On 1/23/2025 at 7:42 PM, Janus said:

Using my new found skill set, I went back to revisit an old animation. It actually was the first ones I did using a bone rig to do a "walking" animation. I chose it because it was both simple and from one of my favorite cartoons growing up; Jonny Quest. While my original merely had it walking across the frame, this time I added an element from the actual episode, where it takes a hit from a tank, recoils, shakes it off, and then continues on. (And in case you're wondering, the heroes were able to defeat it in the end) I've added some sound effects to up the ante.

 

Johnny Quest? 

1 hour ago, Moontanman said:

Johnny Quest? 

4 hours ago, DrmDoc said:

Fascinating! My son is an animator who's honing his craft while currently producing a DC fan film.

Cartoon Network's, The Venture Bros, did a very humorous take on Jonny Quest...they called it the "Walking Eyeball." 

I'm a pure hobbyist, so just do it for fun.  I mostly stumble around trying to figure things out for myself.  Of course, this often leads to my doing things the hard way, simply because I don't realize that there is a simpler, quicker method. Kudos to your son, I don't think I would ever try to take on a project that big. About the longest thing I've attempted was this recreation of a sequence from a "Lost in Space" episode, and most of the work involved was with the models, since the animation was pretty straight forward.

 

that most of the posts are old in this fourm!🥲

9 minutes ago, billiebn151 said:

that most of the posts are old in this fourm!🥲

That's a natural result of not deleting them as new ones come up.

11 minutes ago, billiebn151 said:

that most of the posts are old in this fourm!🥲

Most of the posts are old at EVERY forum.

Those that still exist, in any case.

27 minutes ago, zapatos said:

That's a natural result of not deleting them as new ones come up.

... and of the rate of posting not growing exponentially or faster.

Today i learned about genetic mutations, specifically that the reason Siamese cats are so darn cute with their darker patches of fur is because the gene effects an enzyme that functions in cooler temperatures. Their fur color is dependent on temperature which I think is so cool!

Today, I learned that I'm dislexit...

Today I learned that Gadolinium is put in your veins when you have an MRI scan (i.e. NMR, but they don't call it that because anything "nookular" puts the fear of God into patients), to provide contrast, as it is paramagnetic. In fact the Gd 3+ ion, which is what they use, chelated suitably as it would otherwise be toxic, has 7 unpaired electrons - a half filled 4f subshell. So loads of both spin and orbital angular momentum.

This was one of many things that I had ample time to contemplate while lying supine on the table. It's a bloody boring - and noisy - procedure. But the Irish radiographer was rather cute.

Edited May 14May 14 by exchemist

Today, I learned there is a thing in British lakes and slow-moving rivers called the swan mussel:

I was walking yesterday on Wimbledon Common, where there is large lake that has for some months been drained for improvement works. I noticed quite a number of large, elliptical shells in the dry mud bed of the lake and picked one up to examine. The shells are quite thin and light, but large. (The picture is from the internet but is very similar to the one I picked up.) I looked it up on line this morning and was able to identify it. I had no idea there were fresh water molluscs like this in the UK. They are not rare, apparently, but being generally buried in the mud at the bottom, they escape attention.

Edited May 17May 17 by exchemist

On 5/17/2025 at 7:22 AM, exchemist said:

Today, I learned there is a thing in British lakes and slow-moving rivers called the swan mussel:

I was walking yesterday on Wimbledon Common, where there is large lake that has for some months been drained for improvement works. I noticed quite a number of large, elliptical shells in the dry mud bed of the lake and picked one up to examine. The shells are quite thin and light, but large. (The picture is from the internet but is very similar to the one I picked up.) I looked it up on line this morning and was able to identify it. I had no idea there were fresh water molluscs like this in the UK. They are not rare, apparently, but being generally buried in the mud at the bottom, they escape attention.

Mmmmm clam chowder! Yum Yum!

23 minutes ago, Moontanman said:

Mmmmm clam chowder! Yum Yum!

These things apparently smell pretty awful and are used as bait by fishermen. Not edible.

6 hours ago, exchemist said:

These things apparently smell pretty awful and are used as bait by fishermen. Not edible.

It's illegal to disturb them these days. They are protected in the UK.

18 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

It's illegal to disturb them these days. They are protected in the UK.

Really. Swan mussels? From what read I thought they were commonplace.

I learnt that the is a “search engine” for exoplanets, try typing one into the search bar

NASA Science

Kepler-1647 b - NASA Science

Kepler-1647 b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a F-type star. Its mass is 1.51968 Jupiters, it takes 3 years to complete one orbit of its star, and is 2.7205 AU from its star. Its discovery was...

