What have you learned today?

[Thaluikhain]

Archaeologists Find 3,000-Year-Old Sword So Well Preserved It 'Almost Still Shines'

The Bronze Age artifact was discovered in a grave during excavations in southern Germany

www.smithsonianmag.com

Still waiting for the day they unearth an actual moonlight greatsword.

Bronze doesn't rust like ferrous based metals, lots of bronze objects from millenia ago have turned up in good condition.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Bronze doesn't rust like ferrous based metals, lots of bronze objects from millenia ago have turned up in good condition.

Something more recent -

Legendary Sword Of Tipu Sultan Becomes Most Expensive Sword In History

It sold for an extraordinary amount.

www.iflscience.com

 

[Xprimentyl]

Yesterday, I learned that none other than Hans Zimmer composed the scores for the 2nd through 4th Pirates of the Caribbean films. Found out while watching "Dead Man's Chest" last night, and finally decided to track down the piece where Davy Jones is furiously playing his organ (always loved that scene,) and sure as shit, it's Hans Zimmer. I know he's divisive, but I love me some Zimmer; good to know he can sneak into my appreciation even without me knowing.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Today I learned that the "Cyclops" submarine in Subnautica was named after a real-life OceanGate submarine model (the trademark is acknowledged in the game's credits). The in-game submarine has a maximum depth of 1700m after upgrades, which is less than half the 3800m depth of the wreck of the HMS Titanic.

 

[Dalisclock]

Diogenes the Cynic was apparently well known for Jerking Off in Public, so one of the original trolls. When called out on his indecency, he apparently said "If it were as easy to banish hunger by rubbing my belly".

He apparently made it a personal hobby to harass Plato, which I find amusing for some reason. Especially in light of the fact Socrates apparently liked to harass everyone in Athens with his philosophical pestering.

On one hand, an asshole. OTOH, I kind of admire the sheer "Not giving a fuck" attitude despite that.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

The Wichita Public Library has a book dispenser at the airport

shivroy

wichita public library has the most delightful short story dispenser at the airport!

www.tumblr.com

 

[Terminal Blue]

On one hand, an asshole. OTOH, I kind of admire the sheer "Not giving a fuck" attitude despite that.

I mean, his philosophy boils down to "fuck the polis" (originally, that was not an intentional pun, but I'm now far too proud of it).

That said, a lot of accounts of the lives of philosophers come from later adherents or critics who tend to use this as a vehicle to insert commentary on their philosophy. My favourite example is one Roman source claiming that Pyrrho of Elis died by falling off a cliff because he refused to believe in gravity. Pyrrho was basically the big boy skeptic who went around shoving other skeptics into lockers at skeptic school.

 

[Chimpzy]

Could a 'solar superstorm' wipe out internet access across the globe?

Amid claims that a solar superstorm will cause an "internet apocalypse," NASA has been...

www.chron.com

Article headline is misleading tho. NASA is doing the scientific research to inform what the potential consequences of solar wind on our satellites and communications networks (and electronics in general, depending on the severity of the solar storm) could be, but they are not responsible for preparing for such an event. That would be the telecom and power companies which own that infrastructure. But since said prep would require capital expenditures and thus potentially lower profits, I am betting nothing will be done until it's too late. And then they'll scream at the government to bail them out, and scream at the scientific community for not warning them.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I am betting nothing will be done until it's too late. And then they'll scream at the government to bail them out, and scream at the scientific community for not warning them.

"Why didn't you protect us from our own greed and hubris" does seem to be a common refrain among private enterprise.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well, I imagine fears of EMPs during the Cold War (or just lightning strikes) have led to some infrastructure being hardened against this, but not much.

 

[Terminal Blue]

Well, I imagine fears of EMPs during the Cold War (or just lightning strikes) have led to some infrastructure being hardened against this, but not much.

