The Bicker Board

[ironyak]

I said that Godwin would likely be okay with it as he has similar concerns and sees such comparisons both as inevitable, but also instructive.

"I urge people to develop enough perspective to do it thoughtfully. If you think the comparison is valid, and you've given it some thought, do it. All I ask you to do is think about the human beings capable of acting very badly. We have to keep the magnitude of those events in mind, and not be glib. Our society needs to be more humane, more civilized and to grow up." - Mike Godwin

Focus Obie, use the force, or at least the ability to read...

(Mod2 going to move this conversation off to the Bicker Board like an X-wing crashed in the swamps of Dagobah)

[ironyak]

lol - well, that's a sentiment clearly communicated. At least I don't have to guess at what you mean. No hard feelings Obie - clearly time to get outside and touch grass and gaze at those clouds. Cheers!

[randomq]

LOL, I think the "derangement syndrome" just exposed itself!

[ironyak]

I think what has been happening with some of the recent implosions from PW posters is that they get used to spending time in right-wing echo chambers where the main goal appears to be to work each other into a state of grievance frenzy. In that context, all that is needed is to share with others some example of "this makes me big angry" which goes both unquestioned and yet communally reinforced.

When they step outside that circle, jerks ask them questions about both the veracity of what they're claiming as well as why it's so triggering for them. At which point their brain breaks and they lash out. Cognitive dissonance is a real burden and must be avoided at all costs, including the denial of reality.

At least that's my current take on it from the outside. Could make for some great studies in the aftermath looking at what led to our own contributions in Lysenko-type science, Hypernormalization, and the cult of personality.

[punikahakaiferret]

I guess I just wanna live in my Polyanna bubble...I like Punaweb for the information and occasional light banter, because if I wanted flame wars and trolling (and worse), I'd be on BFace. Nextdoor is getting pretty bad as well.

Politics and religion are against the guidelines, along with anything not directly neighborhood-related, but those boundaries are constantly pushed and when called out and reported, the violator incorrectly claims "their right to free speech is being infringed upon" although it is required upon signing up to adhere to the guidelines.

As a lead on there, I have had to report posters repeatedly...and it is aggravating because by that point the damage has already been done, and the toxic posts already viewed by however-many.

I know when I've commented on Civil Beat stories, all comments are screened first, which is kinda a good thing, but not practical on a message board, I get it.

Apologies for birdwalking...just wanted to get some thoughts out. Take care, all! :-)

[Moderator 2]

if I wanted flame wars and trolling (and worse)

We do try to edit posts that break forum rules, or move comments that lean more argumentative than informative (but could be both) to The Bicker Board.  It’s not always accomplished in real time, but Punaweb is moderated.

[TomK]

Look, this is actually a fascinating question that comes up more than you'd think. The main issues aren't really optical - Hubble's 2.4-meter mirror would give fantastic resolution on Earth targets - we're talking about maybe 10-15 cm pixels from its orbital altitude of ~550 km, assuming we could somehow deal with the other problems.

The real killer is the angular velocity. When you're looking at something essentially "sideways" from low Earth orbit, targets zip across your field of view at something like 4 degrees per second. That's insanely fast for a telescope designed to track objects that appear stationary over hours.

But anyway, you'd need serious filtering to darken the images, and you'd need much faster readout CCDs. The current UVIS detector on WFC3 takes about 3 seconds for a full frame readout - way too long when your target is screaming past.

The point is that the HST is useless for military applications. I haven't checked your numbers, but why would the military bother using the HST when they have their network of spy satellites designed to spy on the Earth? The HST was designed to produce scientific data, not spy on other countries, and it can't compete with those satellites.

As for tracking or discovering spy satellites from other countries, the HST cannot do that either; that's why the Air Force has fast-moving telescopes on Haleakala, for instance, that can track satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The idea that the military is using the HST is just another conspiracy theory with no basis at all.

[Rob Tucker]

Frankly, who cares?

Tom, here's some advice I got years ago: Just because someone puts a hoop up in front of you does not mean you have to jump through it.

[leilanidude]

...some of the recent implosions from PW posters is that they get used to spending time in LEFT-WING echo chambers where the main goal appears to be to work each other into a state of grievance frenzy...
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Fixed it.

[ironyak]

punikahakaiferret - I guess I just wanna live in my Polyanna bubble...I like Punaweb for the information and occasional light banter... Apologies for birdwalking...
While some take to political arguments like ducks to water, and others let it slide like water off a duck's back, birds of a feather do flock together when there is a cat among the pigeons and it makes sense to watch like a hawk for canaries in the coal mine, especially with some feathering their own nests, instead of burying heads in the sand like ostriches so we can get our ducks in a row lest we hasten democracy's swan song.

(PS thanks for introducing to me the term birdwalking as a euphemism - never seen it outside the context of actual birding. Sent me on a wild goose chase for the relevant history and etymology, but did net some related idioms on the way - can you tell? ;)