I have got it. Give TNT a like if you have too.
What is the happy news about Doctor Becky? Is she being sent to the Space Station? 😀
What is the happy news about Doctor Becky? Is she being sent to the Space Station? 😀
Think further than that!
Becky's current favourite song could be Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher".
Great song. The Commodores sang about him and Marvin Gaye (they both died in 1984) in the song "Nightshift."
Now let me check out how this applies to Dr. Becky ...
Now let me check out how this applies to Dr. Becky ...
My brother used to have that record. When he was at work in 1967 a certain 13-y-o system7 used to sneak into his room and play it on the Dansette record player...
I was grooving away, arms flailing, and singing along when Dad walked in. "What you doing, boy?" I froze in mid-dance. "Er, just playing records, Dad."
It was one of those moments when you wanted the ground to swallow you up. I still remember it...
Anyway. The ECLIPSE of March 29th 2025. I have seen lots of these, even two 90% ones, strangely when on holiday, where the sky goes dark, it gets cold, crescent shadows show under the trees.
Dr. Becky is right to say do not to look directly at it. You will burn your retina. I think we need pinhole cameras or something. About 11AM in the UK, and an afternoon/evening thing in places like Stephen King's haunted Maine, and frozen Canada where it gets near total.
I was struck by the sinister looking staff at the Vera Rubin Telescope:
Suppose a murder occurred at the Observatory one night. How would you find the perpetrator of the heinous crime?
Dr. Becky has silvery blue nails this week, I notice.
In fact, I was so distracted by her handwaving, that I have NO IDEA what she was talking about;
But if she says expanding Dark Energy is 0.75 or something, who are we to argue? The Crisis in Cosmology worries me greatly.
I was grooving away, arms flailing, and singing along when Dad walked in. "What you doing, boy?" I froze in mid-dance. "Er, just playing records, Dad."
It was one of those moments when you wanted the ground to swallow you up. I still remember it...
Anyway. The ECLIPSE of March 29th 2025. I have seen lots of these, even two 90% ones, strangely when on holiday, where the sky goes dark, it gets cold, crescent shadows show under the trees.
Dr. Becky is right to say do not to look directly at it. You will burn your retina. I think we need pinhole cameras or something. About 11AM in the UK, and an afternoon/evening thing in places like Stephen King's haunted Maine, and frozen Canada where it gets near total.
I was struck by the sinister looking staff at the Vera Rubin Telescope:
Suppose a murder occurred at the Observatory one night. How would you find the perpetrator of the heinous crime?
Dr. Becky has silvery blue nails this week, I notice.
In fact, I was so distracted by her handwaving, that I have NO IDEA what she was talking about;
But if she says expanding Dark Energy is 0.75 or something, who are we to argue? The Crisis in Cosmology worries me greatly.
The last partial solar eclipse that we observed would have been the one of Tues 25 Oct 2022.
Steve & I used crude pinhole cameras, while TNT risked taking this photo through cloud cover:
I shall reiterate the warning that you should never look directly at the Sun as it can permanently damage your eyes.
Dr. Becky promotes the safe method of using a colander to project multiple images of the Sun onto a sheet of white paper!
Steve & I used crude pinhole cameras, while TNT risked taking this photo through cloud cover:
I shall reiterate the warning that you should never look directly at the Sun as it can permanently damage your eyes.
Dr. Becky promotes the safe method of using a colander to project multiple images of the Sun onto a sheet of white paper!
Thick enough cloud cover seems to filter out enough UV. The last TOTAL eclipse in these parts was plagued with intermittent clouds, and I only saw totality through them. Directly. Before and after totality of course there was enough clear sky to need my welding helmet.
Before and after totality of course there was enough clear sky to need my welding helmet.
A word of caution!
Not all welding helmets can be used safely for watching a solar eclipse: https://www.theweldguru.com/is-welding-helmet-safe-for-eclipse/
Specialised solar filters and eclipse glasses are the only reliable way to protect your eyes.
I have decided that solar filters constitute an egregious solution, beyond my comprehension. Therefore shall employ the spell of telescopic projection advocated by the Moore the One-eyed.
Further inquiries attributed to Guyal of Sfere when of only four seasons:
"Why are Bottom Quarks and Cabibbo Angles so named?"
