MigL

My apologies if I misunderstood your post, Swansont. Doesn't matter anyway. The world is going to hell in a handbasket. What with people committing 'suicide by cop' in California by refusing to stop and show their hands. And the latest count of the dead in Nice up to 73, and >100 injured. And, if the resulting paranoia gets D. Trump elected we're really screwed.

The implication ( along with supporting link ) that they'll use 'any excuse' to pull someone over for a traffic stop. And that the profession attracts those with strong biases who like to push others around, iNow. There are good cops, like the ones in Dallas shielding civilians from the shooter who was targeting them. Not all are bad. Not even the majority. These are people like you and me who simply want to go home to their families at the end of the day. Without getting shot, and, without shooting someone else. People like arc's friend ( Ken ) make that extremely difficult. Would P. Castile have been shot if he hadn't been reaching for something that the cop thought was a weapon ? If he had kept his hands where the cop could see them ( I can't say for sure, but ) probably not. ( I do know he wouldn't have been pulled over in the first place if he wasn't black )

If I made generalized, sweeping statements about minorities, immigrants, etc., I'd hear it from everyone on this forum. And I'd be wrong. I have to suggest that you're also wrong making similar statements about cops, Swansont.

Loop Quantum gravity is closer to GR than string theory in concept because it doesn't make use of a 'background stage' on which events happen. It recognizes the fact that the geometry of space-time IS gravity. As a result it doesn't try to quantize gravity, but rather space-time. It attempts to do this by considering Planck length 'loops'. These interwoven loops are called spin networks. And, no, like string theory it hasn't made any testable predictions yet. I believe these things that L. Smolin and C. Rovelli speak of, that you can't remember Mike, but start with 'a', are Ashtekar variables, which ( and AJB correct me if I'm wrong ) are canonical variables which replace GR's canonical metric variables that have a non-linear response. If I remember correctly, use of these variables enable the calculation of Black Hole entropy from first principles.

Its occurred to me that the title of the OP may be inappropriate. It makes it seem like I think that the Dallas shootings were the Black community 'retaliating' for the two deaths of Sterling and Castile. Far from it. And now that its been confirmed the work of one individual, its even more apparent that he had other issues or 'demons'.. As a matter of fact, I've been reading reports that the Black community in Dallas has a lot of respect for their police force and what they do. But I've gotta ask, what was that other jackass, who was briefly considered a 'person of interest', doing walking about the streets carrying an AR-15 and a camo shirt ? If he hadn't turned himself in, chances are good he would've been shot.

The 'expansion simulates gravity' theory is inconsistent with observation. How can it answer the "why masses gravitate' question ?

Its a vicious circle in America. Cops shoot first and ask questions later because they know the high likelihood the person is armed, they are scared also, and want to go home to their families at the end of the day. People distrust the state and its representatives, the cops, and so, arm themselves and enshrine militias and gun ownership in the Constitution as 'protection' against the state. Guns are a common denominator, and the reason this stuff doesn't happen in other countries.

I don't think they're more efficient ( or could be ) than LED bulbs. They're still an incandescent light emitter, and so, waste a lot of energy as heat.

Have a good time in Italy Mike. That picture you posted looks a lot like the hills around my home town. ( S. Angelo dei Lombardi, in Campania between Avellino and Benevento )

You keep flip-flopping on the field. First its not sace-time which is being consumed by the BH as that is just c0-ordinates. But now in your definition to Sorcerer, it IS space-time which carries the energy into the BH. And how exactly does a BH keep its own gravity from escaping ?

I tend to agree with you AJB, although it shouldn't be that way. I think the guy selling CDs would have suffered the same consequences no matter what his 'race'. And the guy in the car may have also been shot if he was white, but he might not have been pulled over to begin with if he was.

I don't think the incidents that lead up to this had much to do with race. A bigger factor was stupidity. If a cop tells you to keep your hands where he can see them, do so. Don't try to show him the license for the gun you are carrying. He doesn't know what you're reaching for ! You may have been stopped yet again, unfairly just because you're black, but you'll still be alive. If you show a gun to people while selling CDs so that they call 911, don't resist and fight with cops when they show up. They don't know your intentions and that you're a nice guy. Surrender the weapon and you'll be alive. Last Sunday in Toronto we had our annual Pride parade. It was hijacked by BLM protesters who did not approve of cops marching in the parade. Their bright idea was to throw smoke bombs and fire-crackers in the way of the parade. This is only a short time after the Orlando shootings ! Luckily cooler heads prevailed, but I'd hate to think how it would have gone down in the US. Like I said earlier, cops don't have a 'quota' of black people to kill. They are just like you and me, so obviously there are some bad ones, and you may be subjected to some abuse. But unless you do something stupid, you'll live to file a complaint.

Why does this long range scalar field, which doesn't really interact with normal matter/mass, change in the presence of a BH to a vector field so as to accelerate normal matter/mass ?

