Stare at the Sun!

[Spazmogen]

This is what the Sun really looks like.



That's from NASA.

It's a little scary having something that big and violent not that far from earth.

If it exploded, how many seconds would we live?

[cfitz]

vpp; [ovyitr d[sc. niy zo drr, yp nr jsbomh dp,r ytpin;r drromh lmpe/

vgoyx

[TheWizard]

Looks like a fun place to live...

[BuddhaTB]

vpp; [ovyitr d[sc. niy zo drr, yp nr jsbomh dp,r ytpin;r drromh lmpe/

vgoyx

What were u trying to say cfitz?

[KuoH]

If the debris travelled at the speed of light, about 8 minutes.

KuoH

If it exploded, how many seconds would we live?

[Tolyngee]

See Star Trek: Generations for a good example of what the experience of this star exploding may be for us.

Take ~8.5 minutes to see anything anyway, then up to how long it takes the shockwave to hit us...

Be one helluva ride!

That was one thing I couldn't stand about 2061/3001, that Clarke never seems to account for any climate changes or planetary orbits in our system caused by Lucifer's birth/death...

After a millenia, something's gotta change!

(wasn't admitedly pertinent to the storyline though...)

Reminds me of the tests being conducted here in U.S. a coupla years back. Using a 'tron accelerator (proton? neutron? electron? what was it?), the tests were coming back done before they started. Some suggested they went back in time (oh yeah! ), but Occam's Razor suggests they simply just accelerated the 'tron past the speed of light.

So, what does it all mean? They dunno yet, though they did suggest NOT throwing away your microwave just yet.

As far as "big and violent" goes, well, you should see some footage of solar flares. A few years back cell phone service was knocked out for a while by 'em... Though more recent 'lites (including military ones, of course) are able to turn away and defend themselves against such 'wrath.'

But, it's an excellent reminder of how much we truly are at the mercy of all things natural...

In any event, Man's bound to destroy itself before that star has much chance to cause any significant damage anyway...

Shame I won't be around to witness either eventuality.

[Tolyngee]

If the debris travelled at the speed of light, about 8 minutes.

KuoH

If it exploded, how many seconds would we live?

Ummm, it's a star, so, frankly, what debris?

Unless you mean something the shockwave runs into, but that debris isn't going to reach anywhere near that speed...

Hmmm, never mind, the shockwave in and of itself is technically debris...

Anyone want to guess at the speed of said shockwave? ST:G's portayal of such an event was technically (timewise) an inaccurate portrayal.

This all reminds me of the incompleteness of Einstein's E=mc^2, and how the more accurate equations aren't useful for say nuclear power plant usage, but ARE useful in considering nuclear weapondry! (Assuming we can ever figure out how to accelerate the 'weapon' to those speeds, though...)

Though not certain why life intelligent enough to figure out how to build said weapon would ever want such a weapon...

Though, as Ender even suggests, raw innocent intelligence can always be manipulated and perversed...

[Tolyngee]

vpp; [ovyitr d[sc. niy zo drr, yp nr jsbomh dp,r ytpin;r drromh lmpe/

vgoyx

What were u trying to say cfitz?

I took it as an inside joke that the solar flares were interferring with his ability to communicate with the given technology...

Since you didn't take it as such, now I'm not certain that's what was meant now either(?)

Perhaps he's learnin' C, and it's giving him fitz?

(At least that was my assumption as to his name being another inside joke?)

Watch neither be correct!

Gotta admit, his garble ALMOST looks like C syntax!

If vgoyx=cfitz, you can semi-start trying to decode the message!

Paging Mr. Nash!

[dodecahedron]

If the debris travelled at the speed of light, about 8 minutes.

KuoH

the debris would not travel at the speed of light.
only light travels at the speed of light.
and photons, of course. but then, photons ARE light.
(and before being flamed, yes, there are other particles that travel at the speed of light. they have zero mass, though).

Ummm, it's a star, so, frankly, what debris?

well, a star is made of matter. that matter would be the debris.
when the sun will go supernova, some of the matter will be ejected into space.
a wave of hot gases...not very pleasant.

[cfitz]

vpp; [ovyitr d[sc. niy zo drr, yp nr jsbomh dp,r ytpin;r drromh lmpe/

vgoyx

What were u trying to say cfitz?

I took it as an inside joke that the solar flares were interferring with his ability to communicate with the given technology...

<snip>

If vgoyx=cfitz, you can semi-start trying to decode the message!

You're homing right in Tolyngee. Very perceptive. It was a rather lame (but not inside) joke about the pic Spazomgen posted. I'll leave it undecoded for now, just in case anyone wants to take a crack at it (it really is an exceedingly easy code, but be warned that even if you do crack it you won't find anything particularly worthwhile contained withing - so don't get your hopes up ).

cfitz

[Tolyngee]

vpp; [ovyitr d[sc. niy zo drr, yp nr jsbomh dp,r ytpin;r drromh lmpe/

vgoyx

What were u trying to say cfitz?

