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Troy's Review of Star Trek: Discovery
Yes, the one you've all been waiting for with bated breath.
The unfortunately acronymed ST:D bursts onto the scene screaming "2017!!!" at the top of its lungs. Well, I suppose ST:V did the same thing when it appeared 20 years ago. Do yourself a favour and delete your mental browser history for 2016 and 2017 before you watch it and you'll find it much more enjoyable otherwise you'll try to fit every hot political topic into it and blow your head up because at the end of the days it's a show about aliens and spaceships and what it means to be human.
The plot is... yeah. I can already hear the screaming metal sound of canon bing twisted to make the story fit. Michael Burnham is Spock's adoptive sister, for a start. It starts out as painfully contrived as Voyager, and ends with a wrecked ship and a looming goal. Try not to notice the GLARING PLOT HOLES and hope that the next episodes will manage to not break whilst bending over backwards. There are also noisome whiffs of Enterprise.
6 questionable Klingon Destiny Beacons out of 10
As far as characters go, this is definitely post Battlestar Galactica. Characters are more the kind of heroic but flawed Jessica Jones collections of hangups as opposed to competent, stable people because this is what TV thinks is interesting. Think Tom Paris on steroids. Voyager's DNA is also clearly visible in the archetypes. The Janeway/Seven combination of Georgiou and Burnham frankly works brilliantly, partly because we've seen Voyager, and partly because the actors established a skilled rapport. Unfortunately we'll not see much more of this - Michell Yeoh is a Guest Star. Otherwise it would just be Voyager all over again with the grimdark makeover.
8 hypertintelligent sexy and impulsive women struggling with their humanity out of 10
Science-wise, there no "particle o' the week" and plot gimmicks are rather more cleverly worked in. It's more Babylon 5 Newtonian physics with Mike Burnham guest starring as a Starfury. Redshirts get explosively decompressed and there is a minimal level of technobabble. The relationship between human and AI is better detailed in this as well: humans tell the AI what to do and occasionally intervene. There is also a lot of science love woven into this, and it lends itself well to the concept of Starfleet as NASA's descendant.
However, battles are the traditional Spanish Galleons blasting each other at point blank range, ships suddenly stop when wrecked and we feel it's still Star Trekky. Consoles are thankfully still loaded with high explosives and there's not a seat belt in sight.
8 awesome spacesuit thruster boosts out of 10
The graphics frankly looked like an XboX One game of Mass Effect. Critics are of course saying the graphics are jaw-dropping. Methinks they think Clash of Clans has amazing graphics. Clarification: it is fairly easy to cook up spaceship models, it is another thing to make deliberate choices (lens flares, shiny textures etc) that make it look like you are watching a video game as opposed to something like Gravity. Battlestar Galactica's graphics looked less cartoony and that series is well over a decade old.
4 overly specular texturemaps out of 10
FINAL SCORE
Having kicked the tires and taken it for a turn around the block, it handles a lot like the Voyager with a new paintjob, a growly engine noise, a few pieces missing and some modern extras.
7 Voyager reboots out of 10
Yes, the one you've all been waiting for with bated breath.
The unfortunately acronymed ST:D bursts onto the scene screaming "2017!!!" at the top of its lungs. Well, I suppose ST:V did the same thing when it appeared 20 years ago. Do yourself a favour and delete your mental browser history for 2016 and 2017 before you watch it and you'll find it much more enjoyable otherwise you'll try to fit every hot political topic into it and blow your head up because at the end of the days it's a show about aliens and spaceships and what it means to be human.
The plot is... yeah. I can already hear the screaming metal sound of canon bing twisted to make the story fit. Michael Burnham is Spock's adoptive sister, for a start. It starts out as painfully contrived as Voyager, and ends with a wrecked ship and a looming goal. Try not to notice the GLARING PLOT HOLES and hope that the next episodes will manage to not break whilst bending over backwards. There are also noisome whiffs of Enterprise.
