Science!: Extinction, Roombas and Earth
It's just that (very, very) little bit closer to the weekend now.
Read Full Article
It's just that (very, very) little bit closer to the weekend now.
Read Full Article
Science!: Extinction, Roombas and Earth
- Thread starter Lauren Admire
- Start date
Remember reading the story about extinction on the BBC earlier in the week...I wonder how long it will be before someone actually goes "HOLD IT!" and tries to disprove it...once more.
From what I read through they made a pretty through and well formed arguement
From what I read through they made a pretty through and well formed arguement
Another reason for having names for very big numbers is the ever increasing amount of data in the world. We are alredy using kilo mega giga tera peta and exa, and the amount of data that can be stored will increase by 1000 every 15 years (if current trend continues)
I would love to hear scientists talking about the mass of celestial bodies in Hellagrams.
can you hear it?
"we've discovered the first extra-solar moon orbiting a gas giant, the planet weighs 800 Hellagrams and the moon a mere 1.4 Hellagrams"
LOL.
can you hear it?
"we've discovered the first extra-solar moon orbiting a gas giant, the planet weighs 800 Hellagrams and the moon a mere 1.4 Hellagrams"
LOL.
An asteroid didn't kill the dinosaurs, it triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs. Way back when, Earths' atmosphere had a higher Oxygen content than it does today. All that dust and carbon reduced the oxygen content of several years causing the dinosaurs to asphyxiate.
The Roomba, the poor man's version of those $5000 robot sex dolls.
I bet Austin got the term from the Babara Streisand Halloween Southpark special.
With luck and a few more earthquakes, we can get rid of February 29.
The Roomba, the poor man's version of those $5000 robot sex dolls.
I bet Austin got the term from the Babara Streisand Halloween Southpark special.
With luck and a few more earthquakes, we can get rid of February 29.
Always happy to sniff out science news Lauren. And Dinosaurs weren't killed by a meteor, it was the smoking that did that
I don't think the whole 'what killed the dinosaurs' thing will ever come to rest. You can't really prove what happened millions of years ago, you have to stare at the evidence until it makes sense. I'd say the meteor theory is the strongest because it's been around the longest, but even though I subscribe to it some of the others also make sense.
I'm hoping to have those microseconds counted as overtime.
As cute as it sounds, the Hella thing won't fly. If we really need a word for 10^27, just find out what the Greek or Latin word for 'almost thirty but not quite' or 'a syndicated TV season' is.
If a Rhoomba was to clean up the house on my stead, I'd give it a name. (Of course, I also name my dice. George's the luckiest one.) I'd also give it a lot of unflattering decals, so it'd know who was in charge. (At least most people perceive their vaccumbots to be male - what does it say about you if you assume a small stupid thing that's only good for cleaning up the house is female for no reason whatsoever?)
I'm hoping to have those microseconds counted as overtime.
As cute as it sounds, the Hella thing won't fly. If we really need a word for 10^27, just find out what the Greek or Latin word for 'almost thirty but not quite' or 'a syndicated TV season' is.
If a Rhoomba was to clean up the house on my stead, I'd give it a name. (Of course, I also name my dice. George's the luckiest one.) I'd also give it a lot of unflattering decals, so it'd know who was in charge. (At least most people perceive their vaccumbots to be male - what does it say about you if you assume a small stupid thing that's only good for cleaning up the house is female for no reason whatsoever?)
Hella? Fuck that. As someone who may have to name a charcter after the ninth greek number someday, I say that we oppose this new addition in any way we can.
Roombas...it's a good thing they don't have attachments. Though, I bet someone has tried to...
Pfft, seriously, everybody knows the dinosaurs were killed by future time-travelers who saw Dinosaurs as the ultimate game, and hunted them to extinction, and brought back to the future to get stuffed. This whole business with asteroids slamming into places like the center of the Gulf of Mexico, or at least where the land used to be that all got extremely highly compressed, forming some of the richest petroleum in the world deep beneath the ocean's surface, obliterating and pulverizing all life in that entire area while destroying the land for hundreds of miles, say from the current eastern coast of Mexico to about the border of Louisiana--that stuff is all bollocks. And of course there aren't similar areas, that had less biotic life, in places like Northern Canada, or maybe twice in mid-Asia, around what is Currently the Caspian Sea. Naaaaah...
