Loud Metallic Noise Heard at ISS

Z4rd0Z writes "Russian Cosmonauts at the International Space Station today heard a loud drumlike noise for the second time since November. The sound seemed to be coming from the same place as before. In February a space walk to find the source of the sound was cut short."

Comments

Seriously though...

[ErichTheWebGuy]

Aside from all the funny comments (and btw I was bustin a gut over here) ya gotta think that would be some scary shit!

Those guys up there have families and what-not that gotta be pretty on-edge right now. I for one hope they pull through.

Re:Seriously though...

[Perdition]

Man, somebody's Mom was a monster... He probably got rolled for lunch money a lot too.

Okay, i'll make this brief, since it's wasted on an AC. The very fact that you can use a telecommunications device designed and built thousands of miles from a home you probably didn't construct with electricity you didn't generate to participate in a discussion you were previously ineligible to enter patently and completely negates your "why should anyone give a rip about anyone else" whining. Altruism (sprinkled with a bit of avarice) drives society, and if you had the guts to be a true societal seperatist, you'd be in a cave eating bat-meat and we wouldn't have to read your inane attempts at having a unique perspective.

Re:Seriously though...

[Perdition]

"It all comes back to the fact that I find it a disgusting habit to display signs of emotions one does not actually feel."

Where did you manage to dredge up all this disgust for people you "do not know" having feelings that you cannot seem to have? It seems from your statements that the only strong feeling you can manage to have is contempt for people with differing feelings, however strong they may be, since feelings that others have are obviously "fake". Let's face it, you're wallowing in your "superior" detachment because it facilitates your ability to tend only to yourself and your ever-fading list of people you care about. It's not that we don't understand your point, but you'll just have to forgive us if we never put you in charge of anything that matters to anyone besides yourself.

Re:Seriously though...

[dsanfte]

He's not asking to be put in charge of the country, he's asking why the hell people keep telling him to bawl his eyes out for every single microtragedy on earth.

Please tell me you take a day off work to cry a river every time a death is reported in the news. Please tell me every time you see an ambulance speed past while driving to work, your heart sinks in your chest and you have to compose yourself on the side of the road, as tears stream down your face onto the pavement below.

Yeah, right.

Everybody limits their emotions. You do it, so don't bother lying. You don't feel as strongly for the death of a complete stranger in some far-off country as you do for the death of your mother, so stop being so self-righteous and stop pretending you do. More importantly, stop telling other people THEY should. It's not natural. It never will be.

The parent of this thread doesn't enjoy people showing illegitimate emotions for karma or social points, and I completely agree with him. Be honest for one in your life, and admit the obvious: at the end of the day, you're just as self-concerned as every other human being on this earth, and a news ticker scrolling by "5 people dead in Nigerian car accident" affects you far less than getting a rock in your shoe while walking down the street.

It's not inhuman. It's completely human.

Re:Seriously though...

[Perdition]

You mistake aspiration for assumption, and you fail to note the patent hypocrisy in the parent post. How can you be embittered toward someone you testify no feelings at all for? No one told anyone to feel anything in the true parent thread. A moment of concern was expressed, and an empassioned denouncement for that feeling was made.

Also, if you read my posts, you will see that I admitted up front that my emotions were dimmed by distance and the lack of a tragic certainty. Not absent, just dimmed. My emotions were limited by circumstance, not an arbitrary decision to 'just not care' which was deemed of higher value than the decision to care.

A rock in my shoe hurts my foot. Five dead in Nigeria may affect thousands. While I am more likely to deal with the former first, it is not because I have ascertained that is was more important than the latter. Would I rather have a rock in my shoe than five dead in Nigeria? I would hope so, and I train myself to reinforce that valuation whenever possible.

As for something having merit by simply being "Human", that totally depends on whether you give any value to the desire to rise above that which is merely human, or if you will simply let others do what they do to others, not ever caring, unless, of course, they dare do it to you.

Re:Metallic(a), drumlike noise?

[NonSequor]

I think we'd all be better off if he just stayed up there.

Thermal effects?

[anubi]

Loud metallic banging. But they are not noticing an air leak? With the skin of the ISS being as thin as it is, and velocities being what they are in space, I would think *any* impact with another orbital object would do significant damage, not just make noise.

My guess is that its thermally related, and some piece of metal has a bistable position, and has been driven to the alternate position from forces resulting from thermal expansion.

I would think the only way that something could be traveling in orbit so closely to them as to bump and not go through is if they were dumping debris ( possibly a bag of toilet waste? ) which upon ejection interacted with solar wind or orbital forces to garner enough velocity to come back and ping them. Really sounds unlikely though.

Don't quote me for facts. This is just my best guess after reading what I saw on it.

Re:That timing sounds all wrong

[another_henry]

Funny you should say that, after all nobody died on board Mir and it lasted 15 years despite being designed for 5... seems like pretty good management to me, it takes skills to recover from a rocket crashing into you and a fire on a bloody space station!

Re:Are you so different from he?

[Perdition]

I understand your misgivings, since they are based on misapprehensions, but I will try to answer your points.

"...Here's a guy who said, "Wow, I'm so differnt from these people, maybe it's time for me to try an touch base for a little reality check." So he threw his experience out there to see how it would bounce off the "collective consciousness" so to speak. Clearly he got a partial answer. "You do not mimic well enough. You are evil."..."

Actually, there was a guy who said, "I am different from you because you feel that which I have convinced myself is fake. Maybe it's time I straightened you out and let you know that all of your feelings are hypocrisy and mine are the only genuine ones." Read the post. The collective consciousness wasn't weighed in, just me. The partial answer was, "How can you raise the concern to respond with an 'I don't care.' when by your own logic caring for something that isn't burning in your lap is false and ridiculous?"

As far as your father's death not wracking you with sobs of grief, I can understand that. You made your peace with what was a considerable loss. There's no void of emotion there, just a resolve to move on with productive life. That path wanders widely from someone who manages to be passionately apathetic. Did you skip your Father's funeral because it was Two for Tuesday at Subway and you wanted a sandwich? No, you knew your responsibilities, even though your day-to-day operations had to be rearranged. You set self aside and participated in a practiced manor to that which you had no visceral response. You tried to feel, instead of relishing in your unfeeling. Do not lump yourself (or anyone else) in with someone who determines that anything shy of blood-on-blood emotion is 'fakery'.

My self-admitted 'muted' sympathies for the 'nauts in question did not exclude the anonymous poster, but they took the form of reacting more strongly to the one I was now in relational contact with. If I felt that he was below esteem, I would have never responded to him (come to think of it, he might be a she). You have responded as well, providing a logical shield not just for someone whom you do not know, but who also would exclude you actively from their sphere of concern.

You, my friend, are VERY Cindy Lou Who, and I applaud you for it.

Re:Metallic(a), drumlike noise?

[Cyph]

...and start working on the next album, goddamnit!

Shh, don't give him any ideas! Haven't you heard St. Anger?