Vulch

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• Commented on Announcement time!
  Renfield was the Count's minion....
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  For the 1999 total eclipse in the UK we were clouded over, but I was watching from a reasonable elevated position in West Devon and we could see a long way down into Cornwall. I remember seeing the huge dark...
• Commented on Announcement time!
  Or U.N.C.L.E. headquarters even......
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  Thinking about this, I get the feeling that you don't want your new moon in a polar orbit as the effects from each half of the orbit would cancel out. You want to start it out in something like a...
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  It's showing you the files in alphabetic order in the package contents, and the Vancouver validator is showing the mimetype file is out of place. You might be able to fix it by creating a new zip file, adding the...
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  epub files are zip files with an uncompressed MimeType file as the first item. If the structure has been scrambled it's possible it shows as an epub in some places but as an ordinary zip file in others. Looks like...
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  Thanks to a book that dropped through the letterbox earlier today I now have The Prisoner theme earworming. On the other hand, I suspect I know what my next binge-watch will be....
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  Random rocket statistics attractor: Over on Reddit someone has pointed out that on March 11th SpaceX hit a record of 100 Falcon 9 launches in the previous 365 days. Their methodology may have missed Feb 29th, but still an impressive...
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  Derek Lowe. Things I Won't Work With: Dioxygen Difluoride probably....
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  Awww... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68600093...
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  On land the Romans at some point did use a semaphore style system, two sets of five flags gave a row and column for a grid of letters. It could also be used with torches instead of the flags. One...
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  For those interested, the SpaceX coverage of yesterdays launch has been uploaded to YouTube by a reputable source. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r5yupEUs4U and spin about 33 minutes in to avoid the prelaunch waffle....
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  There was a camera inside the cargo bay watching the door, and if there weren't several latch sensors I'd be extremely surprised. The ship was transmitting telemetry to the ground via Starlink, booster and ship both had two Starlink systems...
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  Short report on the flight from SpaceX on their site....
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  They need to have a successful on-orbit engine restart before they can start carrying payloads. The ship would need to be in a proper orbit before it can deploy anything, and the test flights so far have been in orbits...
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  Ship was rolling for most of its coasting phase, and looked to be tumbling as it started re-entry. At one point it also appeared to be coming in sideways from the way the plasma was going so probably wasn't in...
• Commented on A Wonky Experience
  L'Académie Française si vous plais....
• Commented on A message from our sponsors: New Book coming!
  Ukraine have also taken out several Su-34 aircraft in recent days, probably because they shot down a second A-50 command and control aircraft out of possibly only 3 or 5 fully modernised versions. Russia can no longer keep one on...
• Commented on A message from our sponsors: New Book coming!
  It was Pigeon's use of "electric shower" that was originally queried, and as he's UK based I'm reasonably certain he's using the term as understood in the UK. 404: Like for like replacement isn't subject to Part P or whatever...
• Commented on A message from our sponsors: New Book coming!
  Electric showers are very common in the UK. The heater is generally wall mounted outside the wet bit and only requires a cold water feed directly from the rising main. Reduces but doesn't completely eliminate sudden temperature changes when someone...
• Commented on A message from our sponsors: New Book coming!
  Glocktopus?...
• Commented on Worldcon in the news
  Probably the same reason as places along the south coast here are consistent Tory/UKIP/Brexit voters. Huge retiree communities....
• Commented on Same bullshit, new tin
  Money -> Dough -> Bread. Breadhead - obsessed with money....
• Commented on Same bullshit, new tin
  Gravity Tractors. Nice heavy spacecraft with ion engines splayed outwards. Hover the tractor over the asteroid so the plume from the engines misses it and gravitational attraction between the tractor and asteroid can be used to steer the assembly. Easier...
• Commented on Same bullshit, new tin
  Greenham Common is derelict these days, the base areas are now industrial estates and large chunks of the runway have been removed although the outline is still visible on overhead views from the supplier of your choice. There have been...
• Commented on Same bullshit, new tin
  Usual suggested target is the north polar ice cap so that the water and CO2 there gets liberated. As I've mentioned before, most of the northern hemisphere of Mars is well below the datum so with sufficient liquid water you...
• Commented on Same bullshit, new tin
  Doesn't really matter if it does. A few million tonnes of water vapour in the atmosphere following each strike is just as useful as a small lake or heap of ice cubes. Water vapour is a moderate greenhouse gas so...
• Commented on Same bullshit, new tin
  Polaris Dawn is the first of three flights in the Polaris programme, paid for by Jared Isaacman. One of the other two flights is said to involve a rendevous with a Starship which may or may not be the same...
• Commented on Same bullshit, new tin
  The Orlan has straps inside that can be adjusted to fit anyone from 165cm to 190cm tall apparently. Arms and legs can be shortened using the straps, and there's a crotch strap to adjust your height inside the torso....
• Commented on Same bullshit, new tin
  The new ISS EVA suits got some news coverage a few days ago as they've just finished a series of tests on a Vomit Comet. Difficult to be sure from the video or still photos but I think it's still...