#1 unit per foot

[mysticstronomy]

HOW FAST DOES LIGHT TRAVEL??

Blog#395

Wednesday, April 24th, 2024.

Welcome back,

The speed of light traveling through a vacuum is exactly 299,792,458 meters (983,571,056 feet) per second. That's about 186,282 miles per second — a universal constant known in equations as "c," or light speed.

According to physicist Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity, on which much of modern physics is based, nothing in the universe can travel faster than light.

The theory states that as matter approaches the speed of light, the matter's mass becomes infinite. That means the speed of light functions as a speed limit on the whole universe. The speed of light is so immutable that, according to the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, it is used to define international standard measurements like the meter (and by extension, the mile, the foot and the inch).

Through some crafty equations, it also helps define the kilogram and the temperature unit Kelvin.

But despite the speed of light's reputation as a universal constant, scientists and science fiction writers alike spend time contemplating faster-than-light travel. So far no one's been able to demonstrate a real warp drive, but that hasn't slowed our collective hurtle toward new stories, new inventions and new realms of physics.

A light-year is the distance that light can travel in one year — about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). It's one way that astronomers and physicists measure immense distances across our universe.

Light travels from the moon to our eyes in about 1 second, which means the moon is about 1 light-second away. Sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach our eyes, so the sun is about 8 light minutes away. Light from Alpha Centauri, which is the nearest star system to our own, requires roughly 4.3 years to get here, so Alpha Centauri is 4.3 light-years away.

"To obtain an idea of the size of a light-year, take the circumference of the Earth (24,900 miles), lay it out in a straight line, multiply the length of the line by 7.5 (the corresponding distance is one light-second), then place 31.6 million similar lines end to end," NASA's Glenn Research Center says on its website. "The resulting distance is almost 6 trillion (6,000,000,000,000) miles!"

Stars and other objects beyond our solar system lie anywhere from a few light-years to a few billion light-years away. And everything astronomers "see" in the distant universe is literally history. When astronomers study objects that are far away, they are seeing light that shows the objects as they existed at the time that light left them.

Originally published on https://www.space.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, April 27th, 2024)

"HOW WAS OUR SOLAR SYSTEM CREATED??"

#astronomy #outer space #alternate universe #astrophysics #universe #spacecraft #white universe #space #parallel universe #astrophotography

[nasa]

Comin’ in Hot: Seven Things to Know About our New Heat Shield

What goes up, must come down, and from space, without burning up in an atmosphere. That’s why we’re pumped for the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID. Launching on Nov. 1, 2022, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Orbiting Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) mission, this technology demonstration marks the next step in advancing an innovative heat shield design that could one day be used to land heavy payloads – including humans – on Mars!

Here are seven things to know about this innovative re-entry system: 

1. LOFTID is the first-ever in-orbit test of this technology. 

Inflatable heat shields, called Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (HIADs), have been in the works for more than a decade. In 2012, the third of the Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiments (IRVE) launched on a suborbital sounding rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility, demonstrating a 3-meter (10-foot) diameter inflatable heat shield.

But the LOFTID re-entry vehicle, at 19.7 feet (6 meters) in diameter, will be the largest blunt body aeroshell to ever go through atmospheric entry. Designed to withstand temperatures as high as 2900°F (1600°C), this first-ever in-orbit test of this technology will prove if it can successfully slow down large payloads – such as crewed spacecraft, robotic explorers, and rocket components – enabling them to survive the heat of re-entry at planetary destinations with an atmosphere.

2. You can find out how this tech works in real-time.  

LOFTID is unique in that all operations will happen within a few hours of launch. After the JPSS-2 satellite safely reaches orbit, the LOFTID vehicle will separate from the upper stage of the Atlas V rocket and begin re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. If all goes as planned, the technology will help the vehicle decelerate from hypersonic (more than 25 times faster than the speed of sound) down to subsonic flight, less than 609 miles per hour for a safe splash down and recovery from the Pacific Ocean. 

While in flight, engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center will receive location data every 20 seconds and onboard sensors and cameras will record more comprehensive data about the technology’s performance. You can get a behind-the-scenes look at Langley’s Flight Mission Support Center where the LOFTID project team will be monitoring the flight test at NASA.gov/live following the launch.

3. A lemon-sized capsule ejected into the Pacific Ocean will hold key flight data. 

The LOFTID re-entry vehicle will record both sensor and camera data during its flight. The data will include the temperatures and pressures experienced by the heat shield and will illustrate how well the technology performed during the demonstration.

Although the goal is to retrieve the LOFTID re-entry vehicle after it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, the team wanted a back-up option just in case they can’t recover it. Enter the tiny yellow package called an ejectable data module (EDM) which will also record flight data. The EDM will be released from the spacecraft at an altitude of about 50,000 feet. It will free fall into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii and should land within 10 miles of the spacecraft’s splash down location. A recovery team, that has practiced hide-and-seek of the EDM on land and sea, will use GPS to search an approximately 900-mile area of the Pacific Ocean to find their “lemon.”

4. This heat shield packs a punch. 

Although NASA has historically relied on rigid aeroshells, parachutes, and retro-propulsion (rockets) to decelerate people, vehicles, and hardware during entry, descent, and landing operations, a benefit of inflatable heat shields is that they take up less space in a rocket, allowing more room for other hardware or payloads. LOFTID’s aeroshell has been folded and tightly packed down to 4 by 1.5 feet for launch and stacked in the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket payload fairing.

5. LOFTID is dedicated in honor of one of its innovators.  

LOFTID was developed as a partnership with ULA and is dedicated to the memory of Bernard Kutter, ULA manager of advanced programs, who passed away in August 2020. Kutter was instrumental in advancing the inflatable heat shield design and developing the plan to test the system on an Atlas V rocket. He was an advocate for both space technology and expanding access to space. Kutter’s NASA and ULA counterparts agree that LOFTID is unlikely to have made it to space without his vision and passion.

6. LOFTID is made of tough stuff. 

Synthetic fibers make up the inflatable structure, braided into tubes that are, by weight, 10 times stronger than steel. The tubes are coiled so that they form the shape of a blunt cone when inflated. The thermal protection system that covers the inflatable structure can survive searing entry temperatures up to 2,900 degrees Fahrenheit. Researchers used the same heat-shielding materials to create a fire shelter prototype for firefighters battling forest fires.

7. You can make your own LOFTID Halloween costume! 

Still looking for an out-of-this world Halloween costume? With a few commonly found materials, like orange pool noodles and duct tape, you can create your own LOFTID costume. However, we make no promises of protecting or slowing you down from becoming the life of the party.

Follow @NASA_Technology for the latest updates on LOFTID. Don’t miss our live coverage leading up to launch from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The NASA Edge JPSS-2 Tower Rollback Show airs live on NASA TV and YouTube on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 12 a.m. EDT, and NASA TV live launch coverage will begin at 4:45 a.m. EDT. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

#LOFTID #NOAA #NASA #spaceblr #space technology #tech #Youtube #technology

[duhnova]

KINKTOBER | seventeen

every story is going to be between 500 - 2k words and they will all contain smut. the kinks will vary per story so please read the warnings at the beginning of every story before you read them! MDNI, everything is going to be explicit and wont be suitable for minors (or anyone that is uncomfortable with nsfw).

