geordief

We had a neighbour who owned a gift shop in Southend in the 60s .We always thought of him as a millionaire (presumably because he told us) They were the nicest people and used to walk down to the pier every morning to jump into the sea ,even in '63 when he broke the ice when even the sea water froze. He had heart problems and his doctor eventually told him to stop the practice. When the next door house to both of us was demolished by the council as a health risk he paid me and his son piece rates to gather the old bricks which my father used to build a new wall beween the houses and all around our own all around - (his nickname was "Myrddin the wall" and he used to ferry extra bricks from across the river in our sailboat. His son was 6 foot 10 and once made the mistake of diving off the pier into shallow water ,damaging his neck(nothing like what happened to poor Hanif Kureishi thankfully)

There is a well known remark about time stopping everything happening at once. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/07/06/time/#:~:text=Dear Quote Investigator%3A Albert Einstein,doesn't happen at once. Can we say the same about space ?(did someone famous actually say it ? I thought they did.) ie that space "prevents things all being at the same place"

Definitely. We have to take things as we find them. What is the connection between space-time and space? Is space timeless? A 3d surface in 4d space-time? Just because I was wondering ,do excitations of the fields attract gravitationally ?(think the answer should be "yes")

Not if it was an extremely large black hole. They might die of boredom.(or enlightenment)

I can't comment as some (most)of those terms are outside my knowledge bubble.

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2023/07/04/time-universe.html#:~:text=“Looking back to a time,at the University of Sydney. Is this relevant to the discussion?The link above says that astronomers have found that processes in the early universe... (and this is their quote) “This expansion of space means that our observations of the early universe should appear to be much slower than time flows today. In this paper, we have established that back to about a billion years after the Big Bang.” So the cause is "the expansion of space". Since this (accelerated?**) expansion is ongoing ,it seems to me that future processes should (if we could see them but we can't because by definition they haven't happened yet) .. should appear more rapid . In the actual frame of reference of the processes themselves I think no change in the rate of time passing is observed (or observable?) This,also is the relevant paper in Nature Astronomy from a year ago (I have no subscription) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-023-02029-2 **I am unclear as to whether space is/has been just expanding or undergoing an accelerated expansion and how that would affect the time dilation caused by the phenomenon.

This ,in March from a Trump supporting website https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trump-2028/ "This is plainly unfair. Indeed, there has long been support for axing the Twenty-second Amendment due to the artificial limits it places on voter choice"

Hope that is not a euphemism.Let the good times roll On topic I hope @Janus is not too close to the fires.

I had a downslope ankle f'up a couple of years ago .The very day I was to drive a neighbour into the doctor with a sprained ankle from twisting hers in a pothole. I walked down to the garden in slippery wellies the very next morning and my foot slid away from me in the slippery ,slightly inclined wet muddy surface . I slid a couple of yards and came down with the right foot squeezed directly under my right buttock and pointing backwards. A loud snapping sound but nothing broken. Still, quite a bit of recuperation involved (they don't always heal properly if you don't give them time) @exchemist I just got a preliminary letter from the hospital , some 40 days since I saw the optometrist from the ophthalmology dept to have a look at the Weiss ring .I wonder should I bother as I have had nothing untoward in my vision since**.(there have been long waiting lists in the hospital but I assumed this would have been classed as fairly urgent for them to refer me at all) (the optometrist told me at the time that she saw a paler part of the floater that she couldn't tell if it was still attached to the retina.That is why she referred me to the ophthalmologist at the hospital) **of course the Weiss ring is always there.

He is the joint leader in a poll to be vice pick at 21%. Not sure if he is realistically in the frame. He was interviewed by Kaitlan Collins tonight and seemed in good form . Said he liked how Harris was framing the discussion around "freedom"

I think the better of him now(was starting to have doubts and worries) I couldn't see him doing a proper job into his mid 80s as we could see that mortality was settling on him. Is Gaza still the key?

I was listening to the radio and it seems that the new weight loss drugs(soon to be in pill form apparently) have upended the diet industry completely(eg weight watchers stock is down 90%) I eat very little sugar myself and feel that that has allowed me to ignore any inclination to reduce my food intake in any department (also I just feel there is no actual nutrition in sugar and mostly avoid it for that reason) So I am wondering if obsession with weight may now be a thing of the past and the general public may attain the weight they want just by consuming the new fat burning drugs. Good for us all as we will no longer have to listen to people obsessing about weight and diet -which is certainly distressing for them. I think juicing is out of fashion and blending is more recommended(not that I do that either .Our blender has sat in the cupboard for some 10 years - they are a bit messy and noisy)

The same holes they have or an extra one to show fealty?

Could we think of something to put in God's Ambrosia? Spiked sultanas?

Or for Biden to change their minds (very quickly). Don't know why he does not go beyond what is necessary in sharing his medical details and make a virtue of what is now a necessity. I suppose we are reliant on his close (maybe not too close) associates to get a feel for things if he is not being completely open about any condition he may or may not have(aside from projecting 4 or 5 years into the future) It is also my suspicion that any kind of partial resolution to the Gaza situation may be a game changer regardless of everything else as I see him as being blackmailed by those who would withhold their vote for the Dems until such time as things there are ordered to their pov. I meant to say "Is it fair to ask that of him?"

Is Biden right to be casting "the elites" as a scapegoat -or ,better(?) a target? I mean of course he is right that the elites do have too much power and often their goals run contrary to the "working classes" (those who have to work to make ends meet) but is he correct to bring up a "topic" that has been oafishly , surprisingly and profitably exploited by his and our opponent? I listened to his speech and it was the first time that I heard him use the phrase "the elites" I think getting animated makes him come across much better(still can't bring myself to watch the debate) but can he keep that up ?Is it fair to ask?

Auld Reekie (not mine)

I am sorry I don't think I can remember that (except that it would have been over the past month or so ) Also not sure if I read it or if I heard it on the radio or tv. I think I very probably misheard and that they were very likely saying that it was more massive than a proton. Now that you have queried me I have looked it up and have now read that "physical size" doesn't really apply to the Higgs Boson.

As I have heard ,the Higgs boson is one of ,if not the largest of the particles(around the size of a proton I think I heard). You say that it decays in around 10^(-22) seconds. Does it decay into smaller constituent parts and does this happen "all in one go" or does it decay one step at a time?

In the same way that "no time" is also empirically impossible? Is it possible for the rate of nuclear decay to be any way affected by external circumstances? For example can something decay instantly so there is nothing left as soon as you take a second look?

Have you tried pin dolls?

I did work as a dustman for a while.I can't remember if it was between years (in the summer) or whether it was after I had left Exeter. I also worked on the new road being built at the time nearby where our duties were laid out as "keep moving around to look as if you are working" Our gang master received a percentage of our wages and the more he took on the more his cut was (he took his holidays in America.) They picked us up each morning on the town side of the Magdalen(sp?) Bridge .A bit like "The Lump"-you either got work or you went home. I did have a friend then doing chemistry ( a college near the big Police Station -and Railway station I think-St Peter's?) .He was from Oldham but I lost touch Edit What happened to the "a garbage truck" answer in the spoiler. Surely I didn't imagine that ? Creepy...

I cheated with your spoiler but ,quite honestly my reply was going to be "a rubbish cart . eg the one I used to pick up and get on behind down the Cowley Road -think it was an 8o clock start. Didn't imagine it wss the right answer. (technically 5 wheels if you count the steering wheel)

Arthritis of the axle?