Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, serie animata prodotta dal celebre Studio Bones (quelli di Full Metal Alchemist, per intenderci), parte dal presupposto che un devastante terremoto, dell’ottavo scalo della scala Richter si abbatta sulla capitale giapponese mentre Mirai e Yūki (una bambina adolescente con tutti i problemi connessi alla sua età ed il suo fratellino più piccolo e ingenuo), i giovanissimi protagonisti della storia, sono in visita ad una mostra di robot, visto che i genitori sono troppo indaffarati col lavoro.

Continua a leggere “Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: quando la terra trema”

It makes me cry to think, Not that.  Whenever I look around I find at least one thing for which this might be said.  Isn’t there an exception to every rule?  The stars, for instance, and the stone.  And from that one, say, Christ, there comes a whole new hope.  Yes.  That would be nice.  It is enough to climb out on my roof and look.  I check off names as if it were a roster in my hand.  A clipboard of names.  A catalogue.  The night has always been.  And I and you and they have not.  Should it find wonder in our faces, too?  Shouldn’t she discover which one of us today rises first and shines most like magnitude?  Tonight another part of me is dead, and yet the bulk still lives.

Setiap tahun, terjadi ribuan gempa diseluruh dunia, akan tetapi kekuatannya tidak cukup kuat untuk bisa dirasakan oleh manusia. Dan hanya sekitar ratusan gempa yang memiliki kekuatan yang cukup signifikan untuk mengakibatkan kerusakan yang cukup berarti. Dan hanya sedikit yang dampaknya kerusakannya sangat besar.Berikut data yang dihimpun dari Badan survey geologi Amerika Serikat atau U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) mengenai gempa yang mengakibatkan kerusakan besar semenjak tahun 1975.

Berikut Ulasannya :

Lisbon, Portugal, November 1, 1755

Magnitude: 8.6; 60,000 people killed.
Most of Lisbon’s 250,000 inhabitants were at church for All Saints’ Day when the first quake struck at 9:40 a.m. on November 1, 1755. It was followed by an even more powerful tremor, which sent buildings toppling down on the terrified populace. Huge waves generated by the quake crashed over the quays, drowning thousands and causing widespread damage. Fire raged through what was left of the city, burning for three days. Other countries also experienced a great deal of destruction in the Lisbon quake and associated tsunamis. For instance, approximately 10,000 people died in Morocco alone.

San Francisco, California, April 18, 1906

Magnitude 8.3; 700 people killed.
Most of San Francisco lay in ruins after movement along 270 miles (430 kilometers) of California’s San Andreas fault generated an 8.3 earthquake. However, it was the post-quake fire, which swept through the city that caused most of the damage.

Kansu, China, December 16, 1920

Magnitude 8.5; 200,000 people killed.
The Kansu region had been earthquake-free for 280 years before this disastrous quake struck. A great deal of the damage was due largely to poor soil conditions throughout the province with intense shock waves causing violent undulations of surface clay and several landslips. An area 280 miles by 95 miles (450km by 150km) was severely affected by landscape deformation. Ten cities suffered widespread destruction and heavy casualties.

Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan, September 1, 1923

Magnitude 8.3; 143,000 people killed.
The 1923 earthquake was one of Japan’s worst natural disasters. The ground shook for five minutes as the Sagami Bay Fault ruptured. Thousands of buildings collapsed and a tsunami measuring 36 feet (11 meters) struck the coast. Most destructive of all were the resulting fires. A massive firestorm swept through Tokyo, destroying two thirds of the city’s remaining buildings and burning thousands. A commemoration service is held annually in Tokyo on the anniversary of the catastrophic event.

Agadir, Morocco, January 13, 1960

Magnitude 5.9; 12,500 people killed.
Although smaller in size seismically than other historical earthquakes, the 1960 Agadir quake still caused tremendous damage. Occuring directly under the town of Agadir, Morocco, it reduced the town to ruins in seconds. Thousands of people were buried beneath the vast piles of rubble. Destruction was so wide-spread that rebuilding was considered out of the question, and the area was abandoned.

