

@Everyone Details, details.

@Everyone tomato tomahto

6:45 PM

@Undo the more you fixate on becoming a mod and trying to improve yourself based on that, the less people will want you to be mod

I would suggest staying on the current track and pouring your time and effort into helping build the Astro community into something great.

@DavidFreitag and Space!

and Space :]

q+: I'm surrounded by people of influence who stare at the details on a tomahto

@David You speak truth.

I just kind of want to help more than I can even as a trusted user.

@Undo You'll get there ;]

6:55 PM

I know, it just feels like I'm not making any progress.

@ManishEarth + all the physics buffs. I'm confused.

?

@Undo you aren't supposed to feel like you've made progress. That blue diamond is supposed to come up and smack you right upside the head one day.

@David My problem is that I just can't stop trying to grab it.

@ManishEarth: This should be easy to understand ... but it simply doesn't register
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_cementing) writes to say _One source of difficulty is that vacuum (aka cold) welding does not exclude relative motion between the surfaces that are to be joined.

Uh. Should I ask this in the bar?

6:58 PM

@Undo You need to learn to assess your priorities. Theres a few things you know

@David True, very true. Example of thing to know?

A: You didn't make mod, but there is some pretty visible inclination that some great mod-ship material was passed over for apparent size limitations

B: More mods will be elected when Asro graduates

C: You really, really want to be mod.

I'm afraid of C - it's slightly true.

Universal question: Why would anybody want to be mod? What's in it?

Your main focus shouldn't be about becoming a mod now, but honing yourself into a Q & A Master until the day Astro graduates

7:01 PM

@Everyone Not sure, really.

@Everyone An awesome hat

@DavidFreitag: Seriously now

True about the hat, also you get to help the community way more than otherwise.

And that's what's valuable - you get to really steer the community toward graduation.

@Undo: Exempli gratia?

But seriously though @Undo, for all you know you already are "mod quality" and they passed you over because we don't need that many mods.

7:02 PM

@Undo Ideally, little steering is involved...more prodding.

@David It's just that every time I'm not picked my self-esteem goes down a little.

brb. Sir Dumpty is upto something ... somewhere; he's gone walk-about

But that's fine, it probably needs to.

@Everyone so you can weld two things without them becoming relatively fixed

It's nice to be taken down a peg or two every now and again, it gives you the opportunity to better yourself

7:03 PM

Absolutely.

@Everyone Free tshirt

You get a shirt too? And a hat?

And a big red button that orders you your favorite pizza

@Everyone The hat!

Woohoo - heres for five completely different versions of Visual Studio running concurrently!

7:08 PM

Lol.

abck

@ManishEarth: That sounds weird ... "Weld without becoming fixed"

user image

Having fun.

@DavidFreitag: A big red button? Not a hexagonal ultraviolet button?

And coding in C++, C#, VB .Net, and F# at the same time.

7:11 PM

@Manish Should I take it as a bad sign if the community managers are running away from me? :P

@Undo They probably don't want to tell you that they wanted to pick you, but for constraints on community size vs. mods they didn't.

@David That's what I really want to hear. But I'm afraid it's something far worse.

Oh just stop annoying them already :|

Bye, all! I've gotta go.

ciao @called2voyage

7:15 PM

@called2voyage laters

@Undo Don't leave me too many flags while I'm gone.

@MadaraUchiha looks like you could use an invite for Pets?

@TildalWave I'd love one

Not sure about answers, but I might be able to place some questions in :)

@Undo: It's true. Size does matter q+: I'm not qualified to comment, but ... David is probably right. Sit back a while, and enjoy looking at the moderators scramble to your flags! (+:

@called Revs flag engine

7:18 PM

@MadaraUchiha done ;)

@MadaraUchiha I'll prolly try both eventually, time permitting, but I don't expect to be too active in the early beta... can't neglect SEx.SE, Astro.SE and Sec.SE can I? ;)

Whee!! AR.SE is @ 100%

ar?

not necessarily in that order, but SEx.SE comes first obviously

The Astro mods are lucky - I only have 12 flags to use there. The poor SO mods, though... 90 flags have I there. They probably hate me.

Amateur Radio (+: If we can have SEx.SE, why not AR.SE?

7:19 PM

@Everyone arse?

@TildalWave: LOL. Yes, ARSE

:D

uh oh. I've gone, and offended Pearson

shakes his head slowly

crawls beneath a Roc, and hides

7:21 PM

I can see some great memes coming out of that AR.SE

@Everyone a Roc? Are you sure that's the best place to hide?

Who else in here committed to Amateur Radio?

@ManishEarth It stinks ... but well, would you look beneath a Roc for everyone?

I forgot to trade my just freed commitment slot from Astro for a new one, so I'll wait either for an invite or public beta

@Everyone Yes, but the issue is not who's looking for you. The issue is avoiding dismemberment

Tsk. Shame on you!

