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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 22nd, 2023

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  • atx_aquarian@lemmy.worldtomemes@lemmy.worldBIP BIP mf !
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    1 month ago

    No microwave I’ve seen has ever actually varied the wattage. It just essentially does pulse width modulation, so 60% power might be on (at full power) for 6 seconds and off for 4 seconds. It averages out to the desired power, but it’s not exactly the same as what it kind of implies.


  • Small event that may only have been exciting to me.

    I’m casually into amateur astronomy and stargazing. I like to count satellites if I’m outside on summer evenings, maybe haul the telescope out if some night is particularly clear. But I really don’t get out very often. Emphasis on “casual.”

    We moved to our current house some years ago and were just enjoying the nice, big backyard for one of the first times, sitting in some folding chairs fully reclined to look straight up at the sky. Whenever we do that, which is maybe once every several years, even then it’s always too cold, too hot, too many mosquitos, etc., so this was rare and nice.

    Right above our heads, right where we were both looking, an Iridium flare swept across us. I’d heard of those satellites reflecting “flares” being particularly spectacular, and I’d thought about trying to get in the path of a predicted one someday, but I don’t think I really thought I’d ever really make the effort or have any luck if I did. Not expecting it and seeing it happen, I couldn’t decide if I was dreaming. I hopped on heavens-above.com right afterwards and, although I didn’t see that flare predicted, it confirmed an Iridium pass had coincided with the sighting, so I’m convinced.

    So, something spectacular and somewhat scarce that many people wouldn’t notice and many would either find boring or think was a UFO was something we got lucky to accidentally see together right in our backyard.


  • atx_aquarian@lemmy.worldtoMemes@lemmy.mlMerry Christmas
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    7 months ago

    This interpretation is valid. But I recently learned to see it a different way.

    If you’ll humor me, please consider this. Since Santa knows if you’ve been “bad or good,” he knows the other reindeer have been bullies to poor Rudolph. And, while a red glowing nose is cool, it’s not a useful fog light. It’s just not.

    So Santa “uh oh!” had an emergency where, for the first time ever, the fog was going to be too thick all over the world to deliver presents?

    Nope, he set up Rudolph in a position to “lead” his peers in a situation that maybe needed a little help but was not, in any way, a true, worldwide magic-assed Santa emergency. Santa knew how to guide his reindeer to accept each other. The story of Rudolph was not about Rudolph doing something to prove himself. It was about recognizing a Rudolph in need and helping him rise to the occasion to bring him closer to his peers in a way that could heal division.

    Rudolph isn’t about how to triumph as a Rudolph. It’s about how to be a good Santa.

    (Edit: For everyone who already thought this was obvious in the story, thanks for letting this Rudolph have his epiphany anyway.)