Tangshan, China, July 27, 1976

Magnitude 8.0; 255,000 people killed.
This is probably the greatest death toll from an earthquake in the last four centuries, and the second greatest in recorded history. An additional 800,000 people were reported injured. Damage extended as far as Beijing, but was particularly extensive in the Tangshan area.

Mexico City, Mexico September 19, 1985

Magnitude 8.1; 9,500 people killed.
Felt by almost 20 million people, this devastating earthquake injured nearly 30,000 people and left more than 100,000 people homeless. Severe damage was caused in parts of Mexico City, as well as several central Mexico states. In Mexico City, 412 buildings collapsed and another 3,124 were seriously damaged. A large percentage of the buildings that were damaged in Mexico City were between 8 and 18 stories high, indicating resonance effects due to the soft soils under the city.

Armenia, USSR, December 7, 1988

Magnitude 6.8; 25,000 people killed.
About 19,000 people were injured and 500,000 left homeless in the Leninakan-Spitak-Kirovakan area of northern Armenia, USSR. More than 20 towns and 342 villages were affected, 58 of them destroyed completely. Spitak was almost totally destroyed, and one-quarter of the housing units in Leninakan were destroyed or damaged.

Northridge (Los Angeles), California, January 17, 1994

Magnitude 6.8; 60 people killed.
In addition to killing 60 people, this early morning quake injured more than 7,000 people and left 20,000 homeless. More than 40,000 buildings were damaged in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, and San Bernardino counties. Damages were estimated to be in the range of $20 billion (U.S.).

Kobe, Japan, January 16, 1995

Magnitude 6.8; 5,530 people killed.
The Great Kobe Quake as it is called, killed 5,530 people, injured another 37,000. There was extensive damage in the Kobe area and on the island of Awajishima with more than 200,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. Total damages were estimated at US$100 billion.

Gölcük,Turkey, August 17, 1999

Magnitude 7.6; 17,000+ people killed.
More than 17,000 people were killed in this massive earthquake and many more were left homeless since many buildings were uninhabitable. Thousands of families in the region have been living in tent cities in fields since the quake.

Nanaou, Taiwan, September 20, 1999

Magnitude 7.6; 2,200+ people killed.
This 1999 quake killed more than 2,200 people and left several thousands more homeless. Thousands of families in the region have been living in tent cities in fields.

Mexico City, Mexico September 19, 1985

Magnitude 8.1; 9,500 people killed.
Felt by almost 20 million people, this devastating earthquake injured nearly 30,000 people and left more than 100,000 people homeless. Severe damage was caused in parts of Mexico City, as well as several central Mexico states. In Mexico City, 412 buildings collapsed and another 3,124 were seriously damaged. A large percentage of the buildings that were damaged in Mexico City were between 8 and 18 stories high, indicating resonance effects due to the soft soils under the city.

Armenia, USSR, December 7, 1988

Magnitude 6.8; 25,000 people killed.
About 19,000 people were injured and 500,000 left homeless in the Leninakan-Spitak-Kirovakan area of northern Armenia, USSR. More than 20 towns and 342 villages were affected, 58 of them destroyed completely. Spitak was almost totally destroyed, and one-quarter of the housing units in Leninakan were destroyed or damaged.

Northridge (Los Angeles), California, January 17, 1994

Magnitude 6.8; 60 people killed.
In addition to killing 60 people, this early morning quake injured more than 7,000 people and left 20,000 homeless. More than 40,000 buildings were damaged in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, and San Bernardino counties. Damages were estimated to be in the range of $20 billion (U.S.).

Kobe, Japan, January 16, 1995

Magnitude 6.8; 5,530 people killed.
The Great Kobe Quake as it is called, killed 5,530 people, injured another 37,000. There was extensive damage in the Kobe area and on the island of Awajishima with more than 200,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. Total damages were estimated at US$100 billion.

