WingNews logo WingNews GitHub [2]

jswhitten's comments

jswhitten | 10 years ago | on: Ask HN: Why has nobody gone to the Moon since 1972?

A radio telescope on the far side of the Moon would have the advantage of being shielded from all the radio interference from Earth.

I'm not sure that there are any advantages to placing an optical telescope on the Moon rather than in space.

jswhitten | 10 years ago | on: Ask HN: Why has nobody gone to the Moon since 1972?

No. We might have fusion power plants within a few decades, but those will use deuterium and tritium as fuels, not Helium-3. Helium-3 fusion has some advantages, but it's more difficult and it might not happen within our lifetime.

jswhitten | 12 years ago | on: First Potentially Habitable Earth-Sized Planet Confirmed by Observatories

The orbital plane of planets in a given system is random as far as we know, and not related to the plane of the galaxy. Our own solar system, for example, is tilted more than 60 degrees from the plane of the galaxy's disk.

So as you might expect, more than 99% of all planets in a sample are undetectable by this technique. Kepler has been so successful because it is watching about 150,000 stars at once, all in an area of sky that would be covered by your fist at arm's length.

jswhitten | 12 years ago | on: California woman ticketed for wearing Google Glass while driving

Doesn't "is operating" mean it's only illegal if turned on?

27602. (a) A person shall not drive a motor vehicle if a television receiver, a video monitor, or a television or video screen, or any other similar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal that produces entertainment or business applications, is operating and is located in the motor vehicle at a point forward of the back of the driver’s seat, or is operating and the monitor, screen, or display is visible to the driver while driving the motor vehicle.

jswhitten | 12 years ago | on: Seven-Planet System Detected

It's not, it's slightly larger and more massive than the Sun. Only the outermost planet is within the habitable zone, but it's a gas giant.

jswhitten | 12 years ago | on: Krugman’s Theory of Interstellar Trade

Because the timescale of the universe is much longer than the timescale of human civilization or intelligence. The odds of any aliens we meet being at the exact same level of development as humans (to within ten thousand years or so) despite having evolved independently on a planet billions of years old, are extremely small. In the vast majority of cases they will be millions of years more advanced or millions of years less. As chimps don't build starships, it follows that almost every interstellar civilization we find will be godlike compared to us.

In other words, we are a newborn intelligent species, and newborns generally find that everyone around them is older.

jswhitten | 12 years ago | on: Skull of Homo erectus throws story of human evolution into disarray

It is correct. Homo is a genus of great apes. It emerged around 2.4 million years ago. And it does include modern humans (Homo Sapiens).

I'm not sure which part you're taking issue with?

> Normally one doesn't refer to one genus as being part of another genus.

That's right. Australopithecus and Homo are different genera.

> between apes and humans

Not sure what you're saying here. Humans and Australopithecines are both apes.

jswhitten | 12 years ago | on: What Did the Continents Look Like Millions of Years Ago?

It does; you can see ice over the tip of South America. Note that the ice in the southern hemisphere extends about as far from the pole as that in the northern hemisphere. There's just a lot less ice in the southern hemisphere because there's less land at those latitudes.

jswhitten | 12 years ago | on: Does Gravity Travel at the Speed of Light? (1998)

How would that modulate a gravity field?

If you're thinking that the matter and antimatter have gravity and that gravity disappears when they annihilate because their mass is gone, that's not the case. All energy and momentum produces gravity, not just mass.

jswhitten | 12 years ago | on: Hyperloop

There's some discussion on pages 52-54 of the PDF.

jswhitten | 12 years ago | on: Hyperloop

Yes, a pod would depart every 2 minutes or less, which puts about 23 miles between them.

jswhitten | 12 years ago | on: SWAT-Team Nation: The Militarization of the U.S. Police

Yes, the police can steal anything from you that they want. They do not need to arrest you or charge you with a crime, or even show evidence that a crime even occurred. The burden of proof is on you that you didn't break any laws. The idea is that they're charging your property with a crime, not you, and since your property is not a person it has no rights.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that this kind of asset forfeiture is constitutional.

page 1
more