Friday, February 15, 2013

Don't Wanna Be Left Out


Apparently this Russian thing is all over everywhere, the MSM, the internet and no doubt people are "tweeting" about it.

It's feeling a bit left out, I am.

Now here at La Chant du Départ, we like to think we're on the leading edge of the latest stuff. Of course, we're actually nowhere near the leading edge, we're actually somewhat aft of the ailerons. Sort of flying in formation with the engine exhaust. Nevertheless, we like to think we're somewhat "with it". (What is this "we" business? It's just me.)

So without further ado, the scientific background you may be missing from those other sources.

Now according to the 
OAFSSRFTOTN*  -

A meteorite is a meteoroid (a solid piece of debris from such sources as asteroids or comets) originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. A meteorite's size can range from small to extremely large. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids. When a meteoroid enters the atmosphere, frictional, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gasses cause the body to heat up and emit light, thus forming a fireball, also known as a meteor or shooting/falling star. The term bolide refers to either an extraterrestrial body that collides with the Earth, or to an exceptionally bright, fireball-like meteor regardless of whether it ultimately impacts the surface.
And -
A meteor or "shooting star" is the visible streak of light from a meteoroid or micrometeoroid, heated and glowing from entering the Earth's atmosphere, as it sheds glowing material in its wake. Meteors typically occur in the mesosphere at altitudes between 76 km to 100 km (46–62 miles). Millions of meteors enter the Earth's atmosphere daily. Most meteoroids that cause meteors are about the size of a pebble. Meteors may occur in showers, which arise when the Earth passes through a stream of debris left by a comet, or as "random" or "sporadic" meteors, not associated with a specific stream of space debris. A number of specific meteors have been observed, largely by members of the public and largely by accident, but with enough detail that orbits of the meteoroids producing the meteors have been calculated. All of the orbits passed through the asteroid belt. The atmospheric velocities of meteors result from the movement of Earth around the Sun at about 30 km/s (18 miles/second), the orbital speeds of meteoroids, and the gravity well of Earth.

Uh, yes. Yes, it is.


Blizzards...

Objects of non-terrestrial origin slamming into the planet...

I'm not so sure that we should be looking forward to NEXT weekend.

*OAFSSRFTOTN = Old Air Force Sarge Standard Reference for Things of This Nature (i.e. Wikipedia)
This definition is also available on The Acronym Page.
Which is a hint that I may stop spelling these things out  here in the future. Or not. We shall see.


10 comments:

  1. I've been too busy to read your blog this week, til tonight. I read them all, loved them. I'm glad ypou mentioned The Acronym Page...I dont know when you posted it but, I just tonight discovered it...I usually read this on a small old laptop that requires me to scroll to the right in order to display the entire page, which I dont generally do. Wow, whole new world on far right of your page - a little slow on the take I am (borrowed a phrase from you I did). I'll comment on the blog re: personal info, I love to read, got a kindle for Christmas a year ago, thanks to my daughter. You remeber where we lived in Spfld, near Jr High? As a kid my mother would have us in bed before it was dark under the kitchen table and my younger brother and I would read with a flashlight under the covers until the baterries croaked. I could hear kids going home after being at Riverside,there I'd be reading. Still read a lot. I see you mentioned Bernard Cornwell, I really enjoyed his historical novels.

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    1. Well, I put the Acronym Page in some time ago. But hadn't really done anything with it until fairly recently. Now I'll try and keep it up to date.

      I well remember where you guys lived when we were kids. Every time I go back North and drive that way I think of you. I always thought your house was pretty cool.

      I'm glad you've discovered the world to the right. A lot of awesome bloggers listed there. All of whom I highly recommend (otherwise I suppose I wouldn't list them there).

      That's cool that you like Cornwell. I first started reading his Sharpe novels but then started reading his other stuff as well. I think the man his brilliant. Have you read the Saxon Tales series. Excellent stuff.

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  2. Sarge
    Don't know if you are fascinated by prophecy or not but sure seems like there is some new sign or another with increasing frequency. I'm in a facebook group that kibbitz's about such stuff and someone commented a day or so ago that the lulls in between events are getting shorter and the events more frequent. we shall see.interesting none the less. of course we have el tourist trapo up in the northern part of the state at Meteor Crater- Basically a really big deep hole in the ground. Would be nice if they had something in the whole in the ground for perspective. Numbers and visual scale of an object are meaningless without some point of reference.

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    1. I do find prophecy interesting and the things that are going on recently do give me pause. There are days when I have to wonder.

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  3. The interesting thing... to me... about the Rooshian meteor is the unverified claim that PVO Strany (or their successors) shot the thing down. IF they did... Dang. They've got some pretty damned good radar and some VERY quick-reacting SAMs.

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    1. What makes me wonder is the whole "shot it down" thing. I mean the sumbitch is plummeting to Earth anyway. So the Rooskies couldn't so much "shoot it down" as re-direct the thing. I mean it's not like it was under control and maneuvering. Reckon I'll let the squints figure it out. How does one shoot down something which is already, in effect, crashing?

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    2. Further... from an article in the WaPo:

      Shortly afterward, a military spokesman told news services that it had been shot down by an air defense unit. Later, an official with the Ministry of Emergency Situations said that text-message alerts had been sent out before the big blast. Neither assertion was true; both drew strong criticism and mockery online.

      Liar, liar, pants on fire.

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    3. "Ministry of Emergency Situations"? Ya just can't make this stuff up.

      Hhhmm, drawing "strong criticism and mockery online". And people say blogging is useless...

      I know I have some readers in Russia, how about you?

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    4. I get a lotta hits from the former Evil Empire, but I'm not sure how many... if any... are regular readers. I suspect most are spammers.

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    5. Heh. I believe you might be right.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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