The Pod Bay

Jon Ericson

00:49

@TildalWave Please don't freak out about dropping stats. That's extremely common.

TildalWave

05:18

@JonEricson gotcha ;) thanks!

@JonEricson @ManishEarth has been posting that "roller coaster graph" a few times and I guess we're now at the first recession. It would be cool to have access to our stats data on Stack Exchange Data Explorer to see how true that is for us also, but I guess that's only available for matured sites.

Jon Ericson

@TildalWave It's just too easy to get fixated on stats. The thing to worry about it is getting good questions with great answers.

TildalWave

05:35

@JonEricson I'd personally be the most interested in new users stats, how many new ones, when, if they stay, ... but yeah I understand what you're saying. I often remember that Krycek and Mulder conversation about stats from X-Files:

> Krycek: Do you know the statistics of accidents people with sleep deprivation?
> Mulder: Do they know how many people are put to sleep listening to their statistics?

Jon Ericson

@TildalWave You could eyeball it.

TildalWave

@JonEricson hehe well I already do that... and I don't even have to count the total number of users by hand :)) But I'd have to enter stats of each individual user to appreciate if they're active at all, or just registered because we're so cool :)

The stats on voting are also helping to show how many are actually reading (if they vote too, which might not be the case) more than a single question and its answers, but the display is limited to some minimum number of votes due to privacy concerns I'd guess

TildalWave

06:07

in The DMZ, Jul 19 at 21:37, by ManishEarth

3

TildalWave

11:09

Russia's Proton rocket is set to resume launches in September after fiery crash in July. http://spaceflightnow.com/proton/astra2e/130815frob/

Tweeted by SpaceflightNow on August 16, 2013 at 7:35 AM

more launches for our viewing pleasure :)

RhysW

@TildalWave oooh

i might have to make a personal calander to remind me to check these things and make events for them

TildalWave

@RhysW Just follow them on twitter, it's the easiest IMO

RhysW

@TildalWave i avoid twitter

There are few things i care about that can be expressed in 140 characters or less so i dont use it

TildalWave

@RhysW I did also, until I realized it's oneboxed in SE chat rooms which makes it as a really convenient ultimate chat troll must have tool :)

RhysW

11:26

@TildalWave haha fair enough :P

TildalWave

Another one, if you missed it (not so good news):

Today NASA Ends Attempts to Fully Recover Kepler Spacecraft, Potential New Missions Considered. http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-ends-attempts-to-fully-recover-kepler-spacecraft-potential-new-missions-considered/index.html

Tweeted by NASAKepler on August 15, 2013 at 6:03 PM

There might be a few questions for the site hidden in it?

Donald.McLean

@TildalWave It would be interesting to see a graph of the stats.

TildalWave

6 hours ago, by Jon Ericson

@TildalWave It's just too easy to get fixated on stats. The thing to worry about it is getting good questions with great answers.

Donald.McLean

Well, duh.

TildalWave

That's a link on stats ;)

Donald.McLean

11:30

Missed that.

RhysW

@TildalWave why was it ended? something must have happened to make them realise, nope better give up

@TildalWave What new missions? Thats likely going to be one too

TildalWave

@RhysW This one is fairly obvious, so I don't think there's any question about it...

> Two of Kepler's four gyroscope-like reaction wheels, which are used to precisely point the spacecraft, have failed. The first was lost in July 2012, and the second in May. Engineers' efforts to restore at least one of the wheels have been unsuccessful.

I.e. no precision control over spacecrafts position. I didn't read it all yet, but I'd guess that means any observations that require longer exposure of same spot in the sky are off the list.

@RhysW This is what I was thinking, yes

Stack Exchange

12:20

0

Q: Do this site has good chances to "survive" beta?

Partially related to this question. Space.SE exists for ~a month now. Traffic numbers (like questions/par, etc.) don't seem to be bad, but some of them may not be satisfied. Which are the chances (at the moment) that this site will exist even a year later? Also, when can it (or any SE sites) go...

RhysW

Sigh, grammar: 0 Questions: 1

TildalWave

@RhysW For how little his native language (Hungarian) has to do with nearly any other language in the world, I think he's doing alright ;) Wanna edit it for grammar and give him a hand?

