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Actually, I believe that under some circumstances the second law of thermodynamics "breaksdown". http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2572

tm

I read this story, and the post on /. this morning, so I thought I would copy you guys on this:

From: motherlessgoat

How did we become like this? Some guy in Japan wrote a bot for the game Lineage II and goes around mugging other players and taking their crap. Well, the guy who wrote the bot started selling his "winnings" on a Japanese auction site for real money. Then he was arrested for stealing!!! GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

It's time to get real folks. Let's start with the obvious problem with this situation:

Who on Earth would pay real money for pixilated crap? I know this is becoming popular now a-days. In fact, I recently read an article about this. How in these virtual worlds you could be a rich king and live the best life, even though you share a one bedroom apartment with your mother and her lesbian lover. Hi Dad!

Any takers for the "decline of Western civilization" theories here? Is this really what freedom is all about? Is this what we are all working so hard for? Is this something we should ignore? Is it like porn or drugs and we should just turn the other cheek when we hear about it?

Why are we having our public law enforcers tracking these guys down? The guy build a software bot and let it loose within the confines of the game. According to the game architecture this is completely legal. If this was such a big deal, why didn't the makers of Lineage II stop this from happening. Shouldn't they take responsibility for things like this? Why did the guy who built the bot take the heat? This is probably what upsets me the most. And we see this all the time. Remember when MP3s were the big rage? Or downloading movies from Limewire? Why should the government enforce a company's copyright? Don't you think that is a waste of tax payer dollars? Shouldn't those companies take responsibility for protecting their assets?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I actually care what happens to my tax dollars. And I for one can't stand to see it abused like this. This mindset must change. But how? It's called reform and there are plenty of people trying to change things. It is ok to question your government, your laws, and your traditions.

For any of you still interested, here is the article about the guy who wrote the bot and how he got arrested: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7865

You can read motherlessgoat's post here: http://youvstheworld.com/virtual_muggings_in_linea ge_ii

Ok, so Russian cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev has taken the record for most time spent in space with a whopping 748 days in space.

Now that's really quite something when you consider the technology that we're putting folk up into space with, particularly in light of recent issues getting back with Shuttle missions.

Indeed his ability to deal with the physical hardships in space is quite something, when you consider that under a single atmospheric preassure of 1G, the average American is unable to remain in shape (and tending towards obese), Australian's are unfortunately not much better frankly.

So I can only imagine what the strain of keeping up with the challenge of what must be a massively disciplined exercise regime.

Check out the whole story over at New Scientist magazine online.

My ongoing consern though, and this record simply brings it back to mind, is that if we've got the world's best out there in near earth orbit, pulling just 748 days so far non-stop.

And that's without the rigors of deep space travel, heck, that's without what should be a reasonably simple challenge of travel within the local group of planets!

How exactly are we going to eventually break the bounds of our planet and travel out to the local planets, and beyond?

Space is big, Really big. And that's just the local group, let's not boggle our minds with the really really really big, let's just stick with the really really big.

Interplanetary travel involves distances of hundreds and thousands of millions of kilometers between fast moving objects (planets for example).

For example, the Earth travels around our sun at an average sleep around 30 km/sec, Mars is traveling at around 24 km/sec (so that's a difference of about 20,000 kilometers per hour!), and the distance between them is millions of kilometers. Phew - brain hurting yet?

The legal definition of space is 50 kilometers up, but for our purposes, "space" starts about 200 kilometers up.

There's still a heck of a lot of atmosphere ("lot" being a relative term) there, but an average satellite can stay in orbit for weeks before the atmospheric friction slows it enough so it falls out of orbit.

I don't want to belittle what is in todays terms simply a herculean effort. 748 days is 748 days, simple as that, and it's the current record, and more power to Sergei Krikalev frankly.

But at that rate, and we're talking a mere couple of years really (2.04 years), that's not even a one way trip to some of our nearest neighbors, let alone the return trip, if you were thinking of coming back that is * grin *

We are though using developments from space technology to do some pretty weird things, for example, the industrialization of a NASA-tested concept for artificially creating meat!

