Royston

My house mate gave me a copy of filezilla (I'm sure it's free) - where I can access all his files through wi-fi, I'm pretty sure it's not wi-fi dependant. You just load the software into both PC's and providing they're connected in some way you have access to the other's hard drive. I'll ask him when I get back from work if you want. Unless this is the software you were trying to avoid ?

I used to be a fast reader...in first school I finished the entire reading scheme, (IIRC it was called the GINN reading scheme) a year and a half before anyone else. I'm a much more leisurely reader now though, and take time to reflect on what I've just read. The last few years due to other interests my reading speed dipped drastically...and when I tried to read at my normal pace it was if I was concentrating on reading fast, rather than absorbing the content properly, and it was just a waste of time because I had to scan back because none of it 'sunk in.' I had basically lost the knack, due to not picking up a book for so long. It's also a matter of being distracted...if it's quiet, and I'm relaxed then obviously I absorb information a lot more efficently and quickly. I remember when I used to read a lot when I was very young... I could pick out relevant words very quickly, and (as in an earlier post) that 'voice in your head' that says each word as it comes, would skip words such as 'and' 'then' 'but' et.c it was almost as if I recognised the shape but didn't actually say it in my head e.g if you look at a triangle you just accept it for what it is, rather than saying 'triangle' in your head (if that makes any sense.) You don't need to tell yourself what it is. But yeah, I enjoy reading so much nowadays that I like to take my time and reflect and visualize between each paragraph or even sentence, I like painting pictures as I read (not physically of course...though that would be quite a talent.) Not sure about anyone else...but has anyone been reading some of the posts on this thread as quickly as possible ?

When I'm so engrossed with a good debate I forget to go to the off-licence. I've also been know to scalk away upstairs at parties and peruse SFN for some intellectual relief...not that any of my friends aren't bright, quite the opposite...I just can't help myself, hmm, perhaps we should start an SFN's anonymous group. Hi, my names Snail...and yes, I'm an SFNolic, I've been abusing SFN for nearly 10 months now, and I'm very much in denial (tear rolls down cheek.)

Negative and positive numbers are analogous..if you remember that it's hard to slip up. EDIT: Quick note, as a physics question, -0.5 is greater than -1 with regards to temperature. So from a physics perspective, it's kind of a trick question.

On retrospect I think you're probably right, I suppose you could take the argument as hypothetical, as there is much work to do in this area. Should of stuck this in speculations.

Then you have true rapier wit AzurePhoenix, I'll have to watch out for that in future

I'm a missing something...Bluenoise didn't connect the car crash with anything because he was being incredibly dry, which was a lot funnier than the OP IMO. I'm with Bluenoise to be honest, I thought the OP was lame...sorry.

I was wondering, should there be legal implications to using nootropes in the future for exams or even for study and revision, as there are for professional athletes who use performance enhancing drugs e.g anabolic steroids, Beta 2 agonists, hCG et.c As we're now approaching the distribution of such pharmaceuticals (I believe in the next couple of years...maybe sooner) do you think students who decide to use such methods have an unfair advantage...or do you believe that whatever makes you more intelligent (improve cognitive ability, improve memory et.c) has to be good. Do you think credibility would be an issue if someone were to use a chemical to improve their academic performance ? If there are no legal implications, then are we destined towards a pill-popping epidemic of students trying to compete for great results, or do you think it won't escalate to that extent, and that there will still be a majority who prefer the traditional method of applying oneself and simply working hard ? If there are legal constraints, then students who obtain such enhancers illegally would have an unfair advantage ! Sorry, I realise there's a few points for discussion there, but any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.

Thanks Matt, I'm starting undergrad maths near the end of the year...so what you said actually helps a lot, and something I'll look into as preperation. My current course uses maths for scientific applications...so the principles are not clearly defined from a maths perspective, they're more a convenience. Sorry everyone for going off topic.

Understood, I think I'll be avoiding the maths sections until I've finished my course...I'm clearly not competent enough to be posting in these areas. Apologies to IMM for being my usual rash self.

Thanks Juststuit...I thought I was missing something obvious for a second.

The sequence stops as soon as you divide the figure by itself...0.9 recurring has nothing to do with 1, unless I'm completely off the mark...I'm currently studying this, so please explain how the sequence works, unless you're rounding off 0.9 recurring how can it equal 1 ?

Crikey...I just wanted to put my music on the net for free, although it's advertising, I never saw it as 'desperate', more convenient. A friend told me about it a few months ago, so I thought I'd stick a few tunes on there...I never realised it had such a reputation.

Here's mine...mp3's don't do music justice IMO, but hey if anyone wants a listen your welcome... http://www.myspace.com/oimush For music myspace is ok...being free and everything, but I'm not a great fan either...and yes, I have more than 3 friends ! Like the internet pic Bascule, very nice

It would if they travelled faster than light.

This should answer your question... http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7069&highlight=doppler+effect+sound

I usually have vivid dreams with or without alcohol, probably because I think too much before nodding off. However I've found red wine seems to bring on nightmares...though I find nightmares fascinating, so on occasion I've purposely induced them. Anyway here's a link to why alcohol affects sleep... http://www.hazelden.org/servlet/hazelden/cms/ptt/hazl_alive_and_free.html?sf=t&sh=t&page_id=25427

It's the random movement of particles in a fluid...first discovered when pollen was seen to 'jump' randomly when suspended in water. It was discovered by the botanist Robert Brown (hence the name) but it was called Brownian 'movement' before being accepted by physicists. I think the same effect can be observed with dust particles in the air. IIRC we used smoke as an example when I was doing my GCSE's...many, many moons ago. I remember being baffled how you could model such movement. This may seem a daft question, but how is dark matter 'hot' if it gives off no radiation ?

I'd hazard a guess that many of the threads are not a particularly good advert for what SFN is about (as many new viewers will see the homepage first)...after all it is a science forum, and speculation in itself isn't the scientific method. Isn't Philosophy and Religion, Pseudoscience and Metaphysics left out from the home page as well...and General Discussion. I usually access SFN from the forum index URL - because A: I like to browse, and B: there's many times where there's been a lot of activity and it's easy to miss some interesting topics if a thread has been left for a day or two...if your solely going by the latest posts anyway.

I guess it must just be where we live (right on the southern coast) it's very open where we are so when the skies are clear we've had some incredibly cold nights. Let's hope that Siberian winter doesn't make it's way over and snuffs out all the early daffodils...no sign of those or crocuses down here yet.

Please see the full article via the link below... http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-01/uoc--igp012406.php

Please see the full article via the link the below... http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17943650-23109,00.html "We are planning to build a permanent base on the moon by 2015 and by 2020 we can begin the industrial-scale delivery ... of the rare isotope Helium-3," Nikolai Sevastyanov, head of the Energia space corporation, was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying at an academic conference. Helium-3 is a non-radioactive isotope of helium that can be used in nuclear fusion. Rare on earth but plentiful on the moon, it is seen by some experts as an ideal fuel because it is powerful, non-polluting and generates almost no radioactive by-product.