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Australian High Court Hears Some Weird Science

Posted by timothy on from the mud-rocks-lead-cherries dept.

mosch writes "In an extraordinarily unusual case, the Australian High Court listened to TJ Rout's arguments that he can make light travel faster than c, due to the properties of division and multiplication by zero. The transcript makes for excellent reading. Next up, the Supreme Court hears the testimony of Time Cube."

59 comments

  1. Let's all laugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Everyone laugh at the man who is obsessed with multiplying and dividing by zero. Everyone laugh at the poor man who obviously has a mental illness. The Australian justices no doubt wanted to laugh as well, but because they are stuffy old men they couldn't. Let's all laugh at them too.

    And while we're at it, let's all laugh at the prick who thinks the spectacle of a madman is funny.

    1. Re:Let's all laugh by Gord.ca · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't think it's that bad.

      First, he sounds more deluded than mentally ill. There is a difference. If he's ill that would contribute to the delusion, but I couldn't diagnose from the website.

      Also, if he is ill, so what? I remember a time when I thought of stopping telling insane jokes from respect for the mentally ill. Then I was diagnosed as one, and I've been telling more insanity jokes ever since. Sulking about it doesn't help anything. At least laughing marginally increases the happiness of the world. Getting him help would be the best, but I don't see a way to do that, do you?

      If all he's good for is to be laughed at, then we must laugh at him or reduce him to uselessness.

      --
      The opinons expressed are those of the voices in the author's head and are not necessarily those of the author.
    2. Re:Let's all laugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
      and then let's all laugh at the fact that this guy somehow managed to get his "case" heard by the highest court in australia. perhaps there is something wrong with the australian legal system.

      Or perhaps his ideas are correct and you're cruel to insinuate that he has a mental illness.

    3. Re:Let's all laugh by mosch · · Score: 4, Insightful
      My goal wasn't simply to have everybody laugh at the guy, though he does make excellent joke fodder. The fact of the matter is that this man somehow managed to get Australia's highest court to hear a case where the plaintiff's goal was to legislate science.

      This hearing was, in my mind, as assinine as if the fellow who runs TimeCube managed to get a hearing with the Supreme Court, to try to legislate that there are 4 simultaneous days within each 24 hour earth rotation. How does this happen? Why does it happen? What would happen if the guy had been sane?

      It seemed to me to be a real-life version of the urban legend pi === 3 law, except with the judicial branch being abused.

    4. Re:Let's all laugh by RealErmine · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Everyone laugh at the man who is obsessed with multiplying and dividing by zero. Everyone laugh at the poor man who obviously has a mental illness. The Australian justices no doubt wanted to laugh as well, but because they are stuffy old men they couldn't. Let's all laugh at them too.

      I felt that the justices did a good job of not laughing at this man who obviously has some severe issues dealing with the meaning of reality. The fact that they did not laugh and let Mr. Rout continue with his case shows that they were impartial in their dealing with a person who is mentally ill. The Justice's responses were concisely and consistently aimed to allow Mr. Rout to present his legal case, which he continually failed to do.

      While I read through the transcript, though in all it is humorous from a detatched point of view, I was mostly amazed at the depth of Mr. Rout's belief that all of scientific progress and 5000+ years of mathematics were wrong just because he could not seem to fathom the idea that the number zero could stand for nothing. It was possible that he was so afraid of the notion that nothing could be quantified that he could no longer function in reality.

      Obviously, from the dialogue, Mr. Rout is an educated man, but try to think of the effect that his educated speculations had on his mind. That's the point where things get scary.

      --
      Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
    5. Re:Let's all laugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not sure zero has even been around for 5000+ years. I couldn't find a quick reference, but I found this long one.

    6. Re:Let's all laugh by dnahelix · · Score: 1

      "obviously has a mental illness."

      Isn't that what they said about Galileo and Einstein?

      --
      Slashdot Eds Link Anonymous Posts With Logged Posts
      They Are Vermin Feeding On Each Other's Feces.
      I Hate \.
    7. Re:Let's all laugh by rjwhitney · · Score: 1

      We must remember that throughout time those who make the most memorable contributions to science are usually laughed at right up until the moment they are vindicated (usually post-mortum). Genius walks this side of insanity after all. Now, I'm not saying that we can control time by altering the speed of light, nor am I an advocate of the timecube. However things we take for granted today were once ridiculed and derided by "wiser" and more "knowledgable" men. Who knows what the next great scientific breakthrough will be.

