The Pod Bay

Crazy Buddy

02:59

People in the Pod...

in The h Bar, 14 mins ago, by Chris White

The NRC is soliciting opinions on the future of human spaceflight, from everyone, via Twitter, over the next day or so: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/deps/aseb/deps_085240

^^^ You might be interested ;-)

Stack Exchange

03:22

astrobites: Giant Space Masers

posted on October 29, 2013 by Elizabeth Lovegrove

Giant clouds of molecules in space provide the gain material for astrophysical masers, emitting microwave radiation by stimulated emission. These bright sources can be used to determine extragalactic distances and black hole masses. This paper reports on a search for new extragalactic water masers with the Very Long Baseline Array, and reports on the discovery of four sources in 37 objects sear…

Undo

04:43

0

Q: Would temperatures be more constant under the surface of Mercury?

Mercury, being right around than 55,000,000 km away from the Sun, gets hot. As in very hot - 700 °K hot (426 °C and 800 °F). Not a place you would want to live. On the flip side, the side of Mercury not facing the Sun tends to be very cold - bottoming out at around 100 °K (-173 °C and -279 °F). ...

@Pearson (cc @Tildal) Why was this answer deleted?

Stack Exchange

NASASpaceFlight.com: Chinese Long March 2C lofts Yaogan Weixing-18 satellite

posted on October 29, 2013 by Chris Bergin

The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center conducted yet another secretive launch on Monday, when a Long March-2C orbited the Yaogan Weixing-18 satellite. Launch took place at 02:50 GMT from... Related posts:Long March 4C launches Yaogan Weixing-16 spy satellite for ChinaFollowing the postponement of the Zhongxing-12 (ChinaSat) communications satellite launch,... China return Long March 2C to flight…

PearsonArtPhoto

12:43

@Undo It's just pure speculation.

TildalWave

14:00

@Undo It is also not an answer. It would be converted to a comment, if it added anything to the thread, but it really doesn't. Mark probably didn't really have the time to answer, or whatever happened because he usually edits frequently before finally happy with the answer. Anyway, it wasn't disputed by the author, which he could easily do if he wanted to. I think he just forgot all about it?

Stack Exchange

NASA Image of the Day: Fifteen Years Later: John Glenn's Shuttle Flight

posted on October 29, 2013

In the launch pad's White Room, STS-95 Payload Specialist John H. Glenn Jr., U.S. Senator from Ohio, has his flight suit checked by closeout crew members before climbing into space shuttle Discovery for his second flight into space, which came 36 years after his Mercury launch. Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth. Image Credit: NASA, Oct. 29, 1998

Undo

15:00

@Tildal Awesome answer on the caves question - what's the story behind being in a cave when a tremor happened?

RhysW

this week is about colonisation right?

TildalWave

@Undo Oh it was a really mild tremor, maybe of magnitude 2-2.5 on the Richter scale (i.e. a microearthquake) and we've only had confirmation later when we checked online data from seismographs ... but yeah, it all amplifies deep down. The sound was like you'd stand in a tunnel with a train going past you, and I could swear I've seen some rocks light up a bit... probably similar to the piezo effect

Undo

@Rhys Yup.

TildalWave

nothing fell down tho thanks god ...

Undo

Wow - how deep were you?

RhysW

15:04

@TildalWave actually the lightening rocks could have been purely because of you

when you panic and adrenaline kicks in things seem brighter and sharper, survival technique for danger at night in the dark

TildalWave

about 1km in... maybe 200-300 m deep vertically into the cave from the entrance we went in (there are many entrances with that particular one)

brb

Undo

Scary - and I bet Mercury is fairly active.

PearsonArtPhoto

Being in a cave is certainly not the time to experience an Earth quake...

RhysW

Ive never been in an earth quake, they dont happen where i am

TildalWave

15:25

It's fairly active here as far as tectonics go .. we're kinda under Alps. Mostly nothing too severe, not really like the San Andreas fault but I've been thrown out of my chair once... still not entirely sure if because I got scared and caught me by surprise or because I was on the 12th floor at the time and it amplified

maybe a bit of both

@Undo dunno that would actually be an excellent question ... I'm sure we don't have any seismographs up there but larger quakes can be picked up by radio astronomy too... or with lidars and similar

TildalWave

16:24

hmmm it feels almost like weekend around here ... what's going on? I feel like I'm missing something LOL

RhysW

@TildalWave poor Tildal

TildalWave

hehe

RhysW

16:52

17 days of modship, not sure if it feels longer or shorter than that

David Freitag

@RhysW It seems much longer than 17 days to me at least.

RhysW

@DavidFreitag gee thanks :P

David Freitag

@RhysW I'm not sure if i was intending on making that a compliment, but you took it as one so that's okay ;]

RhysW

@DavidFreitag bah, now i'm not sure which one of us is being more sarcastic!

David Freitag

@RhysW I was being honest. It was more of a generalized statement is what I'm saying.

