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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • Because neutrons are what you get when an electron and a proton love each other very very much…

    What occurs to me now that you put it that way, is from way back during the very early days of galactic formation, when so much hydrogen gas got blasted by radiation (was that caused by Population I stars?), stripping the electron away and leaving most of the hydrogen ionized - a fancy way of saying “lone protons floating in space”.

    Now what would happen if some ionized hydrogen clouds happened to collapse into massive stars during this window of time, before the universe became re-ionized? Massive stars with mostly protons and very few electrons?

    Is this a valid hypothetical object? Then if it collapses under it’s own proton weight, where are you going to get the electrons to merge with the protons to transform into neutrons?







  • Back when we had to rotate the TV dial to channel 3, just to play Rocket Command and Space Intruders.
    Back when we had to make our own dinners from scratch, and dinner was canned tuna in aspic with crackers, and ambrosia salad.
    Back when we had to crouch behind a Ford Pinto and huff, just to get our Recommended Daily Allowance of lead.
    Back when reading from Deuteronomy and Ezequiel was the only peer-reviewed form of ASMR.
    Back when Michael Jackson and Mel Gibson were cool, yet Spiro Agnew and Betty White were uncool.



  • Back in the early 00s, I had the supreme pleasure of discovering Alec Guinness as George Smiley in the BBC’s miniseries masterpiece Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy from 1979, then the sequel and conclusion three years later, Smiley’s People, not as transcendent but then again, how could it equal, let alone surpass, perfection.

    Around 2010, my first reaction upon hearing of a remake was of complete disdain - “here is an already perfect miniseries, what is it with this incessant compulsion to remake everything?”
    So I didn’t watch the Gary Oldman movie until a couple of years after it came out, it was playing on TV and decided to give it a try.

    To my utter astonishment, I realized I was watching what was to become my favorite film of the entire decade. What an achievement!
    Now I love the film and the miniseries equally, as separate mountaintops.