Small Talk: The Coffee Machine

[raven]

There's a Ring in space!

Quote

This delicate shell, photographed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, appears to float serenely in the depths of space, but this apparent calm hides an inner turmoil. The gaseous envelope formed as the expanding blast wave and ejected material from a supernova tore through the nearby interstellar medium.

It's really a celestial bauble, which sounds better than "gaseous envelope". 

[vabchrog]

On 3/20/2017 at 6:55 PM, Tachi Rocinante said:

The Epstein novella is good also.  Can't find the Butcher Of Anderson Station in print form.

I don't drink coffee or tea - I prefer my brown caffeinated water to be cold and carbonated.

Just realized Coke and Pepsi didn't make it to the belt.  Anyone recall any soft drinks?

[Holmbo]

5 hours ago, vabchrog said:

Just realized Coke and Pepsi didn't make it to the belt.  Anyone recall any soft drinks?

I've not seen any but we see people drink beer so I assume fizzy drinks are enjoyable even in zero g.

[raven]

I'm about halfway through The Cuckoo's Egg which is written by Cliff Stoll, an astronomer who accidentally discovers a hacker and sets out to track him in the late 80s.  Yes, the computer jargon is dated but that's part of the fun.  It's amusing to read  what was considered a secure password then - "Benson" or "Hedges" for example - and the fact that so many companies had open systems because people complained about passwords, or they trusted too much or both.

It's interesting as well as fun and not too convoluted for non-programmers like me.

 

[Netfoot]

15 hours ago, raven said:

I'm about halfway through The Cuckoo's Egg which is written by Cliff Stoll, an astronomer who accidentally discovers a hacker and sets out to track him in the late 80s.

An excellent book.

Whaddya mean 'dated' ?!??  That's the real era of computer science! Back when (as my pappy used to say) "Men were men, and women were double-breasted."

Anotger Another good book from the same decade: The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder.

Edited February 7, 2020 by Netfoot
Spelling

[raven]

9 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Whaddya mean 'dated' ?!??  

Well, I'm "dated" so......ha!

9 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Another good book from the same decade: The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder.

Sounds interesting too, thanks!

[xaxat]

On 1/3/2020 at 3:22 PM, Holmbo said:

I've not seen any but we see people drink beer so I assume fizzy drinks are enjoyable even in zero g.

I was curious, so I looked it up. Drinking fizzy drinks in space sounds really uncomfortable.

 

[raven]

Reading Bats of the Republic.  It's good - an interesting mixture of western-ish, sci-fi-ish, slight dystopian, adventure and romance.  Gorgeous illustrations.  I'm only a quarter of the way through it so far.  I had picked it up at a small bookstore last year and was excited because it had been hard to find at the time.  Yes, I'm someone who gets excited about buying books!

[raven]

We're on Mars!

Quote

he largest, most advanced rover NASA has sent to another world touched down on Mars Thursday, after a 203-day journey traversing 293 million miles (472 million kilometers). Confirmation of the successful touchdown was announced in mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California at 3:55 p.m. EST (12:55 p.m. PST).

Packed with groundbreaking technology, the Mars 2020 mission launched July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover mission marks an ambitious first step in the effort to collect Mars samples and return them to Earth.  

“This landing is one of those pivotal moments for NASA, the United States, and space exploration globally – when we know we are on the cusp of discovery and sharpening our pencils, so to speak, to rewrite the textbooks,” said acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk. “The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission embodies our nation’s spirit of persevering even in the most challenging of situations, inspiring, and advancing science and exploration. The mission itself personifies the human ideal of persevering toward the future and will help us prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.”

 

[MissLucas]

When they showed the first picture of Mars I had to think of Bobbie standing on that cliff and switching her helmet gizmo on to see how it would look like after 200 years more of terraforming *sniff*

[JZL]

A starship just landed in Texas!!

[MissLucas]

John Insprucker at SpaceX has started to compare Starship prototypes to the various Doctors. And I'm all for calling SN 11 Geronimo!

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by MissLucas

[Netfoot]

12 hours ago, JZL said:

A starship just landed in Texas!!

Unfortunately, it took off again a short while later...

[ahisma]

12 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Unfortunately, it took off again a short while later...

Did it head to Cancun, or was it escaping the unmasked?

[raven]

Webb has a successful lift off!!  What will it see out there over the next few months??

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

[marinw]

Just thrilling!!

[grawlix]

6 hours ago, raven said:

Webb has a successful lift off!!  What will it see out there over the next few months??

I'm glad to see your enthusiasm for space exploration but don't expect to hear any news from the telescope for at least six months.   It will take at least that long to reach its position in space and to test the telescope once it has been unfurled.

[JZL]

Stumbled on to this music vid by Unknown Mortal Orchestra.  Remind you of anything?