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Just Chat! / Re: Incels
« on: Yesterday at 17:24:31 »
Darwin strikes again.
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New Theories / Re: Universal Utopia? What's The Universal Terminal Goal?
« on: Yesterday at 17:22:03 »
A game was played at several informal United Nations social gatherings in the 1960s. People entering the room were given four playing cards and told that they could trade them with anyone else in the room. No rules, no advice. But the cards weren't distributed randomly. In every case, the guys who were given four picture cards ended up holding all the cards.
Zimmermann also warned against focusing on a narrow idea of democracy as a “preference satisfaction” system for finding the most popular policies.With a name like Zimmerman, you would have thought this was instinctive. Or don't people study 20th century history these days?
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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Why can't i understand the andromeda paradox?
« on: Yesterday at 17:08:38 »as far as Brenda is concerned, when she passed Paul and said "Hi!" the invasion from Andromeda has been launched. Meanwhile, for Paul the meeting to decide whether to invade Earth or not hasn't finished yet.When did you become a Downing Street spokesman?
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New Theories / Re: Origin of magnetic force
« on: Yesterday at 14:24:13 »All charged particles have a magnetic moment due to its "intrinsic" spin.Only those with unpaired spins. An alpha particle has charge -2e but no magnetic moment. A uranium nucleus may or may not have a magnetic moment, depending not on its charge (which is always -92e) but on how many uncharged neutrons it contains.
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New Theories / Re: Is there a better way to explain light?
« on: Yesterday at 14:20:14 »Has quantum mechanics proved that reality does not exist?You can define a word to mean anything you like, then use any formalism you choose to prove that the thing you defined doesn't exist. As long as you have defined "exist" in a suitable manner.
You can't see a black cat in a dark cellar. You can't feel any cats in my cellar. Therefore the cats in my cellar are made of black air.
Philosophy is bunk.
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New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)
« on: Yesterday at 12:01:03 »
Apropos clouds, your quoted physorg source says
The first statement is contradictory to observation. Strong surface heating generally produces "thermals" which, if moist (i.e.British!), produce cumulus clouds with a base at 2 - 15,000 ft above strong updraughts (OK, you won't find a 15,000 ft Cu base in these islands, but it's not uncommon in Texas) . As any glider pilot knows, the merest veil of cirrus (ice clouds generally above 40,000 ft) prevents the formation of strong thermals because the high-level ice reflects most of the infrared even though it has little visual effect at ground level. So net cooling during the daytime.
"Low thick cloud" may be cumuloform, which generally disperses at night, or stratiform, which is associated with warm moist air cooling as it traverses cold land. Stratiform clouds actually release heat at low level as they form.
It's a lot more complicated than the physorg article suggests!
Quote
High, thin clouds let sunlight through while effectively preventing heat from escaping to space as infrared radiation, providing a net warming effect. Low, thick clouds strongly reflect sunlight, while having little impact on infrared radiation escaping to space, creating a net cooling effect.
The first statement is contradictory to observation. Strong surface heating generally produces "thermals" which, if moist (i.e.British!), produce cumulus clouds with a base at 2 - 15,000 ft above strong updraughts (OK, you won't find a 15,000 ft Cu base in these islands, but it's not uncommon in Texas) . As any glider pilot knows, the merest veil of cirrus (ice clouds generally above 40,000 ft) prevents the formation of strong thermals because the high-level ice reflects most of the infrared even though it has little visual effect at ground level. So net cooling during the daytime.
"Low thick cloud" may be cumuloform, which generally disperses at night, or stratiform, which is associated with warm moist air cooling as it traverses cold land. Stratiform clouds actually release heat at low level as they form.
It's a lot more complicated than the physorg article suggests!
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Just Chat! / Re: The coronation of "eternal student", why was i not invited?
« on: Yesterday at 11:09:04 »
Yes, folks, merit and effort are recognised even under a hereditary monarchy.
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Just Chat! / Re: What is the value of spam?
« on: Yesterday at 11:05:43 »
Years ago I swore never to buy anything whose television adverts belittle men. That immediately reduced the impact of TV advertising by 50%, and everything else seems to be aimed at women who want to stink, children who want to take distorted photographs, or people who would rather wait for a delivery than open a can of beans.
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Just Chat! / Re: The coronation of "eternal student", why was i not invited?
« on: Yesterday at 10:53:01 »
Suspected republican.
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Technology / Re: Are solar panels worthwhile?
« on: Yesterday at 10:46:10 »
Interesting study with entirely predictable findings.
I'm somewhat surprised by the "nuclear" figure. Time was (in the 1960s) that the energy break-even occurred at 5 years of operation, so you would have to run a nuke for 10 years to exceed the input by 50% and around 100 years to get to a 5% footprint. It's difficult to believe that improved performance and increasing regulatory requirements have actually reduced that period, or that any nuke is expected to run for 100 years without 100% replacement of its components. In the strategy of the old Central Electricity Generating Board, nuclear power was regarded as the best investment of (then) cheap oil against future price rises - an energy store rather than generator - when the expected life of a reactor was about 20 years.
