Search found 118 matches

by sear
Mon Jan 28, 2008 1:34 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: aerodynamics / fluid dynamics question of drag & turbulence
Replies: 13
Views: 1176

Re: aerodynamics / fluid dynamics question of drag & turbulence

"Unidian" Nat? Is that you in there buddy? Hello, and welcome to the Genius Forum. "Back and front of symetrical object is relative ie. depends on what you call back and front." hs Excellent point hs. I should have said "geometrically symmetrical" to distinguish it from being aerodynamically symmet...
by sear
Sun Jan 27, 2008 4:57 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: aerodynamics / fluid dynamics question of drag & turbulence
Replies: 13
Views: 1176

aerodynamics / fluid dynamics question of drag & turbulence

When I was a young boy I thought the force of wind resistance upon a symmetrical object at the front of it would be roughly equal to the wind resistance at the back of it. But is that a universal rule? If an object that looks like two equal cones joined at the broad base is the projectile, will its ...
by sear
Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:37 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: What is the most interesting concept?
Replies: 10
Views: 1396

What is the most interesting concept?

Some think Einstein's theories of Relativity are the most interesting in science, perhaps because they're deemed counterintuitive. But are they the most interesting? Is string theory more interesting; or simply untestable clap-trap? The Big Bang, because it's fundamental? Or might psychology be the ...
by sear
Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:55 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: Is it time to form well regulated militias?
Replies: 22
Views: 1950

Re: Is it time to form well regulated militias?

"Agreed that Islam is no immediate direct threat." day ?! Perhaps you don't understand the mindset of the religious zealot. Many of them assert: - holy scripture is the inerrant word of god. - holy scripture is not to be questioned, it is to be obeyed. And what does the holy scripture of Islam say?...
by sear
Sat Nov 03, 2007 2:32 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: REVISED MODEL OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY
Replies: 20
Views: 1559

Re: REVISED MODEL OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY

'We have broken speed of light' By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 12:01am BST 16/08/2007 A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light - an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time. According to Einstein's special theory of ...
by sear
Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:58 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: What is the purpose of life?
Replies: 12
Views: 968

What is the purpose of life?

You're welcome to distinguish objective from subjective here. But since this thread is intended to entertain the consideration of both, I haven't distinguished here. Some may claim that purposeful life presumes creationism. Others may feel their own good deeds are their own reward. But if cosmic hea...
by sear
Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:48 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: When you step off a cliff...
Replies: 8
Views: 1058

Re: When you step off a cliff...

"When you step off a cliff..." It's an unforgiving way of distinguishing reality from opinion. Art Linkletter's daughter got drugged up on LSD, and leapt to her death from a building, hallucinating that she could fly. It seems to me, if you think you can fly unassisted, it would make sense to try it...
by sear
Sat Oct 27, 2007 2:23 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: Responding to potential Societal Collapse
Replies: 66
Views: 5831

Re: Responding to potential Societal Collapse

"You get a small amount of food by slaving away with the farmer, or 10x the food plus pretty much anything else you have that he wants by stealing it." Neil Killing a man for your own intended benefit is a bad idea in the best of times. But in this post-apocalyptic scenario, it would be about the w...
by sear
Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:54 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: Responding to potential Societal Collapse
Replies: 66
Views: 5831

Re: Responding to potential Societal Collapse

"this thread could gradually build up, becoming a reservoir of practical knowledge." I've been living a somewhat spartan lifestyle for years. My Toyoga is a 1994. I've got a small fridge ~4 cubic feet. My electric bill is ~$30.oo per month. I can run the house on a 3kw backup generator. But lets no...
by sear
Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:39 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: Thoughts on Technological Singularity?
Replies: 14
Views: 1097

Re: Thoughts on Technological Singularity?

"Sentience is a substance, it's like a plasma" Pincho Quaint notion. Sentience may be manifested in substance. But sentience is awareness. For any that think there is material substance to that, I invite them to disclose the chemical composition of it. "a snowflake repeats its pattern, and that tak...
by sear
Tue Oct 23, 2007 8:17 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: Thoughts on Technological Singularity?
Replies: 14
Views: 1097

Re: Thoughts on Technological Singularity?

"I don't think its too hard to connect to biological material ..." Pincho If you mean like surgically adding computer brain augmentation, perhaps not. And while an interesting field, I think the notion of a computer as smart as a college professor of engineering, AND capable of learning, essentiall...
by sear
Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:30 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: Thoughts on Technological Singularity?
Replies: 14
Views: 1097

Re: Thoughts on Technological Singularity?

