Well, 'Walk on the Moon' is indeed 'The Antidote' to 'Green Nuns of the Revolution' by 'Klunk'! 
I'll put your other suggestions on my 'to do' list.
I own the following vinyl albums which I acquired at the time of their release:
Man Machine - Kraftwerk
Oxygène - Jean-Michel Jarre
The Tomita Planets - Isao Tomita
Tomita's Greatest Hits - Isao Tomita
Does this give me any kudos whatsoever when it comes to my choice of electronic music?
I'll put your other suggestions on my 'to do' list.
I own the following vinyl albums which I acquired at the time of their release:
Man Machine - Kraftwerk
Oxygène - Jean-Michel Jarre
The Tomita Planets - Isao Tomita
Tomita's Greatest Hits - Isao Tomita
Does this give me any kudos whatsoever when it comes to my choice of electronic music?
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They are classics in their own right, a bit like reaching for Dire Straits or Deep Purple if you know what I mean.
Nothing wrong with that, just that there's a lot of really good music that never gets to reach the light of day, so to speak.
If it's one thing I've come to learn, it's that the further you dive into some interest or hobby, the more foreign and weird your preferences would seem to others that have not followed your journey. So I have some music I really like, and I after a brief conversation with any random individual I can quickly dig up tunes they've never heard but will enjoy very much. But there's also a huge load of tunes that just seem really weird and alien to people.
I was really not trying to find tunes you liked, but you where saying the Klunk! tune was a bit "out there", and that was indeed the point, but considering some other tunes it's actually firmly planted in a very mentally sane and safe zone.
So Klunk! was a bit "out there", and compared to that I think Walk On The Moon was, well, around the general area of walking on the moon
But if you wanna get really way out somewhere we got tunes for that too, or just spelunking about the galactic neighbourhood at a leisurely pace I still got you covered.
If there's one album you should check out it's Beber & Tamra - Suite Beat Boy album from 2002. One of the most underappreciated albums of all-time IMO.
Beber & Tamra - Suite Beat Boy | Releases | Discogs
Sometimes I really like putting on that album, find a good book, hear it all and to stay in the room to read for a while after.
I know exactly what you mean. A large proportion of my generation will have owned copies of Man Machine and Oxygène, making them mainstream purchases.
Tomita was a little more off-piste and was my only real adventure into electronic music. I don't suppose synth-pop even merits mention in this company, but I loved that era in music. Seems it's time I explored further afield, starting with your suggestions.
A whole universe awaits me!
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TBH, I am a bit dubious about all the headbanging stuff these days.
I much prefer mellow, lyrical and highly instrumental music these days:
Jazz is far more interesting than Rock or druggy electronic music. Much as I have enjoyed them in days gone by. It comes from an inner quietness that appeals to me. Most Jazz musicians are so talented, they could get a job with any style of musical ensemble in the world.
ANYHOO, we are getting way off-topic here.
Considerable egg on my Physics face. The Sun is hotting up:
Sun - Wikipedia
Well done, Bonsai. I thought Stars slid down the scale from Hot Blue to Cooler Orange.
Clearly more going on than I appreciated.
I much prefer mellow, lyrical and highly instrumental music these days:
Jazz is far more interesting than Rock or druggy electronic music. Much as I have enjoyed them in days gone by. It comes from an inner quietness that appeals to me. Most Jazz musicians are so talented, they could get a job with any style of musical ensemble in the world.
ANYHOO, we are getting way off-topic here.
Considerable egg on my Physics face. The Sun is hotting up:
Sun - Wikipedia
Well done, Bonsai. I thought Stars slid down the scale from Hot Blue to Cooler Orange.
Clearly more going on than I appreciated.
Aw, come off it. If Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre and Tim Blake were not ON SOMETHING, I'll eat my hat.
We can always spot the student who is on a mind-expanding drug.
For all that, I was studying my copy of "Fundamental Astronomy" today, whilst being mildly distracted by one of the best and most interesting horse-racing weekends of the year.
Many interesting things going on with the relative abundance of elements in the Universe.
75% Hydrogen, 24% Helium and 1% the field with other stuff. At least in Main Sequence Stars. On planet Earth, it's apparently not quite the same.
Images and graphs to follow shortly. I am having a bit of a ruck with MS Windows right now. But will sort it out.
We can always spot the student who is on a mind-expanding drug.
For all that, I was studying my copy of "Fundamental Astronomy" today, whilst being mildly distracted by one of the best and most interesting horse-racing weekends of the year.
Many interesting things going on with the relative abundance of elements in the Universe.
75% Hydrogen, 24% Helium and 1% the field with other stuff. At least in Main Sequence Stars. On planet Earth, it's apparently not quite the same.
Images and graphs to follow shortly. I am having a bit of a ruck with MS Windows right now. But will sort it out.
Aw, come off it. If Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre and Tim Blake were not ON SOMETHING, I'll eat my hat.
Reminds me of this thing I heard many years back:
"To say that people are being influenced by video games is simply preposterous!
With everyone playing PacMan in the 80's that means that these days we should have a bunch of people running about in dark rooms chomping pills and listening to monotonous music."
