Neat Science Stuff

[Mike R]

So this is really pretty fascinating to me.



https://eventhorizontelescope.org/faq

[DV52]

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard...unlikely-place


I'm not sure how many here were absolutely amazed by Sunday's announcement from NASA about this:



I reckon that it's almost religious - hmmm...........perhaps not !!!

But what is approaching the descent of Moses from the mount carrying them tablets is the fact that here on planet earth, Einstein was able to predict the existence of stuff like this behemoth as well as fairly accurately foretell its size!

Forget the scriptures and the Bible - mathematics is the only true language of what some folk call God- I hope believers will forgive my sacrilegious assertion!!

Don

[Jack@European_Parts]

Don

Didn't you see history of the world sir? 15 - 5 = 10

[DV52]

^^^ I like Mel Brooks!!

Now I know why the 10 x commandments are so uninspiring as the principal communication between the guy who allegedly created all this stuff and his/her ants (that's the comparative status between us and the big G). Clearly, the really profound tenets (like the cure for cancer and how to make clean energy from cold fusion) are in the tablet that Moses dropped!!

Don

PS: I don't normally see that particular spelling of "sir" when referencing me - the more usual spelling I see is "cur"

[Mike R]

As amazing as the semi confirmation of the Theory of relativity and the actual existence of black holes in the way we've long believed them to be. I think the one thing that is being more overshadowed and is even more exciting is the method used to capture the photo and what else we can perhaps use this for moving forward. Through algorithms stitching together data from telescopes all over the planet into essentially one giant telescope.

More here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very-l...interferometry

[Mike R]

Let me reenact my favorite comment in the comments section of this video:

Mathematicians: We strive for accuracy.

Engineers:

[Uwe]

3.14159 was always "good enough" for me.

But then I'm old enough to remember when engineering calculations were often done nothing more than a slide rule.

-Uwe-

[PetrolDave]

3.14159 was always "good enough" for me.

But then I'm old enough to remember when engineering calculations were often done nothing more than a slide rule.

22/7 was often good enough for a first"rule of thumb" calculation.

P.S. Still got my slide rule

[Jack@European_Parts]

https://www.sliderulemuseum.com/SR_Links.htm

[DV52]

https://www.sliderulemuseum.com/SR_Links.htm

Jack: Of course - in respect of "slide-rulers", any engineer worth her qualification will tell you that (like many things in life), size doesn't matter!!!

We have not met, but I expect that you are disgustingly young (I don't blame you for this disability - it's not your fault), so you probably aren't aware that the quality measure (read, accuracy) for slide-rulers is actually, length.

Rather than a slide-ruler that in your picture is physically "7 foot" (what is a "foot"?), an inventor way back in the 19th century called Fuller decided that the smarter way to increase accuracy was by wrapping the scale spirally around a cylinder. The result was what's called a Stanley-Fuller slide-ruler (Fuller worked for W.F. Stanley & Co). And, I happen to have one of these (rare-ish) devices which because of this forum, I've elegantly posed for you against my trusty HEX-NET cable in the picture below:



Because I suspect that you value "device specs" - the numbers for this type of slide-rule are: single spiral logarithmic scale graduated into 7,250 parts and having an effective length of 500 inches, which is nearly 42 feet (what is an "inch", or "feet" ?).

Not surprisingly and like most modern equipment, the Stanley-Fuller slide ruler was designed with planned-obsolescence in mind - once we reached the 21st century, it no longer works!!

Don

PS: back in the Jurassic period, we called them "slip-sticks"