    8. Re:Let's all laugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you got beat up a lot as a kid, didn't you?

    9. Re:Let's all laugh by DarkVein · · Score: 1

      The symbol for zero is relatively recent. The concept is pretty basic. The Greeks had zero, the Romans did not. The Romans lacked zero simply because they did not calculate on paper, did not philosophize on the concept of mathematics, and only applied it. So, mathematic knowledge was passed along as part of the use of the abacus [of which, the Romans masterful adapters and producers], and Roman Numerals were used to record the results. They certainly understood zero, could reach it on the abacus, and there's no shortage of Latin words for "nothing".

      --

      I'm as mimsy as the next borogove but your mome raths are completely outgrabe.

    10. Re:Let's all laugh by blancolioni · · Score: 1

      We must remember that throughout time those who make the most memorable contributions to science are usually laughed at right up until the moment they are vindicated (usually post-mortum).

      And let us also remember those brave souls who were scorned for their theories, laughed at by the establishment, and died in poverty and obscurity, bitter at an ignorant and uncaring world. And yet, years later, through the application of modern science and learning, they were conclusively proved wrong on every count.

      There's a lot more of these guys.

    11. Re:Let's all laugh by cthugha · · Score: 1

      It happened because everyone has the unqualified right to approach a court and at least have it entertain the case. After it's done that it can then chuck the case out for vexatiousness, absurdity, etc, but it at least must grant the right to approach. Just think of the alternative: if the court had a discretion in whether it would let you in the door, your right to access justice would be compromised.

      The Hight Court is slightly different because of the "special leave" filtering mechanism it uses. Essentially, you only have the right to seek leave to appeal, and the court has a discretion as to whether it wishes to hear the appeal. This guy sought leave, had his 20 minutes in front of a single justice (Gleeson CJ in this case), appealed against denial of leave, had another 20 minutes in front of two justices (Kirby and the newly-elevated Heydon JJ), and had leave denied again. The filtering mechanism worked as it should, and there wasn't a serious abuse of the court or its resources here. Good for a laugh though.

    12. Re:Let's all laugh by blancolioni · · Score: 1

      and then let's all laugh at the fact that this guy somehow managed to get his "case" heard by the highest court in australia. perhaps there is something wrong with the australian legal system.

      From reading the transcript, I infer that he stood as a candidate for the seat of Fraser, and when he lost (because unlike the British, we don't elect nutters to parliament), he contested the results.

      Contested election results are a serious matter, and I'm not altogether surprised it ended up in the High Court.

    13. Re:Let's all laugh by Capsaicin · · Score: 1
      and then let's all laugh at the fact that this guy somehow managed to get his "case" heard by the highest court in australia.

      No he didn't get his case heard, that's what that transcript was about, it was an appeal from a refusal to grant leave to have his case heard. The reason the High Court (as opposed to some lower court) heard this application, is that court has originial jurisdicition in regard to disputed returns in federal elections and the applicant stood as a candidate for the seat of Fraser, thereby enlivening his right at least to apply for leave to be heard.

      --
      Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
  2. Sounded more like Alex Chiu to me, only angrier by Gord.ca · · Score: 1

    Summary of web site (both this guy's, and Alex Chiu's) :
    I have the ultimate theory of the universe! I can do amazing things like [create energy from nothing|live forever] with this knowledge! It involves [dividing by zero|the magnetic fields of the body]. I am one of the greatest scientific minds in history! I prove it by putting pictures of great scientists on my website! But the establishment surpresses my work, through ignorance or evil. But one day they will be forced to acknowledge me as one of the greatest minds in history! Well, all my theories make sense to me, so even though they haven't been properly tested, they must be right! I will now expound on my accumulated wisdom, as I can see you want to bask in the glow of my obviously superior intellect.
    [...]

    The big difference that I see, is that Alex has been able to turn his knowledge into a marketable product (Eternal Life Rings), while this guy apparently seeks to profit through collecting royalties on his IP. He talks about copyright... But you can't copyright an idea. Maybe patent... But you can't patent it either. Well, nowdays, maybe, but I didn't see any patent numbers, which IIRC Alex displays boastfully. It seems to be working out better for Alex, seeing as the latter sounds a lot more angry at the world.

    TimeCube is even worse than that. IIRC, no practical applications suggested, and even less consistant.

