Old Sailors' Almanac - Week 23, 2019 - (Fluid Design based on percentage of screen platform

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: How Big is the Universe?

As technology has evolved, astronomers are able to look back in time to the moments just after the Big Bang. This might seem to imply that the entire universe lies within our view. But the size of the universe depends on a number of things, including its shape and expansion. Just how big is the universe? The truth is, scientists can't put a number on it.

The observable universe

In 2013, the European Space Agency's Planck space mission released the most accurate and detailed map ever map of the universe's oldest light. The map revealed that the universe is 13.8 billion years old. Planck calculated the age by studying the cosmic microwave background.

“The cosmic microwave background light is a traveler from far away and long ago”, Charles Lawrence, the U.S. project scientist for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, stated in a statement. “When it arrives, it tells us about the whole history of our universe.”

Because of the connection between distance and the speed of light, this means scientists can look at a region of space that lies 13.8 billion light-years away. Like a ship in the empty ocean, astronomers on Earth can turn their telescopes to peer 13.8 billion light-years in every direction, which puts Earth inside of an observable sphere with a radius of 13.8 billion light-years. The word “observable” is key; the sphere limits what scientists can see but not what is there.

But though the sphere appears almost 28 billion light-years in diameter, it is far larger. Scientists know that the universe is expanding. Thus, while scientists might see a spot that lay 13.8 billion light-years from Earth at the time of the Big Bang, the universe has continued to expand over its lifetime. If inflation occurred at a constant rate through the life of the universe, that same spot is 46 billion light-years away today, making the diameter of the observable universe a sphere around 92 billion light-years. [VIDEO: Oldest Light in the Universe: How it Traveled to Us]

Centering a sphere on Earth's location in space might seem to put mankind in the center of the universe. However, like that same ship in the ocean, we cannot tell where we lie in the enormous span of the universe. Just because we cannot see land does not mean we are in the center of the ocean; just because we cannot see the edge of the universe does not mean we lie in the center of the universe.

Even bigger?

Scientists measure the size of the universe in a myriad of different ways. They can measure the waves from the early universe, known as baryonic acoustic oscillations, that fill the cosmic microwave background. They can also use standard candles, such as type 1A supernovae, to measure distances. However, these different methods of measuring distances can provide answers.

How inflation is changing is also a mystery. While the estimate of 92 billion light-years comes from the idea of a constant rate of inflation, many scientists think that the rate is slowing down. If the universe expanded at the speed of light during inflation, it should be 10^23, or 100 sextillion.

Instead of taking one measurement method, a team of scientists led by Mihran Vardanyan at the University of Oxford did a statistical analysis of all of the results. By using Bayesian model averaging, which focuses on how likely a model is to be correct given the data, rather than asking how well the model itself fits the data. They found that the universe is at least 250 times larger than the observable universe, or at least 7 trillion light-years across.

“That's big, but actually more tightly constrained that many other models”, according to MIT Technology Review, which first reported the 2011 story.

The shape of the universe

The size of the universe depends a great deal on its shape. Scientists have predicted the possibility that the universe might be closed like a sphere, infinite and negatively curved like a saddle, or flat and infinite.

A finite universe has a finite size that can be measured; this would be the case in a closed spherical universe. But an infinite universe has no size by definition.

According to NASA, scientists know that the universe is flat with only about a 0.4 percent margin of error (as of 2013). And that could change our understanding of just how big the universe is.

“This suggests that the universe is infinite in extent; however, since the universe has a finite age, we can only observe a finite volume of the universe”, NASA says on their website. “All we can truly conclude is that the universe is much larger than the volume we can directly observe.”

Space.com • NASA.gov • Encyclopedia Britannica • Forbes • Quora • Wikipedia / How Big is the Universe? (YouTube)

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Dilbert: Fictional and clueless cartoon character used in WWII era training material to demonstrate what NOT to do in naval aviation. Dilbert often paid dearly for his ignorance, lack of attention to detail, or carelessness.

