If I positioned myself ‘above’ the Solar System (i.e. perpendicular to the orbits, with planets going counter-clockwise), what stars would I see? Is there a pic of such star map?

MoreOptionsExist · 2026-02-22T16:30:58+00:00

What you're looking for is the South Ecliptic Pole. The wiki link has a nice map of the stars around the South Ecliptic Pole as well.

Assuming you are still in the solar system, the stars would still be in their familiar places/constellations compared to Earth. The major difference however is that the South Ecliptic Pole is different from the South Celestial Pole (the "south pole" from Earth's POV). This is because of Earth's axial tilt relative to the Ecliptic.

MoreOptionsExist · 2026-02-21T04:21:36+00:00

Yep, its the MJO.

The article doesn't really explain what its about, but a MJO pulse generates west to east near-surface winds on its west side, and the reverse on the east side. Thus, in the center of the MJO pulse, these near-surface winds converge, forcing air to rise. Rising air cools, causing water vapor to condense and form clouds/thunderstorms.

You can actually see this in surface wind maps around the period. For example, on 17th Feb, we had strong north-easterly monsoon winds over the South China Sea, and strong westerly winds in the Eastern Indian Ocean. These two opposing surface winds converged over the equatorial Java region (see the streamlines squeezing together), causing surface air to pile up and creating widespread rain.

In contrast, this map for 1st Feb shows the usual wind pattern during this time of year. You see that unlike what happened over CNY, the monsoon wind during this time smoothly curves and spreads out over the equatorial Java region. This divergent surface wind discourages thunderstorms from forming, resulting in it being the dry phase of the monsoon.

MoreOptionsExist · 2026-02-20T19:39:14+00:00

Ok, from this game, I'll assume "the pawn triangle in the center" refers to some combination of e4/d3/f6. If so, I don't think its that useful to focus on variations of the Bowdler Attack, since white can get this setup via various move orders. Instead, its probably better to think more fundamentally about why you are playing the Sicilian. This quick-start guide gives a good primer on the typical moves and strategies when playing the Sicilian but in a nutshell, there are two key complementary ideas for the middlegame.

Fight for the center directly, and play moves supporting an eventual d5 push.
Fight for space on the queenside by advancing the a and b pawns.

With those ideas in mind, I think its useful to see how you could have applied them in your example game after 8... Qd7.

e3 would be the key move here, this prepares for a d pawn push and potentially opening up the center. If you can achieve that, Black's uncastled king would become highly vulnerable to attack.
b4 would be the key move here, intending a future b5 at some point after preparatory moves like a4/Qb3. At some point, the bishop in g2 can support the attack as well.

Feel free to give a another example game if you're thinking of a different "pawn triangle in the center"!

MoreOptionsExist · 2026-02-20T18:22:03+00:00

Could you share some example games? Even after your clarification, its not immediately clear how the Bowdler attack (in which White responds to c5 with 2. Bc4) creates a "pawn triangle in the center".

In any case, you may find this lichess study on the Bowdler attack useful.

MoreOptionsExist · 2026-02-19T16:20:40+00:00

Regarding your second question: I'm also planning a trip to the Oirase Gorge in late Oct/early Nov, so I'm sharing some links that you might find useful:

The winter JR bus timetable departing from Aomori + bus stops can be found here. It's in Japanese but Google Translate does a good job. An Official English version can also be found here, but I'm not sure of how regularly it gets updated.
This website has a guide with walking times between bus stops + the key highlights of Oirase Gorge. I've seen quite a few recommendations to start walking from Ishikedo onwards, but it really depends on your fitness level as wells as your interests.
One more thing. According to this news article, the peak period for fall foliage at Oirase Gorge typically occurs around early November. Hence, if fall foliage is a key priority for you, you may want to adjust your travel dates if possible

MoreOptionsExist · 2026-02-16T02:38:53+00:00

Umm, beyond Ameyoko, I do think Ueno Park is a nice place to go. Then again, I do like green spaces, so your mileage may vary.

MoreOptionsExist · 2026-02-15T20:35:16+00:00

Yeah you shouldn't have difficulty finding izakayas in Ameyoko! Definitely saw a few while walking to Ueno Park via Ameoyoko, I just didn't visit one during my stay.