    --
    The opinons expressed are those of the voices in the author's head and are not necessarily those of the author.
  3. He has a case... by Hard_Code · · Score: 5, Funny
    Australian Bill of Rights

    Article IXIX:

    1. And the law is their set of dividing and multiplying by zero. As long as they maintain their incorrect dividing and multiplying by zero, then they enable me to cause things to cease to exist, and that is why I have the power to do so.

    Coauthor: Yahoo Serious

    I have to say, he has a pretty solid case. I cannot believe that Australia is denying this man's right to divide and multiply by zero because obviously he has shown time and the speed of light equal one another, such you alter one, you alter the other, and this in turn enables the altering of the speed of light within Einstein's relativity. I mean, that is fundamental to splitting the Beer Atom!
    --

    It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
  4. Interesting, x/0 = infinity... by narratorDan · · Score: 1

    This concept is used in economics to indicate infinite inelasticity of demand at any price. In other words, units sold (traded, etc) does not change with price if there is no demand. While I still think of x/0 = undefined for mathmatics, the idea that x/0 = infinity is interesting.

    but IANAE

    NarratorDan

    --
    "If you're not confused by quantum mechanics, you really don't understand it." - Niels Bohr
    1. Re:Interesting, x/0 = infinity... by j.e.hahn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not a question of x/0 maybe being undefined. It *IS* undefined. A common exercise in undergrad math course is to have 2 functions f(x) and g(x) where g(0)=0 and then show that depending on how you choose f and g the limit of f(x)/g(x) as x tends to 0 can take on ANY value you desire.

      Division by zero is completely meaningless. Yes there are cases where division by zero creates a removable singularity, and for continuity's sake you can define a new curve/sequence/function/whatever with the convenient value. But that doesn't make the division meaningful...

      Oh well. At least he isn't trying to state a value for log(0) -- there's an essential singularity at that point. (The riemann surface for log is very cool...)

    2. Re:Interesting, x/0 = infinity... by capoccia · · Score: 1

      probably economists are just simplifing the mathmatical property that the limit of x divided by y as y approaches zero is infinity.

    3. Re:Interesting, x/0 = infinity... by DarkVein · · Score: 1

      Or they're counting cd burners and losses due to piracy.

      --

      I'm as mimsy as the next borogove but your mome raths are completely outgrabe.

  5. can't rtfa.... by bryanthompson · · Score: 1

    geeze, anyone tried to read his website?
    [sarcasm]Mabye if he wrote a little BIGGER and used the word evil some more he'd have an argument. [/sarcasm]

  6. Capsule review of the transcript by DuckDuckBOOM! · · Score: 1

    Wow.

    --
    Life is like surrealism: if you have to have it explained to you, you can't afford it.
  7. kaaskoekies by chewy · · Score: 2, Funny
    " KIRBY J: It makes statements concerning the former Chief Justice and said that he is off with the late Mr Skase in Majorca in Spain, which is simply not the case. "


    a counter-attack with lawyer-humor? :)
  8. lol! by smoondog · · Score: 1

    My fave lines:

    There are 4 simultaneous 24 hour days
    within a single rotation of the Earth.
    You may be too damn evil to accept it.

    Heh, heh....

    -Sean

    1. Re:lol! by orangesquid · · Score: 1

      I think I'm too damn evil to understand anything on that page. Of course, maybe that's because I worship a monofaced evil integrated academic racist Word God.

      Huh?

      --
      --TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
    2. Re:lol! by Hard_Code · · Score: 1
      I sort of like:
      Evil Ass Educators Suppress Time Cube,
      and dumb ass students condone such evil.
      Cubeless institutions are spreaders of evil,
      and students lack mentality to challenge it.

      Ah, a timeless axiom of the human condition. Or The Onion news headlines? YOU DECIDE! :)
      --

      It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
    3. Re:lol! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no, its becuase you are EDUCATED STUPID

  9. Time cube by dacarr · · Score: 1

    The guy who authored this page reminds me of some people I've seen on OCTA's route 43(PDF WARNING) on a full moon.

    --
    This sig no verb.
  10. I once thought I spoke fluent english... by mivok · · Score: 2, Funny

    but this article is giving me severe doubts.

    1. Re:I once thought I spoke fluent english... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmmm... I liked Marko Rodin's stuff better. But maybe that's just because he's my "local" indecipherable math guy.

  11. It's all a conspiracy! by fm6 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The nice thing about conspiracy theories: they make it unnecessary for you to acknowledge any criticism of your beliefs. Can't patent your perpetual motion machine? It's a conspiracy of physicists. Can't get a permit to operate a chemical factory in a residential neighborhood? It's a conspiracy of environmentalists! Can't play your stereo loud as you would like? It's a conspiracy of classical music fanatics!

