Here’s One For You

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UPDATE:  SOLVED at 12:29 CDT by Roger

Ah, Saturday.  Named for Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture.  Dies Saturni became the Old English Saeternesdaeg, which became Saturday; the only day of the week where the English name comes from Roman mythology.

No, that’s not a clue for your riddle today… but it does give me some interesting ideas.  The riddles will be getting progressively tougher now, leading up to the bonus riddle.  Are you ready to play?  Got those neurons fired up and ready to go?  Grab a cup of coffee, and good luck:

Serpens, held by Ophiuchus - Image in public domain, from Urania's Mirror, London, c. 1825

Although thought of in the singular, this is composed of many parts.

An 18th century discovery, its image is recognized world-wide.

While it’s not visible to the naked eye, it doesn’t necessarily require a telescope to see parts of it.

It is well worth seeing, because it’s immensely beautiful… even if you don’t “get it”.

On a cosmic time scale, it is very young.

Even so, today’s subject may already be gone.

Today’s subject does feature in some modern fiction, but not as much as you’d expect.

Well, what do you think?  Do you know the answer?  I’m hanging out in the comments, as usual, and I’ll be waiting to hear from you.

Lurking, lurking, lurking... oh, hi!

Photo safari – Orangutans Part 1 | Not Exactly Rocket Science

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One of the bright sides of being stranded at Perth by a giant ash cloud was a visit to Perth Zoo and, particualrly, visiting their orangutan exhibit. I’ve been to quite a number of zoos in my time and that had to rank with the best enclosures I have ever seen. The zoo is part of an international conservation programme and its six or so orangutans have a sizeable area to roam around, complete with tall towers, ropes, ladders and more. The next couple of posts will showcase some of the photos I took of these animals, and will help to fill some bloggy time as I wind my weary way back to the UK.

We start with the baby, who was undoubtedly the highlight of the day. Just try and look at these photos without grinning.

Orangutan_baby_reaching

Orangutan_baby_thinking

Orangutan_baby_peering

Orangutan_baby_knot

After taking the shot below, I asked a keeper about whether the orangutans ever undid the fixtures in their enclosure. She grinned and told me about the story described in this news report. One of the females actually undid a rope and swung out into the visitors’ area, showing remarkable restraint in just ambling along the wall and in not making a Tarzan noise. Because, clearly, that’s what you or I would have done.

Uninstalling MS Updates When Using Vista!

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How do I uninstall any MS updates that do not appear in the program window for uninstall when using Vista?

Another dumb question from a non IT tinkerer.

As talked about in the current thread about downgrading to MS7, I have a problem with my Vista machine, probably more than one.

The

New York Times depicts life on Venus and Mars… in 1912 | Bad Astronomy

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One of the cooler blogs out there is Ironic Sans by David Friedman (the same guy who made scientific Valentine cards). He’s started a new blog called SundayMagazine.org, where posts and discusses old issues of the New York Times Sunday Magazine from the ancient archives.

In his first one, he found quite the catch:

nyt_sundaymag1912

How cool is that? The article is about a lettered French scientist speculating about what life would be like on other planets. David has a PDF of the article as well, which is an absolute delight to read. How wonderful to see something like that; an apparently scientifically-minded article, but free to have fun and take the reader to a totally different place than what they might expect!

It’s inspiring, in fact. Given that kind of freedom today, I wonder what other famous scientists of today would write about.


Strange Meter Reading

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Hi I hope someone can explain this one to me.

I've just come back from fixing a powerless wall socket, the fault was a broken neutral conductor further down the circuit. Now when I first tested the socket with a test screwdriver both terminals lit up this would be explained by an appliance

dry ice

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Is the amount off dry ice enough in the container to cool 48 kg steel from 80 °C to 20 °C?

Container is W=0.8 m (0.58) Depth 0.6m (0.37) H= 1.05 m (0.69) (inside dimensions)

I have to open the container 16 times on 12 hours

0.4W/m2/°C

density of dry ice 1.2-1.6 kg/dm3

Specif

Would You Drive One?

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Maybe you missed it, or dismissed it when introduced a couple of years ago. But times have changed, and energy, fuel, and environmental cost pressures still mount. So what if you weren't the first on your block to own one? Would you now considering drive a Tata Nano, that 2-cylinder, 33 hp, world's

Were There Giants in the Land?

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It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but are the words the truth? We live in the computer age where pictures can be doctored, and many have been. There was a contest to fake archeological digs. Here are some of the fakes.

