Tuesday, January 19, 2021
TRACKING WITH CLOSEUPS: Secrets of the “Nothing Grinder”
Monday, January 18, 2021
CONTEXT: Burning Oxygen in an Atmosphere of Propane
Isaac Asimov wrote a science fiction story, “The Dust of Death” based on a similar premise. We now know that the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan is composed mostly of nitrogen, with methane less than 5% by volume.
CONTINUITY: US Airways Flight 1549 Ditching in the Hudson River: A Pilot's Analysis
THE HAPPENING WORLD: Virgin Orbit Demo 2 Launch Onboard Camera
Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne air-launched rocket successfully put its payload in orbit after being dropped from the 747 mother ship. Air launching allows all-azimuth launches to be staged without multiple land-based launch sites, and equatorial launches with maximum assist from the Earth's rotation.
CONTINUITY: Diogenes: “Learn to live on lentils”
The philosopher Diogenes was eating lentils for supper. He was seen by Aristippus, who said, 'If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.' Diogenes replied: “Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.” pic.twitter.com/qpY87aPbfG
— Michael Lambda (@Michael_Lambda) January 16, 2021
Sunday, January 17, 2021
TRACKING WITH CLOSEUPS: First Full Test of SLS Booster Fails as Engines Trigger Emergency Shutdown
Here is Scott Manley's quick look analysis of the SLS test firing abort. He notes that in 2020, there was discussion about skipping the “green run” test and proceeding directly to launch. Had they done that, it might have been a really bad day for SLS (but at least the first launch will not carry a crew, although that was also considered in 2020, as part of the push to return to the Moon by 2024).
CONTEXT: Building an Apollo Ground Service Equipment Panel Prop
Putting a collection of those cool Apollo-era control panel switches to “work”.
CONTINUITY: A Working Edison Light Bulb from 1896
Saturday, January 16, 2021
THE HAPPENING WORLD: NASA Space Launch System Test Firing Aborts after 60 Seconds
The SLS core stage engines shut down a little more than a minute into the planned eight-minute firing. https://t.co/B639YAgQec pic.twitter.com/CxWKqkm3Vf
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) January 16, 2021
After 13 years of development and 18 billion dollars spent on development, the Space Launch System core stage test firing shut down 60 seconds into a planned 8 minute test firing, just at the point the engine gimbal test was to start.
The NASA TV commentators are still reading from the script for a successful test.
Update: “Major component failure” (2020-01-16 22:47 UTC)
From the NASA TV replay, a controller says they got an MCF on Engine 4. “But we’re still running. We’ve got four good engines, right?” another controller says. The engines continue to run for another 10-15 seconds before shutdown. https://t.co/Ve1TgS6MyX
— Jeff Foust (@jeff_foust) January 16, 2021
THE HAPPENING WORLD: NASA Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage Test Firing
From Apollo to @NASAArtemis 🌙
— NASA_SLS (@NASA_SLS) January 15, 2021
The date is set. @NASA and its partners, @BoeingSpace and @AerojetRdyne, will conduct a “hot fire” of the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket this Saturday, Jan. 16. DETAILS >> https://t.co/zxjiowj7w7 pic.twitter.com/N5D3VCeDa9
The NASA Space Launch System (SLS) is easily the stupidest orbital launch system ever seriously developed. On each launch, which will cost around a billion US$, not counting the approximately twenty billion in sunk R&D costs before it ever flies, and flying at most once a year, it will discard as junk in the ocean four Space Shuttle Main Engines and two solid rocket boosters, all of which were routinely reused during the thirty years of the Space Shuttle program. Including its predecessor, the Constellation program Ares V, it has been under development for 13 years, whereas the comparable Saturn V took around five years from program start to first flight in the 1960s.
The Space Launch System has been called the “Senate Launch System” because it was largely mandated by politicians to keep NASA centres and contractors busy after the end of the Space Shuttle program. If this and a subsequent unmanned test flight are successful, it is not expected to fly its first crew before the summer of 2023.
The test firing is scheduled for 22:00 UTC on 2021-01-16.
TRACKING WITH CLOSEUPS: I Painted My Entire Room with Musou Black—the World’s Blackest Paint
Friday, January 15, 2021
CONTEXT: Humidifiers: Simpler Is Better?
Not mentioned: if you have a lot of lime scale (calcaire) in your water, the the wick of an evaporative humidifier will become less and less effective as its pores are clogged with scale deposits. So, even if you don't have a problem with smelly gunk growing in the humidifier, it's best to replace the wick(s) at least once per season or when you notice the relative humidity falling below where it's normally maintained.
THE HAPPENING WORLD: Facial Recognition Predicts People's Politics with 72% Accuracy
Facial recognition technology can correctly predict a person's political orientation 72% of the time, better than chance (50%), human judgment (55%), or a personality questionnaire (66%). https://t.co/IUEtEYsx4A pic.twitter.com/NAuC9ZBJDY
— Rob Henderson (@robkhenderson) January 15, 2021
TRACKING WITH CLOSEUPS: Mathematicians Resurrect Hilbert’s 13th Problem
"Long considered solved, David Hilbert’s question about seventh-degree polynomials is leading researchers to a new web of mathematical connections." via @QuantaMagazine https://t.co/ZK6BAxhz12
— Quantum Gravity Res. (@emergencetheory) January 14, 2021
Did you know that every smooth cubic surface contains exactly 27 straight lines?
Thursday, January 14, 2021
TRACKING WITH CLOSEUPS: LED Lamps from Dubai: They Leave the West Behind
Only sold in Dubai: Philips LED lamps that use more LED chips running at lower current, resulting in greater efficiency (light output per electrical power consumed) and much longer life. The initial cost is higher, but the longer life will probably more than recover this. There's an internal voltage regulator which keeps the lamps from dimming or brightening when the mains voltage varies (but means they won't work with dimmers).
THE HAPPENING WORLD: Blue Origin NS-14 Suborbital Launch
The live Webcast is scheduled to begin at 15:15 UTC on 2021-01-14, with launch scheduled for 15:45 UTC. These launch times have frequently been delayed in the past.
THE HAPPENING WORLD: SpaceX Starship SN9 Performs Three Static Firings in One Day
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
CONTEXT: Heeees back!
Hi! I'm Clippy, your office assistant! pic.twitter.com/SOZOf2jqZY
— Faces in Things (@FacesPics) January 13, 2021
TRACKING WITH CLOSEUPS: The Many Forms of Brassica oleracea
The invention of broccoli. We totally nailed that one. pic.twitter.com/5dUN4ZUNqq
— Mispy (@mispy11) January 12, 2021
And don't forget Brassica’s wacky fractal sibling, Romanesco!
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
CONTINUITY: Origin of the UNIVAC 1103A Scientific Computer (1953, 1956) ERA, Sperry Rand
The Univac 1101 through 1105, all vacuum tube machines, were the first generation of ERA/Univac scientific computers. The second generation, the transistorised Univac 1107, retained the original 36 bit word length, but re-architected the machine into what would be the 1100/2200 series for decades to come. The story of the 1107 and successors picks up in my Univac Memories archive.