Dilbert Dunker: Device used in water survival training (“swims”) to teach aviators how to get out of the cockpit of a fixed-wing aircraft that has crashed or ditched at sea. Much easier than the dreaded “helo dunker”.

Di-LDO: (Direct input Limited Duty Officer) Term students use for a loathed LDO instructor. Some Instructors at Naval Nuclear Power School are Limited Duty Officers, but are commissioned immediately upon completion of college, as opposed to LDOs that have spent time in the enlisted ranks. These Direct Input LDOs have not spent time “in the fleet”.

D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F: (Do I Look Like I Give A Fuck?), A term indicating supreme indifference; “Gaffer”. Can also have a second F added to the end, when used in this context it means “Do I Look Like I Give A Flying Fuck?”.

Dimed/Diming out/Dropping dimes: Comes from dropping a dime in a pay phone to make a call. To throw someone “under the bus”, or to out someone as being the one who did something wrong or made a bad call. Usually done to avoid getting in trouble at the expense of someone else. Example: Chief Coffeedrinker: “Why did you do this? You know that is unauthorized.” AMAN Nobody: “AM3 Schmuckatelli said to, Chief”.

Dining-in/Dining-out: Social functions, usually for officers and chiefs, where dinner dress is worn and certain “rules of the mess&rd. are followed. Generally presided over by the Executive Officer (XO) and run by a Chief or Junior Officer (JO) called “Mr. Vice”, these events can become quite rowdy and raucous. The difference between the two is that significant others may attend dining-outs. Dining-ins are for the service-members only.

Dinner plate for Marines: The front buttoned flap on enlisted dress blues. See crackerjacks.

DinQ: Delinquent in Qualifications, or some other admin requirement, “on the dinq list for tetanus shot...”.

Dipper: An anti-submarine helocopter with a variable depth dipping SONAR. See “Dome”.

Dipsy Dumpster: What a shitbag sailor crawls out of, before going up to quarters, watch, liberty, etc. “You look like you just climbed out of the dipsy dumpster, Seaman Timmy!”.

Wiktionary.org

Just for you MARINE

DGAF: Doesn't/Don't Give A Fuck. Generally coincides with one who is OFP (Official Military Personnel File, a record of all awards, punishments, training, and other records compiled by Headquarters Marine Corps).

DI: Drill Instructor, inappropriate to use the Army term “drill sergeant”.

DI Hut Office for drill instructors in a platoon's squad bay; doubles as sleeping quarters for the drill instructor on duty. See also house mouse (Recruit tasked with cleaning and performing domestic chores in drill instructor-only areas).

Dickskinner or Dickbeater: Human hand.

Diddy Bop: Poor performance in close order drill, or marching in a manner that does not present a crisp military appearance. One who conducts himself/herself in this manner is labelled a diddy bopper.

Wikipedia.org

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 (VRC-40 Detachment 4) - nicknamed the “Rawhides”

United States Navy - Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia - Established July 1, 1960.

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“No man is an island:” Meaning: You can't live completely independently. Everyone needs help from other people.

The phrase 'no man is an island' expresses the idea that human beings do badly when isolated from others and need to be part of a community in order to thrive. Donne was a Christian but this concept is shared by other religions, principally Buddhism.

History: 'No man is an island' is a quotation from the English metaphysical poet John Donne (1572-1631) and it appears in Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Seuerall Steps in my Sicknes - Meditation XVII, 1624:

“No man is an island entire of itself; every man

is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe

is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as

well as any manner of thy friends or of thine

own were; any man's death diminishes me,

because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Even had Donne written nothing else, his creation of 'no man is an island' and 'ask not for whom the bells tolls' in one brief poem, would have lifted him into the premier league of English writers. As it was he wrote numerous poems on the themes of love, sensuality and religion, many of which are still widely admired and he is considered one of the finest poets to have written in English. Of course, the second of the two proverbial phrases above was the inspiration for Ernest Hemingway's 1940 novel “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, which is regarded as one of his best works.