XMH • oct. 1

vampire!hao - feeding time for hao is never dull, but this time it takes a turn when you both finally show just how much you like it when he feeds from you

bloody kisses

LSM • oct. 3

demon!seokmin - whoever said church was the holiest place on earth has never stepped foot into yours 

(un)holy water

LJH • oct. 5

incubus!woozi - it’s second nature for woozi to seduce people, what isn’t apart of his nature is getting seduced by you 

second nature

CSC • oct. 7

husband!cheol - he takes the day off to suprise you with a bath when you get home from running errands 

overflowed

HVC • oct. 9

brothers best friend!vernon - your brother has warned you a lot about how his friends are bad influences but vernon takes the cake 

intoxicated

LC • oct. 11

best friends brother!chan - you weren’t suppose to fall for your best friends brother but it was hard not to when he looks at you with those round doe eyes 

doe eyes

YJH • oct. 13

ceo!jeonghan - you’re tasked to escort jeonghan to an important business meeting but he has other plans when he asks you to pull the car over

tinted windows

KMG • oct. 15

werewolf!mingyu - he tries to keep track of when he goes into heat but sometimes his math is a little off

hot, hot

JWW • oct. 17

gamer bf!wonwoo - you test to see just how good your boyfriends self control is and his friends are totally in on it

control me

WJH • oct. 19

lifeguard!jun - it’s after hours at the country club  and you and jun decide to enjoy some alone time in the pool 

dive in

KSY • oct. 21

ex!soonyoung - you finally get the courage to go pick your stuff up from soonyoung place, a long overdue conversation leads you back to his bed where he makes you question why you left him in the first place 

fragile heart

HJS • oct. 23

next door neighbor!joshua - unfortunately in the middle of your shower your hot water breaks so you have to go next door and ask your unnaturally hot neighbor if you can use his 

steamy

BSK • oct. 25

guardian angel!seungkwan - seungkwan wasn’t as holy as everyone though he was, especially since he’s fucking the person he swore to protect 

my angel

HHU • oct. 27

hip hop unit headcanons! - they like to bring a little thrill to the bedroom in the form of knives

knifeplay

VU • oct. 29

vocal unit headcanons! - they cant keep their hands off you, especially your neck

choking

PU • oct. 31

performance unit headcanons! - you're their perfect little angel and they love to ruin you

corruption

© duhnova 2022, please do not repost

#duhnova kinktober 2022 #seventeen smut #seungcheol smut #jeonghan smut #joshua smut #vernon smut #soonyoung smut #woozi smut #chan smut #seokmin smut #jun smut #minghao smut #seongkwan smut #mingyu smut #wonwoo smut

[overtrred28]

Stargirl | matildas x original character fic [part two]

Words; 1.5k

Pairings; matildas team x astrid taylor (OC)

Warnings; none (i don't think)

A/N; second part of this series. the only games i'm fully going off of right now are the tillies games and not for Sydney FC, sort of making them up myself. again please give it some love and i welcome any good feedback. enjoy x

masterlist

Joining Sydney FC was one of the best things Astrid could have done. She was thriving. She knew joining in the middle of the season was going to be tough, especially because all the girls already knew each other, and it was at first but having Cortnee there really helped, and the other girls ensuring a smooth transition for her too.  

Astrid and her parents did argue for a while when she signed because they weren’t so keen on letting their only child live in Sydney alone at 17, but that was the only option with them unable to move from their jobs. Astrid was a little scared at first when they finally agreed she was more than mature enough to do it, but Cortnee was close by and they had developed a sister-like relationship in Matildas camps and now at the club. And it wasn’t long until she was going to be 18 anyway so it was just an early start to adulthood and Astrid loved it. 

It wasn’t long until she was playing her first Women’s A-league game, subbing on in the end of second half as a right forward. During training and practice matches Astrid was known to always score a goal, specifically towards the end. That’s why the coach brought her on when they were still 0-0 and 20 minutes from full time. She had been warming up since the second half started, ready to run on and help the team out. 

Almost 15 minutes passed and their side finally gained more possession of the ball, Cortnee ran with it on the right side, opposing defence closing in on her. She shot the ball straight up to Astrid who was in a lot of free space just further up on the outside of the box. The ball connected with her feet, with players coming closer she went for it, shooting strongly with her left foot, successfully passing by the goalie and sinking it in the back of the net. The crowd roared, Astrid ran directly to Cortnee who was already running to the younger girl. Astrid jumped onto Cortnee, a wide smile plastered on her face as the rest of the team ran and jumped onto the pair. Her first A-league game and goal and she had brought the team ahead to 1-0 with minutes to spare. 

The game has ended here and the score is 1-0 to Sydney FC with the only goal from number 19 Astrid Taylor. First appearance with this club at 17 years old, after joining the CommBank Matildas a few short months ago. I’ll say it now, I think she’s one to watch everyone, she’s got a strong strike and a great passion for the sport.

After that game, Astrid was gaining more and more minutes with the club, not in the starting 11 just yet, but subbing on towards the end and gaining the position of a ‘super-sub’, never failing to give the team a leg up by scoring at least one goal and a few assists per game right at the end. 

Her parents tried to come to as many games as they could, it being easier with her in the same state and especially when they played against Central Coast United. But when they couldn’t see them in person, they got the extended family together to watch at home. They were so proud of her, finally getting some acknowledgement for all the hard work she had put in from a young age. 

The new year started and the Matildas were off to compete in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, Astrid and Cortnee travelling over together after their recent club match. 

When they arrived Astrid couldn’t have been happier to see the rest of the team after almost 2 months, immediately jumping on Kyra and Charli from behind when she saw them walking towards the tunnel. 

“ASTRID!” Charli squealed once the attacker had let go and they both turned around and brought her into a tight hug. “Oh I missed you.” Charli smiled before letting go, allowing Kyra and Astrid to hug finally. 

“I missed you guys so much. It’s been way too long.” Astrid spoke over Kyra’s shoulder. 

“Good to have the group back together.” Kyra commented as the pair let go, the three of them now walking down the tunnel together, arms wrapped around each other. 

“You know, I think we could beat Cait, Lani and Macca for the best trio on the squad.” Astrid spoke up as they spotted the three players chatting amongst themselves, her comment catching their attention. 

“Excuse me?”  “What?”  “WOW.”

The three of them spoke after one another, Kyra and Charli trying not to laugh beside the youngest player who was about to speak but Mackenzie got the chance first, a small smirk on her face. 

“Now listen here, child-” She began but was interrupted by Tony calling the group over to the pitch for today's training session. 

“Catch ya later.” Astrid smiled before skipping off with Kyra and Charli, arms linked and laughing. Caitlin, Alanna and Mackenzie stood for a second before laughing and following close behind with a shake to the head. 

Throughout this first training session plenty of laughs and jokes were shared within the team, most coming from their youngest player and quite a few being harmlessly thrown at said player. Astrid was building a dynamic with the squad and it was working well for everyone. 

Astrid had been working really hard over the past few days, hoping to maybe make her debut in this camp alongside Cortnee who had yet to make hers too. The pair had been talking up this camp excitingly since it was announced, both having spent a while on the squad but yet to play. 

And that day came for Cortnee. It was their second match in the competition against the Philippines this time and the Matildas were struggling a bit more than their last match a few days ago when they won 18-0 against Indonesia. They reached half time and no goals were made. The starting line up came back after halftime more pumped up than ever. 

6 minutes into half time and Sam had secured them a goal with an assist from Steph; then a Phillipines player made an own goal and gave them another one. Another goal in the net by Emily Van Egmond and they felt even more hopeful about securing the win. At the 71 minute the substitutions for Aus began happening. When Cortnee, Courtney and Holly got called up, Astrid gave them all a clap and a pat on the back, hugging Cortnee a bit more and wishing her luck for her international debut. 

Astrid definitely had the loudest cheer when Cortnee ran on, subbing for Kyah. The final goal by Mary at 87 minutes and then the game was over. A 4-0 victory and a Matildas debut for Cortnee, it was a good game. The Matildas had another game in the group stage, making it to the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win, but again no debut for Astrid. 

The quarter-finals match against South Korea was a tough one, the first goal of the match being made by South Korea in the 87th minute and ending the Matildas journey in the competition with a 0-1 loss. The team were devastated of course, Astrid slightly upset at not making her debut this camp again, but she had only been on the squad a few months so she knew her time would come. 