6 questionable Klingon Destiny Beacons out of 10
As far as characters go, this is definitely post Battlestar Galactica. Characters are more the kind of heroic but flawed Jessica Jones collections of hangups as opposed to competent, stable people because this is what TV thinks is interesting. Think Tom Paris on steroids. Voyager's DNA is also clearly visible in the archetypes. The Janeway/Seven combination of Georgiou and Burnham frankly works brilliantly, partly because we've seen Voyager, and partly because the actors established a skilled rapport. Unfortunately we'll not see much more of this - Michell Yeoh is a Guest Star. Otherwise it would just be Voyager all over again with the grimdark makeover.
8 hypertintelligent sexy and impulsive women struggling with their humanity out of 10
Science-wise, there no "particle o' the week" and plot gimmicks are rather more cleverly worked in. It's more Babylon 5 Newtonian physics with Mike Burnham guest starring as a Starfury. Redshirts get explosively decompressed and there is a minimal level of technobabble. The relationship between human and AI is better detailed in this as well: humans tell the AI what to do and occasionally intervene. There is also a lot of science love woven into this, and it lends itself well to the concept of Starfleet as NASA's descendant.
However, battles are the traditional Spanish Galleons blasting each other at point blank range, ships suddenly stop when wrecked and we feel it's still Star Trekky. Consoles are thankfully still loaded with high explosives and there's not a seat belt in sight.
8 awesome spacesuit thruster boosts out of 10
The graphics frankly looked like an XboX One game of Mass Effect. Critics are of course saying the graphics are jaw-dropping. Methinks they think Clash of Clans has amazing graphics. Clarification: it is fairly easy to cook up spaceship models, it is another thing to make deliberate choices (lens flares, shiny textures etc) that make it look like you are watching a video game as opposed to something like Gravity. Battlestar Galactica's graphics looked less cartoony and that series is well over a decade old.
4 overly specular texturemaps out of 10
FINAL SCORE
Having kicked the tires and taken it for a turn around the block, it handles a lot like the Voyager with a new paintjob, a growly engine noise, a few pieces missing and some modern extras.
7 Voyager reboots out of 10
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Apple iPhone X battery size revealed - The Apple iPhone X comes with a battery slightly larger than the iPhone 8 Plus, according to an official filing with Chinese telecoms certification agency TENAA. The filing reveals that the iPhone X battery will have a capacity of 2,716mAh, just a bit larger than that of the 8 Plus. How does this compare to other iPhones? Let's put the numbers in context: iPhone 8: 1821 mAh iPhone 7: 1960 mAh iPhone 6s: 1715 mAh iPhone 6: 1810 mAh iPhone X: 2716 mAh iP...
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The Lunar Month
A lunar month is the time it takes the Moon to pass through all of the Moon phases, measured from a New Moon to the next New Moon.
Illustration showing all the different Moon phases next to one another
A lunar month comprises all the Moon phases.
©bigstockphoto.com/Delpixart
A lunar month is also known as a lunation, while the astronomical term for this period is a synodic month, from the Greek term synodos, meaning meeting or conjunction.
From New Moon to New Moon
We measure the lunar month from the precise moment of a New Moon, when the Sun and Earth are aligned on opposite sides of the Moon, until the next New Moon.
Moon phases in your city
About 29.5 Days
In the period from 1600 to 2600, an average lunar month lasts 29.530575 days or 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2 seconds. The shortest lunar month ended July 17, 1708 and lasted 29.271819 days (29 days, 6 hours, 31 minutes, and 25 seconds), while the longest was the one that ended on January 14, 1611 and lasted 29.832568 days (29 days, 19 hours, 58 minutes, and 54 seconds).
The exact length varies slightly, due to the elliptical shape of the Moon's orbit.
