MigL

True, but we are only just now developing the means to detect extra-solar atmospheres. Previously the only definition would have involved distances from the parent star where enough radiation is received to keep water liquid. I'm assuming, of course. X-posted with Sensei

Is the 'habitable' zone usually defined as the min and max orbits around a star where temps are such that water is in a liquid state ? I don't think atmospheres are considered. ( water would not be liquid on a planet with no atmosphere at 70 deg C )

Just off the top of my head... While CO2 bonds absorb radiation peaking in the infrared range, water molecule bonds absorb radiation peaking in the microwave range. So while the effects are of consequence, water vapor is not as efficient for the 'greenhouse' effect.

Absolutely right. Civilizations may come and go in the time it takes for a signal to reach another civilization. Consider that a relatively nearby star like Epsilon Fornacis, at almost 100 LY distance, if it had intelligently inhabited planets, would only be receiving our earliest EM broadcasts from early in the past century; and any reply they might send our way would be received early in the 22nd century. Is there a chance we may not be here to receive the reply ? Now imagine a star 1000 or 10000 LY distant. What are the chances of us still being able to receive an EM signal ? ( think about where we were 10000 yrs ago )

Not even sure if this is a valid approach. Math, and geometry, are 'tools' we use to build the model ( in physics ). If you are asking how the probabilistic and non-commuting nature of Heisenberg's UP affects various types of geometries, I'm not sure it does. You may as well ask, how do numbers change at the quantum level. The application doesn't affect how a hammer works. Sometimes you need a different tool, like a saw, for different circumstances. If on the other hand, you're asking about the geometry of space-time at the quantum level, some of the best minds in Physics are wrestling with variations of that question, as it leads to Quantum Gravity.

"it was an attack" is certain. "gender was used as a weapon" is open to interpretation. ( but that's also an opinion ) Didn't know leap years came that often, INow

I can live with that. Been wrong many times before, and I'm sure I will be again in the future. Live and learn.

It would not have been charitable even if he had said 'stupid person', INow. ( but if he had simply said 'stupid' it may have meant just that which she was speaking about at that time ) Yet there is a big jump between 'charitable' and sexist, and the fact that the comment is not 'charitable' doe not automatically make it sexist. Unless you choose to interpret it that way. Thank goodness we're allowed differing opinions.

Sure, but you guys have been doing this in several threads. Just hug it out already. (No wait, he's a minor, that would be creepy )

Correct me if I'm wrong, but INow seems to be misunderstanding Raider, and Raider seems to be misunderstanding INow. Neither is willing to admit to that. Yet other member(s) are choosing who is misunderstanding more wrongly ( or simply choosing sides ) ? And neg repping that misunderstanding ? And is the fact that three people are doing it justification for that ?

NATO is not a big stick. It is not an offensive alliance. It is a defensive alliance. Its charter states that an attack on any individual member is an attack on all of them, and it formed the defensive backbone against Russian/Communist expansion into Western Europe through the Cold War. The European Common Market ( an economic alliance ) came a decade later ( even later for England because of deGaulle's pettiness ), and its latest incarnation, several decades later, the EU, includes a common currency. @jarussel China is NOT an autonomous economy; when the US stops buying, China's economy, based on cheap manufacturing, suffers big time, and its happened a few times already. China has the most billionaires of any country in the world. They also have over a billion ( out of 1.7 Bill ) people living on $5 per day. One of these days, those billion people are going to demand their share of the economic pie, and China will either suppress it by military force and become a pariah again, or they'll have a major revolution on their hands.

To INow and Raider, maybe you guys can clear up your comprehension issues in PMs. To the person that keeps picking sides/favorites by downvoting Raider, that's NOT what rep points are for.

As Silvestru has explained, the EU is strictly an economic ( and monetary ) union, it has nothing to do with mutual defense. You may have it confused with NATO, which is a common defense alliance. So you're willing to sacrifice whole countries to the Russians ? I wonder how Ukranians, Moldovans and the Belarus feel about that ?

I don't think it gives the impetus to ISIS, rather to the Russians, to cement their control of the area. I wouldn't put it past V Putin to have suggested the move to D Trump as a means to deflect attention from his mounting domestic problems.

