Humor Random Comments Thread

[Urwumpe]

And another first of the year:

The A27 between Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven is closed until tomorrow morning because of a sand storm. :blink:

Generally, lots of schools are closing their doors tomorrow because of heavy snowfall and storm in the north. A very strong lake effect there.

---------- Post added at 22:36 ---------- Previous post was at 18:17 ----------

In case somebody else could also like it:

http://www.moog.com/literature/MCG/synchrohbook.pdf

The Moog Synchro and Resolver Engineering Handbook.

A pretty good summary about all those old electromechanic components used especially in inertial navigation systems.

 

[Notebook]

I'm sure something like this was used in sound-followers for 16mm separate-magnetic machine. We had a Sondor that was a stand alone m/c and could be patched to follow the telecine machine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sondor

http://www.sondor.ch/products/sondor.html

Gosh, older than I thought. Beautifully built, all going out the door when I started sadly.

Edit:Wrong! "They are noted as inventing the standard for bi-phase interlocking pulse signals to sync sound to film."
Not the same thing at all

N.

 

[Matias Saibene]

VGR1 in DSN now downloading data. What can we expect?
https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html

 

[Urwumpe]

VGR1 in DSN now downloading data. What can we expect?
https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html

"Can I come home now?"

 

[jedidia]

VGR1 in DSN now downloading data. What can we expect?
https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html

 

[Urwumpe]

Bette Midler - Friends - YouTube

Or rather that?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrbFydtLF-Y"]Shakespear's Sister - Hello (Turn Your Radio On) (Official Video) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[steph]

Just found the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson at a garage sale. In good shape too and bargain price.. I'm on cloud nine.

Edit: a large interplanetary ship departing with a hundred colonists in 2026? sounds familiar

 

[MaverickSawyer]

You JUST found the Mars Trilogy??!?

Oh, man, you're in for an interesting read.

Oh, heads up... It does get a little soap opera great later in the series. Fair warning.

 

[Andy44]

I haven't read Robinson's Mars Trilogy yet; it's on my list.

But I did read his novel Ice Henge, which is a fantastic story, really loved it. It doesn't officially take place in the same universe as the Mars Trilogy; it's very similar but Robinson says it's not really the same, some things were changed in the Trilogy to suit the story better.

 

[steph]

You JUST found the Mars Trilogy??!?

Oh, man, you're in for an interesting read.

Oh, heads up... It does get a little soap opera great later in the series. Fair warning.

Well, after reading Rama 2 and 3, it can't be worse. To be honest, even the last Space Odyssey book was wildly different from the previous ones, although I'm not sure soap opera is the right word..

 

[jedidia]

after reading Rama 2 and 3, it can't be worse.

I seem to be one of the few people that enjoyed those a lot.

 

[Notebook]

Enjoyed the Rama trilogy, did get a bit sociological at the end( I would have shot the lot)

The Mars series went on a bit, too many characters for me, lost track of who was doing what and why. Nothing new there though...

N.

 

[Andy44]

Well, after reading Rama 2 and 3, it can't be worse. To be honest, even the last Space Odyssey book was wildly different from the previous ones, although I'm not sure soap opera is the right word..

I suspect that Clarke didn't do much of the writing on those, leaving it to Gentry Lee. The tone of the writing dramatically shifted when he started co-writing with Lee. Clarke was getting up there in years at the time, too, so I suspect he was leaving the heavy lifting for Lee. Just my personal theory, anyway.

I never cared much for Clarke's novels to begin with; Rama 1 was an exception, but I much preferred his short stories. After reading Rama 2 and Odyssey 3 I quit reading Clarke's later novels.

---------- Post added at 10:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:45 PM ----------

Speaking of sci fi, I just saw the film "Annihilation" starring Natalie Portman. Really good sci fi story, very intense film, and pretty disturbing. I'm not a Portman fan, but I gotta hand it to her, she was great in this. The soundtrack was really good, too. The portrayal of alien life as beautiful and creepy at the same time was very compelling. Recommend.

 

[jedidia]

Enjoyed the Rama trilogy, did get a bit sociological at the end

Here I was thinking that was the entire point :lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

Enjoyed the Rama trilogy, did get a bit sociological at the end( I would have shot the lot)

That is like saying you liked Starship Troopers, but not the final 200 pages (out of 263) of getting terribly lectured by Heinlein in it.... :lol:

 

[Notebook]

Not impressed by Starship Troopers, looked like they had fun making the movie though.
Maybe the book is better?

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Not impressed by Starship Troopers, looked like they had fun making the movie though.
Maybe the book is better?

N.

Depends. It starts extremely cool - the cinema in your head will really make the whole movie look boring. Really boring. Heinlein really manages to make you grok what an orbital combat drop with power armor is like. Despite getting on the edge to powergaming, the technology never feels unrealistic or even worse: clownish.

And sadly it then turns into "Professor Heinleins introduction into republican political sciences".

 

[IronRain]

You JUST found the Mars Trilogy??!?

*Silently orders the first book*

 

[Notebook]

There must be a joke in here somewhere?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-43292047/burger-flipping-robot-begins-first-shift

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

There must be a joke in here somewhere?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-43292047/burger-flipping-robot-begins-first-shift

N.

Well, considering its worst error shown, it could really replace many humans, who would need years of training to be just THAT stupid.