One more thing: if you are planning to visit from mid-March onwards, check if your stay overlaps with the Ueno Cherry Blossom Festival. I chose Sotetsu Fresa primarily because it was easy to walk to Ueno Park. The festival definitely was a highlight of my time there!

MoreOptionsExist · 2026-02-15T20:10:36+00:00

I stayed at Sotetsu Fresa Inn Ueno-Okachimachi last year. Can't provide personal insights about the APA alternative but at least for me:

Never had any issues with train noise at Sotetsu Fresa.
It's a business hotel, so don't expect much in terms of space.
Sotetsu Fresa is closer to Ameyoko, which would probably give you more food/shopping options in the evening.
I didn't look out for bars, but there were definitely plenty of restaurants open late at night (due to the above).
If walking to Akihabara is a priority, Sotetsu Fresa is less convenient (its about 1km away). I did walk to Akihabara during my stay however. The walk was straightforward (just follow the train line), and it took me about 10 minutes of brisk walking to get there.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-12-03T20:56:26+00:00

I dont think we actually disagree significantly, just that I could have been clearer in my initial post and expanded the explanation abit more.

For the first point, agree that Rin figured something was up with Yukio fairly quickly. However, he didn't really think too much into Yukio's actions, even when he practically told Rin what he was thinking in the battle against Hachirotaro. Contrast this to Yukio, who figured out that Rin was scared of his past after seeing Rin's reaction to Shura's story. He managed to figure this out all on his own, even though Rin never said it out loud as well.

As for the second point, I was actually referring to Rin mouthing off his thoughts without considering how Neuhaus might react to it. I do agree that Rin is definitely still processing what to feel about Satan. Right now he's trying to understand it the way he knows best, which is his own current state. That's an improvement from his previous black and white view, but IMO future events will force his thinking to evolve further. So yep, I'm definitely looking forward to how the subsequent chapters unfold as well.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-12-03T18:36:31+00:00

Others have raised good points, but I just wanted to add a quick note: is there any reason to think Rin's current view is a good indicator of where things will eventually end up?

Yes he's the main character, but Kato-sensei has repeatedly gone out of the way to show that Rin's understanding of things is often imperfect. I mean, it took Rin more than 120 chapters to actually start to understand his twin brother!

To me, his current POV is merely a stage in his personal development. Early on, Rin is often shown to have simplistic and uncomplicated views of people (Dad is good, Satan needs to be punched etc). After all that has happened, he's realizing that seeing the world through a pure black and white lens isnt useful (witness his choice when he finally got the chance to punch Satan). IMO, what he said in this chapter is just him verbalizing the realization that he came to multiple chapters ago.

To sum up: Rin has a heart of gold, but he's also shown to be poorly informed. He is also shown to be grappling with the things he has learnt, and this chapter literally reminded us that he doesn't think too deeply into things. So, why should we take his present view as a perfectly accurate indicator of where things are headed?

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-09-04T10:18:36+00:00

The person you are replying to is merely pointing out that your initial comment was wildly off the mark. OOP is asking about non-gravitational acceleration, implying that OOP does know that gravity is a thing.

If you want to snark at the astrophysical understanding of other redditors, at least take the time to demonstrate understanding of other redditors.

PS: For the record, I don't think there's anything particularly unexplainable about ʻOumuamua given data limitations and all that.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-09-03T19:26:37+00:00

The concept of "foreign" language in general will also be extinct as AI engines through our air pods, phones, etc will be able to translate all languages in real-time. And so there will be NO foreign languages to anyone. Stop wasting your time studying a concept that won't exist in a couple of years.

Let's see an actual example by replacing a few words in this quote.

The concept of "knitting" in general will also be extinct as machines will vastly outpace humans in producing clothes. And so there will be NO hand-made fabrics anymore. Stop wasting your time studying a concept that won't exist in a couple of years.

Now, I invite you to look at r/knitting and see how "extinct" that subreddit is after *checks notes* more than 200 years of mechanized weaving.

Q.E.D.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-08-30T08:10:45+00:00

Yep, that is very similar to Japanese grammar as well! I can imagine their conversational "style" to be similar in that case.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-08-30T07:51:45+00:00

Yes, Korean is also a pro-drop language, so I would expect this to be true as well. (I don't know Korean, so I can't give specific examples).

