Can PF Random Thoughts be Split to Help with Server Load?

[zoobyshoe]

I don't want anyone to get the idea I'm into astrophysics, or even astronomy. I just went through a period where I felt nosey about what's up in the sky.

 

[Evo]

If Artman were here now, he'd be banned for his sex jokes.

Lol.

 

[Borg]

Weird end to a party last night. On the way there, my wife told me about a House Hunters Internation episode that she saw on Friday. It had a gay couple with three children who were moving to London. Near the end of the party, a guy that I was talking to started telling me about a gay couple that he knows with three children who are moving to London. I asked if they were on TV recently and he said that he didn't know. I stopped him there, got my wife and had him restart the story. She thought that we were messing with her but after a while they were finishing each others sentences about the couple that they knew.

I almost forgot. I made sure to point out to my wife that I actually do listen to her when she talks to me.

 

[krash661]

Well, there are variations like light pollution, atmospheric condition,

For the eyepiece, I had a 10mm, but also used a Barlow 2x lens, so my magnification was 240x, which should be enough to see some decent details on the planets.

this is almost exactly what i have on my 4.5 "
except i have 9.7 eyepiece.
i hate the tiny hole eyepieces, i like the wide views of the eye pieces.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I got caught in a terrible traffic jam on the freeway today. It took half an hour to cover what usually takes 45 seconds. At the end, just as I was approaching my exit, my truck fainted.

I had to coast off onto the shoulder and wait for it to come to. I'm really not sure what happened. It was as if the extra heat made some electrical circuit fail. The engine seemed to have no spark.

 

[B. Elliott]

I had to coast off onto the shoulder and wait for it to come to. I'm really not sure what happened. It was as if the extra heat made some electrical circuit fail. The engine seemed to have no spark.

If it happened to me, I would first check the ignition system as you mentioned. If there was a sudden failure I would suspect the ignition module or coil. If it's a coil-on-plug ignition it would cause more of a miss-fire.

Fuel pumps and filters typically don't experience sudden failure. Even though I once had a fuel filter explode while on the freeway.

 

[zoobyshoe]

If it happened to me, I would first check the ignition system as you mentioned. If there was a sudden failure I would suspect the ignition module or coil. If it's a coil-on-plug ignition it would cause more of a miss-fire.

Fuel pumps and filters typically don't experience sudden failure. Even though I once had a fuel filter explode while on the freeway.

The strange thing, though, is that simply letting cool for about 45 minutes cured the problem. I was able to restart it, and it didn't stall the rest of the way home. I later drove it a few miles and back again with no problem. When it fainted on the highway my repeated efforts to restart it had no effect. It was clinically dead, and miraculously came back to life.

 

[B. Elliott]

The strange thing, though, is that simply letting cool for about 45 minutes cured the problem. I was able to restart it, and it didn't stall the rest of the way home. I later drove it a few miles and back again with no problem. When it fainted on the highway my repeated efforts to restart it had no effect. It was clinically dead, and miraculously came back to life.

In all honesty there could be numerous sources, but it sounds like either a dying coil, crank sensor, or air temp sensor. Those are usually prime suspects with a dies-hot, starts-cold symptom.

Was it throwing a check-engine light at any point? The ECU will store any triggered codes until reset manually. Any typical auto parts store should be able to plug in an OBD scanner and pull the code for you, though I've heard a rumor that they've stopped doing this for liability reasons.

Prices vary quite a bit depending on year and model, but I'd start by replacing the cheapest part first, then move up to the next. If it turns out to be a reoccurring issue of course.

 

[krash661]

is anyone interested in a live stream from iss ?

 

[OmCheeto]

is anyone interested in a live stream from iss ?

Ha ha! I googled and found the live stream, but it wasn't streaming at that moment. So I opened another browser tab and started surfing elsewhere. A few minutes ago, I started hearing really quiet voices in my living room. Eery voices... One or two words, then minutes of silence. Then it would happen again. I kept looking on my front porch, as the voices were somewhat muffled.

Then I discovered that the ISS live feed had been turned back on.

Scared the bejeezits out of me when I heard the first voice.

