efaardvark
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Status Replies posted by efaardvark
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100F temps lately means replacing the A/C air filter in the car gets top priority on today's todo list. Having to choose between breathing oven-temperature air or air that smells like moldy socks is not a choice one should have to make.
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@Bulleje76 Sunny Southern California. Only it wasn't so sunny today.
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From my cheesehead brother…
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@Animedragon.. to tell the truth I’m not sure either.
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Got married March 17th 2023!
Obsessed with my wedding ring
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Question, what cakes would you like to eat at a maid cafe?
The con im working at in 2 weeks has given me 8 slots to fill and im struggling to think of cakes to make/get
rough ideas so far are
-black forest gateu
-trifle
-eton mess
-blondies
-carrot cakeI also need to take these cakes down to the very bottom of the UK. halp me decide or give suggestions
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I like cheesecake.. but also the "foam" cakes like angel food and sponge cakes. Angel with a bit of fruit topping of some sort is yum. Then there's lemon bars, maybe with a cup of tea or coffee.
Thank you, now I'm hungry.
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Taking a break from anime this week. I miss Carl Sagan.
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I always get so surprised when people on this forum actually know stuff about me
I'll be like 'OMG HOW DID THEY KNOW I LIKE DANGANRONPA??
' even though it's in my profile and I've talked about it excessively 
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Listening to Japanese radio stations through an international radio app is such a trip. The talk show hosts all talk a mile per minute. Music choices range from American punk to the latest J-pop (and the occasional traditional ballad). The weirdest station was one in rural Hokkaido that was nothing but religious talks about kami-Sama (God). Japan isn't a religious country, so that one really stood out.
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@Neb Yes, a Christian-specific station would be a bit rare. The "other" category (in terms of religion) in Japan after Shinto and Buddhism is somewhat less than 10% and Christianity specifically is maybe 1-2% overall.
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Listening to Japanese radio stations through an international radio app is such a trip. The talk show hosts all talk a mile per minute. Music choices range from American punk to the latest J-pop (and the occasional traditional ballad). The weirdest station was one in rural Hokkaido that was nothing but religious talks about kami-Sama (God). Japan isn't a religious country, so that one really stood out.
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I would not call that Hokkaido station weird. You will find the same thing on the radio in the more rural regions of places such as Kansas and Alabama. Japan actually IS pretty religious. 80%(ish) of the population practices Shinto rituals to some degree. (And/or Buddhism, though some would say Buddhism is more a philosophy than a religion.)
Um.. do people still use AM/FM radio? Am I revealing my age?
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I've been really sick all week. i would wake up at 12am and sleep at 6 pm because my body can't handle it. I hate this
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Looks like of the two cubes that I liked, OMOTENASHI and NEAS, neither one is looking too good.
OMOT was a JAXA-sponsored lunar lander that was supposed to have landed on the moon this morning via (intentional) “lithobraking”.
It may or may not have done so. Unfortunately it hasn’t been heard from since it was deployed last week so nobody knows for sure. The other JAXA mission, EQUULEUS, seems to be functioning as expected however.
The other one I liked was the Near Earth Asteroid Scout. Or as I liked to call it the rainbow sail mission due to its propulsion & maneuvering system. It was supposed to use a new type of solar sail to visit a couple near-earth asteroids but it too has not been heard from since deployment.
So far 4 of the 8 cubesats have had problems post-deployment. (Artemis itself seems to be doing well.)
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@Animedragon The cubes' were always "stretch goals", and most of them were done on a shoestring budget and supported on a best-effort basis. A few of them were just in the right place at the right time when the Artemis folks said, "hey, we're headed for the moon.. anyone need a ride?" There were originally (I think) 13 that said "yes" to that offer but couldn't make various integration or test dates. The rest have been tucked away incommunicado in their interstage bays while Artemis went through the last year and a half of launch slips. I think at least two of them hadn't even had so much as their batteries recharged in all that time. Not surprising that a few aren't behaving as planned.
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Found out a coworker tested + for C19 so I’m getting myself tested as well. No symptoms <knock knock> but I’ve got a big week ahead at work and an 82yo mother in memory care that I have to visit regularly & I need to know.
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just wanted to ask but where is your waifu from if you don't mind me asking?
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That is the Liladan android Korone from Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou. The anime itself is not recommended, but I did enjoy her character.
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cat emojis
> normal emojjs 
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Oh my goodness I haven't been here in ages! I hope everyone is doing well!
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Talking with a co-worker who doesn't like the ocean. He won't go near it. He won't travel by ship. He won't go to the beach. He doesn't even like flying over it. The weird thing is he has no problems with a swimming pool or river. He's a really good swimmer in fact. Even used to be a lifeguard for the pool at a nearby YMCA. So I asked him why he's afraid of the ocean. He said, "I'm not afraid of the ocean. I afraid of big things in the ocean."
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If you think that's unnerving..
Imagine extraterrestrial oceans like on Enceladus or Europa. Even though it is a moon, Europa alone has more than twice as much water on it as Earth does. It is permanently covered by ice so you would have to dig down maybe a couple dozen kilometers to even get to it, and from there it might be another 150km (90+ miles) or more before you'd reach the bottom of Europa's ocean. That's over 10x as deep as any ocean here on Earth. Of course being so far from the sun and covered by kilometers-thick ice besides those oceans will be completely dark from top to bottom. However, at the bottom are probably hydrothermal vents like there are here on Earth. It is quite possible that there is life - of some sort - lurking in those oceans as well.
