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New to me Facts and Ideas in August 2024

By Justin G. on 24SEP02MON

More space facts than I would have predicted this time.

Week 32

Began on 24AUG05MON .

• Idea: thinking hard is not fun? I don’t think I really buy it. Maybe if you aren’t doing it right. Via Damn Interesting.
• Idea: Swiss Army knife of lunar utility infrastructure? It’s bigger than you think, and it sounds like fantasy to me. Via Damn Interesting.
• Idea: Plant Behavior and Philosophy, also via Damn Interesting. I still want to watch Green Planet, which a friend described to me in a way that strongly resembles this article.
• Idea: the assembly index as test for life? Via Damn Interesting. I only loosely scanned the article, and wikipedia, the index is how many different kinds of pieces come out when you break the molecules up by force. Think hitting a pocket watch (we all carry those, right?) with a hammer. You get gears and hands and pieces of glass. That’s a lot of kinds of pieces.
• Fact: Google is a monopoly, in search, via Kottke. They will appeal, already reported in NYT.
• Fact: Starliner is still at the ISS, via Hacker News, and the crew may be brought back by SpaceX Dragon. It launched in June, and was supposed to be up there for a week or two.

Week 33

Began on 24AUG12MON .

Travel week. I did read some feeds, but maybe between my being out of my usual environment, and it being the middle of August so people are on vacation, I didn’t pick up many new things.

• Idea: framing stories by their inner and outer realities.

Week 34

Began on 24AUG19MON .

• Fact: there is a spaceport, SaxaVord, on the northernmost inhabited Shetland island. The first launch is planned for this year, so it’s not a proven spaceport. Via Ars Technica.
• Hypothesis: The Wow! signal may be explained (also first here). Via Damn Interesting & Ars Technica.
• What the fact: Polaris Dawn commercial space mission will do some pretty crazy stuff to investigate the effects of Van Allen belt radiation on humans in space, among other things such as EVA. Via A.
• Fact: Second largest diamond found.
• Fact: Nasa opts to return Boeing’s Starliner without the crew. See also hacker news discussion. The crew will return early in ‘25 on a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
• Hypothesis: Air filtering helps reduce infections, via Hacker News. I thought we knew this already. Why aren’t we mandating air circulation in all public spaces?
• Fact: 5000 year old pollution is still around. Well, archaeologists found it anyway.

Week 35

Began on 24AUG26MON .

• Fact: the land around Los Alamos is as contaminated as Chernobyl. Via Damn Interesting.
• Fact: A new glacier is forming in Mt. St. Helens, via Damn Interesting.
• Fact: Polaris Dawn is delayed because SpaceX Falcon 9 boosters are grounded after one doesn’t stick the landing.
• Evidence: Crows (corvids) are smarter than previously thought, via Hacker News.
• Evidence: Neolithic builders had a solid grasp on engineering including the arch principle and bedrock foundations. Via Ancient Beat.

To Reply: Email me a cool fact you've learned lately. Or a correction.