You turn on any of my crew, you turn on me.

Mal ,'Ariel'


Natter 63: Life after PuppyCam  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


tommyrot - Jul 07, 2009 5:15:11 am PDT #27729 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

Flags of Forgotten Countries

In recent years, we have seen a number of countries disappear, along with their flags. The Soviet Union came to an end, to be replaced by a multitude of new or revived republics, all with their own flags. Czechoslovakia split into its two component parts, while Yugoslavia splintered, as the individual nationalities all asserted their independence. All this happened very recently, but many states have vanished from the map before over the centuries. Here’s a look at some flags of those long gone - and in many cases forgotten - kingdoms and countries.


SuziQ - Jul 07, 2009 5:17:32 am PDT #27730 of 30000
Back tattoos of the mother is that you are absolutely right - Ame

I am so sore this morning. We did full contact sparing last night - two on one. The one was supposed to use fancy footwork to keep out of the middle and only spar one opponent at a time. Exhausting.


Barb - Jul 07, 2009 5:19:15 am PDT #27731 of 30000
“Not dead yet!”

The Soviet Union came to an end, to be replaced by a multitude of new or revived republics, all with their own flags.

Watching Chess a couple of weeks ago, I found myself actually shivering a little when I saw the hammer and sickle flag.


tommyrot - Jul 07, 2009 5:40:30 am PDT #27732 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

Just recently, a man-made object became the coldest object in space. Coldest Known Object in Space Is Very Unnatural

The coldest known object out in space has now been announced by scientists. It's not a frozen comet or even some distant, chilly gas cloud. Rather, it's a spacecraft.

On July 3, the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft reached this frigid extreme as part of a key step in the satellite's mission to observe the remnant radiation of the Big Bang.

Since its launch on May 14 (accompanied by its sibling spacecraft Herschel), Planck has been traveling to its final orbit at the second Lagrange point of the sun-Earth system, L2, and cooling its instruments down to their operational temperature of minus 459.49 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.05 Celsius). This temperature is just 0.1 Celsius above absolute zero, the coldest temperature theoretically possible in our universe.

"It is indeed both the coldest spot in any spacecraft that we know about, and also the coldest known object in space, including dust, gas etc.," Planck project scientist Jan Tauber wrote in an email. "Of course in a laboratory on Earth, colder spots can be made."

Such low temperatures are necessary for Planck's detectors to study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) — the first light released by the universe, only 380,000 years after the Big Bang — by measuring its temperature across the sky.

I have Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation - in my pants!


Theodosia - Jul 07, 2009 5:45:22 am PDT #27733 of 30000
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"

I have Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation - in my pants!

So do I!


StuntHusband - Jul 07, 2009 5:53:08 am PDT #27734 of 30000
Electromagnetic candy! - Stark

I have Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation - in my pants!

So do I!

One does suspect, however, that measurements would find temperatures above absolute zero in those (mst3k)regions(/mst3k)


Vortex - Jul 07, 2009 5:58:32 am PDT #27735 of 30000
"Cry havoc and let slip the boobs of war!" -- Miracleman

Wait, these two statements are contradictory:

This temperature is just 0.1 Celsius above absolute zero, the coldest temperature theoretically possible in our universe.

"It is indeed both the coldest spot in any spacecraft that we know about, and also the coldest known object in space, including dust, gas etc.," Planck project scientist Jan Tauber wrote in an email. "Of course in a laboratory on Earth, colder spots can be made."


tommyrot - Jul 07, 2009 6:02:30 am PDT #27736 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

This temperature is just 0.1 Celsius above absolute zero, the coldest temperature theoretically possible in our universe.

That sentence can be interpreted two ways. It's absolute zero that's the coldest temperature possible in our universe.


Vortex - Jul 07, 2009 6:04:01 am PDT #27737 of 30000
"Cry havoc and let slip the boobs of war!" -- Miracleman

so, by "colder spots can be made", he means the .1 degree?


billytea - Jul 07, 2009 6:09:21 am PDT #27738 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

so, by "colder spots can be made", he means the .1 degree?

The colder spots that could be made on Earth are within Earth's atmosphere, as distinct from being an object in space.