Phi for All

Same with "fucker". "You called me a what?! Oh, too true, well said, thank you!" "Jerking off" is the American term for wanking, and it's abused as an insult too. It's been hijacked(!) to also mean wasting your time, being unproductive. Less of a hate message, but it still shows contempt for a sexual act.

A wave of sound travels by making nearby molecules vibrate. In space, there's no air, no molecules of anything to vibrate, and thus no sound in space. Your friend's idea* is insanely stupid. I think Douglas Adams did a bit about a heavy metal rock band that could create some serious damage if you weren't a few AUs away from them. H2G2 stuff, very hilarious. Black holes are spherically symmetrical, iirc. There is no "behind", just like there is no "behind" to a star. * When you talk to your friend, remember I said "Your friend's idea", not "Your friend"!

I don't think you can accurately make this statement. Look what we've accomplished in the last 50 years. Right now, the global economy won't support much enthusiasm in the way of offworld exploration. But if this changes, I can easily see us becoming determined to see what kind of resources are in the neighborhood, possibly with some kind of facility on the moon or Mars, and easily within the hundred years you think of as a minimum. And all it takes is a few breakthroughs in technology to suddenly make it all economically viable. It's not guaranteed to happen, but I don't think you can absolutely say it will take a century either. I agree about the drone ships. It's been mentioned that work is being done on drones that can identify and asteroid, latch on to it and propel it where we want it. I don't think that technology is very far off at all. And the government or corporation that can build a refinement facility to process those resources will have a huge advantage in future efforts.

I'll be clearer then. I think much of the religious right in the US has an unhealthy attitude towards sexual relationships, especially ones they can't control, or that run contrary to the way they interpret their religious documents. I think they quite literally see sexual enjoyment as a sin (sometimes, even if they're married). I could see where this might lead some to start using sexual terminology as a form of hate speech. Fantastic! Let's do that instead of ruining (NOT "fucking up") something that shouldn't be so negative.

Next time, put something commonly known next to the eggs, like a coin, to show a size comparison. Even better, put a ruler next to the eggs before taking the picture. Half a thumb? Whose thumb are we using here? One of the pictures shows an ant next to the eggs, which gives some perspective, and I would have to agree with others that these are probably snake eggs.

I was going to start this topic a month ago, thanks for bringing it up. Especially in the US, where many folks have an aversion to anyone enjoying sex, I find it perverse that we should use genitalia and sexual references as derogatory insults. Fuck me? Yes, please! How is that supposed to be insulting unless the one uttering it thinks copulation is a horrible thing? It's probably safe to say it's male generated. Why else would "pussy" be considered weak when having "balls" makes you tough? The exact opposite is true. As supportive evidence, I propose a test where a man kicks a woman between the legs and the woman does the same to the man. It could be that this is an attempt to get very personal with the person you're insulting, but I think it's very unhealthy. Sex shouldn't have all this negative baggage. I think it's an unconscious but puritanical attempt to put women down and demean the act of sex.

! Moderator Note [/drivel]

Windevoid has been banned for consistently ignoring efforts by the membership to cure his complaints about basic science with knowledge and understanding. We wish him luck (elsewhere!) with this methodology.

! Moderator Note It's not.

I've always thought most conspiracy theories get started to cover up the REAL conspiracies. I'm sure there are many real ones, but it does seem like religious teachings that take the place of a secular education tend to breed irrational thinking and paranoia. Ignorance makes the squirrels seem dangerous.

! Moderator Note I had to remove your links and email, part of our rules. But we do want to talk to you about your project. We just want to do it here instead of at your place. I've probably gone and messed up your explanation. Could you explain exactly what this is? I gather it's some kind of craft that needs life support and navigation. Where are you going?

You don't get correct answers with your current "everybody but me is wrong" methodology. It doesn't work well for you, unless you're just trying to avoid hard work, or are trolling science forums by questioning basic theories high school students understand. You show in virtually every post where you criticize something that you simply don't understand it, and worse, you have only your own incredulity to support you. If you really have studied these laws, you reached an impasse where your questions obviously stopped you from going farther. That's when you made the mistake in thinking that everyone else in the scientific community is wrong and you're the one person who is right. I know it's easier to try to tear something down than to build on it, but at a certain point don't you have to ask yourself why you're handicapping your own knowledge like this, giving up on the free opportunity for learning people are offering you here at SFN? Sorry, I've probably gotten too personal, but I'm still not sure whether you're just a troll having a laugh getting people to explain basic science and making them frustrated, or someone who has fallen into some bad habits and needs some help.