Given the scale of national (and in some cases international) energy grids, I'm not sure it would ever be feasible to protect everything. I suspect the best case scenario would be to try and detect the storm early and intentionally shut down the energy grid. Being without power for a day or two isn't ideal, but it beats not having power for potentially weeks or months because all the transformers have exploded.

One weird preper hack I just learned while fact checking that thought is that microwaves contain a faraday cage (makes sense) so in the event of an impending electromagnetic event, you should stick your phone in your microwave (obviously don't turn it on). It might be useless anyway depending on how much infrastructure was destroyed, but at least you can play post-apocalyptic pokemon go for 5 minutes until your battery dies.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Given the scale of national (and in some cases international) energy grids, I'm not sure it would ever be feasible to protect everything. I suspect the best case scenario would be to try and detect the storm early and intentionally shut down the energy grid. Being without power for a day or two isn't ideal, but it beats not having power for potentially weeks or months because all the transformers have exploded.

As I understand it, long continous cables (such as are found in power grids and phone lines) are particularly susceptible, the first sign of EMPs was interference with phones using landlines, though the significance of that wasn't realised until much later. I'm no expert, but I don't think just turning everything off is going to protect the grid unless its hardened. Though turning everything off is going to protect things attached to it.

One weird preper hack I just learned while fact checking that thought is that microwaves contain a faraday cage (makes sense) so in the event of an impending electromagnetic event, you should stick your phone in your microwave (obviously don't turn it on). It might be useless anyway depending on how much infrastructure was destroyed, but at least you can play post-apocalyptic pokemon go for 5 minutes until your battery dies.

Makes sense, though a Faraday cage should be easy to improvise. Especially for tin foil hat types.

 

[Terminal Blue]

As I understand it, long continous cables (such as are found in power grids and phone lines) are particularly susceptible, the first sign of EMPs was interference with phones using landlines, though the significance of that wasn't realised until much later. I'm no expert, but I don't think just turning everything off is going to protect the grid unless its hardened. Though turning everything off is going to protect things attached to it.

Long power cables are designed to carry enormous currents. They can carry hundreds of thousands of volts and then be struck by lightning and still generally be fine. There are physical limits at which they will melt, but they're pretty resilient. The problems tend to occur when you have complicated electrical machinery with very fine tolerances.

Turning stuff off isn't going to be perfect protection, but think of it in terms of the overall electrical load on that circuit. If a circuit has 5 volts running through it and will overload at 10, turning off the power doubles the amount of voltage that can be added to that circuit by an electromagnetic field before it overloads.

 

[Kyrian007]

The Wichita Public Library has a book dispenser at the airport

shivroy

wichita public library has the most delightful short story dispenser at the airport!

www.tumblr.com

I haven't seen the airport one, but there is one at the coffee shop down the street from where I work and at the closest branch library to my apartment as well. I haven't used it yet, don't loiter at coffee shops and there is plenty to read at the library. But I imagine it is a decent idea at the airport. The best thing is, people can submit short stories and if approved... they go into the rotation.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Apparently misleading on the human remains part. Of course *something* will be left behind; it doesn’t just disappear not matter how much pressure is applied.

 

[Terminal Blue]

Apparently misleading on the human remains part.

Yeah, they're not going to recover any remains.

There are far slower and worse ways to die in that context, but those bodies are gone. Humans are mostly water, and they're part of the sea now.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

There are far slower and worse ways to die in that context, but those bodies are gone. Humans are mostly water, and they're part of the sea now.

As Scott Manley put it: "At those pressures, your body stops being biology and starts being physics."

 

[Bedinsis]

That burning national flags, something I assumed was generally A-OK due to freedom of speech, is a lot less legal around the world than I thought.

 

[Dalisclock]

As Scott Manley put it: "At those pressures, your body stops being biology and starts being physics."

That honestly makes getting instantly compressed into a pulp sound a lot more badass, NGL.

 

[Absent]

That in order to prevent the good US citizen to be tempted by the devil, this poster

was replaced by that one