Anyway, of the more "modern classics" variant would be the album "Colours" by Adam F (F stands for Fenton). It was so popular it was almost borderline for what I could accept, but it's very good.
Adam F - Colours (1997, CD) | Discogs
If you want a more jazz inspired tune you can listen to one of the last tracks on the album, which is the title track "Colours":
Adam F - Colours (Featuring Ronny Jordan) - YouTube
Not intending to ruffle your feathers Steve, but I do have it from very solid sources that there are actually quite a few Jazz musicians that have had a "mind altering" experience sometime (or constantly) in their lives.
Not all musicians are into drugs for sure, but to say that there's more of it in one genre than others is, well, more than a bit biased IMO.
Nothing new under the sun, intoxication and music has gone hand in hand since the dawn of time, be it artists or audience (or all of them...).
I most certainly hope that the plot in VVVVVV is something that will NOT inspire future generations... The collecting tunes part and saving your friends thing is nice, but a big part of the game is getting obliterated by various obstacles.
Did I mention that the backdrop of the story is that they ended up in an alternate dimension during space travel? So it's not really that far off-topic.
The music from the game is quite good, and if you can enjoy the more classic C64 type sound the album PPPPPP is well recommended.
SoulEye - PPPPPP (2010, CDr) | Discogs
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I am not totally naive, or as square as some might think.
Sound of Redemption - The Frank Morgan Story - Extras - Michael Connelly
But we really ought to get back to physics here.
Sound of Redemption - The Frank Morgan Story - Extras - Michael Connelly
But we really ought to get back to physics here.
I am not very well versed in mathematics or physics, but I am questioning the theories on alternate dimensions. Wondering if current knowledge about physics has any kind of opening for those theories.
Also: I have seen some theorizing about "wormholes", but to me it just seems like very poorly cobbled together logical leaps.
To me, the above mentioned is about as logical as the "hacking time" scene from Kung Fury
Hackerman - Hacking Time - Kung Fury 2015 - YouTube
(I have the Kung Fury soundtrack on vinyl btw)
I would have more faith in theories concerning faster-than-speed-of-light travel, it used to be an impossible thought that we could travel faster than the speed of sound.
Also: I have seen some theorizing about "wormholes", but to me it just seems like very poorly cobbled together logical leaps.
To me, the above mentioned is about as logical as the "hacking time" scene from Kung Fury
Hackerman - Hacking Time - Kung Fury 2015 - YouTube
(I have the Kung Fury soundtrack on vinyl btw)
I would have more faith in theories concerning faster-than-speed-of-light travel, it used to be an impossible thought that we could travel faster than the speed of sound.
How to travel faster than the speed of light: How to travel faster than light | T3
In popular science fiction that is, but there's mention of new physics research which may, just may, make it all possible one day.
For instance:
The hypothetical Alcubierre drive folds spacetime up in front of the ship and expands it behind, effectively bringing the destination closer and pushing the origin point farther away.
Employing element zero a type of exotic matter that does strange things to mass and spacetime. If you remove mass from the equation, suddenly light speed becomes possible.
A Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine creates microscopic black holes which allow a ship to jump into 'slipspace', allowing travel from one place to the next via a different dimension.
In popular science fiction that is, but there's mention of new physics research which may, just may, make it all possible one day.
For instance:
The hypothetical Alcubierre drive folds spacetime up in front of the ship and expands it behind, effectively bringing the destination closer and pushing the origin point farther away.
Employing element zero a type of exotic matter that does strange things to mass and spacetime. If you remove mass from the equation, suddenly light speed becomes possible.
A Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine creates microscopic black holes which allow a ship to jump into 'slipspace', allowing travel from one place to the next via a different dimension.
Sorry, Galu, crossposted there.
Aside fanciful science fiction, designing a rocket that can get up to half-lightspeed given you might go to alpha centauri 4 light years away and then slow down at the other end is VERY hard.
Just off the top of my head, a don't think hydrogen fusion has anything like a good enough mass to energy conversion. Can't be more than a few percent can it? I'd have to do the sums. Action/reaction and all that.
Only fuel with a good enough mass to energy conversion would be a matter/antimatter system. Or perhaps a scoop ramjet system using interstellar hydrogen as fuel.
And realistically, nothing goes faster than light, interested as we were in tachyons a few years back.
Aside fanciful science fiction, designing a rocket that can get up to half-lightspeed given you might go to alpha centauri 4 light years away and then slow down at the other end is VERY hard.
Just off the top of my head, a don't think hydrogen fusion has anything like a good enough mass to energy conversion. Can't be more than a few percent can it? I'd have to do the sums. Action/reaction and all that.
Only fuel with a good enough mass to energy conversion would be a matter/antimatter system. Or perhaps a scoop ramjet system using interstellar hydrogen as fuel.
And realistically, nothing goes faster than light, interested as we were in tachyons a few years back.
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How hard can it be to design a starship?
We know F=MA and all that. We are off to Alpha Centauri 4 light years away.
So far I have guessed it might weigh about 5010 Metric Tonnes. 10 tonnes is payload, like that recent splendid SpaceX capsule with Doug and Bob on it.
