Recent content by LURCH

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    B Destroying asteroids shown to be very difficult

    @mrb; thanks for the images, they make the concept much more clear. Also thanks @jbriggs444 for pointing out that changing the inclination takes only one acceleration, and not two. I now remember learning that, many years ago, and having difficulty accepting it. It was in relation to...
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    B Destroying asteroids shown to be very difficult

    Thank you @jbriggs444, that’s exactly the sort of double-checking I was hoping to get. If the tilt were started with a push, would it not continue until another force stopped it? Or would it require continuous thrust to keep going.? My impression is that, once the motion is begun, it will...
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    B Destroying asteroids shown to be very difficult

    I think this may not be true in all instances. I’m hoping somebody will check my reasoning here, but if the deflection is away from the ecliptic, then only two changes, each of equal magnitude, would be required. I’ll describe the plan and see if it meets with reason: Let me start by observing...
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    Safety and the increasing automation of cars

    Like most people, I have trouble deciding if computers should be allowed to operate motor vehicles. However, were I to base an evaluation strictly on statistical data and logic, I suppose I would easily conclude that humans should not. Given that cars are already out on the roads, and unlikely...
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    A Ideas for determining the volume of a rotating object

    This sounds too simple (Maybe I’m not understanding the question correctly), but do you know the volumes of the original monomers? Seems like knowing the volume of each building block and the total number of building blocks would give you an approximate volume, though it wouldn’t correct for...
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    B Trivial questions regarding parallax and measurement of distances.

    Didn’t actually read the link, but regarding this: It was mentioned earlier that Eratosthenes had already measured the distance from Alexandria to Syene. That measurement was in response to the fact that on the longest day of the year, the Sun is directly overhead in Syene (and not in...
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    I Fixing Ship Ramp: Winch vs Windlass

    Hey wait a minute, that’s a hull schematic of the Enterprise! (At What ship yard do you work?)
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    B New Tokamak D Mode Success - Fusion is Almost Here

    I spoke out with great scepticism earlier, but I actually do find this news pretty exciting (thanks @jedishrfu for sharing this news). It sounds like a step in the right direction, anyway.
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    B New Tokamak D Mode Success - Fusion is Almost Here

    I remain steadfast in my belief that fusion reactors will become a reality in 20 years. (From some point in time).
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    Comparing Water and Ice Melting for fighting fires

    Ok, that didn’t take long. NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/amp/ncna820966 CNET: https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/californias-fires-face-a-new-high-tech-foe-drones/ Fortune: http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2018/11/29/drones-wildfires-california-drones And this one from Fox News is...
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    Comparing Water and Ice Melting for fighting fires

    Air drops seem to be the most effective tool when fighting wildfires. The tragic example mentioned by the OP sounds like it was partly caused by the grounding of air support. Perhaps the greatest contributions could be made by expanding aerial capabilities. If the air drops were being...
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    Comparing Water and Ice Melting for fighting fires

    I had thought of a similar approach, using dry ice in snow machines, like the kind used to make a layer of snow for a ski resort. But my idea was related to oil well fires. One problem with the current idea is that forest fires tend to spread mostly along the tree tops, and not the ground. So...
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    B Propagation of changes in a gravitational field

    Maybe it will help if we get rid of the third body, and just say that “for some reason” the black hole moves. I think that the mention of gravitational waves has caused people to think of the type of gravitational waves that we have observed so far. Specifically, the idea that the BH is already...
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    How raked wingtips reduce induced drag?

    Just by comparing the second illustration in Post #2 with the one in Post #4, I would say that wingtip vortices start with an upward motion of the air escaping from beneath the wing, and the downward angle at the tip of the wing opposes this motion, impeding the formation of the vortex.
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    B Propagation of changes in a gravitational field

    So the question you’re asking would be something like, “if changes in the gravitational field are propagated by gravitational waves, and gravitational waves travel at c, then how can anything that happens to the mass within the EH have any effect on things outside of the Horizon?” Is that an...
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