What's up?

[pumpkinpi]

Here's a thread for chatting about nothing in particular. It's not good news, not BMR, just stuff. Like this.

I never thought I'd be reading a paper about Saudi Arabia agriculture to write a planetarium show!

[Thumper]

I've been thinking about the "What's Up?" thread for some time. I don't know at which version switch it got lost.

[SciFiFisher]

Q: What's Up?
9 Year Old Answer: The sky.

[Thumper]

Ban Him.

[geonuc]

...I never thought I'd be reading a paper about Saudi Arabia agriculture to write a planetarium show!

Well, duh. Of course you'd have to read up on that.

[geonuc]

I found a group on Facebook where people don't act like utter assholes to each other.

[Rommie]

I found a group on Facebook where people don't act like utter assholes to each other.

What a lying jerk you are, I don't believe you.

[Rommie]

Here's a thread for chatting about nothing in particular. It's not good news, not BMR, just stuff. Like this.

I never thought I'd be reading a paper about Saudi Arabia agriculture to write a planetarium show!

May I ask why?

[pumpkinpi]

It's a project called "Interactive Water Resources Programs for Digital Planetariums in Minnesota." .....we're giving a global perspective of issues that we can relate to what's happening in our country and state. One of them is the depletion of the Arabian aquifer system due to increased agricultural activity, and a similar thing is happening in the high plains aquifer in the U.S. It's context. Plus it has snazzy satellite images.
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11290

[geonuc]

I found a group on Facebook where people don't act like utter assholes to each other.

What a lying jerk you are, I don't believe you.

Lol. Yes, exactly like that!

[geonuc]

It's a project called "Interactive Water Resources Programs for Digital Planetariums in Minnesota." .....we're giving a global perspective of issues that we can relate to what's happening in our country and state. One of them is the depletion of the Arabian aquifer system due to increased agricultural activity, and a similar thing is happening in the high plains aquifer in the U.S. It's context. Plus it has snazzy satellite images.
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11290

Among other initiatives, the Saudis have plans for nuclear desalinization plants.

[Rommie]

It's a project called "Interactive Water Resources Programs for Digital Planetariums in Minnesota." .....we're giving a global perspective of issues that we can relate to what's happening in our country and state. One of them is the depletion of the Arabian aquifer system due to increased agricultural activity, and a similar thing is happening in the high plains aquifer in the U.S. It's context. Plus it has snazzy satellite images.
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11290

Ah, neato! I didn't know they did that there too, so I guess your research worked!

I remember hearing some time ago that the aquifer used in the USA won't last through our lifetimes. I'm not sure if that's actually true versus just alarmist though.

[Loresinger]

Q: What's Up?
9 Year Old Answer: The sky.

Sadly I am that 9 year old as my initial response "the ceiling"

[SciFiFisher]

Ban Him.

[pumpkinpi]

Our England trip is in 2.5 weeks! We're all super excited, but MrPi is particularly. His favorite (to an obsessive degree) football team is Leeds United, so his primary goal is to go to a game. We planned the trip around the team's schedule. They are in the 2nd league down. The way English football works is that there are a number of leagues in succession below the Premier League, and every year the top three teams move up one level, and the bottom three move down. Leeds was in the Premier League when MrPi last went to England 20 years ago, but since then they had gone down two leagues. They moved up to the 2nd league about 9 years ago, and I swear I have NEVER seen him more excited than when that happened! This year they are finally in contention to move back in to the Premier League. So we're going to a game that they are likely to win, because we don't want a loss to ruin the rest of our vacation. (Somewhat kidding....)
They just released the tickets for the game today. MrPi wanted to be on top of things so he set the alarm for 4am to get them. And fortunately he did that.....because by the time he got to work they were sold out. I don't know how he would have reacted if we couldn't get tickets to the game!

It's fun to see him so excited about something, and he and Buster have a great time following football together. I enjoy watching games, but I don't have a vested interest in the teams. That's pretty much how I am with all sports except baseball.

[SciFiFisher]

The trip should be awesome. I think you misspelled soccer.

[Thumper]

That sounds awesome. And if he would have missed getting tickets, he simply would have paid through the nose for some scalpers...
My Mom and sister loved Great Britain. They visited back when my sister was in high school. I'm sad they never got a chance to go back.
Happy count down!

