7. Something Wicked This Way Comes (Jonathan Pryce at his peak)
Yes! Been a looong time since I saw that one.
A guilty pleasure of mine
Not only did we still have school, we were happy to go, because if we didn't, we'd have to go out and help Dad feed the cattle.
those pesky critters
I was just complaining to my wife that schools nearby were canceled yesterday even though it was around 10-15º outside. (the trinket did still have school though)
So, we didn't have a Third Monday Movie Day, and I'll be out of the country next week (4th Monday), so I'm gonna leave this here.
I was homebound with sick kids Wed - Fri and then a three day weekend with subzero temps keeping us mostly inside. As such, I watched probably a dozen movies. Then last night, my buddy and I went to the theater to catch a movie we felt would be best experienced on the big screen.
Three of the movies: Sicario, Letters From Iwo Jima, and The Revenant were easily Top-10 material; some of the most memorable films I've seen in the past year. For long stretches of each one - and for each one as a whole - the following adjectives are appropriate: Stunning, Gorgeous, Intense, Challenging, Bleak, Hopeful, Disheartening, Ominous, Evocative, Violent, Staggering, Overwhelming, Sumptuous, and Brilliant.
Most importantly, the conclusion of each resonated in, I'd argue, exactly the way the filmmaker's intended:
I love that it's the guy (Mike Brown) that argued for Pluto's demotion that is putting that out there.
I enjoyed this quote:
"My daughter, she's still kind of mad about Pluto being demoted, even though she was barely born at that time," Brown said. "She suggested a few years ago that she'd forgive me if I found a new planet. So I guess I've been working on this for her."
The jalapeno started a solar system in kindergarten last week and came home singing a song about the planets--including a bit about Pluto not being a planet. I wonder if the song will be updated again once we know more about this thing!
Everyone is too hung up on "planets" -- the plethora of trans-Neptunian objects are exactly why Pluto was demoted. Time for kids to learn a Kuiper Belt Song as well.
I can get behind some of those names, but I think some Hollywood directors with too many connections got asked for names:
"Wayout", "Nix", and "Vanith" are all probably places James Cameron figures he can find more Unobtanium
"Dysnomia" and "Salacia" must be rejected Lars von Trier titles.
"Make make" and "Na make"... George Lucas channeling Jar-Jar Binks?
And someone named a dwarf planet "2007 or 10"?
shoulda been "25 or 6 to 4"
A couple of times a year someone writes a paper claiming to have some sort of evidence for a new planet in the outer solar system, but this one seems much, much more likely to actually be correct to me. A lot of the other papers explain away some strange observation by saying that there must be another planet out there, but they often tend to be overfitting the data they have. You could make up a new planet with really specific parameters to explain away this observation, but that doesn't make it the only possible answer.
This one, though, looks a lot more promising. If you put this "new" planet into the solar system, it fixes this one weird observation, but it also fixes a weird observation that it wasn't specifically designed to fix. So, seems much, much more promising than any of the other "new planet" papers. Pretty cool!
Heard a news story claiming they should know one way or the other with a fair degree of certainty within 2-3 years.
Man, these past few months have been such a great run of awesome astronomy. Fingers crossed that it keeps going.
Congress did increase NASA's budget and gave a whole lot of money for the Europa mission that must include a lander. Sure it doesn't launch until 2022 but that is going to be super exciting when it reaches the moon.
Other interesting astronomy news: remember that weird star that could maybe, possibly, have some sort of sign of alien civilizations? Someone did some other observations, and it's even weirder than the first observations showed.
Yeah, I've been keeping an eye on that one. Wild stuff.
Yep. I spent a good chunk of my afternoon yesterday thinking about that star, trying to figure out some sort of explanation, or some sort of observation that could help answer the question. So far, all I've got is that it's bonkers.