I took it as an inside joke that the solar flares were interferring with his ability to communicate with the given technology...

<snip>

If vgoyx=cfitz, you can semi-start trying to decode the message!

You're homing right in Tolyngee. Very perceptive. It was a rather lame (but not inside) joke about the pic Spazomgen posted. I'll leave it undecoded for now, just in case anyone wants to take a crack at it (it really is an exceedingly easy code, but be warned that even if you do crack it you won't find anything particularly worthwhile contained withing - so don't get your hopes up ).

cfitz

cool picture spax, but i seem to be having some trouble seeing know.

(Know? Oh, never mind, i won't go there! )

Yeah, not exactly cryptography!

[Tolyngee]

Ummm, it's a star, so, frankly, what debris?

well, a star is made of matter. that matter would be the debree.
when the sun will go supernova, some of the matter will be ejected into space.
a wave of hot gases...not very pleasant.

True, but I was more focused on the fact that said matter would NOT travel out at the speed of light...

And besides, the shockwave would destroy the planet before the debris hit, no? Making the debris matter (no pun intended) a non-matter, correct?

But, yeah, I wasn't initially considering the hot gas wave as a debris field, which is why I reversed course after a second thought...

Dode, wanna get together and form (yet another) religion someday?

only light travels at the speed of light.

Or so we thought... (unless I am misinterpreting or extrapolating on your statement?)

Then again, the world was once flat, so, forgive us, for we know not what we do...

[cfitz]

cool picture spax, but i seem to be having some trouble seeing know.

(Know? Oh, never mind, i won't go there! )

Yeah, not exactly cryptography!

Well done, Tolyngee! The lame joke (if one must explain it, it is most certainly not a good joke) was that I couldn't see where to place my hands on the keyboard after having blinded myself by staring at Spaz's sun.

Obviously, my touch-typing skills aren't up to snuff and my typing suffers even more without visual feedback - hence the "spax" and "know". (You can be assured that I do know the difference between "know" and "now", both now and when I originally typed my affront to humor everywhere)

On a mostly unrelated note, has anyone else been served the banner ad for yourvotecounts.org today? I'm seeing it right now as I write this. I've got bad news for the fine folk at yourvotecounts.org - not today it doesn't!

cfitz

[Tolyngee]

Spaz's sun.

When exactly did ownership of our nearest star go to Spaz!?!?

On a mostly unrelated note, has anyone else been served the banner ad for yourvotecounts.org today? I'm seeing it right now as I write this. I've got bad news for the fine folk at yourvotecounts.org - not today it doesn't!

Absentee ballots? So, I haven't seen the banner, but it may still have some semi-validity to it...

[cfitz]

Spaz's sun.

When exactly did ownership of our nearest star go to Spaz!?!?

Didn't you hear? It was titled to Spaz at the same time that Eliminator took over the earth and set it to spinning in the wrong direction. I suggest you be good to both of them from here on in...

On a mostly unrelated note, has anyone else been served the banner ad for yourvotecounts.org today? I'm seeing it right now as I write this. I've got bad news for the fine folk at yourvotecounts.org - not today it doesn't!

Absentee ballots? So, I haven't seen the banner, but it may still have some semi-validity to it...

Well, the laws are set by each state individually, so I can't claim complete accuracy, but I'm pretty sure that absentee ballots must be postmarked before the day of election (Florida possibly excepted ) so that people can't try to manipulate the final outcome of the vote after learning the election day results.

cfitz

[Tolyngee]

Didn't you hear? It was titled to Spaz at the same time that Eliminator took over the earth and set it to spinning in the wrong direction. I suggest you be good to both of them from here on in...

That's one of my gripes about too many books I have read: earth vs. Earth. Too many times I would read "earth" and have to quickly go "earth=soil or earth=planet Earth" in my head... At least Clarke always got it right...

Well, the laws are set by each state individually, so I can't claim complete accuracy, but I'm pretty sure that absentee ballots must be postmarked before the day of election (Florida possibly excepted ) so that people can't try to manipulate the final outcome of the vote after learning the election day results.

Considering the (surprisingly) HIGHLY accurate pre-election polls (such as those done by Gallup), which are always published by at the latest the day before the elections, the chance for such a manipulation would appear to be the same anyway.

Besides, "results" aren't results until every vote is counted anyway. Though it took until the election two years ago for the media to admit that this is the actual truth!

(not that every vote was counted anyway too, mind you! )

I've always felt our "democracy" is just an illusion anyway. (on many different levels...)

Can't say I believe in democracy anyway, so can't say I care...

But it always provides a very entertaining read!

