kata1yst
@kata1yst@sh.itjust.works
- Comment on Steamy 1 week ago:
Oh no argument here with that point at all, that’s a fine perspective and observation. Classification is necessary, but nuance and patience when dealing with the gray areas between are too.
My initial point was just poking fun at the mess poor astronomers have to deal with. It being one of the oldest natural sciences and all it has a bigger mess than most.
- Comment on Steamy 1 week ago:
I’m afraid you are arguing with the simplified non-scientific definitions. Did you think I was making the complexity up? The reality of our classification system is a mess, like most classification systems, since nature doesn’t care what labels we attach.
- The scientific definition of an asteroid is actually a combination of several factors, including where the asteroid resides (inside Jupiter’s orbit? A Trojan? A Greek?), it’s size, it’s composition (just basically not entirely icy), and it’s historical origin. This gets exceptionally complex when you take into account and icy body in the asteroid belt (we know of many), a comet that has burned off it’s ice, an ejected asteroid in strange orbits, an asteroid orbiting a planet (see Mars’ moons), a body that otherwise meets criteria as an asteroid that is larger than the other asteroids (Ceres etc)… Generally scientists today don’t use ‘asteroid’ in technical writing, they prefer ‘minor planet’.
- The scientific definition of meteor/meteoroid/meteorite means that any body can become a meteor if it’s in the right conditions, but it’ll still be a meteoroid/comet/asteroid/moon/dwarf planet too. It’s nearly useless as a set of definitions, especially when the meanings of the same words have changed consistently since the founding of modern astronomy.
- A comets definition, like that of an asteroid, is actually tied to its location (oort cloud? Kuiper belt? elliptical orbit? Stable orbit past Jupiter? Currently orbiting a planet? Currently close enough to the sun?), speed (influences if it can form a coma), temperature (influences if it can form a coma), composition (influences if it can form a coma), historical origin (oort cloud? Kuiper belt?). It’s another definition rarely used by scientists outside scientific communication because it lacks a firm foundation to stand on.
- Comment on Steamy 1 week ago:
Nature doesn’t care about our silly label system.
And it is a very silly label system, decided mostly by people who didn’t fully understand what they were observing. Ask an astronomer to explain the differences asteroid vs meteor vs comet vs dwarf planet and see what dirty looks you get in response.
Long story short, it’s going to involve Venn diagrams, classification on multiple traits that can change over time, classification on multiple traits we don’t fully understand, and a lot of historical figures making arbitrary choices in their writing.
- Comment on Here are the patents Nintendo and the Pokémon Company are suing Palworld about, according to Pocketpair 1 month ago:
If those are the only 3 items they’re suing over, in an American court of law it’d be a slam dunk for PocketPair. Theres so much prior art, open use, and poor definitions involved the patents would be quickly invalidated.
But I’m not aware of the nuance of Japanese court, only that they tend to protect IP even more strongly than US courts.
- Comment on Trump's eligibility 1 month ago:
It sounds straightforward until it’s used as a weapon by the sitting administration to prevent competition at the ballot box.
- Comment on big bro jupiter 4 months ago:
Jupiter probably also threw an icy giant out of the inner solar system when it was making the family unstable. What a good big bro to have.
- Comment on Caption this. 4 months ago:
Or else.
- Comment on Eeeeee 5 months ago:
And because it always bears repeating;
According to JPL’s Chief Engineer for Mission Operations and Science, Marc Rayman-
Let’s go to the largest size there is: the known universe. The radius of the universe is about 46 billion light years. Now let me ask (and answer!) a different question: How many digits of pi would we need to calculate the circumference of a circle with a radius of 46 billion light years to an accuracy equal to the diameter of a hydrogen atom, the simplest atom? It turns out that 37 decimal places (38 digits, including the number 3 to the left of the decimal point) would be quite sufficient. - Comment on Electrons are easy 5 months ago:
Thank you for the link. It makes sense I haven’t heard too much on it. More a postulation than a theory. And kind of untestable/ philosophical too.
- Comment on Electrons are easy 5 months ago:
I’ve heard this weird concept repeated over and over but I’ve never once run across it in literature or in speaking to my particle physicist friend. Can you provide a source?
- Comment on Can't argue with that logic 5 months ago:
If you ignore that one monolog and just accept that the extra-dimensional aliens/future human entities didn’t understand how to communicate with his daughter using only gravity, so they captured her father and had him do it, it makes a lot more sense.
And really that is what the script is trying to say… I think. It’s just very ham-fisted and ranty which does happen in Nolen movies. Basically "these beings have all the power in the universe compared to us, but without knowing (loving) the person they’re trying to reach they can’t find a way to get the message across.
Honestly in my head-cannon, the dude just went from self-sacrificing by falling into a black hole to looking at his daughter when she was trying to convince him not to leave. He’s more than a little emotional and we can’t expect him to make perfect sense.
- Comment on Python with Braces 5 months ago:
This is so fucking cursed.
What if Python, but less legible?
- Comment on Viva la revolution 5 months ago:
Easy. Redirect the mob towards the Black king with an impassioned speech.
- Comment on ChatGPT is biased against resumes with credentials that imply a disability 5 months ago:
Yet again sanitization and preparation of training inputs proves to be a much harder problem to solve then techbros think.
- Comment on Gotta THRASH 5 months ago:
Thank you for teaching me about this very cool danger noodle friend today!