'No man is an island' sounds like, and is, an old proverbial expression. Oddly, although it was coined in the 17th century, it only began to be used widely in the second half of the 20th century. This usage started around 1940 but was probably accelerated by the release of a film of the same name in 1962.

The film is a fictionalised version of a true story set on the island of Guam. The American seaman George Tweed was the only member of the U.S. military who evaded capture after the surrender of the island to the Japanese in 1941.

Phrases.org UK

Science & Technology

When the Sun’s Magnetic Field Squashes the Earth’s Magnetic Field, Beautiful Things Happen (If not for dueling magnetic fields, we'd have no aurora borealis) • The Navy Just Ordered the “Orca”, an Extra-Large Unmanned Submarine by Boeing • NASA Says Goodnight to Opportunity, Its Most Enduring Mars Rover • The Army’s Next Infantry Guns Will Have Computerized Fire Control for Unreal Accuracy (Next generation infantry weapons will incorporate computer technology previously only available on tanks) • The Polaris Ranger 150 UTV Is Like a Truck for Kids (Buckle up, 10-year-olds, for some real-world driver ed)

Popular Mechanics

Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)

Why Do Humans Hear So Well? You Can Thank the Tiny 'Jell-O' Violin Inside Your Ear

In order to turn tangled, airborne vibrations into recognizable sounds, your ear relies on a miniature assembly line of bones, fibers, tissues and nerves. Then, there's the "Jell-O".

There's no actual gelatin in your ears, of course (if you're doing hygiene right). But according to Jonathan Sellon, a visiting professor at MIT and lead author of a new study in the journal Physical Review Letters, there is a thin, "Jell-O-like" blob of tissue spiraling through your inner ear and helping sound waves reach the specific nerve receptors they need to in order to make contact with your brain. This helpful blob is known as the tectorial membrane.

“The tectorial membrane is a gelatinous tissue that's made up of 97 percent water”, Sellon told. ”And it sits on top of the tiny sensory receptors in the inner ear (or cochlea) that translate sound waves into an electrical signal that your brain can interpret.” [10 Amazing Things We Learned About Humans in 2018]

So, why cover your ears' hypersensitive sound-pickup equipment with a layer of Jell-O? Sellon wanted to know when he began researching the tectorial membrane eight years ago. Now, in their new study (published Jan. 16), he and his colleagues think they may be on to an answer.

With their tips poking into the membrane's gooey innards, the inner ear's sensory receptor cells (also known as “hair cells”) run in bundles across the length of your cochlea, each one built to respond best to a different range of frequencies; high frequencies are best translated by cells at the base of the cochlea, while low frequencies amplify best at the top of the cochlea. Together, these hairy receptors allow you to hear thousands of different frequencies of sound.

“The tectorial membrane actually helps the cochlea separate out low-frequency sounds from high-frequency sounds”, Sellon said. “The way it does that is by 'tuning' its own stiffness, sort of like the strings on an instrument.”

Sellon and his colleagues extracted several tectorial membranes from lab mice. Using tiny probes, the researchers jiggled the membranes at various speeds to simulate how the gel might push against hair cells in response to different frequencies of sound. The team tested a range of frequencies between 1 hertz and 3,000 hertz, then wrote some mathematical models to extrapolate results for even higher frequencies (humans can typically hear between 20 hertz and 20,000 hertz, Sellon noted).

In general, the gel appeared stiffer near the base of the cochlea, where high frequencies are picked up, and less stiff in the apex of the cochlea, where low frequencies register. It's almost as if the membrane itself was “dynamically tuning itself” like a musical instrument, Sellon said.

“It's kind of like a guitar or violin”, Sellon said, “where you can tune the strings to be more or less stiff depending on the frequency you're trying to play.”

How exactly does this Jell-O tune itself?

