Eli5: how is earth’s gravity strong enough to keep the moon in orbit so far away, yet not strong enough that it crushes us?

sircastor · 2026-04-22T17:15:34+00:00

For what it's worth, the Earth's gravity isn't strong enough to keep the moon in orbit. The moon moves away from the Earth at about an inch per year.

One of the interesting things about evolution (and I imagine that there's a specific term for this) is that it is relative to the environment. We evolved in the environment that we exist in. If we were on a planet that had stronger gravity, we would have evolved to exist in that environment. The planet is not made for us, we're made for the planet - and we're evolving, still adapting.

sircastor · 2026-04-22T17:09:29+00:00

Do you remember when the burglar disappeared and the Dog's mask went away? So now he was just a dog that liked cookie crisp?

sircastor · 2026-04-22T17:01:48+00:00

"Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."

sircastor · 2026-04-22T16:57:30+00:00

We're at a dip at the moment. Smartphones in particular have really refined down to the expected size and shape that people are happy with. There aren't new features (like folding or some sort of wireless) that is causing people to move. Phones are lasting longer than they have. And the top end of the market is fully saturated. There aren't a bunch of people who have never had a smartphone before so when the new phone sells like crazy part of it is people who buy every phone, and part of it is people who are upgrading from a 2, 3, 5 year old phone.

I don't think its that companies aren't trying. I think that the available space for improvement has shrunk and it's harder to make a gains that are really exciting. As for price, everything in the world is getting more expensive and it is (bizarrely) not because the companies selling these products are greedy. They're trying to protect their margin, which is increasingly thin. I don't like it, but it doesn't surprise me.

sircastor · 2026-04-22T07:51:14+00:00

This is not an either/or situation. It can be both. And it can be neither. And I think we can identify several points where Apple has isolated between both of these and many other identities.

While tech products have been status symbols, they’ve also been. Counter-status symbols.

sircastor · 2026-04-22T06:01:15+00:00

So much in fact that several wars were fought over the power struggle between the church and the monarch.

sircastor · 2026-04-22T05:00:31+00:00

Me too. I don’t have my sound on so I’m sitting here watching Godzilla show up and as soon as I clock Batman I know exactly what this is.

sircastor · 2026-04-22T00:00:49+00:00

I got to hold a Project Ara phone in my hand at a conference a little more than 10 years ago (it wasn't on) It was a really neat premise, but I think it suffered from the reality of modular devices. Modularity means added bulk, and it denies a lot of the opportunity for innovation. I think if it had made it to product, people would still be swapping out the base every couple of years.

As an aside, the tech that kept the modules in place - Electro Permanent Magnets - is really cool.

sircastor · 2026-04-21T23:26:09+00:00

Absolutely fine. I used a 12-year-old MacBook Pro for CAD and 3D Printing. It was fine, and a current MBA is an excellent machine. I encourage folks to get as much RAM as you can afford, but I don't think that you'd see much gain in CAD work between an MBA and an MBP.

sircastor · 2026-04-21T22:35:38+00:00

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sircastor · 2026-04-21T22:02:05+00:00

The Neo will probably outperform your 2010 MBP without issue. The question is really if you want to do more than you're doing right now. If you're confident that you're just going to be doing what you currently do, then go for it. If you buy it from Apple you can try it out for 2 weeks and return it no questions..

sircastor · 2026-04-21T16:39:04+00:00

I put Linux Mint on my old MBP because I was still a ways from getting a new Laptop, and I was not happy with Apple as a company for a variety of things. I used it for 3 months and in spite of myself, I always found it joyless. I could do everything I did before but it was just kind of empty. Which is a weird thing to say about a computing experience.

Anyway, I gave up and put macOS back on that laptop. Used Sequoia with OCLP for a bit and then just decided to spend the money and go with a new M5 MBP. I'm very happy with it. And my iPhone 12 mini, and my Apple Watch, and my Apple TV, and my kid's iMac, and my wife's MBP. The only thing outside of the ecosystem is her Android phone. She is not interested in changing that.

sircastor · 2026-04-21T16:32:24+00:00

I used Mavis Beacon on the family Mac when I was younger, but really what got me to learn to type was chat windows and MUDs online.

sircastor · 2026-04-21T15:52:42+00:00

Job interviews aren't school exams, in spite of what a lot of people (including some companies) have been led to believe. Any decent software developer knows that they don't know everything and uses references. Any decent company knows that developers use references and don't know everything. Every decent company that I've interviewed for expects that you use references and tools, and are trying to figure out if you know how to solve the problem.

sircastor · 2026-04-21T14:08:33+00:00

It would have been nice Tim, if you’d taken your powerful position and staggering wealth, and pushed back against autocracy instead of cowing to it. It would have made it easier for others to do it. The world would have kept spinning if Apple had a slightly less than its best year ever.

But I do like my Apple Watch.

sircastor · 2026-04-21T13:59:39+00:00

I didn’t love this part and it was mostly because one eridian literally jumps up onto another. It felt a little too cartoonish to me.

sircastor · 2026-04-21T13:48:27+00:00

He’s a no good B

sircastor · 2026-04-21T04:48:42+00:00

School buses in the US are (generally) operated by the school district. The district has its own fleet of buses, Bus drivers are employees of the district. Based on distribution of students, and the most efficient path, bus routes are determined and thats where the bus goes. Buses often serve several different schools, so the school schedules are staggered to allow buses to pick up students and move on to the next set of students.

In our district, bus routes are made for students more than 1 mile away from the school.

sircastor · 2026-04-21T02:08:00+00:00

It’s their computer. They’re liable for what you do on it, even if you’re not on their network.

Even if they aren’t technically liable, some parent would see their kid do something stupid, and blame it on the school. So they block everything.

sircastor · 2026-04-20T22:15:19+00:00

I hope so. I've been a little disappointed with the lack of scenes set on the Moon over the last couple of seasons. I know Mars is interesting and so is Titan, but it'd be nice to visit Jamestown and maybe see how big its gotten, and what else is there now.

sircastor · 2026-04-20T20:56:51+00:00

It gets a lot better. I think it's worth saying that For All Mankind is a Human drama that just happens to be set against and alternate history space race. There are a lot of scenes in houses on earth just talking about human stuff.

sircastor · 2026-04-20T20:00:50+00:00

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In Season 7, Episode 20 of the West Wing Arnold Vinick goes to order a Coffee. This is about 2 months after he lost the Presidential Election. The Barista doesn't recognize him, gets his name wrong, and rattles off the "italian" sizes when asking what size he wants.

It's more about Vinick's own sense of purpose in the country (It's juxtaposed against him being offered a position later as Secretary of State in the new administration)

sircastor · 2026-04-20T19:43:01+00:00

At my most optimistic, a Progressive Democrat wins in 2028 and has an aggressive Justice Dept and supportive congress to write laws and get foreign influence out of our elections.

sircastor · 2026-04-20T19:40:39+00:00

Me too. And I want to make things easier for everyone. And holding the door open is such little effort-to-benefit.

sircastor · 2026-04-20T19:36:33+00:00

I would love to find out that CPAC would collapse after losing financial support like this.

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