    My favorite satire of this attitude is Ed Subitsky's satire of Velikoskyism, "Worlds In Collusion". (Printed in the National Lampoon a long time ago. Don't know where else it's available.) Among other assertions, Subitsky asserts that refrigerators don't really need electricity -- it's all a conspiracy to make you pay your utility bill. If you look in the secret compartment, you'll find the real source of the coolness: ice cubes!

  12. brothers by capoccia · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    I think TJ Rout and Iraq's information minister are brothers.

    Mohammed Saeed Sahhaf continues to make claims that are just as wacky:
    The enemy was wiped out. It retreated. When we pounded it, it went away farther. When we stop firing, they return and advance, maneuvering and establishing presence in places here and there. This aggression will end in failure. After its destruction, Iraq will remain and it will be led by President Saddam Hussein."
  13. wtf? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why does this guy keep calling me evil?

  14. Nobody's laughing by fm6 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why is it so obvious that Rout is mentally ill? Lots of people have silly theories. I've seen "proofs" that Pi is a rational number, that humans are all descended from Martians, that the international monetary system is a conspiracy of Jews, freemasons, Catholics, and the British Royal family... Perfectly "normal" people believe this crap. Hell, more than one popular TV show celebrates it! And some well meaning fools waste a lot of time trying to debunk silly theories. Which is a lost cause -- this stuff comes from a need to believe, and need to feel important. Very basic human desires, and not symptoms of mental illness!

    1. Re:Nobody's laughing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Why is it so obvious that Rout is mentally ill?

      Are you kidding? Have you actually read the transcript? The bloke's as mad as a cut snake!

      It is not merely the falsity of the claims he makes, it is in his manner of presenting them, feverish, incomprehendible, tangential, and yet with recurrent motifs, the fusing of pseudo-science, politics, economics, his schizophrenic association of words, eg his equation of physical law with law. Most of all, it is his inability to adapt and behave appropriately in a social setting that defines his illness. This inability to negotiate reality is the very definition of mental illness.

      His hearing is based in a motion filed in regard to electoral matters, but he is totally incapable to collecting his thoughts for long enough even to address the subject matter that brought him before the court.

  15. Funny, but no ha-ha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1) The poor guy quite clearly has a mental illness. That's not funny.

    2) The judge(s) probably wanted to laugh, but let the guy have his 20 minutes, as per the law. That's not funny.

    3) How the @#$! did the guy make it to the highest court of law in Australia? *That* is funny.

    1. Re:Funny, but no ha-ha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      3) How the @#$! did the guy make it to the highest court of law in Australia? *That* is funny.

      By standing as a canditate in the federal election. The High Court has original jurisdiction (ie the first port of call) in matters arising from federal elections.

  16. The proper way to deal with this kind of nutcase: by Alsee · · Score: 1

    If I were on the Australian High Court I would I would say the following to him:

    Hmmm, yes. Very impressive. This clearly has global implications. You need to bring your case before WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization. Case dissmissed!

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  17. not an urban legend... sadly by boarder · · Score: 3, Informative

    The pi == 3 law is not an urban legend. It was an actual bill introduced into the Indiana House. The text of the bill is here, a site dedicated to the debunking of rumours.

    Also on that site is a bill about public erections being illegal.

    nice.

    --
    IANAL, but I play one on /.
    1. Re:not an urban legend... sadly by mosch · · Score: 1

      Damn you and your emeth truth! I was a happier man when I thought it was an urban legend.

  18. Favorite part by helix400 · · Score: 1

    MR ROUT: No, it does because the dividing and multiplying by zero, the set that they are adhering to, enables me - it causes things to cease to exist. Now, I have proven everything is on nothing so if everything is on nothing and you multiply it by zero, then the entire universe and the world does not exist. I have proven it conclusively. I am not hiding. . . . That is why this "white feather" letter, it has been sent to every one of these vice-chancellors of these universities and I am accusing them of conspiracy in the stealing of this technology. I have sent it to John Howard, John Howard the coward, he is a coward, and so is Simon Crean and the whole frigging lot of them.

    KIRBY J: You must not abuse the occasion to be calling people names.

    I about died laughing reading this!

  19. Re:The proper way to deal with this kind of nutcas by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    His bank robbery: "Okay, nobody move or I'll divide by zero. I mean it!"

