Thank you, this answers a lot of questions for me. I have a very superficial understanding of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, I don't think I realized how closely tied it was to this stuff. I'll have to do some reading on this, my interest is piqued. Thanks again.
Kris
I don't know much about physics in general, let alone quantum physics but I seem to recall hearing or reading that neutrons and protons "pop in and out of existence". Maybe I misunderstood what I heard. However, if that's the case what makes it such an outlandish suggestion that the universe came about in the same manner (aside from the "nothing can come from nothing" argument)? Perhaps it's easier to imagine that the microscopic particles can pop in and out of existence because they seem so small to us. Is it naive of me to think that scale has such a role in our perception of possibility? I just read this here: Apart from the quarks that constitute the nucleons (i.e. neutrons and protons) (these are called "valence quarks") there also exists a "sea of quarks", which continually pop into and out of existence due to quantum fluctuations.
Can someone with a background in physics explain how this is possible?
As a poor college student and lowly partime computer repair technician, it's a pretty big deal to me. True, I will probably not be in these circumstances in 10 years (please, god...) but what of the 14 year old today who will be in my shoes in ten years? Broadcast TV is free, it's easy and when I want to watch The Simpsons, I don't need to fire up some fancy flat screen HDTV that can predict the future and make my dinner. I adjust my tin-foil-covered-rabbit-ears accordingly and thank the heavens for one less monthly bill. I think it's easy to say
since most people have cable or satellite, it's not really *that* big a problem, is it?
when you are one of the "most" people you mentioned. But, as with anything, when you're on the receiving end of a screw job it's a little harder to swallow. I was not able to find any statistics on the number of households that do not subscribe to cable or satellite. I would be interested to know if I am truly among the staggering minority that you seem to think.
That's 4 shows a week for $30,000 a year... split that 2, 3, 4, 5 ways or more. You'd better not have a house or apartment waiting at home that you need to pay rent/mortgage for. Plus the cost of gas, food, paying your booking agent, paying for places to stay on the rare occasions that you don't have to sleep in your disgusting, noxious van, the cost of repairing your broken equipment and who knows what else you'll break on tour...
If you're playing 3 or 4 shows a week I wouldn't expect your band to be playing in the same town which pretty much makes you a touring band, that precludes any kind of job other than part time or seasonal work at the mall.
Also, it's great that you think a band can sell 20 of each piece of their merch at a show (I'm not being sarcastic), and on a good night that might be true but much of the time it just doesn't work like that. Especially not if you're a relatively unknown touring band.
Slashdot Mirror
Thank you, this answers a lot of questions for me. I have a very superficial understanding of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, I don't think I realized how closely tied it was to this stuff. I'll have to do some reading on this, my interest is piqued. Thanks again. Kris
I don't know much about physics in general, let alone quantum physics but I seem to recall hearing or reading that neutrons and protons "pop in and out of existence". Maybe I misunderstood what I heard.
However, if that's the case what makes it such an outlandish suggestion that the universe came about in the same manner (aside from the "nothing can come from nothing" argument)? Perhaps it's easier to imagine that the microscopic particles can pop in and out of existence because they seem so small to us. Is it naive of me to think that scale has such a role in our perception of possibility?
I just read this here:
Apart from the quarks that constitute the nucleons (i.e. neutrons and protons) (these are called "valence quarks") there also exists a "sea of quarks", which continually pop into and out of existence due to quantum fluctuations.
Can someone with a background in physics explain how this is possible?
As a poor college student and lowly partime computer repair technician, it's a pretty big deal to me. True, I will probably not be in these circumstances in 10 years (please, god...) but what of the 14 year old today who will be in my shoes in ten years?
Broadcast TV is free, it's easy and when I want to watch The Simpsons, I don't need to fire up some fancy flat screen HDTV that can predict the future and make my dinner. I adjust my tin-foil-covered-rabbit-ears accordingly and thank the heavens for one less monthly bill.
I think it's easy to say
since most people have cable or satellite, it's not really *that* big a problem, is it?
when you are one of the "most" people you mentioned. But, as with anything, when you're on the receiving end of a screw job it's a little harder to swallow.
I was not able to find any statistics on the number of households that do not subscribe to cable or satellite. I would be interested to know if I am truly among the staggering minority that you seem to think.
That's 4 shows a week for $30,000 a year... split that 2, 3, 4, 5 ways or more. You'd better not have a house or apartment waiting at home that you need to pay rent/mortgage for. Plus the cost of gas, food, paying your booking agent, paying for places to stay on the rare occasions that you don't have to sleep in your disgusting, noxious van, the cost of repairing your broken equipment and who knows what else you'll break on tour... If you're playing 3 or 4 shows a week I wouldn't expect your band to be playing in the same town which pretty much makes you a touring band, that precludes any kind of job other than part time or seasonal work at the mall. Also, it's great that you think a band can sell 20 of each piece of their merch at a show (I'm not being sarcastic), and on a good night that might be true but much of the time it just doesn't work like that. Especially not if you're a relatively unknown touring band.