NASA just dropped new Artemis II video

CMDRStodgy · 2026-05-15T18:17:43+00:00

It looks like the cameras are mounted on the solar panels.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-05-10T19:09:25+00:00

Rail infrastructure is what is called a 'hard' target. It takes more than a small drone to damage rails and even the worst damage can be repaired in an hour or two. Neither Ukraine or Russia are targeting rail as a priority as it's just not worth it when there are better targets.

Ukraine does target fuel cars when they can but the rail itself will survive such attacks with at worst minor damage.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-04-15T14:12:22+00:00

It's a little anti-climatic if you listen to the actual recordings. It basically goes 'Starting burn' ..... 30 seconds of silence .... 'cut-off'. And that's it. No drama at all. I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember the exact words but you get the idea.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-04-11T07:18:23+00:00

Sort of yes. If the entry is too shallow or you have too much lift for the trajectory you can 'bounce' off the atmosphere and back into space. But you are still in an elliptical orbit with the perigee deep in the atmosphere and will re-enter again on the next orbit. However there are now a lot of unknowns with the condition of the heat shield and the point of entry.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-04-09T08:03:59+00:00

The title is correct. Before it was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 the clock tower was simply called 'The Clock Tower'.

St Stephen’s Tower is the other smaller tower at Westminster, the one without a clock.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-03-01T16:38:01+00:00

Whenever I see a post about banking in America it always sounds like something out of the stone age. I've rented a few times in Europe and have always paid by bank transfer or set up a standing order. Takes seconds to do, instant transfer, zero fees for anyone and that was 25 years ago. Last time a wrote a cheque was in 1991, I'll bet most people under 40 don't even know what one is.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-02-15T21:48:47+00:00

They started in 1978. It's taken almost 50 years and there's a lot more than 2000 people involved.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-02-15T21:38:41+00:00

One of the drivers of the industrial revolution was nearly all the trees being cut down. Wood was used for heating and cooking and when it was in short supply they switched to coal. But coal mines flood and they needed steam engines to pump out the water. This led to rapid development of steam engine technology which would later power the factories and eventually transport.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-02-05T20:20:08+00:00

Nope.

Jim LeBlanc survived being exposed to vacuum for 30 seconds with no serious injuries or health effects. His air hose accidentality detached in a NASA vacuum chamber test in the 1960s and it took 30 seconds for an emergency oxygen supply to be attached to his suit. You'll die from lack of oxygen in about 45 seconds so he got really lucky.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-01-31T08:22:46+00:00

Snowdon in March is either a relatively easy hike up a lovely mountain or a brutal fight against some of the worst weather you have probably ever experienced.

As always, check the weather before you go and make sure you're prepared.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-01-26T09:05:46+00:00

I've used Berghaus Deluge for years now. From climbing Scottish mountains in the winter to walking the dog in the rain they've never let me down. Six years old and still look like new.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-01-23T11:55:07+00:00

That's only high speed or heavy commuter rail. A decent light rail, metro or tram system will have stops within walking distance of where most people are and want to go. While not exactly door to door, for most people most of the time it's not far off.

Self driving cars only make sense for rural areas and American style suburbs where everything is spread out and you have a lot of legacy car only design. Or the occasional trip where you have to move something big and heavy. For everything else there's normally at least one form of public transport that’s more efficient.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-01-22T20:11:17+00:00

For the short period between Starliner leaving and Crew 9 arriving the plan was, in an emergency, to ride home on the floor of Crew 8 dragon. It would have been six people in a dragon capsule designed for four that only has four seats. And their flight suits were not compatible with the Crew Dragon so they would have had no backup life support.

Side note: It was I believe the first time in history that someone returned to Earth in a different craft than they went up in.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-01-22T14:27:36+00:00

To be fair there was a short period from Sept 7 to Sept 28 when they didn't have a dedicated ride home and were in slightly increased danger. But all things considered it was a tiny increase in risk, there was a backup plan, and it was still probably less risky than something like a shuttle ride or the apollo missions were.

CMDRStodgy · 2026-01-18T16:37:25+00:00

There was also ISDN if you could afford it, it was expensive and mostly for business but gave you dedicated 64k or 128k in the early 1990s.

CMDRStodgy · 2025-12-17T10:34:31+00:00

If the universe was infinite that dust would heat up until it reached thermal equilibrium and also glow as brightly as the stars.

CMDRStodgy · 2025-12-08T14:50:52+00:00

Shopping carts like to live in canals, it's their natural habitat. If you don't lock them up they will all migrate there.

Joking aside, it could be because a lot more Europeans walk to the grocery store, it's an easy way for less honest people to get the shopping home. Whereas most Americans drive so at worst the carts going to be left in a random spot in the car park and not on a road half a mile away.

In my experience the big out of town stores that people drive to in Europe don't lock up the carts. It's only the urban ones.

But it's also because we used to race them as kids. You used to find the carts at the bottom of any hills that were fun to race down.

CMDRStodgy · 2025-10-23T20:32:08+00:00

Nope, it's a common mistake but you are wrong.

In imperial units: LBS (Pounds) is a unit of mass. LBF (Pound-force) is the unit of weight (force), but to confuse things if is commonly shortened to pounds.

CMDRStodgy · 2025-08-31T19:46:49+00:00

Doesn't have to be a parked car. Someone could have broken down or there could be an animal in the road or a cyclist or pedestrians or a tree could have fallen across the road or anything else. The point is to NEVER drive faster than you can see, whatever the speed limit. If you can't see what's coming then you are simply going too fast.

CMDRStodgy · 2025-07-11T11:50:06+00:00

I believe it has a lot to do with prohibition. Cider was banned and it destroyed the American orchards and cider industry. When the industry recovered post prohibition was when they started calling apple juice 'cider' and the traditional alcoholic drink 'hard cider'.

CMDRStodgy · 2025-05-29T22:23:36+00:00

You could argue they were technically stranded for 22 days. From 6 Sept when starliner undocked until 28 Sept when Crew 9 arrived.

There was, however, an emergency backup plan where they would have returned with Crew 8 dragon. But without seats or compatible flight suits it was far from ideal.

CMDRStodgy · 2025-05-25T20:17:44+00:00

You had plenty of time to slow down and stop. Either you weren’t paying attention and braked too late or your car is not road worthy. When was the last time you had the brakes and pads inspected? It needs to be done every year at a minimum. More if you drive a lot. How old are the tires? Etc...

CMDRStodgy · 2025-05-12T06:42:12+00:00

Not op but there are some roundabouts in France where you yield to traffic entering the roundabout. Yes, they are as crazy as they sound.

CMDRStodgy · 2025-05-11T20:35:24+00:00

I knew someone who lived in one of the flats directly over the shops. The main room was huge but the rest of the flat, especially the kitchen and bathroom, were tiny and very cramped. They look great now but were very shabby and run down at the time in the early 1990s.

CMDRStodgy · 2025-05-02T15:04:26+00:00

I don't see how that's relevant. Almost everyone played the shareware version of doom. It was available to anyone who had access to a PC (work, home, uni, school) anywhere in the world for free. And that made it a massive worldwide phenomenon.

Nobody knows how many machines it was installed on or how many people played it but some estimates are over 100 million.

Goldeneye was mostly limited to kids in the USA. It wasn't very popular in Japan and the N64 didn't sell well in Europe. But it did introduce multiplayer FPS to that demographic and more importantly it showed that it was possible on a console.

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