TildalWave

12:42

Beat you to it, but I'm sure it was the very next thing on your todo list, right? :)) :P

I must say that I like that a lot of our members started asking questions on our progress, what can we do to speed things up,... :) I think a canonical question about site promotion options, the meaning of A51 stats,.. linking to other similar questions and answers is in order. Remind me in a few days time, I'd let the last two such questions simmer for a while.

Deer Hunter

13:55

Topics that have not been touched upon in questions:

* fairings

* manned mission abort modes

Donald.McLean

What about interferometry?

Deer Hunter

@Donald.McLean - there was one VLBI-related question AFAIR

* geodesy/gravitation mapping missions

* rendezvous techniques

* zero-boiloff technologies (Venus cooling question comes close, but not directly)

I'm wondering if, say, putting forward GMAT-related questions is going to attract anybody. A niche segment, to be honest. Now, Kerbal or Orbiter simulations definitely have broader appeal.

* fault detection and repair in autonomous operations

There are a few questions on Planetary Protection...

* pulsed plasma jets :)

* formation flying

* there've been no questions about Ted Molczan and Co. (of satobs.org fame)

TildalWave

14:15

@DeerHunter Do you happen to know of any good software to correct long exposure photos of the night sky and similar?

Deer Hunter

@TildalWave - not an astronomer, sorry.

TildalWave

@DeerHunter Me neither, that's why I ask :P

OK I'll have to Google for it then, oh shoot :(

Deer Hunter

@TildalWave :P However, I found you a recent article on raising altitude electromagnetically: J.GCD dx.doi.org/10.2514/1.57479

TildalWave

@DeerHunter Ah interesting, thanks. Please edit it into that answer ;)

> Numerical sweeps are performed illustrating that kilovolt levels of potential are sufficient to achieve kilometer-level radius changes per orbit for geosynchronous orbit regimes.

whoo-hoo!

Deer Hunter

@TildalWave - done.

TildalWave

14:23

@DeerHunter Cheers!

Undo

0

Q: Did the Apollo command module have an abort mode?

Many manned space exploration vehicles have some way to abort, to end the mission as quickly as possible and get back to relative safety. I'm wondering if the Apollo command module had an abort, a way to get back to Earth while enroute to the Moon. If so, why wasn't it used on Apollo 13?

apollo-program abort

Deer Hunter

@Undo - it was used. The free-return trajectory was built into the program from the get-go (AFAIR).

@Undo - and yes, we have too few questions on Apollo :)

TildalWave

> This illustration provides a comparison for how big the moons of Mars appear to be, as seen from the surface of Mars, in relation to the size that Earth's moon appears to be when seen from the surface of Earth. Deimos, at far left, and Phobos, beside it, are shown together as they actually were photographed by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Aug. 1, 2013.

Deer Hunter

@TildalWave - which brings me to the question: does the chat room include the NASA Image of the day feed (nasa.gov/rss/image_of_the_day.rss)?

Other feeds of note:

Mars Daily marsdaily.com/marsdaily.xml

TildalWave

@DeerHunter Calling for @RhysW :) ^

RhysW

14:31

@TildalWave yo

Deer Hunter

Astrobites: astrobites.org/feed

Feeds

RhysW has stopped a feed from being posted into this room

RhysW has made a change to the feeds posted into this room

TildalWave

@DeerHunter I think it would be best to make a new meta post so we can vote on stuff like that... we already have a meta post for events, just use that one and change "events" to "feeds" ;)

RhysW

@DeerHunter It does now

ill let the rest go to a vote so we arent spammed with links

Deer Hunter

@RhysW - Thanks a bunch!

TildalWave

14:33

@RhysW that was my thought too, there's only that much space on space.se :)

RhysW

Hehe plus i want people to have a say in what they are shown rather than take the view of 'Aggg the room is run by a dictator, overthrow him!' :P

TildalWave

@RhysW My hidden agenda was actually to make our chat room more appealing to others... I'm not saying we're appalling, just that some might have missed how awesome we are

Deer Hunter

@RhysW - adding RSS feeds to meta.space.stackexchange.com/questions/232/…

Undo

@Tildal Wait - doesn't our ambient awesomeness permeate through to the main site?