"Why are Muons 207 times the mass of Electrons, and Tau leptons 17 times greater still?"
"How do Rainbows work?"
I have the answer to the latter, and you will as be surprised as I was:
Some serious discussion here by magicians:
https://www.metafilter.com/206556/Do-unicorns-next
There is more, as ever, when seeking knowledge of all things.
"What happens to the volume of a lightcone when you turn it upside down?"
You will not get that right either, unless more gifted than me.
Further inquiries attributed to Guyal of Sfere when of only four seasons:
"Why are Bottom Quarks and Cabibbo Angles so named?"
"Why are Muons 207 times the mass of Electrons, and Tau leptons 17 times greater still?"
"How do Rainbows work?"
I have the answer to the latter, and you will as be surprised as I was:
Some serious discussion here by magicians:
https://www.metafilter.com/206556/Do-unicorns-next
There is more, as ever, when seeking knowledge of all things.
"What happens to the volume of a lightcone when you turn it upside down?"
You will not get that right either, unless more gifted than me.
I thought TNT's suggestion likewise a poor one. I couldn't see a thing through my James Blunt (You're Beautiful!) CD. Especially coming from this thread's most accident prone member.
The correct diy pinhole eclipse contraption is here demonstrated by Portsmouth's finest astronomer, alas failed by the clouds that lowered upon his house, this not being glorious summer:
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/box-pinhole-projector.html
Passing nursery infants would ask their mummies: "Why has that man got a box on his head?"
"Perhaps, dear, like Richard III, he is so malformed, that dogs do bark at him as he walks down the street?"
I have become intrigued by the strange eye structure of the Leopard Gecko, which inhabits Equatorial Africa and eats (slow?) insects.
What odd evolutionary advantage is conferred by this particularl example of God's handiwork? I have seen similar 1,3,3,1 binomial arrays in horizontal home cinema soundbars, but frankly, am stumped.
Would it see 4 eclipses? Perhaps some interferometer data to measure the size of small prey when distant?
The correct diy pinhole eclipse contraption is here demonstrated by Portsmouth's finest astronomer, alas failed by the clouds that lowered upon his house, this not being glorious summer:
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/box-pinhole-projector.html
Passing nursery infants would ask their mummies: "Why has that man got a box on his head?"
"Perhaps, dear, like Richard III, he is so malformed, that dogs do bark at him as he walks down the street?"
I have become intrigued by the strange eye structure of the Leopard Gecko, which inhabits Equatorial Africa and eats (slow?) insects.
What odd evolutionary advantage is conferred by this particularl example of God's handiwork? I have seen similar 1,3,3,1 binomial arrays in horizontal home cinema soundbars, but frankly, am stumped.
Would it see 4 eclipses? Perhaps some interferometer data to measure the size of small prey when distant?
"How do Rainbows work?"
I found that video very interesting. Learning all the time! 😎
"What happens to the volume of alightcone when you turn it upside down?"
I'm not so surprised by that one, but the explanation surpasses the one that Guyal of Sfere would have been fobbed off with:
"So it was ordained by the Pragmatics; cones must obey the rote."
Guyal sees the evil and decadence of the Dying Earth - just as Galu does!
What odd evolutionary advantage is conferred by this particularl example of God's handiwork?
"Leopard geckos have vertically slit-shaped pupils that allow them to see well in low light conditions. The vertical slit shape restricts peripheral light and focuses directly on the fovea, enhancing their ability to hunt prey at dawn and dusk.
eats (slow?) insects.
"Leopard geckos are exceptionally good at detecting moving objects, even in near darkness. Their visual system is tuned to pick up the slightest motions, allowing them to spot tasty insects."
All of the above (slightly edited) is courtesy of a quick Bing on my part: https://www.berrypatchfarms.net/how-do-leopard-geckos-see/#:~:text=Leopard geckos have vertically slit-shaped pupils that allow,ability to hunt prey at dawn and dusk.
Welcome to the GEEKY GECKO show!

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I thank you for the explanation of the slit eyes of the Reptile hunter.
I have awoken with the Lark this morning, and a fading dream in which I had ultimate knowledge of how the Universe works through contemplating the Rainbow:
Whatever is going on here? You might consider this Rainbow a problem of the Sphere meeting Euclid's parallel lines of Light at infinity.
