Slashdot Mirror
Earth, Night Glow, Aurora and Atmosphere (Video)
Alex Rivest has created one of the most visually riveting videos we've seen. Alex says, "In looking at the pictures taken from the International Space Station of the earth at night, I find my attention drawn to that thin line separating earth from space: Our atmosphere." He also says, "A good photograph is one that sparks a question." Since this video runs at 30 (really 29.97) frames per second, and it's about 290 seconds long, that's close to 8700 questions. Luckily, Alex has written a blog post that answers most of them. This doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy his work for its sheer beauty. Or that you shouldn't wish Alex well in his attempt to get into NASA's 2013 Astronaut Candidate Class. A fine art photographer who also has a PhD in Neuroscience from MIT... what better qualifications could there possibly be for astronauthood?
Coincidentally today weather.com has a slideshow of the northern lights from a more terrestrial view.
Better qualifications would be Test Pilot like they were originally. Part of our problem with risk aversion in the space program is we are sending guys with PhDs up to take snapshots and run experiments for high school kids. Then we tell tourists its too dangerous for them to go up there. Which is it? Safe for a academics or dangerous?
Shawn Moore http://www.teuse.net
To start the ad at the start of a video with a fucking alarm clock and a 2 second pause before being able to mute it? I'm at work and cannot watch this as a result.
Any chance of a YouTube version of the video?
"A good photograph is one that sparks a question." Since this video runs at 30 (really 29.97) frames per second, and it's about 290 seconds long, that's close to 8700 questions.
better yet, since a picture is worth a thousand words this video is the longest novel on earth.
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Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
..the one where all the lights are - and imagine next time you look at it that you're looking at a network graph instead of a electrical infustructure graph, you will feel a kind of pulsing coming off the North American continent; where all the world's datamining is being done. Think of it that way. North America is becoming the heart of the global datamining industry; its job is becoming knowing everything about everyone everywhere."
- Eben Moglen (http://archive.org/details/EbenMoglen-WhyPoliticalLibertyDependsOnSoftwareFreedomMoreThanEver)
So where are the b&w nudes?
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
you know there's a crew there, right? Only 2 of them need test pilot qualifications. The rest are researchers who collect data. High school teachers don't collect data and analyze them. More importantly, high school teachers are less likely to fix the experiment if something goes wrong. It's the same reason why we still have pilots when an airplane's electronics can practically fly and land itself. The pilots are there when something goes wrong.
"A fine art photographer who also has a PhD in Neuroscience from MIT... what better qualifications could there possibly be for astronauthood?"
Flight training.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Fluency in Russian.
In a few years, fluency in Chinese.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that, you son of a bitch."
â" Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, People magazine, 8 April 1974.
The music is different but it shares the same beauty as the Slashdot version.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Watching it on mute gives it an eerie and much more realistic experience. The silence is chilling.
You heap praise on Alex Rivest's lovely and inspiring video composition, and then you destroy part of it by overlaying the beautiful imagery with the huge and distracting Slashdot logo?
WTF Slashdot, just WTF.
Think, occasionally. There's a time and a place for screen logos, and this wasn't it.
What are you talking about? I've never had a problem with Vimeo on any Linux system I've ever used. This video works fine too.
???
What's with the either-or? You're aware, perhaps, that generally any craft crewed by two or more generally is comprised of people with different skills, training, and duties? From pilot and bomb/nav to pilot, co-pilot, bomb/nav, flight engineer, etc. With six people additional tasking is standard.
Absent the Shuttle or the like, piloting skills for ISS are mostly relevant for their possible use during a few moments of capsule re-entry. It's the skill set of those who come from flight test that are most valuable and relevant: deep knowledge of components, assemblies, systems, the craft itself; knowledge and sense of how they 'feel' when working in concert or no; skill and experience in working to an exacting set of tasks within mission parameters - all of which also give rise to clear-headed risk/reward assessment. With that skill, proficiency, experience comes the chance of greater ability to recover when things go wonky.
There are at any given time three to six crew on ISS. How many need flight test background? Roughly ninety-percent of tasking there are things tedious, not counting housekeeping which generally comes out of 'free' time. When something doesn't work right or breaks, then add in annoying or problematic. Taking snapshots and doing high school experiments, while important in their own right, are generally done with time creatively liberated from normal tasking owing to the crew being very good at what they do and how they go about it.
Safe? Dangerous? Perhaps it's 'safe' for anyone willing to cleanly accept the risks (which are sufficiently abundant that it will be a long time if ever before venturing most anywhere will be 'safe'.)
This video is nice and all, but it's been done before; and to be honest I like Jan Jelinek's soundtrack better... :D
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
You're on drugs. Vimeo has always worked perfectly on Linux, and continues to work today. It even cooperates perfectly with Video DownloadHelper in Firefox so that you can capture them.
In contrast, Slashdot's crappy video site not only doesn't cooperate for video captures but also ruins the video with its huge "Slashdot" corner overlay. Not that we'd expect any different of course. The early years of technical cluefulness of Slashdot are long gone.
Uh, a slideshow of NASA stills with a soundtrack qualifies as news for nerds, or something that matters?
Today's astronauts need to be (and generally are) scientists rather than (test) pilots. Space missions consist of very little piloting and lots of science, which is exactly how it should be. Test pilots test stuff in order that later on, their experience can be translated into something useful. Like doing scientific experiments.
It's neither; it's "useless". Sure, as an amusement ride for the idle rich, it'll be fun. Wheee, I'm in a tin can and I paid a house for 5 minutes in the upper atmosphere! It's totally a spaceship! Yay! For taking pictures, just send a camera, no need to send people. The 1960s Space Age visions are dead, people. There won't be burly, crew-cut macho men risking their lives for their country to take pictures of the enemy, there won't be brave pioneers going forth to grow corn on Mars.
Dude, hope you make it. Great demonstration of how the atmosphere is just like dermal layer between us and space, thanks.
I love asstwats who don't know what they're on about, but have GOT to criticize someone else...
Guess what, moron -- your computer plays videos at the framerate set in the video, unless you tell it to do something else. It's kind of important, because it makes the fucking sound play in sync and on-key.
I had no idea I was on Slashdot.
But I guess the watermark is important, because the filming couldn't have happened without Slashdot.
Is it just me or do the cities at night look like something out of a bacterial culture?