When Cortnee and Astrid returned to Sydney FC they both trained really hard, especially Astrid. She knew she had something to prove with both her club and national team and the only way to get there was to keep going. In their second match since returning from camp she made the starting line up and Cortnee could not have been more proud, nor could her parents who had been able to come to the game. 

Astrid had played more than 70 minutes and scored the team 2 goals and one assist before she was subbed off, more than happy with her results and to take a rest from her first long game since joining. At the end of the game, which they had won 5-1, Cortnee and Astrid made their way over to the barricade where her parents and Cortnee’s parents and brother had been chatting while they waited for the pair. 

The two families had joined the next day for lunch to celebrate the win and get to know each other a little better. They could see the sisterly bond Astrid and Cortnee had created and Astrid’s parents were happy to see she was being well taken care of since moving out of home. 

The next Matildas camp wasn’t until early April so Astrid had plenty of time to hone in on her skills, gain more minutes with Sydney FC while also adding to her score sheet. By the end of March she had 16 goals, many more assists and even more determination to be on the pitch in the next Matildas camp coming up next week.

to be continued...

#auswnt x reader #matildas #auswnt #matildas x reader #kyra cooney cross #charli grant #football #sam kerr #steph catley #caitlin foord #alanna kennedy #mackenzie arnold #australia

[poppadom0912]

Angry

Characters: Jay Halstead x Reader, Adam Ruzek

Warnings: 1 Swear word

Summary: Apparently, you look angry.

*****

"Oooh, she's angry."

Jay looked up from his phone, finding Adam now standing next to him as he looked at you, Jay following his line of sight, studying your body language and your side profile for any indication of anger.

It was very obvious how you were feeling, your clenched jaw, straight posture, lips slightly pursed, nose flaring when you breathed out and the twitch in your eye, but Adam didn't know that.

"How can you tell?" Jay asked, humouring his friend. Slipping his phone into his pocket, he crossed his arms, eyes not leaving you.

Adam took his eyes off you, looking at Jay shocked that he couldn't tell but started pointing out how he knew. "Well, you can see her mood by her hands." He looked back at you, flicking his finger towards your hands. "Like right now, she has her hand on her gun."

He paused; the silence thick as Jay's eyes found your hand gripping your gun that was still in its holster.

"I don't think that means she's happy." Adam pointed out the obvious, shoulders straightening out, proud with his analysis.

Jay looked at him dumbfounded. It was a true wonder how Adam was working in Intelligence sometimes.

"Also, her foots tapping like mad, she's about to go off and I'm going to sit back and enjoy it." Adam crossed his arms around his chest, a smile settling as he leaned back against a car to watch as the scene continued to unfold.

It was true. Your foot was tapping several times per second, the sound somewhat soothing to you despite all the red you could see.

Adam was very much correct; you were angry, and you had a very good reason to be so.

The man in front of you was one of the victims of the bank robbery that just took place, intelligence arriving midway to take over and like always, you proved to be one of the best units in Chicago but that didn't mean misogynistic men went out of their way to be kind to any members of the unit.

All you needed was to ask for a statement, get his side of the story despite knowing how it went, having taken five other statements from other victims beforehand; it was unnecessary really but just in case, you had to talk to everyone.

This was your last person; everyone had finished with theirs or were finishing but you were stuck with this man that was being ridiculous and diverting the conversation topic.

You did not need to be asked out for a date when you’re already happily dating someone else, who by the way, was much better looking than the older man standing before you.

"Sir, I'm not going to ask you again, what happened when the robbers entered the bank?" You spoke with grit, trying to keep your calm as your grip tightened around your gun. "I do not want to have to detain you for obstruction of justice for being uncooperative to this very serious case."

It was a mild threat that you weren't going to act on but if he didn't stop moving towards you, your handcuffs were looking pretty good right about now.

"Listen darling-" You interrupted him. "It's detective." Your tone strict and sharp as you continued to glare at him.

"Mhmm, alright but as I told you before, the robbers came in, pointed guns and the next thing I saw was your beautiful face." He smirked, looking you up and down as if you were his food. "You mind complimenting your parents for me, they should know they did good."

Your eyes twitched again at his words as you swallowed down anything offensive you had to say. "Sir, I just said-"

You stopped yourself when he took another step towards you, hand making contact with your hair wanting to tuck the loose strand behind your ear.

Slapping his hand away, you forced him to turn around, keeping your hand at his wrist alike to how you would if you were going to arrest him.

Pushing him against the closest car, face smashed against the hood as you tightened your grip around his wrist. "If you touch me again, I swear you’re going to regret leaving the house today." You whispered into his ear so no one else could hear.

Pulling away from him, you watched as he collected himself, grabbing his wrist to his chest in 'pain', looking at you with a newfound fear.

"Get out of my fucking sight." You spat, watching as he ran away with his head between his legs.

Sighing, your hands made themselves comfortable at your hip as you made yourself aware with your surroundings. Looking to your left, you found Adam and Jay standing together as they watched your entire ordeal.

You smiled sheepishly, heat rushing up to your cheeks as you met them halfway.

Adam was full on clapping with pride while Jay simply smiled, waiting for when the two of you were alone before he said anything.

"Honestly, angry you is someone I need to see often." Adam said once he finally stopped clapping. "I'd love to see her in action one day." He wiggled his eyebrows, winking at you before backing away slowly, his laugh echoing behind him.

"He's right you know." Jay said once Adam was far enough, the two of you still watching his figure walking away to everyone else.

You looked at him with a sly smile. "And whys that detective, you wanna see me do that more often?" You jutted your thumb to the corner you were previously at.

Jay reciprocated your smirk, the green of his eyes shining with mischief as he looked you up and down. "Oh, you know why."

You blushed, hiding your smile with the back of your hand. This man was another breed sometimes and it was at moments like this he showed it.

"Shut up."

#chicago pd x reader #one chicago imagine #one chicago x reader #jay halstead x reader #one chicago fic #one chicago fanfiction #jay halstead fic #jay halstead x y/n #jay halstead

[allthecanadianpolitics]

James Hanna was kind to animals and children. He was big on hugs and loved to travel.

His family says he was excited about his future, but that was stolen by a stray bullet fired from an Edmonton police officer's gun. The 59-year-old was in his basement suite watching television when he was killed in February.

Police have said officers were chasing a robbery suspect on foot when they fired. That man, a 36-year-old with a fake gun, was also killed.

Hanna's loved ones have said they want answers about how he was killed in his own home and have called for a deeper look at police training, especially when it comes to firearms. Alberta's police watchdog is investigating the case. [...]

A tally compiled by The Canadian Press has found police shot 87 people in Canada between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30 — 46 shootings were fatal. It was based on available information from police, independent investigative units and reporting from The Canadian Press.

It marks a nearly 25 per cent increase from 2021, when officers fired on 70 people and 37 were killed. In 2020, police shot 60 people and 36 of those were killed.

'The perfect storm'

Temitope Oriola, a professor of criminology and associate dean at the University of Alberta, said it's concerning to see the number of fatal encounters with police grow. Several variables contribute to the increase, he said, including inadequate training, an over-reliance on force and a lack of accountability.

"We have essentially the perfect storm, a breeding ground for these kinds of incidents." [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada, @abpoli

#cdnpoli #Police Watchdog #Alberta #canada #canadian politics #police brutality tw #death tw #gun violence tw

[mariacallous]

With the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion approaching in February and the European continent in the grip of deep winter, the Kremlin is redoubling its attacks against Ukraine on land and from the skies. While Russia appears to have regained the initiative along the ground front, its recent territorial gains remain minimal and have come at a terrible price in troops and materiel. Russia’s air campaign, however, has ramped up across Ukraine at levels not seen since last spring’s bombing offensive. Moscow is deploying massive, serial waves of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles — an increasing number of which are supplied by Iran and North Korea.

