View Profile: swampyankee - Cosmoquest Forum

Yesterday, 09:24 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread How practical is beach soccer? in Off-Topic Babbling

Who cares about practical? Is it fun?

11 replies | 109 view(s)

Yesterday, 09:21 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread The Best of the Best Books in Small Media at Large

Relativity, by Albert Einstein. Wing Theory, by Robert T Jones (he was one of several people to independently invent the swept wing and is the one...

15 replies | 141 view(s)

Yesterday, 08:51 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread My Frustration with the Life In Space forum in Forum Introductions and Feedback

Neither one nor two bothers me; I get bothered by the ones like "We haven't found life beyond Earth, so discussing it means you're an idiot" or "Of...

284 replies | 5889 view(s)

Yesterday, 12:02 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Bad Statistics in Off-Topic Babbling

No, because many of the people writing the stories think their audience largely comprises imbeciles.

40 replies | 1272 view(s)

2013-May-23, 03:19 PM

swampyankee replied to a poll Is Andy Kaufman still alive? in Off-Topic Babbling

Threads, like Elvis, never seem to die.

45 replies | 2004 view(s)

2013-May-22, 11:57 PM

swampyankee replied to a poll Is Andy Kaufman still alive? in Off-Topic Babbling

I did not find the comic Andy Kaufman at all funny; regardless, I thought it tragic he died young. There are, however, at least a dozen people in...

45 replies | 2004 view(s)

2013-May-22, 02:17 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread Will the gravity of Kepler-62e (1.6 x Earth) be stronger than Earth's? in Space/Astronomy Questions and Answers

For similar composition, density will tend to increase with mass. Indeed, there is a predicted mass range where radius will be constant, and above...

19 replies | 303 view(s)

2013-May-22, 01:49 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread Early tech development in Science and Technology

The way the story is told in US schools, Franklin was the first person to have tried it (there was suspicion that lightning was electrical in...

57 replies | 935 view(s)

2013-May-22, 09:06 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Will the gravity of Kepler-62e (1.6 x Earth) be stronger than Earth's? in Space/Astronomy Questions and Answers

Large land animals have difficulty on Earth, but there have been some dinosaurs that may have had masses over 100,000 kg and the corresponding...

19 replies | 303 view(s)

2013-May-22, 08:34 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Internet Explorer Sucks? in Off-Topic Babbling

And just about every sysadmin at a company running Windows.

16 replies | 305 view(s)

2013-May-22, 08:32 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Perpetual motion question. in Science and Technology

Air conditioners absorb work to "pump" heat against a temperature gradient; efficiency is not the correct measurement for their performance because...

6 replies | 132 view(s)

2013-May-21, 08:40 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread Why still there is no Alien contact ? in Life in Space

People used to think that things like infanticide were unique to humanity. Naturalists have found out that infanticide is not uncommon among many...

896 replies | 47777 view(s)

2013-May-21, 06:47 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread Will the gravity of Kepler-62e (1.6 x Earth) be stronger than Earth's? in Space/Astronomy Questions and Answers

There are some models which predict (or try to predict) the mass vs radius relationship of rocky planets. Search around sites like the...

19 replies | 303 view(s)

2013-May-21, 05:43 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread Mechanical advantages of rails? in Science and Technology

Because one train, with 150 cars, each carrying 200 tons of something can be controlled by one driver, vs maybe 300 individual road trains, each with...

53 replies | 728 view(s)

2013-May-21, 09:41 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Possibility of robotic personal care workers? in Science and Technology

Quite a lot of people in nursing homes are competent, but just require constant monitoring due to physical frailty. Managing 24/7 care for a person...

17 replies | 284 view(s)

2013-May-20, 09:52 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Mechanical advantages of rails? in Science and Technology

One route may be like this: your society needs a vehicle to chug around a closed track, so they replace the driver with a guide rail, like on the...

53 replies | 728 view(s)

2013-May-20, 09:37 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Blimps in Science and Technology

Probably would be easier to use hot hydrogen. Hot air balloons work reasonably well on Earth.

30 replies | 414 view(s)

2013-May-20, 01:54 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Blimps in Science and Technology

Ara Pacis probably got the biggest non-physics "why not": a vacuum blimp offers no advantage in a low-density medium, like air. They do work quite...

30 replies | 414 view(s)

2013-May-19, 03:10 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread Blimps in Science and Technology

All submarines are buoyantly supported, with exactly the same mechanism as one of the putative vacuum blimps. Water is just a trifle denser than...

30 replies | 414 view(s)

2013-May-19, 02:28 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread First signs of decline in IQ? in Science and Technology

In my education classes, we had some discussions about IQ. First, the general modern consensus is that intelligence is a multi-dimensional object,...

63 replies | 1664 view(s)

2013-May-19, 01:37 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread Mechanical advantages of rails? in Science and Technology

Diesels won out because they're more efficient than steam, and require less maintenance.

53 replies | 728 view(s)

2013-May-19, 01:32 PM

swampyankee replied to a poll Poll: What poses more of a threat to our planet? in Astronomy

Pedantically, none of the choices are threats to the planet; they're just threats to us. Well, the asteroid may leave a bit of a scar, as did...

47 replies | 1882 view(s)

2013-May-19, 01:22 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread Blimps in Science and Technology

I was limiting my answer to buoyant lift vehicles operating in gas, and I did include structural fraction as one of the conditions. Expanding the...

30 replies | 414 view(s)

2013-May-19, 12:57 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread Blimps in Science and Technology

If you could make one and it's structural fraction is no worse than a conventional balloon's, yes: vacuum has lower density than hydrogen, so it...

30 replies | 414 view(s)

2013-May-19, 12:32 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread Blimps in Science and Technology

A normal balloon's skin is under tension, so the material's tensile strength is the controlling factor. In a balloon "filled" with vacuum, it's the...

30 replies | 414 view(s)

2013-May-18, 07:25 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread WHy are movies obsessed with 'Re-boots' in Small Media at Large

Money, and expectation of earning lots of from a product with a known track record. Batman or Spiderman or Superman or X-men movies have a...

100 replies | 1074 view(s)

2013-May-17, 10:09 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Really trivial stuff that amuses you... in Off-Topic Babbling

Related quote: Money won't buy happiness, but it makes misery a lot more comfortable.

1572 replies | 54312 view(s)

2013-May-15, 01:24 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Proving one's bravery in Off-Topic Babbling

A lot of bravery is being in situations and seeing no alternative but the path of courage, such as the principal, school psychologist, and several of...

66 replies | 1398 view(s)

2013-May-15, 12:17 AM

swampyankee replied to a thread Coming to America in Off-Topic Babbling

Greenwich (btw, it's pronounced "gren-itch") is probably the coolest place on the planet. Austin, Texas and Portland, Oregon are also cool (there...

20 replies | 427 view(s)

2013-May-13, 03:24 PM

swampyankee replied to a thread My Frustration with the Life In Space forum in Forum Introductions and Feedback

No clue why he said it, but it is reliably attributed to him. Similar sentiments were expressed regarding the practicality of commercial...

284 replies | 5889 view(s)

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