Mr Skeptic

If what you describe is accurate, then you can both increase the prosperity of everyone including the rich, and decrease the gap between the rich and the poor, by taxing the rich and giving money to the poor. The money trickles up to the rich, we tax them and give it back to the poor, and watch our economy grow as it trickles up again. So long as this process is continuous the gap will remain small. That is after all the whole idea of redistributing externalities, if the rich get richer and the poor get poorer as a consequence of giving money to the poor, then taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor to counter the effect is perfectly fair. If the government can improve the whole economy but add unfairness, then by improving the economy and taxing/subsidizing away the unfairness makes it both fair and better for everyone.

Yes, borrowing money and handing it with zero interest to the richest Americans is indeed a form of spending, but not really the same type as what most people think of when they say government spending. Now I'm sure some people will argue that borrowing money and giving it away to rich people is good for the economy, but if compared to other government projects that doesn't seem very convincing. Like other government spending, borrowing money and giving to rich people increases the deficit. (They're not tax cuts, they are tax postponement and a tax increase, which people call "tax cuts" to make it more popular. To cut taxes, they'd have to cut spending or increase GDP more than enough to pay for the cost of borrowing the money to hand out to the people.)

Yes, unlikely to the point where you wouldn't see it happen even if the universe ended several times over. Still not impossible, technically, just very very unlikely, and more unlikely the more particles involved. You do realize that statistical models allow you to calculate probabilities of things even if they haven't been observed, right? If we're relating this to evolution, then we can limit our size to something like a chromosome or smaller, and natural selection can select some of the intermediate steps (if they affect fitness), and the organisms have an input for lowering thermodynamic and information entropy.

Probably an instance of negative frequency dependent selection, ie you're better off having the genes for left-handedness when other people don't. Lefties were great assassins and warrior-heros, since they as lefties had a surprise and training advantage vs right handed people (which is due specifically to the proportions of both). Of course in the past few years, that is no longer the case and now it is more of a disadvantage overall. If my guess above is right, then lefties should be disappearing, very slowly of course. Alternately, if it could be some developmental thing instead, then I'd have no clue how to explain it.

Probably the clocks in the GPS system.

Well I'd have a problem with that if I went to the theater, and on top of that bought their food. I rather watch things from the comfort of my own home, and for free. Yeah, I've done that in places that as you say fill the glass full with ice. If I'm thirsty enough then diluting that sugary syrup a bit would actually improve the taste. Well, I think they also filter it, but mostly for convenience and some for dumb people too.

Well not so much trolls but to keep this a sciency site. Just participate in some science discussions, and after 30 posts you'll automatically get permission to access other forums (unless during that time the mods decide to exclude you, or if you make a really good impression and ask for permission perhaps sooner).

Oh... I thought you got to choose which clocks to throw away. If not than this is much harder than I thought, to the extent I don't think I'd be able to figure it out (if it is still possible).

Escape velocity is more like how fast you have to jump to jump all the way to outer space (neglecting air friction). You'll slow down along the way. But you can go slower if you have a rocket, since you're no longer limited to being in freefall. As for going 10 miles per hour, I don't think that would be possible due to the length of time it would take and the amount of rocket fuel required. Maybe with a space elevator?

If a clock runs fast, won't it chime (more than) every hour? There can't be any hour that a fast clock wouldn't chime on.

Good, the more there are the less excuse you have for not citing one. Please note that arguments concerning the design of the evolutionary algorithm are irrelevant to my question, since we already have an evolutionary algorithm with all the information needed for it. And yes, this does include the fitness function. OK, let me check... Nope, he didn't ask you to repeat your claim without any evidence. He asked for a specific prediction. You've already said elsewhere that the universe is full of information (in our discussions about photographs and information), that "functional" is essentially meaningless and you'd stop using that word, and now you add a new word, prescriptive. But rather than argue the semantics, I'll just point out that your prediction is still consistent with evolution, since you have not said that the universe doesn't contain prescriptive information, so that your prediction says nothing about abiogenesis. Please also note that evolution assumes the existence of prescriptive information in the form of a cell. (I'm sure we're all grown up enough not to intentionally confuse evolution and abiogenesis, rather than use the uncertainties about abiogenesis to pretend there are similar issues for evolution. Evolution presupposes a living cell and an evolutionary algorithm due to the functioning of said cell.)

How many gods does it take to think about thinking about [...] thinking about changing the lightbulb?

Usually when someone says something like this, either they made some bad mistake with their calculations or knowledge of physics, or they have independently thought up something someone else did long ago. This is an example of the second case. It can be used for power generation with a hot enough source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_recovery_steam_generator Alternately, on lukewarm water it can be used to instead save on heating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_heat_recycling And of course there's also the option of using that heat to pump into an underground steam tunnel system, basically an enormous "cooling tower" which people appreciate having in their homes. Of course, in practice there's also economic considerations, which might be problematic, or maybe just that people were being apathetic.

Yes. People are working on making solar panel windows that still let the visible light through. The ultraviolet is much easier to use for solar power, as it has more energy per photon. I'm not sure if the IR can be used.

I'm almost inclined to say that it is the high specific impulse which causes the low thrust. The trouble with putting a lot of energy into each particle is that you need a lot of energy to do so.

Well, I suppose some people are just oblivious to that. Or too lazy to get up as often. I like ice in my soda, because I like it as cold as possible and diluting it a little doesn't really change the flavor for the worse. Occasionally, I take a big cup, which I take with me nice and full when I leave. But for the most part I don't really go to such places.

You mean other than already starting off there as the Big Bang theory states? Many people don't realize that the Big Bang occurred throughout spacetime, not at one specific point in spacetime, since the latter would make no sense (as you seem to have noticed).

Looks like you have at least three different things to do, and the order to do them would be important. Methylating the C1 hydroxyl is used to prevent rings from changing the stereochemistry (alpha <--> beta). But what about removing that one specific hydroxyl on C6? Can you make it different than the others, say by doing something to C5?

Correct. The wave's speed is dependent on the medium and so this effect changes the wavelength and frequency but not the speed. But what if you tried doing doppler shift with particles who's speed is not dependent on the medium? (I ask because you seem to be implying that someone does this)

Or maybe not -- those things would be absurdly difficult in real life, not at all like in scifi. However, if you could make a closed timelike loop I don't think you could send messages back in time before the point at which you built the loop -- because there would not be any closed timelike loop there to send things back to, at that time.

If I remember right, copper dissolves slowly in seawater. (this had a replacement cost for the old boats but was worth it because it also prevented organisms from growing on the boat). However, I doubt you'd notice anything in a few days.

Looks like either someone's sarcasm meter needs recalibrating, someone needs to make their sarcasm more obvious, or Poe's Law has struck again.

Can you quote an example on this site where someone incorrectly tried to correct you? We shall try to set someone straight.

Nope, I just know someone who goes by the same name as the author, which should have been obvious from what I said.

I think that what you're talking about is the blood draining from your brain, due to a combination of low blood pressure and changing the height of your head. More pressure is needed to get blood to you head when you raise it, and your blood pressure will be extra low when resting, and the circulatory system to your head is set for lowering the pressure when laying down. I don't know if there is a specific name for that, but if low blood pressure is the main cause that can be treated and might have other benefits as well. (There are many places you can check your blood pressure for free.) As D H said, I highly recommend not provoking these symptoms. (I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice). More info: http://www.newton.de...99/bio99304.htm