Pfft, seriously, everybody knows the dinosaurs were killed by future time-travelers who saw Dinosaurs as the ultimate game, and hunted them to extinction, and brought back to the future to get stuffed. This whole business with asteroids slamming into places like the center of the Gulf of Mexico, or at least where the land used to be that all got extremely highly compressed, forming some of the richest petroleum in the world deep beneath the ocean's surface, obliterating and pulverizing all life in that entire area while destroying the land for hundreds of miles, say from the current eastern coast of Mexico to about the border of Louisiana--that stuff is all bollocks. And of course there aren't similar areas, that had less biotic life, in places like Northern Canada, or maybe twice in mid-Asia, around what is Currently the Caspian Sea. Naaaaah...
It doesn't matter. She makes it rather hard to find an address to ship it to.Eleuthera said:
Not that I was looking or planning to get her one. Just, you know, if you were curious it's a bit of a hassle and you'll most likely give up before finding out. Unless you know her/are a virtual friend of hers.
I would totally but you one Lauren, by the by.
I have some friends who name almost every household appliance they have, so I'm not exactly surprised about people naming their Roomba's.
"However, the paper released by the international panel of scientists comes as a rebuttal to these concerns. The University of Texas at Austin states that "[The scientists] find that alternative hypotheses are inadequate to explain the abrupt mass extinction and that the impact hypothesis has grown stronger than ever.""
I hope they elaborate a little further in the actual paper, because this is a really bad rebuttal. I'm actually a little curious how their explanation copes with these criticisms (although not so curious that I'm actually going to read the paper).
I'm fine with using "hella" as a prefix, because it meets the important prerequisite of the first letter not being used already. I'm mildly amused by the student who apparently thinks that anyone in the world will care if he drops his major. I can imagine the discussion at the SI going:
"We have an internet petition saying we should use 'hella' as a prefix for 10^27. Seeing as how we've kind of been pulling these prefixes out of our ass by adding, removing or changing letters of Greek numbers, I say we go ahead and do it."
"Yeah, but then Dicky Dickinson over at UC Davis is going to drop his major."
"Oh noes! We cannot have Dicky Dickinson drop his major! What will the world do when that happens! Never mind then..."
Dicky probably just made his threat in jest though...
As for the last part: I don't really understand. The article says it takes 24 hours for the Earth to rotate, but depending on the mass distribution, some parts may have to move faster or slower. I can understand that points further from the rotation axis move at a higher speed, but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the mass. Since all parts of the Earth are connected to each other, I don't see how some parts can move at different speeds than others (except in the way I just said). Can someone explain?
"However, the paper released by the international panel of scientists comes as a rebuttal to these concerns. The University of Texas at Austin states that "[The scientists] find that alternative hypotheses are inadequate to explain the abrupt mass extinction and that the impact hypothesis has grown stronger than ever.""
I hope they elaborate a little further in the actual paper, because this is a really bad rebuttal. I'm actually a little curious how their explanation copes with these criticisms (although not so curious that I'm actually going to read the paper).
I'm fine with using "hella" as a prefix, because it meets the important prerequisite of the first letter not being used already. I'm mildly amused by the student who apparently thinks that anyone in the world will care if he drops his major. I can imagine the discussion at the SI going:
"We have an internet petition saying we should use 'hella' as a prefix for 10^27. Seeing as how we've kind of been pulling these prefixes out of our ass by adding, removing or changing letters of Greek numbers, I say we go ahead and do it."
"Yeah, but then Dicky Dickinson over at UC Davis is going to drop his major."
"Oh noes! We cannot have Dicky Dickinson drop his major! What will the world do when that happens! Never mind then..."
Dicky probably just made his threat in jest though...
As for the last part: I don't really understand. The article says it takes 24 hours for the Earth to rotate, but depending on the mass distribution, some parts may have to move faster or slower. I can understand that points further from the rotation axis move at a higher speed, but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the mass. Since all parts of the Earth are connected to each other, I don't see how some parts can move at different speeds than others (except in the way I just said). Can someone explain?