RhysW

16:57

@DavidFreitag I'm lost

David Freitag

@RhysW I said it seemed much longer than 17 days as a general statement not a direct compliment

RhysW

I was taking it as a jokey insult, compliment is good too though

David Freitag

Oh. Nah I'd never insult you. Especially with that blue name ;]

By the way, who got a 4.6 hour ban?

RhysW

@DavidFreitag :P go ahead, i can take a joke, i dish them out often enough!

@DavidFreitag ooh news to me, crosses fingers Please have been Tildal, please have been Tildal

David Freitag

18 hours ago, by RhysW

ouch, 4.6 hour ban

RhysW

17:11

facepalm

oh right that

Undo was playing around with the SE API and got IP banned (only through the API)

David Freitag

@RhysW Heh, i wouldn't pointlessly insult you like that

@RhysW Yeah i have been messing with the API as well. I keep looking over my back for the ban hammer

RhysW

@DavidFreitag I presumed you were joking the way i do anyway, people rarely try to actually insult me

im too loveable

tumbleweed

TildalWave

It looks like @Undo is busy on the site? :D

RhysW

@TildalWave haha he back to flagging again?

we need an app that auto pings him every minute, as revenge...

TildalWave

@RhysW I think so yes... well, nothing too sensitive but the system still doesn't tell me who raised the flags... I'm just guessing here... somewhat educated

@RhysW that'd be ... mean :) but I like it

RhysW

17:20

@TildalWave I will get manish on it, he is the 'mean script' guy, as you personally experienced

TildalWave

ok brb ... doggie business ;)

RhysW

hopefully you have a dog, and it's not just you behaving like one

TildalWave

I have a dog :P

RhysW

thank god

David Freitag

@RhysW That can be arranged.

RhysW

17:21

@DavidFreitag smiles evilly and rubs hands together menacingly

David Freitag

Ah god i can smell gravy of some kind... it's soooo good.

Undo

17:37

@TildalWave Your guess is 99.9999..% correct. I have a new secret weapon:

It downloads all of a user's comments to my local drive, then I can search them.

@RhysW Pingy!

wait 1 minute

@RhysW Pingy!

wait 1 minute

Process Drive Rhys Crazy failed with error code 56: not enough courage to mess with diamond person

RhysW

@Undo :P nah, you knew me before the diamond, you get extra leeway :P (jk)

Undo

lol

RhysW

you, specifically you, get much much less leeway :P i know what you are like ;)

Undo

<hides>

I'm trying to figure out how to put something onto GitHub - and GitHub is winning.

Stack Exchange

18:00

astrobites: The Most Distant Confirmed Galaxy

posted on October 29, 2013 by Nick Hand

The authors of this work report the discovery of the most distant, spectroscopically-confirmed galaxy found to date, which presently lies about 30 billion light years from Earth. The galaxy is being observed as it was at a time just 700 million years after the Big Bang, which is a mere 5% of the universe’s current age of 13.8 billion years.

David Freitag

18:22

@Undo You using windows or linux?

If you already have git installed start with this:

git config --global user.name "<insert username here>"

git config --global user.email <enter email here>

Then, cd to the directory where your source is located and type git init

Undo

@DavidFreitag OS X - so linux. But I think I figured it out.

github.com/Undo1/SECommentFlagger

David Freitag

It looks like it.

Git is a lot of fun.. Right up until you create your first tree conflict.

Undo

lol

@DavidFreitag Do I have to grant commit privileges to people that want to help?

David Freitag

@Undo Generally people will fork your tree, then you can view the changes and either implement them yourself or try to merge the trees

Undo

Whoa, chat flags.

5 of 'em.

David Freitag

18:29

From where?

ManishEarth

which room?

David Freitag

Wait your turn @Manish, i asked first! :p

Undo

@ManishEarth @DavidFreitag Not sure - but it was pretty obvious spam. Long URL, spammy domain.

David Freitag

dat'sa no good.

Undo

And probably from a guy with a big ban now.

@ManishEarth Oh, my first GitHub thing - github.com/Undo1/SECommentFlagger

David Freitag

18:32

@Undo You might also want to add a license to the project. It isn't a huge deal, but i always do.

Undo

@DavidFreitag How do?

David Freitag

@Undo The easiest way is when you create your repo, but there is a utility to add one after, sec.

@undo addalicense.com

You have to authorize them to edit your repo, but they add a license file automagically

Undo

Ok

David Freitag

Otherwise it's a pain in the ass to add a license file to an existing repo.

Undo

@DavidFreitag @ManishEarth Which license type is best?

ManishEarth

18:35

GPL? CC? Usually GPL

Or Beer License

David Freitag

@Undo choosealicense.com

They outline the differences there

I pretty much always use GPL V2

Undo

Than GPL 2 it is.

David Freitag

> The GPL (V2 or V3) is a copyleft license that requires anyone who distributes your code or a derivative work to make the source available under the same terms. V3 is similar to V2, but further restricts use in hardware that forbids software alterations.

Basically it ensures that what starts as OS always stays OS.