According to a recently published academic paper, Edible Meat Can be Grown in a Lab on Industrial Scale. ( read more about it at GizMag ).

I wonder if vegies and vegans will now consider eating meat if it doesn't involve killing a living breathing animal? Doubt it.

Anyway - Three cheers for Sergei, but as for the rest of the space program, no dice, we're clearly generations away from truely being a space faring people.

Mores the pity!

is that it gives you that funky village people hairdo 24/7. No wonder he keeps going back in space...

Sometimes technology development is harder than we think it ought to be, sometimes it's easier. The harder stuff is just naturally going to be slower; the easy stuff (like electronics has been the past couple of decades) makes us impatient in other areas. Science fiction's generally rosy portraits of future advances are probably also part of the problem.

On the other hand, maybe Huebner is right - we're about to enter an inevitable period of slowdown and even loss, similar to the dark ages after the Greeks and Romans. The parallels between the US and the Roman empire are pretty interesting...

Luckily we do have some competition in space that might revive things again...

The article mentions the possibility of watching movies on the road. If that weren't bad enough, scientists have now proved the age-old truth that watching pr0n makes you blind, at least momentarily.

The BBC is currently running a pilot experiment in distributing TV footage via p2p.

Essentially, the system uses a custom media player (with in-built DRM) and p2p software to distribute segments of the file between users. Its architecture is very similar to Bittorent (in as much as a central seed server exists). If the pilot is successfull, it is likely that this technology could find its way into the set-top boxes of the future. This is a real possibility given that the UK telecoms network is soon to be completely overhauled.

New Scientist magazine has also run an article on this.

...that they just want to make sure that the RRGUs were installed the right side up.

Nothing can escape from "inside" a black hole, from within inside the event horizon.

This is not entirely correct. For all intents and purposes, you are right, but.... this covers a bit of the "Information Paradox" surrounding black holes, and Hawkings' admission that he was wrong - information DOES escape from a black hole - eventually.

<sigh>Just when you think you figured you had the right answer... </sigh>

Mind you, if the power from the hydro damn is still being produced long after all the vegitation it kills is gone (into methane, CO2, etc.), maybe this would balance out. But I wonder if that would that would take longer than the time it would take for the damn silt up (or stop producing power just due to old age, etc.).

That's somewhat debatable.

Here are some responses from the Kansas School Board, and according to the New Scientist: THE board for Beebe School District in Arkansas voted on 12 July to remove from textbooks stickers promoting an "intelligent designer" over evolution.

Sedna and Quaoar?
Although I've heard that Quaoar has been classified as a non-planet, I'm not sure about Sedna.
Besides, according to New Scientist, there could be many, many more planets out there.

There was in interesting article posted on slashdot not too long ago about a project much like you describe:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7674&f eedId=online-news_rss20

It is UNOBSERVABLE

Not always it isn't.

Newly disclosed observations of the giant world revealed on Friday to orbit in the outer solar system show that it has a moon....

The moon is not the first discovered around a Kuiper Belt object, but it is the smallest, only about 1% the mass of 2003 EL61. More importantly, observations of the satellite's 49-day orbit allowed Brown to precisely calculate the masses of both 2003 EL61 and its moon.

Brown's results - posted on his website - show the object is about 32% as massive as Pluto. Assuming its composition is similar, that implies its diameter is about 70% of Pluto's, or about 1600 kilometres. That would probably make it larger than Sedna, an object beyond the Kuiper Belt discovered earlier by Brown's group.

There is little evidence that pot has any negative effects...

Uh, wrong. There is good and mounting evidence.

Mental Illness

Cannabis link to mental illness strenghtened

The link between regular cannabis use and later depression and schizophrenia has been significantly strengthened by three new studies.

Marijuana Use Increases Risk of psychiatric illness Cannabis link to depression

This study suggests that girls who use cannabis as teenagers are more likely to develop anxiety or depressive disorders.

Psychotic symptoms more likely with cannabis

Marijuana in adolescence and early adulthood increases the likelihood of psychotic symptoms in later life.