However, unlike last year’s winter, when Russia was mostly assaulting Ukraine’s energy and heating infrastructure, it is now pursuing a double strategy of sowing terror by striking civilian housing and destroying high-value defense industrial targets. Ukraine’s air defenses used to reliably intercept most of Russia’s bombs, but they are now struggling in winter weather against much more sophisticated attacks designed to wear them out.

Having put the Russian economy on a war footing, increased its military budget and domestic weapons production, evaded sanctions, and cultivated talks with Pyongyang and Tehran to keep supplies of drones and missiles flowing, the Kremlin is clearly expecting to make its onslaught last past the U.S. elections in November. Hardly a day goes by without a senior Russian official or state media threatening the obliteration of Ukraine as a nation.

Meanwhile, Congress is holding up Biden’s $60 billion pledge of aid to Ukraine, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is blocking a €50 billion (approximately $55 billion) support package promised by the European Union. NATO partners have struggled to fulfill their commitments to increase the production of ammunition so desperately needed by Ukraine; the EU has failed since the summer to agree on stocking up the European Peace Facility, a fund created to facilitate joint weapons acquisitions. Ukraine’s Western supporters also continue to fight over the legality of using Russia’s frozen central bank reserves to help Kyiv finance a battle for survival, which according to Berkeley economist Yuriy Gorodnichenko is costing it an estimated $1 billion to 1.5 billion per day.

Yet the news is by no means all bad. In December, the EU’s heads of government decided to open membership accession discussions with Kyiv. Germany and the United Kingdom have announced they will increase their funding, respectively, to $8.5 billion (doubling current funding by more than $4 billion) and $3 billion (an increase of $216 million over last year). The European External Action Service (the EU’s foreign ministry) will audit weapons deliveries by the bloc’s member states. Ahead of the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion and a European Council meeting on February 1, European leaders are readying new sanctions against Russia; EU officials are also hopeful that, to get an additional €50 billion in aid to Kyiv, they can either strike a deal with Orbán or deploy an off-budget plan to bypass his opposition.

The national security advisors of 83 countries attended a recent meeting that was hosted by neutral Switzerland in cooperation with Kyiv on a Ukrainian peace plan — including a significant number from the Global South, where numerous countries have been inclined to sympathize with Russia At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received a warm reception from world leaders. U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, promised that the United States and its partners would continue to stand by Zelenskyy.

[gillianthecat]

forget this Celsius vs. Fahrenheit (I voted Kelvin) debate, what's your favorite unit for measuring pressure? Feel free to pick one at random or based on vibes even if you have no idea what they mean.

I've added the conversion into atmospheres for context, since one atmosphere (atm) is more or less the standard air pressure we all live under.

Not included were

kilogram-force per square (centi-)metre (aka technical atmosphere) (1.033 kgf/cm^2)

inches, meters, and millimeters of water

pounds-force per square foot (2116.22 lbs/ft^2)

probably many others I haven't seen

I tried to get the right names/abbreviations/conversion factors, but I make no guarantees of accuracy.

#tumblr polls #chemistry #and physics #science #doing it for science #which is an entirely unrelated tag but I like it #gillianthecat goes back to school

[ginandoldlace]

HMS Montagu aground on Shutter Rock, suffering a 91-foot (28 m) gash on her starboard side. Unable to free herself from the rocks,

At 02:00 on 30 May 1906 , Montagu ran aground on Shutter Rock, suffering a 91-foot (28 m) gash on her starboard side. Unable to free herself from the rocks, she slowly filled with water; twenty-four hours later, her starboard engine room and all of her boiler room were flooded, among others. Her crew counter-flooded the port engine room to prevent her from listing further to starboard. Divers inspected the hull to determine the extent of the damage, which proved to be more serious than initially expected. The bottom of the ship also received extensive damage, including several other holes and the port propeller shaft having been torn from the hull. The starboard  bilge keel was also ripped from the hull, as was the rudder. The wreck rested on a fairly even bottom, so there was hope that the ship could be refloated

Since the Royal Navy had no dedicated salvage unit, it turned to Frederick Young, a former Royal Navy captain who now worked as the chief salvage officer of the Liverpool Salvage Association. Young was at that time the foremost expert on marine salvage in Britain, so he was hired to advise Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson the commander of the Channel Fleet, who had no experience in salvage operations. The navy initially hoped to lighten the ship by removing the medium and small-caliber guns and other equipment that could be easily taken off and then to pump out the water so that the holes in the hull could be patched. By the end of June, some twenty pumps had been assembled on the scene, with a total pumping capacity of 8,600 tonnes (8,500 long tons; 9,500 short tons) of water per hour. Difficulties with pumping, owing in part to the subdivision of the internal compartments and the need to reflood the ship during  high tide to keep her from suffering more damage before the hull could be patched, led the salvors to give up the operation

Wilson next sought to remove armour plate from the sides of the ship and to erect a series of caissons , at which point a powerful air pump would be used to blow the water out of the hull. The caissons repeatedly broke free even in mild seas, and the air pump failed to have the desired effect. Her sister ship  Duncan herself ran aground whilst trying to help the salvage effort, though she was successfully freed. At the end of the summer of 1906, salvage efforts were suspended for the year, with plans to resume them in 1907. However, an inspection of the ship conducted from 1 to 10 October 1906 found that the action of the sea was driving her further ashore and bending and warping her hull so that her seams were beginning to open, her deck planking was coming apart, and her boat davits had collapsed. Having failed to refloat Montagu, the navy decided to abandon the project. Further material was removed from the wreck, including her main battery guns, which were later re-used in other vessels.The Western Marine Salvage Company of  Penzance completed salvage of the wreck for scrap metal over the next 15 years. The court martial   convened for the affair blamed the thick fog and faulty navigation for the wreck. The trial was held aboard  HMS Victory . The ship's captain, Thomas Adair   and the navigation officer, Lieutenant James Dathan, were severely reprimanded, with both men being dismissed from HMS Montagu; Dathan lost two years of seniority in rank as well.The wreck site, which now amounts to little more than some armour plate on the sea floor, is a popular diving location. Divers have also located parts of her gun turrets and shells that were not recovered during the salvage operation. In September 2019 the British Government granted the wreck site—including the steps which had been chiseled out of the cliff during the salvage effort protected status

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

One of the Largest Batteries in the World

This reservoir holds more than just water. Set on a bluff hundreds of feet above Lake Michigan, it also stores potential energy that can be unleashed to produce hydropower. This human-built lake is part of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant, a pumped storage hydropower facility that can be likened to a giant battery—one that moves water instead of electrons.

In place of complex chemistry, this battery employs simple physics. Surplus electricity from the grid is used to pump water 370 vertical feet (110 meters) from Lake Michigan to an upper reservoir, shown here. At times of higher energy demand, water flows back down, turning the pump-turbines in the opposite direction to generate hydropower. This image of the facility and reservoir was acquired by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on the Landsat 8 satellite on March 3, 2024.

The Ludington Pumped Storage Plant began operating in 1973, making it essentially a battery that still works after 50 years. Its upper reservoir measures approximately 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) long and 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) wide, occupying 842 acres. Two jetties and a breakwater protect the intake and outflow channel from the waves and currents of Lake Michigan, and a barrier is installed from April through October, when ice conditions permit, to keep fish away from the intake.

Water rushes through six pump-turbines concealed from view within a powerhouse. Each unit raises or lowers the reservoir’s water surface about 1 foot per hour during normal operation, according to Consumers Energy, co-owner of the facility. At full capacity, the plant can power about 1.7 million households.

Michigan’s electricity comes largely from fossil fuel-fired power stations and nuclear plants. With these relatively constant sources, the Ludington plant tends to pump overnight when customer demand on the grid is low, then switch to hydropower mode during the day until its usable capacity is exhausted.