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  20. He's rather inappropriate by Thing+1 · · Score: 1
    He tried to insert some homosexual humor into the proceedings. This is rather distasteful:

    KIRBY J: Mr Rout, the document you have tendered to be filed in the Court is called an electoral petition.

    MR ROUT: Yes.

    KIRBY J: It appears to challenge the election to the Australian Capital Territory seat of Fraser.

    MR ROUT: Yes.

    KIRBY J: It makes statements concerning the former Chief Justice and said that he is off with the late Mr Skase in Majorca in Spain, which is simply not the case.

    MR ROUT: Yes, a little humour added there.

    KIRBY J: It just has nothing to do with the case. We are very busy people, I am afraid, and you seem to be wasting our time.

    MR ROUT: No, because you are called upon to apply the law.

    KIRBY J: Exactly.

    I think he has "physical law" confused with "legislated law". He mentions "multiplying and dividing by zero" many, many times but it's not clear what his replacement for those operations is. Perhaps he has a bigger clue than the rest of us, but it's not clear from this transcript.

    He comes off as someone rather vindictive who is abusing the court system. And the officers of the court appear to entertain his testimony without mocking him, but ultimately deny his motion.

    --
    I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
  21. what if? by greywire · · Score: 1

    it turns out that, whatever the hell it is he's talking about, turns out to be true?

    Or any of the other seemingly wacky ideas people have these days?

    Highly unlikely, but what if?

    As a programmer, I would love to have the "law" repealed that makes divide by zero an error condition... :)

    --
    -- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
  22. WARNING - DANGER by dnahelix · · Score: 1

    Reading the entire transcript will cause a massive migraine headache!

    --
    Slashdot Eds Link Anonymous Posts With Logged Posts
    They Are Vermin Feeding On Each Other's Feces.
    I Hate \.
  23. Rout's website by isn't+my+name · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A Google search turned up Rout's web site which includes The White Feather Letter mentioned in the High Court transcript, as well as many other interesting items. Though, I could not find any conplete explanation of his theories.

    There was this interesting piece:

    25th Jan 1994: I have proven, the 1st law of thermodynamics being, Newton's Law of conservation of energy is wrong. Using the famous Hubble red shift of 1929, that revealed light from distant galaxies was stretched into the red on a light spectrum, proving the universe was expanding. Proof:

    What they all have failed to perceive in 65 yrs of brain blindness is that energy is contained in the wavelength of light and the expanding universe is stretching the wavelength, so straightening it, and in straightening it is causing energy to cease to exist. The expanding universe is converting energy into nothing. This confirms my statements in the past that NOTHING is of a higher and different state of energy.

    1. Re:Rout's website by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you for not using "Google" as a verb. I'd make you a friend but for some reason can't log on now...

    2. Re:Rout's website by SuperBanana · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is far more telling:
      "A Dr Hall from the Nuclear Physics Faculty ANU, around 1994, wrote a very nasty letter to me warning me I'd be ostracized by the the Science Establishment if I didn't change my attitude. He meant I had to be subservient, pay homage and grovel to my intellectual and scientific inferiors. People like me are no good at all at being a follower of any religion."

      The answer to that one is "no, you shouldn't go calling the head of the Australian Royal Academy of Science a 'bitch' after she warns you that she considers your communications with her threatening."

      Like most people who claim to have 'disproven' various laws of physics, they don't understand, or misapply, other laws. He presents zero physical evidence, except a tangle of his own theories and "proofs', none of which can be found. The incredibly poor grammar only helps to confuse the reader- someone get the boy a book on proper grammar and punctuation and tell him to come back in a year. While he's at it, he can publish all these proofs, and give exact references to where his work has been stolen(ie, where has it shown up, please.)

      Regardless, if he's threatening/harassing members of the scientific community, then there should be legal action against him, and as part of that, he should be psychologically evaluated.

      --
      Please help metamoderate.
    3. Re:Rout's website by suitti · · Score: 1
      NOTHING is of a higher and different state of energy.
      He's in good company. The ontological argument goes something like this:
      God is defined as a perfect being.
      Nonexistence is an imperfection.
      Therefore God exists.

      My favorite formulation goes like this:

      Nothing is better than life in Heaven.
      A Ham sandwich is better than nothing.
      Therefore, a Ham sandwich is better than life in heaven.

      At best, he's confusing energy and power. The red shift does not destroy energy, but it does reduce power. If you integrate the lower power over time, you still get the same total energy for the same photons.