Undo

Awesome. That's what I want

TildalWave

oh shoot I can't be top for the week not even for a few days with @PearsonArtPhoto around :P

because.... it matters! (not LOL)

PearsonArtPhoto

18:40

LOL. I wasn't trying this week, I promise;-)

Undo

That makes it even worse.

PearsonArtPhoto

Last week I don't think I got that much reputation anyways.

What can I say? I like the topic of colonization.

Undo

I do too, TBH. I wasn't too excited at the beginning, but I kind of like it now. That's what TOTW is for, right?

PearsonArtPhoto

Exactly.

It's actually going pretty well overall. I think there's hardly a subject that hasn't attracted a lot of attention.

TildalWave

Orion looks cool sservi.nasa.gov/articles/nasas-orion-spacecraft-comes-to-life

@PearsonArtPhoto What @Undo said! :P

@PearsonArtPhoto we might want to revisit some tho

eventually

Undo

18:57

I'm having fun using up my comment flag quota on all the sites I'm registered on. Are they talking about me in TL yet?

TildalWave

@Undo you should know that on TL it's actually rare that anyone talks abut anything relevant to SE ... it was mostly baseball last week, god knows what they're up to this one

Undo

@TildalWave Lol.

plots to get in there

TildalWave

I'll check...

looks like they're bored a little

Undo

Maybe they're all handling my flags :P

...And I got my IP banned again :(

TildalWave

i like this one...

> Why make mod hats? Just send diamonds

Undo

19:06

Must. Get. In. There.

But it's probably not possible - Manish says he's tried to get in without a diamond and it doesn't work.

And if Manish can't do it...

TildalWave

@Undo honestly, I rarely open it

Undo

I'd probably have to actually become a moderator, which, from what I can tell, won't happen any time soon.

Maybe I could just buy SE...

PearsonArtPhoto

Honestly, TL is overrated.

Undo

Or get hired, though that's hard to do when you can barely be here without COPPA getting you.

TildalWave

might not be cheap it's worth at least a lot of diamonds :P

PearsonArtPhoto

19:10

If you go to The Tavern on MSO, you've got about 80% of what happens there.

Undo

seventy thousand second API ban for me :(

TildalWave

LOL

Undo

I really need to find a way to make it not do that.

Wait, make that seventy-seven thousand seconds:(

TildalWave

you make too many requests?

Undo

Yup.

Because they limit it at 100 comments per request, and I want all of them.

TildalWave

19:14

why?

Undo

So I can search them.

But some people leave a ton of comments - on the order of 2500.

So that means 25 requests one after the other.

And you can only do that so many times.

TildalWave

flag the user then :P

Undo

too chatty

TildalWave

hehe yeah

Undo

I need to find something fun to do to you mods for halloween.

TildalWave

19:16

well on some sites I guess that could be excused... or with years of participation

I have 393 comments on Sec.SE

in 9 months

Undo

I would go through them, but I can't

TildalWave

208 here in 3.5 months

@Undo trust me they're all most excellent :)

Undo

Count how many I get deleted.

TildalWave

I'm not sure there's such stats available ... most flags are anonymous

Undo

We know you have 208 right now. Let's see how many are left after I'm done.

No, 398 on Sec.SE

TildalWave

19:21

@Undo 393 I didn't just write 5 more :P

Undo

@emtunc - I've updated my answer, thanks again! :) — TildalWave Jul 8 at 23:21

Boom.

TildalWave

most would be from the close reasons tho

@Undo So I did. Excellent comment! And of course an even better answer :P

I'm so good it humbles me :)

Undo

I've added a few lines on where to apply for an export licence in your country in the update to my answer. ;) — TildalWave Jul 3 at 10:57

Flaggified

TildalWave

OK OK... no need to copy all of them here

Undo

But... it's fun!

TildalWave

19:24

@Undo you know someone there might think you're after me explicitly and deny flags :P

Undo

@TildalWave They would be right!

And the mods are next!

TildalWave

hehe go for AviD's first!

Undo

@TildalWave I can't find any obsolete AviD comments - there are too many of them.

I need my IP back :(

Anyway, got to go now. Happy flag handling!

Everyone

19:52

What's with the flags today? I just read Eagle's ascent stage exhaust knocked over the Stars & Stripes

Undo

20:07

@Everyone Yep.

Everyone

'o @Undo

But Luna isn't possessed of an atmosphere ...

TildalWave

@Everyone So? There's still exhaust plume and the raised regolith

Everyone

Ah. Aha

'o @Til

Everyone

20:28

Right. I'm out for the morning; 'nini

@john3103 Thank you (+:

Everyone

20:54

@TildalWave Does that rust on Mars affect the signal of Curiosity/Rover/who-ever?

TildalWave

@Everyone not sure, I see how it could if there was a lot of it in the air, like during dust storms... it would be a good question so go post it ;)

you could combine it with something else, for example how long can Martian storms last, and how thick and dense they can get

it would be essential for any answers anyway IMO

Undo

23:24

At the rate I'm going, I should be able to get a Marshal badge by the time we graduate.

I'm on the fence about this wiki excerpt - anyone have a better idea? space.stackexchange.com/tags/ground-track/info

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