Deer Hunter

@TildalWave - the NASA Images feeds are awesome :)

@Undo - it oozes, am afraid :P

Undo

14:36

:P

TildalWave

@DeerHunter I know, I'm already subscribed to it... but I'd prefer it here actually

RhysW

plus the pictures might lead to some interesting questions on the site

Deer Hunter

A recent astrobites post led me to Colin McInnes paper on arXiv on capturing an asteroid:

arxiv.org/abs/1304.5082

There are some nice calculations on sending it to Earth through low-energy transfers. The problem is this can be used as a weapon :(

Undo

@DeerHunter Eeek.

RhysW

@DeerHunter e.g fire an asteroid at the people you dont like?

Undo

14:41

@RhysW Sounds like it.

RhysW

Just out of curiosity, where might one find an asteroid firing super weapon?

Deer Hunter

@RhysW - yup. However, such a mission is detectable :)

Undo

@RhysW Wal-Mart.

RhysW

@Undo not Target?

Deer Hunter

@RhysW - you simply grab it where it floats, attach a booster stage, and fire at the right moment through a Lagrange point.

Undo

14:43

@RhysW Wal-Mart is bigger than Target, and I detest both of them.

Deer Hunter

@Undo :P

RhysW

@DeerHunter ahh, hmm, so i could do the opposite, live on the asteroid and boost myself away from everyone? :P

TildalWave

@RhysW planet of the "Skinnies"?

Undo

@RhysW You probably won't need the boosting to get away. Asteroids kind of tend to move on their own.

Deer Hunter

@RhysW - yes, even to Jupiter and beyond. A heck of a lot of time

JohnB

14:44

@DeerHunter those are feeds, which are a little different from events

I don't think we have a meta question for feeds, would be a good idea to make one!

Deer Hunter

@Undo - mostly in ellipses

Undo

I'll make the Feeds meta q.

Deer Hunter

@JohnB - deleting, posting a new meta Q

JohnB

sweet

it's a race!!

RhysW

@JohnB a race?

Deer Hunter

14:46

@RhysW - I'll let @Undo sweat through it.

RhysW

Ahh i see, i didnt see undo's message

Undo

0

Q: What feeds should we have in The Pod Bay?

We were recently having a conversation in The Pod Bay, our chatroom, about what feeds we should have. These can be RSS feeds, and can contain anything you can fit in an RSS block. Any suggestions?

discussion chat

JohnB

@RhysW the great space race

Undo

I hope I got the part about RSS right...

@RhysW Anyone want to make a CW answer of all the feeds we currently have?

RhysW

I suppose i should :P

TildalWave

14:50

now we're rolling :)

Donald.McLean

Continuous Wave? Country and Western?

RhysW

Hmm cant propose an edit to the main question because of my rep level xD

Undo

@RhysW What edits do you want to make?

RhysW

Just to list two we have that wont be changing (links to meta and main site)

Undo

@RhysW OK, I'll do that...

RhysW

14:53

Ta

Deer Hunter

@Donald.McLean : rockin' and rollin', I'd guess.

RhysW

huh, new power i didnt notice before, i can cancell other peoples stars :L

Undo

@RhysW Huh? Eeek.

RhysW

sure star soemthing of mine and ill show you

poof gone

Undo

Uhhh.... Ummm... RUN!!!!

Deer Hunter

14:57

@RhysW - the ultimate Star Destroyer.

Undo

@RhysW I'd say post all the ones we already have in one answer.

RhysW

@Undo in the future, if one is too annoying, i want people to be able to downvote to get rid of a single one

Deer Hunter

@RhysW - nice suggestion.

Undo

@RhysW Wouldn't a comment on the one post work? I don't want the suggestions to get lost in what we already have...

RhysW

we only have 3, hardly a swamp :P

Undo

14:59

@RhysW But it will grow...

RhysW

besides once i add one i plan to only add the line (Link Added) to the answer so that its clear what we have

@Undo yeah by the suggestions being put in that meta

thats sort of the point isnt it? :P

we cant delete answers when we add one of them, otherwise people cant voice their opionions on what we add once we have it

Undo

@RhysW Go ahead and do what you want - we'll see how it turns out!

TildalWave

@Undo The length of meta posts is a good indication of site's maturity :P

Undo

@TildalWave :P

TildalWave

wait when we start the space.se meme thread

Undo

15:02

@TildalWave I can only think of one - "RhysW"

Deer Hunter

@TildalWave - SEx.SE, not Space.SE :)

TildalWave

@DeerHunter that's already a new meme :P

Undo

@DeerHunter No! I detest that! Who came up with that in the first place?