[cfitz]

That's one of my gripes about too many books I have read: earth vs. Earth. Too many times I would read "earth" and have to quickly go "earth=soil or earth=planet Earth" in my head... At least Clarke always got it right...

All right, all right! I surrender! Point taken.

I've already nominated dodecahedron to be official archivist of CDRLabs. Now I want to nominate you to be official grammarian of CDRLabs!

Considering the (surprisingly) HIGHLY accurate pre-election polls (such as those done by Gallup), which are always published by at the latest the day before the elections, the chance for such a manipulation would appear to be the same anyway.

I'm not sure if you are being serious or joking here, but I've seen plenty of surprises where the polls were completely wrong and the actual results were just the opposite of what was predicted.

cfitz

[Tolyngee]

That's one of my gripes about too many books I have read: earth vs. Earth. Too many times I would read "earth" and have to quickly go "earth=soil or earth=planet Earth" in my head... At least Clarke always got it right...

All right, all right! I surrender! Point taken.

I've already nominated dodecahedron to be official archivist of CDRLabs. Now I want to nominate you to be official grammarian of CDRLabs!

please don't take that as serious towards you, as this is just a forum anyway.

BUT, if you publish a book that you want taken seriously with some serious literature to it, show that you care and respect your work and take the time and care to get the grammar right! (Sorry, I've seen books on (for example) marriage counseling (friends were havin' problems) that would have SEVERAL problems per page!? How the heck can I take it seriously??? Yes, I set that book down... Frankly, it wasn't my marriage anyway! )

Considering the (surprisingly) HIGHLY accurate pre-election polls (such as those done by Gallup), which are always published by at the latest the day before the elections, the chance for such a manipulation would appear to be the same anyway.

I'm not sure if you are being serious or joking here, but I've seen plenty of surprises where the polls were completely wrong and the actual results were just the opposite of what was predicted.

cfitz

Both. I've worked for Gallup, and boy do they pride themselves on their numbers and "scientific" ways. I won't say more, and by the fact I won't say more, I hope you know what to take from that...

Hmmm, perhaps I don't feel out of line just callin' 'em a serious joke!

But, simpler put, I bet I've seen more surprises than you!

(no, I won't and can't say more...)

[Dowdy]

If it exploded, how many seconds would we live?

The Sun burns 4 million tonnes of hydrogen every second. Luckily there is enough left to keep the Sun shining for another 5,000,000,000 years

[cfitz]

please don't take that as serious towards you, as this is just a forum anyway.

I didn't, it's cool. I was just having fun with you when I nominated you for official grammarian. As I stated, I share your general outlook on these matters. And I do know the difference between "earth" and "Earth", so I'm a little embarassed that I have let that slip through on these forums at least twice.

cfitz

P.S. Notice that I correctly used "it's" in my reply. I'm surprised you had trouble explaining that rule to your colleague, because its usage is really rather simple. Sure, it’s easy enough to overlook the mistake while blasting away at the keyboard, but once someone points it out, the mistake should be easily recognized and corrected.

How did I do?

[Tolyngee]

P.S. Notice that I correctly used "it's" in my reply. I'm surprised you had trouble explaining that rule to your colleague, because its usage is really rather simple. Sure, it’s easy enough to overlook the mistake while blasting away at the keyboard, but once someone points it out, the mistake should be easily recognized and corrected.

Well, for most of my female co-workers, "her" would mean her. But, for her, I used "H.E.R.," for Highly Educated Retard, unfortunately. I was never quite convinced that whatever education she had paid for had ever stuck.

Like I said, I once implied to her she should go get her money back.

Then again, I've had someone with a degree who builds RAID systems argue with me about that a RAID 5 system takes a minimum of five drives... (I can only assume they came up with that number from the "5" in the level name...?) But then when I laughed with someone else about this individual, they (seriously) replied "what a moron, you only need two!" (both build RAID systems for a living...)

How did I do?

Awww, come on!

But seriously, I thought about how to respond to that in a humorous way, when it reminded me of a creepy past co-worker. I had one that whenever he would give you feedback, he would ALWAYS quote YODA!?!?

VERY CREEPY!!!

[BillyG]

This is what the Sun really looks like.

Looks like an X-Ray of the foot long chilli cheese coney I ate last night!

(burp)

[Tolyngee]

Looks like an X-Ray of the foot long chilli cheese coney I ate last night!

(burp)

Now that'll leave your stomach with a burnin' stronger than the Sun, and even leave ya more gaseous to boot!

I must admit, my system doesn't know how to process Philly cheesesteak sandwiches... WHEW!!!

[dhc014]

If the debris was traveling at the speed of light, then it would have no mass

[Tolyngee]

If the debris was traveling at the speed of light, then it would have no mass

I think that previously-mentioned test now brings that into question though too...