7:22 PM

> Roc: a gigantic mythological bird described in the Arabian Nights.

this one?

@TildalWave: That one.

I've been hiding in Phoenix once, does that count?

@ManishEarth: A Roc is never beneath itself

Phoenix used to be some local club here BTW

@TildalWave: Risen from the ashes, eh? You must really have annoyed someone (+:<

7:26 PM

@Everyone neah they just played old school music and all the nearby clubs on that same street don't... more of a retreat really

@Everyone I would, but I would have nothing to contribute

@UV-D: Don't knock it till you've tried it (+:

Do RF controlled wireless devices count?

I hardly contribute here on SEx.SE, but I'm still here
(go on, rub it in)

i literally are even dumber when it comes to amateur radio

7:32 PM

@DavidFreitag: Not quite the same thing, a question may be entertained but I, for one, wouldn't want to encourage it ; probably a better fit on the electronics SE

I figured :]

@UV-D: So am I! I only know bits, and pieces from school days ... I'm more of an armchair ham really

i just eat ham

crawls back beneath the Roc

lol and armchairs

7:35 PM

See? I told you a Roc is a safe place to be

i eat Rocs as well

You mustn't do that! They are an engendered species!

i eat endangered species

q+: too late

Yeah, why do you think they are endangered in the first place?

7:37 PM

For that, you must be with AR.SE

what on earth could I contribute

(+: Have you seen any of the examples on the proposal?

No, because if i searched for arse on the internet my boss would be mighty upset with me.

i have not seen the proposal

@DavidFreitag: You could always tell her you're not interested in the internet one (+:<

7:40 PM

That would go over like the hindenburg.

@UV-D: area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/43029/amateur-radio if the samples/discussion seem to be of interest, and if you have the time to - sure, why not? but it's really your call (+:

@DavidFreitag: The Hindenburg, or the R-101?

@Everyone yup, had a look - committed

@UV-D: TY muchly (+:

@Everyone By that i mean i would be coated in thermite dope and burned at the stake

i think I can at least answer severl questions

7:42 PM

@UV-D: Cool! QRZ?

QRZ?

@UV-D en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_code (+:

Why do I have two different scores visible on stack-exchange? One says 9025 rep, the other says 88xx ?

mind you, on Sec.SE, I have one question at 37 up and 1 down

Security? or here SEx.SE?

security

and that is outside of my expertis also

7:52 PM

how much rep does that work out to?
_sits and calculates on fingers & toes ... _

i am at 284

@UV-D: It's usually the person off-side who has a more holistic view of the situation. What if Gordon Moore and his team knew it was impossible to make the micro-processor?

true

@UV-D: Does Security allow questions on technical audit processes? I forget

and amateur radio was always an interest in days of yore

i am not sure

7:57 PM

Amateur radio is of interest (+: I'm trying to get my CW speed back up the grade ... we never had all these easy applications to practice copy in my time

You plan to appear for a licence then? Whereabouts are you?

I am in Queensland

as in Down Under?

Oh nice! Atmospheric physics! Just the expertise! Question?

yup, down under, atmospheric physics and question away

Albeit it may border on meteorology ... At what altitude in earth atmosphere does atmospheric pressure equate the atmospheric pressure on Mars' surface?

hmmmm I'd have to think about that - but it is quite high up

8:04 PM

Near LEO? Over/Under?

I think under, I am looking up some data

waits patiently

as Mars's surface pressure is about 0.6 kPa, this corresponds to about 45 km (28 miles) for the Earth

A mere 45km? )+:

a mere 45km

8:14 PM

Even a jet-liner can make that altitude

well, almost

yup, and it is fr stronger in the depths of the martian valleys

as in an order or more?

about 2-3 times more

mmm

i need to go forage for food

(in other words, go to the café down the road for an epic breakfast

8:27 PM

astrobites: Detecting dark matter with milky way ripples

posted on October 11, 2013 by Ryan Foltz

Using the upcoming Gaia telescope to measure ripples in the Milky Way will allow us to detect the impact of clumps of dark matter on our host galaxy.

@UV-D Sorry, nodded off. Time for the sack to wake up, and embrace me yet again. Happy Cyclone Phailin!

3 hours later…

PearsonArtPhoto

11:33 PM

@Everyone A more interesting question is what altitude on Earth corresponds to a flying altitude on Mars. This is different than the equal pressure point.

11:55 PM

At almost 90 days into the beta, should we be worried that our stats are still orange and red?

(BTW, I've decided to come back from helping Astro and move most of my attention back to space.)

PearsonArtPhoto

Nah.

626

The Great Outdoors – outdoors.stackexchange.com

Beta Q&A site for people who love outdoor activities, excursions, and outdoorsmanship.

Currently in public beta.

That one I would worry a bit about...

But ours are not bad at all.

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