Today I learned about the concept ”non-algorithmic” in relation to computability, Turing machines and Gödel. I don’t remember seeing that concept when studying the ”opposite” (algorithms as part of computer science); my focus was more on software engineering. I think this new knowledge will help me navigate when reading AI related material. Especially philosophical and more speculative stuff.

(As always thanks @joigus for using words, concepts and examples that trigger searching, reading and learning)

That college students really do do better if you ban cellphones from the classroom. And they actually like it, once they're used to it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/opinion/mobile-phones-college-classrooms.html

(I'd already had a sneaking suspicion....)

The difference between a funicular and a gondola cable car. I am sorry people had to perish in Lisbon last night in order for me to understand the correct terminology. Funicular always means on tracks, going up a surface, often with a passenger compartment on gimbals or similar so that it stays level. The gondola cable car is the one that terrified (or would have, if that scene wasn't so ludicrous) in Moonraker. I.e. hanging over the void from a cable which, if you're a tourist, you hope is up to date on its inspections. And is free of Bond villains with sharp metal teeth gnawing away at it. Come to think of it, pretty much every Hollywood movie with a gondola car depicts it as a death trap.

48 minutes ago, TheVat said:

The difference between a funicular and a gondola cable car. I am sorry people had to perish in Lisbon last night in order for me to understand the correct terminology. Funicular always means on tracks, going up a surface, often with a passenger compartment on gimbals or similar so that it stays level. The gondola cable car is the one that terrified (or would have, if that scene wasn't so ludicrous) in Moonraker. I.e. hanging over the void from a cable which, if you're a tourist, you hope is up to date on its inspections. And is free of Bond villains with sharp metal teeth gnawing away at it. Come to think of it, pretty much every Hollywood movie with a gondola car depicts it as a death trap.

I though funicular meant that it was counterbalanced by another car or cars.

edit, after googling: Yup

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funicular

“The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable, which is looped over a pulley at the upper end of the track.^[2][3] The result of such a configuration is that the two carriages move synchronously: as one ascends, the other descends at an equal speed.”

Bond villains with sharp metal teeth gnawing away at it.

Don't worry so much about Bond villains, but a low flying EA-6B, piloted by 'hot-dogging' American pilots from an |Italian Air Force base, has been know to slice through the supporting cables.

1998 Cavalese cable car crash - Wikipedia

4 hours ago, swansont said:

though funicular meant that it was counterbalanced by another car or cars.

Well yes, that I knew already, but I meant that I had thought it applied to anything using the counterbalance system. But apparently, as your wiki cite also mentions, it is a "type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope..." IOW, I had erroneously thought funicular applied more broadly as to include suspended gondola systems (which may also use counter weighting).

Also learned that some carry water tanks which can be filled at the top, if more weight is needed (e.g. fewer passengers coming down).

The blanket term for the ones that suspend a gondola or seat up in the air is aerial lift.

Gondola lifts, chairlifts, aerial trams, and funifors are some of the subcategories detailed here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_lift

Edited September 4Sep 4 by TheVat
Never fixed, not ever, because I am semiliterate today

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

IOW, I had erroneously thought funicular applied more broadly as to include suspended gondola systems (which may also use counter weighting).

I see it as an awkward comparison, since gondolas don’t have to use counter-balancing. It’s different categorization. Railway vs gondola (track vs suspended from a cable) where funicular is a subset under railway.

2 hours ago, TheVat said:

Well yes, that I knew already, but I meant that I had thought it applied to anything using the counterbalance system. But apparently, as your wiki cite also mentions, it is a "type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope..." IOW, I had erroneously thought funicular applied more broadly as to include suspended gondola systems (which may also use counter weighting).

Also learned that some carry water tanks which can be filled at the top, if more weight is needed (e.g. fewer passengers coming down).

The blanket term for the ones that suspend a gondola or seat up in the air is aerial lift.

Gondola lifts, chairlifts, aerial trams, and funifors are some of the subcategories detailed here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_lift

I recall from skiing one distinguishes between une télécabine (cable car), une télésiege (chairlift) and une tire-fesse (button lift) a.k.a téléski. Funiculaire was something else, on rails.

One of my brothers went up a funicular railway in Rio which was steep enough to be rather frightening, so he dubbed it a "testicular railway", as you needed balls to get on it.

I commonly look up random things. Love to learn new stuff. Last night I was curious as to what the largest sports stadium in the world is. I was shocked because I figured it would be soccer related. Turns out it's a cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, India called Narendra Modi Stadium. Get this. It has a max capacity of 132,000 people. Crazy, huh?