Starship Asterisk*

Well, a thought experiment must be defined within the bounds of existing theory Then how do we ever move beyond existing theory? If everything has to happen within existing theory, doesn't that preclude being able to move beyond it, by definition? Would you say that relativity is 'within the bounds...

Here's where we're still stuck: the second, a completely earth-bound, human-based measurement. IMHO, if we sent the Bftsplkians instructions to build a cesium clock so they could use our measurement of a second, after they got through laughing raucously, they would call us a bunch of arrogant, self-...

Holy cow! Just look what television and air conditioning have stolen from the great mass of us. Thank goodness for the Internet, APOD, and intrepid astro-photographers...

Outstanding photograph. This is one you not only see but feel in your gut.

...Or transact all our business in natural units. That is what I was aiming at. Most of us are caught up in definitions of elemental quantities in tems of completely relative units. Throwing all that out, as was attempted with the Hz unit, clears the air of misconceptions such as a 'light year' bei...

My point was not about c versus the speed of light, or whether information can propagate faster than c ; solid theory also says sound cannot travel faster that mach 1 in air, not to be too rigorous or to make that an analogy to c . It was, rather, to suggest, as a "thought experiment", tha...

I think what wonderboy was getting at was the difficulty of communicating with the inhabitants of another world how each side measures fundamental quantities like the speed of light ( c ). Not only are inertial frames of reference all local, so are systems of measurement. Suppose we managed to estab...

What about 'quantum entanglement' and 'gravity waves'? The speed of sound in a medium such as air or water is the limit at which information can be transmitted from point A to point B, yet a beam of light can also pass 'through' the same medium at a much higher rate, leaving open the idea that some ...

Some of these images are just too cool to be real. 8-) Erosion of multiple sedimentary layers? Gigantic Busby Berkely dance number set with thousands of (yes) dancing Martians arranged around each ring, doing 8-legged high kicks? Martian rice farms? Planetary zits? I'd guess the eery perfection of t...

Don't bother me, I'm busy poisoning pigeons...

:shock: Wow! Last time I saw anybody this upset was when Grandma ran out of grits and Grandpa had to eat toast! :wink: RJN, you can throw a little variety my way any time you want to. What's it got to do with astronomy? 1) Planet Earth exists in the same cosmos astronomy studies. 2) A better underst...

What are >carven tablets?<. The link you posted also reminded me that sometimes its like we are stuck in some Giant beings nightmare and he won't wake up. Well, he'll have to get up sometime to pee and that should take care of the nightmare. If he dosen't get up - we may all drown :!: The 'carven t...

Forgot Art wanted the answer in knots (geez, I'm already in knots):

16.4 miles per hour / 1.15 knots/mph ==> 14.3 knots.

Michael

beyond wrote:...you won't find much in the way of star creation or super nova's going on...

Don't be too sure...

http://TheFarCornerOfTheRoom.com/Chapter.php?chptr=12

Where I live here in Woodville (W00tville) I'm between national forest and large wooded tracts. There is a barred owl which sometimes visits the neighborhood, like the opposite of what they used to say children should be: never seen and (sometimes) heard. The first time I heard one I was camping alo...

Maybe that was the back of my head I was looking at...

Henning Makholm wrote:If they were too different from the electrons we get around here...

Oh no, are we back to 'manufacturing tolerances'???

...I might have stuck around had I found that straight answer I was looking for, but someone would have had to take the time, and assume some newbie would appreciate it, for that to happen. Why risk quoting a fool, when I can quote myself and be certain of it? <== On re-reading: that's aimed at me,...

beyond wrote:Starstruckkid; would the guy holding a pair of six-guns on a couple of scruffy out laws be Gene Autry?...

You got it! Now everybody else knows what we were doing in the back of that boring sixth-grade classroom.

Whooooooo, me worry?

Michael

When first I came to Asterisk An answer there to find The postings I discovered there Overwhelmed my mind The learned and quotidian quotes Like arrows pierced my breast I beat a hasty exit But could not let it rest... (apologies to Joan Baez) As I'm more engineer than scientist, that's my approach ...

Glad you chimed in, neufer; talk about jokes going over someone's head: the first time I visited it was to see if my back-of-the-envelope calculation of the speed of the cruise ship following the eclipse was anywhere close, and what did I encounter but a long quote from "The Pied Piper of Hamel...

...some negligence in the manufacturing process. Which would impose a macro human concept where it doesn't apply... maybe even imply a "Creator", i.e. "Intelligent (though negligent) Design(er)". :wink: Of course we're presuming some sort of cosmic uniformity... until somebody b...

owlice wrote: Let's leave intelligence out of this, please, so I can take part in the conversation, because if one in the 99th percentile is required, I need to scoot! owlice, many people and forces in this world will try to convince you that your intelligence doesn't measure up. Never believe them...

Is this phenomenon sometimes caused by mountain shadows, say over the horizon east of the Rockies?

beyond wrote: Starstruckkid, did your professer ever tell you why you couldn't paint an electron green? Because then it would be distinguishable from all the others, and that doesn't happen. Also couldn't find a small enough paintbrush, not as silly an answer as it may first seem. More to the point...