Deer Hunter

Is there any way to track the number of SEx.SE questions in the Super Collider?

TildalWave

@Undo @ManishEarth ... the regular perv of SE ... even his graphs are suggestive

Undo

15:04

@TildalWave The same one giving potential mods advice? Oh dear...

RhysW

@DeerHunter haha i can still see that! there is no escape :P

@DeerHunter not that i know of

TildalWave

@Undo all over.se.er

RhysW

xD this is fun we can have one sided conversations :P

TildalWave

@DeerHunter can't you hold on to your posts until we read them at least?

ManishEarth

@tildal Me? No, not my idea. I think it was the idea of someone in TL. Forgot who.

Deer Hunter

15:07

@TildalWave &P

TildalWave

@ManishEarth TL?

Is there a two char acronym that still isn't in use on SE?

ManishEarth

Teacher's Lounge

TildalWave

@ManishEarth Ah... the House of Lords

Stack Exchange

2

Q: What feeds should we have in The Pod Bay?

We were recently having a conversation in The Pod Bay, our chatroom (get involved!), about what feeds we should have. These can be RSS feeds, and can contain anything you can fit in an RSS block. Also, one feed per post, the accepted answer should be community wiki and should include all feeds ...

discussion chat

RhysW

@StackExchange haha recursive feature much

a feed on the pod bay telling us about the feeds on the pod bay

2

Donald.McLean

15:12

@TildalWave There are 676 possible two letter acronym's using the Roman Alphabet. Seems unlikely that they will have managed to fill that entire space.

Deer Hunter

@Donald.McLean - they aren't equiprobable.

RhysW

@DeerHunter yeah (pretends to know what he is on about)

TildalWave

@Donald.McLean Have you looked at the A51 proposals list lately? It might not be enough even :O

ManishEarth

We already have SE sites with the same favicons. Crypto and Code Review

TildalWave

@ManishEarth they're Cr and CR

Deer Hunter

15:14

@ManishEarth - the lower half can be of a different color.

ManishEarth

@tildal hmm, I have an example of two sites with exactly the same favicon somewhere in a meta post

TildalWave

But our icon looks like Stack Exchange ver. 3 beta :)

ManishEarth

31

Q: Different Stack Exchange sites have the same logo

The "Computational Science" and "Computer Science" Stack Exchange sites have the same exact logo ("CS" in a blue speech balloon). Cryptography and Code Review do as well ("CR" in a blue speech balloon). This is bad for bookmarks, especially when one identifies them only by their logo. This should...

feature-request favicon

TildalWave

@ManishEarth Philosophy and Physics when it was in beta?

ManishEarth

CogSci and CS

@tildal I think Phy graduated before Phi went into beta

TildalWave

15:21

@ManishEarth possible, but I remember also noticing some being the same, tho that constantly changes... some betas were closed, some matured and got their own design,...

ManishEarth

Code Review and Crypto have different icons but the same favicon

@tildal yep

RhysW

@ManishEarth now all we need are Pho and Phum

ManishEarth

Ha!

RhysW

Phi Phy Pho Phum

ManishEarth

I smell the blood of a curious one!

Deer Hunter

15:23

@RhysW - and a Foreign Knowledge site

Meanwhile, folks, there's an EVA up there.

TildalWave

@ManishEarth Magento and Martial Arts too?

ManishEarth

Probably

Deer Hunter

@TildalWave - as Pratchett said, Marital Arts

RhysW

@DeerHunter that involves more physical abuse for sure

TildalWave

I've found two that are now the same: Personal Finance & Money and Physical Fitness both with PF

Deer Hunter

15:27

spacestationlive.jsc.nasa.gov/timeline/index.html

TildalWave

@DeerHunter You like to read Terry Pratchett's stuff?

ManishEarth

Hmm. Money should graduate soon

Deer Hunter

@TildalWave - read through as many books as I could get my greasy hands on, but never came back for re-reading.

TildalWave

you think?

JohnB

Money and Board Games are the next to graduate, I think. So that's a very fitting picture

oh shiz, I didn't see the post on money!

niiiice

TildalWave

15:31

@JohnB GO was absorbed into board games, no?