That schedule could shift as more renewable energy sources come online in the region. The Ludington plant may adapt to solar, for example, by recharging during the middle of the day and then discharging in the evening when demand increases, analysts posit. Utility-scale energy storage is critical to the wider adoption of solar and wind power; it enables these intermittent sources to be used when sunlight or wind are lacking and reduces the need for back-up fossil fuel-fired plants.

The United States may need to add hundreds of gigawatts of storage by 2050 to achieve its clean energy goals, according to the Department of Energy, and it has the potential to at least double the amount of pumped storage capacity. In 2022, 43 pumped storage hydropower plants accounted for 96 percent of U.S. utility-scale energy storage capacity, although new battery storage installations surged in 2020–2022. Most pumped storage facilities in the U.S. were built between 1960 and 1990, and some, including Ludington, have been upgraded in recent years to increase their capacity and incorporate renewable energy sources.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

#science #space #news #nasa #earth observatory

[kariachi]

Thinking about stuff... Okay so we see a green carrying, I can’t remember if it was three or four good-sized people off the top of my head, but it was one of those. She’s said to be able to do this because dragons can carry as much weight as they think they can due to telekinesis (which 1) gotta love it when the ‘don’t tell me it’s impossible’ thing actually works for a proper reason, fuckers can teleport and have telepathy why not, and 2) if this is the case why do you fuckers not have armor for these poor things?!). So if weight isn’t the upper boundary on how much a dragon can carry, then we have to assume it’s space. There’s only so many people you can safely cram onto a dragon, before it starts to affect their maneuvering, risk injury, or even just start risking bitches falling off because they’re hanging off the tail.

So, what can we assume that number would be?

First up we have to think about how much space we can generally expect a person to take up, then relate it to how much space any given rank likely has for along the torso.

For this we’re going to assume the space taken up along the length of the back is equal to the buttock-knee length plus the foot length, and that individuals are expected to sit in a kneeling position- because while I can accept riders being able to sit ahead of the wings, like fuck passengers can, especially on a green, as we’ll be getting to. Based on the numbers I’m finding, this would give us an average of 33.6 inches per person, or 2.8 feet per passenger, plus about 11 inches for the rider which we’ll round up to 1 ft to keep things neat and give a bit of wiggle room. 

Now, as dragonlengths are a unit of measurement based off the length of green dragons- shocker- we can assume that when dragons are measured it’s from nose to tailtip, as ‘the length of a dragon without her tail’ would be kind’ve unintuitive to base your large-scale measurements on. Most creatures with a long tail are only measured to said the base of said tail, and we aren’t told how much of a dragon is tail, but the standard estimate that I’ve seen seems to be the length again, or half the total length, so let’s go for that here first. Now, my estimated average green length was 22.5 ft, so that would make our estimated length without the tail 11.25 ft.

The next problem we run into is figuring out how much of that 11.25 ft is the head and neck. Unfortunately this is one of those things we just don’t get information on, but we can work from some assumptions. For instance, we know that the head and neck can’t make up half the remaining length, because then we wouldn’t have space for our minimum number of riders on an average green. To reach that minimum of three people on board, we need a body length of at least 6.6 ft.

This would give us a combined head and neck length of 4.65 ft, not too bad for something described as long-necked. Your average rider would probably still be able to drape themselves over their green’s neck from their seat if they so wished without dropping their chin on her head.

Now if we were talking four people, then suddenly we need 9.4 ft along the back. We’ve got to take that additional 2.8 ft from somewhere. And this is where I go ‘okay, let me go find All the Weyrs of Pern real quick’, because listen, would you want to muss more than you need to with numbers this close? We have two greens, four smiths, assuming everybody distributed themselves evenly- and with Fandarel involved you know they did- we can assume the greens are carrying three people each, including their riders, so I am gonna call that their max and move on with my life.

So, based on all that, what we’re looking at here is a dragon’s head and neck taking up 20.6% of their total length, their tail taking up 50% of their total length, and their body taking up the remaining 29.4% of their total length. If you want cleaner numbers you can round the body length up to 30%, give people more room, and lower the head and neck number down to 20% even.

Using this and my estimated average dragon lengths we can come up with an estimated maximum for people on a dragon of any given length. An average would be as follows-

Greens- 1 rider, 2 passengers

Blues- 1 rider, 2 passengers

Browns- 1 rider, 3 passengers

Bronzes- 1 rider, 3 passengers

Golds- 1 rider, 3 passengers

“Wow, that’s not a lot,” you say, and I say, the size difference isn’t actually that great. An average gold would have an estimated body length of 11.76 ft, but to fit a fourth passenger she’d need one of 12.2 ft. Ramoth could manage it easy, but even she wouldn’t be able to manage a fifth. Humans just take up a lot of space. Of course all this is assuming adults, you could probably fit more kids, but it’s likely not recommended outside of emergencies.

Of course the problem we run into here is with how fuckers stay on. We know people strap in, but I doubt you want to have straps running from a dragon’s hips all the way up to their shoulders, or all those straps attaching in one area. You can’t strap around the middle because, well, there’s wing in the way. So, I propose two things.

Dragons have different strap set-ups depending on if they’re expecting to have passengers or not. A pair going into Fall is going to have the basic rider’s straps, while pair going on Search or on a rescue will have on passenger straps.

Passenger straps run down the back of the dragon, but are secured at the shoulders and, depending on where the wingsail ends, either the hips or the hindlegs and possibly tail. Passengers then strap on down the line. This would make the passengers in the middle less stable, so likely everyone is also strapped to each other so create a sort’ve semi-solid situation. where the people in the middle are held in place by each other and the people at the ends as much if not more than the main straps.

Whether this would work I’m not sure, but it’s the best I can come up with this late into the evening and without scrapping canon.

#dragonriders of pern #hi guys i did pern math nobody cares about again #i'm sorry to say i cannot be stopped

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Twisted Wonderland!Kaiju AU

UPDATED RULES 11-28-2022

Summary: A human awakens on a mysterious island with no memory of how they got there or what happened to them, the only odd thing they have in their possession being an ankle bracelet that won’t come off. Upon exploring the beach and forest, they discover an abandoned research facility and come to realize that their surroundings are massive: the rocks, the trees and plants, the food, the monsters, the…

Monsters?!

The moment they realize they’re trapped on a nightmarish island surrounded by giant kaiju creatures and smaller mutant creatures, they must utilize all their cunning and sheer determination to survive by utilizing the research left behind by the missing/late scientists. Luck is truly on their side when—after slipping into a puddle of goo created to mimic the scent of young kaiju—it saves them from being eaten by a kaiju that had limited data on it other than the code name “Grim”. Unfortunately, this has led to a giant crow-lizard hybrid nicknamed “Nevermore” to adopt the two as his hatchlings…which is perhaps a blessing in disguise when the kaiju scares away the smaller monsters hunting them.

Can they survive long enough to get off the island? Will they ever regain their memories? And…who are these mysterious “Phantom Precursors” mentioned in one of the corrupted files?

Cast (will be updated as characters are introduced):

Yuu/MC/Reader: main protagonist with no memory of their arrival on the island; awoke wearing basic clothing and bare-footed with an ankle bracelet that tracks their health and condition; has a strange connection to the kaiju that has yet to come to light.

Amity Willows: lab assistant and researcher; author of most of the reports on kaiju studies; deceased

Tools and Equipment:

Ankle bracelet: mysterious device that won’t come off; it monitors and tracks the protagonist’s health and status condition and can provide updates through MIRA per request. (A/N: it will come off in the future, but it does get damaged).

MIRA: a mini personal computer in the form of a bracer; made from unknown material that alters to fit the bearer and appears to be sentient to a degree, seeking out a new “host” when they come within range. Designed to collect and analyze data, Mira connects to the AI unit “Dark Mirror” and is capable of multiple functions. It can communicate with its carrier, record and play videos and sound clips, and translate written or verbal languages.