Regardless of what he actually said, the interpretation is of the intent, Stringy. Did he say 'stupid woman' as an identifier, or did he imply that she belongs to the stupid gender ? It is not as simple as someone slapping another person, where the action has intent and is wrong to all observers. This action has differing interpretations, even among members of this forum. Is someone going to declare themselves the arbitrer of correct behavior and say his own interpretation is the ONLY valid one ? Otherwise all we have is one group ( with one interpretation ) calling the other group ( with differing interpretation ) 'sexist'. I don't know much about J Corbyn ( as some others seem to ) but it seems like your politics is descending to American levels. Sorry mate !

And threatening nuclear war because the US is pulling out of treaties which the Russians have been ignoring for years. Yet we have so much disdain for our leaders ( some undoubtedly justified ) that a lot of us tend to believe this aggressive bully.

Sure. If I interpreted your above post as offensive, would that make it actually offensive, or would it simply mean that I have a problem with you and your post because of 'baggage' carried over from previous discussions ? Would that be right ? If you're going to base 'offensive behavior' on your interpretation of what someone said, you'd better make sure everyone interprets it the same way.

No, I wasn't suggesting that at all.

Using DrP's logic, NATO has been around more than twice as long as the EU and none of its member states have gone to war against each other. Should we let Russia join NATO ? The country that prompted the formation of NATO, to stop aggressive Russian expansion into Eastern Europe ( happened ) and Western Europe (nearly happened for 50 yrs of cold war ) Don't know if anyone noticed, but Russia has started expanding westward again. Ask any Ukranian.

When people interpret what others say, it also says a lot about them... Isn't that the bigger issue. These types of actions or words, are 'perceived 'wrongs', not intended wrongs. In this very discussion we have no idea as to the intent of the speaker, yet we have widely varying opinions by others ( including forum members ) as to what he meant, or they perceived him to mean. This perception may have nothing to do with any actual wrong, or intent, on the part of the speaker, but may be due to the 'baggage' we all carry with us that colors our perspective. If its good practice ( or behavior, or manners ) not to call someone stupid in public, isn't it also good practice not to jump to conclusions and to assume the worst about a person based on your interpretation of what he said. ( or even to get a lip reader to decode what he said privately, and expose it in the news )

Any physical or mental trait associated with a certain group will follow a Gaussian distribution ( bell shape ), with the 'normal' being the section between 5% and 95%. If you compare any specific trait between genders ( or even between what some call races ), you will find large and variable amounts of overlap between the two distributions. Say we are considering the trait of physical strength. There is a large overlap between the two distributions for males and females; some wimpy men are much weaker than a typical female, while some Russian female shot-putters are stronger than even football players, as examples. The 'normal' may almost completely overlap, but the extremes ( the 0-5% and 95 -100% ) will not. The two bell shapes are slightly ( or more, depending on trait under consideration ) offset. IE the differences between gender ( or the trait we call race ) are only manifest in the extremes.

I guess I'm sexist. ( I'm also a religious bigot because I tend not to swear with/at religious people ) Sometimes our 'plumbing' is a part of who we are, INow. Certainly not all that we are, but to a small but measurable extent,our plumbing determines levels of certain hormones which make us more temperamental and willing to take risks, or alternately, more caring and calm. I can be tolerant of other's self perception, but not willfully blind

Sorry, my mistake. I understood it to be an external optical drive, not a hard drive ( I was in a hurry ) External mechanical hard drives come in two types, 2.5 inch, which can be powered by a USB port as they require only 5V, and 3.5 inch which require both 5V and 12V, so an external 12V supply is mandatory. So, yeah, you'll need a 12V adapter at about 0.7 amp ( it just drives the motors, not the logic circuits ) Again sorry for my mistake; hope you didn't go out and buy a 5V adapter. Incidentally when I upgraded all my laptops to SSDs I put all their mechanical hard drives in external enclosures ( less than $10 apiece, SATA to USB3, from China, through EBay ). I now have 9 of them ranging in size from 500GB to 2TB. Plus 3 of the 3.5 inch externals ( all 2TB ) but I'll be damned if I can find the power adapters for them .

Most likely 5V, as it is an auxiliary power supply only, and USB is 5V. I have two similar units, and mini USB ( as opposed to micro ) can usually supply enough juice to operate. I don't even know where my auxiliary power units are; I don't think I've ever used them.

Your original post, Quiet, asked for REASONS to dismiss ( and also to keep ) the notion of the aether. You have been given plenty of reasons, and some of those developed historically. At first we had a model which relied on commonly held assumptions of what a wave needs to propagate. With J C Maxwell's and A Einstein's work, we were able to get rid of these 'assumptions' and simplify the model. And this new model has worked exceedingly well. Are you now saying you wish to discuss something else concerning the aether ?