Here's an infographic showing every satellite orbiting the Earth: qz.com/296941/…

Sounds good to me, I am in.

I had almost forgotten that Mike Drake was PI of OSIRIS-REX...

I've met him a few times.

@PearsonArtPhoto Mike Drake is a great name for a Private Investigator, and osiris-rex certainly sounds shady. when is the next show? :)

LOL.

@Hohmannfan my university first (and kind of only) class is called "the C language in 30 min"

C language is definitely not the best one for programmer productivity...

And the performance argument is getting weaker and weaker every year

Altho the simple knowledge of C by itself enable you to understand computers and other language better

@Antzi Hoh has created programs in exotic languages like <><, so i think he's there in that regard

@Antzi Productivity is mostly limited by how good the programmer is to express his ideas, not by the language.

Messing around with different languages is 1) fun, and 2) teaches you to be better at expressing those ideas.

Performance? Languages are made for expressing ideas. Translating those ideas to machine code is a job for the compiler/interpreter. Sure, some languages are closer to the hardware so the compiler knows better what is a more efficient way to do its job, but as time passes, the same program in different languages approaches the same machine code in the end.

So basically, I just ask myself: "Is this way of writing my ideas good for me?"

At some point, "is it good for other" can become more important than "is it good for me"

Meh, other people should be ok maintaining my bra*nfuck programs.

Oh brainfuck programs are among the easiest to maintain actually

@Antzi From that angle C is still a good language to learn

havent you heard about the -rf flag for refactoring in the rm program ?

Definitely the fastest refactor is a rewrite with brainfuck :p

Best to do that system wide for all programs at the same time with / too

You guys better hope no one has root access

Called2voyage, is there any reason why your avatar is a triskèle ?

He gets the same question every 6 weeks ;)

@Antzi Ancient symbol, loved by the celts, what's not to like?

@Antzi Your avatar, on the other hand, the shoebox-with-squid-parts, is pretty self explanatory.

hmm, well at some point it became the classy version of the butterfly/dolphin tattoo for some people.

darned celts, always making weird swirlies...

but the mistake would be to let other people dictate what you like.

My avatar is a constant reminder of what I could've done if I didn't decided to just get a regular job.

I had no clue about Celtic symbolism before I had Trisquel Belonos on my laptop for a while.

I for one welcome our new squid overlords.

@called2voyage No! NO! NNOOO!!!! No squids, under any circumstances. I am a cephalopod-ist and demand a zero cephalopod policy. With extreme prejudice.

I will gladly work as a slave in their shoe box factory

:DDD

@geoffc We don't allow extreme prejudice here, take your cepalopod hate elsewhere

:p

It not hate! It is true! Cephalopods kill people all arund the world!

@kimholder lol no. I'm just the regional guy. I don't get control over that stuff.

@geoffc I eat squid so maybe I deserve it

@called2voyage Calamari this sucka! :) Not kosher, so never tried.

@geoffc not all squids. one must resist the urge to generalize...

Shoe box factory slave? That sounds nice, thinking inside the box for a while, become a part of the superior mollusc organisational structure.

@geoffc Some say it's the same as chewing rubber, but I like it

@kimholder The vast majority of squids are violent murderes. It IS ok to generalize in this case. Ask the whales what they think of the mass murder spree the giant squids have been going on for millions of years now.

@called2voyage You like chewing rubber?

it isn't rubbery if it is properly prepared

well... a lot less rubbery

@kimholder my feeling exactly

@Hohmannfan quote mining me is fun

@duzzy so you were just dissing your superiors :]

@geoffc that sounds more like a war of species to me. Who really threw the first punch?

@kimholder They don't know what they're doing.

Is that really fair? To join a body tissue fight with an internal skeleton

@Hohmannfan well the squids do have the advantage that they can fit through anything their beak can

If they felt the lack of a skeleton was a disadvantage, they should have brought one.

@duzzy If they swallow one, does that count?

It's kind of the lazy, quick method... but if it works for them, why not?

but that way also kind of seems as though they're smuggling a skeleton.

Very suspicious.

They have concealed carry licenses?

To conceal a skeleton? That's one I haven't heard of, but fair enough.

However, it still seems suspicious... and they'll surely be stopped at every opportunity.

Atlantis is cool with it, and they have jurisdiction

Maybe there needs to be an investigation into Atlantis. Sounds like possible corruption.

@duzzy why do you think they sunk in the first place?

Touche.

So it sounds like the squid are really in charge of the streets of Atlantis.

@duzzy Well, it's more like the squid and whales are rival gangs.

Yeah, and the dolphins in office are in the squids pockets.

The whales don't buy shoes. It's a sore spot for the squid.

All right, I need to get back to work.

Work is no fun.

(not that I would know)

@called2voyage Count the limbs! The more limbs, the guiltier! Thus squid and octopussies are the most guilty of all creatures!

@duzzy Don't bring a knife to a skeleton fight?

@called2voyage If we make skeletons illegal, only the illegals will have skeletons.

@duzzy It is the Atlantis Foundation that needs to be investiagted. Been takiing donations from foriegn governments.

