Recently in CONTEXT
Monday, January 18, 2021
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.
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Building an Apollo Ground Service Equipment Panel Prop
Putting a collection of those cool Apollo-era control panel switches to “work”.
Friday, January 15, 2021
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.
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Heeees back!
Hi! I'm Clippy, your office assistant! pic.twitter.com/SOZOf2jqZY
— Faces in Things (@FacesPics) January 13, 2021
Monday, January 11, 2021
The Nuclear Salt Water Rocket
Sunday, January 10, 2021
1962 Italian Magazine: “The World of 2022”
This Italian magazine from 1962 predicted what society would look like in 2022. The ‘With You Forever’ is a little eerie, given our current circumstances. pic.twitter.com/M5jyGKRKow
— Helen Ingram (@drhingram) January 9, 2021
Friday, January 8, 2021
The Closest Star to the Solar System: Proxima Centauri with Parallax Nick
Thursday, January 7, 2021
SAT Score Inflation over 45 Years
The gradual degradation of an excellent test for no good reason. It gets even worse if you take the expansion of the test-taking pool into account.
— Charles Murray (@charlesmurray) January 7, 2021
The two break points are the major revisions in the SAT in 1994–95 and 2016-17 pic.twitter.com/hqM5lSypng
1975 Mainframe CPU Module — Amdahl 470
In the 1970s, I worked right down the street from Amdahl headquarters and across the orchard from Intel's starship. I never imagined such hackery was being perpetrated chez Amdahl. Had I known, I might have applied for a job there.
Monday, January 4, 2021
Empire of Stupid: “Amen and Awomen”
The prayer to open the 117th Congress ended with "amen and a-women."
— Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (@GReschenthaler) January 3, 2021
Amen is Latin for "so be it."
It's not a gendered word.
Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/FvZ0lLMDDr
Sunday, January 3, 2021
Average Colour of Solar System Bodies
The average color of some solar system objects. Measured spectra converted to CIE XYZ converted to sRGB. pic.twitter.com/2whxPycPM1
— Donald Mitchell (@DonaldM38768041) January 2, 2021
The Earth is purple? Who knew?
Saturday, January 2, 2021
Welcome Aboard the R.100
For a detailed account of the British airships R.100 and its government boondoggle competitor R.101, see Nevil Shute's magnificent book Slide Rule.
Here is a video about the R.101 by Bill Hammack, author of the book Fatal Flight.
Friday, January 1, 2021
Jill Tarter: Signals from Proxima Centauri, Advice from Carl Sagan, and SETI @ 60!
Thursday, December 31, 2020
The New Spirit—1942 Donald Duck Propaganda for the U.S. Income Tax
In 1942, the U.S. Income Tax, which was previously paid by only 13 million people, was increased and extended to hit more than 50 million, or 75% of all working Americans. It was called the “Victory Tax” and promoted as supporting the war the U.S. had just entered. In October, 1942, Time magazine called it “The biggest piece of machinery ever designed to separate dollars from citizens.” The Treasury Department enlisted Disney Studios and Donald Duck to promote the tax as a patriotic “privilege, not just your duty.”
“Taxes to beat the Axis!”
The film was nominated for a 1943 Academy Award as Best Documentary.
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Ice Age Woolly Rhinoceros Carcass Found in Siberian Permafrost
BREAKING: Another extinct ice age beast exhumed from the permafrost. Exceptionally well-preserved carcass of a juvenile woolly rhinoceros discovered in Yakutia. Its internal organs and stomach contents await investigation. Photos by Valery Plotnikov. https://t.co/5TB8mwbajT pic.twitter.com/yw71lQf6Gf
— The Ice Age ❄️🌞 (@Jamie_Woodward_) December 29, 2020
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Earth During a Solar Eclipse
Monday, December 28, 2020
Robin Hanson — How Far Away Are Expansionist Aliens?
Related blog posts:
Sunday, December 27, 2020
The Floppotron: Stayin' Alive
Floppotron 2.0 includes 64 floppy drives, 8 hard drives, and two flatbed scanners, all driven by an array of custom controllers built from various hardware. It was designed and constructed by Paweł Zadrożniak in Poland.
Friday, December 25, 2020
The Scale of Everything — The Big, the Small and the Planck
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction Observed at Radio Wavelengths
Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn seen in radio. pic.twitter.com/IQGCtx9vLe
— Dr Wladimir Lyra (@DrRRLyrae) December 21, 2020
At Jupiter, what you're seeing is a cross-section of the “plasma torus” around the planet formed by emissions from the moon Io. This outshines the planet at the 2 cm wavelength of the image.