Dark Mirror: a mysterious AI supercomputer hidden somewhere on the island, monitoring the environment and sending warnings of impending natural (or unnatural) disasters. Scattered across the multiple facilities are smaller versions of the Dark Mirror, each one concealing coded data that’s been encrypted for safekeeping. It’s possible to communicate with it via MIRA, but access to classified data is restricted without the proper clearance chip. (A/N: This and MIRA were created using a hybrid of human and Phantom Precursor technology)

Rules for the Kaiju!AU:

1) Yuu/Reader/MC in this AU has a unique situation about them that means they have little to no memory of what happened before they awoke on the island that will be revealed in due time.

2) That doesn’t mean that researchers are off the table! These might wind up as scenarios or “video logs” that Yuu will get access to through MIRA as they explore the island with Grimfang (who will be nicknamed “Grim” by Yuu).

3) For the most part this AU is more or less “tiny human gets adopted by giant monsters” with some silly fluff and goofball moments, but generally speaking there are going to be some dangerous things on the island that would be more than happy to fight Yuu’s new giant guardians or chase after a teenie hooman~! And it’s not just the kaiju that Yuu has to worry about either… >v>

4) When submitting a question for the AU to MIRA, make sure you use the phrase: "MIRA, MIRA" and then ask your question. This will be for questions regarding the kaiju themselves or even some behaviors. Anything regarding scenarios of shenanigans will be answered either by myself or will be turned into a skit depending on if the inspiration strikes!

Rules will be updated as things come up or I think of them, but for now, ask whatever questions or scenarios you wish to know or see!

#twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland kaiju au #twst kaiju au

[hivemuthur]

the Ilithid

Or - diving into the original AD&D lore form Monstrous Arcana by Bruce R. Cordell on types of Ilithids players can encounter.

Colloquially known as "mind flayers", Ilithids universally elicit images of horror and fear in the minds of surface dwellers and underwolrders alike. Ilithids shock and repulse other races due mostly to their practice of cephalophagy (...). This abominable habit has such power to appal that the saying "The 'flayer hasn't eaten yet!" was coined centuries ago to convey hope in the face of near-impossible situations.

So - hot topic, tadpoles! Originally, they come from mind flayer eggs, which Ilithids can produce only twice during their entire life. From those eggs, little, helpless tadpoles hatch after a whole month of extremely well protected incubation. And they remain so for another decade, thus it takes this long for a tadpole to mature and be ceromorphosis-ready. The tadpole survival count is 1:1000 - most of them get consumed by the elder brain which resides in the depths of the briny pool.

The criteria for ceromorphosis are also somewhat difficult, as the only acceptable races would be humans, elves, drow, githzerai and githyanki, grimlocks, gnolls, goblins and orcs. After having a tadpole inserted into one's ear, the magic begins - the process completely replaces the original tissue of the victim with Ilithid tissue, therefore - the original victim is dead. From this an Ilithid is formed - any they come in many shapes and sizes.

Generally, all of this makes Ilithids an extremely rare race to encounter (lucky original characters) and also - an extreme threat. As a society they highly resemble anything produced for Alien saga (especially Prometheus).

Arcane Ilithids Which in the lore are said to not even exist, since they are most likely the wrongly recognized type by those, who are not aware of psionic abilities effects. As per most of handbooks, psionics being different to spells, since the source of this power is science.

Ulitharids Or super-jacked Ilithids. Forming from tadpoles seasoned for not 10, but 20 years, reaching over 7 ft height and 6 tentacles and live for at least 250 years.

Elder Brain A sentient disembodied mind that resides at the bottom of the briny pool and initially is a conglomerate creation of deceased Ilithid brains. That makes it a united consciousness for all Ilithid colony. The elder brain suborns individual egos to the gestalt consciousness that suffuses it's mass of tangled, fibrous tissues. Generally, it reaches a 10-foot diameter in size (it is believed that the rest of the brain mass is shunt directly into a node of Astral Plane and remains unified with the elder brain on the Prime Material Plane).

Alhoons (Illithilichs) Rogue Ilithids! Basically undead magical adepts - strayed away from the collective consciousness and general Ilithid teachings to find their own way (in death, apparently). They "live" in solitude, being frowned upon by orthodox Ilithids.

Ilithid Vampires Exactly what is says on the cover - now eating both brains and blood. Their main area of inhabitancy is Demiplane of Dread. They are insane, not able to pass the curse to their victims and are being hunted down by their original race, since Ilithids absolutely hate them. Thankfully, no plague of vampiric mind flayers is imminent.

Urophions So, sometimes Ilithids experiment and do put the tadpole where they shouldn't. If it works, what they get is a very brain-thirsty but also not very comprehensive or mobile creature that ends up as an Ilithid watch dog. Some of them escape into the Underdark, in search of their true purpose.

Neothelids An insanely cool concept named leviathan slug by the author of the supplement. How does it happen? If someone or something kills the elder brain, the entire Ilithid colony around it dies, which leaves poor tadpoles with no food and care. As they grow hungrier, they, well... eat each other. Until the greatest tadpole survives. And the greatest tadpole still has to lurk around for little creatures' non-sentient brains. But with the right measures it will grow enough to finally eat a mind that thinks and this does the trick. Something called reciprocal sentience is triggered, creating a dragon-size neothelid, whose breath dissolves everything but brains.

#ad&d #ad&d 2e #Ilithids #lore #d&d #bg3 #dungeons & dragons #the ilithid #Bruce R. Cordell

[efangamez]

Shotguns, Shotguns, Shotguns in GRIM!

Tag urself im the T-1270 Goreshot.

------

Alt Text

SHELL AMMO WEAPONS / ALL AMMO WEAPONS

S-7 TYPHOON (Pump Shotgun, 1 Shell) Standard Fire: Deals 10 damage, shoots from no more than 15 feet away. Alt-Fire: Can use an action to pump the shotgun and multiply its damage by two each time (can only pump maximum three times. Consumes 1 Shell per extra pump.

Weapon Description: The S-7 Typhoon is a standard 12-gauge shotgun equipped with a multi-chambered barrel that allows for multiple shelled to be loaded at once. The Olympium steel allows this weapon to be a handheld cannon with little to no recoil by way of its hyper-cushioned stock. A normal shot of this weapon would put a hole though an enemy, but multiple shells loaded creates a biological chasm through targets.

GF-B9 JOTUNN (Quin-Barreled Shotgun, 5 Shells) Standard Fire: Deals 25 damage, shoots from no more than 10 feet away. Takes an action to reload after every shot, OR can swap weapons to reset need to reload. Alt-Fire: Single shot consumes 4 Shells and 4 Plasma Cells, Deals 25 damage, gain advantage to hit. Takes an action to reload after each shot, OR can swap weapons to reset need to reload.)

Weapon Description: The GF-B9 Jotunn is the previously standard issue CQC firearm for all Martyr Centauri units. By unloading all barrels at once, the Olympium-encased pellets shred smaller enemies into bits and can put a massive dent in a more large enemy's plans really quick. This weapon's status in the Martyrs was heavily reduced due to The Spurned One using this weapon against hordes of Martyrs, so it serves more as a secretly-utilized weapon in the trenches of foreign planets.

T-1270 GORESHOT (Single-Barrel 4-Gauge Shotgun, 20 Shells) Standard Fire: Deals 60 damage, shoots from no more than 15 feet away. Takes an action to reload after every shot, OR can swap weapons to reset need to reload. Alt-Fire: If at Max Shells, consumes all Shells, and deals 40 damage to all enemies in a 50-foot line. If enemies are killed with shot, bullet affects next target in line, and goes until attack does not kill target with this shot. Takes an action to reload after each shot, OR can swap weapons to reset need to reload.