Gölcük,Turkey, August 17, 1999

Magnitude 7.6; 17,000+ people killed.
More than 17,000 people were killed in this massive earthquake and many more were left homeless since many buildings were uninhabitable. Thousands of families in the region have been living in tent cities in fields since the quake.

Nanaou, Taiwan, September 20, 1999

Magnitude 7.6; 2,200+ people killed.
This 1999 quake killed more than 2,200 people and left several thousands more homeless. Thousands of families in the region have been living in tent cities in fields.

Via : http://www.pdc.org/

RAW VIDEO: SAMOA

Philippines reports 1.9 million homes destroyed in Manila with nearly 380,000 seeking shelter.  This is probably half of the ones who really need help or are struggling at relatives and friends homes, crowded or feeling the financial burden.  Aid agencies are working vigorously to help the region, however, storms are developing rapidly as Cambodia to Vietnam has received heavy damage. The most recent weather disaster was the tsunami that flooded streets of Somao.  The earthquake happened in the ocean, causing the massive wave, then flooding inward toward coastal city villages.  Check report of the death toll as of this week for these natural disasters!

Typhoon Ketsana

Philippines = 284 dead or missing

Vietnam = 23 dead  170,000 evacuated

Tsunami-  Sept. 30

Samoa = 47 dead, 100 presumed and injuries are not recorded yet

=

IN THE NEWS, the National Disasters:

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

American Samoa – An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.3 hit the Samoan Islands today.  The American Red Cross is working with our partners in the federal government to assess the current situation. The tsunami warning for American Samoa has been canceled at this time.

Samoa is a sovereign country and has its own Red Cross, the Samoan Red Cross, which is a sister society to the American Red Cross.

Dalam 100 tahun terakhir, temperatur global di planet Bumi meningkat 0,6 derajat Celsius. Yang mencengangkan, kondisi senada – pemanasan – ternyata juga terjadi di planet-planet lain dalam sistem Tata Surya dalam waktu yang hampir bersamaam.

Temuan ini merupakan hasil pengamatan yang dilakukan para ilmuwan : astronom dan astrofisikawan, selama dua dasawarsa terakhir pada planet-planet tetangga Bumi yang ada di orbit Matahari, sumber energi utama kehidupan di Bumi.

Neptunus, planet intersolar terjauh dengan jarak rata-rata 4.450 juta kilometer dari Matahari, adalah salah satu yang mengalami turbulensi iklim ini. Dari hasil fotometri rutin oleh Observatorium Lowell di Amerika Serikatm sejak 1980 hingga sekarang Neptunus makin terlihat cemerlang.

Dari hasil pemantauan inframerah, seperti diungkapkan HB Hammel dan GW Lockwood, permukaan planet berwarna biru itu terus memanas dalam kurun waktu dua dasawarsa terakhir. Fotometri menunjukkan kenaikan signifikan. Dari sebelumnya 7,97 magnitude (mag) pada 1950 menjadi 7,81 mag pada tahun 2004. Semakin rendah angka magnitude, semakin cemerlang planet yang diamati.

Gejala yang sama terjadi di Triton, satelit alamiah terbesar yang mengelilingi Neptunus. Terhitung sejak 1989, suhu di permukaan Triton memanas signifikan hingga 5 persen dari skala temperatur absolut planet ini – setara kenaikan 22 derajat Fahrenheit.

Berdasarkan pemantauan wahana Voyager pada 1989, Triton memiliki suhu dingin ekstrem, yaitu rata-rata minus 392 – 389 derajat Fahrenheit (minus 200 – 198 derajat Celsius). Namun, tren pemanasan ini mengakibatkan sebagian permukaan Triton yang terdiri dari nitrogen beku berubah menjadi gas. Ini membuat atmosfernya yang terkenal tipis menjadi kian tebal.