      In the original Big Bang, the photons aren't redshifted by the stretching the fabric of the universe, they're redshifted because, due to expansion, the further away things are, the faster they are receeding from our vantage point.

      It isn't clear to me that today's dark energy theories suggest any additional red shift.

      I'm pretty sure that I do not want my toaster powered by fusion explosions, even if they are underground.

      --
      -- Stephen.
  24. Infinite argument by fm6 · · Score: 1
    Division by zero is completely meaningless. Yes there are cases where division by zero creates a removable singularity, and for continuity's sake you can define a new curve/sequence/function/whatever with the convenient value. But that doesn't make the division meaningful...
    I should stay away from this issue: my math stinks, and we're getting into a weird area of philosophy. Oh well...

    You're assuming that the familiar logical system of Calculus 101 is the only way of defining concepts like "zero" and "infinity". But that's not true. There are alternate approaches that I'm not qualified to get into (basically, some mathematicians are trying to resolve the ambiguities Newton tapdanced around when he invented Calculus).

    And even if you don't get into that kind of quibble, division by zero is only undefined in the limited context of "standard" real numbers. It makes perfect sense to define division by zero in the context of complex numbers.

    1. Re:Infinite argument by jman11 · · Score: 1

      I'll assume you are talking about the Riemann sphere. In this case infinity is not a number, it doesn't obey most of the field properties.

      While he is assuming the "101 Calculus" this is also the model that is repeatedly used throughout maths. If you are talking about the real numbers and fields in general then 0 is bad.

      It's quite likely those mathematicians who you talk about are the regular fruits trying to do this sort of stuff.

  25. OT: Only 50% of Aussie males finish high school by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    High School was described as unfriendly to boys,
    on one of this morning's current events on ABC's
    Radio National.

    (It may be so, as around 70% of girls graduate.)

    So, what do you expect...

    PS Mental illness is also rife, so
    what do you expect to read in a
    High Court transcript...? ;-)

  26. Its funnier when by Hecatonchires · · Score: 1

    In an argument about science, he starts talking about the prime minister and the leader of the federal opposition...

    --

    Yay me!

  27. Google search? by CaptainCarrot · · Score: 1

    You also might simply have clicked on the links in the story...

    --
    And the brethren went away edified.
  28. He's been at this for a while by Millard+Fillmore · · Score: 1

    Here's a link to a filing he made in 1996.

  29. I'm a cubarian - ask me why not by thenerd · · Score: 1

    Teachers are hired evil word pedants who enslave childish minds to a lifetime stupidity.

    Don't word murder your children - don't take away their vocabulary to describe Nature's Harmonic Time Cube...

    --
    The camels are coming. I'm in love.
  30. TimeCube and antilinks... by dargaud · · Score: 1
    I'd never heard of TimeCube, and I'm not disapointed by his webpage... if there is a Nobel prize in stupidity and mediocrity, it should be awarded to that guy (or was this all generated by an Eliza engine ?).

    Which brings to mind, putting a link to such a website from Slashdot (or anywhere) actually enhances the guy's popularity with websites like Google. Isn't there a way to do an antilink: link to the page, but in a way that shows that you disaprove of the content and that the web search engines should lower the site's rating ? I have a hunch that this has been discussed before, if not I'm running to the nearest patent office...

    --
    Non-Linux Penguins ?
  31. Insanity by d3ut3r0n · · Score: 1

    Although these are pretty damn funny, it's sad to see insane people struggle for vindication of their whacky ideas - obviously with considerable mental anguish. Perhaps this is a sign of the information age? Instead of witches, astrologers, numerologists, and occultists, we have modern-day 'psychoscientists'. I was given a sharp reminder of how unstable people's minds can be at an open-to-the-public lecture in Harvard uni's astronomy department last year. People sat through a great lecture on the life of Galileo and afterwards were invited to observe the near-full moon's surface and a binary star system through the facility's telescopes. I had guessed that most of the attendees were amateur astronomers and enthusiasts, but while waiting in line with one of my old roommates, an old lady tried to start a conversation. She was rambling about how she was born in Eastern Europe and was a child of the moon or some such with a direct connection with the cosmos and god... I wondered had she completely misunderstood what the astronomy department was researching these days and/or saw the irony between her and the subject matter presented in the lecture, that is, Galileo's life long struggle against the ignorance (and arrogance) of the church? Perhaps these people get the feeling of inspiration that science brings many of us, but completely misunderstand the science of it?