Artificial Intelligence is an intriguing idea. But right now, the more conspicuous absence is natural intelligence. (don't blame me, I didn't vote for him) When I got my first 8088 computer, I got Eliza software for it. It was quite poor. The desktop PC is perhaps 1000 times more powerful than those...
by sear
Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:48 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: REVISED MODEL OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY
Replies: 20
Views: 1559

Re: REVISED MODEL OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY

"One is a single stage rocket. The other is a 6 stage rocket. Both models are designed to be launched from "zero G" vacuum of space. Setting aside for the moment why neither one will reach SOL, which one will get closest? Why?" sear For Newtonian reasons, the multi-stage rocket, or at least, the 6t...
by sear
Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:58 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: REVISED MODEL OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY
Replies: 20
Views: 1559

Re: REVISED MODEL OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY

"I can't really give a good answer." Pin
Think "thrust to mass ratio".
by sear
Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:27 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: REVISED MODEL OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY
Replies: 20
Views: 1559

Re: REVISED MODEL OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY

Thought experiment: Werner VonBlack decides he wants to build a rocket that will travel faster than the speed of light (SOL). He has 200 lbs of super-duper rocket fuel, and designs two rockets, divides the fuel equally between them, and builds two rockets of exactly equal weight. One is a single sta...
by sear
Sun Oct 21, 2007 1:21 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: REVISED MODEL OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY
Replies: 20
Views: 1559

Re: Yo vicdan! Very nice to read you again! I hope you are well.

"Almost all relativistic paradoxes stem from our attempts to import newtonian thinking into relativistic framework." vicdan "Almost all"? I couldn't think of any that don't. Thanks for the ladder paradox Victor. Perhaps I a little bit don't get it. It depends upon if the observer is climbing the la...
by sear
Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:36 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: Should the U.S. repeal the Electoral College (EC) ?
Replies: 6
Views: 1253

Re: Should the U.S. repeal the Electoral College (EC) ?

Carl, I agree, the U.S. political duopoly is quite a mire. But I disagree with your "I don't think the Electoral College issue matters one whit to the reality of how candidates are elected --" perspective. It's procedural. Not only can it affect the outcome of the election, it has done so. And if yo...
by sear
Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:28 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: Should the U.S. repeal the Electoral College (EC) ?
Replies: 6
Views: 1253

Re: Should the U.S. repeal the Electoral College (EC) ?

"How can the US repeal the Electoral College? What would be the procedure?" EI I believe brad is correct EI. Since the EC is specified in the U.S. Constitution (see Amendments #12, & #14), eliminating the EC would indeed require amending the Constitution. But some say using popular vote nation wide...
by sear
Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:33 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: Should the U.S. repeal the Electoral College (EC) ?
Replies: 6
Views: 1253

Should the U.S. repeal the Electoral College (EC) ?

Some assert* the original idea behind the Constitutionally enumerated Electoral College was, in centuries before electronic media, the EC provided motivation to Presidential candidates to campaign in States with smaller populations. But at least that reason seems to have gone away. If Presidential c...
by sear
Tue Sep 25, 2007 1:22 am
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: What do you make of crop circles?
Replies: 321
Views: 36606

Re: What do you make of crop circles?

"Checking out patterns in the field from the top of a hill? Have you ever been on a hill to try that? It's way easier and common for a farmer to notice something flattened his valuable crop on a large scale, pattern or not. No need to get high." Diebert A farmer at grade level might easily recogniz...
by sear
Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:30 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: What do you make of crop circles?
Replies: 321
Views: 36606

Re: What do you make of crop circles?

"Of course, in the era before airplanes, there could have been crop circles all over that nobody realized existed." Long before there were airplanes there were balloons. And for eons before there were balloons, there was topology; cliffs, highlands, mounds, & hillocks; with vistas beneath. Diebert,...
by sear
Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:49 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: What do you make of crop circles?
Replies: 321
Views: 36606

Re: What do you make of crop circles?

Anybody got a sensible explanation why these -unusual apparitions- were not reported before the drunken duo (confessed pranksters) established the art form?
by sear
Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:54 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: What do you make of crop circles?
Replies: 321
Views: 36606

Re: What do you make of crop circles?

"I disagree that the evidence for UFO visitiation" is "zero." It is indeed very slim, but "zero" is a strong word. There is certainly more evidence for it than for something like God, which honest believers will readily admit there can be no evidence for in any case. While the vast majority of UFO ...
by sear
Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:19 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: What do you make of crop circles?
Replies: 321
Views: 36606

Re: What do you make of crop circles?

"The existence of such "ET's" somewhere in this vast Universe seems a statistical near-certainty to me." Uni Me too. "In fact, I'm rather puzzled whenever someone seems unwilling to acknowledge this." Uni About the most scientific attempt I know of to determine the probability of this is the [Frank...
by sear
Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:02 pm
Forum: Help Desk
Topic: What do you make of crop circles?
Replies: 321
Views: 36606

Re: What do you make of crop circles?

"Has he seen *all* the circles? Has he measured their size and calculated the number of manhours needed to produce them?" day Whom else shall we consider as suspects? Really inspired gorillas? Enormous flocks of ingenious bowerbirds? If we are to consider ETs as suspects, ought we not first at leas...