I'm now studying German and knowledge of English really helps. And actually studying different languages is quite fun, especially when you start noticing similarities between languages in absolutely unexpected places.
Of COURSE, it isn't. Because they use energies far less than involved in a real lightning, but they may have found a plausible mechanism for ball lightning.
As I can see in the video, their fireballs move along equipotential curves, i.e. along the lines with the equal electric field. But the electric charge of concrete floor is almost zero, so ball lightning doesn't float too high. In a real thunderstorm there may be potential differenced in ranges of thousand volts per meter.
I think, it will fly if there's a significant potential difference between the ground and air, as it can be during a thunderstorm when the earth and clouds become like capacitor plates.
In this case a conducting plasma ball will move along the lines of resulting electric field, but because earth landscape is not flat, it will move in rather strange trajectories.
By 'wrong' I mean that theory does not work in any domain, for example, law F=G*m1*m2*r^2 is wrong in any domain. Newton's laws, however, are just a special case of more general theory.
And of course, every theory is probably incomplete and that's the most exciting thing with science.
US lend-lease programs supplied only about 4% of USSR military production during the WWII (though it did help very much). And the second front was opened only when the outcome of war was virtually certain.
No, Newton's law is quite correct in its own domain: non-relativistic speeds and not very massive objects. Einstein determined boundary conditions for Newton's laws.
Don't you think that a police state (that you'll surely become if you self-isolate) will do little to promote personal initiative?
USSR failed not only because it was bureaucratic, but because it (and Warsaw pact countries) had to compete with the whole world. If a new chip, for example, was developed in Israel then American companies could just buy/license it, but USSR had to develop it itself.
Amount of R&D in USSR was truly astonishing but it was not enough to compete with the world.
Sure, and I'll send a letter to my deputy in parliament and start campaign to jail all incoming Americans visiting my country. You need to do a business meeting? Tough luck. Try to meet in another country then.
Actually, alcohol detectors usually do not detect alcohol itself, but its metabolites (usually acetaldehyde).
BTW, alcohol is not a good disinfectant because it evaporates quite fast and does not kill all bacteria. Iodine solutions or modern antiseptics are much better.
Some time ago, I worked for a small software company in Russia. Internet there was very expensive, so we got a one-way satellite link. I decided to ping my machine from our router. I was fascinated, packets first went to Greece (about 6000km) where satellite uplink was located, then they were beamed up to space (geostationary orbit, 36000km) and finally beamed down to our receiver. A trip of about 80000km to the computer in the next room.
I have helped to maintain some computers in my local Orthodox Christian church. Orthodox Church _still_ uses Julian calendar (that's why Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on Jan 7), so I had to install patches that add Orthodox calendar support to Windows. It was not funny.
You'll probably kill yourself and my house will need thorough decontamination (products of sarin decomposition are carcinogenic). But nothing approaching the power of real WMD (a single small drop of sarin is enough to kill a human).
PS: I know much about WMDs because I lived for a long time in 20km radius of the largest in Europe chemical weapons stockpile and so I was genuinely interested in this topic. Also, I have a military education which included a course on chemical weapons.
Yep. Leftovers from Gulf War, not dangerous for years. Probably, they were forgotten during WMD utilization.
'Modern' sarin munitions are usually binary munitions (they contain two precursors which are mixed when a shell is fired) and don't degrade for decades. So these munitions are either defective binary munitions or very obsolete munitions with sarin.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm writing FUSE for Windows at my spare time (not much of it, unfortunately). Is there anybody who's doing the same?
/v8ATgBvACAAcAByAG8AYgBsAGUAbQAsACAAaABlAHIAZQAgAH cAZQAgAGcAbwAhACAEFAQwACAERwRCBD4AIAQyBEsAIAQzBD4E MgQ+BEAEOARCBDUAIQ==
My native language is Russian :)
I'm now studying German and knowledge of English really helps. And actually studying different languages is quite fun, especially when you start noticing similarities between languages in absolutely unexpected places.
Da chto vi govorite? (Sorry, Slashdot doesn't support Unicode).
Of COURSE, it isn't. Because they use energies far less than involved in a real lightning, but they may have found a plausible mechanism for ball lightning.
