41

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: How are physical units defined?

« on: 03/08/2022 17:49:47 »

counting their paces and then multiplied the number of paces by the length of their stride they would disagree on the length of the perimeter

Surely the disagreement would be of the order of (the uncertainly of stride length multiplied by the number of paces)  plus (one average stride multiplied by the uncertainty of counting) for each participant. You can take the root sum of squares for your best prior estimate of the limit of disagreement.

42

Just Chat! / Re: Ever had Stargazy pie or Spotted Dick or dined at Simpson's in the Strand?

« on: 03/08/2022 17:41:43 »

Spotted Dick was a staple of school lunches in my youth. Never fancied Stargazy Pie (too bony) but my chef son worked in Cornwall and has made and sold a few. Nothing on the menu at Simpsons that you can't get in a pub anywhere else.

My US colleagues used to suffer for a few days when visiting the UK. Jet lag coupled with spending a day immobile and dehydrated on a plane and in a boardroom, often leads to constipation. One very traditional pub lunch  I used to recommend was lamb stew - it's a novel but pleasant taste to the American palate, definitely reminds them of their supposed Gaelic roots, keeps out the cold, and if you're not used to it, cleans out the lower intestine very quickly and smoothly.

43

New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)

« on: 03/08/2022 17:29:28 »

Why the  *** don't you want a real democracy?

Everybody wants it, and everybody thinks they have it, but for as long as you allow politicians to serve themselves, and the police and civil service to serve politicians rather than the electorate, nobody will ever get it.

44

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Why does nobody seem to care that covid can cause erectile dysfunction?

« on: 03/08/2022 17:24:31 »

The NHS website certainly lists ED as a persistent symptom. Interestingly, it is likely that Viagra can have a double benefit in improving vascular performance all over the body!

45

New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)

« on: 02/08/2022 22:38:51 »

As I said, it's a unit of time that results from dividing one fundamental constant by another. But as the article says, its value depends on what you think Planck's constant is, and how you define the second. It's just a number.

46

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Is the male anus higher than the female anus?

« on: 02/08/2022 22:34:12 »

When it comes to political speeches, the male anus is certainly louder and more often heard than the female, but the contents are indistinguishable.

47

The Environment / Re: Is global warming man-made?

« on: 02/08/2022 22:31:28 »

I'd go along with that, but the periodicity of the Mauna Loa CO2 measurement is undeniably annual and very consistent in amplitude, with a peak every early summer for as long as the data has been collected.

Good science depends on explaining the facts, not ignoring those that question the hypothesis.

48

Just Chat! / Re: How did you meet your wife?

« on: 02/08/2022 19:40:07 »

I went on a canoeing course and fell in love with my instructor at first sight.

49

New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)

« on: 02/08/2022 19:37:23 »

A wave function is a mathematical abstraction that simply tells you where you might find a particle if you wait long enough. And nothing "breaks down under Planck scale" - it's just a dimensional normalisation with no physical significance.

Beware of metaphysics. It's a path to insanity.

50

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Is the male anus higher than the female anus?

« on: 02/08/2022 19:31:23 »

Men are generally taller.

51

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: Many attemps have made to raise Chimpanzes as humans have there been any success

« on: 02/08/2022 14:32:55 »

Most adolescent apes disagree with, attack,  or just abandon their parents. Some grow out of it, but "teenage rebellion" is the basis for a lot of marketing of stuff that would otherwise be considered spurious rubbish. Chimpanzees are just a bit less inhibited.

52

General Science / Re: Can you use capillary action to clean water or reduce salinity

« on: 02/08/2022 14:29:16 »

That video was interesting for just one reason: it ended with more liquid depth in the left hand (receiver) glass than the right (source). Magic, lopsided gravitation, or dishonest editing?   

53

General Science / Re: Is the universe is basically a big battle royal game?

« on: 02/08/2022 14:17:06 »

Worth noting in that respect that the US military was beaten in Vietnam by a bunch of peasants with sharpened sticks. Similar fate for British, Russian and US adventures in Afghanistan in the last 150 years or so.

54

New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)

« on: 02/08/2022 13:05:19 »

In where the world we 'know' constantly splits into others, that presumably in their turn do the same, creating new splits, ad infinitum.

Again a misconception. The many-world model simply examines alternative hypothetical pathways in order to determine the most probable link between cause and observed effect.

55

New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)

« on: 02/08/2022 13:02:56 »

Is there a limit to their size?

According to Plank scale there is, and it is the same limit that string theory seems to use. Under Planck scale, and our physics breaks down.

A common misconception of the Planck scale. It has no physical basis, but is a methd of normalisation. Reducing dimensionality is not the same as reducing dimensions!

56

The Environment / Re: Is global warming man-made?

« on: 01/08/2022 21:34:20 »

Then there's no reason to suspect that  dT/dt is caused by d[CO₂]/dt in the short term.

57

The Environment / Re: Is global warming man-made?

« on: 01/08/2022 15:13:19 »

So if T responds linearly to p[CO2] why does the historic record show temperature decreasing whilst [CO2] is increasing?

58

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 01/08/2022 14:53:18 »

James Joule settled the business of falling through the atmosphere of Venus in the 1840s, when he deduced the mechanical equivalent of heat from a number of remarkably precise experiments. Sadly, it seems that his famous "honeymoon experiment" to measure the temperature rise of water falling in a cascade at Chamonix, was beset by errors and unknowns, but a great deal of thermodynamics relies on his smaller investigations.

59

New Theories / Re: An essay in futility, too long to read :)

« on: 01/08/2022 12:32:43 »

Donors my anus! (Not sure I can use the dialect term here). It's a capital asset.

Crude oil is worth about $100 per barrel today, so the simple answer is to sell it to the highest bidder, buyer collects. Then set the ship on fire (never mind the smoke - what else would you do with oil?) and sink it. Any navy or air force would pay for the privilege of shelling or bombing such a practice target. Or tow it ashore for scrap at about $250 per ton.

60

The Environment / Re: Is global warming man-made?

« on: 01/08/2022 12:21:14 »

I think you might be among the first to claim that atmospheric temperature depends on p[CO₂], not ∂p[CO₂]/∂t, but I won't put words in your mouth.