Wow, this is still going on ? Last I was in this thread I was trying to understand what exactly is flowing into the BH. It is not space-time as that is a co-ordinate system. All I got was that its an energy field. Has this field been further defined ? And, since it entrains mass ( accelerates it ), is it related to gravity ? This field seems to be what is at odds with GR according to Declan's claims. From the quick skim through the last several pages, he claims that his idea is indistinguishable from GR, apart from this energetic field which is continuously being consumed by the BH. The acceleration of this field interacts gravitationally with the mass of the galaxy to produce the observed rotation rates. But what exactly is this Dark Field ( if he turns out to be right, I want credit for naming it ). Unless you can define it and provide a way of testing for this field, all you have is GR, with an imaginary part tacked on. Can you give us your thinking on the field, Declan ?

True, D. Trump and Brexit are not the same. But neither is the 'stupidity' factor. Don't forget that the US is the country where people think its OK to gas up their car while carrying a gun, borrow trillions of dollars from China to fight wars and support our lifestyle, allow hate groups like the KKK, etc, etc...

In the one case, the victim had brandished a gun and someone called 911. The cops knew he had a gun and were obviously on edge. He certainly didn't need to die for this, and if he wasn't carrying maybe he wouldn't have. In the other case, the victim admitted to having a gun and a license for it, but insisted on reaching for his license to show. He also didn't need to die, and would also be alive if he wasn't carrying. Now, admittedly I don't know all the details, and I certainly don't mean to blame the victims. But why exactly, does everyone and their brother, need to have a gun in their pocket, or the glove compartment of their car ? I blame THAT mentality which says that's a 'sane' thing to do.

Maybe I am being a little too direct, Zapatos, but I have quite a few friends who are ( Canadian ) cops. They are normal people like you and me. And it struck me that those cops in Dallas ( some of whom lost their lives ), even while under fire, were trying to shield and protect people who, minutes before, had been protesting against them.

It is even more fundamental than that. Relativity does NOT allow for a 'backdrop' or a 'stage' against which events unfold. This would be a preferred frame which would render relativity useless. So again I ask, would you do away with relativity ( an excellent model which agrees extremely well with observation ) and replace it with an aether model in which ... a) the aether is composed of 'normal' stuff ( that you find acceptable ), and the model doesn't agree with observation. or... b) the aether has some fantastical properties that make it undetectable, and the model is indistinguishable from relativity. ( notice that option a makes the aether model unworkable while option b makes it unneeded )

Yeah, those damned rights, Greg. I suggest you and the people who support the loose criteria for gun ownership in the US don't understand fundamental rights. Sure, your constitution allows you to own and carry guns. But the constitution also grants the right to life and freedom. Why is every other American denied their right to life because some whack-job insists on being able to carry a military assault rifle ? In case I need to spell it out for you... 'Your rights stop when they start infringing on the rights of others' Or are you OK with your country becoming a 'third world' country where sh*t like last night happens ? ( sorry if I'm being a little too 'in your face', but I'm really pi**ed off by last night's events )

It just seems to me that there are crazy people all over the world, but only in America are they allowed ( and their fellow citizens defend this right ) to buy military grade weapons and perpetrate this kind of crazy sh*t.

While there may be a number of racist cops, I find it hard to believe that these guys go out to find a 'black man to shoot today". Might a lot of it have to do with the fact that cops are actually scared when they make these stops because EVERYBODY is armed in the US ? As a matter of fact both of the two black victims were carrying. Is America's love of guns at the root of the problem ? A lot of good cops have been included with the bad in the eyes of black America and brought about the BLM movement. I now fear that a lot of decent black Americans will be lumped in with the two jackasses who opened fire on the police in Dallas.

Space-time is a mathematical construct. Why is there such a need to assign a 'tangibility' to it ? Think of the extremely curved space-time around a Black Hole. Can you touch the event horizon ? Can you feel it ? Can you see it ? Can you hear or taste it ( just being goofy now ) ? can you even tell in any way, other than with a test mass, that it is curved ? And there are solutions for an 'empty' universe.

Space-time is the co-ordinate map that we use to model the universe. It is akin to a flat Cartesian map of the Earth as opposed to a globe map, such that the points on the far right side identify with the points on the far left. If you go off the right hand side of the map, you re-appear on the left. This is called intrinsic curvature, it is not embedded in a higher dimension. The globe map on the other hand, has what's normally considered 'curvature', as you have to circumnavigate around the globe to get to the other side. This is called extrinsic curvature, and requires an embedding dimension. Mike you keep asking " Is there something tangible 'there' ? " And people keep telling you "No". Yet you cannot accept that, and keep repeating the question. I don't think this is getting any of us anywhere and its time you started adjusting your thinking regarding this requirement to have something tangible. Oh, and please don't shoot yourself.

Its free until the end of the month. After that, you'll need to pay. Recommend using the media creation tool from MS site for the download so that you can then install that to both of you systems. Have it installed on 8 laptops, 6 all-in-ones ( would be 7 but gave one away ) and one 10" tansformer tablet. I'm trying to figure out a way to do an 8" tablet ( no keyboard ) and 2 Acer netbooks using the Atom 2600 processor, for which Intel won't release a video driver.

Never mind him... What about the good-looking, female ( just thought I'd make that clear ) MEP just behind his right shoulder. Or am I being too shallow. ( again )