TIL: Today I Learned

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Strange microwave story:

Spoiler :
When I was in the navy being a prototype instructor we had this guy on our crew that had this odd theory on microwave oven use. This was back in the day before digital timers, and he would just crank the dial pretty much all the way up and throw his Tupperware encased lunch in. When steam formed and popped the top off he knew his food was hot.

People griped about this because we only had about four more guys on the crew than we needed to run the plant, so lunch ran on a system we called 'the daisy chain.' Whoever was off watch the first half of the shift would relieve the watch about two hours in so that that guy could eat quickly and get to his second watch so that guy could eat quickly...etc. Most guys would get relieved, eat, and be back on their next watch in ten minutes or less. Not only was this guy nuking his food probably twice as long as it needed, but he'd then have to sit there letting it cool down before he could eat it. He'd be out for twenty to thirty minutes every day. Just sitting around on an extended break making the rest of your chain wait was an obvious dick move, but he claimed that wasn't what he was doing, it was just the best way to make sure his food got hot rather than guessing about the time.

So one day while he was on watch a couple guys pulled some lockers away from the wall, cut the back panel off with a grinder to get to his lunch, then riveted it back on and put the lockers back. His lunch appeared normal and unharmed, but when he threw his Tupperware in the microwave for its extended radiating everyone passing through the lunchroom was tasked with making conversation to distract him. He sat listening for the distinctive pop of the lid venting with half an ear, not knowing that the lid had been superglued in place.

The good news is that he learned that his actions had consequences not just for everyone else, but for himself. The bad news is that we never really got the stench of burnt Tupperware out of that microwave.
 
Is that the same submarine where being ‘on watch’ actually equalled running entertainment software on the shipboard computers?
 
Takhisis said:
Is that the same submarine where being ‘on watch’ actually equalled running entertainment software on the shipboard computers?
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Dude my submarine was older than I was. We didn't have any "shipboard computers." You know how integrated circuits made discrete transistors obsolete? Sometime long after transistors made tubes obsolete? Well, sometime before that vacuum tubes almost made these things called magnetic amplifiers obsolete, but in particularly difficult environments mag-amps held on because they were durable. I am one of probably very few people left alive who has significant experience working with magnetic amplifier based electronic equipment.
 
The Dark Side of the Moon

The perfect location for a Lunar Crater Radio Telescope

Shielded by the moon no background noise from earthly radio signals, and on top no atmosphere

The idea is from Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay, a robot-technologist working for NASA.
And NASA welcomed the idea with a USD 125,000 Phase I funding, to get a rough feel about such a project.

Robots to build the telescope in a big crater.
 
The cheese is out of this world.
 
Valka D'Ur said:
That'll be news to the portion of the Moon's surface we can see because the Sun is shining on it.
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The last line was provided by Gerry O'Driscoll, a doorman at Abbey Road studios where the album was recorded. He said it in response to the question “What is the ‘dark side of the moon’?”

His full answer was “There is no dark side of the moon really, matter of fact it’s all dark. The only thing that makes it look light is the sun.”
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Last edited:
I am sure you know, dark is this case does not mean "no light", but unknown (like dark web). It is the side that is always pointing away from us.
 
Timsup2nothin said:
Is reflective the actual opposite of dark? Interesting inquiry here.
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I am well aware that the Moon does not shine by its own efforts. But for practical purposes of looking at the portion that is sunlit, it isn't dark. Trying to watch a meteor shower on a night with a full Moon is difficult and annoying, because the night is not as dark as it is on nights without a full Moon.
 
Valka D'Ur said:
I am well aware that the Moon does not shine by its own efforts. But for practical purposes of looking at the portion that is sunlit, it isn't dark. Trying to watch a meteor shower on a night with a full Moon is difficult and annoying, because the night is not as dark as it is on nights without a full Moon.
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That's why it is the start of an inquiry. We both know what the various words mean; lit, dark, reflective, light. But all sides of the moon are reflective, whether they have anything to reflect at the time or not. Neither side is actually producing light. For myself, my first reaction to "light" is as the opposite of "heavy" so I'm always sort of briefly perplexed by the idea of the moon having a "light side" myself even though I do shift very quickly to what is actually meant.

What would be good specific words to describe the two clearly different "sides"? "Dark side of the moon" is common phrasing, but if we use that common phrasing does that make "light side of the moon" the best description for the other side? Is there some better pairing? Is "dark side" so ingrained that we have to stick with that but can come up with a good alternative for the opposed side? Or is "light side" just the best there is to be done?

Maybe "lighted" and "unlit"?
 
Near and far
visible and not visible from earth
Rabbit side and .....?
 
Timsup2nothin said:
That's why it is the start of an inquiry. We both know what the various words mean; lit, dark, reflective, light. But all sides of the moon are reflective, whether they have anything to reflect at the time or not. Neither side is actually producing light. For myself, my first reaction to "light" is as the opposite of "heavy" so I'm always sort of briefly perplexed by the idea of the moon having a "light side" myself even though I do shift very quickly to what is actually meant.

What would be good specific words to describe the two clearly different "sides"? "Dark side of the moon" is common phrasing, but if we use that common phrasing does that make "light side of the moon" the best description for the other side? Is there some better pairing? Is "dark side" so ingrained that we have to stick with that but can come up with a good alternative for the opposed side? Or is "light side" just the best there is to be done?

Maybe "lighted" and "unlit"?
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Light and heavy have nothing to do with this. The Moon's mass isn't part of the argument, or at least it shouldn't be.

Ben Bova refers to the dark side as the "far side" (not a reference to the comic strip). This would be an ideal place for telescopes, as there wouldn't be the problem with light pollution that we have on Earth.
 
one you know to be empty , other you don't and Ronald Reagan could NOT order you to chuck nukes at ?

edit : Me cursing the tablet again and with apologies to the two posters in between .
 
Birdjaguar said:
Near and far
visible and not visible from earth
Rabbit side and .....?
Click to expand...

Near and far is good for the sides that are described relative to the Earth, but obviously those descriptions have nothing to do with light and dark. At any given time there is a distinction between two sides that does have something to do with light and dark. How to best describe those two distinct sides? Facing the sun and away from the sun are...unwieldy.

Valka D'Ur said:
Light and heavy have nothing to do with this.
Click to expand...

I agree completely. I can't really explain why my first reaction to the word "light" is what it is, but it definitely is. I have to be very deep in the context of optics before I won't have that split second hesitation in my reaction. I seriously doubt that anyone would ever notice it, but I do have it.
 
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