Seperti dikutip dari jurnal Nature, James L Elliot, astronom dari Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) mengungkapkan, perubahan iklim di salah satu bulan Neptunus ini terjadi sekali dalam beberapa ratus tahun akibat perubahan absorpsi energi solar di kutub-kutub es Triton.

Badai raksasa di Yupiter

Tren perubahan iklim juga terjadi di Yupiter, planet terbesar tata surya. Science Daily, Mei 2008 ; melaporkan, dalam dua tahun terakhir sebelum laporan dirilis, terjadi peningkatan aktifitas badai raksasa di atmosfer Yupiter. Teleskop Hubble menangkap citra yang menunjukkan terbentuknya titik merah (red spot) baru di planet ini.

Badai besar berukuran hingga 0,5 miliar mil ini kemudian disebut ilmuwan sebagai “Red Spot Jr”. Badai yng tergolong langka ini terbentuk dari hasil penggabungan tiga badai oval berwarna putih pada kurun waktu 1998 – 2000. Hal serupa pernah terjadi seabad lalu, yaitu ketika terbentuk “Great Red Spot” berukuran dua kali Bumi.

Menurut Philip S Marcus, profesor dinamika fluida dari University of California, Berkeley, Yupiter mengalami perubahan iklim, yaitu suhu permukaan meningkat sebesar 10 derajat Celsius. Kawasan ekuator menghangat, sementara wilayah di dekat kutub selatan semakin dingin. “ Aktifitas awan di sana dalam dua setengah tahun terakhir menunjukkan hal yang dramatis, sesuatu yang tidak lazim telah terjadi, “ ujar Phillip.

Saat belum ada penjelasan yang utuh dan menyeluruh soal benang merah terjadinya perubahan iklim di planet-planet intersolar ini, astronom juga mengungkapkan, planet kerdil (Pluto) mengalami tren perubahan iklim senada.Apalagi, Pluto yang dicoret statusnya sebagai planet terletak sangat jauh dari Matahari, yaitu 6 miliar kilometer atau sekitar 40,5 satuan astronomi atau sekitar 40 kali jarak Matahari – Bumi. Tekanan atmosfer Pluto diketahui meningkat tiga kali sejak akhir 1980-an. Diperkirakan, suhu permukaan rata-rata 2 derajat Celsius.

Padahal, tidak ada aktifitas manusia yang menimbulkan efek rumah kaca di sana. Lantas, apa penyebab perubahan temperatur di sejumlah planet dan obyek tata surya ini dalam waktu yang hampir bersamaan ?

Matahari disalahkan

Mencoba memberikan benang merah, Habibullo Abdussamatov, Kepala Bidang Penelitian Luar Angkasa di Observatorium Astronomi St Petersburg, Rusia, mengklaim, aktifitas Matahari-lah yang memengaruhi perubahan temperatur di Bumi dan sejumlah planet.

“ Efek rumah kaca yang ditimbulkan manusia berkontribusi pada pemanasan di Bumi dalam beberapa tahun terakhir. Tetapi, itu tidak bisa menyamai dampak akibat meningkatnya iradiasi Matahari, “ tuturnya.

Abdussamatov merujuk kepada pengalaman di Mars untuk memperkuat dalilnya yangkontroverial ini. Puluhan tahun terakhir ini permukaan Mars diketahui memanas dengan sangat cepat, yaitu empat kali dari laju pemanasan global di Bumi.

Mars, seperti halnya Bumi diketahui pernah mengalami zaman es. Namun, lapisan es yang menyimpan karbon dioksida (CO2) dalam jumlah besar di wilayah dekat kutub selatan Mars telah mencair sangat cepat. Dari 1970 hingga 1990 tercatat, temperatur udara di Mars meningkat 0,65 derajat Celsius.

Hammel dan Loclwood juga ikut memperkuat koneksi faktor iradiasi Matahari dengan gejala perubahan iklim di Neptunus. Menurut mereka, koefisien relevansi antara tingkat iradiasi Matahari dan angka kecemerlangan Neptunus mencapai 0,90 atau nyaris sempurna.