 

[krash661]

Ha ha! I googled and found the live stream, but it wasn't streaming at that moment. So I opened another browser tab and started surfing elsewhere. A few minutes ago, I started hearing really quiet voices in my living room. Eery voices... One or two words, then minutes of silence. Then it would happen again. I kept looking on my front porch, as the voices were somewhat muffled.

Then I discovered that the ISS live feed had been turned back on.

Scared the bejeezits out of me when I heard the first voice.

yeah, actually it's kind of boring,
all they want to do is point the cameras at earth,
it's very difficult to get them to point them at space,
you can see Earth anytime,
all in all it's weird they won't point to space.

 

[collinsmark]

I'm back from Nebraska. It was a good time.

 

[collinsmark]

and this is not my first telescope, it's just the newest.
but this is it.


but what I'm more interested in is what filters does every one use

You might want to start your own thread on this in the General Astronomy forum.

But quickly, your new scope is a Dobsonian (technically a Dobsonian-style Newtonian, sometimes just called a "Dob"). These are great for the ease of setup for visual observing. They're not quite cut out for astrophotography though. [Edit: although you might be able to do some planetary imaging, maybe.] So filters for this scope are pretty much for visual use.

First be careful in that filters can get pretty expensive. And sometimes their usefulness is questionable for visual use. Keep that in mind, but I'll give some more thoughts below. Visual filters can screw into the back of the eyepiece (or diagonal if you are using one, but you probably wouldn't use a diagonal with a Dob). This also means that depending on your selection of eyepieces, you'll need to make sure that the 2" or 1.25" filter matches the size of the particular eyepiece.

With a 10 inch mirror, you'll seriously want to consider some sort of neutral density filter for lunar use (i.e. a "moon filter"). If you haven't already discovered this yet, the unfiltered moon is uncomfortably bright when viewed through a 10 inch scope. It not only annihilates your night vision but it's so bright it's kinda painful to look at. A moon filter can help a lot, and fortunately they are pretty inexpensive. For a little more money you can get a variable, polarizing filter, where you can vary the intensity by twisting the angle of one polarizer with respect to the other.

Beyond that there some nebula filters. These include (but are not limited to) visual versions of a OIII (oxygen three) filter and Hβ (hydrogen beta, which might be helpful when viewing the Horsehead nebula). Be careful of these because they are expensive and they won't make the nebula look any "brighter" (no filter can do that), but they might improve the contrast of a nebula, maybe. The nebula has to be bright enough to see when viewing through the filter in the first place. Rather than screwing these filters into the back of the eyepiece (which can be done), they are often used by placing them between the eye and the eyepiece, moving the filter in and out of the line of sight in a process called "blinking"*. You might find these filters rewarding, but don't expect Earth shattering results. There are are also some general light pollution filters too. They might help, but again, don't expect anything Earth shattering.

If you use some other telescope for astrophotography, then that opens up a whole new can of worms when it comes to filters. But I'll leave that for another time.

*(Hmm. I think I just got a new idea for the Jargon Game thread.)

This image was taken without filters.

 

[krash661]

i'm not clueless when it comes to telescopes and microscopes and such.
i have been using them since the 80's

 

[collinsmark]

yeah, actually it's kind of boring,
all they want to do is point the cameras at earth,
it's very difficult to get them to point them at space,
you can see Earth anytime,
all in all it's weird they won't point to space.

I think it's because the [video] cameras aren't suited for sky images (read that as stars in the "night" sky). In order to see any stars [without the aid of a large lens/mirror for light gathering ability], they would need a long shutter speed (the same thing for a terrestrial based camera). But since they are video cameras, they are limited to 1/30th of a second shutter speed maximum: not enough to register any stars (well, any but the very brightest stars that is). And even if they did have still cameras with longer shutter speeds, keeping the orientation fixed might be difficult since everything is continuously moving.

 

[drizzle]

I haz a cold, and I ha*sneezez*tez it.

 

[WannabeNewton]

I haz a cold, and I ha*sneezez*tez it.

ewww

 

[Borg]

Yahoo locked the top inch of the screen today so that you can't scroll away from it. It's nothing more than a web version of their toolbar. I guess that not enough people were installing it. Anyway, I clicked on the feedback link to tell them what I thought and there are hundreds of irate comments about it. I really hope that they undo that one.