I realized something pretty cool that connects these two events: I love that we have enough of a database built up that we can come across something peculiar, then go back through the record and find further supporting evidence. Some of the "new" evidence on KIC 8462852 was from photographic plates going back to the late 19th century. And it's not like we were looking at either of these in specific at the time either. We just still have the record. Because we have all that data, we've saved years of research and are able to hit the ground running on these.
tl;dr: IFLS.
not just that we have enough of a database, but that it's searchable. that was a HUGE (ongoing) effort
Right, that was a point I also meant to highlight. Thanks. Armed with the knowledge of centuries, and facilitated by a rigorous contemporary undertaking.
I'm impressed with the logic needed to do comparisons; the cosmos isn't static, so one must constantly take procession, spurious (natural and artificial) objects, etc. I imagine it is much like genealogy: the data is conveniently gathered, but there is still some manual effort to collate and critique the results
Plus differences between telescopes, cameras, technologies used, etc. If you are using archived observations from 1890 to today, you are going through a huge range of observing techniques and equipment types. A big chunk of the day-to-day work in observational astronomy is trying to fix those differences, and make sure you're actually comparing apples to apples.
I considered mentioning that, and that's a great point.
Didn't it basically suck up a whole star in the movie? Was it a very small star?
don't even get Degrasse-Tyson started on that! at this point they're only saying that the luminosity is fading, not that the star is shrinking; that would have other implications and probably be detectable in its spectrum, perhaps.
So its looking like we'll be buying our first house sometime soon. If anyone had a good experience with a realtor and wants to let me know that'd be great. Or if there is someone to avoid that'd even be better. Here or at eschapp at gmail.com is fine.
Mpls or St.P?
or
somewhere else?
SW Minneapolis/Maybe SLP
This guy helped my cousin and her husband buy a place in south Minneapolis. They were very happy with his work.
We used him for a purchase in St. Paul - loved our house, but the neighborhood turned out to be pretty suspect. He knows his stuff, but is likely a much better Realtor on his home turf.
Long way of saying I'd recommend him to you.
Checkout Tod Teeple. I've bought and sold houses in SW MPls with him since 1991.
We're looking in about a year or so, so I'm gonna hit you up for tips.
I have a friend who helped me with my first two homes. He just gave up his Realtor's license last week because he makes more money and finds it less stressful to sell cars. He was awesome.
I took the car keys from my realtor because he was acting strangely ("allergies") the last time he took me to see condos. I don't recommend him.
!?
Proactively providing an excuse for red eyes made me think drugs and the energy drink can that he was really interested in made me think alcohol. I guess it could have been both. He interacted with a security guard and a rival realtor, and it was super awkward. I'd be surprised if he didn't get into trouble.
Edit: Just checked the realty website and his bio has been removed.
Hey AMR -- was surprised to see hummingbirds in mid/upper 40s in Jerome, AZ this past Saturday
In warm areas, they don't even migrate. Probably due to the lack of Canada Geese to ride upon the backs of.
We have them pretty much year round here in SoCal, but we don't spend a lot of time down in the low 40's, either.
Do they really do that? If so, that's awesome. I wonder if they form geeser gangs.
Unfortunately, no. It was an old theory that made no real sense. I assume it would have looked like that scene in Finding Nemo on the EAC.
The truth is just about as unlikely, however: they fly across the Gulf of Mexico non-stop in a single night.
(Not each one on the very same night. Rather, each chooses which night best suits it for the attempt.)
I really don't know my southwestern hummers... I had to check a book.
That appears to be an Anna's Hummingbird, the same ones I saw in Vancouver sixteen months ago.
The only hummingbird in North America with a true song (by however authorities define that).
Compared to the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (the only one regularly found in the Eastern 2/3rds of the lower 48), the Anna's is a hulk: imagine the difference between the thumb of a very large and obese man vs that of a regular Joe.
Anna de Belle Masséna (c. 1806-1896?), the wife of François Victor, Prince d'Essling and Due de Rivoli, was described by Audubon as a "beautiful young woman, not more than twenty, extremely graceful and polite." Lesson, the eminent French naturalist, memorialized her by naming this species in her honor.
