11/20/2002: Sun spot
 

http://cellar.org/2002/sunspot.jpg

What you have there is one of the best images of a sunspot ever recorded. It was taken on July 15 this year. The spot itself is described as "planet-sized" and this is just one part of it.

When you look closely at it, there are a whole lot of spooky things in there. I took the large version of the image and just took out this shot of some dude's face:

http://cellar.org/2002/sunspothead.jpg

That's Apollo.
 

That 5000 Kilometers distance graph and the size of the sun spot reminded me that ...

according to Guinness World Records:

There's something odd about those numbers. $2,030 in fuel to go 4376 miles? I don't know what gas costs in Canada, I'm sure it's taxed more heavily than it is in the U.S. But even figuring, say $2.50 US per gallon (which works out to about $3.75/gallon Canadian), that truck still only got about 5 miles per gallon. What kind of truck were they using anyway? Even semis get better mileage than that.

OK, I'll do the research if you'll do the math assuming there is no significant price difference over time.

Assuming that prices were the same in 2000 as they were in January 2002 ($1.419 US per gallon), and that the exchange rate was the same in 2000 as it was in January 2002, the support truck got 3.05 miles per gallon. Obviously we can't assume those things but I doubt they're likely to be much different.

Now, I may have done the math wrong, so somebody check me on this: Fuel Cost ($2030) / Price Per Gallon ($1.419) gives you 1430 gallons of fuel. Then, Miles Traveled (4367) / 1430 gallons of fuel should leave you with 3.05 mpg.

Bear in mind ... it was towing a solar vehicle. ;)

Thbpbptptptptpbpbtthht.

So then the solar car didn't actually make it all the way across Canada on it's own? I thought it said the support truck was merely "trailing" the solar car.

In any case, all I can say is... I'm bored now.

I doubt that a support truck tailing a solar car is operating at it's most fuel-efficient speed.

Tailing isn't towing.

Sure, but still, 3 miles per gallon? It just seems weird to me. But

- It doesn't matter.

- There wasn't any real point to this other than I thought the numbers were weird.

- I am even more bored with this topic now than I was before, if that's possible.

Well then they can't compare the figures, because nobody in their right mind would operate a truck that way.

Tell me more about the sun spots.

That's an awesome image. Can we get wallpaper high-res?

Anybody see any other stuff in that image?

Edit Note:

In the top right corner, I see a face looking upward and sticking his tongue out. :p

It's from Astronomy Pic of the Day

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021114.html

If you click on the image there, you get the larger version.

Further investigation of their links suggest that it really came from here

http://www.solarphysics.kva.se/

Where they say you can use the images if you give credit to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. So here goes: "That Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, boy I gotta hand it to them. They really know how to teach that science. In a Swedish and royal way. I gotta give them credit."

WOW. Freakin' awesome wallpaper. I hope the wife doesn't throw a pail of water on the monitor!

If you look more closely at UTs face capture you'll notice Apollo has his index finger laid up against his nose. The Gods, in their infinite boredom, are doing a stage production of The Sting.