Korelasi ini ikut dihubungkan dengan gejala anomali perubahan temperatur di Bumi. Data yang mereka peroleh menunjukkan, variasi perubahan tradiasi Matahari ternyata berbanding lurus pula dengan tren kenaikan suhu di Bumi.

Perubahan energi yang dipancarkan Matahari termasuk beragam variasinya, baik ultraviolet, kosmik, dan inframerah, sangat berkorelasi dengan perubahan temperatur di tiap planet, termasuk Bumi.

Dampak di tiap planet ditentukan faktor lokal, yaitu variasi kemiringan orbit, albedo (kemampuan merefleksikan kembali radiasi sinar ke atmosfer), dan aktifitas geologis seperti erupsi gunung berapi. Aktifitas manusia, yaitu efek rumah kaca, termasuk faktor lokal ini.

Meskipun demikian, mayoritas peneliti menolak anggapan sesuai uraian di atas.

Michael Mann, meteorolog dari Penn State, Amerika Serikat, menuturkan, perubahan aktifitas Matahari dan segala variasinya hanya memengaruhi 0,1 – 1 persen iklim di Bumi. Tak cukup kuat untuk memicu perubahan iklim dramatis di Bumi.

Apalagi, tingkat ekaktifan Matahari memiliki periode tiap 11 tahun dan saat ini masih dalam fase nonaktif. Sangat jarang terlihat bintik Matahari, salah satu indikator turunnya keaktifan Matahari, akhir-akhir ini.

“ Mereka yang tidak bisa menerima eksistensi faktor antropologis (aktifitas manusia) terhadap perubahan iklim, terus mencoba mengarahkannya ke aktifitas Matahari, “ ucap Mann.

Sumber  :

Bukan Hanya Bumi yang Mengalami …, Yulvianus Harjono | Kompas, 24.08.2009

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 Review

 Back in the old heyday of anime, one of the biggest catchphrases for anime companies was “This is totally not kids’ stuff”. At that time, they were correct. Blood, gore, and a big set of boobs was the reason it was not “kids’ stuff“. Nowadays, we have some more “different” reasons why it’s not kids’ stuff, and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is an anime that completely justifies such a statement. In a world where power levels exceed 9000 and three girls with different colored hair all jump on you because you’re the wimpiest kid in school, an anime like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 follows the events after a massive earthquake hits Tokyo and revolves around two siblings, Mirai and Yuuki. Mirai and Yuuki are cared and looked after for by Mari, a woman named Mari, who helps them get to their home in West Tokyo. Mari is not just looking after them. She’s also looking to head home to take see in what condition her child and mother who was caring for her are in. The story starts off quite slow, and takes a nosedive of slowness during the final five episodes. The pacing is a big issue throughout this anime. It seems like it takes forever for them to move on from the spot they’re in. TM8 uses what I like to call “The Grave of the Fireflies effect” where it uses children as a way to tug at your heart. I can’t get into this without spoiling the whole story, but I’ll dive into character, or therefore lack of, later.

What the show is all about.

The thing that really bothered me about this anime is the fact that in the beginning of each episode there is a caption that says something along the lines of, and I’m just paraphrasing “We strived for realism by doing research and interviews”. The problem that I have with this is, what happened to all of that research? When I first saw that, the first thing I imagined was riots, looting, and some of the worst sides of human society being shown. I, as a Californian, am always at fear that an earthquake can hit at any moment. The nice people in this anime are a bit overdone. It seems

Yuuki, the shotacon, I mean little brother of TM8.0. I'm sure there is alot of YuukixMari doujin at Comiket.

like everyone here is overly polite, like the old couple that they encounter at a safe zone that is not what you would expect from old people in a situation as that. It seems like I’m just nitpicking at things I feel should have happened, but I do commend this anime for doing something different beyond the putrid moe shows that plagued this summer anime season. Overall, this story is real, as in the child proof table kind of real. If you are hungry for something not done before, this is something to look into.