Weapon Description: The T-1270 Goreshot is a weapon created to destroy exoskeletons and mech-suits of other enemies. By being an anti-material round, it was never intended to use in person-to-person combat, but since the selling of Olympium steel has expanded across galaxies, the need for more aromor-piercing rounds has skyrocketed. The highly-skilled and heavily armored Martyr Olympians use this weapon when fighting other opponents of similar make to them. By shooting an enemy with this weapon, the user can nearly guarantee a heavy blow to the enemy... or to witness a gore-filled fireworks display.

#ttrpg #indie ttrpg #GRIM #quake #doom #retro #retro fps #fps

[oliviabutsmart]

Physics "Friday" #11 [Opinion]: Okay so I have a few more problems with SI Units

Preamble: Now what Missy?

Education Level: Primary School (Y5/6)

Topic: Measuring Systems (Metrology)

Ok so this was going to be my necessary follow up to my first opinion post, Is Fahrenheit the better temperature scale?

I was meant to save it for the next time I had too much stuff to deal with on Friday and needed to write something easier. In fact, that's going to be how I do opinion posts - when I don't need to do as much a-thunkin'.

Regardless, there are of course other problems with the SI units system that many people point out. This is basically me doing it myself.

What are the SI Units?

During the french revolution, there were several attempts to metricise the existing unit system. Generating standardised units on length, volume, weight, temperature ... they even tried to decimalise time.

These units were based off physical constants:

The metre was one 10 millionth the distance from the north pole to the equator

The litre was the volume taken up by one kilogram of water

Celsius was based on the boiling/melting points of water

A kilogram was based on the weight of a specific Platinum-Iridium Alloy called the IPK (International Prototype Kilogram)

Now obviously, these weren't perfect constants. The earth's radius changed, the boiling point of water depends on the pressure of the environment, and the IPK can vary based on surrounding conditions.

This was fixed in 2019, when every SI measurement unit was defined using a universal constant rather than physical objects like a mass or the earth:

Hyperfine transition frequency of Caesium

Speed of light

Planck Constant

Charge of the Electron

Boltzmann Constant

Avogadro's Constant

Luminous Efficacy of 540 THz radiation

This gives our seven SI units:

Time (Second)

Distance (Meter)

Mass (Kilogram)

Charge (Columb)

Temperature (Kelvin)

Amount (Mole)

Luminous Intensity (Candela)

Problem #1: Unit-less units

There are several units that come from mathematics that appear to be unitless, like:

Angle (Radians)

Solid Angle (Steradians)

Amount (Number count)

We use this all the time like in lumens (candela steradians), angular velocity (radians per second), and number density (particles per cubic metre).

Wait ... amount was already listed as an SI quanity - it was a mole wasn't it?

That's exactly it. A mole is just defined as 6.022×10²³ objects of something. This is where we experience our first problem.

Why is radian and steradian not considered a unit in it's own right but a mole is?

Radians are defined as being one metre per metre. The angle required to create an arc with a length of 1 metre given a radius of one metre.

Image Credit: BYJU's

This comes from the formula S=Rθ where circular arc length (S) is equal to the radius (R) multiplied by angle in radians (θ).

The problem with this, is that the radian is still an arbitrary dimension. We could've chosen our standard angle unit to be a degree, and all we need to do is change the definition of the sine function and the above arc length definition:

S=kθR were kθ is dimensionless and k = 1 rad⁻¹

It's almost as if, while the radian is dimensionless, it still behaves and acts like a unit. Much like how we can redefine everything and make the unit for length be a foot instead, we can do the same with angle.

You may object, as S=Rθ looks a lot more fundamental than adding an extra unneeded constant. But it's like if we were to use natural units, where the speed of light is equal to 1, making E = mc² actually E = m.

This doesn't mean that m is somehow 'fundamental' when we define it in terms of energy. All we've done is redefine our unit system in a way that makes a few constants equal to one.

The same thing goes for radians.

A little side-note on Intensity

You could argue that this also applies to relative intensity units like Magnitude or Bels. However, I'd argue that they don't count as their unit systems are defined as being relative. The strength of a signal or luminosity is just choosing a unit system of power.

For example, relative magnitude is based on the luminosity of the sun. Sound/Signal amplitude is based on watts or volts.

Problem #2: Redundant Units

Many of the quantities in the SI unit system are technically redundant. Temperature can just be redefined as energy density, mass can be redefined as energy, etc.

What I'm concerned with is one unit in particular: the Candela - what exactly is it?

I often find that a lot of people attempting to explain the SI unit system often brush over this unit, even though it feels rather important given it's called 'Luminous Intensity'.

But hold on, isn't luminosity just about energy production? After all, radiation is just energy, and it's emitted as a form of energy.

A candela is equal to one lumen per steradian, where a lumen is the total luminous intensity of an object that emits light everywhere. Candelas concern luminous intensity from a specific solid angle view of the object.

Watts, the measurement of power and bolometric luminosity, measure the total (or bolometric) luminosity of an object at all wavelengths of light.

Lumens, on the other hand, represent the power produced by an object after each wavelength is passed through some filtering function that accounts for how the human eye sees light. This weighting function is determined by the ISO.

Of course, our eyes only see light within a particular range, and inside of that range, different wavelengths appear more intense to us because we pick it up more.

But this fails to recognise that this is still just a glorified unit of power. Just because it's weighted based on some function, shouldn't change what unit is necessarily uses. Hence it is technically redundant as it can be defined as a combination of other SI units - similar to radians.

Problem #3: When the unit system isn't used

I mentioned it in the last post, but there are a lot of occasions where the standard SI units aren't used. The worst culprit I feel is Astronomy, with Physics only having issues in lieu of SI vs. Natural units vs. Electron/Atomic Units. Again here's the list:

My beloved SI units

CGS Units

Whatever the fuck a Jansky is

Don't even start with natural units I can't live without big G

"Ampere in CGS units is g1/2 cm3/2 s−2"

Solar Luminosity/Mass of Sun

Angstroms (like please can we just use nanometers?)

How many Jupiters or Earths fit into this cloud of gas?

The vomit of parallax units i.e. AU, pc, Mpc, arcseconds, radians

Steradians (Solid angles can be finicky)

Logarithms, logarithms everywhere!

Hubble's constant being in km/s/Mpc but then having to turn that into Hz or per year - like can someone please acknowledged how cursed this is?

When you do Kepler's 3rd law on Mercury and realise it doesn't work (because you forgot Einstein existed) ... so no units end up working

ADUs and/or whatever you get when you deal with telescope outputs

Sidereal time, J2000, etc.

Sky Coordinates (it always depends on the telescope mount)

(the last two are new entries into the list I forgot!)

A lot of these units are very, very, annoying to handle. Often at times because they are just so unnecessary. We have scientific notation for a reason - so why are we using Jansky? Why ever use the mass of planets unless if we are talking about specifically exoplanets?

It can especially be annoying when in astronomy course subjects, unit conversions make up like 50% of the work and 50% of the error in calculations.

And the biggest problem, of course, is the CGS units system. I hate it. So much. From what I know CGS is used simply because it appears as more correctly "scaled" for a lot of astronomical processes.

However, the problem is that it just adds extra conversion factors into every equation. Now I have to remember big G in both CGS units as well as in SI or solar units etc. And it doesn't jive with a lot of other astronomical units.

J2000 is also rather annoying - why are we using the Julian calendar at all? Shouldn't we try and strive for using a more accurate year instead? Because what happens is that every four years the calendar shifts by a day.

The "Ampere in CGS units is g1/2 cm3/2 s-2" is a direct quote from one of my professors. And it also makes very little sense - because it says that the coulomb and ampere units are actually redundant.

However, CGS units aren't usually the only thing we use. Sometimes we put things in Gaussian CGS units, where we define the coulomb's constant (kₑ) as being 1. Thus, similar to natural units, we can define a statCoulomb in terms of our three base units:

1 statC = 1 g1/2⋅cm3/2⋅s−1.

