Skip navigation

Tag Archives: science!

Mustache of authority iiiiiinnnnnn ssssspaaaaaaaaaaace!

I’m sure you’ve seen this by now.  Sure of it.

What struck me about the video and well, about Cmdr Hadfield‘s presence in general, is…his mustache.  This has always been the case.  I’ve just never mentioned it before.

Cmdr Hadfield recently came back to Earth after serving as a flight engineer in the 34th long-duration mission to the ISS and leading the 35th.  He is the only the second non-NASA, non-RSA astronaut to command the ISS and the first CSA astronaut to command.

I assume his mission was a success judging by his social media output.  I actually don’t know what his mission was about so I can’t say definitively if his mission was a success.  His mission may have included more than raising awareness of the space programs in various countries and unions.  I’m pretty sure he’s done a pretty good job of raising awareness.  But, you can see his social media output for yourself on twitter, tumblr, and youtube if you haven’t already.  Why haven’t you, anyway?

Anyhoo, I choose to believe that his mission’s success was not based solely on his ability to command and training and preparation.  Stuff I’m sure he has or has done and has worked hard for.  I choose to believe that his mustache of authority has helped a lot.

Do you not know what a mustache of authority is?  Dan has one.  Gordito was also able to grow one by sheer force of will.  Dan was able to use his mustache of authority to lead a guild of ninjas.  Gordito’s mustache helped claim his birthright after his father was tragically killed in a freak circus accident and perform the sweetest dunk.  A mustache of authority can help a lot.  Of course, there are some people who can resist the power of the mustache of authority.

So, I believe that Cmdr Hadfield’s mustache of authority is partially responsible for everything he’s been able to accomplish in life.  I mean sure, he’s put in a lot of hard work and he’s been dedicated to what I assume was his dream.  But also, he has a mustache of authority.

Fire, fire, fire, fire! (2)

Remember how that last post had a (1) after the title? Tada, it’s a two-part post on the weather behind/related to wildfires!

Last time, I talked about peculiar weather conditions to Southern California that helps drive wildfires. But this weather is indigenous to the region. It’s weather that’s related to the wildfire, but not directly caused by the wildfire. Yes. Fires can cause weather.

You see, when wildfires get big enough, they start creating their own weather systems that end up helping them spread. It’s really interesting. They’re called firestorms.

A firestorm happens when a wildfire gets so big and hot, it heats the air directly above it (besides just consuming it for its own purposes). Hot air rises, so all that air tries to escape upward. But now, there’s this empty space and we can’t have a space of no air (well, physics does actually allow for that to happen, but it would be a VERY. RARE. occurrence indeed), so surrounding cooler air enters the area.

This, of course, happens with any fire. However, they generally don’t create any appreciative results. But with very large fires, VERY large fires, this creates enough of a flow of air into the region of the fire, which provides it more oxygen, and if there’s still fuel to be burned, it creates a bigger and hotter fire. And the fire continues to rage out of control.

You would think this would only cause the fires to flare upwards. But no. The are is really turbulent in the area around the fire and that causes the gusts coming in to be erratic, thus spreading the fire. The winds can settle down into a circular pattern and produce a tornado, or at least a mesocyclone.

Another reason why a firestorm spreads fire is because the high oxygen levels produce a hotter fire. The heat can be so great so as to set other things on fire ahead of the fire itself. If it doesn’t ignite anything, well all that heated air does help with the turbulence and then you have that wind thing going on again.

Other weather elements a firestorm can cause are pyrocumulus clouds. These are the dense, puffy looking clouds you see over volcanoes sometimes. It’s due to the heated air again rising up. But this time the hot air rises high enough to hit moisture in the atmosphere again where it can rapidly cool and condense into a cloud…around all that ash and soot that’s mixed in with the air. Rain from one of these clouds is interesting. I wouldn’t recommend letting it fall on your tongue.

As for that rain, it can help put out the fire. Unless the fire was really big to begin with and continues to heat all this air to make a gianter cloud which can then produce lightning that can start another fire.

Firestorms (and the weather it generates). Interesting stuff.