[Rommie]

UK is great! I was really hoping there would be some jobs to apply for there, but the science funding situation is so crazy with Brexit right now it basically all dried up. (The UK traditionally puts money into PhD students over postdocs to begin with so most UK academics have to leave for a few years before returning- really not going to be good for them in the next few years now that the European options are more complicated.) Maybe in the future.

Where are you guys going, other than the match? So I can give you random suggestions for things to do and stuff.

[pumpkinpi]

We'll spend the first two nights in Leeds, then 5 nights in London. We'll mostly be tooling around the city, though we may schedule a day trip if the mood strikes us. But there is plenty to see in the city that it's best not to waste too much time traveling, especially with kids. I'm excited just to walk around and get around by tube, and see all the museums. Particularly the Greenwich Observatory, of course!

What would you recommend?

[code monkey]

Q: What's Up?
9 Year Old Answer: The sky.

Sadly I am that 9 year old as my initial response "the ceiling"

you beat me to it!

[Sigma_Orionis]

The trip should be awesome. I think you misspelled soccer.

No she didn't

[Swift]

We'll spend the first two nights in Leeds, then 5 nights in London. We'll mostly be tooling around the city, though we may schedule a day trip if the mood strikes us. But there is plenty to see in the city that it's best not to waste too much time traveling, especially with kids. I'm excited just to walk around and get around by tube, and see all the museums. Particularly the Greenwich Observatory, of course!

What would you recommend?

Bath and Stonehenge is a good day trip.

You also have to go to a pub and have bangers and mash.

The Tower of London is cool. You can see the crown jewels and the ravens.

[Thumper]

The trip should be awesome. I think you misspelled soccer.

No she didn't

So you've got "football" where you can play the ball with any part of your body except your hands. And then you have "Are you ready for some Football?" where 80% of the game is played with the ball in your hands....

[Rommie]

We'll spend the first two nights in Leeds, then 5 nights in London. We'll mostly be tooling around the city, though we may schedule a day trip if the mood strikes us. But there is plenty to see in the city that it's best not to waste too much time traveling, especially with kids. I'm excited just to walk around and get around by tube, and see all the museums. Particularly the Greenwich Observatory, of course!

What would you recommend?

I will second the Tower of London. I feel like that's the classic London history thing to do! And of course pop into the British Museum and see all the treasures the Brits stole from all over the world, like the Rosetta Stone and Elgin Marbles- that one unlike the steep price for the Tower is free, so that's nice.

Greenwich is honestly a good day trip if you have 5 nights, as it was historically its own town with lots to see (like the Cutty Sark and the naval museum). You can take the ferry from downtown which is far more fun than the commuter rail IMO. I do like Bath and Stonehenge but feel that would be too ambitious a day with small kids in tow.

Random other history thing I liked, but depends how into WW2 you are, are the war rooms pretty near Parliament. Basically they ran all of the British government a few stories below ground and it is now a museum. I thought it was really fascinating.

Speaking of kids, if yours are into Harry Potter, the set tour of where they filmed them is pretty amazing. Probably not if you're not, obviously.

Every day at Leicester Square there is a booth selling last minute tickets at serious discount for that day or the next (matinees as well as evening shows). Pretty much all of London theater I've seen was thanks to that booth. (I mean you probably can't choose wrong by the way, but probably the best one I got from there that would be good for a family was Matilda.) Oh, and the giant Lego store is also on Liecester Square and is worth a visit because they have stuff like a 2 story Big Ben made of Lego, and I don't know why people wouldn't want to see that.

Finally I really like as an area to wander around Coventry, and the street performers at Covent Garden. Stanford's is the world's biggest travel and map shop so of course I always stop in, lots of nice pubs, and see if you can find "Neal's Yard."

Man, I love London. I would try to go one weekend a year when I was living in Amsterdam for a "language break" and the tickets were always about right to fly over. I feel like most of my best memories though are buying one of those giant Sunday papers, getting a full English breakfast, and people watching as the city is great for it.

[SciFiFisher]

Brite went there for a month about 3 years ago and she still talks about the pubs and the full English breakfast options.