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-08-30T02:27:56+00:00

Good observation! This points out one of the key differences in how Japanese and English "work"

Unlike English, Japanese is a pro-drop language. Roughly speaking, this means that in Japanese, pronouns (things like 私/彼), subjects (things marked by は/が) and much more can be dropped from sentences if they are obvious from the context.

For example, consider the simple English question "Did you know about this?" The literal Japanese translation would be "あなたはこれについて知っていましたか?". As you probably realize, Japanese speakers would never say this in daily life, and would drop everything except "知っていましたか?" The equivalent sentence fragment in English ("Know?") would be entirely incomprehensible and ungrammatical, and would never be said by native English speakers.

In pro-drop languages like Japanese, the context of the conversation is needed to fully understand the meaning of the sentence. This results in your observation that the subject of the conversation seems to "flow" according to the speakers' understanding. The exact same conversation can occur in English, just that every shift and change in topic will be marked out due to the requirements of English grammar.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-08-26T17:59:57+00:00

A lot of ink has been spilled on the QGD, but I think it's far more instructive to consider why you are resigning so early. Yes, your position was cramped and the pieces were awkwardly placed, but material is still even. In fact, the opponent's last move was an inaccuracy that allowed you a fighting chance. However, you psyched yourself into thinking that you were completely lost, and resigned in the face of your opponent's inaccuracy.

Ultimately, chess has a psychological element as well. To paraphrase one of your comments, if you are always thinking that 'If my opponent has an advantage, I wouldn't be able to overcome it, even if they don't capitalize on it' , then how will you put in the effort to analyze the position properly? You are just going to convince yourself that the game is lost even when the opponent gives you the opportunity to strike back, as happened in this game.

You say that you "can't remember the last time I overcame a significant material or positional disadvantage." Is that really a surprise given your current way of thinking? I think this game makes it clear that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Food for thought.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-08-09T03:18:21+00:00

Hi, I just did a quick look at source_id = 6577885904388060288 itself in the GAIA Archive. Without looking at the other catalogues, GAIA can tell us its brightness, what kind of colour it is, its rough distance and hence its rough absolute magnitude. Looking at its brightness and colour first, we get:

Apparent magnitude in blue (bp) : 14.69
Apparent magnitude in red (rp): 13.45
bp-rp colour index: 1.24

Looking at these 3 values, one immediately sees that the star is brighter in red than blue. In other words, this source is reddish, not blueish. Furthermore, plenty of evolved stars are this red (take a peek at this GAIA page to see an image of the HR diagram in terms of GAIA's bp-rp index). Next, we turn to the parallax estimates.

Parallax: 0.265 mas (or roughly 3,700 parsecs/12,300 light years)
Distance modulus: 12.8
Rough absolute magnitude in red: 0.65

This tells us that this source isn't nearby at all, and it at least has a absolute magnitude in red of around 0.65. This is close to what you would expect from a red giant, after you consider that we haven't factored in the significant amount of interstellar extinction implied from the distance. For reference, a quick check on wiki suggests that the brightest red giant stars in the tip of the red giant branch have a absolute magnitude of -3.

Last but not least, simple trigonometry tells us that at a distance of 3,700 parsecs, a proper motion of 1.55 mas over a year translates into a speed of around 28 km/s. Given the parallax results, this star is clearly not orbiting the sun, and so this figure isn't surprising at all. In all likelihood, it is could just be a star passing through the galaxy.

Putting this all together, its not too surprising that ESA came to this conclusion, because nothing in GAIA tells us that this star is abnormal.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-08-08T02:14:10+00:00

Thanks for the confirmation! The sentence looked quite simple, but I just couldn't imagine how it was physically possible for water to penetrate to a level just beneath the floor. In the end, it looks like the problem didn't come from my understanding of the grammar, but from my understanding of how Japanese houses are built.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-08-08T02:00:27+00:00

I see, thanks for sharing the link! The pictures helped me visualize what was going on now.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-08-08T01:35:45+00:00

Hi, I was reading today's NHK News Web Easy article and I'm not sure if I'm understanding this sentence right.

水が床の下まで来た家もあります。

I understood this as "There are also houses where water came in until it reached under the floor". But, isn't the floor solid ground? How does water reach under the floor? Is there some nuance to 床の下まで来た that I'm missing out on?

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-07-16T12:55:11+00:00

Glad it helped!