@called2voyage Now you are anti-gangist too! Such an ist-ist you are!

well, that rounds out the cephalopod / cetacean conflict analysis quite nicely. Perhaps it can be used as a framework.

@kimholder Whales rule! Squid suck ink!

Are we at least laughing?

i have been mirthful for over 2 hours now. i'm not getting nearly enough work done.

@kimholder Oh no, the squid have gotten to Kim! Call in the whales!

@kimholder Underage whale porn!

I like how the little one pops up, then the mom, and WOW what a size difference. Surprised no one got killed. I of course would blame the squids for framing the whales, should that have happened.

Anyone know how to get homeless people and/or drunk people to stop peeing in a parking lot?

fence?

Not really feasible, unfortunately.

port-a-toidy?

nah, takes too much actual thought.

Even if we had something like that, we'd have to pay for it, pay to have someone frequently empty it, and when you're dealing with homeless/drunk people, it would likely turn into more of a mess than we currently have.

Besides, I don't want to attract more people to the area, just to have a line formed at 3 am, and people say "screw it, i'll pee on the wall"

flower beds?

it happens where we park and walk.

you can still plop planters on top. people don't pee on flowers. it's wrong.

On top of what?

well, whatever. it's outside right?

Yeah, it's under a carport thing.

oh. i see, you are providing impromptu shelter because there is a carport.

that's your problem. :]

Yeah, it's an easy place to hide and pee.

and it's right next door to a bar.

@duzzy High pressure fire hoses?

Land mines

?

Claymores?

@geoffc Until I read the history, I thought you were talking about the video I just posted.

@called2voyage WHich video? Scrolled off already. You assumed it was more of my anti-cephalopod bias? You sir, are an ist-ist!

@geoffc see the hydro impact basin q

really? nobody ever swims in that? ever?

and nobody is ever flung off the crane into the pool just for fun?

@kimholder That seems unfair.

Looks it would be an awesome water park element.

Needs some slides, but pre-fab slides...

@kimholder the rescue divers do

Actually, the Kalahari Resort in PA (at junction of I380/I80 near Tannersville) is building up its indoor water park and I have been driving back and forth so much, I have been watching them do it piece by piece. Fun to watch,.

google.ca/maps/place/Kalahari+Resort/…

@geoffc bigger than an Olympic swimming pool. ..sounds fun.

I had contemplated this summer trying to swim across all 5 great lakes. But only at the narrow points. Only an idiot (looking at you Marilyn Bell) swims across the wide part... Did not work out this summer, but still contemplating it. A smidge bigger than a pool.

@geoffc among the group of us suffering with this issue, the subject of traps/mines/hoses/etc has come up... and so have certain laws related to such devices.

One guy even keeps pulling up the geneva convention.

@duzzy Dedicate a parking spot for it with a sign that says "Pee here"

The parking lot is pretty small, and we don't really want any peeing happening.

Maybe we could make a sign that says "pee next door, at the bar"

@duzzy Only on land mines. And it is NOT Geneva Convention, it is a separate one on land mines.

Well, apparently the geneva convention talks about traps in general.

I don't know much about it... but this guy keeps bringing it up.

Fire hoses are NOT in the GEneva Convention. :) So there you go, free reign. Bloody anarchists you work with. :)

I'm not opposed to fire hoses. We just have to figure out how to make that work.

Did you hear about the bombs in NYC? Second one was ina nice suitcase, so two guys stole the suitcase/tote bag and left the bomb behind! Now THAT is NY!

They also nicely saved some lives by leaving the bomb exposed to be found, vs hidden in a package.

How noble of them.

@duzzy Cops want to talk to them, see if more evidence in the case/bag. But how strange a world eh? (These are clearly whales in squids clothing).

Even the shoes?

@duzzy Count the feet to know what is going on! Hateful 8 is not just a movie name! It is part of the anti cephalopod Hollywood movement.

This conspiracy stuff is hitting a little too close. I recently found out that my sister's boyfriend believes in something called nibiru... and that apparently there is some "mini solar system" coming into our solar system and it's orbiting the sun or something... and nibiru, or whatever is going to crash into earth and the government/media/etc are hiding all of this because... reasons... The only people who know the truth are people who watch countless hours of videos on youtube.

he keeps posting videos on facebook of "chemtrails"

It is no joke, those trails contain large amounts of dihydrogenmonoxide.

@duzzy Tell him that when airlines switched from early jets to high bypass jets as we use today, these went away.

clearly a lot of people need more excitement in their life.

@duzzy The amateur astronomers are so good they are catching the NSA on satellites, so I am not that worried,

There are a lot of really good amateur astronomers right here. Some of them have discovered asteroids, supernovae, and other crazy stuff.

It must be pretty cool to be a person to actually discover something like that.

@duzzy I named a species of bee!

That's awesome!

Link?

What is it called?

@duzzy And completely meaningless and useless!

Halictus Poeii.

Sibling to Halictus Ligatus.

Paper is not actually available for free online...

I have the journal printed, and printed copies, but nothing online.

