could subatomic particles affect it's function and accuracy? We are talking about atomic clocks here, mate. They measure the vibrations of single atoms, which is the closest we can come to true measurement of time. In fact, our units of time are defined as certain amounts of such vibrations. The guys who constructed the clocks were also fully aware of all particles that could possibly *affect* the mechanism (not taking into account the force-carrying particles of quantum physics, whose existence are not exactly confirmed I believe (IANAPhysicist tho)), and took that into account. And I find it hard to believe that only one clock would have been used at each position in these experiments, and if indeed cosmic noise would have had any affect as you propose then this would likely 1) not be universally distributed, and so would have been easily discovered, 2) If it were, then both positions I believe would likely have experienced more or less exactly the same interference, so it would not have made any difference anyway.
The effects have also been reproduced in other experiments if I am not mistaken. And of course, don't forget Occam's razor: Einstein's theories do give the easiest explanation (allthough perhaps not the most easily acceptable) to why this measured time dilation occurs.
You know, I just today read a children's popular science article on gravity in my local newspaper claiming that "the apple falls faster than the feather, because the apple is heavier". It would have been hilarious if it wasn't so tragical.
Say what you will about popular music, but in the literary world, a high ranking usually equates with talent. Low ranking usually means the opposite.
Mostly true, but not entirely. IMHO it solely depends on what you call "talent". The guys that get the Nobel Literature Prize are supposed to be "top of the cream" - but they don't exactly sell a lot. (Can you even remember the names of the previous winners?) And many "bestsellers" I have read (especially on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy side) have been... sh*t. But some (a *lot* of) people seem to love them.
Honestly, I haven't read any works of Weber's, but from my point of view his stuff may either be really great, or really bad. Both options considering the quality of the genre at large.
And it all probably depends on who you are, and what "intellectual level" you're on, to get elitistic on you.
But still, as you said, it probably won't hurt his sales at all. Probably the opposite.
In the country where I live (Sweden) a safety timespan of a mere 10000 years simply wouldn't work, due to the political climate around here. So, our authorities set the goal to several hundred thousand years. Why? Because simply leaving all that dangerous stuff for later generations to deal with is not very nice. Or at least that is what lots of European voters believe. (see more: http://www.ski.se/dynamaster/file_archive/010822/6 4669826924/howdispose.pdf)
This is so needed. Just following a HOWTO doc can be gruelsome, at least for persons who truly needs them (the newbies), due to incompabilities in, for instance, the substructure of/etc, locations of different config files, which may be a hassle to find on your own in the often bloated directory-structures, etc.
IMHO, anything that causes more conformity between distros is A Good Thing, though I am sure many would not agree with me. Hopefuly something will be done about the/&#!"# dependency issues that comes with far too many installs of software not especially (re)packaged for your distribution.
In a sci-fi novel I read a few years ago the author predicted that one day MMORPG:s would be free for the users (no monthly fee), instead earning cash for their makers by letting them sell the stories that the players generated by walking around, killing dragons etc as phantasy novels. But this seems to be a lot more of an interesting (and of course real) trend. Perhaps soon games will appear around a marketing idea solely based on the game house selling equipment and stuff to the users. There are apparently a market for it...
(Perhaps are there already such games? I have a vivid memory of something similar)
That would definately be cool, especially since paying $20 or so per month is at least something that makes me think twice about getting into MMORPG:ing.
Slashdot Mirror
could subatomic particles affect it's function and accuracy?
We are talking about atomic clocks here, mate. They measure the vibrations of single atoms, which is the closest we can come to true measurement of time. In fact, our units of time are defined as certain amounts of such vibrations. The guys who constructed the clocks were also fully aware of all particles that could possibly *affect* the mechanism (not taking into account the force-carrying particles of quantum physics, whose existence are not exactly confirmed I believe (IANAPhysicist tho)), and took that into account. And I find it hard to believe that only one clock would have been used at each position in these experiments, and if indeed cosmic noise would have had any affect as you propose then this would likely 1) not be universally distributed, and so would have been easily discovered, 2) If it were, then both positions I believe would likely have experienced more or less exactly the same interference, so it would not have made any difference anyway.
The effects have also been reproduced in other experiments if I am not mistaken. And of course, don't forget Occam's razor: Einstein's theories do give the easiest explanation (allthough perhaps not the most easily acceptable) to why this measured time dilation occurs.
You know, I just today read a children's popular science article on gravity in my local newspaper claiming that "the apple falls faster than the feather, because the apple is heavier". It would have been hilarious if it wasn't so tragical.
Mostly true, but not entirely.
IMHO it solely depends on what you call "talent". The guys that get the Nobel Literature Prize are supposed to be "top of the cream" - but they don't exactly sell a lot. (Can you even remember the names of the previous winners?) And many "bestsellers" I have read (especially on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy side) have been... sh*t.
But some (a *lot* of) people seem to love them.
Honestly, I haven't read any works of Weber's, but from my point of view his stuff may either be really great, or really bad. Both options considering the quality of the genre at large.
And it all probably depends on who you are, and what "intellectual level" you're on, to get elitistic on you.
But still, as you said, it probably won't hurt his sales at all.
Probably the opposite.
In the country where I live (Sweden) a safety timespan of a mere 10000 years simply wouldn't work, due to the political climate around here. So, our authorities set the goal to several hundred thousand years. Why? Because simply leaving all that dangerous stuff for later generations to deal with is not very nice. Or at least that is what lots of European voters believe.6 4669826924/howdispose.pdf)
(see more: http://www.ski.se/dynamaster/file_archive/010822/
This is so needed. Just following a HOWTO doc can be gruelsome, at least for persons who truly needs them (the newbies), due to incompabilities in, for instance, the substructure of /etc, locations of different config files, which may be a hassle to find on your own in the often bloated directory-structures, etc.
/&#!"# dependency issues that comes with far too many installs of software not especially (re)packaged for your distribution.
IMHO, anything that causes more conformity between distros is A Good Thing, though I am sure many would not agree with me. Hopefuly something will be done about the
In a sci-fi novel I read a few years ago the author predicted that one day MMORPG:s would be free for the users (no monthly fee), instead earning cash for their makers by letting them sell the stories that the players generated by walking around, killing dragons etc as phantasy novels. But this seems to be a lot more of an interesting (and of course real) trend. Perhaps soon games will appear around a marketing idea solely based on the game house selling equipment and stuff to the users. There are apparently a market for it...
(Perhaps are there already such games? I have a vivid memory of something similar)
That would definately be cool, especially since paying $20 or so per month is at least something that makes me think twice about getting into MMORPG:ing.