I think where this anime stood out for me was the characters. This only applies to the three main characters, Mari, Mirai, and Yuuki. They are throughout the series some of the rawest and most realistic anime characters I have seen. Mirai is pretty much the reflection of a teenage girl. All she wants to do is moan and bitch about everything that is going on around her. Yuuki is the sweetest kid you could imagine. He’s pretty much the exact opposite of an average little boy; he’s selfless, caring, and smart. Mari is your typical mother. I would go more into detail, but to be honest I didn’t care much for her. The biggest issue was the dropping in and out of characters. Suddenly characters are introduced, only to never be seen again. I seriously wanted to know what happened to them. Did they just disappear? They seemed like they could have been sort of cannon to the series with people like Yuuki’s friend from school, or a work friend of Maris. Overall, if you take in just the three main characters, you’ve got a sturdy lineup that would have been great to see how they interact with other people.

From what I understand, a lot of people were turn off by the art style of TM8. I personally have grown used to the noitamina anime block art style. It follows the style of Hataraki Man and Eden of the East. The chubby faces and odd

NO WAI! See, Mirai is meme savvy.

 lip sizes are really not that bad if you have seen those previous series. There are no generic, or stock features in the characters. They all seem like they were designed well by Atsuko Nozaki, who hasn’t had much work beyond a few name series like Samurai Champloo Eureka Seven. The thing people should have been complaining about was sound. Oh, man boy did this series have the shittiest soundtrack ever. The opening and ending do not even remotely capture the tone of the series. I’m sorry abingdon boys school fans, but that group sucks. Not only that, they couldn’t help but have about four songs throughout the whole show. And two of those four are the opening and ending! In an anime where the feeling is sad and true human emotion, you cannot afford to use the same songs over and over again. It’s so strange that Higashi no Eden had possibly one of the best soundtracks ever, but this anime soundtrack was so crappily made. I don’t have much to say about the seiyuu. I personally don’t really pay much attention to Japanese voices since I prefer dubs. DOES NOT HAVE REIKO TAKAGI, ERGO IT IS NOT EXCEPTIONALLY GREAT!

I find it hard to not recommend this anime to people who are looking for something different. I’m just waiting for this to get licensed, if it ever does at all. Whether you’re new fan who just got off of a Naruto binge, or an old school disaster mecha anime fan, I’m sure everyone can find something to like about this anime. This gets my biggest recommendation, and I dare any other anime this season other than Fairy Tail to challenge it for that place in my heart. As badly as I criticized it, I enjoyed it. Even in the “How many times can one kid almost die”? moments. Never will there ever be an anime again where a backpack is as controversial. Fuji 4 Life.

Here’s an image that totally doesn’t represent the show:

Variations in the rate of exchange of the dollar against foreign currencies represent a difference of major importance in international logistics just as they do in any other facet of international operations. The design and operation of an international logistic system is based on a set of units of measure. Thus, as rates of exchange vary, so do the local costs associated with different local currencies; these include transportation, warehousing, inventorying, information processing, and other costs elements.

When variations in rates of exchange become substantial in magnitude, and significantly different between countries, it is usually necessary to re-evaluate the structure of the logistic system, to ensure that it is adjusted to keep it close to its optimal performance. By the same token, management reports must provide explicit identification of variations in costs due to variations in currency rates of exchange, as opposed to variations in performance.

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Certas definições, quando estabelecidas, são muito difíceis de serem alteradas. O conhecimento às vezes se acumula sobre conceitos que, na sua época, poderiam parecer corretos, mas que hoje tornam-se até contra-intuitivos. Essa inércia ocorre bastante em Astronomia, e os alunos geralmente sofrem para assimilar tudo isso.

