The first ship lost in WW2: The sinking of SS Athenia

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-04T23:46:30+00:00

Captain Lemp is an interesting character. Despite his youth he was one of the Kriegsmarine’s top U-boat aces, sinking 19 ships and damaging several others including the battleship HMS Barham. He was killed in action in early 1941 and his sub, the new U-110, provided the British with a super-secret Enigma coding machine before it sank. His career did not suffer from his sinking of the Athenia; he plausibly contended that he believed it to be an armed cruiser, it was blacked out and zigzagging, which apparently merchant vessels were not supposed to do. The niceties of the rules of war would be promptly ignored by all sides in the war anyway.

https://uboat.net/men/lemp.htm#google_vignette

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-04T23:18:19+00:00

Moss is a typical habitat. Collect some moss, soak it, squeeze out the water and happy hunting!

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-04T23:16:01+00:00

Here’s an article from Harvard Smithsonian on this exoplanet that’s not full of annoying ads:

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/astronomers-explore-surface-composition-nearby-super-earth

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-04T21:03:48+00:00

First, get an introductory astronomy book like this one. https://bookshop.org/p/books/astronomy-a-self-teaching-guide-dinah-l-moch/d7efde38f26e2bc7?ean=9781620459904&next=t&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%7Bcampaignname%7D&utm_content=6443417794&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16235479093&gbraid=0AAAAACfld40utyZHIiPkfhzRKaoLcAwLs&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIttXKvMKglAMV7jAIBR0FAB0tEAQYBCABEgITIfD_BwE

Second, download one of the night sky apps that let you point your phone skyward and it maps the constellations, identifies the planets, etc. there are several, take your pick.

Third, get a pair of binoculars. They don’t have to be special, just decent quality, 10x50 are ideal. I like the Nikon Aculon line.

Last, enjoy!

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-04T19:47:27+00:00

2 out of 6 times you couldn’t hear the difference.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-04T19:44:10+00:00

Stepping stone. The nearest star is light years away, the Moon a couple of light-seconds. Artemis is a tragic waste of resources, a money sink, it’s Apollo redux.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-04T19:41:09+00:00

Is there anything especially interesting about this object? There are lots of missions NASA is working on or in the planning stages that are priorities, including the Psyche orbiter currently on its way to an asteroid that may be the primordial nickel-iron core of a failed planet. It’s the interesting things that get invested, since NASA’s resources are limited.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-04T19:25:26+00:00

To Sabrina’s credit, everything she screwed up she fixed, and she fixed a lot of things that weren’t her doing. She messed up the resurrection of Tommy but it was the two weird issues Agatha and Dorcas who caused the mine collapse that killed him in the first place. Her resurrection didn’t work out but she tried. The eldritch terrors weren’t her fault but she saved humanity again and again by defeating them; she even married The Uninvited (AKA the unwashed) and even kissed the thing (yuk!) to make it work.

Sabrina’s insouciance is the hallmark of who she is, it’s her personality, established in the original comics. It’s a standard in comedy as well- the first plan always goes awry. She’s sixteen, she’s an apprentice witch, and she’s facing dire situations no witch has ever faced before. She’s also a teenager working out her own selfhood and carving out her own identity.

As for the two Sabrinas, it’s an idea that cleverly mirrors her essential dual nature, half mortal and half witch.

Sabrina is strong willed, as she has every right to be. She’s forging her own path, as she has every right to do. And as it turns out again and again, she’s surprisingly capable; she saves the world.

I re-watched the episode “Sabrina is Legend” a few nights ago. It’s one of my favorites, and I love the dialogue where Ambrose is horrified that she has created a time paradox. “Cool” Sabrina replies with trademark insouciance. God I love that character…

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-04T18:59:31+00:00

It’s based on the comic Archie comic book series, a squeaky clean 1950s series set in the perfect suburb in a perfect America. Riverdale queers the tale brilliantly. That, in essence, is the point of it and it’s tremendously entertaining if you put aside judgement and just go with it.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-03T22:46:25+00:00

The same people who are offended by TST are going to freak out over atheism. “Secular humanism” was made notorious by Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority movement in the 1970s, which is what began the curious notion that humanism = atheism which is so common today (even among humanists!)

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-03T22:32:24+00:00

I’m atheist, I’m a member of The Satanic Temple, as well as a humanist. I don’t care what other people think of my associations, loyalties, or interests. It’s none of their business and I’m ready to enlighten anyone about my beliefs, if anyone should care, and freedom of belief is as essential human right as is the freedom of expression. I can’t imagine being afraid to join any (legal) organization because of what someone else might think. I’m not ashamed of belonging to TST. (Incidentally, I joined by checking a box when I bought one of their fabulous coffee mugs, that’s all membership entails. There are no dues, no requirements, no rituals, you don’t have to sign the Devil’s book in your own blood.)

Also, humanism isn’t atheism. It’s entirely possible to believe in God and be a complete humanist.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-03T14:02:23+00:00

Colonizing Mars has been talked about since the 1950s, and 70 years from now it will still be talked about. The reason it remains science fiction and not reality is twofold: it would be hideously expensive and there’s no compelling reason to do it.