OMG, I can't get away from change today. PF has a new icon. :thumbs:

 

[collinsmark]

OMG, I can't get away from change today. PF has a new icon. :thumbs:

Nice. I dub it the DON'T PANIC! icon. :thumbs:

And don't forget your towel.

 

[Borg]

I've located the css stylesheet that Yahoo is using to screw up the page. Now to figure out how to block it...

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

I've located the css stylesheet that Yahoo is using to screw up the page. Now to figure out how to block it...

My solution is to entirely stay away from Yahoo at all costs

 

[collinsmark]

I waved at Saturn today for about 15 minutes (21:27 to 21:42 UTC). Well, I wasn't waving the entire time, but I got in the occasional wave during the interval.

Unfortunately it was mostly cloudy here today. Fortunately there were many small breaks in the cloud cover in the general direction of Saturn (I couldn't tell from my location exactly where Saturn was, and if it was peeking through the cloud cover at any given moment).

But I estimate that there is about a 10 to 20% chance that I made it into the photograph.

I was wearing my Physics Forums T-shirt!

 

[Borg]

My solution is to entirely stay away from Yahoo at all costs

Yeah, I've been using it for years and change is hard sometimes.

I figured it out using Greasemonkey. Here's my script for anyone who's interested.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

This sketch makes me laugh every time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj9jvc85WX8

 

[krash661]

oh my,
i haven't seen that show in a while.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Not Guilty by Reason of Misquote

I thought this was interesting: Woody Allen was being sued by the Estate of William Faulkner for copyright infringement...

At one point in Midnight in Paris, Owen Wilson's struggling novelist protagonist says: "The past is not dead! Actually, it's not even past. You know who said that? Faulkner. And he was right. And I met him, too. I ran into him at a dinner party." The line Wilson quotes is from Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun, and his estate wasn't happy with being included in the movie without getting some compensation. So Faulkner Literary Rights LLC filed suit against Allen and Sony Pictures for damages and some of the movies profits. But the funny thing is, Wilson's character didn't even get the line right. The actual text reads: "The past is never dead. It’s not even past."

So the whole lawsuit was over a nine-word line that wasn't even quoted right.

Unsurprisingly, Missouri judge Michael P. Mills dismissed it in a 17 page ruling delivered on Friday. "At issue in this case is whether a single line from a full-length novel singly paraphrased and attributed to the original author in a full-length Hollywood film can be considered a copyright infringement," Mills wrote. "In this case, it cannot."

http://news.yahoo.com/woody-allen-won-over-william-faulkner-court-230719309.html

Maybe that's why everyone misquotes everyone on the internet: so they can't be sued.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

I deemed this to be interesting: Woody Allen was sued by William Faulkner's Estate for copyright infringement...
http://news.yahoo.com/woody-allen-won-over-william-faulkner-court-230719309.html

Maybe this is why everyone misquotes everyone else on the interwebs: so that they cannot be sued.

Your lawyers have nothing on me.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Your lawyers have nothing on me.

Can I misquote you on that?

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

Can I misquote you on that?

I'll allow it.

 

[ChiralWaltz]

...you on that...

_"how uncouth!_"

 

[Borg]

I'm starting a new personal programming project. When I told a coworker about it, she immeadiately said that she wanted a copy after I build it. Maybe I should sell it.

 

[lisab]

Bah...go away, aura.

 

[collinsmark]

I estimate there's a 10 to 20% chance I'm in this photograph! (I might have been obscured by clouds.)

http://news.yahoo.com/earth-moon-photobomb-saturn-nasa-picture-162146381.html

[Edit: Here's part of the above image which is then zoomed in quite a bit. The dimmer spot of the two is the Earth's moon.]

 

[turbo]

I have lost probably the remainder of an upper molar's filling. It doesn't hurt a bit, but it is driving my tongue nuts.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I estimate there's a 10 to 20% chance I'm in this photograph! (I might have been obscured by clouds.)

Now I see why you were raving about waving at Saturn the other day. I thought you'd lost your mind and felt unreasonably friendly toward the gas giants, or something.