It turns out that water flows through microscopic pores inside the membrane. The pore arrangement changes how fluid moves through the membrane - thereby changing its stiffness and viscosity at different locations in response to vibrations.

This tiny Jell-O guitar might be critical for amplifying certain frequency vibrations at different positions along the cochlea, Sellon said, helping your ears optimize the conversion of sound waves from mechanical vibrations to neural impulses.

The pore arrangement allows hair cells to respond more efficiently to the middle range of frequencies - for example, those used for human speech - compared to sounds at the low and high ends of the spectrum. So, sound waves in those middle ranges are more likely to be converted into distinct neural signals, Sellon said.

The membrane's sensitivity might even serve as a natural filter that helps amplify faint sounds while dampening distracting noise - however, Sellon said, further research in living subjects is needed to better understand all the membrane's mysteries.

Still, the gel's tuning ability might help explain why mammals can face significant hearing impairment when born with genetic defects that alter the way water flows through their tectorial membranes. According to the authors, further research could help scientists develop hearing aids or pharmaceuticals that help correct such defects. When that day comes, we'll be all ears.

Live Science (02/15/2019)

“You Give Love a Bad Name” - Bon Jovi 1986

“You Give Love a Bad Name” - Bon Jovi
Album: Bon Jovi
Released 1986

In 1984, Bon Jovi reached charted in the U.S. with “Runaway” , from their debut, self-titled album. The band was big in the New Jersey area, but got little attention elsewhere. The group was signed by a Polygram Records executive named Derek Shulman, who told, “I saw the drive and the ambition of Jon Bon Jovi, despite the fact that he could only sing five notes and most of them out of tune.”

For the band to break through, Shulman thought the key was big choruses, and the man to deliver that was Desmond Child, who worked with Kiss on “I Was Made For Lovin' You” . Child got together with Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, and the trio got to work. In our interview with Desmond Child, he said: “The very first day we got together we wrote 'You Give Love a Bad Name.' Then a few weeks later we wrote 'Livin' On A Prayer.' It was a magical collaboration and there was instant chemistry between us.”

Child later teamed up with Jon and Richie for many more Bon Jovi songs, including “Born To Be My Baby” and “Keep The Faith” . He went on to write hits for many other artists, including Cher, Aerosmith, and Ricky Martin.

Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child and Richie Sambora wrote this in the basement of Sambora's mother's house in New Jersey. Child came up with the title, and Jon immediately thought up the first line (“Shot through the heart...”). From there, they put the rest of the song together, with “Shot Through The Heart” as the working title. The song ended up being about a guy whose girlfriend is really bad for him - common material, but a very interesting way to say it. Jon Bon Jovi dated actress Diane Lane in the mid-'80s, and there were rumors that she was the inspiration for this song, but the lyrical inspiration was more of a universal feeling.

At one point, this was intended for the group Loverboy. Bon Jovi and Sambora started out writing it for them, but liked it so much they kept it for themselves.

The Slippery When Wet album was recorded in Vancouver. The band got the idea for the album title at a strip club they went to after recording sessions. “Slippery When Wet” is also a common road sign in America, but they were probably more inspired by the girls who danced in a shower at the club.

Bon Jovi's follow-up single, “Livin' On A Prayer” , was also a #1 hit, spending four weeks at the top spot while “Bad Name” spent just one. Desmond Child also helped write and produce that one.

Bon Jovi, official website / Billboard / All Music / Song Facts / Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame / Bon Jovi

Image: “Slippery When Wet (album)” by Bon Jovi

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Week 23, 2019

Previous Week June 03, 2019 - June 09, 2019 Next Week

USS George Washington Launched on June 09, 1959

Donald Duck makes his debut in The Wise Little Hen on June 09, 1934

Understanding Military Terminology - Multi-Service publication

The Old Salt’s Corner

“I’m Just Sayin”

“Thought for the Day”

“What I Learned”

Second Hand News (Links to Articles from Week 23 - June 03, 2019 - June 09, 2019)