Study suggests marijuana abuse increses risk of depression

Subjects diagnosed with cannabis abuse at the start of the study were four times more likely to experience depressive symptoms.

Marijuana makes blood rush to the head

Smoking marijuana can affect blood flow in the brain so much that it takes over a month to return to normal. And for heavy smokers, the effects could last much longer, a new study suggests.

Child Development

Marijuana use in pregnancy damages kids learning

Children born to mothers who use marijuana during pregnancy may suffer a host of lasting mental defects.

Dope-smoking dads double risk of cot death (SIDS)

Dope-smoking dads double the risk of cot death, a survey in California has revealed.

Maternal marijuana use during lactation and infant development at ...

THC concentrates in the mother's milk and is absorbed and metabolized by the nursing infant.

Reproductive effects

The Effects of Marijuana on the Endocrine System

Marijuana directly effects the endocrine system causing:

reduced sperm counts, sperm deformations, shrunken testes size, degenerates the seminiferous tubules, halves testosterone levels, decreases libido, causes the accumulation of breast tissue in men, causes anovulation, causes an acute reduction in prolactin, reduces adrenocortical reserve causing reduced ability to respond to stress, inhibits growth hormone, and depresses thyroid activity.

Cannabis, cannabinoids and reproduction

Marijuana inhibits implantation and increases miscarriage rates. Marijuana use during or after birth may impair reproductive behavior of children when they reach adulthood.

Study finds marijuana use in rats stops reporduction Research Survey: Common Ancestors

Marijuana suppresses the production of luteinizing hormone in rats by stimulating the production of stress hormones. "It turns out that marijuana is a stressor, which might explain a lot of its effects on the brain and on people"

Marijuana firmly linked to infertility

Scientific American Tue, 12 Dec 2000

General Heal

There is little evidence that pot has any negative effects...

Uh, wrong. There is good and mounting evidence.

Mental Illness

Cannabis link to mental illness strenghtened

The link between regular cannabis use and later depression and schizophrenia has been significantly strengthened by three new studies.

Marijuana Use Increases Risk of psychiatric illness Cannabis link to depression

This study suggests that girls who use cannabis as teenagers are more likely to develop anxiety or depressive disorders.

Psychotic symptoms more likely with cannabis

Marijuana in adolescence and early adulthood increases the likelihood of psychotic symptoms in later life.

Study suggests marijuana abuse increses risk of depression

Subjects diagnosed with cannabis abuse at the start of the study were four times more likely to experience depressive symptoms.

Marijuana makes blood rush to the head

Smoking marijuana can affect blood flow in the brain so much that it takes over a month to return to normal. And for heavy smokers, the effects could last much longer, a new study suggests.

Child Development

Marijuana use in pregnancy damages kids learning

Children born to mothers who use marijuana during pregnancy may suffer a host of lasting mental defects.

Dope-smoking dads double risk of cot death (SIDS)

Dope-smoking dads double the risk of cot death, a survey in California has revealed.

Maternal marijuana use during lactation and infant development at ...

THC concentrates in the mother's milk and is absorbed and metabolized by the nursing infant.

Reproductive effects

The Effects of Marijuana on the Endocrine System

Marijuana directly effects the endocrine system causing:

reduced sperm counts, sperm deformations, shrunken testes size, degenerates the seminiferous tubules, halves testosterone levels, decreases libido, causes the accumulation of breast tissue in men, causes anovulation, causes an acute reduction in prolactin, reduces adrenocortical reserve causing reduced ability to respond to stress, inhibits growth hormone, and depresses thyroid activity.

Cannabis, cannabinoids and reproduction

Marijuana inhibits implantation and increases miscarriage rates. Marijuana use during or after birth may impair reproductive behavior of children when they reach adulthood.

Study finds marijuana use in rats stops reporduction Research Survey: Common Ancestors

Marijuana suppresses the production of luteinizing hormone in rats by stimulating the production of stress hormones. "It turns out that marijuana is a stressor, which might explain a lot of its effects on the brain and on people"

Marijuana firmly linked to infertility

Scientific American Tue, 12 Dec 2000

General Heal

There is little evidence that pot has any negative effects...

