nudge

Planetary Defense Conference 2019 has started yesterday. For those who are not sure what that is - every two years, asteroid experts from across the globe come together to pretend an asteroid impact is imminent. During these week-long impact scenarios, participants don’t know how the situation will evolve from one day to the next but must make plans based on the daily updates they are given. Very fascinating exercise to see how such a scenario could play out and ESA is covering it live this year... This year’s asteroid – "2019 PDC" The scene has been set for this year’s hypothetical impact scenario. Although realistic, it is completely fictional and does NOT describe an actual asteroid impact. — An asteroid was discovered on 26 March 2019 and has been given the name “2019 PDC” by the IAU’s Minor Planet Center. — Initial calculations suggest the orbit of 2019 PDC will bring it within 7.5 million km of Earth’s orbit. (Or, within 0.05 AU of Earth’s orbit. One AU is the mean distance between the Sun and Earth, equal to 149 597 870.7 km).— 2019 PDC is travelling in an eccentric orbit, extending 2.94 AU at its farthest point from the Sun (in the middle of the main asteroid belt), and 0.94 AU at its closest. It completes one full orbit around the Sun every 971 days (2.66 years). See its orbit in more detail here. — The day after 2019 PDC is discovered, ESA and NASA’s impact monitoring systems identify several future dates when the asteroid could hit Earth. Both systems agree that the asteroid is most likely to strike on 29 April 2027 – more than eight years away – with a very low probability of impact of about 1 in 50 000. — When it was first detected, asteroid 2019 PDC was about 57 million km from Earth, equal to 0.38 Astronomical Units. It was travelling about 14 km/s, and slowly getting brighter. — As observations continue, the likelihood of an impact in 2027 increases. Three weeks after the discovery, after observations were paused during the full Moon (and reduced visibility), the chance of impact has risen to 0.4% – that’s a chance of 1 in 250.— Very little is known about the asteroid’s physical properties. From its brightness, experts determine that the asteroid’s mean size could be anywhere from 100-300 meters. — Asteroid #2019PDC continued to approach Earth for more than a month after discovery, reaching its closest point on 13 May. Unfortunately, the asteroid was too far away to be detected, and it is not expected to pass close to Earth until 2027 – the year of impact. — Astronomers continued to monitor the asteroid for a month after its initial detection, which provided them with more information about the object’s trajectory, and have now discovered that the chance of impact is rapidly increasing. By 29 April 2019, (the first day of the Planetary Defence Conference), the probability of impact has risen to 1 in 100. Day 1: Asteroid impact chance 1 in 100. Day 2: Four months after asteroid 2019 PDC is detected, observations now show the chance of Earth impact has increased to 1 in 10. All the live updates here on ESA's twitter... https://twitter.com/esaoperations Or the website: https://blogs.esa.int/rocketscience/2019/04/25/hypothetical_impact/

Yeah... Their contract expires after this season and they lost the financial support of the local government, so it isn't viable for them anymore, it seems. With Alonso gone, there's not that much enthusiasm either. Sainz just doesn't bring in the same crowds.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll make sure to dress up like Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt as a disguise to fool them...Or should I just wear a Bayern shirt and get a free pass?...

It's a proper classic racing circuit and it's beautiful with all the turns and elevation changes, especially the Scheivlak corner Also all those dunes in the background... Just beautiful and legendary as well as a tough and challenging track to drive on. Granted it's quite a bit on the narrow side so overtaking with modern F1 cars is going to be tough but I'm sure they'll modernise and widen the track anyway - just hope not too much as not to ruin the character of the hictoric circuit... Also it will be a home race for Max

Get in!

RIP Roland. The Senna the following day. Awful.

Another young offensive talent. I think in 5 years time we'll field 11 attacking players each game

You lived there for work or something? Yeah I guess it's not much you can do when you have a big family anyway; I would probably go crazy with 7 persons including children in one house haha.

Sure; and it also has its advantages. But it's usually too boring for me and not as bang-for-your-buck plus way more regulations and rules. Why would I want to pay thousands per month for my way of life when I can pay much less and save the rest while doing exactly the same thing? Other than that this is really my problem to be honest as I usually get bored of any place in 2-3 years regardless of where I find myself at.

Yeah I don't know; just hard to put it into words. Excessive consumption, materialism and consumerism in general, advertisements, bureaucracy, rules and regulations, everyday rush, social division, superficiality. Maybe I just truly hate big cities.

And that's probably why I'll always be leaving again... I don't want that. I mean, I don't mind change and progress in general. But it just seems excessive somehow?... I don't know. I got so used to a slower pace, no-stress daily life that I probably won't be able to cope with western way of living ever again. There are obviously plenty of disadvantages here too though. I'm not sure I'll ever find the golden middle way

Maybe it sounds silly but I actually see a lot of changes when I browse groups etc. Nothing extreme or even very significant but it's definitely not the same as it was when I left.

Going back to Europe for a few months in about 40 days... Getting excited already. Didn't realise until now it but I've actually missed it quite a bit... I wonder how much everything has changed in 5 years.

Watching it now... Pete is a right cunt.

@Bluewolf New episode of Warrior is out! And the series has already been renewed for Season Two

Haha so Rosberg apparently is temporarily suspended from the paddock because he lent his personal pass to an unauthorised cameraman in Shanghai

Have you gotten around to watching it yet? I just binged on the whole Season 2; thought it wasn't as great as Season 1 but still enjoyable enough. The ending was just depressing really. The whole season was so much darker than the first one. Anyway, the way it ended there definitely has to be Season 3... I'd also like to recommend another youtube series called Wayne if you haven't seen it yet... Has a very similar vibe.

Now official! The official confirmation by the original German Werder account is a bit... weird Welcome back Lücke!

@Eco was the one who recommended it to you I believe It's certainly an entertaining series but too biased and over-dramatised for my liking.

Not official yet but according to Bremen media sources Füllkrug has successfully passed his medical and the deal is as good as done. Allegedly 7 million € (including bonuses) transfer fee.

Yeah we discussed it with DDW earlier in this thread. Werder want to do an in-depth examination of his knee before signing him; other than that it seems that we agreed all terms with Hannover and Füllkrug already. I'm a big fan of Lücke and I'd definitely welcome him back but I hope signing him doesn't mean we'll neglect other areas of the team that need strengthening. Badly need a proper defensive midfielder in particular as Bargfrede just spends way too much of the season injured.

It's past 5 am, I'm still furious after the match so can't sleep and only have one beer left. Help.

First episode of Season Two is free on youtube; I watched it already The rest I'll just stream online from alternative websites as well

@Lucas Season 2 of Cobra Kai is now out! All 10 episodes. I'm definitely binging it tonight after football