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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Does choosing numbers in a lottery entry affect the outcome of that lottery?
« on: 18/11/2016 04:55:42 »
Does what we think about choosing numbers in a lottery entry affect the outcome of that lottery?
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Yes,I love eating algae,and my daily routine is mostly scientific research,the subject of which is how not to be disgusted and terminally bored.The movie "Soylent Green" was very much to the point.Also,as a senior citizen retiree,I have found the need to invent ways to be useful,and to avoid "mooching" off the younger generations.Leisure and idleness are not all they're reputed to be.You can in principle fill every square inch of the globe with people, but they wouldn't have anything to eat or be particularly happy. What matters more, the number of humans on the planet, or the health and happiness of every human?
The points you mention, are superbly addressed in one of my all-time favourite SF stories, Isaac Asimov's "2430".
In the story, humans have actually "filled the globe" - or at least the continental land-surface of it - with a "mighty population" of 15 trillion human beings This figure has been scientifically calculated as the maximum that Earth can support. All other animals and plants have been eliminated. Except for "algae" in the oceans, which are efficiently farmed to make food for the humans to eat. The algae are in turn fed with human wastes and corpses, recycled by being put back into the oceans, in an never-ended cycle.
The humans live happy placid lives, free from war. They eat, sleep, "carefully make love" (so as not imbalance the population), engage in scientific research, and have a nice time, until they peacefully end their days, by being reabsorbed into the algae soup.
I must confess to finding a certain allure in this. Does it appeal to you, I wonder?
Found this at work in Hesperia, CA today, buried in sand. Looked like an egg at first, but I picked it up. Hard as a rock, solid, about as heavy as a ball bearing. Not a clue what it is, if it's a petrified egg, a very round rock.. I have no idea. Science friends, what the heck is this little sphere of mystery?! Thanks!Looks a little like ceramic balls used in the paint industry to disperse paint pigment solids into the liquid paint carrier.They are rotated with all the ingredients in a can or container until the pigment is very finely ground.
'The whole lot is incorrect. That is only because you haven't got a clue what you are talking about. lol!' Athenican.It would be highly interesting,if we could fix the coordinate and if we had a Planck stopwatch,to move some living matter and then move it the same,once it was definitely dead.This might show up a difference which would reveal your property of living matter.Perhaps using a recently picked strawberry would suffice.In 4-D space,I believe at least there would be some difference in the times of occurrence of the test sequences.Apparently,something cannot be both dead and alive at the same time.Realistically,could some form of sub-atomic particle illumination be used to detect infinitesimal motions in the living matter?Since it's probably always in motion internally,anyway,due to random motion and biological processes,that looks to be very difficult.A very short-lived illumination would have to be used,to provide a stop-motion effect.Perhaps laser pulses?
The only possible response left therefore is that I reiterate what I have already stated. I can respond better if you choose at least 1 thing you disagree with. This will give me the opportunity to explain why you are mistaken.
'[So,is there an example of living material moving only one Planck length?' David Reichard.
The movement of all living organisms through 3- D space occurs in increments of 1 Planck length. If you fix the position of a coordinate of living material as it is moving in a particular velocity through 3-D space and start your Planck moment stopwatch, when you stop the watch after a period of 1 Planck moment, the coordinate will have adopted a new position in 4- D space. Is it accurate to say that in the intervening 1 Planck moment, that the coordinate has stopped moving in the trajectory it was moving?
Thanks for bringing up this historical info ,obviously still relevant.Yes,hydrogen is a viable fuel with modern techniques.I think,however,that the source is the key to producing it with a low environmental footprint.Also,producing it from fossil deposits will eventually result in resource depletion.If we only consider short -term effects,it's desirable to do it the most expedient way.I suggest that for the sake of elegance,cleaner means of production would be better,such as water-splitting,for example.QuoteBut, as anyone who has heard of the Hindenburg knows, storing hydrogen is impractical and potentially unsafe.
Not true! Town gas (50% hydrogen) was the major source of domestic and industrial heating and a great deal of industrial motive power, for over 150 years. It is a lot easier to store than liquefied petroleum ("natural") gas and the grid for its distribution still exists. Urban gasholders were hit by tracer bullets and incendiary bombs during WWII but according to past colleagues who were set to watch them, it was pretty easy to extinguish the flames (literally with a wet blanket) and patch over the holes.
Town gas explosions were no more common or destructive than LPG (methane) explosions nowadays. The principal reasons for its disappearance were political (it required coalminers) and toxicological (it contained 10% carbon monoxide). Simply diluting grid methane with 50% hydrogen would double the world's natural gas reserve, halve the CO2 emission, and make unreliable energy sources economically useful at very little cost.
The problem with the Hindenburg was the combustion of the aluminum spars, metallised fabric envelope, and doped-cotton gas bags, leading to structural failure and loss of buoyancy respectively, with the inevitable consequence of any aircraft falling apart a hundred feet off the ground.
Hydrogen is classed as a "heavy chemical" as it is manufactured, stored and used in multi-tonne quantities and probably ranks with sulfuric acid and ammonia as the most significant bulk feedstock. You don't hear of many industrial incidents compared with, say, chlorine.
I can do no better than quote WikipediaQuoteThere is currently no proven physical significance of the Planck length
Since is it about 10^-20 of the diameter of a proton, the indeterminacy of any atom, let alone a molecule, far exceeds it. Stuff doesn't move by Planck increments.
[So,is there an example of living material moving only one Planck length?
Brownian motion applies to all objects at the atomic scale or above.A diagram would greatly aid my poor mind here.That said it's the same thing bothering me about smaller and smaller sections under a curve.At the Planck length, it's indeterminate.We can use a stated co-ordinate,but its location is not known with certainty,and apparently smears out into probabilities.The problem to me is the difference between real physicality and a virtual mental concept of exact location or size.Life as we know it is a phenomenon of interacting compounds and energy.When it moves,it gets where it's going,one Planck length at a time,all of which are added as a resultant.Can you clarify your exact question about life's movement?
Heisenberg indeterminacy applies to all objects and dominates below the atomic scale.