Yeah, it's great that "we're finally getting smart enough." Why weren't the people who came up with the "myths" in the first place smart enough to write them literally, instead of making up stuff about thunderbirds and killer rocks?
Yes but lots of classical artists (and probably modern ones too) put images of their patrons in their (now priceless) works, either in thanks or as a condition of continued patronage. We mostly think they were subtle about it, but those to those who could recognize the patrons it was probably glaringly obvious. Those who didn't like the patrons probably thought it was tasteless.
"If he manipulates his, how long before we know it by the effect on ours?"
About four years. He'll have data about his photono of the pair that we'll need to correlate with the data we have on ours before we can work out who did what when to which.
I don't think it's as clear cut as that. For one thing, black holes of different masses will have event horizons of different sizes. That's what the saying I tried to paraphrase was probably referring to.
For another thing, some (e.g. http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0506506, haven't read it, got the link from wikipedia) theorize that no singularity occurs. Also, we can't really say for certain what's beyond the event horizon, and the equations break down when they get to the center. From what I gather, anyway.
By the way, I get what you're saying. I'm just saying it's not necessarily that clear cut.
I'm afraid I no longer remember where I heard this. But I didn't say "crush the entire universe to a point." I said "if there were a black hole the size of the universe," meaning, I guess, one with an event horizon 13 billion light-years in radius. Frankly, I can't explain it. Mostly I was hoping that someone here could confirm or correct me. Sort of like what you attempted to do, but more pleasantly.
If the entire galaxy was trapped inside a black hole, then we would be crushed into a point.
Though I've heard that if there were a black hole as large as the universe, it would have a density roughly equal to that of... the universe. Think about it.
Because "taking out" a planet, to say nothing of a solar system would be a waste of energy, resources, and real-estate that a civilization capable of destruction on a stellar level would have dire need of.
Allow me to submit a counter-recommendation. I've read Hyperspace, and seen Dr. Kaku show up on any science special or even non-science special that the producers feel needs a touch of celebrity genius. If he is not actually a crackpot, he doesn't go out of his way to avoid sounding like one. I'm glad he's enthusiastic, and I'm sure he's smart, but he strikes me as very foolish whenever he opens his mouth.
I miss Carl Sagan and Richard Feynman. Give me Bill Nye over Michio Kaku any day.
I'm taking a long time to get through Morrowind because of all the interesting books in the game itself. They serve a game function by granting you skill levels, but nearly all of them are interesting and well-written pieces of micro-fiction. I'd love to have a compilation of all those little stories.
"The Fall of Reach," the first Halo book, was a good read. It reminded me of Ender's Game in a lot of good ways. The backstory it provides was enough to get me to spark my interest original Halo single player campaign again.
There's a good deal of violence in the book, so I'd recommend it for kids able to handle a "Mature" video game rating. If you're unsure, read it yourself first. It's not that long.
Chess, feh! That game has even worse class balance than D&D. The fighters are horribly weak (which is probably why you get so many of them), and even the mounted units have trouble getting anywhere. The clerics and the wizards (represented by their towers for some reason) really dominate, even though they're weak at the beginning because the fighters are in their way. But it's the cleric/mage character (the "queen") that really rules.
Combat is lame. The encounters basically come down to whichever side wins initiative. No grappling, no disarming, the Small fighters don't even get an AC bonus! They might get a flanking bonus, but it's impossible to move them to the sides!
I won't call you a moron, fool, etc. I'd like to discuss this, if possible.
The processes that form the universe, and in turn create life and allow it to evolve, appear to run on their own, following automatically from a number of fundamental constants. The only possible place for God, then, is as the definer of those original constants. An all-powerful Creator would certainly be able to see the processes that would flow from his original definitions, but it's hard for me to agree that God "used" evolution to get us to where we are today. Evolution just goes along by itself.
If there is a God, he seems to live in the "gaps" in our knowledge. Before we knew about universal gravitation, God or gods moved the planets around. Now we know that gravity takes care of this movement, that it happens by itself as a result of a logical process. Currently, our "gap" is in the area of where these forces come from (and also in their exact properties). If we were someday able to show that these forces follow inexorably from some other cause, God would just be moved behind that cause. I believe that it's reasonable to believe that the process of moving God into smaller and smaller gaps can be taken to its limit, whether or not we actually close those gaps, and God can be said not to exist.
