A shifting baseline (also known as sliding baseline) is a type of change to how a system is measured, usually against previous reference points (baselines), which themselves may represent significant changes from an even earlier state of the system.

The concept arose in landscape architect Ian McHarg's 1969 manifesto "Design With Nature"  in which the modern landscape is compared to that on which ancient people once lived. The concept was then considered by the fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly in his paper "Anecdotes and the shifting baseline syndrome of fisheries". Pauly developed the concept in reference to fisheries management where fisheries scientists sometimes fail to identify the correct "baseline" population size (e.g. how abundant a fish species population was before human exploitation) and thus work with a shifted baseline. He describes the way that radically depleted fisheries were evaluated by experts who used the state of the fishery at the start of their careers as the baseline, rather than the fishery in its untouched state. Areas that swarmed with a particular species hundreds of years ago, may have experienced long term decline, but it is the level of decades previously that is considered the appropriate reference point for current populations. In this way large declines in ecosystems or species over long periods of time were, and are, masked. There is a loss of perception of change that occurs when each generation redefines what is "natural".

Shifting Baseline

A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.

Because no light can get out, people can't see black holes. They are invisible. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars.

Black Hole

The Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter) was a 338 kilogram (750 lb) robotic space probe launched by NASA on December 11, 1998 to study the Martian climate, atmosphere, surface changes and to act as the communications relay in the Mars Surveyor '98 program, for Mars Polar Lander. However, on September 23, 1999, communication with the spacecraft was lost as the spacecraft went into orbital insertion, due to ground based computer software which produced output in non-SI units of pound-seconds (lbf×s) instead of the metric units of newton-seconds (N×s) specified in the contract between NASA and Lockheed. The spacecraft encountered Mars at an improperly low altitude, causing it to incorrectly enter the upper atmosphere and disintegrate.....

Mars Climate Orbiter

Time Energy Distance Velocity

Spiralex

Body Mechanic

It's More Fun To Compute

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (commonly abbreviated as T3) is a 2003 science fiction action film. It is the third installment of the Terminator series. 

Rise of the Machines

Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) is a long-period comet discovered by Russian amateur astronomer Leonid Elenin on December 10, 2010, through remote control of the International Scientific Optical Network's robotic observatory near Mayhill in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The discovery was made using the automated asteroids discovery program CoLiTec. At the time of discovery, the comet had an apparent magnitude of 19.5, making it about 150,000 times fainter than can be seen with the naked eye. The discoverer, Leonid Elenin, originally estimated that the comet nucleus was 3–4 km in diameter, but more recent estimates place the pre-breakup size of the comet at 2 km. Comet Elenin started disintegrating in August 2011, and as of mid-October 2011 was not visible even using large ground-based telescopes.

C 2010 X1 Linear

Science In Time

Elements

Terraforming

Icy Dwarf Object

An impulse generator is an electrical apparatus which produces very short high-voltage or high-current surges. Such devices can be classified into two types: impulse voltage generators and impulse current generators. High impulse voltages are used to test the strength of electric power equipment against lightning and switching surges. Also, steep-front impulse voltages are sometimes used in nuclear physics experiments. High impulse currents are needed not only for tests on equipment such as lightning arresters and fuses but also for many other technical applications such as lasers, thermonuclear fusion, and plasma devices.

Jedlik's tubular voltage generator
In 1863 Hungarian physicist  Ányos Jedlik discovered the possibility of voltage multiplication and in 1868 demonstrated it with a "tubular voltage generator", which was successfully displayed at the Vienna World Exposition in 1873. It was an early form of the impulse generators now applied in nuclear research.
The jury of the World Exhibition of 1873 in Vienna awarded his voltage multiplying condenser of cascade connection with prize "For Development". Through this condenser, Jedlik framed the principle of surge generator of cascaded connection. (The Cascade connection was another important invention of Ányos Jedlik.

Marx generator
One form is the Marx generator, named after Erwin Otto Marx, who first proposed it in 1923. This consists of multiple capacitors that are first charged in parallel through charging resistors as by a high-voltage, direct-current source and then connected in series and discharged through a test object by a simultaneous spark-over of the spark gaps. The impulse current generator comprises many capacitors that are also charged in parallel by a high-voltage, low-current, direct-current source, but it is discharged in parallel through resistances, inductances, and a test object by a spark gap.

Impulse Generator

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is an unusually large release of plasma and magnetic field from the solar corona. They often follow solar flares and are normally present during a solar prominence eruption. The plasma is released into the solar wind, and can be observed in coronagraph imagery.
Coronal mass ejections are often associated with other forms of solar activity, but a broadly accepted theoretical understanding of these relationships has not been established. CMEs most often originate from active regions on the Sun's surface, such as groupings of sunspots associated with frequent flares. Near solar maxima, the Sun produces about three CMEs every day, whereas near solar minima, there is about one CME every five days.

Coronal Mass Ejection (Solar Wind Mix)

Soviet cosmonaut and the first human being to die on a space mission. Born in Moscow and a graduate of four Soviet Air Force colleges, Komarov was selected as a military pilot cosmonaut in March 1960. After joining the Vostok training group in 1961, he was assigned to be backup pilot of Vostok 4 in 1962 and support for Vostok 5. On Oct. 12, 1964, he served as commander of Voskhod 1 along with crewmates Boris Yegerov and Konstantin Feoktistov. Because all the Vostok missions ended with the cosmonaut ejecting at about 4 km and landing separately from the spacecraft, this crew also became the first to touchdown on land inside their spacecraft. On Apr. 24, 1967, having been launched as the pilot of Soyuz 1, a solo mission, he became the first person to die during a space mission after the lines of his spacecraft's parachute became tangled during descent. His ashes are buried in the Kremlin Wall. 

Soyuz One, Death of Komarov 2012 remake

Vorsprung durch Technik (Advancement through technology) is the main strapline and company ethos for the German car maker Audi. It has been used since the 1980's in Audi advertising campaigns all over the world.

Vorsprung durch Technik

Hidden Chambers of your Mind

A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable. The term has a negative connotation, implying that the appeal to a conspiracy is based on prejudice or insufficient evidence. Conspiracy theories once limited to fringe audiences have become commonplace in mass media, emerging as a cultural phenomenon of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. They are widespread around the world and are often commonly believed, some even being held by the majority of the population. To reduce the occurrence of conspiracy beliefs it is important to maintain an open society and to improve the analytical thinking skills of the general public.

Conspiracy Theory

Basic System is from Rotterdam 
in The Netherlands, a city that 
has a strong connection 
with the true spirit of electronic 
music.

Popular tracks by Basic System