Today I Learned

[pinball1970]

TIL Another project CERN are involved in w.r.t Climate change study (link to a paper at the end)

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-trees-cloud-formation.html

A nice line, “Particularly the way in which cloud cover will develop in the future remains largely nebulous for the time being.”

I checked on the CERN site and there is an explanatory video showing the kit and techniques.

https://home.cern/news/news/experiments/cloud-experiment-sharpens-climate-predictions

 

[kyphysics]

Nearly all cars & trucks have a "black box" (like airplanes) that tracks a vehicle's movements. . . .I learned this from a 48 Hours episode (called, "Kassanndra's Secret"), in which the detective/investigator used one to see where a suspect may have dumped a body.

Didn't realize our cars have these things. Pretty cool!

 

[Borg]

Nearly all cars & trucks have a "black box" (like airplanes) that tracks a vehicle's movements. . . .I learned this from a 48 Hours episode (called, "Kassanndra's Secret"), in which the detective/investigator used one to see where a suspect may have dumped a body.

Didn't realize our cars have these things. Pretty cool!

AFAIK, the ones in cars only record a few seconds before a crash. It would be far easier to track the suspect's cell phone.

 

[gmax137]

It would be far easier to track the suspect's cell phone.

Do the telecoms really keep records of every cell phone location? They do "on TV" as well as time and duration of all the calls and texts. This seems like an overwhelming amount of data.

 

[DaveC426913]

Do the telecoms really keep records of every cell phone location? They do "on TV" as well as time and duration of all the calls and texts. This seems like an overwhelming amount of data.

Everytime a phone pings a tower or a tower pings a phone - which can be minutes or less apart - it is processed. Dont know how long that data is kept.

But its only a triangulation between towers so not too accurate positioning, and i assume it needs to be requested processing

 

[Borg]

Cell companies do maintain a record of which cell tower a phone contacts. This is often used in law enforcement to establish that someone was in the vicinity of a crime. Additionally, the police can request all phones that were in the area of several crimes which can resolve to just a few potential suspects.

 

[berkeman]

Google knows where I am (well, where my phone is) all the time, and is even nice enough to send me a report at the end of each month...

It does get a little confused about whether I'm running or biking or driving, depending on how fast I ride...

 

[gmax137]

Google knows

Yes, but you gave Google permission and they are open about using the data for their own purposes. Do the telcoms use the data they collect in ways not related to their business (simply, do they sell the data)?

 

[Borg]

Makes me wonder how many other police tools that people haven't heard of before.

My favorite is the Familial DNA Search. Even if law enforcement doesn't have a matching profile of DNA that they find at a crime scene, they can do a familial DNA search to find close or near relatives of the person. And where do they get that DNA? From sites like 23AndMe that happily store the DNA profiles in databases that are accessible by law enforcement. So, if a criminal's family member ever got curious about their DNA, the police will know that someone in their family left DNA at the scene. From what I remember, that includes relatives as distant as cousins, grandparents, etc. It does take a lot of time and resources so it's mainly used on high profile cases.

 

[gmax137]

Even if law enforcement doesn't have a matching profile of DNA that they find at a crime scene, they can do a familial DNA search

This is how they solved the Golden State Killer case in 2018, after at least13 murders and 51 rapes between 1974 and 1986.

The website identified ten to twenty people who had the same great-great-great grandparents as the Golden State Killer; a team of five investigators working with genealogist Barbara Rae-Venter used this list to construct a large family tree. From this tree, they established two suspects; one was ruled out by a relative's DNA test, leaving DeAngelo the main suspect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_James_DeAngelo

 

[kyphysics]

AFAIK, the ones in cars only record a few seconds before a crash. It would be far easier to track the suspect's cell phone.

At the 30:00 min. mark, they talk about the black box in the murderer's truck and how it ". . .records nearly every move a vehicle makes. . ." Not sure if all black boxes do the same.

With this killer's truck, you can see where he went and at what time/date.

 

[berkeman]

With this killer's truck, you can see where he went and at what time/date.

Sounds like that killer wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed...

 

[gmax137]

Sounds like that killer wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed...

Half a bubble off plumb?

 

[Borg]

At the 30:00 min. mark, they talk about the black box in the murderer's truck and how it ". . .records nearly every move a vehicle makes. . ." Not sure if all black boxes do the same.

With this killer's truck, you can see where he went and at what time/date.

You're forcing me to actually research this a bit.

According to wikipedia's article on Event Data Recorders, I don't see any mention of long-term storage or location tracking. There is some ambiguity between the implementations of different manufacturers but the main focus of the article talks about only tracking what the vehicle was doing (speeding, braking, seat belt use, etc.) in the seconds before a crash.

Similarly, the NHTSA article on Automotive Black Box Data Recovery Systems that mainly refers to late 90's era GM vehicles, states that the GM EDR only maintain the final five seconds before a crash. That's probably what I'm remembering in my earlier post.

