Royston

UK has been hit with a cold winter this year...apparently the temperatures that Russia and Poland have been experiencing (down to -40 oC) is coming our way ! I doubt it'll be quite that extreme, but much colder than normal.

That explains it, sorry for getting the wrong end of the stick Nevermore I'm not entirely sure what you mean by satellite charges ? Also what do you mean by altering the local charge...we have Freeview in our house, but we have to pay for terrestrial TV channels. I think satellite subscriptions have a fixed rate per TV package, but you can also get 'pay per view' where you can buy individual films and programmes which is pretty neat, and saves walking to Blockbuster if your feeling lazy. I don't think 'local' charges would work because surely it's specific to what you watch rather than where you live...and I agree bills of any nature can be a real pain in the neck...though I don't actually feel physical pain in my neck, that would be very odd indeed.

I'll have a look for the full study, in the mean time, all the scan was picking up is that acupuncture has the same effect as feeling pain - so for it to be used as an anaesthetic it is (as the article states) merely a distraction. It'll be like stubbing your toe, then pinching the skin on the back of your hand to distract yourself from the pain of stubbing your toe. However acupuncture is a tingly sensation as Nevermore (who has experience with acupuncture) has stated. This to me says, that acupuncture is not so much confusing the brain with another source of pain, but it has a subjective placebo effect. Even if it was distracting the brain by being moderately painful, you may as well have a nurse slapping you round the face as a means of anaesthetic. A good control would be to have a 'placebo pill' used instead of acupuncture. If the same effects are apparent from a fake painkiller as they are with acupuncture (with patients feeling a level of discomfort throughout the experiment, to gauge it's effects), then we could ascert that acupuncture truly is a placebo effect.

Now now, there's nothing wrong with feeding the ducks on occassion...or as I like to put it, 'a gentlemans way to relax.' Drink or drugs can go either way if your using them to purely cheer yourself up...it can make you feel ten times worse. Justsuit, all I can suggest is that things could be a lot worse...imagine if your held captive, waking up everyday not knowing if you'll be fed, tortured or murdered and have no clue how long you'll be held captive, and when or if you'll see your friends and family again...really try and think what that would feel like. Now look around and see how lucky you are, you're young, you live in a rich country, you're intelligent so you have lots of prospects, and you have friends and family (I presume) - and you have friends here (from all over the globe.) I know it's a crappy time when you're a teenager, I used to get sick of people saying 'cheer up' they're the best years of your life...wrong, I'm happier now than ever, and I know plenty of people that say the same. That doesn't mean you have an excuse to be down, but feel happy that for whatever reason you're p*ssed off, it'll pass.

Hmm, so you know that acupuncture is a placebo effect, but you 'feel' that it's doing you some good...I can't follow that. Please don't think I'm trying to be difficult, I just think it's interesting that you feel that acupuncture is doing you some good...makes you feel physically better, when really you know it's not doing anything at all. Is it that you just like the tingling sensation that you get with an acupuncture treatment ?

I mentioned that in the first post...I'm also carrying on in the context of placebo effects as a whole (acupuncture being one of them.) As Prof. Wildsmith states you have to believe in the effects of acupuncture, so I'm under the assertion sticking ultra fine needles into the nerves is nothing more than a placebo effect. There appears to be no proof that stimulating a nerve has any anesthetic / or 'healing' qualities...give me one good reason why it should.

Well I found this that explains that pain could be overlapped between a 'neuromatrix' which is mapped to regions of the cerebal cortex that deal with touch, and specific pain centres which have evolved from a primitive version of the brain that controls the general health of the body. As there is emotion processing involved (though I have no clue what point the emotion is processed and how) it can make pain seem subjective - which it obviously is, though I'm not sure any of this satisfies how we can condition ourselves to not react to pain. It regards this problem under the section 'A possible synthesis', though with no conclusions... http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/pain/microsite/science2.html I also found this interesting news article, where people have reduced the amount of pain they are experiencing by viewing MRI scans of their own brain activity... http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2006/01/23/brain_over_pain/?page=1

I find it a bit hard to believe you could make a tumor 'melt' through a placebo effect. I'm not sure there are any physical repercussions it's (as the article states) purely a psychological one. It's probably better to give a link from a reputable source before you can say it's 'proof'. What I was trying to get across is that if pain can be overcome albeit placebo conditioning, or tolerance through meditation or training (armed forces / martial arts) for example...then surely the nerves are not wired directly to the part of the brain that give a motor response to stimulus...there's something more going on.

It's legal too! In fact there are several 'legal high' websites that do mail order. We have several shops in a neighbouring city that do all manner of herbal mixtures that have varying effects...however they are quite tame in comparison to the more popular ethnogens, and are not particularly worth worrying about. We have a shop that sells dried San Pedro and Ahyuasca, which is still available legally in the UK, though you have to be of a strong mental disposition and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, the physical side effects can be quite bad on either.

Well a few hints for getting to sleep - I have the same problem most nights just because I find it's a good time to think (with little external distractions.) Try to eat 5 hours before you go to bed...eating can make you feel tired as your using energy to digest et.c but it's likely to keep you awake if you eat a couple of hours before going to sleep. If you don't do enough exercise during the day, your brain has plenty of excess energy to run on...don't exercise before going to sleep due to the release of adrenaline. Tip I've learnt...don't panic about not sleeping, don't worry about how tired you'll be the next day, a few hours is better than nothing, and turn the clock away so your're not aware of what time it is, that's the worse thing to do is lie there staring at the time. Sounds a bit crude - but masturbation or sex will help you nod off, especially if your a bloke. Don't drink too much water before going to sleep either...just a sip so your not dehydrated. If you can't get to sleep you may as well make use of your time...be productive and get rid of all that excess energy by doing homework or something similar. If something is bothering you, it can certainly keep you awake...tell yourself that there's nothing you can do about it lying in bed, or if it's a personal problem, that you'll be able to think about it much more clearly after some rest...rather than going over and over about it in your head, this won't get you anywhere if you have the added stress of trying to get to sleep, try to be rational, and try to relax. When my sister had insomnia my Doctor suggested going through the alphabet and trying to name as many animals for each letter...didn't work for me personally when I tried it, but it worked for her...give it a shot.