RhysW

@JohnB what post/

JohnB

14

Q: Design for Personal Finance & Money

My name is Lucian and, together with the Stack Exchange team, I will be in charge of creating the new design for the Personal Finance & Money site, as it graduates from the beta phase. While the site will have its own theme to reflect its topic and culture, it will still share certain common elem...

discussion featured design

RhysW

@JohnB woah, fancy

JohnB

does this Lucian fellow work for SE or did they contract him for this?

TildalWave

@JohnB cool that I was sure it's Jin's until I checked who posted it

ManishEarth

15:33

@john contract

For PF&M, they're doing something different.

JohnB

Apart from A51, has Jin designed all of them?

TildalWave

@JohnB he did IT Security that I know for sure... I'm not really long enough here to know more tho

BTW Money seems to have graduated already? I don't see any beta sign next to it

ManishEarth

@john most. Not SOFU I think

JohnB

I may make up a list and make a meta post out of it on GD

@TildalWave It's in the queue, so pretty soon

TildalWave

Nice, I think it's important to have Money :)

ManishEarth

15:38

@tildalwave the privs are still the old kind. I think that just means that they're set for graduation, just haven't graduated yet, the same happened with Travel I think

TildalWave

@ManishEarth Yup, there'd still be a lot of things to do, but I checked stats and it looks pretty good. Which poses a new question - do sites that mature gain on members count and visibility much faster than when they were in beta?

JohnB

good question

RhysW

@TildalWave from what ive seen, yes

but i dont know why

JohnB

they get linked in the SE footer, that can't hurt

RhysW

ahh true, i wouldnt have thought that many people browsed the footer than frequently though

TildalWave

15:53

@RhysW I could speculate on a few reasons - better visibility with custom design and list of SE sites in the footer, ability to promote similar communities (community ads) and increase member base, own blog posts, other full-blown SE site features if I forgot to list any, end of uncertainty on the future of the site, pride & respect for making it out of beta,...

JohnB

good points

RhysW

@TildalWave its own blog isnt mandatory i dont think

but yeah itd help

JohnB

Yeah, blogs are optional

TildalWave

In my experience, blogs here tend to use a lot of highly targeted keywords in to search engines legitimate ways (not just listing them for bad SEO, but actually using them in texts and links to other contents here), so they'd rank high up there... but that's IMHO

when you think of the Q&A section, you usually find them high up in Google when you're searching for answers on some problem, not when you're already well versed in how to deal with them and just doing your daily research... that's when blog posts pop-up in searches, and IMO that brings more potential experts, solution providers, and Q&A more potential solution seekers

TildalWave

16:16

Blog - Stack Exchange: Does this site have a chance of succeeding?

Robert Cartaino on July 27, 2011

Anytime you find yourself answering the same question over and over and over and over … blog post time.

This is that blog post.

This cycle has repeated itself on more sites than I can remember — When a new community approaches the end of their beta period, users start looking forward to graduation. So when that 90th day looms, anticipation starts to turn into speculation about whether the site is going to survive.

Does this site have a chance of succeeding? Is this site viable? Visits per day — should we be worried? At what point will this site grow out of the beta stage? What are the crit …

2

Finally found it, I knew it's in there... somewhere LOL

Donald.McLean

16:36

0

Q: how many collisons have happened among human-made things?

I only could find a reference for a collison between a Iridium and a Kosmos satellite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_satellite_collision Have any other collison happened, including with things that are not satellites (like debris, rocket stages, etc) ?

space-debris satellites

Interesting question but I had to fix some of the spelling/grammar.

Undo

@Donald.McLean Seems a little broad to me.

TildalWave

@Donald.McLean Deleted by OP :)

Undo

@TildalWave But I still approved the edit suggestion :)

I wonder why it was deleted.

TildalWave

@Undo ~~so did I in the review queue, but if you look at the post, it's not changed (which makes sense, since it's deleted)~~ wrong! huh?

Undo

I edited it 1 min ago (improve), and he deleted it 6 min ago.

TildalWave

16:44

@Undo Yes, I see now that it's possible. Well, we learn all the time LOL

Undo

It doesn't seem... right, though.

I wonder if I can vote to undelete it.

