Bill Angel

Since your interest seems rather speculative, Steven Hawking in a talk mentions the idea of a mini black hole orbiting the earth: See: http://www.hawking.org.uk/into-a-black-hole.html Perhaps there is some way to utilize the gravitational fields of the Earth and the Moon together to get such a mini black hole into an orbit about the Earth?

http://phys.org/news/2013-02-heisenberg-uncertainty-principle-macro.html http://www.livescience.com/27137-uncertainty-principle-measured-macro-scale.html If you have access to the online version of Science Magazine: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6121/801.full Here is the abstract from the actual scientific paper: Here is the description for the illustration from the actual paper: (A) Canonical picture of continuous position measurement. RPSN (black), thermal motion (brown), and zero point motion (orange) combine to give the expected measurement result (blue). The dashed line represents the effective displacement noise from the shot noise–limited imprecision of an optical measurement. (B) Photocurrent spectra. The photocurrent spectral densities (blue) and (red), as well as the noise floors, including detector noise and the dominant shot noise (gray), are shown. (C) Experimental setup. Beams are combined and separated with polarizing beam splitters (PBS) and detected directly on photodetectors (PD). The inset photograph shows an in situ image of the square membrane and optical mode spot, with blue dashed lines indicating the nodes of the (2,2) mechanical mode. The inset diagram at right shows laser-cavity detunings.

This fellow's idea of success is entertaining children at a parade. No one is paying him to do this, and it's not of importance how much money he has in the bank or what kind of housing he lives in. Many persons I think feel a greater sense of satisfaction and success in activities they engage in after retirement than in what they achieved earlier in life, especially if they had been working as government bureaucrats. Puppeteer at St. Patricks Day Parade

There is an interesting article related to this subject: Henri Poincaré: the unlikely link between Einstein and Picasso Poincaré helped spark the explosion of creativity in both art and science that set the tenor of the 20th century http://www.guardiannews.com/science/blog/2012/jul/17/henri-poincare-einstein-picasso Explosions in creativity in science and art can be interconnected. If the models of reality expressed by the mathematician fail to stimulate your creativity, then look to the work of the artist.

I thought the original poster of this thread would appreciate this billboard. His speculations serve to give the billboard a meaning much different than what was intended by the erectors of the billboard.

I don't think your effort is a failure. You have sparked MY curiosity about the subject. Have you thought about using photography to enhance the presentation of your project? I'd like to see pictures of what "mushroom fur" looks like. The techniques of macro photography would allow you to make closeup images of the mushroom fur. You might also show what mushroom fur looks like through a microscope.

I believe that's a misquote of what Bob Dylan said, with the quote below a more accurate attribution: See http://spectator.org/archives/2009/08/10/expelled-from-the-new-york-tim

Some cosmologists have speculated that ultimately the accelerating expansion of the universe will rip apart all matter. See the section in this article about "The Big Rip" http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/dark_energy/de-fate_of_the_universe.php

What about Peter Higgs? http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Higgs His predictions have finally been confirmed, haven't they?

I believe what you are hypothesizing is a substance known as a catalyst. A catalyst can speed up chemical reactions without itself being used up or incorporated into the product of the reaction. For example, automobiles are equipped with catalytic convertors. Your science fiction story could hypothesize the discovery of a catalyst that facilitated a chemical reaction that removed all the oxygen from the atmosphere. That would have very catastrophic consequences to life on Earth.

Some think otherwise:

You certainly have a positive, idealistic view of things. Much of modern politics it seems to me aims at appealing to voters' anger, to their hatreds and to their fears.

I was a graduate student in physics 30 years ago. What I most remember was taking a three semester graduate level sequence in quantum mechanics while working as a graduate assistant for an introductory undergraduate course in physical chemistry.

Don't new born babies have an instinct to suck on their mother's nipples to obtain nutrition?

How about Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and several others members of the Nazi hierarchy?

It's interesting (to me at least) that some nights I have vivid imaginative dreams, while other nights I don't recall dreaming at all. Is it the "subconscious" that controlls when and how we dream?

Here is a fellow at a recent Baltimore Ravens pregame tailgate party carrying a fragrant food offering prepared for the "gods". The Ravens did win that game, but it's uncertain if the food offering contributed to ensuring their success.

Seek and Ye Shall Find: 37 times in the Bible it says that God likes the smell of burning flesh. http://timcooley.net/2010/05/02/aroma-pleasing-to-the-lord/

Super Bowl pitting coaching brothers for first time, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh will face his older brother, John, the head coach of the Ravens, at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans on Feb. 3. http://www.tampabay.com/sports/football/bucs/super-bowl-pitting-coaching-brothers-for-first-time/1271563 So the outcome of the game will determine which of the two brothers God favors more.

See: Eight dead in Carthage nursing-home shooting: http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4837676/ The above article has a link to a slide show of photos of the victims, who it must be acknowledged were not as photogenic at their advanced age as were the child victims of the Connecticut shooting. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthage_nursing_home_shooting Note that the perpetrator didn't need an assault rifle with a 30 round magazine to carry out this act of mass killing. So what steps might be taken to lessen the likelihood of similar incidents?

So would it then be your assertion that in the following paragraph the term theory should be replaced by term hypothesis?

True, but some scientists have theorized that the entire universe can be thought of as being a quantum computer. See "The universe is a quantum computer http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/03/the-universe-is-a-quantum-computer.html

I filled out an online survey questioneer to participate in some research studies. The survey is called the Institutes for Behavior Resources (IBR) Participant Screening Survey and is at www.surveymonkey.com/s/groupbehavior. The IBR currently is screening for two studies in which the participants will participate in simulations of planetary exploration. (sounded interesting). I was intrigued by one of the questions, shown below: So according to the formulators of this study, engaging in praying is an example of an obsessive compulsive disorder! FYI: here is some additional information about the Institutes for Behavior Resourses

One way that question has been investigated is by measuring the bending of light from stars by gravity. Space has been determined to be curved by very massive bodies.

It certainly a good question. My understanding is that the "Standard Model", which is the theory concerning the electromagnetic,weak, and strong nuclear interactions,is considered to be valid througout the known universe. Why? Because these interactions came into existence at the time of the Big Bang, when all of matter, energy,and space was concentrated in a small volume. But here is a speculative question to ponder. What are the laws of physics inside of a black hole? Does the "Standard Model" describe what occurs inside of a black hole?