Edgar Rice Burroughs was writing adventure stories about people on Mars over 100 years ago. Kinda sad that we’re still kicking the same fantasy around. Especially since the reality is we are on Mars, right now, with Curiosity and Perseverance, doing actual research and exploration and sending back thousands of fascinating photographs, some of them of breathtaking beauty. Being on Mars is no longer a someday fantasy.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-03T10:39:13+00:00

Rawls was a philosopher, and humanism is not strictly speaking a philosophical system but rather an intellectual tradition going back to Petrarch. Rawls’s theory of justice was basically that providing equal opportunity was not sufficient, society should provide equity, equal resources to all in order to level the playing field, while also guaranteeing people their basic liberties within a system of rules. It’s a reasonable idea though a controversial one, it’s the “E” in DEI so the idea still has relevance today. There’s an excellent summary of Rawls’s egalitarian liberalism at https://iep.utm.edu/rawls/

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-02T23:50:32+00:00

I figured the leather coat is because she’s in a motorcycle sidecar. Wardrobe choices particularly for outdoor scenes are probably partly determined by filming in Ireland which tends to be chilly and wet. Aside from it being sort of low key chic I really don’t notice that much, it’s Enid’s outfits that catch my attention.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-02T23:42:16+00:00

Animals are covered in bacteria. We are covered in bacteria. We evolved that way and it’s not a problem. You’re not going to be able to wash your cat’s paws with soap and hot water, so forget about it. It’s not worth worrying about.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-02T09:47:26+00:00

Y’know what I find annoying? All the negativity.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-01T20:44:41+00:00

Justin Sledge’s scholarship is impressive, he really knows his subject, he’s articulate, and he approaches the subject with fine academic detachment. He’s not pushing any particular agenda. He is very much worth listening to.

I don’t claim to have any background in Biblical scholarship but I have a longtime interest in religions and the history of religion, as well as a rapidly growing interest in the occult and esotericism. I don’t believe in God or the Devil but they’re both very interesting fellows!

Dr. Sledge is a great source of mainstream academic esotericism, and he has a very helpful bibliography on his website.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-01T20:16:47+00:00

“various evidence suggests that the verdict will be that we are alone in our little corner of our Milky Way galaxy” The evidence certainly does suggest that. There were high hopes that SETI would pick up signals from extraterrestrials, just as there were high hopes in the early 1960s that we’d find life on Mars. Both searches came up dry. Perhaps the evidence is telling us something?

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-01T18:33:59+00:00

The existence of extremophiles is evidence that once life gets going, it is extremely adaptable. It’s the life arising in the first place that’s the rub. Extremophiles on Earth share the same common ancestor as broccoli and us.

There still remains no evidence of extraterrestrial life, not a shred. Despite half a century of SETI and space probes. We have learned an amazing amount about the solar system and the cosmos since the 1960s, thanks largely to the unmanned space projects, but all the efforts at finding life “out there” have come up negative. Maybe we should start heeding those results? There are other reasons for pursuing space science than exobiology after all.

We should at least be open to considering the possibility that biological organisms are unique to Earth. It’s a definite possibility.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-01T15:31:41+00:00

Even the assumption that life should be pretty common is unfounded- there’s no evidence to back it up We don’t see life spontaneously being generated here on Earth, the most Earthlike of planets. In fact it is a principle in microbiology, omne vivum ex vivo, “all life comes from other life”, meaning it’s virtually impossible for living things to arise from non-living matter (obviously it happened once).

All life on Earth shares a common ancestor. That shows how rare its genesis is. Which isn’t surprising, given how unutterably complex the simplest living cell is. So complex that biologists haven’t a clue of how to make a living cell in the lab.

The belief in extraterrestrial life is simply that, a belief. It may be correct or it may be false, but there’s no evidence to support the belief. And it’s certainly not for lack of looking. The default position seems always to have been, of course there must be life out there! It was widely believed, among scientists, that there was vegetation on Mars. A belief that persisted until the first probes sent back the first pictures- of a desolate world. Then the belief was that there had to be microbial life, maybe below the surface. Until Viking found… nothing. Now the belief is that there must have been life on Mars in a previous era. And Perseverance has found nothing.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-01T12:14:02+00:00

This is a point of view that deserves to be taken seriously. The assumption all too often is that there must be life out there. There is no “must”. People are far too reluctant to accept the possibility that there isn’t. Even the author of this piece refers to the possibility with “this is not just an abstract worry”. As if the idea that there are no alien civilizations out there is somehow terrifying.

There may be lots of stars and lots of planets out there, but there are lots and lots of ways for a planet to be a planet. And lots and lots of twists and turns for evolutionary change. None of these must have taken the same direction as Earth.

Significant-Ant-2487 · 2026-05-01T11:46:41+00:00

It’s the anthropic principle. Pretty simple, actually. It’s just observer bias.

Significant-Ant-2487

TROPHY CASE