Carl Sagan

Hey Chris. I'd somehow missed this thread. What a ride! Great to see young Clara is doing well, but after all she's been through already I can't believe you're trying to turn her into a Ram as well! :D

15 hours ago, angieram said:

This is spot on. We can all work out from our own experiences that the rollout is way ahead of the Government's targets, presumably so we can ride any blips in the supply chain like this India one.

But the media want to use it as yet another 'story' to create a stir. They really do irritate me at times. It's not even political, as they do it with all parties, it's just this insatiable appetite for sensationalism and an inflated opinion of their own importance in the world!

A thousand times this. I think it's the result of having a 24/7 news media. They think people get bored because they have to listen to news headlines every half hour throughout the day, so they're desperate for a new story and they're really desperate to be first with it and get their scoop, and it's so damaging to society. There are loads of times when they could actually spin a good news story, but without fail they look for the negative in everything. I always used to be a news junkie, but when Covid started getting bad I stopped watching the news more than twice a day and life has been much the better for it. 

I find this whole thing depressing. In the post-match interview it sounded as if Sibley knew he had to hold his tongue, but what I took from his comment at the end that "I'm not here to sit on the bench" made me think he won't be here much longer. Especially if Rooney continues to take credit for playing him in his right position for 45 minutes for the very first time this season. After which, we see another Messi-esque goal, which should surprise no one.

Football's such a simple game. Derby are desperate for creativity and a goal threat. Absolutely desperate. So it's not hard to think we might want to play our most creative forward-thinking player and then put him in the position where he can do most damage to opponents. 

I'm glad Louie is a genuine Ram and loves playing for Derby more than anything. It means there's just a chance he might stay if he has a run in the team till the end of the season.

Here's the official video of the Starship SN10 test flight all the way through to the landing, without the subsequent explosion. The landing footage is remarkable. 

The next prototype, SN11, is on the launchpad and may fly as early as Friday. 

I think the issue is that Sibley is an attack-minded, very creative central midfielder, and when he burst into the team and made such an impact that was his role. So it's frustrating that Rooney is occasionally giving him 5 or 10 minutes out on the left wing and then singles him out for criticism for not delivering. 

We are absolutely desperate for goals as a team. If we can't start scoring we might yet be relegated. But we're not making the most of our attacking assets. I say put round pegs into round holes and we might be more dangerous. We have lots of players who can do a job wide, but Sibbo is better suited and perhaps our biggest goal threat centrally.

I hope Sibley can take it. It must be very tough for him playing out of position, seeing Watson get praise for being brought in to play centrally when this is Sibley's position but he's never selected to show what he can do there. Yet last season he showed us how good he was playing centrally. It's a very weird one on Rooney's part.

On 10/03/2021 at 09:12, Stive Pesley said:

An interesting piece about the challenges of how we power an inhabited base on Mars in the future

https://medium.com/predict/mars-big-problem-does-elon-know-7453dcb5feaf

TL;DR with great difficulty

 

Thanks. Interesting, but I suggest far too negative. But right to point out that a colony will require a lot of energy.

Initially there's a lot of space on Mars for a lot of solar panels. and with people there we can clean the dust off most of the time. Then the option not even mentioned here is space-based solar power, with stations in orbit around Mars in permanent sunshine beaming the energy down. We're getting closer to this on Earth and the technology is instantly transferable to a Mars colony. Then nuclear is an option within a much shorter timeframe than the 200 years mentioned. The writer doesn't understand the accelerating pace of technological progress. Any Martian colony will likely end up refining its own uranium fairly quickly when we see that technology fairly easy to develop and maintain on Earth.

With a spacefaring capacity on Mars it's so much easier to also industrialize the asteroid belt, as you don't have to escape Earth's deep gravity, so that will happen within 50 years not 200. Though the point of Mars is that it does have the resources needed in situ.

