Quantum Leap
 

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) was described in A meaningful goal for NASA

Eventually it got a ride. Mars: One Way

First evidence of Dark Matter may have been found according to the BBC on 3 April 2013. Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer zeroes in on dark matter

AMS is nicknamed the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) in Space. A major tool necessary for what is probably the future of today's kids - Quantum Physics.

Fascinating stuff, thanks tdub!

Most interesting.

Although, didn't that BBC report say the AMS was on the space station, that as we all know, does zero real science? ;)

And as for all this dark matter and dark energy talk, when are they going to come out and announce the discovery of the dark side of the force?

Oh no you di'int!

Geekfight! Geekfight!

Oh Lordy it's on!!

AMS was designed to be mounted on any other platform. ISS only provides the platform. Was the only available platform when the last shuttle needed a purpose and the AMS needed something to attach to.

AMS is attached outside. Operates independently.

AMS operation and data is monitored remotely from the ground. No astronaut intervention required other than to bolt it to the ISS.

George Jr wanted to send astronauts to discover the Dark Side of the Moon. Apparently god suggested it to him in music during a drinking binge.

I'm taking bets to see if there is a thread that tw doesn't talk about George Jr.

I'm also thinking that if there wasn't already evidence for dark matter/energy then we wouldn't know about the term. Like many things in the universe we see evidence for, but have no freaking idea what it is or the underlying mechanism for how it works. Much like George Jr's brain.

No evidence of dark matter / dark energy existed. But celestial behavior and the math (ie Hubble Constant, simulations) did not agree. Celestial behavior only agreed with math and simulations if dark energy/matter exists.

Dark matter/energy existed only in a hypothesis. Astronomers now need actual (experimental) evidence to confirm what was only a hypothesis based in math and simulations. That's why the AMS was constructed about 1998.

Same junior high science concepts applied to the Higgs bosom. Until recently, Higgs only existed in a 48 years old hypothesis. To have knowledge required $billions buried a few hundred feet underground. By merging experimental evidence to that hypothesis.

"Altered state" may be more accurate. The other guy does try to impersonate me now and again too, confusing the peeps.

Security is a challenge even for god.

Now, about those MBAs and bean counters.....

Welcome back God - you've not posted much recently.
Been busy?

Oh and thanks for the Thatcher thing. Although I assume the Other Chap's got her now.

The guy with the condom head is David Cameron, and I think the bloke in the gimp suit is his deputy, Nick Clegg...though I might be wrong about that. I lost touch with Steve Bell after John Major's demise.

Snicker. I don't think I even hear her voice any more, I only hear her Spitting Imagge voice (Steve Nallon.)

Now I am usually broadly in agreement with BBC Radio 5 Live.
But this week I'm sick and tired of hearing Nicky Campbell refer to people celebrating the Thatch's death as rejoicing in the death of an elderly and frail old lady. Bollocks to it.

Had she been physically atacked I'd have been right behind him, but she wasn't.
Can't be doing with all this don't-speak-ill-of-the-dead shit.
Poor old Jimmy Savile, frail old man. No. Okay he was a dirty crim and she probably wasn't (who knows - politicians are not known for their honesty in general.)

But she's not being execrated for being frail, old or a woman. Her death as a figurehead is being celebrated. Sorry she ended up unable to remember the harm she caused, but guess what? My Dad is unlikely to be able to recognise us when he dies. And it won't be in the bloody Ritz either.

With so many educated by brainwashing (ie Fox News), science (quantum physics, battery, stem cell, automotive, etc) has been leaving America.

The Silicon Valley, desperate for educated employees, already used up all this entire year's H1B visas in March. Because extremists in Congress (who said we want America to fail) even fear immigrants. Immigrants were always a greatest source of America's patents and innovative companies. Same people, who wasted $billions on ISS, just as foolishly wanted to put a man on the moon and Mars. How many times much these guys be dumb before we finally address the problem?

America had $8 billion to spend. Either on a Super Collider in Texas that had an obvious purpose. Or on the ISS so that men can do expensively and unproductively what robots and machines do better.

