Saturday, October 22, 2022
Friday, October 21, 2022
Taylor Swift Has A Metaverse
I need a Metaverse. We all need a Metaverse. But, for now, we have hers:
Nyce: For some people out there right now, this whole week is Taylor Swift. They are very much flipping between TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, even real life. But because they don’t have avatars and they’re not meeting in a virtual space, it’s not technically a metaverse?
Au: Correct. But yes, she could do that tomorrow if she wanted to. She could have her own metaverse platform. She could invite people immediately to jump in and hang out with her and create content based on her songs. And she could perform live if she wanted to. And she wouldn’t have to depend on any of the platforms. Right now, she’s making content for Instagram, which is owned by Meta, and TikTok.
Nyce: It sounds like the Swifties might be living in something that is pretty close to a metaverse currently. It doesn’t seem like it’s missing a lot to get there. People overuse the term vibes. But it seems like fandoms are giving off metaverse vibes right now.
First Native American Woman in Space Overwhelmed by the Earth
It IS overwhelming!:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first Native American woman in space said Wednesday she is overwhelmed by the beauty and delicacy of Mother Earth, and is channeling “positive energy” as her five-month mission gets underway.
NASA astronaut Nicole Mann said from the International Space Station that she’s received lots of prayers and blessings from her family and tribal community. She is a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in Northern California.
Mann showed off the dream catcher she took up with her, a childhood gift from her mother that she’s always held dear. The small traditional webbed hoop with feathers is used to offer protection, and she said it's given her strength during challenging times. Years before joining NASA in 2013, she flew combat in Iraq for the Marines.
An Article About Computer Weather Models
Dwight sends this from Tampa.
For myself, I don't rely on too many models, because it just causes confusion in my mind. It's like the old adage, "the man with one watch knows what time it is, but the man with two watches is never sure." I primarily consult the NVG model (a baroclinic model, and thus more likely to be accurate), but also look at the GFS model (a barotropic model, which makes it less accurate, but which runs further out in the future - 16 days!) Actually, I don't know where to get the European model results, but it's another baroclinic model, and no doubt good, but it might conflict with the NVG model, and thus cause dissonance. Some weather forecasters have time to consult with a full ensemble of model results, but I don't want that. What I want is to intuitively feel what is making the hurricane move the way it does. There are usually several forces at work, any one of which can make the hurricane move, and which force dominates is usually a matter of timing. Which force is first? Which force is strongest? Do the forces trade off? Understanding that trade off is more important than having multiple model results. The model results usually vary from one another anyway because the timing of force changes are modeled to be slightly different. So, the models all have their strengths, but need not all be accurate.
The Hurricane Center uses what it considers to be the top models for forecasting hurricanes. The models come from different countries with their own weather services, and some come from the United States, which has multiple agencies that have their own weather models for their own purposes: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service, the Navy, NASA and more.
But the two we hear about most are an American model known as the Global Forecast System, or GFS; and the European model or the ECMWF, which is the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The two global models are considered the best in the world, and are often pitted against one another.
Experts generally agree the European model has an edge over the GFS, Rood said.
Both are modeled from equations performed by high-powered computers. The GFS and the European both are medium-range forecasting models and can forecast fairly far into the future. The Euro can forecast 10 days out, while the GFS can model 16 days out.
These two models, along with all the others, have the opportunity to use the same shared data in their model runs. Yet, they result in different outcomes.
“Just because they have the opportunity doesn’t mean they are all starting with ... the same data,” Rood said. “The other thing is, they all use the data in a little bit of a different way, so they have different algorithms.”
The main difference in the models is “data assimilation,” which essentially means how the models start. Scientists use different methods to begin these assimilations, which gives them different results. Rood said the European model generally has a better assimilation process than the GFS, which can at times lead to more accurate models.
The same models can also be run about 30 to 50 times to make what’s called an ensemble. Slight tweaks to the information used in the same model can result in dozens of different tracks. While it may look overwhelming to the untrained eye, these ensembles are helpful for forecasters.
Outside of the models that are used for everyday weather, there are exclusively hurricane models that focus on a much smaller area where a storm is located. These models are good at gathering more details like wind speeds and have become another piece in a forecaster’s tool belt.
“From a forecaster’s point of view, there is an advantage of having multiple models, because it helps them to better understand the uncertainty,” Rood said.
Looks Like Joe the Plumber Will See "The Who"
Two good friends have Covid, so I get their tickets to see "The Who" next week. Who ever dreamed I might see "The Who?" Need a Baby Boomer for this, so I asked Joe the Plumber to come along. Sounds like he's game. If only I can get him to wear a mask. I mean, shouldn't be that hard, right? I mean, the only reason he gets to go is because of Covid!
The Petroleum Engineer Pipeline is Running Dry
A talent drought:
Trained and knowledgeable workers are retiring or moving to other industries. The average oil and gas worker is 44 years old, a recent report from Deloitte found. The industry has mostly rehired the 15,000 workers it laid off during the 2020 crash, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Statistics. But the workforce numbers have been on a long downward trend since 2015, when oil prices took a plunge after a supply glut. The volatility of the industry — the cycle of laying off and hiring people — is another factor that makes the jobs unappealing, the Deloitte report said.
"Half of oil and gas professionals, I believe, would gladly leave the oil and gas industry tomorrow if they could get a renewable energy job," said Dar-Lon Chang, who worked as an engineer at ExxonMobil for 16 years before resigning in 2019 over concerns about climate change. A recent global survey by AirSwift found that 82 percent of current oil and gas workers would consider switching to another energy sector in the next three years, up from 79 percent last year and 73 percent in 2020. Fifty-four percent of those thinking about leaving picked the renewable industry as a preferred destination.
"Retention is a massive, massive problem," Dennett said. "They're losing their most expert, skilled, and experienced technicians, engineers, designers, operators, mechanics … I think they will be starved of new talent."
Been on a Grimes Kick this Week
Don't know what to think of Grimes' status since 2018 as sometimes Elon Musk girlfriend. She must have access to resources that other musicians can only dream of. And he's been showing signs of becoming an ass. But she definitely makes music that can appeal to my taste.
From 2012, or so...
Been Working, For a Change
Working quite a bit with Dan this week. Don't know how to do work anymore. jarring those neurons again.
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