slur

In C and C++ arrays and pointers are basically the same thing. A char* is what you're actually dealing with when you refer to an array of characters. The square brackets are an operator that you use to calculate an offset from the character pointer. In fact, you can legally use brackets with a variable you've defined as a char* and it has the same effect as using the + operator (in one-dimensional arrays). Here's a snippet to show the possibilities: char *my_pointer; char my_array[12]; char mychar; my_pointer = my_array; // point to the start of the array mychar = my_pointer[6]; // get the 7th character in the array my_pointer = &my_array[5]; // the address of the 6th character mychar = *my_pointer; // the 6th character mychar = my_pointer[2]; // the 8th character my_pointer = my_array; mychar = my_pointer[3][3]; // the 8th character

It's quite simple. Space is not "nothing," and one of its amazing properties is that it generates space. Thus the galaxies aren't moving apart at an increasing rate. Rather, space is expanding everywhere at all times, (like a raisin cake in which the flour makes more flour). Along with this, I am convinced that space is not an inert continuum, but a shared property of all energy. Looked at this way, matter and energy is not in space. Rather, that which we call "space" is simply one aspect of the totality of all energy in the universe, which is a unified phenomenon. Mind-blowing, isn't it?

Evolutionary conundrums like the Venus Fly Trap fascinate me the most. But a VFT is orders of magnitude simpler than a spider, so I imagine the answers are a bit simpler to deduce. There are several things I try to remind myself when approaching such a puzzle: 1. Those that can win over those that can't. 2. Mundane features get readapted to new uses. 3. Evolution doesn't happen in a vacuum. Organisms co-evolve systematically. Or, ecosystems evolve as a whole. In the long run, organisms that fit tend to win over those that predominate. 4. Selection gains momentum: static features of organisms reflect and encourage developmental tendencies. To put it another way, the process of evolution doesn't just evolve forms but also evolves mechanisms that accelerate and improve evolution itself. Those organisms which adapt more quickly and more appropriately across successive generations are favored over those which mutate more slowly and in a more random manner (up to a point - it's a balance). So let's get down with the Fly Trap puzzle! There is nothing novel about plants being able to absorb nutrients, so it's just a matter of root capabilities drifting into leaf capabilities. There's nothing novel about the production of nectar, and there's nothing novel about plants producing all manner of caustic substances. All these elements got readapted in the VFT. I would draw history this way for precursors of the VFT: - Precursors with stickier leaves caught more flies and so ended up with more nutrient-rich soil once trapped insects decayed. - Precursors with bowl-shaped leaves trapped more insects. - Precursors that accelerated the decay of insects won over those that didn't, so leaves with more caustic digestive chemicals were selected over leaves with less caustic digestive chemicals. - Leaves that closed reduced the amount of digestive enzyme required, thus saving even more energy for the plant. - Precursors that used less energy in the production of sticky nectar were more energy-efficient and thus could produce a greater number of viable seeds. - Leaves which lay open a certain amount were selected over those which were folded a certain amount... sometimes. Dependent on their shape. - Leaves which folded in response to touch were selected overall, in a very gradual manner, because openness and folded-ness both brought competing advantages. Eventually, the quick-snapping trap-leaf was "hit upon." (It is likely that precursors had varied leaf types, and even increased variation within the same plant for many generations.) - Leaves with interlaced spikes were selected over leaves with no spikes, or spikes that didn't interlace. The specific order of these developments is certainly wrong, but without a doubt all these sorts of selections had to have occurred to give us the modern Flytrap.

It should be noted that "time dilation" is relativistic. From the POV of the earth Muons evolve slower, but from the POV of the Muon it evolves in normal time. It is not that the Muons are moving fast, but that they are moving fast relative to us. So you would expect to detect fewer Muons on the trailing side of the Earth's orbit than you would on the leading side, for example.

According to relativity, gravity is a curvature of space rather than a "force" proper. Also according to relativity objects travel in a straight line and the effect of gravity is that the object moves in a straight line in a curved space. So I was just ruminating over this notion and hit a conundrum. Let's say you have two bodies in space. The first object is the Earth (but we've stopped its rotation) and the other is a bowling ball. In this thought experiment I want to see what happens when there is no initial relative motion between the two bodies. So at T=0 we set it up so the two bodies are moving through space in perfect synchrony. Relative to one another there is no motion. Now if the bowling ball is sitting "perfectly still" how is it that it begins to fall towards the Earth? Why is it that the Earth, the curved space, and the bowling ball do not all work together as a single unit with no motion occurring between them? Is it merely that the proximal side of the bowling ball is closer to the Earth, and therefore occupies a more curved space-time, while the distal side of the ball occupies a lesser curvature? Or is it related to the thermodynamics / electromagnetism of the ball, such that although the macro-body that we call a "bowling ball" appears to be motionless, its constituent sub-particles are in constant motion? As an aside, is there anything in this thought experiment that gives insight towards a quantum theory of gravity, or has string theory got it pretty much sewn up? I look forward to the group's insights!