MigL

Neutron star A star massive enough that when it runs out of fuel to sustain radiation pressure, its gravitational collapse overcomes electron degeneracy pressure ( but not neutron degeneracy pressure ).

Sagittarius The 'archer' constellation which points to the center of the galaxy. ( yes, I'm back at work )

Nebula Interstellar clouds of dust or Hydrogen/Helium. Originally meant any 'nebulous' astronomical formation, including galaxies.

Epsilon Eridani Young orange star at a distance of 10.5 LY, and magnitude 3.7. Known to have an exoplanet.

PCIe 3 cards will work on PCIe 2 MoBos, but at PCIe 2 speeds. This is not a problem because the standard is much faster than what the video card actually needs and so, no performance degradation will be noted. A big problem is your 1 stick of memory, operating in single channel mode. Buy another 8 GB or trade it for two 4s,. The 8 core AMD processor is core overkill as you won't be using more than two cores for games. A better bet would be an Intel i5, since its single core performance outclasses the performance of the AMD core. Also ditch the rotating platter hard drive for a fast SSD, and relegate the ! terabyte for data storage.

A used computer with on-board graphics for 1/3 of your budget. Preferably an i5 cpu, but a core 2 duo or quad would suffice. Spend the remaining 2/3 of your budget on the best graphics card you can find. ( read MaximumPC's reviews )

Fornax Constellation in southern sky, containing the Fornax dwarf galaxy, a satellite of the Milky Way, discovered in '38 by H. Shapley

Maybe that's because thermal solar is nothing more than uncontrolled nuclear fusion, 93 million miles away. I hope to see, in my lifetime, controlled nuclear fusion technology become available.

You misunderstood me overtone, I don't blame just the Greek people, but neither do I absolve them from blame. As I said there's plenty of that to go around. Every scam or con depends on two things, the greed or desperation of the victim. Greece is not a third world country. They have a vibrant economy and are much like southern Italy or Spain. Heck, just tourism would keep them afloat. Yet just like southern Italy ( I was born there and am very familiar with it ), they have a disdain for industry and advancement beyond simple rural and small village life. Pay very little taxes ( I own a home 60 km east of Naples and only recently started paying $200 /yr in property taxes ) yet expect full benefits of social services. So if someone comes along and offers you junk bonds with astronomical rates of return, and you take them because of your greed, you've been conned. And at least some of the blame is on you

Just to stir up sh*t... Let me get this straight. There are 1.4 million guns stolen from law abiding gun owners, and subsequently used for the commission of crimes by the criminals that stole them. Now I agree, a few of these crimes may have been averted if the guns had not been available for stealing, but there would still be knives, bats pipes, cars, etc., but this seems to me more of an argument for jailing the people who steal and then use the guns to commit crimes. If those people were in Jail absolutely NONE of the crimes would have been committed. So Ten oz, are you saying we need to build more jails and jail more criminals ?

Oh come on, overtone. You need to stop looking at the world with a blinder over your 'right' eye. There is plenty of blame to go around, here for everybody. They all let the situation get out of control. You say there should be more controls yet when Germany tries to impose controls, it is the Greek people, you know the poor innocent people who were scammed by the big bad banks, who vote against it in a referendum. they still want the government provided benefits, even though the government has no money. There will always be people ( or money lenders ) who try to take advantage of other people, but it is the greed of the latter which enables this.

"Governments alter the quantity/value of money" ??? Not the Greek government ! They lost that ability when they decided to us a common currency with the rest of the European collective. My opinion has always been that a government that doesn't live within its means soon finds that it can't support its social services/programs because the costs associated with servicing the debt ( benefitting foreign banks and the extremely wealthy ) spirals out of control. iNow has now found a solution to this problem. Just don't repay the debt. ( but then what happens next time you need help ??? ) Greece is at the point, right now, where the associated costs and problems of not lending them more money outweigh the loan involved. If the Greek economy fails totally it would be major problems for the Eurozone, so I think a bailout will happen. If Greece doesn't get its house in order, however, who in their right mind, will bail them out the next time ?