TildalWave

@Undo Should be possible. Another interesting thing is, it looks like we can vote to close too :))

Undo

@TildalWave Nope.

TildalWave

@Undo so only OP can?

Undo

@TildalWave That was on a close vote, and I don't really want to try to undelete it.

Can't flag it either.

But I can share it!

TildalWave

16:48

@Undo ah, gotcha ;) anyway, that should be so rare we might not see it in the next year, at least here

Undo

I bet it happens on SO - but it feels like a bug.

@TildalWave I kind of like being able to see posts with a red tint.

TildalWave

@Undo I wonder why it's not listed in the mod tools for deleted posts, do you see it there?

Undo

@TildalWave Nope - I bet that OP deletions don't show up - it's not like we can undelete them or anything.

TildalWave

@Undo ah, so only community deletions are there... actually yes, I've not seen other by OP deleted answers there either

Undo

@TildalWave community deletions and Community deletions show up.

TildalWave

16:53

shame, because that's one of the best things to browse through when you're bored :(

Undo

@TildalWave And only mods can use the isdeleted:1 search thingy.

But I can see why Anna protected this now, though.

We have 5 2kers now!

@TildalWave This is the highest level privileges either of us have ever gotten anywhere, right?

TildalWave

@Undo ha, didn't notice it before... and you know what's the most funny about it? Except for the two deleted answers... that I've flagged one answer as "not an answer" and it was declined - I see no cause to mark this 'protected'. It prevents answers by anonymous and very new users. Questions should be protected when new users are adding a lot of "me too!" and "thanks!"... now it's both, deleted as not an answer, and the question is protected LOL

Undo

@TildalWave Lol. Remember that when you get your mod-hat.

@TildalWave Think we ought to nuke this?

-1

Q: FTL Travel - which is the most theoretically possible?

Since first watching the original Star Trek/Star Wars, the idea of being able to travel faster than light has always fascinated me. I have read theorems on Wormholes, the Alcubierre drive and yes, even the Holtzman effect for all you fans of Dune out there. What theoretical basis exists for the...

interstellar-travel

TildalWave

@Undo The reason for my flag having been declined is actually pretty simple - there were multiple various flags raised and mods can only state one reason for declining them all... at that time, there was only one troll answer, so whoever requested it to protect the question had a premonition it's gonna be necessary soon enough :)

Undo

@TildalWave True.

TildalWave

17:03

@Undo Dunno about nuking it, but I haven't a clue why would I upvote it... unless I wanted to downvote and missed by a FTL light year LOL

Undo

@TildalWave Lol.

@TildalWave Hmmm....

0

Q: Do any systems in space use Artificial Intelligence yet?

Technology has apparently advanced to the point some states in the Untied States are debating AI managed cars. The thought comes to mind that space is relatively less crowded than most streets on Earth. An AI system could probably be tested out there with less risk than down here. Of course the s...

technology flight-computer unmanned

TildalWave

It's embarrassing really :( my vote as well, not just the question... we have another one about FTL that's at least reasonably written, albeit closed as well.

Undo

@TildalWave What about it is embarrassing?

TildalWave

@Undo what's wrong with it? there's the autonomous avoidance system on Curiosity, a similar system on Rosetta,...

@Undo That FTL question

it's wrong on so many different levels

too broad, primarily opinion based, off-topic, unclear, not really a duplicate since it was earlier than the other, better one... but still,... and it uses a reference to Sci-Fi movies

Undo

@TildalWave What should we do about it?

It has one reopen vote.

TildalWave

17:11

@Undo the OP wasn't even back to the site in nearly a month... I'd say it's safe to nuke

@Undo noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

Undo

@TildalWave I know - and it's not mine :P

TildalWave

if we had mods, maybe someone could ask if they'd like it on Skeptics

Undo

It's in the delete vote list now, and it's about to get a migrate-to-skeptics flag.

Now we just need @DeerHunter to cast his vote...

TildalWave

@Undo Minor edited to revert my vote... OP now has 101 points, which is default with the association bonus, so he's not losing anything. I really couldn't look at the blue upvote arrow, not on that question. I think it's ripe for deletion. Even OP says in the question "I know this question opinion-based but,..."

in the first revision at least

Undo

@TildalWave -3 now. I wish we had one more active chatter with delete privs.