I'm somewhat surprised by the "nuclear" figure. Time was (in the 1960s) that the energy break-even occurred at 5 years of operation, so you would have to run a nuke for 10 years to exceed the input by 50% and around 100 years to get to a 5% footprint. It's difficult to believe that improved performance and increasing regulatory requirements have actually reduced that period, or that any nuke is expected to run for 100 years without 100% replacement of its components. In the strategy of the old Central Electricity Generating Board, nuclear power was regarded as the best investment of (then) cheap oil against future price rises - an energy store rather than generator - when the expected life of a reactor was about 20 years.
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Just Chat! / Re: What is the value of spam?
« on: 04/07/2022 18:02:20 »
It has fed armies and unfortunate schoolchildren for a few generations. Its principal value has been to make people appreciate good food, when the spam runs out, and it can be used as bait for various inedible fish.
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New Theories / Re: Why Evolution Is Wrong In Biology And What is Right?
« on: 04/07/2022 17:57:27 »
Watch, not necessarily this space but certainly the relevant scientific literature on the subject of embryonic cell differentiation. I had an interesting discussion yesterday with a researcher in this area, from which I gather that Alan Turing's hypothesis that differentiation can be explained by geometry and diffusion equations seems to be true.
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New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)
« on: 03/07/2022 21:17:40 »NASA seems to think otherwise though, expecting a 'dust minimum' to become a future norm.Interesting that they talk about the Sahara. Most of the Saharan dust that falls on the UK is quite large grit, much bigger than you need to nucleate raindrops.
Also worth noting that the Sahara probably isn't very old. There is evidence of grass and trees around 10 - 15000 years ago in what are now barren regions, and a suspicion that the present desert is to some extent man-made.
And whilst water vapor can supersaturate in very calm conditions, turbulence can initiate condensaton and crystallisation. There is plenty of turbulence in the upper atmosphere.
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New Theories / Re: How Many Numbers Exist?
« on: 03/07/2022 15:42:24 »If you could divide infinitely, we might ask how would anything get anywhere at a fundamental lengthDangerous use of "fundamental".
The Planck length is the base unit of length in Planck units, just as the meter is in SI units, and it has no special physical attributes.
Unlike the fundamental constants such as e, ε0, μ0 etc which do determine the measured behavior of the universe.
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General Science / Re: electromagnetic waves detail
« on: 03/07/2022 09:29:16 »
"Lines of force" was translated by my old physics teacher as equipotential contours, which makes a lot more sense.
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New Theories / Re: How Many Numbers Exist?
« on: 02/07/2022 14:44:40 »
And the answer to the question is "as many as you like, plus at least as many again". To take the most obvious case, if you specify any integer N, all those from 0 to N are presumed to exist, as do all those up to N2 or any other integer power.
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General Science / Re: electromagnetic waves detail
« on: 02/07/2022 12:00:57 »
I recall hearing good recordings of whistlers as an undergraduate.
brings it all back!
Paul: you won't hear these on LW AM because the signal itself is at an audio frequency. You need to tune around 1 - 20 kHz in a very "quiet" area. Fascinating stuff!
brings it all back!
Paul: you won't hear these on LW AM because the signal itself is at an audio frequency. You need to tune around 1 - 20 kHz in a very "quiet" area. Fascinating stuff!
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Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?
« on: 02/07/2022 10:09:38 »
What's not allowed in society is called "crime". Proof of intent is always difficult, but preventive intervention is always welcome.
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Physiology & Medicine / Re: What is the best way to treat hypochondriasis?
« on: 02/07/2022 09:58:31 »
Hypochondria (rare, expensive, potentially dangerous) is not the same as fear of dying (normal, free, healthy).
The former is treated in the USA by bankruptcy. AFAIK there is no treatment available in civilised countries - it's just another burden on the taxpayer.
Fear of death (what happens after dying) is vital. Without it, thousands of religious professionals would be out of work. Problem is to eliminate that irrationality (religion being the cause of many wars) without provoking its opposite - religious fanaticism that leads to suicide bombing.
The former is treated in the USA by bankruptcy. AFAIK there is no treatment available in civilised countries - it's just another burden on the taxpayer.
Fear of death (what happens after dying) is vital. Without it, thousands of religious professionals would be out of work. Problem is to eliminate that irrationality (religion being the cause of many wars) without provoking its opposite - religious fanaticism that leads to suicide bombing.
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Just Chat! / Re: Is there a universal moral standard?
« on: 01/07/2022 17:36:10 »
I can't answer why, but I've never met anyone who aspired to be poorer than anyone else. Have you?