I hope I have presented my point of view in a fair and logical enough manner to merit a response.
Once it gets hot enough, water vapor will start to have much the same impact as the CO2.
Water vapor in the form of cloud cover will also increase the earth's albedo and decrease the amount of solar radiation that can contribute to our heating. I'm sorry I don't have any hard numbers for this effect.
Now, I love Halo 2, but that "boss" is not that great. It's an impressive vehicle - until the Covenant drive it into a dead end and it's effectively stuck. You don't end up having to destroy the Scarab (that's done for you in a cutscene). All you do it clear its decks and kill its crew. It doesn't even shoot at you.
I'd say the Prophet you have to fight is a better boss, since you actually have to resort to something other than your high-tech weaponry to beat him.
Carpenter's The Thing is indeed quite scary, but a lot of it is due to the surprise of things popping out of nowhere as well as the implication of things you can't see. The dog transformation scene to which you refer is well done, but it takes a lot of suspension of disbelief to imagine that it's a real dog undergoing the change.
I think I prefer that only CGI or only physical effects be used (at least for specific characters), because the change from one to the other is usually jarring. I noticed it in Hellboy and The Matrix Reloaded. On the other hand, maybe it's going on some places and I don't even notice it.
Seems like I read about a hack that combined a laser with a super soaker. The beam of the laser was somehow aimed to follow the stream of water, so when you shot the water it gleamed with color. Be hard to see in anything but low light, but could be cool.
Anyway, I never had much luck with my Lazer Tag sets. The targets never seemed to trigger unless you were extremely close and both gun and target were stationary. I had more fun with Photon, Lazer Tag's pudgier cousin. You could play that with just the guns, as they too could register hits. Lazer Tag definitely had more style. I even learned how to twirl those weird guns on my finger.
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Yeah, it's great that "we're finally getting smart enough." Why weren't the people who came up with the "myths" in the first place smart enough to write them literally, instead of making up stuff about thunderbirds and killer rocks?
Yes but lots of classical artists (and probably modern ones too) put images of their patrons in their (now priceless) works, either in thanks or as a condition of continued patronage. We mostly think they were subtle about it, but those to those who could recognize the patrons it was probably glaringly obvious. Those who didn't like the patrons probably thought it was tasteless.
"If he manipulates his, how long before we know it by the effect on ours?"
About four years. He'll have data about his photono of the pair that we'll need to correlate with the data we have on ours before we can work out who did what when to which.
Earth's atmosphere is in disequilibrium, because lifeforms constantly replenish certain chemicals - methane, for instance.
The atmosphere of Mars, what there is of it, is in equilibrium. So, if there ever was life on Mars, it's dead now.
Reading any Orson Scott Card novel (besides Ender's Game) is its own punishment.
I don't think it's as clear cut as that. For one thing, black holes of different masses will have event horizons of different sizes. That's what the saying I tried to paraphrase was probably referring to.
For another thing, some (e.g. http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0506506, haven't read it, got the link from wikipedia) theorize that no singularity occurs. Also, we can't really say for certain what's beyond the event horizon, and the equations break down when they get to the center. From what I gather, anyway.
By the way, I get what you're saying. I'm just saying it's not necessarily that clear cut.
I'm afraid I no longer remember where I heard this. But I didn't say "crush the entire universe to a point." I said "if there were a black hole the size of the universe," meaning, I guess, one with an event horizon 13 billion light-years in radius. Frankly, I can't explain it. Mostly I was hoping that someone here could confirm or correct me. Sort of like what you attempted to do, but more pleasantly.
If the entire galaxy was trapped inside a black hole, then we would be crushed into a point.
Though I've heard that if there were a black hole as large as the universe, it would have a density roughly equal to that of... the universe. Think about it.
Direct visual examination of the crater was obscured, but we should still be able to get some spectroscopic data from the interior.
Because "taking out" a planet, to say nothing of a solar system would be a waste of energy, resources, and real-estate that a civilization capable of destruction on a stellar level would have dire need of.
Allow me to submit a counter-recommendation. I've read Hyperspace, and seen Dr. Kaku show up on any science special or even non-science special that the producers feel needs a touch of celebrity genius. If he is not actually a crackpot, he doesn't go out of his way to avoid sounding like one. I'm glad he's enthusiastic, and I'm sure he's smart, but he strikes me as very foolish whenever he opens his mouth.