I would have probably named it "super cool stingy flower bug"

So I get first author on the paper, which gives me the naming credit, The guy I worked for actually chose the name. Alas.

Aww... boo

Journal of the Kansas Entomlogical Society. If someone can find that on bit torrent that would be cool!

Very common on US east coast. They are everywhere. Especially around ragweed.

I want to name an insect.

There must be around twelve different and absurd reasons for why people ended up in this chat.

The Geoff Bee

Halictus Poeyi

That's a fine looking bee.

I dunno, they always were ground up and run through gels when I saw them. :)

I once tried to go catch some. Wasted 6 hours of my life I will never get back.

@geoffc You have strange hobbies.

@duzzy Yes. Yes I do.

Can not be that bad, that hobby involves going outside once in a while.

True.

Also, it involves discovering more new species than SETI ever has.

Was undergrad project. Moved on. Now my hobbies are stranger.

You tempt me to ask.

@Hohmannfan I count this as one of them. I write hundreds of articles on technology. I run, I bike, I have done 5 Ironman distance triathlons, and 38 marathons.

Starting a Ginger Lives Matter movement. Stuff like that.

Running 38 Lunokhod's? Just wow!

that reminds me that this is one of the days i do a gentle jog around the property until i don't feel like it any more...

@kimholder For the room schedule, keep an eye out for Shenzhou 11. Exact launch time is not announced yet, but it is next month.

China's first manned long-term mission.

@Hohmannfan yeah - the only difficulty is finding a feed for it. i'd love to post the chinese stuff but there is never video

if there was some way to link to some coverage that is sort of live, i'd post it anyhow, even though normally we only post things with live video

it's a pretty big deal

Okay, so I just finished "Death's End", the last book in "The Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy by Cixin Liu. The first book was "The Three-Body Problem", and let me tell you: if anybody enjoys science fiction, this trilogy is amazingly masterful.

I have that one on my list of books to try to obtain some time.

In my opinion, one of the best things about it is that Cixin Liu, the author, is Chinese. And you can tell in his writing that it really is a radical new outlook on science fiction then Western authors who are influenced by Aasimov, Bradbury, and others. It's an entirely new and extremely interesting perspective.

what is the central theme of the books?

Well, you can't really say much about books 2 and 3 without giving away the stuff that makes book 1 great.

But book 1 starts with a premise of "What if there was a planet in a triple-star system, and that planet evolved intelligent life?"

hm, interesting. is it 'hard' science fiction?

Most definitely.

There is a lot more science in here then in, say, "2001: ASO"

I can hardly imagine a book named after the 3BP not being hard sci-fi.

I think at one or two points in one of the books, he even references scientific papers.

Book 3 just came out in English, and I had been waiting for it for about half a year.

2001ASO is just weird. Several small story arcs glued together.

I have not seen the movie though, only read the book.

Anybody else sharing their must-read science fiction? I give "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" my vote

i have mostly been influenced by soft science fiction. I loved Dune. Really liked the RingWorld series, which is a bit harder.

Lilith's Brood is one i still think about. And i have lost a bunch of books due to my long absence from Canada, where my small collection was stored and seems to be gone. I can't remember the names any more of a few favorites there.

@Hohmannfan Okay, if you read 2010:O2, it gets even weirder because he wrote the book as a sequel to the movie. And in the book they go to Saturn, but in the movie they go to Jupiter.

@kimholder Dune is great; I've heard the sequels are poor though.

they had some interesting ideas. But yeah, not the same.

Oh - that reminds me. Ender's Game.

Reading all of the Dune series is like a journey from Awesome to... very very not awesome.

Oh! And Rocheworld!

@kimholder Ender's Game is great, but I feel that the sequels suffer similarly to Dune.

exactly. that's what made me think of it.

Just about anything by Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Ursula K. LeGuin is a must-read

Especially worth noting is the Hainish Cycle by LeGuin and the Foundation series by Asimov

^

"Stranger in a Strange Land" by Heinlein, and "Snow Crash" by Neal Stevenson

ohhh - Diamond Age

Snow Crash was very cool but i still think about Diamond Age

"Building Harlequin's Moon" by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper is an extremely good book that I discovered last year

If you like robots, then "The Stories of Ibis" by Hiroshi Yamamoto is a must-read

yeah - i wish i could remember the name of this book by this Polish woman i found in a used book shop. very interesting. I even tried searching for Polish Science Fiction Writers to see if i might twig as to who it was, but i can't find it.

I really enjoy some of the books by Jon Bing, but they are not available in English.

what language are they in?

ah - norwegian. didn't seem like a norwegian name, but what do i know. :)

Bing & Bringsværd are pretty much dominating the history of Norwegian science fiction.

Bing wrote mostly non-ficiton though, trying to tell people that computers were going to be important in the future.

8-O Nooooo....

Too bad they never evolved beyond being used for research data processing at the largest universities :P

Computers are doomed because they are not scalable, a larger computer just means more vacuum tubes to replace, and longer programs to type in. You can not expect regular people to do that.

@Hohmannfan Type? What kinda crazy future are you living in? In order to "program" a computer, you need to rewire its hardware entirely.