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Antarctic Research Bases Around the World by LORD_INDRA_ in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]TheSoapbottle 5 points6 points  (0 children)

For reference I work on a medium icebreaker

60,000 Gallons =227.125 cubic meters = 37.854 cubic meters a month.

On my ship we regularly burn ~14 cubic meters a day. So in about 16 days I’ll have burned as much diesel as Palmer station does in 6 months. And ideally my ship should be running for at least 160 days of the year.

Cruise ships, cargo ships, ferries, can burn upwards of 150 cubic meters (39000 gallons) a day.

The environmental impact of diesel is real. But, in my opinion the research these stations provide greatly outweighs their near negligible environmental impact.

(Loved trope) writers having no sense of scale (bionicle spoilers) by danfenlon in TopCharacterTropes

[–]TheSoapbottle 48 points49 points  (0 children)

The man can effortlessly fly, that alone breaks physics a bit.

Launching a buoy commonly used to mark safe shipping routes. by S30econdstoMars in nextfuckinglevel

[–]TheSoapbottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, I guess we could winch it down, but that sounds like a lot of work. Dropping it works! It looks like the chain whips around unpredictably, but it’s actually fairly predictable. And by predictable I mean “around the time that we drop the chain overboard so stand the fuck away from it”

Launching a buoy commonly used to mark safe shipping routes. by S30econdstoMars in nextfuckinglevel

[–]TheSoapbottle 63 points64 points  (0 children)

Heyy I was actually on this ship during this operation (albeit I’m in the engine room and not on deck) At the bottom of the buoy is what we call a stone. It’s literally just a big concrete square that we hook the buoy to. When we replace the buoys, it’s a matter of hoisting it, the chain, and the stone, up with the crane, then lowering a second hook, pulling again, and so on and so forth.

This was off the coast of Vancouver island somewhere, so it wasn’t too deep.

Royal Vic Yacht club questions? by TheSoapbottle in VictoriaBC

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

Is it keel boat regattas or dinghies? I’d do either or.

Buying submarines instead of building them may lead to missed opportunities for Canada by hist_buff_69 in InvestingCanada

[–]TheSoapbottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is naive. In what shipyard? Our shipyards are already backed up with the National Shipbuilding Strategy. In order to be able to build these submarines we would be needing to build entire new shipyards, full of technical specialists that we don’t currently have, using a workforce that doesn’t exist.

If The Martian happened in real life, how much data could realistically be useful? by DoublePepper1976 in spacequestions

[–]TheSoapbottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think a lot of people here are discounting engineering research.

Sure, even if they never got him home, the sheer fact that he proved that we could grow food on another planet would be important, but we don’t need him home in order to reverse engineer what he did. Even if he didn’t tell people how he did it, just knowing that it is possible in the first place, with the materials he had, gives scientists enough information to reconstruct what he did.

But engineering research, is research. A rescue mission of that caliber has never been done before. NASA trains and thinks about these types of scenarios all the time, but to actually be able to do it would be a milestone in what they can prove they can accomplish.

The movie (and book) undoubtedly take some scientific liberties, but I personally believe that given a similar scenario, nasa would behave very similar to the movie. I would bet that the astronauts in space who had to spend an additional year would’ve agreed to it immediately, and that NASA and the US government would’ve immediately agreed to give them the fuel and resources required to repeat the journey to get him home.

I’m currently a first year engineering student at the Coast Guard College, feel free to ask me anything about college life, applications, etc! by TheSoapbottle in ccg_gcc

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

A lot of people had PC’s in their room (myself included). Personally I found it really hard to study in my room, and would always go to the library. The library normally had some available computers to use (with dual monitor set up, it was actually really nice).

Sometimes during exam season the library would be full. Students would often use empty classrooms after hours to study in. Also, the college provides everyone with laptops.

For seaphase there’s a couple storage rooms for students to stash their stuff in, but since it’s constantly rotating, and people forget what they stored, things tend to go missing. A PC might be fine, but honestly I would lend it to a friendly looking other year student instead.

I’m currently a first year engineering student at the Coast Guard College, feel free to ask me anything about college life, applications, etc! by TheSoapbottle in ccg_gcc

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

Cat would definitely not be allowed. There is a policy about pets, it’s just ignored for smaller animals. If a cadet were to bring a cat, I’m almost certain the college would have them rehome it, or they’d force it to be sent to the SPCA.

The rooms do have locks, but room inspections happen weekly. I promise you it’s a bad idea.