Um exemplo bastante interessante é o caso da magnitude que, por definição, fornece uma escala de brilho de um dado objeto astronômico. Hiparco, brilhante astrônomo grego que viveu entre 190 e 120 a.C. desenvolveu (entre muitas outras coisas) um sistema de classificação dos objetos no céu. Para ele, a estrela mais brilhante que conseguia ver foi chamada de estrela de primeira grandeza (ou de primeira magnitude). Da mesma forma, a estrela mais fraca que seu olho conseguia enxergar foi chamada de estrela de sexta grandeza (ou sexta magnitude).

Até aí tudo certo. Passaram-se 2 mil anos até que Norman Robert Pogson percebesse que a diferença de brilho aparente entre as estrelas de primeira e sexta magnitudes era de aproximadamente 100 vezes. A primeira vista alguém poderia dizer que uma estrela de magnitude 3 é 2 vezes menos brilhante do que uma estrela de primeira magnitude, mas não é bem assim que acontece. O nosso olho possui uma resposta logarítmica à luz. Por isso que uma diferença entre 1 e 6 magnitudes é traduzida em uma razão de 100 em brilho aparente.

Assim, a magnitude aparente (m) de um objeto é proporcional ao logarítmo do fluxo recebido pelo olho (com um sinal negativo na frente, para levar em conta a inversão de escala feita por Hiparco). O problema não antecipado por Hiparco era que, um belo dia, seríamos capazes de desenvolver equipamentos que pudessem “ver” objetos muito mais fracos do que um ser humano jamais pensaria em enxergar. Então, começaram a aparecer magnitudes negativas! Alguns valores de magnitude visual estão listados abaixo (retirados daqui):

• Sol: m =  -26.74 (porque é a estrela que está mais próxima a nós)
• Lua cheia: m = -13
• Acrux: m = 1.3 (a estrela mais brilhante do Cruzeiro do Sul)
• Urano: m = 5.6 (o limite do olho humano sem instrumentos é 6.0)
• Plutão: m = 13.6
• Hubble: m = 30.0 (limite de magnitude que o telescópio espacial consegue detectar)

Essa definição de magnitude aparente não leva em conta, por exemplo, a distância em que o objeto se encontra.  Com efeito, essa quantidade não fornece nenhuma informação sobre o brilho intrínseco dos objetos. A fluxo de luz que parte da estrela sofre (entre outros efeitos) uma “diluição geométrica”, diminuindo com o quadrado da distância. Além disso, a poeira presente no meio interestelar também afeta a luz vinda dos objetos. Sendo assim, estrelas muito brilhantes e muito distantes podem possuir um valor alto de magnitude aparente. Já objetos mais próximos e menos brilhantes podem ter uma magnitude menor. Para resolver o impasse, foi definida uma grandeza chamada magnitude absoluta, que fornece o brilho dos objetos em uma certa distância padrão. Nessa escala, a magnitude do Sol é 4.83.

Então agora tudo certo… Não! Para piorar um pouco a situação, as estrelas possuem cores (temperaturas) diferentes. Isso significa que cada uma emite quantidades diferentes de energia em diferentes partes do espectro eletromagnético. Assim, as magnitudes também devem ser definidas em intervalos de comprimento de onda (magnitude aparente/absoluta no visível, infra-vermelho e etc.), criando assim uma série de definições complementares. Existe ainda o conceito de magnitude bolométrica, que está associada ao fluxo emitido pelo objeto somado em todos os comprimentos de onda.

Se alguém tivesse avisado o Hiparco sobre essa confusão toda, teria ele feito algo diferente?

Shakespeare’s sonnets have exactly 14 lines, his plays have usually around 2600 lines (Hamlet about 4000 lines). This is not that different from the few thousand lines of code a typical programmer writes for a unit, library or project, for example jQuery 1.2 and 1.3 have around 4000 LoC (jQuery 1.2.6: 3549 LoC, jQuery 1.3.2: 4376 LoC). It is well-known that progress and productivity cannot be measure in lines of code. Yet the order of magnitude is often quite similar in completely different projects and environments, because there is a limit what people can handle and produce.

