March 2023 Open Thread



Hello. Time for a new open thread. Thanks for your continuing comments.

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The Oryx Handbook of Iranian Drones

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The goal of this list is to comprehensively catalogue Iran's past and current inventory of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their armament. In an effort to streamline the list and avoid unnecessary confusion, this list only includes military drones associated with Iran's defence industry or military-grade UAVs with at least some chance of entering service. Notes:  - If several configurations of a drone with one designation are known, they are added as such.  - The part within the apostrophes refers to other designations or an unofficial designation. -  UAVs that did not enter service or have yet to enter service have been placed in the prototype category. - When a type is dual-capable, it is added in both respective categories. - Dubious claims are referred to as ''claimed to be capable''. - Although several types of Iranian UAVs have been sighted in Syria and Iraq, the foreign service section of this handbook only includes those confirmed to be in s
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Yeah, I used a clickbaity headline. So sue me. Recently I went on an extensive rant about the fundamental assumptions of science. One of them, I said, was that things have to be measurable. And that's basically true, I think... but there are interesting subtleties. You might well be familiar with the weirdness of the quantum realms, as in the double-slit experiment where "particles" can apparently be in two places at once. What you might be less aware of is that much, much larger things can be just as hard to measure. You really don't need carefully controlled laboratory conditions to see how bizarre reality can get. Measuring some things is hard... In astronomy, if you're hunting for galaxies in a new data set, you have to try and estimate these things called completeness and reliability . They're quite simple concepts but they have very strict meanings - thankfully, for once, quite intuitive ones. Consider a naturalist trying to identify some meerk
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Andrew Wyeth: Home Places

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  THE BRANDYWINE   FEBRUARY 4–JULY 13, 2023 Andrew Wyeth, Swifts – First Version, 1991, watercolor on paper. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art B3122r © Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS)  Opening at the Brandywine Museum of Art on February 4, 2023,  Andrew Wyeth: Home Places  presents nearly 50 paintings and drawings of local buildings that inspired Wyeth time and again over seven decades of his career. The artworks in this exhibition are drawn exclusively from the nearly 7,000-object Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, now managed by the Brandywine. Many of these pieces have never before been exhibited, offering a first glimpse at a significant treasure trove that will shed new light on the collaborative creative process of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth. Andrew Wyeth, Widow’s Walk Study, 1990, watercolor and pencil on paper. Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art B3144 © Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Socie
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