M Thomas Apple Author Page

Science fiction, actual science, history, and personal ranting about life, the universe, and everything

Time to see the Perseid Meteor shower! ☄️

July 18, 2024
MThomas

The Perseids get their name because the shooting stars appear to stream from a point in the sky where the constellation of Perseus is located…The constellation rises in the northeast, but meteors should be visible all over the sky if conditions are clear.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/perseid-meteor-shower-begins-see-shooting-stars-rcna161911

The best time to watch is after midnight in the northern hemisphere. The meteors are actually debris leftover from the Swift-Tuttle comet, discovered in the early 1860s.

The annual celestial event started this past Sunday and lasts for about two months, but the peak this year is around August 12th.

Perseus looks like this:

See https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/perseus-constellation/ for more information about this group of constellations as well as the famous Greek myth behind them…

Who wants to train AI for free, hands up! 🙌

July 10, 2024
MThomas

Post a comment on Reddit, answer coding questions on Stack Overflow, edit a Wikipedia entry or share a baby photo on your public Facebook or Instagram feed and you are also helping to trainthe next generation of artificial intelligence.

https://apnews.com/article/genai-training-data-stack-overflow-reddit-9d71b75ec16c78c0d2c51cc46121c1a4

Well, if they’re scrubbing my public FB page for data,

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves 

      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: 

All mimsy were the borogoves, 

      And the mome raths outgrabe.

I’ll take up my vorpal sword and

One, two! One, two! And through and through 

      The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

O frabjous day!

PS I hope this helps hapless mindless office workers compose emails.

Railway Robot in Japan

July 5, 2024
MThomas

West Japan Railways (West JR), one of six companies that make up Japan Railways Group, has unveiled a giant  “humanoid robot” to work on heavy machinery on its lines…

https://www.railway-technology.com/news/japanese-railway-introduces-infrastructure-robot/?cf-view

Interesting that in English the official name is West Japan Railways Company, while in Japanese it’s JR Nishi-Nihon Guruupu (JR西日本グループ), which means Japan Railways West Japan Group. It’s one of six “companies” that comprise what used to be “National Railroad” (Kokutetsu), owned by the government.

JR West is renowned to be badly run and somewhat corrupt. I wonder about this “robot” project. With the increase in “human accidents” (ie people hit by a train), I think it’d be better to hire more workers than to reduce staff and have the top level desk jockeys pocket the…

Oh. 🤖 💴 🏦

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