Synodic vs. Sidereal Month
The time it takes the Moon to complete 1 orbit around Earth is called a sidereal month. Sidereal refers to the Latin word for stars and sidereal month means that the Moon returns to the same point under the stars. This takes, on average, 27.3 days.
If Earth stood still, the synodic (lunar) month would be the same as the sidereal month. However, at the same time as the Moon is orbiting Earth, our planet also continues its annual orbit around the Sun in the same direction. So, after completing a sidereal month, the Moon has to move a little further to catch up to the same alignment with the Sun and Earth as at the previous New Moon. This is why a synodic (lunar) month is around 2.2 days longer than a sidereal month.
Lunation Number
In astronomy, it is most common to use the Brown lunation number system for lunar months. This system was invented by Professor Ernest W. Brown and presented in the book Planetary Theory from 1933, which Brown co-wrote with Assistant Professor Clarence A. Shook.
Brown starts his count with lunation number 1 at the 1st New Moon of 1923, which was on January 17. This is why the lunation numbers in the table on our Moon Phase pages are currently in the 1100s. And, for the same reason, lunation numbers listed for years before 1923, are negative.
There are also other lunation cycles in use, such as Herman Goldstine's Lunation Number, Jean Meeus's Lunation Number, and the Hebrew Lunation Number, which counts lunations in the Hebrew calendar.
Primary and Intermediate Moon Phases
In Western Culture, we divide the lunar month into 4 primary and 4 intermediate Moon phases.
The primary phases are the New Moon, the First Quarter Moon, the Full Moon, and the Third Quarter Moon. Technically, the primary Moon phases occur at a specific moment in time, and the intermediate Moon phases take up the time in between.
The average time between each primary Moon phase is around 7.38 days (just over 7 days and 9 hours) which is considered the origin for the 7-day week.
The intermediate Moon phases are the Waxing Crescent Moon, the Waxing Gibbous Moon, the Waning Gibbous Moon, and the Waning Crescent Moon.
Lunar Calendars
Some of the oldest calendars we know of are lunar calendars, such as the Roman calendar, based on the lunar month. The word month is even derived from the word Moon.
The 12 months of the year
Today, most countries use the Gregorian calendar, which is based on Earth’s revolutions around the Sun. However, the current months September, October, November, and December are still named after their original place in the ancient Roman calendar.
https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/lunar-month.html
+Jean Stewart +Brett Hawkes +Shermanator Osborn +JO+Fred Haddad jr.
#LunarYear #Sydonic #LunarCalendar #Hijri #Space #Univers #Time #Moon #Crescent #light #AncientSumerian #SacredMounth #LunationNumber
A lunar month is the time it takes the Moon to pass through all of the Moon phases, measured from a New Moon to the next New Moon.
Illustration showing all the different Moon phases next to one another
A lunar month comprises all the Moon phases.
©bigstockphoto.com/Delpixart
A lunar month is also known as a lunation, while the astronomical term for this period is a synodic month, from the Greek term synodos, meaning meeting or conjunction.
From New Moon to New Moon
We measure the lunar month from the precise moment of a New Moon, when the Sun and Earth are aligned on opposite sides of the Moon, until the next New Moon.
Moon phases in your city
About 29.5 Days
In the period from 1600 to 2600, an average lunar month lasts 29.530575 days or 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2 seconds. The shortest lunar month ended July 17, 1708 and lasted 29.271819 days (29 days, 6 hours, 31 minutes, and 25 seconds), while the longest was the one that ended on January 14, 1611 and lasted 29.832568 days (29 days, 19 hours, 58 minutes, and 54 seconds).
The exact length varies slightly, due to the elliptical shape of the Moon's orbit.
Synodic vs. Sidereal Month
The time it takes the Moon to complete 1 orbit around Earth is called a sidereal month. Sidereal refers to the Latin word for stars and sidereal month means that the Moon returns to the same point under the stars. This takes, on average, 27.3 days.