Uh, wrong. There is good and mounting evidence.

Mental Illness

Cannabis link to mental illness strenghtened

The link between regular cannabis use and later depression and schizophrenia has been significantly strengthened by three new studies.

Marijuana Use Increases Risk of psychiatric illness Cannabis link to depression

This study suggests that girls who use cannabis as teenagers are more likely to develop anxiety or depressive disorders.

Psychotic symptoms more likely with cannabis

Marijuana in adolescence and early adulthood increases the likelihood of psychotic symptoms in later life.

Study suggests marijuana abuse increses risk of depression

Subjects diagnosed with cannabis abuse at the start of the study were four times more likely to experience depressive symptoms.

Marijuana makes blood rush to the head

Smoking marijuana can affect blood flow in the brain so much that it takes over a month to return to normal. And for heavy smokers, the effects could last much longer, a new study suggests.

Child Development

Marijuana use in pregnancy damages kids learning

Children born to mothers who use marijuana during pregnancy may suffer a host of lasting mental defects.

Dope-smoking dads double risk of cot death (SIDS)

Dope-smoking dads double the risk of cot death, a survey in California has revealed.

Maternal marijuana use during lactation and infant development at ...

THC concentrates in the mother's milk and is absorbed and metabolized by the nursing infant.

Reproductive effects

The Effects of Marijuana on the Endocrine System

Marijuana directly effects the endocrine system causing:

reduced sperm counts, sperm deformations, shrunken testes size, degenerates the seminiferous tubules, halves testosterone levels, decreases libido, causes the accumulation of breast tissue in men, causes anovulation, causes an acute reduction in prolactin, reduces adrenocortical reserve causing reduced ability to respond to stress, inhibits growth hormone, and depresses thyroid activity.

Cannabis, cannabinoids and reproduction

Marijuana inhibits implantation and increases miscarriage rates. Marijuana use during or after birth may impair reproductive behavior of children when they reach adulthood.

Study finds marijuana use in rats stops reporduction Research Survey: Common Ancestors

Marijuana suppresses the production of luteinizing hormone in rats by stimulating the production of stress hormones. "It turns out that marijuana is a stressor, which might explain a lot of its effects on the brain and on people"

Marijuana firmly linked to infertility

Scientific American Tue, 12 Dec 2000

General Heal

There is little evidence that pot has any negative effects...

Uh, wrong. There is good and mounting evidence.

Mental Illness

Cannabis link to mental illness strenghtened

The link between regular cannabis use and later depression and schizophrenia has been significantly strengthened by three new studies.

Marijuana Use Increases Risk of psychiatric illness Cannabis link to depression

This study suggests that girls who use cannabis as teenagers are more likely to develop anxiety or depressive disorders.

Psychotic symptoms more likely with cannabis

Marijuana in adolescence and early adulthood increases the likelihood of psychotic symptoms in later life.

Study suggests marijuana abuse increses risk of depression

Subjects diagnosed with cannabis abuse at the start of the study were four times more likely to experience depressive symptoms.

Marijuana makes blood rush to the head

Smoking marijuana can affect blood flow in the brain so much that it takes over a month to return to normal. And for heavy smokers, the effects could last much longer, a new study suggests.

Child Development

Marijuana use in pregnancy damages kids learning

Children born to mothers who use marijuana during pregnancy may suffer a host of lasting mental defects.

Dope-smoking dads double risk of cot death (SIDS)

Dope-smoking dads double the risk of cot death, a survey in California has revealed.

Maternal marijuana use during lactation and infant development at ...

THC concentrates in the mother's milk and is absorbed and metabolized by the nursing infant.

Reproductive effects

The Effects of Marijuana on the Endocrine System

Marijuana directly effects the endocrine system causing:

reduced sperm counts, sperm deformations, shrunken testes size, degenerates the seminiferous tubules, halves testosterone levels, decreases libido, causes the accumulation of breast tissue in men, causes anovulation, causes an acute reduction in prolactin, reduces adrenocortical reserve causing reduced ability to respond to stress, inhibits growth hormone, and depresses thyroid activity.