! Moderator Note STOP! This is a mainstream section and replies can't be in the form of untested, unsupported concepts! Students come here to learn real science. Please keep speculative ideas in Speculations, or provide more than word salad to support yourself! You don't have much time left to start listening to warnings.

I get a little creeped out when I go to FB to wish someone a Happy Birthday and suddenly see all these people "liking" my greeting. Bunch of stalkers waiting for something interesting to happen to someone else. It reminds me of the folks who are always taking pictures of all the fun stuff instead of putting the camera down and participating. And I don't care once they are a tattooed person. But a non-tattooed person getting their first? Curse me for a purist but I love the look of flesh au natural and don't think it needs any further adornment. To me, human skin isn't a canvas, it's the work of art itself. [/2¢]

Every few years we kill off everyone over 5'11". Saves trimming trees over the sidewalks.

(emphasis mine) I disagree with this completely. Space exploration/colonization does cost a huge amount of money, and the technology has to match the commitment. Your argument assumes colonization was possible in the past but failed, but large scale endeavors like that are still a bit distant. Of course you're right that "species survival" is not an issue that is driving space exploration right now. We haven't had the capability long enough to develop much of a "we shouldn't keep all our eggs in one basket" attitude. But there are many other reasons why governments and even private commercial interests should be interested in finding ways to expand our knowledge of the system and use the resources found to continue the search. There's money to be made in discovery.

I don't think it's a matter of too much time on their hands. I think it's because governments have spies and they're always coming up with ever trickier ways of spying. When you pay people lots of money to be paranoid, they think of paranoid things.

FB has never been my thing, and I feel we should be at a point in our society where homosexuality should be much better understood and tolerated. Fear and ignorance still drive too many people's actions. FB is just too shallow for me. It shows how little people read for comprehension and are simply looking for the least lengthy sound bytes to convey their opinions on complex issues. Ironic and redundant: scarring your beautiful body with a symbol for beauty. [/personal off-topic opinion]

! Moderator Note It is hijacking, but you caught yourself and did the right thing. Thanks for opening the other topic, we'll leave this post where it is so folks can follow on.

This one is a bit off the wall, but after reading about this study in Science Daily, it became clear that if we could implement some kind of system or law that required people NOT to follow other cars so closely, it would lead to much fewer traffic snarls, meaning less time on the road in your car adding to greenhouse gasses. I would start with a PSA campaign, explaining the problem, and try to alter behavior. I'm not sure about some kind of mechanical solution; I could see where proximity sensors controlling how close you are to other cars being used, but there are LOTS of technical problems with that approach. Globally, I'd love to see a space-based solar array project start ASAP to work alongside our efforts at wireless power transmission. I think the knowledge of solar power technology we would acquire on such an enormous, global effort would be impressive. It would also raise awareness of the growing problem of space debris in orbit as satellites collide with other stuff, creating more and more damaged pieces of equipment that no one can identify who is responsible for.

The Israelis had small RC drone planes long before the US started using them, mostly for spying. I wouldn't be surprised if that technology was improved upon and animals were used. It seems ridiculous because we picture interrogators trying to question squirrels, but the spy game evolves just like everything else, and they get to do so funded by undisclosed budgets and fueled by paranoia and politics. The shark attack part though, probably not. I would think an economically depressed and desperate Egypt would be more dangerous than an Egypt prosperous from tourism and anxious to keep the status quo. Aggression isn't good for tourism.

I usually like questioning things, but when it's done from willful ignorance and misunderstanding, refusing to actually study mainstream explanations before pronouncing them WRONG, it becomes clear that this is NOT a healthy curiosity. Refutation works best when you have at least reasonable knowledge and more to go on than feelings. In this case, I think a call to a leg manufacturer is in order. There's nothing to stand on.

! Moderator Note Discussions involve responding to those who are talking to you in an informative manner. Please make sure this doesn't become a blog-like entry, or some kind of soapbox for your idea. Repeated requests for clarity that go unanswered usually means the thread gets closed and no one wants that.

! Moderator Note It's always improper to hijack a scientific discussion of a mainstream science concept by introducing your own speculative ideas. You should start your own thread on your idea in Speculations.

I don't think this is what's been presented at all. Who assumed any guarantee? We've always had pioneer mentalities as well as homestead mentalities, and darned near everything in between. Unless there was some imminent danger that threatened everyone, I don't see how anyone would feel abandoned just because some humans wanted to explore the system, building facilities using their own resources to help them continue to explore.