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Since I don’t know Japanese and I bought vn’s that are only available in Japanese, I’m currently playing with my psp in one hand and my phone in the other trying to google translate the text showing up and understanding it. It’s hell but it’s much easier than learning Japanese.
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Haven't been on here in awhile, oops.
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So Artemis-1 is (hopefully) launching on the 29th. On it will be 8 smaller cubesats, which will be deployed by Artemis at 2 "bus stops" on its way to the moon. The cubesats will then find their own ways to fulfill their various missions, with NASA's Deep Space Network of tracking stations providing the data link for them all.
Or at least that was the plan. Someone recently realized that with 9 new spacecraft all vying for time on the DSN's already overbooked downlink stations it might be a good idea to see what additional options for tracking time might be available in the world in case something doesn't go as planned and one or more of the cubesats wind up needing additional tracking time due to problems post-deployment. Yeah. So now, only a couple weeks before launch, we're doing cross-support testing with the European Space Agency to make sure that's at least an option.
Let's see, 8 cubesats x 5 ESA tracking stations, uplink and downlink, call it 5 data rates and 2 or 3 different encoding schemes per sat. Maybe 10-12 hours of testing per cubesat if we're quick about it. Then there's equipment and manpower availability to allocate and schedule, factoring in the time zones of the various mission operations centers (JAXA, Italy, Goddard, etc.), the stations (Goonhilly, New Norcia, Cebrerus, etc.), and of course JPL in California.
Um.. how long did you say we had to finish this?
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@Wodahs we’re in something of a holding pattern right now until engineers decide what’s necessary to fix or bypass the problem on the vehicle. We’re in the launch configuration and a configuration hold (no changing anything) so really we’re just waiting. Latest word is we’ll probably try again Saturday.
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So Artemis-1 is (hopefully) launching on the 29th. On it will be 8 smaller cubesats, which will be deployed by Artemis at 2 "bus stops" on its way to the moon. The cubesats will then find their own ways to fulfill their various missions, with NASA's Deep Space Network of tracking stations providing the data link for them all.
Or at least that was the plan. Someone recently realized that with 9 new spacecraft all vying for time on the DSN's already overbooked downlink stations it might be a good idea to see what additional options for tracking time might be available in the world in case something doesn't go as planned and one or more of the cubesats wind up needing additional tracking time due to problems post-deployment. Yeah. So now, only a couple weeks before launch, we're doing cross-support testing with the European Space Agency to make sure that's at least an option.
Let's see, 8 cubesats x 5 ESA tracking stations, uplink and downlink, call it 5 data rates and 2 or 3 different encoding schemes per sat. Maybe 10-12 hours of testing per cubesat if we're quick about it. Then there's equipment and manpower availability to allocate and schedule, factoring in the time zones of the various mission operations centers (JAXA, Italy, Goddard, etc.), the stations (Goonhilly, New Norcia, Cebrerus, etc.), and of course JPL in California.
Um.. how long did you say we had to finish this?
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@Wodahs.. please don't.
I'm sure there's spanners aplenty for us to find as it is without additional "help" adding more.
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So a seagull nearly knocked me out this morning and I had to run for my life
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Looks like I have to go out to Goldstone on the 10th. Damn.. I thought I was done with that when I switched jobs.
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@Wodahs Yes, it is very much a drive through (and hope you don't have to stop) sort of place.
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Looks like I have to go out to Goldstone on the 10th. Damn.. I thought I was done with that when I switched jobs.
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@Ohayotaku Yes, though without the Banthas or Jawas. There may or may not be sarlacc out there somewhere. I have never been motivated to explore much beyond the inhabited (and air-conditioned) parts of the complex but there are antlions to be found in the sandy areas nearby.
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Looks like I have to go out to Goldstone on the 10th. Damn.. I thought I was done with that when I switched jobs.
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@Soramee_ It is more of a where than a what. From Los Angeles you drive about 2-3 hours into the California high desert. When you get to the middle of nowhere (aka Barstow, CA) between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, get off the highway and keep driving for half an hour or so until you reach the Fort Irwin army training facility. Then turn left and drive for another 45 minutes. (If you still have cell signal then you haven't gone far enough... the place is purposefully built as far as possible from anything resembling civilization in order to avoid stray RF interference.) Quite some time after you lose cell coverage but a bit before you fall off the edge of the world you will have arrived at Goldstone.
Assuming you haven't been flattened by a tank or run off the road by a herd of wild burro 
first. Watch out for coyotes 
, tarantulas 
, and scorpions 
if you leave your car. Not to mention heatstroke! 
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Can't fool me! I know what's in the green.. and it isn't "mint chocolate"!
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@Animedragon I wonder too. I think companies just look at a table of names vs sorted by the %age of people who recognize that “brand” and go with the top entry. Otherwise, yeah. Why pick that one?
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. (Some days you just gotta.)
(Though I have to admit I don't play with it much anymore, and I lost my Rune Factory cart somewhere along the way.)