The piece talks so much about a colony of 12 people and doesn't grasp the transformational nature of what SpaceX is trying to achieve. This is about the democratization of space. It's not about 12 people or even 12,000. It's hundreds of thousands. The Starships being built are cheap and relatively easy to build and SpaceX will be building one a week and then even faster. This means even in the early days there will be a vast cargo capability to Mars, taking far more than anyone would at one time (and even now for this author) have thought possible to carry to the red planet.

13 minutes ago, maxjam said:

Never get bored of watching them land upright ?

But also an impressive and unexpected encore!

20 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

Sounds like people would have to be near it to make it safe, which sounds like not the place you want to be when it decides to spontaneously combust. But as much as you can gather tone through text, I guess from your tone that no one got hurt.

Pad completely clear for a very large distance. The "safing" processes are automated (though didn't work well enough in this case!). No one hurt at all. And as well as the telemetry on the way down, there might still be some useful info from the wreckage (eg how the heatshield tiles held up). Here it is:

Third time's a charm. Kind of. This one landed safely, even if it was leaning a little. But then, a few minutes later as they were making the vehicle safe, it rose back into the air and blew up. I think a methane leak.

We're trying to launch in 5 minutes if anyone wants to watch live

At some point in the next 9 hours we're hoping to have a test flight. Right now the Starship hasn't been fuelled, and I'm imagine it won't be until this evening. The cutoff is midnight UK time.

You can watch the buildup at:

A heads up that Starship SN10 is finally ready to launch, and if everything goes to plan there will be an attempt today (Wednesday 3rd March). Will it be third-time lucky with the landing?

In other news, Elon Musk has applied to change the name of Boca Chica Village in Clarkson County, Texas, where the Starship yard is being created, to call it Starbase, Texas instead:

I'm in an apartment building with a basement carpark (with no existing charging mechanism set up) so installing a home-charging system would be a real pain (how could it even be metered?). I'm waiting until the building management sorts something out rather than offer to pay myself. In the meanwhile, if anyone lives in London there's a great rental option on EVs through a company called ufodrive that I'd recommend. https://www.ufodrive.com/en/

7 hours ago, RamNut said:

So?

He's our youngest ever player and our youngest ever goalscorer. Yes it didn't work out, but I'm interested in hearing how he does at the same level we're playing at. That sort of thing is surely what this section is for?

For those interested here's his goal, plus a decent headed attempt and a chance not taken to equalize again near the end:

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/competitions/championship/12230869/barnsley-2-1-millwall

1 hour ago, Wolfie said:

 

Seeing as you two are the Bladerunner experts....

I saw it on TV when I was a teenager (and enjoyed it) but have not re-visited it until now.

Which is the best version to watch?. I've got the "Final Cut" recorded on my TV box but there seem to be a few different versions to choose from on other platforms. I want to re-watch the original before I see the 2049 version.

I suspect it must have been the original theatrical version I saw first time around.

There are 3 main versions: original release, director's cut and final cut. The standard nowadays would definitely be to watch the Final Cut as the way Ridley-Scott most wanted it to be.

I have a soft spot for the original release as the only one that has Harrison Ford's voiceover to explain what's going on. The drawl that begins, "They don't advertise for killers in a newspaper...". As well as imposing the voiceover, the original theatrical release missed out one scene that's key to a particular interpretation of the film and that would fit with the original Philip K Dick book.

The Director's Cut removed the voiceover and reinstated the missing scene, and IIRC lost a bit of the original ending.

The main thing I could see in the Final Cut revolved around the famous Rutger Hauer rooftop scene. In the original and in the Director's Cut, part of this was belatedly shot on an industrial estate in Swindon and is entirely out of keeping with the look and feel of the movie, so just jars horribly. When I first saw the Director's Cut I couldn't believe it was still in there. In the Final Cut this has been done properly so you don't notice.

I love the thought of a double bill of the Final Cut followed by 2049. I might treat myself to that one of these days!

