That depends on how far away Betelgeuse is, and we do not know that very well. The best estimate is about 640 light years, with an uncertainty of about 145 light years. This means that it would take the light from the explosion about 640 years to reach us. The first sign that we will get, however, will be a dramatic increase in the number of neutrinos seen at neutrino detectors. This is because supernova generate neutrinos during the initial collapse of the core of the star. The light, however, is not generated until the shockwave breaks out of the surface of the star, which can be minutes to hours after the core collapses.
No. This is a very common misconception, but it is not correct. Betelgeuse is about 640 light years away. (The exact distance is somewhat uncertain.) It takes a signal about 640 years (or more) to get here from there. So, in our frame of reference no signal indicating that Betelgeuse has gone supernova (as of last night, when I took a look at Orion). In our frame of reference Betelgeuse has not exploded yet (as of last night).
>>"As geeks, we can only hope the core of Betelgeuse undergoes catastrophic failure in our lifetime."
>As geeks, and with the star over 600 light-years away, we can only hope this has already happened close to 600 >years ago.
As geeks we all understand that in our frame of reference Betelgeuse has not exploded yet, and it is our frame of reference that counts in this situation.
If I leave my car unlocked, with the key in the ignition, and someone steals the car then the car was still stolen, regardless of how careless I may have been. Just because it is easy to commit a crime does not make it less of a crime.
The real issue here is that when David Kernell hacked into one of Sarah Palin's e-mail account was treated very differently than he would have been if he had done the same thing to your e-mail, or my e-mail accounts.
My experience with talking to Tea Party people is that they have lots of ideas about how to fix everything, in much the same way that an eight-year-old has lot of ideas about how to fix everything. There seems to be an almost complete lack of critical thinking and historical perspective amongst the Tea Party crowd.
That is very true. However, most teabaggers do not realize that they are being manipulated. Most of the teabaggers whom I have talked to seem to think that they are a grassroots movement.
If a man today, in the middle of the US, wants to fix the ills of local, regional, or national government, they have a much better chance of succeeding today than they would have as a serf in Europe in 1310. Now, this assumes that this man is intelligent enough to use the political system to effect those changes instead of trying to start an armed rebellion.
For example, look at the US Tea Party supporters. They had a significant impact on the US elections in November, and may end up getting some of the changes that they say they want (and then they will be in for a shock!). If they had tried to implement those changes in most of Europe in 1310 they would have been swinging from trees, if they were lucky.
Swinging from a tree was not the worst thing that could end up happening to a serf who tried to be an "independent man". Many kings and lords were much more sadistic than that when it came to punishing serfs who disagreed with them. The idea that people in the past were generally free-er or more independent than they are today (at least in most democracies) is laughable.
Utter nonsense. There were massive cries of government interference when the third brake lights were introduced. I knew people who were so opposed to them the third brake lights that they deliberately disabled them. There will always be a population of idiots who are afraid of anything new.
Well, your taxes are already paying for the government services that I use, so why do I need to pay any taxes when you are already paying them for me? I would be very happy if j0nb0y paid my share of the taxes on the various services that I use.
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That depends on how far away Betelgeuse is, and we do not know that very well. The best estimate is about 640 light years, with an uncertainty of about 145 light years. This means that it would take the light from the explosion about 640 years to reach us. The first sign that we will get, however, will be a dramatic increase in the number of neutrinos seen at neutrino detectors. This is because supernova generate neutrinos during the initial collapse of the core of the star. The light, however, is not generated until the shockwave breaks out of the surface of the star, which can be minutes to hours after the core collapses.
No. This is a very common misconception, but it is not correct. Betelgeuse is about 640 light years away. (The exact distance is somewhat uncertain.) It takes a signal about 640 years (or more) to get here from there. So, in our frame of reference no signal indicating that Betelgeuse has gone supernova (as of last night, when I took a look at Orion). In our frame of reference Betelgeuse has not exploded yet (as of last night).
>>"As geeks, we can only hope the core of Betelgeuse undergoes catastrophic failure in our lifetime."
>As geeks, and with the star over 600 light-years away, we can only hope this has already happened close to 600 >years ago.
As geeks we all understand that in our frame of reference Betelgeuse has not exploded yet, and it is our frame of reference that counts in this situation.
The synodic month is about 29.5 days long, although it does vary slightly from month to month. There are usually about 12.4 synodic months in a year.
That is true, for anyone who is 2000 years old.
There is nothing arbitrary about 13. It is 13 because that is the number of constellations that the Sun actually passes through.
As far as I am concerned there were none.
Mmmmm..... Blue pill.
This is why I never watched the two Matrix sequels, and I never will.
If I leave my car unlocked, with the key in the ignition, and someone steals the car then the car was still stolen, regardless of how careless I may have been. Just because it is easy to commit a crime does not make it less of a crime.
The real issue here is that when David Kernell hacked into one of Sarah Palin's e-mail account was treated very differently than he would have been if he had done the same thing to your e-mail, or my e-mail accounts.
Actually, SmallFurryCreature nailed it.
To wives and girlfriends. May they never meet.
My experience with talking to Tea Party people is that they have lots of ideas about how to fix everything, in much the same way that an eight-year-old has lot of ideas about how to fix everything. There seems to be an almost complete lack of critical thinking and historical perspective amongst the Tea Party crowd.
That is very true. However, most teabaggers do not realize that they are being manipulated. Most of the teabaggers whom I have talked to seem to think that they are a grassroots movement.
If a man today, in the middle of the US, wants to fix the ills of local, regional, or national government, they have a much better chance of succeeding today than they would have as a serf in Europe in 1310. Now, this assumes that this man is intelligent enough to use the political system to effect those changes instead of trying to start an armed rebellion.
For example, look at the US Tea Party supporters. They had a significant impact on the US elections in November, and may end up getting some of the changes that they say they want (and then they will be in for a shock!). If they had tried to implement those changes in most of Europe in 1310 they would have been swinging from trees, if they were lucky.
> Not quite. Philosophy proposes lots of possible answers, technocracy selects one of them.
I would phrase is as: philosophy proposes several possible answeres, technocracy selects the ones that work.
Swinging from a tree was not the worst thing that could end up happening to a serf who tried to be an "independent man". Many kings and lords were much more sadistic than that when it came to punishing serfs who disagreed with them. The idea that people in the past were generally free-er or more independent than they are today (at least in most democracies) is laughable.
Utter nonsense. There were massive cries of government interference when the third brake lights were introduced. I knew people who were so opposed to them the third brake lights that they deliberately disabled them. There will always be a population of idiots who are afraid of anything new.
It has been in orbit for seven months. Technically there is still a bit of air up at 400 km, but not much.
> Yes, the United States of America are the terrorists, lead by secret societies that go back far before babylon.
Cool! How do I join one of these secret societies?
It always makes my day when a grammar troll gets basic grammar wrong.
Well, your taxes are already paying for the government services that I use, so why do I need to pay any taxes when you are already paying them for me? I would be very happy if j0nb0y paid my share of the taxes on the various services that I use.
You seem to be saying that a business's employees and customers should be paying for the government services that the businesses use.
> Obsolete because we will always be at Orange Alert
I think that a more appropriate term is Scare Level Orange.
That sounds like a very good deal to me. I would be happy to accept $50,000 from each person who makes a comment that I moderate.