Cannabis, cannabinoids and reproduction

Marijuana inhibits implantation and increases miscarriage rates. Marijuana use during or after birth may impair reproductive behavior of children when they reach adulthood.

Study finds marijuana use in rats stops reporduction Research Survey: Common Ancestors

Marijuana suppresses the production of luteinizing hormone in rats by stimulating the production of stress hormones. "It turns out that marijuana is a stressor, which might explain a lot of its effects on the brain and on people"

Marijuana firmly linked to infertility

Scientific American Tue, 12 Dec 2000

General Heal

There is little evidence that pot has any negative effects...

Uh, wrong. There is good and mounting evidence.

Mental Illness

Cannabis link to mental illness strenghtened

The link between regular cannabis use and later depression and schizophrenia has been significantly strengthened by three new studies.

Marijuana Use Increases Risk of psychiatric illness Cannabis link to depression

This study suggests that girls who use cannabis as teenagers are more likely to develop anxiety or depressive disorders.

Psychotic symptoms more likely with cannabis

Marijuana in adolescence and early adulthood increases the likelihood of psychotic symptoms in later life.

Study suggests marijuana abuse increses risk of depression

Subjects diagnosed with cannabis abuse at the start of the study were four times more likely to experience depressive symptoms.

Marijuana makes blood rush to the head

Smoking marijuana can affect blood flow in the brain so much that it takes over a month to return to normal. And for heavy smokers, the effects could last much longer, a new study suggests.

Child Development

Marijuana use in pregnancy damages kids learning

Children born to mothers who use marijuana during pregnancy may suffer a host of lasting mental defects.

Dope-smoking dads double risk of cot death (SIDS)

Dope-smoking dads double the risk of cot death, a survey in California has revealed.

Maternal marijuana use during lactation and infant development at ...

THC concentrates in the mother's milk and is absorbed and metabolized by the nursing infant.

Reproductive effects

The Effects of Marijuana on the Endocrine System

Marijuana directly effects the endocrine system causing:

reduced sperm counts, sperm deformations, shrunken testes size, degenerates the seminiferous tubules, halves testosterone levels, decreases libido, causes the accumulation of breast tissue in men, causes anovulation, causes an acute reduction in prolactin, reduces adrenocortical reserve causing reduced ability to respond to stress, inhibits growth hormone, and depresses thyroid activity.

Cannabis, cannabinoids and reproduction

Marijuana inhibits implantation and increases miscarriage rates. Marijuana use during or after birth may impair reproductive behavior of children when they reach adulthood.

Study finds marijuana use in rats stops reporduction Research Survey: Common Ancestors

Marijuana suppresses the production of luteinizing hormone in rats by stimulating the production of stress hormones. "It turns out that marijuana is a stressor, which might explain a lot of its effects on the brain and on people"

Marijuana firmly linked to infertility

Scientific American Tue, 12 Dec 2000

General Heal

From my inexplicably rejected story submitted hours ago:

The New Scientist reports:
On Thursday a new planet-sized object was found orbiting the Sun at a distance of between 35-51 AU (at different points in its orbit) and an inclination of 28 degrees to the plane of the inner planets. By comparison Pluto orbits at an average distance of 39 AU and an inclination if 17 degrees. (1 Astronomical Unit = the distance between the earth and the sun) If the object has a reflectivity similar to that of other Kuiper-belt bodies, it is approximately twice the size of Pluto. Jose-Luis Ortiz and his colleagues at Spain's Sierra Nevada Observatory discovered the object while reviewing data from 2003. The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts verified the obsevations and designated the object 2003 EL61.

Maybe not.

Not sure on this but graphics processors are also streaming processors.

http://www.gpgpu.org/

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7508

New Scientist article is here: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg187250 95.600

If you aren't careful, all the scifi/fantasy geeks who are in science/research will do this...

Not that this would necessarily be a bad thing though... It would most certainly be better than the NEW-TIES AI project from a few days ago.

...by combining the sims 2 with with Half Life 2:
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/9999/99 997674F1.JPG
at the request of a thousand horny teenagers wanting to see Dr Breen have it on with Alyx.