28 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

I really liked Inception but I think it's one of those films that requires a little 'work' from the viewer. For me that's fine and I think the balance was right whereas with Tenet I felt it was not. I've not seen Eternal Sunshine and I've no idea why. Blade Runner I never got to see in a cinema but I remember a group of us hanging out in London one summer holiday when we were kids and renting 5 movies from Video Shuttle on the Fulham Road which was one of, if not the first video rental outlet in the UK. Along with Blade Runner, one of the others was Alien, another Ridley Scott movie and they are still very much both on my desert island list with Blade Runner being my favourite ever sci-fi by a stretch.

My home life was difficult at that time so I was staying in Wandsworth at the home of a pal whose father was a very well respected Director of Photography who worked with Ridley Scott on a couple of movies including his breakout movie, The Duellists. I think it was Ridley's first feature? A few years later I started work in a London production company and two or three years after that I became a union accredited clapper loader, or second assistant camera in modern speak. It was one of the happiest times of my life. My roundabout point, if you've not nodded off yet being that it was Blade Runner that lit the fire so to speak and I still watch it every couple of years to this day. Absolutely, spine-tinglingly wondrous and every bit as good today as it was then. 

Fantastic story. I've not seen the Duellists so might take a look over the weekend. Yes you have to see Eternal Sunshine. Charlie Kaufman's finest hour, even ahead of Synecdoche New York? And did you ever do Alien War at the Trocadero? The first immersive cinematic experience I had, so far ahead of its time.

I really liked that Blade Runner 2049 was not at all what I expected, but a beautiful and beautifully paced story. What does it mean to be a human, for the Ana de Armas character, was very clever. At least it didn't ruin the original movie.

Are you still in the industry? 

On 04/02/2021 at 14:14, JoetheRam said:

Inception is the most overrated film I've ever seen. Just completely "Dr Who's" it's way through by introducing some magical way of solving a problem in the plot out of nowhere. But it looks pretty. 

Not seen the others you mention. 

I like Terminator 1 & 2 I suppose.

The Martian was good for the first half and then just got stupid.

They're the two (three) that I could watch again. Can't think of any others I like. Just find it very hard to suspend all belief in reality which is required with most of these films.

 

Inception vies with Blade Runner and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for the (much sought after) prize of my favourite movie. I'm saddened when people don't enjoy it. I try to tell people Eternal Sunshine is also sci-fi as it's about erasing your memory if you want to forget something or rather someone, but most people just think of it as a love story. Highly recommend to you and anyone who's not seen it.

8 hours ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

It would be funny if Dark Fruits was secretly the most heavenly drink in the entire Universe, perhaps scientifically designed to create a sensation of unparalleled exquisite bliss in the Human brain, only for so many of us to ever taste these delights. Perhaps I should give it a go one time, just to be sure?

5 hours ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

Mayo on chips is something I’ve never understood. 

If you drink Dark Fruits you clearly have a lot to learn about good taste :D

Thinking of past gigs and wishing I could go to present ones. Used to go and see British Sea Power at every opportunity. They would end their shows with the beautiful song "Lately", but a very extended version. Sets were adorned by foliage, the band often in World War I fatigues. And as the number progressed they would often be joined on stage by surprise (if you didn't know what was coming) guests. I loved this gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire. There's one such visitor at the 8 minute mark if you make it that far. And another from 11:45. Beautiful lyrics:

"And you know how they say
The past is a foreign country
How can we go there?
How can we go where we once went?"

I do really want to go to a place where there are gigs again:

4 hours ago, richinspain said:

Have you tried this one?

 

Fantastic! Didn't realize he was doing this. 

Fish on Friday, anyone?

Did no else make pancakes? 

I did savoury then sweet. Here we have buttermilk pancakes topped with shallots, woodland mushrooms, streaky bacon and maple syrup. 

Very good in the FA Cup tonight. Alex Scott had prepared a whole analysis package to highlight how well he'd done, but Leon Osman talked too much so she didn't have time to show it!