But of course. Silly me. I knew that.... I was just excited.

And yeah, what is special is the altitude -- a dry place high up so not as much atmosphere between the antennae and what they are watching.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

>> ^bareboards2:
I love that they are approaching the idea of an observatory in a different way. Not one huge telescope but an array.

The idea of antennae array has been around for a long time, so I don't know what is so special about these exactly. I mean, remember contact, when she goes to the desert...and there were like dozens of antenna? That was a antennae array, and there are several space array systems in the world...and any radio telescopes can be linked up to form an array with some effort. The real step, I'm guessing, is in the most dry desert in the world. It is compared to a mars-scape.

Edit: Grammar...sometimes I think I need a lobotomy

>> ^bareboards2:

I love that they are approaching the idea of an observatory in a different way. Not one huge telescope but an array.


The idea of antennae array has been around for a long time, so I don't know what is so special about these exactly. I mean, remember contact, when she goes to the desert...and there were like dozens of antenna? That was a antennae array, and there are several space array systems in the world...and any radio telescopes can be linked up to form an array with some effort. The real step, I'm guessing, is in the most dry desert in the world. It is compared to a mars-scape.


Edit: Grammar...sometimes I think I need a lobotomy

I was almost in an accident like this once. My girlfriend and I were driving through California near Modesto on a two-lane, 50 mph back-road in the dark. Our right front tire went over the line into what looked like more pavement but was actually soft, dry, desert dirt. We just barely kissed the line but it was enough to send us off the road towards a tree, my girlfriend over-corrected and brought us back on the road and into the oncoming lane. We passed through the space between two cars, went off the other side of the road, over-corrected again (because we were really just fishtailing at that point), drove back through oncoming traffic, sideways, and stopped in our original lane facing the wrong way.

I always think of that when I see car accident videos. That and the fact that we were driving an early Hyundai Accent, the kind that would've vaporized had we actually hit anything. For a few seconds there, floating in the space between two cars, my whole existence was entirely dependent on luck, or fate if you wish. It felt very weird, and a damn-sight unfair.

It's really easy to say that this guy was driving irresponsibly, or to say that one needs to respect semis, but it looks like he was going with the flow of traffic, maybe just a little faster. Those moments like this happen before you even know what's going on. Your tire brushing that little pile of melting snow can start a series of events that you have no control over. And driving slower than the rest of traffic can be just as dangerous, especially in the snow.

But I'm not trying to be preachy. The thing that really amazes me is that when people see these videos, we always tend to think of ourselves as being in the place of the driver who fucked-up. We could just as easily, however, be the other guy. Happens every day, all over the world. You're driving safely in your own lane, minding your own business, and all-of-a-sudden you're pink pate' getting spread nicely over a crispy metal cracker. Nothing you could've done. Driving is dangerous.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'joe walsh, the confessor, 80s, 1985' to 'joe walsh, the confessor, 80s, 1985, dry desert, surrealism, guitar, filters' - edited by Eklek