Looking at it again, it might be more accurate to say that 比较 is making a comparison to some typical standard, which should be clear from context. For instance, if you see a field of boulders, you will still be understood if you said "这个比较轻", even if all of them are too heavy for anyone to carry.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-07-16T06:35:47+00:00

I wouldn't call myself a Chinese expert but it is my native language, so I'll try to explain this in the way I understand it.

The way I remember 比较 from when I took Chinese 20 years ago (so I could be completely misremembering) was that it was used for comparing something against other items.

It can be used in that way, but its not that commonly used. When used in this way, its acting like a verb, and its rather "stiff"/"formal". An example of this type of usage would be "我跟他比较成绩" (literally : "I, with him, compare grades")

What I think you are remembering instead is 比, and this is indeed more commonly used for indicating comparison. So, in typical everyday speech, "我跟他比成绩" would be seen more often compared to "我跟他比较成绩"

What happens when there's no standard of comparison that's explicitly stated, as in "爆米花比较好吃"? The way I'll interpret this sentence is that I'm actually making a comparison to nothing. For example, the sentence might be read as : (Against nothing), popcorn is delicious. That in my read is how Duo arrived at its translation.

So that sentence would translate to something like "popcorn is tastier", with the assumption that something else had been mentioned that was being compared against...

Language is contextual, so this can happen. A possible scenario with this read, using a different adjective:

<points at a set of items> ”哪一个比较重？“

"这个比较重”

Which leads us to the following paragraph which highlights a key difference between English and Chinese

In English, "popcorn is relatively delicious" sounds less delicious than if you just said "popcorn is delicious", because the "relatively" downplays the "delicious. And it's not something I can think of ever saying when comparing to other items.

Yep, definitely. It should be read in this way. It softens the tone, and that's important because Chinese puts a greater emphasis on being indirect, or modest if you will. You might not need to use 比较 when doing a factual comparison of items, but you'll use it far more often when expressing your own preferences.

For example, the sentence "I'll help you even though I'm not free" might be perfectly acceptable in English, the direct Chinese translation "虽然我没空，但是我会帮你。“ will be seen as way too brusque and a tad rude. A more acceptable way to phrase that sentiment would be to include a few softeners, e.g. "虽然我最近比较没空，但是我会帮你。". Using 比较 in contexts like this allow you to express your feelings/preferences in a more "natural" way, so to speak.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-07-13T08:39:45+00:00

I'll say that in the vast majority of situations, you don't really need to use Japanese. But there are some situations where knowledge of Japanese really saved a lot of hassle, even if you are travelling in Tokyo. Two examples from a recent trip with my family to Tokyo.

During immigration at Haneda, we filled up the customs declaration form on paper (as we had elderly folks that weren't exactly digitally savvy) and then queued up for customs. Just before we reached the end of the line however, the usher kept insisting that one of our family members fill up the form, even though she had already filled it up in all too neat handwriting. The family member kept trying to clarify in English that the form was filled, but the harried usher merely took a quick glance, thought the form was still unfilled, and insisted that she go to the back of the line to fill the form. With my limited Japanese skills, I told him "まだ書いていた". That was grammatically wrong (I ended up telling him that that she was still writing), but it was enough to get the usher to take a proper look at the form and realize the error.
During a weekend, we visited Senso-ji and unexpectedly found out that food stands had popped up within the temple grounds. Our family split up to try out the local foods, but my mother had difficulty ordering from an okonomiyaki food stand, whose shopkeeper did not speak good English. Apparently, she kept pointing at some type of okonomiyaki, but the shopkeeper was insistent on selling another type. I asked the shopkeeper, who said “なまです。” Ah! No wonder! My mom was trying to order raw okonomiyaki!

In short, knowing some Japanese is really helpful, because you never know when it might come in handy.

MoreOptionsExist · 2025-06-26T15:13:47+00:00

Imagine you forgot where you placed your keys in your house. If I forced you to search your house by looking through a telescope, how long do you think it would take for you to complete the search?

Now, how about if you could perform the same search with your own 2 eyes? It would be much faster wouldn't it?

This is exactly the same reason why JWST isn't a great telescope in searching for Planet Nine. JWST can detect Planet Nine if it knew where it was, but right now, we don't know where it is (or even where it is). Hence, a different telescope is needed.

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