About the size of a Type 45 destroyer overall. Let's see if it works.
Way I see it, it needs about 4X 1000 tonne boosters to get up to however fast it goes. Now for the slowing down leg, it sheds 4000 tonnes. It now weighs 1010 tonnes so ought to be able to slow down for landing. The payload is 10 tonnes of humans and life support.
Anybody want to do the maths with different efficiency types of fuel?
We know F=MA and all that. We are off to Alpha Centauri 4 light years away.
So far I have guessed it might weigh about 5010 Metric Tonnes. 10 tonnes is payload, like that recent splendid SpaceX capsule with Doug and Bob on it.
About the size of a Type 45 destroyer overall. Let's see if it works.
Way I see it, it needs about 4X 1000 tonne boosters to get up to however fast it goes. Now for the slowing down leg, it sheds 4000 tonnes. It now weighs 1010 tonnes so ought to be able to slow down for landing. The payload is 10 tonnes of humans and life support.
Anybody want to do the maths with different efficiency types of fuel?
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What if your 5000 ton space ship hits a small object, say 100g, whilst traveling at an appreciable % of c?
Another little problem we will have to solve on our way to the stars.
One option is to make your spaceship really really large - say a few tens of billions of tons, so that it can absorb these types of mc^2 impacts. Perhaps 99.9% of the mass is is in the form of a giant shield to which our space craft Is tethered some 10’s of kilometers behind it.
We can ask Elon to put it into LEO for us before we ignite the thrusters and get on our way. Alpha Centauri or bust!
Another little problem we will have to solve on our way to the stars.
One option is to make your spaceship really really large - say a few tens of billions of tons, so that it can absorb these types of mc^2 impacts. Perhaps 99.9% of the mass is is in the form of a giant shield to which our space craft Is tethered some 10’s of kilometers behind it.
We can ask Elon to put it into LEO for us before we ignite the thrusters and get on our way. Alpha Centauri or bust!
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You obviously haven't watched Passengers!
The Starship hit some asteroids somewhere near Arcturus whilst doing a slingshot manoeuvre. Overwhelmed the defensive capabilities of the Starship and a small rock went through the engine department. That was not good.
That was the basic drama. Happily the impact woke up one of the passengers (Chris Pratt) from his cryogenic 120 year sleep, No spoliers from me.
The Starship hit some asteroids somewhere near Arcturus whilst doing a slingshot manoeuvre. Overwhelmed the defensive capabilities of the Starship and a small rock went through the engine department. That was not good.
That was the basic drama. Happily the impact woke up one of the passengers (Chris Pratt) from his cryogenic 120 year sleep, No spoliers from me.
Breaking news: Is there life on Venus?
The discovery of phosphine gas in the Venusian atmosphere could indicate the presence of microbial life there.
Scientists detect a gas that typically indicates the presence of biological life in the atmosphere of Venus – TechCrunch
Details on this Evening's BBC programme, The Sky At Night. (10.30pm BST BBC4)
The discovery of phosphine gas in the Venusian atmosphere could indicate the presence of microbial life there.
Scientists detect a gas that typically indicates the presence of biological life in the atmosphere of Venus – TechCrunch
Details on this Evening's BBC programme, The Sky At Night. (10.30pm BST BBC4)
The signs of phosphine first showed up in data taken with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii.
Phosphine is poisonous to most Earthly life because it interferes with oxygen metabolism.
Anaerobic microbes, which live in such places as sewage and the intestinal tracts of animals, are the only known life-forms on Earth that produce phosphine.
Phosphine is poisonous to most Earthly life because it interferes with oxygen metabolism.
Anaerobic microbes, which live in such places as sewage and the intestinal tracts of animals, are the only known life-forms on Earth that produce phosphine.
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Aside fanciful science fiction, designing a rocket that can get up to half-lightspeed given you might go to alpha centauri 4 light years away and then slow down at the other end is VERY hard.
Some of the more recent sci-fi I've read have used "constant burn" to provide gravity for the inhabitants, constant acceleration or deceleration. So when you're halfway just flip the spacecraft and start braking with the same force.
Not a horrible idea for shorter trips around the solar system, but perhaps not very realistic for a trip to Alpha Centauri.
Maybe if there was a high particle speed/low mass engine it would be able to generate a tiny bit of gravity to accelerate up to a higher top speed, would perhaps need a higher mass engine for initial acceleration? Using a few rounds around the solar system to slingshot around gravity wells could help get the speed up, would need to do a bit of planning to ensure the braking process at Alpha Centauri went smoothly, but is it doable?
Whatever the source of propulsion, to get to Alpha Centauri in anywhere close to a human lifetime the spacecraft would have to be accelerated up to a substantial fraction of light-speed - 0.1c would get a spacecraft there in 44 years.
I'm still a fan of the Bussard ramjet which powered the starship Leonora Christine, from Poul Anderson’s 1970 science fiction novel Tau Zero. No need to take your fuel with you, just scoop it up from the interstellar medium!
Unfortunately, it's now thought that the density of interstellar hydrogen may not be great enough to feed a ramjet adequately. The ram would have to be so large that its drag would outweigh the propulsion.
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