Since this is slashdot, you might appreciate the results of scientific tests in this area.

The UK Transport Research Laboratory did a number of tests on this recently. Among their conclusions, driving while high is less dangerous than driving after a single glass of wine (below the limit!), and getting high and drunk is better than drunk alone.

Read the summary at the New Scientist

That said, my opinion is that driving is dangerous enough anyway, so anything that impairs your judgement is bad. I always try to avoid becoming engaged with any distractions while driving, and I will not drink anything before driving (I don't smoke).

At the recent Society for Information Display show almost every major player had a flavor of electronic ink prototype at their booth.

You guys need to look around at what else is out there before you get too excited about a flashy news announcement.

Humans owe their big brains and sophisticated culture to a single genetic mutation that weakened our jaw muscles about 2.4 million years ago, a new study suggests.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4817

I'm just wondering if/when the following robot story is going to hit slashdot:

New Scientist: Robot hand performs remote breast checks

Here's the breast option

Recent studies indicate that there is no beneficial effect of vitamin C supplementation with respect to the common cold. They conclude that regular doses of at least 200 milligrams of vitamin C do not reduce the risk of a cold in the general population.

Don't fish have mercury? :P Besides, I hear synthetic vitamin D is better.http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=d n2858

This was answered on New Scientist's "Last Words" page at some point. I don't recall when, but it might be worth checking your local library for back issues - or maybe inquire to them and ask which issue it was.

it appears that killing the largest and oldest fish has a disproportionate effect on the population as the big ones tend to be the most prolific breeders.

The Mekong giant catfish would be an awful lot better off if this particular great-great-granddaddy/grandmommy had stayed in the water.

Probably not a good idea in light of this article (sorry you can't read the entire story without a subscription but you get the idea).

It might have something to do with the effect described in this article, which describes a ventricular assist device that uses a spinning impeller to move the blood around.

People implanted with this device have no pulse, which should be enough to really put the screaming willies into the Rise of the Machines brigade..

Although this doesn't say that the implantees no longer have a heartbeat, it does mean that when they are lying in bed or something like that, they don't have the sound of blood pulsing through their inner ear,. Apparently the sound is a gentle swishing noise a bit like a washing machine. Certainly, I think it would be eerie, until you got used to it.

You're drawing a conclusion from a sample covering no more than two hundred years for an object which has persisted for five billion years.
Earth and its respective ecosystem is startlingly resilient in comparison with man's technology. During the recent east coast blackout, the air became remarkably cleaner, life is tenacious and will seek out any livable environment in order to exploit the resources and continue itself.

Of course some apparently smarter people disagree.

Oh, and from about this time back in 2003:

And New Scientist.com reports that a decade-long storm of galactic dust is entering our Solar System and some scientists worry that it might be thick enough to effect the sun's warming of the Earth. They ask if a storm like this caused the past ice ages and mass extinction.

this isn't a bad read either.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg186249 45.800 For the cost of a new car you too can pretend you are Iron Man. I would actually get one for my grandpa so he could walk again. It's a pretty neat technology.

RTFA this is not an immortality treatment - they reckon it can be used to help save people who have suffered severe blood loss. By your logic that we should just let people die because of population concerns we should strip all our hospitals of life-support machines too.

Anyway the population thing its not quite as bad as people used to fear say back in the 70's and so on. The world population growth rate is actually reducing significantly and the population growth curve is levelling off because of declinig fertility rates.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/09/10707322 12097.html?from=storyrhs
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3444

Given that the largest war in history (World War 2) only killed 50-100 million ppl I don't see how holding back medical treatments is going to have any significant affect on population growth or decline. Its been proven time and time again that the only way to control population is through sensible family planning.

Sheep with human brains and other organs.
or
Google Search
- The glow from the firefly has been inserted into tobacco plants making them glow in the dark.
or Google Search
- A human embryo cloned using a cell from a man's leg and a cow's ovum lived and developed for twelve days until it was terminated.
or Google Search
- Goats bred with a spider gene produce milk which is processed to make "BioSteel".. The US military has set up their own goat farm to make bulletproof vests, aerospace and medical supplies.
or Google Search
- Extended Life Spans
or Google Search

This is not just a turning point in history. It's also the fulcrum upon which technology balances our very evolution. ted

The military, Nancy, uses these murder simulators, killing simulators...