As I can see in the video, their fireballs move along equipotential curves, i.e. along the lines with the equal electric field. But the electric charge of concrete floor is almost zero, so ball lightning doesn't float too high. In a real thunderstorm there may be potential differenced in ranges of thousand volts per meter.
I think, it will fly if there's a significant potential difference between the ground and air, as it can be during a thunderstorm when the earth and clouds become like capacitor plates.
In this case a conducting plasma ball will move along the lines of resulting electric field, but because earth landscape is not flat, it will move in rather strange trajectories.
We have different definitions of 'wrong' :)
By 'wrong' I mean that theory does not work in any domain, for example, law F=G*m1*m2*r^2 is wrong in any domain. Newton's laws, however, are just a special case of more general theory.
And of course, every theory is probably incomplete and that's the most exciting thing with science.
US lend-lease programs supplied only about 4% of USSR military production during the WWII (though it did help very much). And the second front was opened only when the outcome of war was virtually certain.
No, Newton's law is quite correct in its own domain: non-relativistic speeds and not very massive objects. Einstein determined boundary conditions for Newton's laws.
North Korea?
Nope, it sounds glamorous enough for metric folks. Everybody over 2m height is considered very tall.
Errr... Have you seen breathing masks?
OK, another idea: require everyone visiting my country disclose their SSNs and personal info. And then sell this information to identity thieves.
And what goods would you use to buy oil? In case USA goes isolationist its currency will hardly be worth the paper it's printed on.
Don't you think that a police state (that you'll surely become if you self-isolate) will do little to promote personal initiative?
USSR failed not only because it was bureaucratic, but because it (and Warsaw pact countries) had to compete with the whole world. If a new chip, for example, was developed in Israel then American companies could just buy/license it, but USSR had to develop it itself.
Amount of R&D in USSR was truly astonishing but it was not enough to compete with the world.
Hm... Let's see, your country doesn't have enough oil, titan, steel, aluminum, electronic factories, etc. to be self-sufficient.
USSR tried to do that trick once - isolate itself from another countries. This attempt failed miserably.
Sure, and I'll send a letter to my deputy in parliament and start campaign to jail all incoming Americans visiting my country. You need to do a business meeting? Tough luck. Try to meet in another country then.
Use command "regsvr32.exe /u " to unregister this ActiveX.
BTW, today is Orthodox Christian Christmas (you see, they still use Julian calendar). Merry Christmas! :)
Actually, alcohol detectors usually do not detect alcohol itself, but its metabolites (usually acetaldehyde).
BTW, alcohol is not a good disinfectant because it evaporates quite fast and does not kill all bacteria. Iodine solutions or modern antiseptics are much better.
Some time ago, I worked for a small software company in Russia. Internet there was very expensive, so we got a one-way satellite link. I decided to ping my machine from our router. I was fascinated, packets first went to Greece (about 6000km) where satellite uplink was located, then they were beamed up to space (geostationary orbit, 36000km) and finally beamed down to our receiver. A trip of about 80000km to the computer in the next room.
You think it's funny...
I have helped to maintain some computers in my local Orthodox Christian church. Orthodox Church _still_ uses Julian calendar (that's why Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on Jan 7), so I had to install patches that add Orthodox calendar support to Windows. It was not funny.
You'll probably kill yourself and my house will need thorough decontamination (products of sarin decomposition are carcinogenic). But nothing approaching the power of real WMD (a single small drop of sarin is enough to kill a human).
PS: I know much about WMDs because I lived for a long time in 20km radius of the largest in Europe chemical weapons stockpile and so I was genuinely interested in this topic. Also, I have a military education which included a course on chemical weapons.
Actually, cyanides (along with carbides, carbonyls and other simple carbon compounds) are studied in inorganic chemistry.
My teacher often said that organic chemistry begins when you have at least two linked carbon atoms.
Yep. Leftovers from Gulf War, not dangerous for years. Probably, they were forgotten during WMD utilization.
'Modern' sarin munitions are usually binary munitions (they contain two precursors which are mixed when a shell is fired) and don't degrade for decades. So these munitions are either defective binary munitions or very obsolete munitions with sarin.