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Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - Printable Version

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RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - Bob Schroeck - 07-23-2025

Ball lightning caught on video in Canada:




RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - Bob Schroeck - 07-31-2025

"Mega-lightning bolt" in 2017 storm traveled 515 miles in seconds.


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - classicdrogn - 08-23-2025


click here

What to Know About Saturday's Black Moon


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - robkelk - 08-23-2025

(08-23-2025, 01:30 PM)classicdrogn Wrote:
click here

What to Know About Saturday's Black Moon

Spoiler alert: Apparently, there's no risk of having a pink-haired pre-teen from the future fall on your head.


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - Bob Schroeck - 08-25-2025




RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - robkelk - 08-26-2025

One long sentence is all it takes to make LLMs misbehave
Quote:Chatbots ignore their guardrails when your grammar sucks, researchers find



RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - classicdrogn - 09-05-2025

True Facts about Bats with Ze Frank


click here


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - robkelk - 09-11-2025

NASA finds best evidence of life on Mars so far

Fossil life, not current life.


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - classicdrogn - 09-13-2025

Detected results of a black hole collision confirm predictions

(probably AI) narrated version over an annoying slideshow of the same image seitching between various tilings:

link

CBC report
arxiv listing for the scientific paper


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - robkelk - 09-16-2025

Engineer turned a vape into a web server

Quote:The case highlights what can be done with so-called disposable kit. A 2023 UK study by the University of Oxford and the Faraday Foundation found that 1.3 million of the devices were thrown away each week, and reusing them in any format can't be a bad idea, not least since the batteries are perfectly capable of handling processing long after the addictive drug has been smoked.

The server itself


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - Bob Schroeck - 10-03-2025

MIT is developing concrete-based "supercapacitors" which could turn sidewalks and building walls into massive power storage facilities.


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - classicdrogn - 10-03-2025

I foresee a small problem with that, before even clicking the link - what happens when there's a earthquake, or some other damage accidental or intentional? "massive power storage" suddenly discharging tends to make for a much more exciting day than most anyone wants to have, and the ones who do are not likely to have the good of society im mind with it.


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - robkelk - 10-03-2025

That's addressed in the article: The power output actually drops momentarily when the concrete is stressed.


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - Dartz - 10-03-2025

Computer power has grown so much that it doesn't take much electrical power to make a basic device which *should* be dumb be able to do some pretty disturbing things.

90% of you laptop's compute cycles are probably being used to track you and sell you advertising these days anyway.


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - classicdrogn - 10-03-2025

I saw that, but while it is an interesting and potentially useful effect it still doesn't address what happens if some joyrider in a suburban assault vehicle Kool*Aid Man-s the garage wall that's got the power bank for recharging your EV in it.


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - robkelk - 10-03-2025

Ah. Now I see where you're coming from... and it's pure Hollywood.

Electrical batteries are not bombs. I can take apart, and have taken apart, properly-functioning charged batteries with no ill effects. You need capacitors for sudden discharges in real life, not batteries. And this is specifically described as a battery replacement, not a capacitor replacement.


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - classicdrogn - 10-03-2025

Hm, perhaps I misread it, but I thought it was more capacitor-adjacent. I still wouldn't be enthusiastic about the prospect, but chemically stored energy should be more stable than a straight up electrical charge, yes, given the materials they're working with.


RE: Weird & Interesting science, take 2 - Bob Schroeck - 10-08-2025

On October 1, a (tiny) asteroid passed by less than 270 miles from earth.