I miss Carl Sagan and Richard Feynman. Give me Bill Nye over Michio Kaku any day.
I'm taking a long time to get through Morrowind because of all the interesting books in the game itself. They serve a game function by granting you skill levels, but nearly all of them are interesting and well-written pieces of micro-fiction. I'd love to have a compilation of all those little stories.
"The Fall of Reach," the first Halo book, was a good read. It reminded me of Ender's Game in a lot of good ways. The backstory it provides was enough to get me to spark my interest original Halo single player campaign again.
There's a good deal of violence in the book, so I'd recommend it for kids able to handle a "Mature" video game rating. If you're unsure, read it yourself first. It's not that long.
Is this testing whether I'm a replicant or a narcoleptic, Mr. Cruciform?
Excellen7.
Chess, feh! That game has even worse class balance than D&D. The fighters are horribly weak (which is probably why you get so many of them), and even the mounted units have trouble getting anywhere. The clerics and the wizards (represented by their towers for some reason) really dominate, even though they're weak at the beginning because the fighters are in their way. But it's the cleric/mage character (the "queen") that really rules.
Combat is lame. The encounters basically come down to whichever side wins initiative. No grappling, no disarming, the Small fighters don't even get an AC bonus! They might get a flanking bonus, but it's impossible to move them to the sides!
That game needed a lot more play testing.
I won't call you a moron, fool, etc. I'd like to discuss this, if possible.
The processes that form the universe, and in turn create life and allow it to evolve, appear to run on their own, following automatically from a number of fundamental constants. The only possible place for God, then, is as the definer of those original constants. An all-powerful Creator would certainly be able to see the processes that would flow from his original definitions, but it's hard for me to agree that God "used" evolution to get us to where we are today. Evolution just goes along by itself.
If there is a God, he seems to live in the "gaps" in our knowledge. Before we knew about universal gravitation, God or gods moved the planets around. Now we know that gravity takes care of this movement, that it happens by itself as a result of a logical process. Currently, our "gap" is in the area of where these forces come from (and also in their exact properties). If we were someday able to show that these forces follow inexorably from some other cause, God would just be moved behind that cause. I believe that it's reasonable to believe that the process of moving God into smaller and smaller gaps can be taken to its limit, whether or not we actually close those gaps, and God can be said not to exist.
I hope I have presented my point of view in a fair and logical enough manner to merit a response.
Everything I know about economics I learned from playing Lemonade Stand. Everything I know about lemonade, too.
Once it gets hot enough, water vapor will start to have much the same impact as the CO2.
Water vapor in the form of cloud cover will also increase the earth's albedo and decrease the amount of solar radiation that can contribute to our heating. I'm sorry I don't have any hard numbers for this effect.
Where are these peoples' moral compass?
They returned them in place of $50 Swiss models.
I'd like to see more aticles that focus on gaming outside the norm like this one.
There have been a few recent articles about pen-and-paper role-playing. Or is that inside the norm?
You are special, Pfhor. Just not for that reason.
Now, I love Halo 2, but that "boss" is not that great. It's an impressive vehicle - until the Covenant drive it into a dead end and it's effectively stuck. You don't end up having to destroy the Scarab (that's done for you in a cutscene). All you do it clear its decks and kill its crew. It doesn't even shoot at you.
I'd say the Prophet you have to fight is a better boss, since you actually have to resort to something other than your high-tech weaponry to beat him.
Carpenter's The Thing is indeed quite scary, but a lot of it is due to the surprise of things popping out of nowhere as well as the implication of things you can't see. The dog transformation scene to which you refer is well done, but it takes a lot of suspension of disbelief to imagine that it's a real dog undergoing the change.
I think I prefer that only CGI or only physical effects be used (at least for specific characters), because the change from one to the other is usually jarring. I noticed it in Hellboy and The Matrix Reloaded. On the other hand, maybe it's going on some places and I don't even notice it.
Seems like I read about a hack that combined a laser with a super soaker. The beam of the laser was somehow aimed to follow the stream of water, so when you shot the water it gleamed with color. Be hard to see in anything but low light, but could be cool.
Anyway, I never had much luck with my Lazer Tag sets. The targets never seemed to trigger unless you were extremely close and both gun and target were stationary. I had more fun with Photon, Lazer Tag's pudgier cousin. You could play that with just the guns, as they too could register hits. Lazer Tag definitely had more style. I even learned how to twirl those weird guns on my finger.