-Gruson, 1972
This species was named by Ren&eactue; Lesson (1794-1849), French naturalist and ornithologist, for Anna Debelle Masséna (1802-1887), duchess of Rivoli and wife of Prince François Victor Masséna (1799-1863), an amateur ornithologist who had a private collection of more than 12,000 bird skins.
-Sandrock & Prior, 2014
Missed out on FilmWise Invisibles yesterday while travelling (first time in Houston!!1!), and I had this one to add:
Yes! Been a looong time since I saw that one.
A guilty pleasure of mine
Not only did we still have school, we were happy to go, because if we didn't, we'd have to go out and help Dad feed the cattle.
those pesky critters
I was just complaining to my wife that schools nearby were canceled yesterday even though it was around 10-15º outside. (the trinket did still have school though)
Frozen pants in NE Minneapolis!
So, we didn't have a Third Monday Movie Day, and I'll be out of the country next week (4th Monday), so I'm gonna leave this here.
I was homebound with sick kids Wed - Fri and then a three day weekend with subzero temps keeping us mostly inside. As such, I watched probably a dozen movies. Then last night, my buddy and I went to the theater to catch a movie we felt would be best experienced on the big screen.
Three of the movies: Sicario, Letters From Iwo Jima, and The Revenant were easily Top-10 material; some of the most memorable films I've seen in the past year. For long stretches of each one - and for each one as a whole - the following adjectives are appropriate: Stunning, Gorgeous, Intense, Challenging, Bleak, Hopeful, Disheartening, Ominous, Evocative, Violent, Staggering, Overwhelming, Sumptuous, and Brilliant.
Most importantly, the conclusion of each resonated in, I'd argue, exactly the way the filmmaker's intended:
Solar system could be back up to 9.
I love that it's the guy (Mike Brown) that argued for Pluto's demotion that is putting that out there.
I enjoyed this quote:
The jalapeno started a solar system in kindergarten last week and came home singing a song about the planets--including a bit about Pluto not being a planet. I wonder if the song will be updated again once we know more about this thing!
Everyone is too hung up on "planets" -- the plethora of trans-Neptunian objects are exactly why Pluto was demoted. Time for kids to learn a Kuiper Belt Song as well.
I can get behind some of those names, but I think some Hollywood directors with too many connections got asked for names:
"Wayout", "Nix", and "Vanith" are all probably places James Cameron figures he can find more Unobtanium
"Dysnomia" and "Salacia" must be rejected Lars von Trier titles.
"Make make" and "Na make"... George Lucas channeling Jar-Jar Binks?
And someone named a dwarf planet "2007 or 10"?
shoulda been "25 or 6 to 4"
A couple of times a year someone writes a paper claiming to have some sort of evidence for a new planet in the outer solar system, but this one seems much, much more likely to actually be correct to me. A lot of the other papers explain away some strange observation by saying that there must be another planet out there, but they often tend to be overfitting the data they have. You could make up a new planet with really specific parameters to explain away this observation, but that doesn't make it the only possible answer.
This one, though, looks a lot more promising. If you put this "new" planet into the solar system, it fixes this one weird observation, but it also fixes a weird observation that it wasn't specifically designed to fix. So, seems much, much more promising than any of the other "new planet" papers. Pretty cool!
Heard a news story claiming they should know one way or the other with a fair degree of certainty within 2-3 years.
Man, these past few months have been such a great run of awesome astronomy. Fingers crossed that it keeps going.
Congress did increase NASA's budget and gave a whole lot of money for the Europa mission that must include a lander. Sure it doesn't launch until 2022 but that is going to be super exciting when it reaches the moon.
Other interesting astronomy news: remember that weird star that could maybe, possibly, have some sort of sign of alien civilizations? Someone did some other observations, and it's even weirder than the first observations showed.
Yeah, I've been keeping an eye on that one. Wild stuff.
Yep. I spent a good chunk of my afternoon yesterday thinking about that star, trying to figure out some sort of explanation, or some sort of observation that could help answer the question. So far, all I've got is that it's bonkers.