You would be wrong. It is a problem of Conic sections! The Rainbow is a caustic cone of refracted light. That was my insight:
All of current Mathematics and Physics reside within this simple diagram. Perhaps Euclid would have solved it all 2,000 years ago, had he a simple Laser beam at his disposal!
The Circle of the quantum in the 1s ground state of the Hydrogen atom:
The Ellipse of the Planetary orbits:
The Parabola which accords to the structure of the Quadratic equation hated by schoolchildren, but simplicity itself in the hands of a master:
And finally, the Hyperbola leading into the mysteries of Special Relativity and even solving the cause of Electron spin.
We should all know more about Cones. That is my thought.
For all that, I still got the puzzle of the 1/3 full cocktail glass entirely wrong. Knowing the volume is 1/3 the base area times the height, I erroneously thought the answer must be 1/9 as a problem of squares, little suspecting it was a problem of cubes and thus a 1/27 thing.
Perhaps this is why the down quark has a charge of 1/3 too. One can only speculate... perhaps the Quark has a conical nature, unlike the spherical Electron... 🤔
I have awoken with the Lark this morning, and a fading dream in which I had ultimate knowledge of how the Universe works through contemplating the Rainbow:
Whatever is going on here? You might consider this Rainbow a problem of the Sphere meeting Euclid's parallel lines of Light at infinity.
You would be wrong. It is a problem of Conic sections! The Rainbow is a caustic cone of refracted light. That was my insight:
All of current Mathematics and Physics reside within this simple diagram. Perhaps Euclid would have solved it all 2,000 years ago, had he a simple Laser beam at his disposal!
The Circle of the quantum in the 1s ground state of the Hydrogen atom:
The Ellipse of the Planetary orbits:
The Parabola which accords to the structure of the Quadratic equation hated by schoolchildren, but simplicity itself in the hands of a master:
And finally, the Hyperbola leading into the mysteries of Special Relativity and even solving the cause of Electron spin.
We should all know more about Cones. That is my thought.
For all that, I still got the puzzle of the 1/3 full cocktail glass entirely wrong. Knowing the volume is 1/3 the base area times the height, I erroneously thought the answer must be 1/9 as a problem of squares, little suspecting it was a problem of cubes and thus a 1/27 thing.
Perhaps this is why the down quark has a charge of 1/3 too. One can only speculate... perhaps the Quark has a conical nature, unlike the spherical Electron... 🤔
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perhaps the Quark has a conical nature
This Quark takes the shape of a truncated cone:
P.S. I hope my joke isn't too cheesy!

Quark is a staple of the Icelandic people, to my knowledge. It is all, they or tourists can afford to eat. Such are prices in this volcanic land.
The correct term for a truncated cone is the Frustum of the Cone. I am now something of an expert on the Cone.
Here is a cone puzzle for you. "What is the angle in degrees of the caustic of the Rainbow?"
Sort of thing Guyal of Sfere would ask when teething...
Answer:
Spooky, eh? 😵
The correct term for a truncated cone is the Frustum of the Cone. I am now something of an expert on the Cone.
Here is a cone puzzle for you. "What is the angle in degrees of the caustic of the Rainbow?"
Sort of thing Guyal of Sfere would ask when teething...
Answer:
The Answer is 42
Spooky, eh? 😵
Attachments
"These girls seem not to relish the garland of pulchritude".
Young Guyal would appear to be a master of tact!
Young Guyal would appear to be a master of tact!

Youtube surely fed this to me because I watched a recent video from this thread, but I just discovered this video of astronomical proportions!
Here's an explanation of why the Moon looks so huge in the video above (adapted from a StackExchange answer):
A long lens will magnify the subject, so will make the Moon look bigger. It will also make the ESO structure look bigger, but by moving further away from this earthbound object it can be reduced back to a smaller size. However, you can't really get further away from the Moon, which will remain the same size no matter where you move locally.
A long lens will magnify the subject, so will make the Moon look bigger. It will also make the ESO structure look bigger, but by moving further away from this earthbound object it can be reduced back to a smaller size. However, you can't really get further away from the Moon, which will remain the same size no matter where you move locally.
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