EDIT: On reviewing what was said in the 48 hours link, it sounds like that vehicle has longer storage capability. Since it's probably a newer model, I guess that it had some sort of On-Star storage capability that would have location data available to it.

 

[BWV]

We are losing our leadership in UFOlogy to Mexico

 

[Ibix]

We are losing our leadership in UFOlogy to Mexico

Um... oh dear?

 

[berkeman]

We are losing our leadership in UFOlogy to Mexico

I read somewhere that it was due to a bicycle crash...

 

[fresh_42]

We are losing our leadership in UFOlogy to Mexico

View attachment 331902

And I thought you already lost this position to Belgium some 30 years ago!

 

[kyphysics]

You're forcing me to actually research this a bit.

EDIT: On reviewing what was said in the 48 hours link, it sounds like that vehicle has longer storage capability. Since it's probably a newer model, I guess that it had some sort of On-Star storage capability that would have location data available to it.

I'm going to Google this a bit too when I have more time. I feel like all the trouble of a black box to only have 5 sec. of recording time before a crash isn't worth it maybe, so it'd be good to know that newer models have more recording capability.

I'd be curious if there's this same ability on all newer cars from the cheapest to the more expensive types - or, if it's maybe just on nicer vehicles?

 

[kyphysics]

We are losing our leadership in UFOlogy to Mexico

View attachment 331902

Am I looking at the picture correctly that the head is very long (back depth-wise)? That would literally be like the stereotypical image of aliens you see depicted in fiction. . . .Of course, this thing looks like it's body is that of a small baby, but the head is intriguing (if I'm viewing it correctly)?

Or, is the head just rested on a rock (I think you all will see what I mean if you look closely) that is creating that elongated effect?

 

[berkeman]

Am I looking at the picture correctly that the head is very long (back depth-wise)? That would literally be like the stereotypical image of aliens you see depicted in fiction. . . .Of course, this thing looks like it's body is that of a small baby, but the head is intriguing (if I'm viewing it correctly)?

Or, is the head just rested on a rock (I think you all will see what I mean if you look closely) that is creating that elongated effect?

Seriously? Did your parents and older siblings never take you to the movies? Did you never have cable? Did you never feel like you were being lifted up into the air when you were riding your 1-speed bicycle?

 

[kyphysics]

Seriously? Did your parents and older siblings never take you to the movies? Did you never have cable? Did you never feel like you were being lifted up into the air when you were riding your 1-speed bicycle?

Wait, what are you saying? You think it's a fake? I'm not arguing it isn't, btw. Only curious if it's supposed to have an elongated head in the back or if that's just an erroneous visual effect I'm interpreting from the head resting on a rock or something.

I can't tell from the picture.

 

[pinball1970]

TIL NASA Made the awaited announcement regarding the UAP study.
Main take away, no evidence of ET but they do not know what they are. A new NASA director UAP has been appointed and work will continue. Results will be transparent.
That's as far as I got.

 

[Hornbein]

At the 1924 Paris Games, a Hungarian judge accused three Italian fencers of losing on purpose to teammate Oreste Puliti so he could more easily advance in the saber competition. Puliti threatened the official and was disqualified.

The irate fencer then challenged the judge to a duel with real swords. His challenge was accepted.

 

[DaveC426913]

TIL NASA Made the awaited announcement regarding the UAP study.
Main take away, no evidence of ET but they do not know what they are. A new NASA director UAP has been appointed and work will continue. Results will be transparent.
That's as far as I got.

Sauce:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...-anomalous-phenomena-independent-study-report

 

[pinball1970]

At the 1924 Paris Games, a Hungarian judge accused three Italian fencers of losing on purpose to teammate Oreste Puliti so he could more easily advance in the saber competition. Puliti threatened the official and was disqualified.

The irate fencer then challenged the judge to a duel with real swords. His challenge was accepted.

Thats better than my UAP post!

 

[pinball1970]

Sauce:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...-anomalous-phenomena-independent-study-report

Source ;)

 

[DaveC426913]

TIL about Gauge Blocks that have milled faces of such high precision that they stick together by molecular attraction and surface tension.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_block

 

[OCR]

.
Tool Tuesday Ep. 4: Starrett-Webber Gage Blocks - YouTube
.

 

[kyphysics]

. . .net worth is overrated

 

[hmmm27]

TIL that I shouldn't eat even slightly-rancid butter, even if it means tossing out a couple bagels slathered in cream cheese.

(Actually a few days ago : still recovering... said recovery definitely not bolstered by wondering if it was the cream cheese... and subsequently preparing and eating a KD with more than half a brick tossed in)

 

[gmax137]

KD

??

 

[hmmm27]

Kraft Dinner - "mac'n'cheese" - Canadian cuisine.

 

[berkeman]

Kraft Dinner - "mac'n'cheese" - Canadian cuisine.

It's what's for dinner, eh?

 

[BWV]

Kraft Dinner - "mac'n'cheese" - Canadian cuisine.

Yes, the land where even the French have crappy food