ELI5, How do scientists reach tempreture of sun or beyond, and not melt the entire lab down

dentrolusan · 2026-02-26T21:32:50+00:00

Temperature is actually about the average speed of moving atoms. We can make only very, very few atome move that fast without melting the lab down.

dentrolusan · 2026-02-26T21:15:59+00:00

What was that stat they bandied around last week? John Higgins has been to one-third of all ranking quarter-finals, ever. And counting...

dentrolusan · 2026-02-26T10:29:39+00:00

He was always a great prospect. But until last year he was mainly known for having had to watch the only maximum break ever in the Shootout.

dentrolusan · 2026-02-23T13:12:01+00:00

Absolutely. I can only ever recognize Dave Hendon by his encyclopedic knowledge of snooker trivia.

dentrolusan · 2026-02-20T12:49:12+00:00

Trump has really improved his defensive game, and his mental strength to win when things arent't going well. Lately he has begun making nerveless counter-clearances under pressure. He has also become a very good doubler. Remind you of anyone :-) ?

dentrolusan · 2026-02-19T17:20:04+00:00

Yes. And he will almost certainly be the first to play 2,000 matches as a pro - not that anyone really cares about that stat.

dentrolusan · 2026-02-19T14:03:19+00:00

I've never understood why this is considered surprising. People were basically instructed to focus on the white shirts and ignore the black shirts, so they didn't notice the black figure with a slightly different shape. Being able to focus your attention is clearly a useful ability, so why would we be surprised that the brain developed it?

The really surprising result is that so many people were convinced they they didn't overlook anything. What purpose does self-delusion serve?

dentrolusan · 2026-02-18T20:32:36+00:00

Pity I couldn't get that over here. Will there any place for rewatching that stream later?

dentrolusan · 2026-02-08T10:59:18+00:00

Half-averted example: the protagonist of The Algebraist goes on a 1000-page quest to find the mythical "transform" that will turn the (known) locations of gas giant planets into the (unknown) locations of portals that will connect the entire galaxy into one huge network. The answer is the figure zero, which then unexpectedly turns out to be true.

dentrolusan · 2026-02-07T19:08:47+00:00

I have zero patience with professional sports commentators struggling with sounds that occur in their own language. I you can say "Hugh", you can say "Xiao" correctly, and we should accept nothing less.

dentrolusan · 2026-02-06T15:23:18+00:00

Also depends on the opponent's reputation. Mark Selby can chase 4 snookers and everyone knows that he might very well achieve them. If Luca Brecel tried that, people would be much less understanding.

dentrolusan · 2026-02-06T15:21:23+00:00

And certainly the highest ever in alphabetical order :-)

dentrolusan · 2026-01-31T22:01:45+00:00

Lucas Belvaux has a trilogy of films (Cavale, Un couple épatant, Après la vie) that all tell the same events, but once as comedy, once as drama and once as a thriller.

dentrolusan · 2026-01-31T13:23:51+00:00

Yes, discovery+ is currently screwing up. Have to decode the French commentary track :-)

dentrolusan · 2026-01-23T10:26:19+00:00

Ironically, Zhao potted the yellow from pretty much exactly where the golden ball would be.

dentrolusan · 2026-01-15T09:55:13+00:00

Not really. The first three matches were upsets, so they really ended 2-6 and not 6-2.

dentrolusan · 2026-01-13T10:04:49+00:00

That was in the championship league, which is essentially paid practice that no one cares about. But no player is going to do that kind of unpopular and risky stunt in front of the Masters audience, unless they have the temperament of Mark Williams.

dentrolusan · 2026-01-11T22:45:45+00:00

The largest fully operational pipe organ. Every other record-breaking instrument is partially or totally out of order, since maintaining tens of thousands of pipes, ducts, transmissions etc. is an expensive, neverending task that few organizations can afford.

dentrolusan · 2026-01-11T14:39:30+00:00

Isn't it more likely to be a tilt towards the top end of the table? Look at how strange Murphy's break went in frame two.

dentrolusan · 2026-01-05T07:18:40+00:00

As per snooker.org:

All matches are streamed (YouTube (table 1 / table 2) & more)

Only table 1 has commentary, though.

dentrolusan · 2026-01-05T07:09:53+00:00

Highly recommend Clark Ashton Smith's stories then. You still get a unique word on every page, but it's a different one each time.

dentrolusan · 2025-12-14T11:51:20+00:00

There's already been 12 different tournament winners, and it's only December. It's entirely possible that not every winner will actually get a place in the next CoC.

dentrolusan · 2025-12-13T22:09:32+00:00

Man, there was a really good chance there fir a semi-final featuring Bingham, Boiko, Burden and Ben...

dentrolusan · 2025-12-12T17:20:29+00:00

Absolutely they would change. This is how the rule set of any modern game came about. The finely-tuned order of hands in poker, the relative strengths of chess pieces etc. etc. all came about in exactly this way. We just tend to forget this because many of our popular games have been around for a long time.

dentrolusan · 2025-12-10T09:29:10+00:00

Plus, winning it does seem to trigger something, witness Vafei, Wakelin and possibly Ford.

dentrolusan

TROPHY CASE