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  1. N

    Help identifying a song!

    Step 1: Find a lyric you can clearly hear from the song. In this case, I picked out: "there's always something to get me down" Step 2: Google that lyric in quotations + the word "lyrics" Step 3: ????? Step 4: Profit: Artist: Stonegard Song: Triggerfinger
  2. N

    Working out a percentage

    If I may make a suggestion... If you are trying to emphasize the vast difference in those timescales, it may be better to do it with an analogy. For example: The difference between an 80 year human lifetime, and the 4.6 billion year age of the earth is roughly equivalent to the difference of...
  3. N

    perceiving acceleration and g-forces

    This. But, I'll expand just a little. GR explains how gravitational fields can be thought of as a curvature of space-time. The "most natural" or free-fall path through this space is following the curvature. If we jump from a plane and fall toward the surface of the earth, we are following...
  4. N

    Claims of comets decrease in size and time proves YEC

    Then the argument is still invalid for the exact same reason, and the premise that is required in order for it to work is: Comets have been losing mass at the same rate since the formation of the Earth. For one thing, comets don't even lose mass at a constant rate throughout one orbit. I...
  5. N

    Claims of comets decrease in size and time proves YEC

    I'd like to put forward a similar argument if I may. On average, fruit flies only live for a few weeks. Therefore, the universe can't be more than a few weeks old, otherwise all of the fruit flies would be dead. This argument takes the following form: Premise 1: Fruit flies can't live for...
  6. N

    Question about X Rays

    This is not due to actual features in the x-ray spectrum of the sky. The features are caused by missing data due to gaps in the scanning pattern of the survey. In this case, it looks like the data came from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. Those sinusoidal arcs would actually appear as straight...
  7. N

    Nasa scientists discover evidence 'that alien life exists'

    Re: Nasa scientists discover evidence 'that alien life exist I don't think these are directly related. That article was posted 6 months ago, and even at the time it was wild speculation. The press conference notice has only been up for a few days. Phil Plait actually just wrote a blog entry...
  8. N

    Gallileo Gambit; somewhat justified?

    Yes, science can be vulnerable to fraud. The best way to avoid this sort of thing is to have have different groups who work on the same sorts of problems independently. However, it does still happen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sch%C3%B6n_scandal About this nose theory. Are you claiming...
  9. N

    The Philosophy of Mathematics

    After skimming the wiki page, I believe I would fall into the category of Logicist. However, I am a physicist/astronomer, and while I have spent a good bit of time pondering the philosophy of science, I haven't spent much time at all thinking about the philosophy of mathematics in particular...
  10. N

    Another definition of atheism

    I've used this argument before, mainly the point that Gods don't really offer any sort of explanation in a scientific context. Typically our standard for what we would call a satisfactory explanation is the ability to explain complex systems from as few simple assumptions as possible...
  11. N

    Does anyone have Full acsess to JSTOR?

    Strange. I think someone just happened to upload the exact same article here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LEYOSHYB What a coincidence.
  12. N

    A Bizarre Encounter...

    Interesting story. I'll share a similar experience of mine: I was jogging along a trail through the woods a few weeks ago, and I happened to be running through an area that had a fairly regular arrangement of trees along the right side of the path. These trees were spaced in such a way that I...
  13. N

    Revelation 13 (verses 16&17)

    If I understand you correctly, you are ARE in fact agreeing that your reasoning is circular? Once you accept the existence of god, it becomes obvious that god exists? In this way, you claim that you can still believe in god despite lack of evidence, or in most cases evidence to the contrary...
  14. N

    Where can I go to download Simpsons episodes?

    I think maybe you could try searching "Simpsons downpour" or "Simpsons flood", no wait that's not right. What's the word I'm looking for here? It's something like a heavy rain, but a different word. :D
  15. N

    An ethical dilemma

    I'm joining this party late, but to me it seems like the topic has been majorly derailed and I'd like to address the original hypothetical if that is alright. This initially seems like a question of "what is consciousness". If the hypothetical is that the simulation is indistinguishable from...
  16. N

    Minecraft

    I've also jumped on the minecraft bandwagon lately. Because you can build an enormous computer with the spoils of your underground adventures.
  17. N

    A Very Very Long Pole (Physics Question)

    Something like that, but now we have problems because we are talking about the real world. Let's pretend that we actually have this 12 km glass pole. And we want to move it 1 m, and have someone at the other end measure the 3 second lag. I think it would be virtually impossible to actually...
  18. N

    Jason Lisle: A Solution to the Distant Starlight Problem

    This claim is likely false, but there is something I don't get. He seems to have at least some understanding that this criteria is paramount to a theory being given serious consideration. Why doesn't he try actually APPLYING this criteria to his own beliefs? I'll try to give this a read tomorrow.
  19. N

    A Very Very Long Pole (Physics Question)

    I believe so. It's just that sound speeds in solids are absurdly fast relative to everyday sizes. Sound speed in glass is around 4km/s. But, it's also the case that most everyday solids aren't going to have a nice pretty lattice structure throughout, so everything becomes more complicated...
  20. N

    A Very Very Long Pole (Physics Question)

    I think this will depend on some other things that are not yet specified, namely the density of the pole in question. I believe the answer will be directly related to the speed of sound in the material. As you tug on one side of the pole, you create a gap between the molecules at that end...
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