Now this is where we find our ampere definition! But wait ... this is materially different to the real ampere. In fact, we can determine the difference between coulombs and statcoulombs:

So they are different! And thus, after several paragraphs, my lecturer is wrong and they shouldn't've used the Ampere but a different stat ampere.

So what would I do?

Well, the big problem with all unit systems is that they are just equivalent to eachother dimensionally.

Because of all the seperate equations surrounding each of the SI units, we can define any SI unit in terms of any other SI unit combination just by setting certain constants to one.

So there's quite a lot of units that we could me missing.

But here's how I would do it ...

There are five unique SI units:

Distance - Metre

Time - Second

Mass - Kilogram

Charge - Coulomb

Temperature - Kelvin

There are also three dimensionless/special units:

Amount - Mole

Angle - Radian

Luminosity - Lumen

These three units are special as they can be expressed as dimensionless constants or in terms of other units, however we want them to be expressed in our own specific units.

Solid Angle is just determined from square radians where 1 sr = π/4 rad² (ratio of square and circle of same diameter).

The constants which define these unique units are:

Hyperfine transition frequency of Caesium

Speed of light

Planck Constant

Charge of the Electron

Boltzmann Constant

For the non-unique units we have:

Avogadro's Constant

Pi

Luminous Efficacy of 540 THz radiation

Conclusion

This post did end up taking longer than I expected ... much longer. Nevertheless it was fun to do!

As stated in the start, opinion posts are for those Fridays where things aren't as easy as spending 2-3 hrs writing a post. Because when you want to argue a point you have a little more passion behind it.

Anywho. Did you know that only 5% of people who read this post actually follow this channel?. SMASH THAT FUCKING LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE. Brought to you by Raid Skillspace VPN™.

Feedback's always welcome. Come and debate me you cowards. Follow if you like it ... or don't.

#physics friday #stem #academics #stemblr #science #astronomy #si units #Finding hashtags for metrology is a bit difficult

[pathfinderunlocked]

Mad Mallard - CR4 Monstrous Humanoid

Also known as Duck GI and Captain Duck.

Artwork is official art from Children of Mana, copyright Square Enix.

This is a recurring enemy from the Series of Mana video games. That's a flail in the artwork, not a ball and chain fettered to the duck's leg.

Mad mallards are angry, not insane. They're demihumans, and tend to live in small settlements on the shores of rivers and lakes, where they build only simple fragile wooden structures to live in, but spend far more time and effort building defensive siege weaponry and other military defenses. Their extremely militaristic and xenophobic nature makes them dangerous, but their appearance makes them hard for many people to take seriously. Mad mallards instinctively coordinate with each other very well, quacking orders and working in tandem like organized military units without requiring any actual training.

I included descriptions here of its teamwork feats, for ease of running the monster. Because there are so many of them, I separated them out into their own section in the stat block.

Mad Mallard - CR 4

This oversized duck-like creature walks on land and stands about waist-high to a human. It carries a heavy ball and chain that it swings menacingly with its wings, and it wears a metal helmet that covers most of its head, though its large duck bill sticks out from underneath.

XP 1,200 LN Small monstrous humanoid Init +2 Senses darkvision 60 ft; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+3 armor, +2 Dex, +1 size) hp 37 (5d10+10) Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +4 Defensive Abilities evasion, mallard helmet

OFFENSE

Speed 15 ft., swim 30 ft., fly 10 ft. (clumsy) Melee heavy flail +9 (1d8+4/19-20) Ranged pumpkin bomb +8 ranged touch (3d6+1 (+1d6+1 on crit) plus 4 splash fire damage, DC 13) (20 ft. range increment) Special Attacks pumpkin bomb (6/day)

STATISTICS

Str 16, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 8 Base Atk +5; CMB +7; CMD 19 Feats Broken Wing Gambit, Coordinated Defense, Coordinated Distraction, Duck and Cover, Improved Duck and Cover, Splash Volley Skills Acrobatics +5, Diplomacy -1 (+1 vs. mad mallards), Fly -4, Intimidate +5 (+7 vs. mad mallards, +1 vs. humanoids), Perception +5, Swim +15, Stealth +13; Racial Modifiers -4 Intimidate vs. humanoids Languages Aquatic SQ tandem tactics Gear Small-sized heavy flail, mallard helmet

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Mallard Helmet (Ex) A mad mallard's helmet functions as metal parade armor that is specially designed to fit a mad mallard, granting it a +3 armor bonus. Like most parade armor, it grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks against members of the group that the armor is the uniform of; in this case, against mad mallards. This armor only fits Small humanoid-shaped creatures with avian heads.

Pumpkin Bomb (Su) A mad mallard has a stash of 6 pumpkin bombs per day which it can hurl at enemies, similar to an alchemist's bombs. Drawing the components of, creating, and throwing a pumpkin bomb requires a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Thrown pumpkin bombs have a range of 20 feet and use the Throw Splash Weapon special attack. On a direct hit, a pumpkin bomb inflicts 3d6+1 points of fire damage (although only 1d6+1 of this damage is multiplied on a critical hit or by using feats such as Vital Strike). Splash damage from a pumpkin bomb is always equal to the bomb's minimum damage (typically 4 damage). Those caught in the splash damage can attempt a DC 13 Reflex save for half damage. The number of bombs per day, damage, and save DC are Intelligence-based, and each include a +2 racial bonus.

Tandem Tactics (Ex) A mad mallard gains Broken Wing Gambit, Duck and Cover, and Improved Duck and Cover as bonus teamwork feats. Additionally, a mad mallard is treated as if it possesses the teamwork feats of its allies, even if it doesn't meet the prerequisites of those teamwork feats, as long as an ally who actually possesses the feat is taking part in the teamwork. (For example, if an ally has the Back to Back feat, a mad mallard and that ally gain the benefits of Back to Back as long as they are adjacent to each other, but two mad mallards adjacent to each other do not benefit from Back to Back while that ally is not adjacent to them.)

TEAMWORK FEATS

Broken Wing Gambit Whenever you make a melee attack and hit your opponent, you can use a free action to grant that opponent a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls against you until the end of your next turn or until your opponent attacks you, whichever happens first. If that opponent attacks you with this bonus, it provokes attacks of opportunity from your allies who have this feat.

Coordinated Defense Whenever you are adjacent to an ally who also has this feat, you receive a +2 competence bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense. This bonus increases to +4 if the creature attempting the maneuver is larger than both you and your ally.

Coordinated Distraction When you and at least one ally with this feat threaten the same enemy, the enemy treats the DC to cast spells defensively as 2 higher for each threatening character with this feat. If you or your allies are incapable of taking an attack of opportunity against the target for any reason, the effects of this feat do not apply.

Duck and Cover Whenever you are adjacent to an ally who also has this feat, and both of you are required to make a reflex saving throw against a spell or effect, you may take the result of your die roll or that of your ally (your modifiers still apply to the roll, regardless of which result you take). If you take your ally’s result, you are knocked prone (or staggered on your next turn, if you are already prone or cannot be knocked prone). In addition, you receive a +2 cover bonus to your AC against ranged attacks as long as your ally is wielding a shield.

Improved Duck and Cover Whenever you use Duck and Cover, your ally has evasion or improved evasion, and your ally’s saving throw roll succeeds, half of the damage you would have taken is transferred to your ally. (This damage is not reduced by the ally’s evasion or improved evasion.)

Splash Volley You initiate this feat whenever you throw a splash weapon into a square within the reach of an ally who also has this feat and miss your target. Rather than you rolling to see where the weapon lands, the abettor can try to redirect it as an immediate action by making a melee touch attack against any adjacent foe. If the abettor’s attack hits that foe, the splash weapon impacts in the nearest square the targeted foe occupies.

#d&d #pathfinder 1e #monstrous humanoid #aquatic #mana series