dimreepr

Earth’s rotation is slowing due to tidal lock.

I believe reciprocity and empathy is fundamental in what is considered innate morality and has been demonstrated in many animal studies as well as human babies. It serves as a blank canvas for society to mould and, for me, explains why many societies have different approaches whilst displaying many similarities such as what seems to be, in most societies, a universal golden rule ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you’ even in societies we’d consider abhorrent, such as those that practise cannibalism and human sacrifice. I therefore have to agree with the OP and conclude morals must have preceded religion.

Whilst I agree certain visual stimuli can garner a physical response, seeing lemons does make me salivate or somebody vomiting will often make me gag; however the same response, for me, is not true via phonetics or the written word.

By that standard, maybe, no one is truly ambidextrous.

It’s called sublimation; in certain, cold dry, conditions the snow/ice turns directly into vapour like dry ice.

The best explanation, I’ve seen, of how microwaves interact with water can be found in this thread: http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/77489-how-dangerous-are-microwaves/page-2 Particularly the last post.

I think everyone is ambidextrous unless one side has Physiological issues. We naturally tend towards a hand and then generally never bother with the other, unless circumstances dictate, a broken arm perhaps; if we were made to practice with each hand, writing for instance, from a young age we would all be ambidextrous, admittedly one side would be neater, so it depends on how it’s defined i.e. how equal does each side have to be?

Islam, I'm sure was born of the needs of the time coupled with the, fundamental, truths of humanity; Islam was born of war and so reflects that; as does Christianity to a lesser extent. It's peaceful intent, though, has, no doubt, been diminished through an age of misunderstanding the original lingual intent.

“None of what you say is true and none of it has been proven time and time again!” Says who? It certainly is true for me and, for instance, the rich man who is ever fearful of becoming poor.

I take solace in the idea of karma, in terms of ‘what goes around comes around’ which has, for me, been proven time and time again; so when somebody takes advantage of my forgiving nature I find myself amused, rather than angry or outraged; so I guess it depends on how you define karma. As for reincarnation, other than the fact that our atoms are replaced entirely every 2/3 years, I too think its bunk.

Racism equates too prejudice and to pre-judge can only come from ignorance.

In answer to the OP we wouldn't be here, life would probably exist. but without the stabilising effect of the moon life would still be very primitive and never become complex enough for us to evolve.

Indeed, it's got to start somewhere.

"But what if it's a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing?" Anon.

Thank you very much for the sermon; but what is it you want to discus?

Indeed, the shape of a raindrop is actually size dependant. At 1mm the drop is falling slower and wind resistance is negligible so the drop is spherical but as the drop size increases so does its speed and wind resistance starts to play a more significant role and the shape of the drop becomes bun shaped and larger still the drop starts to resemble a parachute, at this stage the drop becomes unstable, from memory 3/4mm, and tends to break up into many droplets which are again spherical. My apologies for the brevity of my previous post, I ran out of time.

When I'm in a group of friends I will sometimes choose not to argue when they start to get racist or xenophobic (mostly futile especially when their imbibing); that doesn't mean I would follow if they choose to act on those sentiments, I'd like to think I'd do all in my power to stop them. Edit/ I very much doubt you'll find any member here that is susceptible.

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." Douglas Adams Edit/ My signature also fits the bill rather well.

The property of water called hydrogen bonding determines the shape of raindrops, this from Wikipedia: "The charge differences cause water molecules to be attracted to each other (the relatively positive areas being attracted to the relatively negative areas) and to other polar molecules. This attraction contributes to hydrogen bonding, and explains many of the properties of water" Edit/ Also the reason for water tension.

"We've arranged a global civilization in which the most crucial elements -- transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting -- profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces." Carl Sagan

I was that idiot, no not really an idiot; more a victim of what the general public (we) perceive to be gaps in 'our' understanding; therein lay the problem, knowledge does not equal understanding, however much the illusion persists. Dunning and Kruger's effect is quite enlightening on the subject and is, perhaps, the reason for so many failed attempts to enlighten our fellow man/woman with what only those that truly understand could critique properly.

Alan, you're clearly passionate about your beliefs but do you really have to deliberately skew the OP's title/meaning just to fit your agenda?

"I don't know if money can buy happiness but I can assure you that without money you feel miserable, not happy" Why? The swapping of little green pieces of paper instead of piglets or eggs has little to do with happiness; the far more likely explanation is the disconnection of need and want.

We seem to have forgotten the assumptions that goes with overwhelming power, the history of this planet is littered with examples of those that assume superiority and act accordingly; why would an alien race with the ability to cross such vast/unimaginable distances think differently of us?

Well, true in the literal sense but our educational system would be lost without such lies, whether parental or state; you don't explain QM without simplifying and to simplify is to lie in one way or another.