Severian

The most interesting thing about gamma ray bursts is that some of them have absolutely huge energies - far far higher than we could ever acheive in a particle collider. Since a photon can turn into a particle-antiparticle pair (+ another photon) it is possible that decaying gamma rays (which are photons) could turn into very high mass exotic particles. These particle would live a very short time (because they are so heavy) so we wouldn't have noticed them without looking closer. But if we can figure out a way of seeing them it would give us some insight into the very high energy physics applicable to quantum gravity.

Clinton wiped the floor with him. He was sincere and passionate without being aggressive, countered Wallace point for point (despite Wallace's attempts to stop him) and showed what a load of rubbish the ABC 'special' really was. I wish he was still President rather than GW.

I have never understood the principle behind "nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself". Anyone else who refuses to answer a question is charged with contempt of court, and I don't see why it should be any different for the accused.

Everyone is different. Everyone has different needs - some people need to socialize all the time, while some people need space. Lot's of people here are trying to give you advice, and I suppose I am not different, but my advice to you would be to take all the advice you are given with a pinch of salt. bascule thinks that "The secret to true happiness is to interconnect and resonate with your surroundings in such a way that you feel self-actualized". This may be true for him, but may not be true for other people. (I am not even sure what it means.) I am very aware of how different people are, because I definitely need my space, while many of my friends are social animals. This leads to friction when they accuse me of being unsociable - they don't understand that I have a need to be on my own sometimes and think that I don't like them because I don't want to be with them all the time. This isn't true - I like and value my friends. Fortunately for me, I am happy enough with who I am to understand this and deal with it. Sometimes I compromise and go to parties when I really want to stay at home because I want to show my friends that I value their friendship. But I understand why I do that, and recognise that it is my choice and don't resent them for being more socially orientated than I am. It seems to me that you have made a good first step. You have realised how happy you can be with only your own company. It can be a very healthy thing to step away from society to allow you some time to yourself to think through where you really are in your life. I have done this myself on occasion. However, you will find (in a few months) that you start to crave some social interaction. This is completely normal for a healthy individual, and your time alone will help you come into new relationships with a greater sense of personal identity. Your relationships will become two-way partnerships with both parties getting something out of them, rather than the sort of one-way relationships you seem to have had in the past (no offense). So although I think you will find that your desire for solitute doesn't last very long, I also think you will find that your time alone helps you deal with people and social interaction in a much more healthy way.

Then you are a weak atheist. It is not clear what classification of atheism was being probed from the article, but I suspect the majority of people responded with strong atheism in mind (as most of the people on this thread have).

So what is your position? Do you just have a lack of belief, or do you believe that there is no God?

The complaint was really a bit rich, considering how capitalist the US became. Britain had just fought the 7 years war against the French, which was to protect the colonists. This war had the strong support of the colonists, and was eventually won by Britain, but at huge financial costs. The tax that was raised after the war was not to pay off the debt, but purely to pay for the upkeep of the defence of the colonies. And it was considerably less than the people were paying back in Britian. At the time, voting in Britain was restricted to landowners, so only about 1/9th of the British (home) population got to vote. In the colonies, the landowners were similarly allowed to vote, but for the state assemblies. The complaint was that they were not represented in the British parliament, which is hardly the same thing as 'no representation'. After the Revolution, the Congress, which had no official power of taxation, simply raised its funds by issuing money, causing huge inflation. There was even a saying "not worth a continental" for something worthless. A pound of sugar cost $10 after the war, which is particularly ironic considering one of the taxes the colonists originally started the war over was a tariff on sugar (the Sugar Act). Anyway, after the revolution there were still plenty of people in the US who didn't get to vote, such as women, and of course the slave. Land of the free indeed...

I really don't see the logic in that. By the same reasoning, the SOuth at the outbreak of the civil war was also a people 'ruled by a foreign government'

Not to mention vacuum fluctuations themselves...

That isn't true. My grandfather was a very devout Christian, while simultaneously being a 'Grand Worshipful Master' (or somesuch) of the Freemasons.

I am a Christian and I have stated many times on these forums that I prefer a secular government. And I know many Christians with the same view.

It is possible. Although Cox is being a bit optimistic with results in a year. They do, but these black holes would be so small they evapourate (via Hawking radiation) very quickly and don't have time to gobble anything. I can't answer this question because no-one has a quantum theory of gravity. My gut feeling is that black holes aren't really singularities. Not really - there are plenty of non-string ideas with extra dimensions. No-one will be accepting string theory as fact anytime soon.

I can think of plenty of dissipative effects. For example, the disc would have to be metal to be held up by the magnets. So it conducts electricity and the magnetic fields would create eddys of electric current in the disc which dissipate energy.

Yes - that is what I have been doing. Although it is really enough just to copy to the buffer, and wait to see if it shows up a minute later.

Yes, it is racist if it limits citizenship to those who are racially Japanese rather than those who have some claim to Japanese citizenship through ancestry. (Does Japan really do this? I don't think it does.) Note that these are not the same thing. So an ethnically 'white' person born in the US may have a case for Japanese citizenship if their grandfather had Japanese citizenship, but someone who is racially 'japanese' but has no relation who is/was a Japanese citizen would not have such a case. The Israeli case is different. They racially prefer Jews to someone non-Jewish even if neither have any relational claim to being Israeli. That is racist. No - you have the false analogy. The Law of Return makes no specification of family relation to anyone who is an Israeli citizen. It is entirely based on race. The only slightly redeeming feature of the law is that they accept people who convert to Judaism: But I suspect they have very stringent (ie. practically impossible to pass) tests to ensure this.

Apologies if I misunderstood the OP - I thought he was saying that the treatments are not acknowledged by the medical insurers and government for financial reasons, rather than being kept a secret. After all, he did get the treatment by paying for it privately.

I am a professional particle physicist and that very poster is up in the corridor just outside my office. You could also be a cheapskate and print off that image in A1 size.

It is not so much covering up - it is denying treatment on the basis of cost. The drugs in question are very expensive, so insurance companies don't want to pay for them. They put pressure on medical groups not to properly validate them for normal use because they are so expensive. This even happens with the UK's NHS. There was recently a big fuss that MS drugs are no longer available on the NHS because they are deemed too expensive.

Sure - I accept that. But it still seems pretty racist to me that a certain racial group is given preference to citizenship. Since only citizens can vote and apply for office, it provides a rather skewed system. Can you imagine the furor which would erupt if the US had special rules for whites applying for citizenship.

I particulary like "Discover forbidden attractions secrets the liberal media doesn't want you to know". Wow - they are even blaming the liberals for republicans being unsuccessful with women!

You should really read the pages that you quote from. The rules on the immigration are roughly the same as every other country except for: I see no such right for muslims.

I have been having this too. I was wondering if I was being censored by a very very fast mod.

Is that web site a spoof? It has an advert for 'Memory Training Secrets of Top Toliticians' with a picture of GWB on it...

No matter what the wording, I think the US should enforce the sentiment of the constitution. And it is clear that the writers of the amendment intended for ordinary folk to be allowed to carry muskets. So I think all US citizens should be allowed to carry muskets, and gunpowder based pistols. Can you provide evidence that this has anything to do with the banning of offensive weapons?

That is not really true. It is true that there is no restriction within the Israeli population, but Israel restricts who is allowed to call themselves Israeli very much along racial/religious lines, and in order to vote (or stand for election) you need to be Israeli.