If Earth stood still, the synodic (lunar) month would be the same as the sidereal month. However, at the same time as the Moon is orbiting Earth, our planet also continues its annual orbit around the Sun in the same direction. So, after completing a sidereal month, the Moon has to move a little further to catch up to the same alignment with the Sun and Earth as at the previous New Moon. This is why a synodic (lunar) month is around 2.2 days longer than a sidereal month.
Lunation Number
In astronomy, it is most common to use the Brown lunation number system for lunar months. This system was invented by Professor Ernest W. Brown and presented in the book Planetary Theory from 1933, which Brown co-wrote with Assistant Professor Clarence A. Shook.
Brown starts his count with lunation number 1 at the 1st New Moon of 1923, which was on January 17. This is why the lunation numbers in the table on our Moon Phase pages are currently in the 1100s. And, for the same reason, lunation numbers listed for years before 1923, are negative.
There are also other lunation cycles in use, such as Herman Goldstine's Lunation Number, Jean Meeus's Lunation Number, and the Hebrew Lunation Number, which counts lunations in the Hebrew calendar.
Primary and Intermediate Moon Phases
In Western Culture, we divide the lunar month into 4 primary and 4 intermediate Moon phases.
The primary phases are the New Moon, the First Quarter Moon, the Full Moon, and the Third Quarter Moon. Technically, the primary Moon phases occur at a specific moment in time, and the intermediate Moon phases take up the time in between.
The average time between each primary Moon phase is around 7.38 days (just over 7 days and 9 hours) which is considered the origin for the 7-day week.
The intermediate Moon phases are the Waxing Crescent Moon, the Waxing Gibbous Moon, the Waning Gibbous Moon, and the Waning Crescent Moon.
Lunar Calendars
Some of the oldest calendars we know of are lunar calendars, such as the Roman calendar, based on the lunar month. The word month is even derived from the word Moon.
The 12 months of the year
Today, most countries use the Gregorian calendar, which is based on Earth’s revolutions around the Sun. However, the current months September, October, November, and December are still named after their original place in the ancient Roman calendar.
https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/lunar-month.html
+Jean Stewart +Brett Hawkes +Shermanator Osborn +JO+Fred Haddad jr.
#LunarYear #Sydonic #LunarCalendar #Hijri #Space #Univers #Time #Moon #Crescent #light #AncientSumerian #SacredMounth #LunationNumber
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Cassini's Last Ring Portrait at Saturn
Image Credit: +NASA, +NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Caltech, Space Science Institute, Mindaugas Macijauskas
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170926.html
How should Cassini say farewell to Saturn? Three days before plunging into Saturn's sunny side, the robotic Cassini spacecraft swooped far behind Saturn's night side with cameras blazing. Thirty-six of these images have been merged -- by an alert and adept citizen scientist -- into a last full-ring portrait of Cassini's home planet for the past 13 years. The Sun is just above the frame, causing Saturn to cast a dark shadow onto its enormous rings. This shadow position cannot be imaged from Earth and will not be visible again until another Earth-launched spaceship visits the ringed giant. Data and images from Cassini's mission-ending dive into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15 continue to be analyzed.
Image Credit: +NASA, +NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Caltech, Space Science Institute, Mindaugas Macijauskas
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170926.html
How should Cassini say farewell to Saturn? Three days before plunging into Saturn's sunny side, the robotic Cassini spacecraft swooped far behind Saturn's night side with cameras blazing. Thirty-six of these images have been merged -- by an alert and adept citizen scientist -- into a last full-ring portrait of Cassini's home planet for the past 13 years. The Sun is just above the frame, causing Saturn to cast a dark shadow onto its enormous rings. This shadow position cannot be imaged from Earth and will not be visible again until another Earth-launched spaceship visits the ringed giant. Data and images from Cassini's mission-ending dive into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15 continue to be analyzed.
