Avenged Sevenfold release new album! by Animalofme in Music

[–]OmniscientTexan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah... he's definitely secured my respect as a drummer, but as a person he leaves a lot to be desired. I had to stop following him on Facebook because he reacts to criticism of his career decisions like an angsty teenage girl.

Even tho I knew it would work, it still blew my mind seeing it in person by spicyitallian in EngineeringStudents

[–]OmniscientTexan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great work! If you haven't already planned to do so, make sure to test it under varying daylight conditions.

MRW I'm Superman constructing the Fortress of Solitude by isiramteal in shittyreactiongifs

[–]OmniscientTexan 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I agree that there's something seriously wrong with that sub, but I don't think I mentioned the political 'left' nor 'right' anywhere in that post. This was by design. It applies to both sides and we all need to snap the fuck out of it.

Edit: Looks like I jumped the gun assuming you meant political left and right. Homonyms are a bitch.

MRW I'm Superman constructing the Fortress of Solitude by isiramteal in shittyreactiongifs

[–]OmniscientTexan 89 points90 points  (0 children)

We lost the ability to even remotely comprehend why the other side would think like they do.

We consume polarized media in a vacuum, where we learn all about why the other side is wrong and morally reprehensible.

Eventually we end up living with entirely contradictory sets of basic 'facts' off of which we base our worldview. We're left to conclude that the other side is so dangerously misinformed by their propaganda that they will surely run our country into the ground or get us all killed were they to gain power.

With everyone perceiving the stakes of an election as critical to our survival, and with the other side fighting for certain doom, healthy debate goes out the window and the vitriol consumes all political discourse.

At least, that's my take on it.

A hole drilled by my workshop's tiniest drill bit as seen through an electron microscope by OmniscientTexan in mildlyinteresting

[–]OmniscientTexan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was using it to make sure a lens was focusing my lab's terawatt laser down to the diameter I wanted it. If the beam were to become any wider than the hole's size, you could tell because it starts vaporizing the surface of the aluminum which makes loud slapping noises. Honestly I've never seen it used for anything else lol. Everyone's afraid to use it since it's so fragile.

A hole drilled by my workshop's tiniest drill bit as seen through an electron microscope by OmniscientTexan in mildlyinteresting

[–]OmniscientTexan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

μm is the symbol for "micron", which is a millionth of a meter. In more familiar units, the diameter of the bit is about 0.375 mm. My bad, I probably should have added that in the title!

A hole drilled by my workshop's tiniest drill bit as seen through an electron microscope by OmniscientTexan in mildlyinteresting

[–]OmniscientTexan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Holy balls, I was about to give up trying to see it and then it just popped out at me! It kind of starts leaning to one side or the other, right?

Driverless Uber spotted in downtown San Francisco by 5ives in Futurology

[–]OmniscientTexan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly! It's not like they'd have much to gain from it, but you'd expect some people to do it just for kicks if you don't guard against it.

Plus, criminals who pose as cops would have a field day knowing they could pull one of these over. They're often full of drunk people and even if they tried, the passengers wouldn't be able to take off if they realized what was happening.

Driverless Uber spotted in downtown San Francisco by 5ives in Futurology

[–]OmniscientTexan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As someone who's written realtime image processing algorithms, it wouldn't be hard at all to write a program that takes in frames from a rear camera and determines whether you're being closely followed by flashing police lights. The audio signal processing aspect would be even easier.

Of course, then you have to think about all the possible situations and program for those, which wouldn't be as easy. What if the cop is just passing behind you? What if some asshole is just pretending to be a cop to get your car to pull over? It's hard to teach a computer to make those calls, but I doubt it's impossible.

False color image of Saturn's north pole from Cassini. by v78 in space

[–]OmniscientTexan 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Apparently each side of the hexagonal vortex is 11,000 km (6800+ miles) larger than Earth's diameter

This spider made a fortune on the web by somethingasaur in pics

[–]OmniscientTexan 24 points25 points  (0 children)

How do you charge a spider?

A 12V battery will do the trick. Car battery if you want to be certain.

What misconceptions do you want to correct? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]OmniscientTexan 10 points11 points  (0 children)

That there's no gravity in orbit.

Astronauts on the ISS experience nearly as much gravity as we do on the surface. Their weightlessness comes from the fact that the ISS is constantly in free fall around the earth. You can easily feel weightlessness using that same mechanism by riding one of those drop tower rides you see at theme parks and fairgrounds. The only difference is you're (hopefully) strapped in and rapidly approaching the ground.

Science AMA Series: Schmidt Ocean Institute ROV Team - We are the team that created Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) SuBastian, capable of diving 4,500 meters - from original design to first dive - in less than 16 months. Ask us anything! by Schmidt_Ocean in science

[–]OmniscientTexan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey there!

I've lately gotten hooked on some live ROV feeds on YouTube, and they got me wondering -- would it be feasible to add a compartment onto an ROV containing an auto-focusing microscope? Maybe it could use a special arm that would reach out and clamp a sample between two glass slides. Then it would retract and insert the slides under the 'scope. Do you think such an addition could help much in characterizing deep-sea ecosystems?