Despite all the scams, reports of giant skeleto

Steam Turbine Power Flactuating

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Hi

This my first communion .

i working in a refinery possess a stem turbines generators in utility area or power plant some they call it ,each turbine have 10 stages and generate 40MW. This area is under my responsibilities i normally doing as daily check for vibration ,bearings temperatur

New POI: Deborah Blum–Murder and Chemistry in Jazz Age New York | The Intersection

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My next installment as a Point of Inquiry host just went up--you can download here and stream here. Here's a description of the show:
For many of us, chemistry is something we remember with groans from high school. Periodic Table of the Elements—what a pain to memorize, and what was the point, anyway? So how do you take a subject like chemistry and make it exciting, intriguing, and compelling? With her new book The Poisoner’s Handbook, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Deb Blum has done just that. Blum takes a page from the "CSI" franchise, and moves that familiar narrative of crime, intrigue, and high tech bad-guy catching back into the early days of the 20th century. There, in jazz age New York, she chronicles the birth of forensic chemistry at the hands of two scientific and public health pioneers—the city’s chief medical examiner Charles Norris, and his chemistry whiz side-kick Alexander Gettler. And while chronicling their poison-sleuthing careers, Blum also teaches quite a bit of science. Her book is a case study in science popularization, and one we should all be paying close attention to. Deborah Blum is a Pulitzer-prize winning science writer and has been a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison ...


Thread standard

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In 3/4" NPTF, what does 'F' stand for? Does this mean that it is Female thread?

Even I have come across male threads specified as 3/4" NPTF.

Pelase clarify.

Resistor Value Calculation Needed

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Hello, could anyone help with this? I want to stick a relay in series with a 250 watt 240 VAC lamp so that whilst the lamp is lit the relay coil is energized. The purpose is that if the filament in the lamp fails the relay will close supplying power to a back up lamp. I assume that I need t

Lounging at Eleuthera’s Tippy’s Beach Bistro

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The beach view at Tippy's

If you travel to the narrow,110 mile-long island of Eleuthera, you’ll be charmed by its quiet beauty and famous pink sands. There’s a lot to do on Eleuthera’s beaches, from bone fishing to fish fry parties.  My favorite activity combined the loveliness of  Eleuthera’s beaches with the distinctive Bahamian cuisine. No place reveals the perfection of this pairing the way that Tippy’s Beach Bistro does.

Typically, when you think beach-side dining, fast food options like hamburgers, fish patties and crab cakes come to mind, in a grubby shack-type setting.  Well there’s nothing grubby and fast food about Tippy’s.  Located on the Atlantic beach between Governor’s Harbour and North  Palmetto, Tippy’s exudes a sophisticated, open-air elegance with  interlocking, open gazebos furnished with wooden tables and benches crafted from  shutters and a bar made  from the weathered wood of an old dock.  Inside, there’s more formal table and chairs but inside or out, the food is amazing. The chalkboard menu changes daily and often offer lobster pizza, cracked conch and the Bahamian staple of conch fritters. I tried the arugula, cucumber and papaya salad along with a margarita pizza topped with goat cheese.  Both were fresh and expertly prepared.  Tippy’s is known for upscale Italian cuisine and the prices reflect that, ranging from $12 for appetizers to $22 for entrees.  The best part of the meal is taking a few steps to the powdery, white sand beach, where you can take a dip or just lounge on the sand.  There’s even a shower to rinse off the saltwater and sand afterwards.

Photo by Rosalind Cummings-Yeates

St. Thomas’ Sugar Bay Beach

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Sugar Bay Beach in St. Thomas

With a name like Sugar Bay, you’d expect powdery sand and calm, crystalline waters and Sugar Bay beach definitely lives up to its name. I visited St. Thomas on a press trip, courtesy of Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort and the beach was the first place I checked out.  It’s a tiny beach but it packs in lots of activity. 

The turquoise waves are gentle at Sugar Bay but the water close to the shore is lined with limestone and rocks so swim shoes are a good idea. The beach is a few steps from the hotel’s bar and grill so there are always waiters available to get a drink or snack.  Boats, kayaks  and jet skis  cover the end of the beach, which is the headquarters for the Water Sports Center.  There’s also sunset cruises that head out from the beach twice a week.  On afternoon that I was there, Delroy from the hotel was carving faces into coconuts. It looked like fun but I couldn’t drag myself away from my lounging chair to join in.  There’s a light breeze that frequents Sugar Bay beach as well as a large sea grape tree that provides lots of shade. I’d say its the perfect lounging beach if you don’t want to kayak or jet ski.   My favorite memory is lolling in a hammock and watching the sunset.

Photo courtesy of  Rosalind Cummings-Yeates