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The Verge: Bill Gates now uses an Android phone. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIwmczckTY
... Microsoft started selling the Samsung Galaxy S8 handset in its retail stores earlier this year, and it includes apps like Office, OneDrive, Cortana, and Outlook. Any Android phone also supports these apps, but Microsoft’s customized S8 does suggest the company might continue to offer this for other Android devices in the future.
While Gates is switching to Android, he’s still not interested in an iPhone. Gates famously banned iPhones and iPods at home in the past, but he does admit that Steve Jobs was a “genius” in the Fox interview. Gates is still using Windows-based PCs, but he’s still not switching over to an iPhone, despite the Steve Jobs praise....
... Microsoft started selling the Samsung Galaxy S8 handset in its retail stores earlier this year, and it includes apps like Office, OneDrive, Cortana, and Outlook. Any Android phone also supports these apps, but Microsoft’s customized S8 does suggest the company might continue to offer this for other Android devices in the future.
While Gates is switching to Android, he’s still not interested in an iPhone. Gates famously banned iPhones and iPods at home in the past, but he does admit that Steve Jobs was a “genius” in the Fox interview. Gates is still using Windows-based PCs, but he’s still not switching over to an iPhone, despite the Steve Jobs praise....
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Kumawood Actor Yaw Dabo, Loses Younger Brother - Popular Kumawood star, Yaw Dabo, has just lost his younger who was battling kidney problem for some months now; fnnewsonline can confirm. The young actor who has been very instrumental to the growth of Kumawood movies in Ghana is now in the mourning mood over the sad news. Youtube video spotted by fnnewsonline.com authenticates this reportage as the teen actor was heard wailing and we ...
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I sure freaked out in this horror game! If you have any thoughts about the video, just leave a comment down below. Thanks for watching!
Video ➞ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2ISUIqaxV0&t=25s
My YouTube Channel [DannyYO] ➞ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-KtvnEZHYYbm4JXFKyiw6g/featured
#Contemp #ScaryGame #HorrorGame #Gaming #YouTube
Video ➞ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2ISUIqaxV0&t=25s
My YouTube Channel [DannyYO] ➞ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-KtvnEZHYYbm4JXFKyiw6g/featured
#Contemp #ScaryGame #HorrorGame #Gaming #YouTube
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![WeChat sharing users’ personal data with Chinese authorities [Update: WhatsApp now blocked in China]](http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/A0DnpvZOvS7AD956rUtzZZfZjKc-vhdxYifCb09LByw6q2bqnwK2M6tCSbfL0FWAHwDlQmVFVAmZ2VjdJ3X7qBIYcoHg01iZXao9nAiSDlW1W99VqUwYt_iI=w265-h164-p)
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If We Are To Remember -- Moab, Utah
"If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it."
“We must not only protect the country side and save it from destruction, we must restore what has been destroyed and salvage the beauty and charm. Once our natural splendor is destroyed, it can never be recaptured. And once man can no longer walk with beauty or wonder at nature, his spirit will wither and his sustenance be wasted.”
-- Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States
An autumn view up into the LaSal Mountains near Moab, Utah...
For #TreeTuesday ( +Tree Tuesday ) Curated by +Christina Lawrie , +Allan Cabrera , +Ralph Mendoza , +Kim Troutman and +David R Robinson, and #LandscapePhotography +Landscape Photography curated by +Margaret Tompkins +Eric Drumm +Chandler L. Walker +Krzysztof Felczak +Jeff Beddow +H Peter Ji +Dorma Wiggin, and #hqsplandscape for +HQSP Landscape, and +Mountain Monday / #MountainMonday curated by +Michael Russell, and +Mountain Photos / #MountainPhotos curated by +Baki Karaçay...
"If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it."
“We must not only protect the country side and save it from destruction, we must restore what has been destroyed and salvage the beauty and charm. Once our natural splendor is destroyed, it can never be recaptured. And once man can no longer walk with beauty or wonder at nature, his spirit will wither and his sustenance be wasted.”
-- Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States
An autumn view up into the LaSal Mountains near Moab, Utah...