I realized something pretty cool that connects these two events: I love that we have enough of a database built up that we can come across something peculiar, then go back through the record and find further supporting evidence. Some of the "new" evidence on KIC 8462852 was from photographic plates going back to the late 19th century. And it's not like we were looking at either of these in specific at the time either. We just still have the record. Because we have all that data, we've saved years of research and are able to hit the ground running on these.
tl;dr: IFLS.
not just that we have enough of a database, but that it's searchable. that was a HUGE (ongoing) effort
Right, that was a point I also meant to highlight. Thanks. Armed with the knowledge of centuries, and facilitated by a rigorous contemporary undertaking.
I'm impressed with the logic needed to do comparisons; the cosmos isn't static, so one must constantly take procession, spurious (natural and artificial) objects, etc. I imagine it is much like genealogy: the data is conveniently gathered, but there is still some manual effort to collate and critique the results
Plus differences between telescopes, cameras, technologies used, etc. If you are using archived observations from 1890 to today, you are going through a huge range of observing techniques and equipment types. A big chunk of the day-to-day work in observational astronomy is trying to fix those differences, and make sure you're actually comparing apples to apples.
I considered mentioning that, and that's a great point.
I've got a theory...
Not even close to big enough. Not even thousands of them would do it.
don't even get Degrasse-Tyson started on that! at this point they're only saying that the luminosity is fading, not that the star is shrinking; that would have other implications and probably be detectable in its spectrum, perhaps.
Glen Perkins is Santa Claus.
So its looking like we'll be buying our first house sometime soon. If anyone had a good experience with a realtor and wants to let me know that'd be great. Or if there is someone to avoid that'd even be better. Here or at eschapp at gmail.com is fine.
Mpls or St.P?
or
somewhere else?
SW Minneapolis/Maybe SLP
This guy helped my cousin and her husband buy a place in south Minneapolis. They were very happy with his work.
We used him for a purchase in St. Paul - loved our house, but the neighborhood turned out to be pretty suspect. He knows his stuff, but is likely a much better Realtor on his home turf.
Long way of saying I'd recommend him to you.
Checkout Tod Teeple. I've bought and sold houses in SW MPls with him since 1991.
We're looking in about a year or so, so I'm gonna hit you up for tips.
I have a friend who helped me with my first two homes. He just gave up his Realtor's license last week because he makes more money and finds it less stressful to sell cars. He was awesome.
I took the car keys from my realtor because he was acting strangely ("allergies") the last time he took me to see condos. I don't recommend him.
!?
Proactively providing an excuse for red eyes made me think drugs and the energy drink can that he was really interested in made me think alcohol. I guess it could have been both. He interacted with a security guard and a rival realtor, and it was super awkward. I'd be surprised if he didn't get into trouble.
Edit: Just checked the realty website and his bio has been removed.
Hey AMR -- was surprised to see hummingbirds in mid/upper 40s in Jerome, AZ this past Saturday
In warm areas, they don't even migrate. Probably due to the lack of Canada Geese to ride upon the backs of.
We have them pretty much year round here in SoCal, but we don't spend a lot of time down in the low 40's, either.
Do they really do that? If so, that's awesome. I wonder if they form geeser gangs.
Unfortunately, no. It was an old theory that made no real sense. I assume it would have looked like that scene in Finding Nemo on the EAC.
The truth is just about as unlikely, however: they fly across the Gulf of Mexico non-stop in a single night.
(Not each one on the very same night. Rather, each chooses which night best suits it for the attempt.)
I really don't know my southwestern hummers... I had to check a book.
That appears to be an Anna's Hummingbird, the same ones I saw in Vancouver sixteen months ago.
The only hummingbird in North America with a true song (by however authorities define that).
Compared to the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (the only one regularly found in the Eastern 2/3rds of the lower 48), the Anna's is a hulk: imagine the difference between the thumb of a very large and obese man vs that of a regular Joe.
If anyone here wants to try rugby, we're looking for new players. First practice is the 26th
So Karl Anthony Towns has a 20-15 game and its not the 4th quarter.
squeee
Now in OT. Has a chance for 30-20.
Sigh.
I liked this season more when the Wolves won all the road games and none of the home games.
FTFY