Congress quashed the Super Collider to drive science out of America. Meanwhile the ISS did no science while costs have ballooned to ...

From The Economist of 6 Apr 2013: Ironic. Only science attached to a $100 billion claptrap gets announced elsewhere - CERN. Was it an accident? After all, extremists even tried to kill AMS and discovery of a Higgs bosom. Both discoveries announced in CERN.

Why was AMS in storage for so long? George Jr was a business school graduate. And a frontman for extremists who hate STEM and innovation. Who even deny reasons for global warming. Who knew everything done by Clinton was evil. Who blamed Saddam for 11 September. Who invented the axis of evil myth that forced both Iran and N Korea to go nuclear. Who attempted to undermine, end, or setback science - Auroral Activity. Who believe money games to enrich the rich are the only useful innovations.

Makes no difference whether innovation comes from the private section or public sector - as should now be obvious to everyone in the UK. Extremists will argue that nonsense while ignoring and stifling the only thing that advances mankind: STEM and its resulting innovations.

If the Super Collider had been built here, so what? Does it matter where anything is discovered, everybody gets to use the discoveries.

Whereas from the ISS we can dump garbage bags on Kim Young Asshole.

Had a disagreement with someone I know. This person is well educated, conservative, Catholic.

This person said that Evolution is only a theory and is not proven. Creationism is also a theory and not proven. Ergo, they are equivalent.:smack:

I tried to explain difference between theory, hypothesis, and faith.

Oh, and it was argued that all societies that tolerated gays collapsed.:right:

When all else fails, blame the gays.

Unrelated to teh gay matters....

What this thread reminds me of, every time...

"Oh boy"

http://cellar.org/2013/scottbakula.jpg

. could be related to gay matters *snicker* I know I'd turn gay for a piece of that,

oh wait... don't have to :o

Old big nose is back [Blackadder]

lol me too!!!

I was a little bit disappoint the first time I read it.

I so wish they'd let Enterprise have another series. He was excellent as the captain.

@ Sundae: totally agree with that, hon. Tell ye what, way back before the privatisation missions began, there were problems with the NHS (generally a lack of funds and a lot of mismanagement), but one thing that wasn't lacking was personal kindness and the time to care for vulnerable patients.

The more they talk about putting the people who use them at the centre of public services, the more they are actually shoved out to the periphary. The Big Society is just an excuse to strip away expectations and resign people to a lack of any coherent approach to ensuring those who need assistance get it and to the needed degree.

Thatcher birthed this monstrous selfishness and after all those years of divide and rule, what the fuck is left of the class unity that opposed her?

Sorry. Wrong place for a rant.

I'm sure I've written this before, and yes, it might be the wrong plsce, but surely we'll br forgiven ;)

I was friends with student nurses for a few years.
I respected them. The choice they'd made, the years they were spending on tiny wages while they trained, the studying they put in. I was cross whenever I heard nurses criticised.

'Til Great Aunt Alice (Auntie Alice) went into hospital. 'Til Grandad went into hospital. 'Til Abs went into hospital (less so in her case because she had a voice, but she was an intimidated teen.)

Shocking lack of care.
Really, not just using a word for the sake of it - we were shocked by the lack of day-to-day care. And Mum used to be a Nursing Auxillary on a geriatric ward.

Grandad's actual health was not ignored. But eating, drinking, being aware of his mental state, his hearing and eyesight was. Brief example, they had no idea he couldn't tell the time. His watch was taken away (locked up) for health reasons and he could not see across the ward to the clock. He would doze off and wake up completely baffled. If we were there he was doubly confused, thinking we were coming to bring him breakfast (at 17.00)

Alice showed signs of dehydration when we visited. No water within reach. Food tray - untouched - on the over-the-bed table when she was obviously too far gone to feed herself. We got there about 14.30.

If this is beneath nurses then they need to employ more people in minor roles.
Or put them all in the bloody Ritz.

Sorry.
I'm done.

[old lady] bring back proper wards with ward sisters and everyone, right down to the cleaners and the catering, directly employed by and answerable to the hospital [/old lady]


[eta] Mum was an auxillary for two years, iirc, before enrolling in nursing college.