Keith Thompson

4,371 reputation

1025

bio	website	keith-s-thompson.github.com
	location	San Diego, CA
	age	53
visits	member for	1 year, 7 months
	seen	May 9 at 14:35
stats	profile views	191

I'm a programmer and all-around nerd living in San Diego, California and working at JetHead Development Inc.

E-mail: Keith.S.Thompson@gmail.com

	4,371 reputation	bio	website	keith-s-thompson.github.com	visits	member for	1 year, 7 months
1025 badges		location	San Diego, CA		seen	May 9 at 14:35

summary answers questions tags badges favorites bounties reputation activity

293 Actions

suggestions reviews revisions comments badges posts accepts all

Nov 2	suggested	suggested edit on Age of the Earth and the star that preceded the Sun
Oct 31	comment	Does the rotation of the earth dramatically affect airplane flight time? During the flight, you need to get up to use the restroom. There's one 10 rows in front of you, and another 10 rows behind you. Does it take longer to walk to the one that's moving away from you at 600 mph than the one that's moving towards you at 600 mph?
Oct 30	comment	Why does an octave on a piano have the divisions of 8 white keys and 5 black keys? Thanks for the detailed clarification.
Oct 30	awarded	Teacher
Oct 29	answered	Why does an octave on a piano have the divisions of 8 white keys and 5 black keys?
Oct 28	comment	Does $E$ really equal $mc^2$? Doesn't $E = m c^2$ still apply if $m$ is taken to be the relativistic mass (which increases with increasing speed)?
Oct 28	comment	How does the view of night sky change as the Sun orbits around the Milky Way? Note that some of the apparent motions of the stars, particularly having to do with which star is currently the pole star, are affected by the precession of the equinoxes.
Oct 27	comment	Does $E$ really equal $mc^2$? @DavidZaslavsky: Then perhaps this is a good chance for them to learn. (I've updated the answer for, I hope, better clarity.)
Oct 27	awarded	Editor
Oct 27	revised	Does $E$ really equal $mc^2$? Clarification
Oct 27	comment	Does $E$ really equal $mc^2$? I was referring to the meaning of if-then in logic. See here.
Oct 26	answered	Does $E$ really equal $mc^2$?
Oct 26	answered	Why is this radio telescope's reflector spherical and not parabolic?
Oct 17	comment	Is dark matter around the Milky Way spread in a spiral shape (or, in a different shape)? Does that mean that spiral galaxies are disk shaped (as opposed to spherical) because of non-gravitational interactions? Wouldn't a spinning mass of gas and dust form a disk even without self-interaction?
Oct 17	comment	Is dark matter around the Milky Way spread in a spiral shape (or, in a different shape)? Wild guess: Probably not. As I understand it, the arms themselves aren't all that much denser overall than the gaps between them; they're just richer in young bright stars. I wouldn't expect the mechanism that creates and maintains the arms to affect dark matter.
Oct 17	comment	Which way do spiral galaxies rotate? @SachinShekhar: The article says "Astronomers suspect that NGC 4622 interacted with another galaxy. Its two outer arms are lopsided, meaning that something disturbed it." I can't judge whether that's accurate, but it seems plausible.
Oct 16	comment	Get time from sun Azimuth A sundial? 8-)}
Oct 16	answered	Which way do spiral galaxies rotate?
Oct 12	awarded	Supporter
Oct 12	answered	A mirror flips left and right, but not up and down