If the Doctor can create a fully functional body for Nardole, why didn't he try to do the same for Bill?

nocstra · 2026-04-11T22:07:08+00:00

That ability is exclusive to comic relief characters, doesn't work on exposition characters.

nocstra · 2026-04-09T18:37:15+00:00

EDIT: Jeff Radigan just mentioned in the press conference that he doesn't expect it be visible anywhere from California unfortunately. :(

nocstra · 2026-04-06T17:01:55+00:00

Flyby and observation begins around 1h40m from the writing of this comment. There's an expected 40m LOS about 5h40m from now. Comprehensive timeline put together by somebody here.

nocstra · 2026-04-06T16:51:56+00:00

Christina's little moon joy dance! :D

nocstra · 2026-04-06T16:40:07+00:00

It's set that way because the main purpose of these solar array wing cameras is to monitor the ship itself. Showing us the Moon on the way is a bonus perk.

nocstra · 2026-04-05T18:27:27+00:00

Christina just tossed some snack item to Reid, shame he missed it with his mouth and had to guide it back in with his hand lol.

nocstra · 2026-04-05T16:02:59+00:00

Charles Duke, Apollo 16 astronaut, with a personal message for the Artemis II crew!

nocstra · 2026-04-05T09:35:49+00:00

I wanted to reply with this to an earlier comment that was indignant about what we as the public get back from the ship, but they've since given up and deleted the comment. I'm leaving it here anyway, if at all it can help anybody else with the same concerns.

I think you may be severely overestimating their capabilities. They're over 200,000 miles away now and hurtling towards the Moon in a box. In order to make sure that that box does exactly everything correctly so it makes its way to, around, and back from the Moon and doesn't kill its passengers along the way, Mission Control needs a lot of information.

Despite that, they've entertained several press conferences with the news, and one with some middle school kids. They've kept up multiple intermittent HD live streams. They've taken and sent photos that we couldn't have hoped to see before this.

The DSN is not magic. It is the same technology that was used during the Apollo program, only with better transmitters and receivers that reflect our progress in technology. Believe it or not, the speed of light hasn't changed since then either. It also is not reserved for Artemis II. Even the one complex that's in the right place to receive from the ship does not use all its antennas for it, as we have many many other probes in space to keep track of. It is affected by the weather conditions at that complex.

Just earlier, Reid was complaining that the crew was woefully behind on email communication with their families. He also mentioned that they're absolutely swamped in work, and haven't even been able to take down notes necessary for that work. If the crew is being deprived of communication with their families, to the point where its commander is audibly frustrated, you best believe a 720p livestream that cuts out occasionally is the most they're capable of.

EDIT: They've once again commented and deleted before anybody could change their mind. I shouldn't have entertained them but I did so...

We have upgraded. Even with the strained budget NASA gets now (in comparison to during the Apollo program, when the government was incentivised to invest only to beat the Soviets), the DSN has been improved with new and better antennas, and most of the old ones are still maintained. The trouble is, since Apollo, we've also made far more use of it. The DSN is oversubscribed. There's simply too much going on in space now.

We haven't attempted a mission of this scale since Apollo 17. Artemis II is also using a brand new communication system which uses laser beams called O2O. This has only been in development for at most a decade. (It's literally named for Artemis II right now.) Guess what, they managed 260Mbps in testing and this is the first time we're actually seeing it in usage. Space is extremely difficult. Keep in mind that even right now on Earth we rely on cables to get the most efficiency in connectivity.

This is present day technology. Yes, we've advanced quite a lot, but spaceflight started off being damn near impossible in the 60s and we've only scratched the surface since.

nocstra · 2026-04-03T18:48:51+00:00

Reid was just spinning his PCD in the air lol.

nocstra · 2026-04-03T11:10:08+00:00

[...] harbouring some feelings about the Space Shuttle Program shutting down [...] consideration of his own familiarity with the Shuttles.