The order of magnitude for the typical lines of code is as follows. A single programmer working a few days will usually produce some functions, methods and classes more or less rapidly, depending on his experience. If he is working a few months he will produce typically a few thousands lines of code. This is an amount a single person can still understand well, and it can still be customized and changed easily:

• function/method: 10 = 10^1 LoC/Method
• class: 100 = 10^2 LoC/Class
• library or small project: 1000 = 10^3 LoC/Project

A few programmers together working a few months will produce about 10^4 lines of code. This is an order of magnitude where it is becoming difficult for a single developer to understand and comprehend the complete code base if it is not well structured. According to DHH, Rails on Rails 2.3 has currently about 35.000 LoC (without tests and comments). A large framework requires about 10^5 lines of code. A complete operating system belongs to the largest software projects, it requires about 10^6 – 10^7 lines of code, Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP and early Debian Versions for example are said to have around 50.000.000 lines of code or ~5GB of data:

• a small framework or large application: 10.000 = 10^4 LoC/Framework
• ide/framework: 100.000 = 10^5 LoC/Framework
• operating system: 10.000.000 = 10^7 LoC/OS

For comparison only, a human has around 30,000 genes (~3.1B base pairs ~ 1.5GB). Modern versions of Debian Linux have up to 280.000.000 lines of code, see here. This is a tremendous amount of code which a single programmer can hardly handle anymore.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board took up the controversial question of disclosure requirements for loss contingencies at its latest meeting and decided that companies need to make more disclosures.

FASB decided on the following disclosure objective: “An entity shall disclose qualitative and quantitative information about the loss contingency to enable a financial statement user to understand the nature of the contingency and its potential timing and magnitude.”

The board also decided that disclosures about litigation contingencies should focus on the contentions of the parties, rather than predictions about the future outcome. Disclosures about a contingency should be more robust as the likelihood and magnitude of loss increase and as the contingency progresses toward resolution, said FASB. In addition, disclosures should provide a summary of information that is publicly available about a case and indicate where users can obtain more information.

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Something to look forward to this summer. Mark your August calendar

Mars


The Red Planet is about to be

spectacular!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that
will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in
recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is
in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on
Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be
certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth
in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as
60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when
Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and
will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in
the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9
and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest
75-power magnification

Mars will look as large as the full

moon to the naked eye.

Mars will be easy to spot. At the
beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10 pm
and reach its azimuth at about 3 am

By the end of August when the two planets are
closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its
highest point in the sky at 12:30 am That’s pretty
convenient to see something that no human being has
seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at
the beginning of August to see Mars grow
progressively brighter and brighter throughout the
month.
Share this with your children and

grandchildren.

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE

THIS AGAIN

A forwarded email from Baden.

[Update: For an updated, more academic take, see the comments.]

Random theory. And I mean really random.

I stumbled across some tilt-shift photography recently, first here at Fuck Yeah Toronto (keep posting, dammit!), and then here at Today and Tomorrow.

The ostensible point of tilt-shift is to make something huge look miniature, right? To take a scene that involves possibly thousands of people and more space than you could touch in a week and to make it look small.

The web is an overwhelming, impossibly large, ever-changing repository of information. It, like the cosmos, is the impossibly huge, the impossible to comprehend.

Tilt-shift is its aesthetic response. It takes the overwhelming, the massive and renders it to seem acceptable. We no longer paint enormous, grand, sublime paintings. We take photographs that make us believe that, just for a second, we can, to invoke a cliche, ‘hold the world in our hand’.

It’s the inverse-sublime. And if the Enlightenment needed the sublime – if Burke and Kant had to ressurrect the idea to reposition the individual and consciousness in relation to the world – then we have to use tilt-shift to make the world seem small again.

But like I said. Random. And clearly I don’t mean this literally. I could just be talking out of my ass. Thoughts, though?