Weird News Compilation

[pinball1970]

This popped up in a few feeds.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/...laims-huge-space-propulsion-breakthrough.html

There is a disclaimer in the video that states, "the views of Dr Buhler do not represent that of NASA or the US government."

Usually a bad sign which is why I put it in weird news.

 

[Nugatory]

Who is more crackpotty, the crackpot or the one who listens to them?

This is a reactionless drive. It is crackpottery.

 

[pinball1970]

Who is more crackpotty, the crackpot or the one who listens to them?

This is a reactionless drive. It is crackpottery.

Fair enough, I have never heard of it.

 

[berkeman]

Fair enough, I have never heard of it.

Then you haven't been reading the PF rules very closely...

EMDrive and other reactionless drives
See https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/nasas-em-drive.884753/

 

[pinball1970]

Then you haven't been reading the PF rules very closely...

Oops. Ok apologies.

 

[Hornbein]

 

[Hornbein]

Essentially some guy serendipitously discovered a new phenomenon, which was then developed into an art form by this other guy.

 

[mfb]

If there is a way to make a diode to isolate inputs then it should be possible to make logic gates out of it. Getting the timing of all signals right will be a challenge as we rely on signals that always move.

Make time steps of half the refractory period. Define an on ->off sequence as 1 and an off -> on sequence as 0.
Send a signal into a T-junction followed by a fixed flame in the following time step.
Input 1: on -> off is converted to on -> off -> on
Input 0: off -> on is converted to off -> on -> off
Pick up the second and third time step and we inverted the signal: We made NOT.

OR is a simple T junction. If either signal starts with "on" then we get on->off, otherwise we get off->on.

OR and NOT can be combined to make all other logic gates.
I just don't know how to build diodes.

 

[Tom.G]

I just don't know how to build diodes.

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

 

[Hornbein]

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

He means making a diode out of lighter fluid. Flames pass through in only one direction.

 

[Borg]

Today's APOD has another view of this.

 

[Hornbein]

 

[Hornbein]

Bangkok housecat survives being devoured by a python.

 

[Tom.G]

He means making a diode out of lighter fluid. Flames pass through in only one direction.

Oh, OK.
Just throw'n stuff against the wall here to see if anything sticks.

How about a tapered constriction, somwewhat like a funnel, in the pathway (groove)?

 

[Astronuc]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nasa-identifies-space-object-that-hit-florida-home/ar-BB1lJIaw

"The total mass of the hardware released from space station was about 5,800 pounds."

Space trash crashes into Florida home. Ex-astronaut explains what happened
https://www.yahoo.com/news/space-trash-crashes-florida-home-005318119.html

 

[nsaspook]

 

[Swamp Thing]

A marine chopper transports a plane on a sling, refueling mid air on the way

 

[pinball1970]

Very surprised at the conclusion of this study.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-gender-difference-perception-ambient-room.html

I only have my humble anecdotal evidence to present but that spans over 30s years in different working environments with women.

My conclusion? They (the gentle sex) feel the cold more, they feel the heat more.

Only last year I posted on pf about trying to convince my office full of women that opening a window would make matters worse not better during our 90F heatwave.

Sure I felt it in the afternoon, but from 8am to about 11am it was not so bad, certainly no reason to open every single window they could as soon as they walked in!

Today was a great example, showing a young colleague (23 female) around the building where all the fire extinguishers were located.

Twenty seconds leaving the office she was shivering, I thought she was ill! 17C in Oldham UK today.

Remember this debate?

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-03121-1

https://www.wired.com/2015/08/men-women-battle-office-thermostat/

Some scientific explanations.
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health/i-am-woman-why-am-i-always-so-cold

 

[Borg]

Trolling the trolls.

Tiffany Haddish started tracking down her online trolls and calling them on the phone

Haddish told the Los Angeles Times that she created a fake Instagram account under the alter ego “Sarah” in order to combat the online hate she was receiving and to “destroy” the trolls by gathering details from their personal life.

“I’ve learned how to find people’s information — like I pull up the credit report, police records. You can do that for $1.99,” Haddish said. “Sometimes, I get so mad that I’ll get they phone number and I’ll just call them.”

“Oh, I have called people, honey,” Haddish continued. “They be shocked that I called. They’ll be like, ‘I can’t believe you even saw that.’ You did a whole video, jerk! You made a full, five-minute video!

 

[jack action]

Trolling the trolls.

Tiffany Haddish started tracking down her online trolls and calling them on the phone

I'm not really impressed by bullied people becoming bullies themselves, but the article had another unrelated interesting fact:

The “Girls Trip” favorite said that online bullying got so negative over the last year (with commenters calling her “pedo” and “not funny,” for instance) that she hired a digital forensics analyst when death threats starting coming her way. The analyst’s research showed that 75% of these threats were “created by robots in Malaysia and Iran.”

 

[Borg]

I'm not really impressed by bullied people becoming bullies themselves, but the article had another unrelated interesting fact:

I mostly agree such that I wouldn't want it to become a trend. At least she wasn't doxxing them like some are inclined to do. Too many people feel free to behave as badly as they like when they think that nobody sees them or knows who they are. Getting some of them to personally feel the shame of their own actions isn't the worst thing that I can think of.

Yeah, I saw that bit of info on the threatbots. Pretty scary.

 

[DrGreg]

Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson was today turned away from a polling station when he could not prove his identity.

It was his own government that two years ago introduced legislation requiring voters to show photo ID.

BBC: Boris Johnson turned away from polling station after forgetting ID