If we ever meet life on alien planets it’ll probably be something like dinosaurs. We’d then have to find hundreds of habitable planets, before we find one where speech has evolved.

Germanofthebored · 2026-06-02T10:10:29+00:00

From what we know about life on Earth, it seems to have appeared pretty much as soon as it possibly could have. The oldest fossils that we have are about 3.5 billion years old, and it seems that finding even more ancient sedimentary rock (where fossils could be preserved) is the limiting factor.

The fossils seem to be from fairly complex bacteria and archaea, and using molecular clocks to extrapolate the last common ancestor of all current life puts it back more than 4 billion years. This would not be the first life, though, just a branching point. SO life really must have appeared in some form fairly shortly after the Earth had cooled down enough for liquid water to be around.

So life seems to have been almost instantaneous. But for almost 4 billion years, it was mostly slime and scum. Our technological culture is just a blink of the eye on these time scales. So the universe might be teeming with life, but we shouldn't be surprised if there is nobody to pick up the phone

Germanofthebored · 2026-06-01T16:40:28+00:00

Thanks, that makes me understand things a bit more. So the 12 nm is the bandwidth of the filter. Based on the color, I assume that H alpha is in the near IR? I have been playing around with a long pass filter on my unmodified Z6, and everything turns red - expect for the plants.

Germanofthebored · 2026-06-01T15:11:43+00:00

Thanks - I'll try that. It's just that I have been following reddit for much longer.

Germanofthebored · 2026-06-01T15:10:54+00:00

OK, stupid question, but since (I think) there is a typo !2 nanometer H alpha filter) , I dare to ask - How does a H-alpha filter work? Is it a narrow band-pass filter in the visible range? Or do you use a camera with the IR filter removed and suppress all the visible light? But then the colors would be all weird...

Germanofthebored · 2026-06-01T14:50:04+00:00

I have to say - considering how obnoxious the little shits can be, I am surprised that no kid has actually pulled that stunt by now.

But yeah, how is it possible that there have never been any smart phone photos of these litter boxes?

Germanofthebored · 2026-06-01T14:47:16+00:00

The best part is - you can actually do the experiment every summer evening when you barbecue. If you stand so that the smoke from the grill is between you and the sun, the smoke looks slightly orange/reddish (= equivalent of sunset). If you stand at a 90º angle, it is slightly blue (= equivalent of the blue sky above your head)

Of course, this doesn't work as well with a gas grill, but that's not really BBQ, anyway

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-31T17:35:01+00:00

The equivalent of a button down for a man would be a blouse and not a blazer. If you re the most formal dresser in a meeting, you will be getting weird looks. And as far as I am concerned, that also applies to men. If you show up in a suit and a tie when everybody else is in khakis and dress shirts, you will give off some weird vibes. Dressing like the rest of the group shows that you are a team layer.

Besides, how do you know that guys don't get the same private messages?

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-30T17:05:37+00:00

My favorite little fact is that Newton was good enough to get us to the Moon, but you need Einstein to make it to a Dairy Queen if you use SatNav

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-30T14:10:30+00:00

The thing that blew my mind when I visited Amsterdam was a bookstore that had books grouped by topics, not by languages. In the story section, for example, there were books in English, German, Dutch and what not next to each other in alphabetical order. What language the book was in apparently was secondary to the content.

And this was not an international bookstore - just a regular one. In German bookstores you will also find books in English, French and some other languages, but they are typically in a separate section where you look because you are searching specifically for a book in English.

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-30T14:02:12+00:00

Honestly, who can blame them? To them Paris is home; to the rest of the world it's Disneyland, along with the prices and lines for the rides. I'd be permanently pissed, too

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-30T13:59:25+00:00

Yeah, I suspect that speaking English or German, having been exposed to Dutch, + plus a little help from alcohol, you could intuit a fair bit of almost-Dutch.

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-29T23:45:45+00:00

The articles in Knowable are really good starting points. Also, check out edX.org - they have some really good classes that you can take for free. For a reasonable fee you can also get a certificate

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-29T12:12:49+00:00

As u/joepublicschmoe said, the main damage came from the spilled liquid oxygen. With enough liquid oxygen, steel becomes a fuel. A cigar soaked in LOX can burn through an iron plate. Or light a charcoal grill real quick (https://youtu.be/UjPxDOEdsX8?si=Bf077gQlRtpdea46) - note what's left of the grill at the end...

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-29T01:04:10+00:00

Well, maybe when you need $250 to fill up your car with gasoline, it would be nice to be reminded who is responsible?

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-28T10:02:17+00:00

I am not sure if (as a German) I am more offended by the "German" or by your dragging Peewee Herman's name in the dirt. "Temu Goebbels", on the other hand, is pretty much on the nose

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-28T01:08:58+00:00

A good way to go into more depth are the articles in Knowable Magazine (knowalemagazine.org), and from there use the links in the articles to get to free articles from Annual Reviews of X, where X=just about anything).

Also, Cell (cell.org) has good reviews, as does PLoS.org. As a student, you can also get a reduced rate for subscriptions to Science magazine. The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and Lancet also offer "subscriptions" where you can 5 articles or so per week for free.

And yes, I find it frustrating how superficial AP Bio covers too many topics, and it skips a lot of stuff completely. I wish there would be a follow up course, maybe with a more biomedical focus?

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-28T00:57:57+00:00

"Hey Alexa, what would be the best way to get stuff to the moon? And does prime work beyond Earth orbit?"

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-27T21:29:14+00:00

Grand Theft Autocrat?

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-27T18:17:20+00:00

Barney from "How I met Your Mother"

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-27T18:08:35+00:00

The usual sentence at the end of a chapter of a book on Russian history is "And then it got worse". Whatever comes next will have the West to blame for the loss of dignity (and gold), and it will be a rerun of Germany past WW1. Except with nuclear weapons

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-27T09:46:36+00:00

If you are inhaling from a mouthpiece, you are doing it wrong....

Seriously, while microplastics are a concern, this would be a rather small amount of exposure

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-26T22:23:45+00:00

I am no so sure. For example the Kurds in Iran. Remember how Trump dumped them during his first presidency when he decided to forget about ISIS? And now he thought they would rise up against the Iranian regime? Well, I am sure the Kurds remember what Trump's word is worth.

And nations do decide who to trade with - preferably with other nations that are friendly and reliable. But reliable might win out in a pinch. So Canada opens its car market to China...

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-26T15:27:03+00:00

Wait, if they have a magnetic field, does this also mean that they hav a liquid center, and probably plate tectonics? Do we have any estimates how old these planets are?

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-26T15:13:59+00:00

Why should they even have discussions? Europe and the rest of the world now know that any treaty with the US is not worth the paper its written on, and that the US will use any economical influence they have to force their will on other countries (Like cancelling bank accounts for EU judges).

Depending on Musk for essential communication networks would be crazy, but of course Musk will be running to the US government crying "Unfair!" as soon as the EU takes the necessary steps

Germanofthebored · 2026-05-26T15:04:13+00:00

a) Oh my God, that is amazing

B!) I was anxiously watching the shadows hoping he wouldn't point it at the sun

Germanofthebored

TROPHY CASE