For #TreeTuesday ( +Tree Tuesday ) Curated by +Christina Lawrie , +Allan Cabrera , +Ralph Mendoza , +Kim Troutman and +David R Robinson, and #LandscapePhotography +Landscape Photography curated by +Margaret Tompkins +Eric Drumm +Chandler L. Walker +Krzysztof Felczak +Jeff Beddow +H Peter Ji +Dorma Wiggin, and #hqsplandscape for +HQSP Landscape, and +Mountain Monday / #MountainMonday curated by +Michael Russell, and +Mountain Photos / #MountainPhotos curated by +Baki Karaçay...
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Rams Planet
Close enough to the highest point in mainland Oz i reckon.
Rams Head North 2190m, noting that Mount Kosciuszko is 2228m a grand total of 38m taller..:) Mount Kosciuszko is that sloping hill over there on the horizon. Fun fact for the day, Mount Everest is almost exactly 4 times taller than this peak, i guess technically I can say I have walked a quarter of the way to the highest point in the world. :)
Another fun fact, Norway has about 180 peaks over 2000 metres high but its tallest is only 2469m, just a smidge over our little hill over here.
#tinyplanet
Close enough to the highest point in mainland Oz i reckon.
Rams Head North 2190m, noting that Mount Kosciuszko is 2228m a grand total of 38m taller..:) Mount Kosciuszko is that sloping hill over there on the horizon. Fun fact for the day, Mount Everest is almost exactly 4 times taller than this peak, i guess technically I can say I have walked a quarter of the way to the highest point in the world. :)
Another fun fact, Norway has about 180 peaks over 2000 metres high but its tallest is only 2469m, just a smidge over our little hill over here.
#tinyplanet
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This Is Battlefront II
John Boyega introduces the game and gives a new look at what's to come
#StarWars #BattlefrontII #StarWarsVideogames
John Boyega introduces the game and gives a new look at what's to come
#StarWars #BattlefrontII #StarWarsVideogames
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How long will Google support the Pixel C?
Given that Google is still selling the Pixel C via its own store the support period for the Pixel C most likely will be longer than for most devices. Usually Google guarantees 18 months after the last month of sale, so we are looking at a minimum of April 2019 right now. Also given that right now it doesn't look like that we'll get a new Google tablet this year (I hope I'm wrong, but there are virtually no leaks that point in that direction) they might sell it even longer. That would also open up the possibility that the Pixel C will actually get Android P. After all Google needs one device to show off / develop Android for tablets - same as with the Nexus Player and Android TV. Also important to note: The Pixel C uses a SoC by Nvidia - and not Qualcomm. Which might help with a longer support time frame.
As a sidenote: I still would highly prefer if Google just gave us a Pixel C hardware refresh. Newer SoC, AMOLED screen - not a whole lot more that I would need. It's still pretty good hardware but given that Google is continuing to ask the full price and it's been out for two years now it's getting hard to justify to buy it anymore.
Given that Google is still selling the Pixel C via its own store the support period for the Pixel C most likely will be longer than for most devices. Usually Google guarantees 18 months after the last month of sale, so we are looking at a minimum of April 2019 right now. Also given that right now it doesn't look like that we'll get a new Google tablet this year (I hope I'm wrong, but there are virtually no leaks that point in that direction) they might sell it even longer. That would also open up the possibility that the Pixel C will actually get Android P. After all Google needs one device to show off / develop Android for tablets - same as with the Nexus Player and Android TV. Also important to note: The Pixel C uses a SoC by Nvidia - and not Qualcomm. Which might help with a longer support time frame.
As a sidenote: I still would highly prefer if Google just gave us a Pixel C hardware refresh. Newer SoC, AMOLED screen - not a whole lot more that I would need. It's still pretty good hardware but given that Google is continuing to ask the full price and it's been out for two years now it's getting hard to justify to buy it anymore.
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