Today I Learned

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fresh_42 said:
I just see on TV a documentary about LNG from the US. They said that people don't want to see burning flames, so they release the methane directly into the air. :DD:woot::DD
Hey, don't be making fun of my farts !
 
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fresh_42 said:
I just see on TV a documentary about LNG from the US. They said that people don't want to see burning flames, so they release the methane directly into the air. :DD:woot::DD
I don't understand. There's a fire so they release methane?
 
fresh_42 said:
Well, I am not allowed to comment on what I really think here. It is allowed to call German politics poor, but it is not allowed to say the same thing about American politics, sorry.
But aren't you also forbidden to say that you're not allowed to say what you believe? I suppose we shall see, eh?
 
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fresh_42 said:
They release the byproduct of methane of LNG pumps into the air. A flame would provoke questions, but methane is invisible so there is no need to draw any attention.
Aha. Well then today I too have learned something.
 
fresh_42 said:
They release the byproduct of methane of LNG pumps into the air. A flame would provoke questions, but methane is invisible so there is no need to draw any attention.
As Billy Crystal was wont to say, "it is better to look good than to feel good, don't you agree?"
 
fresh_42 said:
I like a quotation from an American novelist. I have forgotten his name, but he said: "We are the first generation that won't save itself because it's not profitable."
Similar thoughts have occurred to me. Or more directly, to destroy itself because it's profitable.
 
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fresh_42 said:
They release the byproduct of methane of LNG pumps into the air. A flame would provoke questions, but methane is invisible so there is no need to draw any attention.

The flames make a better opening in the Blade Runner film:
Screenshot 2024-06-13 at 6.10.43 PM.png


Screenshot 2024-06-13 at 6.11.08 PM.png
 
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Today I learned that Asakasa Tokyo is not the same as Asakusa Tokyo. They are a few miles apart.
 
Off the back of a conversation in the animal photos thread I read the Wikipedia article on chickens so TIL that "a landmark 2020 Nature study that fully sequenced 863 chickens across the world suggests that all domestic chickens originate from a single domestication event of red junglefowl whose present-day distribution is predominantly in southwestern China, northern Thailand and Myanmar."

So Adam and Eve may be a myth, but apparently not for chickens.

(The text says the study was in Nature, but the referenced paper is in Cell Research.)
 
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ergospherical said:
The surfing at this years Olympics will be held in Tahiti, nearly 10,000 miles from Paris. It's the furthest away from the host city that an event has been staged, with the runner up being back in 1956 when equestrian events were moved from Melbourne to Stockholm due to quarantine laws.
That’s a very very narrow record though. 15700 km vs the previous 15600 km.
 
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ergospherical said:
The surfing at this years Olympics will be held in Tahiti, nearly 10,000 miles from Paris. It's the furthest away from the host city that an event has been staged, with the runner up being back in 1956 when equestrian events were moved from Melbourne to Stockholm due to quarantine laws.
Most of the reason is that surfers get much better waves in the winter. So for the summer Olympics it makes sense to hold it in the southern hemisphere.
 
fresh_42 said:
Well, there are obviously solutions in the northern hemisphere. In August. 560 km.

I guess, the French would rather go to the other side of the world than to Cornwall.
Cornwall says "battered by swells and winds in the winter, but home to beautiful little breaks in the summer."

Tahiti is the home of Teahupo'o, possibly the "best" wave in the whole world. Huge and great shape. In this day of tv and easy travel, why not?
world.https://youtu.be/oNwzDHJHA_g?si=aaCmChHQPc4Twtsq

When I was a surfer I seldom bothered to go out in the summer. But thanks to The Beach Boys, in the mind of Joe Public surfing will always be about Endless Summer.
 
Hornbein said:
Cornwall says "battered by swells and winds in the winter, but home to beautiful little breaks in the summer."

Tahiti is the home of Teahupo'o, possibly the "best" wave in the whole world. Huge and great shape. In this day of tv and easy travel, why not?
world.https://youtu.be/oNwzDHJHA_g?si=aaCmChHQPc4Twtsq
Yes, but WSL means "World Surf League". These are the official, professional tournaments. So if it is good enough for them, why isn't it good enough for the Olympics at the same time?
 
fresh_42 said:
Yes, but WSL means "World Surf League". These are the official, professional tournaments. So if it is good enough for them, why isn't it good enough for the Olympics at the same time?

It's because little events like that cater to an audience that physically goes there. The Olympics is all about broadcasts.
 
TIL, "Westinghouse Electronic Systems provided research, development, and manufacture of a range of electronic equipment for the United States Armed Forces and other U.S. government agencies from 1938 until it was sold to the Northrop-Grumman Corporation in 1996. Northrop-Grumman continues to operate the division today."
https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Westinghouse_Electronic_Systems
I heard a piece of Westinghouse was associated with Northrup-Grumman, and I wondered how that could be.

Westinghouse: The Life & Time of an American Icon​


 
Astronuc said:
TIL, "Westinghouse Electronic Systems provided research, development, and manufacture of a range of electronic equipment for the United States Armed Forces and other U.S. government agencies from 1938 until it was sold to the Northrop-Grumman Corporation in 1996. Northrop-Grumman continues to operate the division today."
https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Westinghouse_Electronic_Systems
I heard a piece of Westinghouse was associated with Northrup-Grumman, and I wondered how that could be.

Westinghouse: The Life & Time of an American Icon​



My granddaddy Rolla was a bigshot at Westinghouse. He was very proud of his role in developing the first atomic bombs.
 
fresh_42 said:
They said that people don't want to see burning flames, so they release the methane directly into the air.
I suspect whatever TV show it was was making a (garbled, apparently) reference to venting of methane during flaring--the methane is supposed to be burned but not all of it is.

It appears that new regulations are being put in place to limit the practice:

https://www.nrdc.org/bio/josh-axelrod/rule-will-cut-methane-waste-federal-lands-drilling
 
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PeterDonis said:
I suspect whatever TV show it was was making a (garbled, apparently) reference to venting of methane during flaring--the methane is supposed to be burned but not all of it is.

It appears that new regulations are being put in place to limit the practice:

https://www.nrdc.org/bio/josh-axelrod/rule-will-cut-methane-waste-federal-lands-drilling

https://www.zdf.de/ard/story/page-video-ard-lng-um-jeden-preis-100.html


It is voice over, but the English original can be heart. I hope that native English speaker can understand it anyway. 8:00 - 11:15 (statement from a professor at Cornell included).
 
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