TildalWave

17:23

@Undo It's Friday, they will come back... with a hangover. Anyway, I know it reads almost as if we're here conspiring against some post, but in all honesty it's a pretty bad one, closed with no chance of being reopened now that we've clearly established in meta such questions are OT, there's probably nowhere to migrate it (not Physics, we asked them, and it's too broad anywhere anyway),... I just don't see any point in keeping it. It just looks bad on us.

Undo

@TildalWave Agreed.

Next post to conspire against?

Donald.McLean

I'm 325 short. Sometimes actually having a life is a pain.

Undo

@Donald.McLean What's your Space.SE account? It's not linked to your chat account.

Donald.McLean

@Undo How could that be? I thought all of my accounts were linked together.

TildalWave

@Undo One should do for now, and we also need to keep a few of the bad ones to serve as an example ... thwart against others with similar intentions :)

Undo

17:36

@TildalWave We could make a Meta post detailing what we did to it, tag it [featured], and hold it up on a stick.

Anyway, got to go now. Bye!

TildalWave

@Undo take care ;)

ManishEarth

18:09

@undo chat parent user need not be on the site you wish for it to be :p

Chat parent user is indep of room

It gives you the ability to chat if your parent has 20 rep and chat mod powaz if you have a diamond on that site

Also gravatar

Donald.McLean

And isn't there some chat power that comes from being a global 10k user?

ManishEarth

18:36

Yeah, but that's not tied to parent user

Ability to handle chat spam/offensive flags, and the ability to see frozen and deleted rooms

Undo

@ManishEarth Yes, but Space.SE isn't tied to the account the chat profile is linked to, at all.

ManishEarth

Huh

Yes it is

stackexchange.com/users/1296863/donald-mclean?tab=accounts

Not in his top 5, that's all

Undo

@ManishEarth Ahh - I was looking for an account with 325 rep. My bad.

TildalWave

18:52

Oy, I'm confused. Which one of these two is me then? :)

Undo

@TildalWave The middle one.

TildalWave

:P

ah shoot now I noticed that my Seasoned Advice chef cap is gone from the list

Rory Alsop

Thought this question needed a full answer:

0

A: If I lived in space, could I have a dolphin for a pet?

Your main problem is that dolphins breathe air. Normally they come to the surface or even jump out of it and take a breath before submerging again. How will they do this in space? If you have a large capsule full of water, there will be no air. If you add in some air, will it stay in one place...

@TildalWave My SE is still not on my flair - down at 16th place - but catching bicycles fast :-)

hmm

not sure what I did there

TildalWave

@RoryAlsop hehehe

@RoryAlsop And BTW I believe in that question OP meant, if the dolphin would just live in the air, no water involved. Which comes with a whole new set of problems. OP even posted later a question, how big of a fin would they need to be able to move in air, but was later deleted, or at least closed, I'd have to look.

And for what is worth, I dislike such questions. The poor dolphin would die for hundreds of reasons, but the worst one in the list is human arrogance.

Rory Alsop

20:32

Updated accordingly. I too dislike this sort of question for a site like this.

TildalWave

@RoryAlsop Cheers! There's one new "space-wheel" question that's mistaking radial acceleration for "artificial gravity". I think the best way to answer it would be by describing physics behind it, which is fairly obviously missing even from the Wikipedia page. Describing this should illustrate sufficiently why we have no such spacecraft in orbit and what would their limitations be. I'm too tired and am calling it a night early today. Have fun! :)

Rory Alsop

@TildalWave Night!

PearsonArtPhoto

21:24

It's always embarrassing when the exception handling code crashes...

PearsonArtPhoto

21:47

I found a mistake that the FCC made in assigning Ham radio callsigns ~15 years ago.

RhysW

@PearsonArtPhoto do they still accept bug reports?

PearsonArtPhoto

Well, they fixed it some time ago.

Basically, they confused the number 0 with the letter O.

RhysW

hehe a hard thing to spot

PearsonArtPhoto

A call sign WB4MZ0 was entered, it should have been WB4MZO.

My program spotted it for me.

I spend ~20 minutes debugging it... Would have been worse if I didn't error check...

PearsonArtPhoto

23:05

Okay, I'm done playing with the FCC amateur radio database for now. Had a lot of fun, but I've got the info required for my blog post (At least two:-)

Transcript for