Thanks for setting me straight - on retrospect I was (as you stated) asking the question purely on a physical basis. I guess it was an 'off the top of my head' kinda question, without having the knowledge to express it mathematically. Thanks for explaining the nature of dimensions as well, I was thinking of them in completely the wrong context...as in 'building' dimensions from nothing. Which was really what I was trying to clear up.

Thanks Sheba, this is precisely how I feel - now that I actually want to learn maths I'm actually enjoying the challenge rather than being petrified of the subject (due to just doing what was necessary in secondary school and then forgetting about what I'd learnt.) The last couple of evenings of studying has built my confidence 2 fold already. I'm looking forward to using my creativity when (or if) I become competent in the subject.

Please take a look at the article below from the BBC... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4631930.stm In Alternative Medicine: The Evidence, volunteers are subjected to deep needling, which involves needles being inserted 1cm into the back of the hand at well-known acupuncture points. A control group undergoes superficial needling with needles placed only 1mm in. The needles are then twiddled until the participants feel a dull, achy or tingling sensation. For those in the deep needling group this stimulates the nervous system. During these two procedures, the volunteers underwent brain scans to see what, if any, effect there was in the brain. The team, including leading scientists from University College London, Southampton University and the University of York, found the superficial needling resulted in activation of the motor areas of the cortex, a normal reaction to pain. Professor Sykes said: "The pain matrix is involved in the perception of pain - it helps someone decide whether something is painful or not, so it could be that acupuncture in some ways changes a person's pain perception. "We have found something quite unexpected - that acupuncture is having a measurable effect on the human brain. "We are not suggesting that it should be used during surgery, although it is in China, but just that it acts as a pain relief and should be taken seriously." Professor Tony Wildsmith, a pain relief expert at the University of Dundee, said he thought the findings were possible. But he added: "The thing about acupuncture is that it does not work on everyone. It is more likely to be effective if you believe it. "I think it is a psychological manipulation technique, a distraction. We are not going to get to the stage where this could be used instead of a general anaesthetic."

Sorry - double thread, see new research on acupunture.

Tooheys, how could I forget.....Oh yeah, I was drunk.

I guess I used 'generate', because 1 dimension (to me) requires 2 points of reference. I was just wondering how you could have 0 dimensions (x) + 0 dimensions (y) = 1 dimension. x (0) + y (0) = 1 Or does 1 dimension not require 2 points of reference...I'm probably not visualizing dimensions correctly here. I'm assuming with the above that you can't have 1 dimension until you establish two points to plot the direction (for want of a better word) of 1 dimension. Rather than having 1 dimension and establishing 2 points on that dimension. With regards to another thread I havn't studied maths for 13yrs, and I've only just started studying the basics again about 2 days ago, so please excuse me if this is nonsense.

When I was in Oz I was told Fosters was a wussy drink, goes for Castlemaine as well...strange how it's sold in the UK as a popular Australian tipple, when it's quite the opposite. VB is another matter, very pallatable. Happy Australia Day !

This is probably a stupid question, but I was wondering if a point is 0 dimensions, and a line with no width is 1 dimension, can you generate 1 dimension from 2 points of 0 dimensions ?

I concur - this really should be in the speculations forum, but even speculative theory should at least be reasonably accessible and comprehensible, even if it is far-out.

Thanks for the support ! I found the BBC website very adequate for my needs. I find it amusing that I'm going over problems that I tackled when I was a wee nipper. Really goes to show that experience and intelligence are not related.

I had my first tutorial yestarday for my science foundation - leading onto a diploma in physics (which is why I'm panicking) , and near the end we were given a bunch of basic maths problems to solve (in your head) which I havn't come across since high school (roughly 13 years ago, I branched off to media and design for my A-levels) although my maths was above average back then - I feel like I'm back to square one...I felt like a right doofus. I'm talking really basic stuff converting percentages into ratios and rearranging simple equations et.c so my confidence was shot to pieces, I just drew a blank, with some of the questions. Although I realise I'm just going to have to apply myself until I've got the basics down before I can tackle the harder stuff, does anybody know anyone who has managed to turn themselves around with maths later on in life. I've always had the impression that you've either got it or you havn't - like being an artist. Has anyone here had a problem with maths and is now finding it a breeze, is there hope for this numerical retard.

You'd have an audience if you could present all the 'final maths'...then explain your equation...I'm not convinced you have the final maths, let alone a tangable theory, and I've only just started studying the subject.

Agreed, deviations of sexual desire have f' all to do with evolution. You don't hear of a species of dog with a sock fetish.

Anything that effects you enough to hallucinate, be it sleep deprivation, starvation, and fever means your body (not just your mind) is going through incredible stress. There are no proven detremental effects to using hallucinogenic drugs...it's a bad idea, but if your going to induce hallucinations you may as well take mushrooms / acid whatever. Putting your body through so much stress that you start to hallucinate is less sensible than inducing it through a chemical, that has no evidence of harmful effects...apart from doing something stupid whilst under the influence, but your just as likely to do something stupid with no sleep for 3 days.