StringJunky

The simplest answer is that there always was something.

I forgot to to add that most of the virtual particles add up to 'nothing' most of the time but sometimes two collide/interact and make a quantum. They may annihilate eventually, I'm not sure. The foam is nothing in the sense that much of the time it has no effect on the quantum world and then only intermittently. I think that's what scientists in this subject mean by nothing. I think this is one of those cases where a word means something a bit different to what we are used to.

Any entity less than a quantum has no effect on anything; it may as well be nothing. A quantum is the minimum energy required to have an effect on stuff.

Yeah, hanging on to an unchanging Constitution that needs to adapt with the times is, I'm sure, not what its original authors intended. If it wasn't designed to be changed, no Amendments would exist on it, which, of course, they do. I'd like to see the NRA refute that argument.

Gravity doesn't bend spacetime; gravity is bent spacetime. Matter tells spacetime how much too bend. Conversely, spacetime tells matter how to move i.e. its trajectory. 'Fabric' is just a metaphor and not to be taken literally. I think the term originates from the 'heavy ball on a trampoline' idea of bent spacetime, which the fabric represents. It only shows two dimensions; when there's actually 4. It's a very crude idea, not really representing the facts but just gives a glimpse of the concept. 'Spacetime' is actually a 4 dimensional map of the gravitational distribution in a space...it's a mathematical construct. It allows people to plot mass- energy values in time and space on co-ordinates in the spacetime map and see how they change under different scenarios... amongst other things. As you should see, spacetime is not a 'thing' but a way of describing how things behave and interact in space. That behaviour is what we call 'gravity'.

FB's like heroin: addictive and bad for you. All you are to FB is data and dollars.

You lot need to get on science forums more.

I haven't slept for 5 days - I couldn't sleep that long.

A bird will also shit in your hand when it relaxes and fluffs its feathers. Don't ask me how I know.

For all the the poverty on the outside, he's one of the richest inside...I'm sure he doesn't give 2 F's.

A genuine, eccentric scientist-mathematician.

I meant the parts that Joe Public can change can only come gradually with education.

We can't run before we can walk; collectively.

What would the damper be made of and how does it work since that part is not active, is it?

I know, I was looking at it more fundamentally than our macro experience; space is a platform for fields.. Within those fields there is still space.

But are things really 'solid'?

So, within the confines of a body, space does not exist? I know we commonly make the distinction but is that really the case?

The other way to do it is add weight to the bridge so that it the tops resonance differs from the offending note.

To add: The glaciers accumulate mass at the highest level and basically slide down under their own weight to the warmer lower level and melt, supplying the rivers.

If the glaciers (like in the Karakoram and Himalayan ranges) aren't replenished, a lot of rivers will run dry. Those mountain ranges are big condensers, if they are cold enough.

No, blurring just means you've moved the focal point of your eyes wrt to some object or plane. With Magic Eye you put your focal point passed the plane of the image.

Magic Eye pictures rely on voluntarily blurring vision.

The 'truth' is what works for a given application.

Ontologically, in physics, what a thing 'is' is its properties.

Note this is in the Relativity forum.