Is there such a thing as a 'fundamental human right' ? The only one which even comes close is the right to free thought, as that is difficult to control. Every other so called 'right', is actually a privilege bestowed by the society you happen to belong to. One only has to look around the world to see what other societies control and allow. Do we have the 'right' to impose on other societies, our notion of a fundamental human right ?

Well, I'm convinced. iNow, can I 'borrow' $50,000 ?

Definitely a lot of things wrong with American society, iNow ( speaking as a close relative Canadian ). But at least we can discuss these shortcomings on a public forum without secret police showing up at the door to take us away. ( never to be heard from again ) Our silence and co-operation is not gained with force, but is bought by the rich and powerful. Our own greed allows them to do this.

OK, but is your name really Melvin ?

A quantum particle will show particle properties when you try to detect particles, i.e. a single photon through slits makes a single point at the detector. And those same quantum particles will demonstrate wave properties when you try to detect waves, i.e multiple photons through slits will make points in the shape of a diffraction pattern at the detector. The wave function on the other hand, is a mathematical construct, which simultaneously describes all possible states of the quantum particle. Any interaction, such as hitting the detector, will 'collapse' the wave function to a single state. It is a 'description', but has no actual physicality, akin to the event horizon of a black hole, or saying "I have zero apples" ( no actual apples are there ).

It is not gravity which 'bends' space-time, rather, it is mass and various forms of energy which 'do the bending'. It is this ''bending' which we then label, gravity. In effect, in GR, gravity is modeled geometrically. The electromagnetic field has also been modeled geometrically, by adding an additional dimension, in the 1920s, by T. Kaluza and O. Klein. But that isn't what you're asking, is it ? An EM field has the property of energy, so, yes, a concentrated EM field ( extremely high energy density ) will also 'bend' space-time. As to your second question, the simplest visualization ( and often wrong/confusing ) is by reduction to two dimensions; the mass in the middle of a rubber sheet. This has the added advantage that it also models the gravitational potential. Test masses follow the geodesics, or curved sides of this depression in the rubber sheet, from all sides, and by necessity there cannot be any curvature at the lowest point. This lowest point coincides with where the gravitational potential is at a minimum, i.e. zero and no net force.

Very well, ( totally non-sensical 'flight of fancy' follows )... We are currently at 2.7 deg, let's say at 2.5 deg there is a spontaneous symmetry break in our domain of the universe. The electric and magnetic components of the EM field decouple. In the place of the EM field we have two short range fields, no longer propagated by a massless photon, but by two massive bosons, and lots of magnetic monopoles. Atoms break apart, and stars quit shining as there is no more EM radiation. Do we survive to re-write the laws of physics ? If there was a big enough change in the 'laws of physics' to warrant a complete re-write, the cumulative changes would make our existence unlikely. There would be no need for a re-write as there would be no-one here to do it

Well, you learn something new everyday... I always attributed that paraphrase to Voltaire, but after your post Phi, I looked it up and it is actually attributed to EB Hall, Voltaire's biographer, as a reflection of Voltaire's beliefs. I guess I've been crediting the wrong person all these years. Thanks for the enlightenment, Phi.

In some ways, I consider myself conservative, ydoaPs. I'm glad I could help. I welcome your county to the 21st century.

Well she did have a 'presence', didn't she... But no, I don't have a copy of GWTW, and wouldn't really care if they took it away ( don't touch my Diehard, though ). The point I was trying to make, however, is the problem with the people and mindset of southerners ? Or is the problem the flag they have chosen to rally under ? Is the problem the German mindset in the 30s or is it the swastika ? The problem is not removed with the banning of the symbol. There will always be another symbol for oppression and hatred.

I've come into this a little late, but I find it strange that the Confederate flag can be viewed as a symbol of all the things wrong with the American South ( past and present ). Maybe Americans put too much significance on flags. Should we also do away with one of the greatest movies ever made ? Gone With The Wind certainly paints a 'rosy' picture of the American South around the time of the Civil war. It makes the Confederate cause seem like a noble one, not related to the slave owning culture at all, and is patronizing to African Americans. Should we do away with it because it might inspire ( crazy ) people who long for 'better' times past ?

Oh, I thought it was a biography. ( you do seem to spend too much time on forums )

Did a little bit myself with Hollerith punch cards and Fortran IV.