GRACE: Oh!

THOMPSON: ... to break down the inhibition of new recruits to kill.

there`s a University of Indiana study that came out three days ago that showed that kids process these games in the part of the brain that leads to copycatting.

THOMPSON: Children don`t have a 1st Amendment...

This sounds a lot like an article I found linked off Ars yesterday. Apparently some companies are trying to combine LARPing with GPS and computer games to make some sort of real life game. Anyone know if there's anyone doing this in San Francisco?

Gamers turn cities into a battleground

It still amazes me that no one has tried a small scale test of solar sails with a vacuum and a laser (Some tests were performed but they all seem to focus on the problem of deployment, NOT propulsion). Especially as some people believe that the basic physics of it is wrong http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3895 Basically the question is, if the photon provides energy to the sail then the photon must lose energy. So what happens to the photon? If the sail is a perfect mirror then the photon must leave it with the same colour (freq/wavelength) as it hit it. And according to Einstien the speed of light doesn't change. So if the photon has the same amount of energy and speed when it leaves the sail as it did when it arrived, which energy is being used to power the ship?

No, you are wrong. What we are seeing are bad patents that are neither unique nor novel and companies abusing the patent system here in the US.

So we end up with patents like Amazon's assinine "one-click" patent, to Kodak pulling out their Wang patents against Java.

I could post links to bad software patents all day long that pretty much 'eclipse' your idea of "really good arguments".

Personally, I take a more balanced view

But the problem is that the system is so abused that it is dishonest, if not immoral. You would think that EU representatives/legal committees would recognize this, hence my parent post.

Also, I find your comment about little software companies really offensive, as many of us work for such companies and it's how we put food on the table.

Hear, hear.

I've been quite surprised at the influx of "odd" observations over the past few years; I certainly wasn't expecting local pancake structures.

You raise a pretty good point, though, on the structure of disks, large and small, in the first place.

Plasma physicists jump up and down that the in-vogue theories treat large-scale magnetic fields and currents as non-existent, as though charge must cancel out on the large scale, therefore it has no effect. Sometimes, they make a good point - some of the disk systems do resemble dynamos.

Some of the papers I've read in passing on "push" gravity theories estimate that the force of gravity is proportional to 1/d**2 locally, but trends to 1/d on the outsides of the galaxy. Otherwise, there's a lot of unseen matter there (and we haven't seen anything resembling the high-velocity clouds gathering on the edges of the galaxy)... or, alternately, we're ignoring a dynamo effect.

Or... etc. (Assuming we stop before postulating that angels sit on the edge fanning galaxies with their wings ;)

It's the bank of poorly-explained pieces that will lead us to our next big theoretical breakthrough (or revolution) - but it takes some special vigilance to keep track of what hasn't actually been explained properly, and what's been merely papered over.

Too many tweaks. They should have realized something was wrong sometime between inflation theory, and dark-energy-requiring ever-increasing-acceleration theory. Plenty of duct tape on things already :)

By the way, speaking of aether... ;)

I can understand the establishment position somewhat... it's either duct tape or anarchy. There's got to be a standard to measure against, but if the explanations start stretching thin, they need an exit strategy.

If that day comes, they will need to exit to something, though. What's out there that can explain the pancakes at multiple scales of the universe and other phenomena as well?

Perhaps they need to take a page out of other research and development, and apportion some funds to "blue sky" research.

The biggest dividends will come from research that's reviewed for logic, self-consistency and explanation of phenomena without regard to how well it fits into prior patterns. Pro-Ams and people in fields with more easily measureable results (applied sciences, for one) realize these benefits, but being in a field where so many assumptions have to be made to interpret the results in the first place make this next to impossible for the theoreticians to condone dissent.

Everybody's MMV :)

-- Ritchie

they have got laser beams in the lab to travel faster than the accepted speed of light in the vacuum. Have a read here: Article