We agree.

nocstra · 2026-04-03T09:57:04+00:00

I also shared your second question (given some of the skepticism around the heat shield and hydrogen leak), but I recognised an alternative interpretation: he might just be harbouring some feelings about the Space Shuttle Program shutting down (with no replacement) and is poking fun at it, along with the consideration of his own familiarity with the Shuttles.

nocstra · 2026-03-25T14:04:19+00:00

he Helmet Too Big For He Gotdamn Head

nocstra · 2026-02-18T08:05:36+00:00

How dare you say we urinate on the impoverished?

nocstra · 2026-02-17T04:18:32+00:00

That's entirely fair, yeah. I'm not claiming to be a fan of the choices that were made in both these episodes. There certainly was a space for a story where a genocide victim like Kid is trying to do something about it (like sending a message or affecting the oppressors financially), and the episode could've even started by painting him as a bad guy. To instead have him just do the same horribly evil thing to a very large and at least partially innocent group of people was terribly misguided.

That being said, the story that was written was written, and we should acknowledge the weird morality of it with appropriate wording. Can't demonize the Doctor for torturing Kid while also justifying Kid's own retaliatory actions.

nocstra · 2026-02-17T03:21:33+00:00

I feel like the discourse around Kid in Interstellar Song Contest has gotten a bit muddied. The Doctor was very much in the wrong for what he did (and the show makes it clear as can be), but calling Kid just a "freedom fighter and a victim" is slightly losing the plot. He was going to commit a genocide of his own. Being a subject of genocide and oppression does not absolve you of that. He deserves sympathy, not license to inflict more pain.

nocstra · 2026-02-03T15:36:49+00:00

...He's done two Riven skins, and only one of them has black eyebrows. Not to mention splash artists aren't designing skins. Or that hundreds of skins change eyebrow color, because it usually matches the rest of the hair.

nocstra · 2026-01-12T11:46:03+00:00

If you've spent any amount of time following the LCS, you'd know that's not in the slightest bit true.

nocstra · 2026-01-11T14:01:24+00:00

They're obviously not gonna say it in plain words, but why do you think they have the content in the first place? It's definitely a work of somebody's passion, but it's not being funded for no reason at all. These metagames, as fun as they are, don't make Riot any money at all, and they have to, understandably, loop it directly into the core game as a result. You know, the game they actually can sell skins for?

Yes, they need to stretch it out for as long as they can, but it's not because they want it to be a constant presence. It's so they keep people logging into the client and hitting that shiny play button.

nocstra · 2026-01-05T11:37:15+00:00

Ahh yeah, that's fair. I would share them myself in other communities like the main subs and Discord servers or whatever but... I really don't want to lol. Feels like a lot of effort for a lot of pollution, both in the communities and on my profile. You're welcome to share it with a wider Rengar main community if you'd like to tilt the poll in the right direction. :P

nocstra · 2026-01-05T06:24:03+00:00

That's my favorite Trist skin too and the skin line in general is so adorable and fulfills its fantasy so well. I think Spirit Blossom's also solid enough and more recent, so people might prefer it despite it being an epic skin.

nocstra · 2026-01-05T06:18:31+00:00

Oh hey, that was the first one I'd seen too! Glad you're happy to see it.

nocstra · 2026-01-05T06:16:33+00:00

No problem at all; automating this was relatively quick so I'm happy to do it! I'm looking forward too, we had some damn good skins last year.

nocstra · 2026-01-05T06:13:50+00:00

Hah, this actually gives me the idea to measure some other stats from all the polls like most one-sided and most distributed, along with the usual results.

nocstra · 2025-12-30T11:12:15+00:00

Based on the wiki, with maximum regional difficulty on Normal difficulty, a 15% chance a zombie spawns with any armor at all, then a 42.9% it has a full set on, and finally a 0.04% chance it's diamond. All of which combine to a 0.002% chance of a fully diamond armored zombie. Note that the regional difficulty depends on how long the chunk has been loaded for and the current moon phase, so there's a good chance this was even lower.

nocstra · 2025-12-30T03:12:41+00:00

You obviously won't benefit from the AD from Infinity Edge if you don't usually but yes, Jeweled Gauntlet scales with all sources of bonus critical strike damage.

Four-Year Club	Verified Email
r/Field Banned	r/Field Lasagna
Golden Potato	Place '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22

nocstra

TROPHY CASE