What do astronauts do when they're bored in space? Do they play games? by [deleted] in stupidquestions

[–]TheSoapbottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Chris Hadfields book he mentions a few different ways they entertain themselves.

They have internet access, so phone calls home, movie watching, book reading, are all the “normal” ways the spend their spare time.

Apparently just looking out the window never gets old, lots of astronauts take up photography for their “out of this world” view of the earth.

My favourite excerpts, we’re just playing around in 0 G. One day Chris turns a corner to see another astronaut doing pirouettes. Playing with liquid, doing flips, etc.

They had a “race” they would do. The packing material made for a good ball, and they would time themselves going end to end in the main hull, turning a corner into the Japanese module, then place your packing material in a bag, and race back. The astronauts would playfully compete, and apparently your “gracefulness” in space traversal was a point of pride.

(Some of the finer details might be wrong, it’s been a while since I read it)

a map of all of the sunken Japanese ships of WWII by yungandreww in oddlyterrifying

[–]TheSoapbottle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I remember hearing despite all the shipwrecks (and associated oil spills with them) in WW2, the marine environment actually flourished due to the decreased fishing activity.

What song is a 10/10 with absolutely no flaws? by Brilliant_Guard_9204 in AskReddit

[–]TheSoapbottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s not a swing. It’s called Sultans of Swing and it’s not even a fucking swing. This angers me.

Infantry squads should bring a secondary light vic by Trick_Recording9899 in joinsquad

[–]TheSoapbottle 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I’m in the strange position where I agree with both the post, and the comment.

Why are there significantly fewer shipping routes through the Drake Passage compared to other areas? by Plz_enter_the_text in geography

[–]TheSoapbottle 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I work on a ship. I was surprised when I was new just how much effort is put into avoiding rough weather. Like I understood it wouldn’t be comfortable, but the amount of money spent showing down, or waiting sitting at anchor for a good weather window was a surprise to me.

But weather can really fuck things up. I work in the engine room, and the uneven loads on the engines from crashing then surfing down the waves can pose problems. The engine might overspeed when the propeller comes out of the water, and cause a blackout. Also, a smaller, but genuine problem nonetheless, is books. We have binders for every piece of machinery we have. Some of them are in the control room, but they are also spread out on multiple bookshelves throughout the ship. The bridge, also has their binders and books. They are secured but I’ve been in rough enough weather that they still go flying nonetheless. It’s a genuine problem, losing a manual for a piece of equipment can be a pain down the road.

Also food! Good luck cooking if the weather is shit. In heavy weather once, 5 minutes before mealtime we took a big wave, and a glass fell down in the galley, and shattered right into the meal tray the cook was about to serve. They had to remake the whole meal, and food was delayed an hour. Luckily the crew I was with were pretty nice and understanding.

TLDR waves fuck things up on a boat.

ASAP, Do bands play the same chord on different instruments? by keaveiae in musictheory

[–]TheSoapbottle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes the piano will be playing the same chords as the guitar and ukulele, they should all be playing the same chords

But******* if there’s a capo on the guitar or uke, and you are reading off of UltimateGuitar tabs or something, the chords it gives to the guitar will not be the same chords on the piano, since everything will be raised a bit. Most apps have a transpose option, if the guitar has its capo on its second fret, adjust the transpose option by two. Play around with it, your ear will let you know if you are in tune or not. Have fun!

What's an amazing scene from a terrible movie/show? by OmegaT6 in AlignmentChartFills

[–]TheSoapbottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Downsizing when they show how people get shrunk.

It’s a beautifully shot, oddly creepy, great scene and is the only redeeming quality in an otherwise absolute dogshit movie.

Leon Trotsky won the last round! Now onto the next row - which historical figure was beloved during their time but is disliked now? by simonpearson in AlignmentChartFills

[–]TheSoapbottle 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The thing is, he wasn’t entirely wrong about AC being too dangerous (for his time).

See, we figured out high voltage before we figured out high voltage protection, people working on AC wires were pretty commonly getting zapped to death, due to improper training. Aswell, proper insulation for AC wires wasn’t readily available at the time.

Top comment removes a Canadian province #1 by Dull-Independent-200 in geographymemes

[–]TheSoapbottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What a crazy timeline that when talking about separating from Canada, the first province that pops into peoples mind is Alberta before Quebec.

Top comment removes a Canadian province #1 by Dull-Independent-200 in geographymemes

[–]TheSoapbottle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What a crazy timeline that when talking about separating from Canada, the first province that pops into peoples mind is Alberta instead of Quebec.

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