Starship Asterisk*

It's kind of an interesting thought experiment - what would the sky look like from a planet orbiting a member of a globular cluster? I suppose it would depend greatly on the current position of the star relative to the rest of the cluster. Near the center you'd have a dense concentration of stars al...

I think the distinct lack of evidence for advanced civilizations suggests they occur rarely in the universe. It’s an interesting but (probably) unanswerable question because there are so many variables we have yet to quantify. I’d start by asking a series of nested questions: how rare is life in the...

Keeping the iris train going...we have some Dutch iris in the front:

I went to a concert in Portland a couple of months ago. Walking from the parking space I walked past a large tree and noticed this plaque in front of it: PXL_20240211_205553559 (1).jpg The city has grown all around the tree; it's flourished and become quite large. Which is pretty neat...nice work, ...

I went to a concert in Portland a couple of months ago. Walking from the parking space I walked past a large tree and noticed this plaque in front of it: PXL_20240211_205553559 (1).jpg The city has grown all around the tree; it's flourished and become quite large. Which is pretty neat...nice work, S...

Ann - thanks for the information, Malmö sounds like an interesting place. I have always been fascinated by the depth of history in so many places around the world. I had a boss that grew up in England and told me about walking along Roman roads or near Norman ruins. You read in the news about farmer...

Ann - that's a really nice picture. It's cool that it was picked up by your local news. Two questions: 1. Is that a historic cemetery? Or perhaps historic plots the city has grown around? It's always interesting in older cities to find remnants of the past. 2. Are there a lot of waterways for paddle...

Google Slides works pretty well. The file remains in .pptx format but you can display it in a browser and share as needed.

I have been a big fan of aviation since I was a kid. Microsoft Flight Sim has reached 40 years old; I grew up playing various versions (mostly FS2004 and FSX). The latest version is pretty amazing; it uses Bing map data to build realistic terrain as you fly along. You can literally fly over your hou...

Happy holidays everyone! Does anyone have any particular fun things they do this time of year? I'll admit when I was younger, through my 20s, Christmas sort of lost its luster. But with kids the whole thing sort of comes to life again. The family tree hunt (we go to local u-cut farms; much tromping ...

Take care of yourself Orin...hope you're feeling better soon.

The galaxy in the original post was for OSX 10.8, Mountain Lion. 10.7, Lion, used M31: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_X_Lion The meandering path of the themes for MacOS are source of "friendly ribbing" between myself and my more Apple-oriented co-workers. The "cat period" reall...

It’s pretty rare in my area to see the Leonids. There is generally a high chance of cloud cover between October and June, so winter star watching is limited to short islands of clear, cold weather. You have to be ready to drop what your doing, break out the telescope, and grab that coat and warm bev...

I can't say I am a Fleetwood Mac fan, but I do appreciate some of their work. One song that stands out for me is "Never Going Back Again," on Rumors , because the guitar picking is so impressive. Chris - I tend to "think" in terms of albums too. It's kind of strange, when I was a...

In University, I had a teacher who gave a subject with a pseudocientific explanation. I asked him a key question that showed his mistake. The teacher did not answer me, he got very furious and he said end of the class. Good point. We often assume certain professions – teachers, doctors, scientists ...

When I was working as a pharmacist, I had opinions I felt unheard or even unwanted. The internet has opened a platform for all to voice their opinions but societal courtesies have not kept pace with technology. In golf there is an observed etiquette that parallels the rules. Society, currently, has...

0.5 kilopost!

OK, I guess that's not very impressive among the high-posting folks around here. Considering that I joined in 2005, by the time I hit my first kilopost we'll probably be discussing, in past-tense, humanity's first steps on Mars.

Good luck with the recovery; if they tell you to do physical therapy, do it, and take it easy as you get back into old activities. I feel your pain! I had a knee injury in my early 30s. I ended up with a torn and folded meniscus. It was a very, very long recovery but I am thankful that my knee heale...

I do not want to annoy the readers. Nothing of that. But, what is the idea? I think that the point of infinite density, where the Universe originated, according to the current Big Bang theory, is the " Aquiles heel " of this theory. Indeed. I believe that no one has empirically demostrate...

Reddit uses an interesting model. As a whole, reddit is huge; but it is split up into a vast number of dedicated groups (subreddits). I, for instance, subscribe to the sysadmin subreddit and glance at it occasionally. I am insulated from what is happening generally across the platform because I am o...

Another difficult conversation is one with the individual who is completely cynical, to the point that he/she won’t accept any new information. For instance, one might proclaim “Democrats and Republicans are the same , and if you think one is different than the other you are just a rube.” Once that ...

I am sorry to hear about Art. I always enjoyed figuring out the puzzling connections in the things he posted. My condolences to his family and friends...

How should a scientifically literate person conduct a constructive conversation with someone who holds pseudo-scientific beliefs? My usual approach is to avoid conflict and quietly scrunch my face, like a frazzled Kermit the Frog. I am not convinced that this is the best solution, considering the ra...

Has anyone been able to see auroras where they live during this recent solar storm? https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/03/30/aurora-northern-lights-sun-us/ My skies aren't that dark and are usually covered with clouds this time of year, so I would be hard pressed to see them. But then, if t...