calbiterol

... [W']hat I proposed was that when the world powers of the time came in and took Africans they didn't discriminate in who they took. I'm saying they took a significant number of highly intelligent progressive thinkers. When this happened Africans compensated, and began working back to where they were, but no matter how you look at it, the growth of the African continent, intellectually, was stunted.

I absolutely agree with this statement and I think it was very well-put, both times you said it. I am sorry to have not commented on it the first time, it was an oversight on my part.

I don't mean to suggest that Africans are not as intelligent...

I didn't think that's what you were saying either, I just thought... Come to think of it, I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking. Maybe I thought that you meant they were cintinuing to leave Africa to seek better places to live and work - which, to some extent, is true.

...but actually take the title expat and become a citizen of a country in Africa that is in the earliest stages of development.

I would also agree with this wholeheartedly.

I don't get one thing you said, though:

...without any education or information about birth control or modern sexual education...

I would think that modern sex ed would be extremely important to nations within Africa, especially given the extreme number of STD and AIDS victims.

Who's to say there aren't already "great thinkers" there? There are plenty of highly intelligent Africans working towards a better Africa.

And I don't think race would present an issue, but maybe that's just me.

Aerospace has my vote.

Yes, it did. Thanks much.

Anyone else?

Background information and clarifications are no problem at all. Reading what I have previously posted, I might sound a little angry - but I'm realy not mad, I was just surprised.

As for what kind of experience with industrialization, if you have ever worked towards industrialization of a developing nation, that would be fantastic, but I don't have a problem if your experience is more along the lines of a history book. Pretty much anything goes.

On to more specifics. I ask because I am doing a research paper for school, and I have chosen to write my paper on what would have to happen before sub-Saharan Africa could be industrialized. In all honesty, I could find most of the information myself, but we are required to have at least 2 interviews. I already have one (a friend who went to visit family in South Africa), but that wasn't all that helpful because South Africa is already (for the most part) industrialized.

So to be more to-the-point, here's some questions that are much more specific - and don't be afraid to answer with your opinion, or not to answer at all. Oh, and from here on out, when I say Africa, I mean sub-Saharan Africa, but north of South Africa.

1.) What would you say is the most important thing that would have to happen in Africa in order for it to be industrialized?

2.) How has this been done in the past with other locales?

3.) What do you think the effect of doing this would be?

4.) What do you think are the 5 most important things to the industrialization process (i.e. transportation, coal, water, stable population base, etc)?

5.) In your opinion, what social changes would be required for Africa to industrialize? How important are these changes?

6.) What kinds of social changes would be brought about by industrialization? Or, what social changes have already occurred as a result of past industrialization movements in other parts of the world?

7.) Do you think these changes could be realized in present-day Africa? Why or why not?

8.) Any other comments?

Thanks much.

*Cricket*

*Cricket*

Seriously? Nobody even has OPINIONS on industrialization? What happened to all of the history people?

Anybody else?

If you don't mind me asking, could you PM me your email address so I can get back to you in a couple hours?

Has anyone been to Africa (especially sub-saharan)?

Does anyone have experience with industrialization (if at all possible, in the context of developing nations) and its pre-requisites and would be willing to be interviewed (via email)?

Thanks much.

School.

Next word, Simulation.

fruit.

Next word: Yum.

I would love to do that, and I think I'd have a lot of fun with it, but...

"Only the first 750 teams that submit a completed application, including payment, postmarked no later than November 30, 2005, will be allowed to compete in the 2006 contest."

... Maybe next year.

Anybody aware of any good (hands-on) engineering competitions out there for midwestern US high school students?

You could use pin connectors - like this one, for example.

USB, I have no idea. But those should take just about whatever the attached wires can take, and seeing as you can choose the wires...

Yes, that would increase the end speed.

If your first ball (the one you push/shoot/whatever at the first magnet) is LARGE, and all the rest are smaller, you'll have a much, much, much faster gun.

Also, the ideal bearing size is about the same size as the magnets (but in a sphere instead of a prism).

I think that was his point.*

*Key word - think. I, too, got the page not available message when I clicked it, against my better judgement, even though I was initially suspicious that this is just Sayo's way of saying this isn't softscienceforums.net.

Wow. First useful thing I've learned all semester.

I think EverCurious said it perfectly - the drug itself is not necessarily harmful, but the psycological and eventual physical ramifications can be very harmful. But, again, like Jackonaut said, we're getting off topic.

First, he/she said WITHOUT drugs.

Second, never, never, NEVER take LSD, no matter what the reason. I have a friend who thought his dog was talking to him. My teacher's good college friend gouged her eyes out with spoons from flashbacks of hallucinations. Many people kill themselves or seriously mutilate themselves. I repeat, DO NOT, under any circumstances, take LSD, unless you are prepared to face the repercussions (ie, possibly death).

You could always stop sleeping for a few days in a row...

Not even. Getting around 25-30 hours of sleep per week for 3 months or so will do it just as well. I speak from experience on this. It is not a fun existance and will probably lead to (at least) a mild depression, if not worse.

...i want to experience hallucination, i want to know whats it like, visual and auditory, and other hallucinations.

It's really not something that's fun. The hallucination(s) I've had have been quite disturbing. Even though they were all from lack of sleep, it's lead to both some degree of paranoia and a bit of insomnia (but that's largely a different problem). I saw a spider crawling across my hand - one that was at least 2 or 3 centimeters across - during school once, and I saw various fixed objects move (holes in desks, writing, etc), and I frequently saw shapes and colors out of the sides of my eyes. It really is unpleasant. I get really jumpy when I am that tired simply because I begin to see (AND hear) things. Plus, people look like you're crazy if you walk down the hall trying to figure out who's talking to you, when in reality, it's all in your head.

The worst part about it is it's incredibly hard to tell when you're hallucinating. With the spider, I only knew because I couldn't feel it and because it disappeared. With the moving stuff, it was dead obvious, but that was just because things like writing morphing doesn't normally happen. With the shapes and colors, it's just disconcerting, and with voices, it is pretty much impossible. To this day, when I hear my name, I am not sure whether or not someone is actually calling me or if I am hallucinating.

But that's just my $.02.

My guess would be both amazingly expensive and amazingly difficult - not to mention that I don't think they even make carbon nanotube "sheets" anywhere near that large, even in research labs. But composite, carbon fiber, etc, might also be agood bet - but it's probably going to be heavier anyway. Go with whatever is lightest and still strong enough to stand trials.

Yep. Pneumatics. Otherwise known as an air cannon. PVC, a spare bike tire nipple, and a bike tire pump, connected to a ball valve and something to launch the bearing. This setup gives you a lot more oomf than normal, for two reasons. First, the magnet doesn't have to overcome static friction, and two, the first bearing has added momentum to give to the next ball.

Cheapest way to get pseudo-ball bearings that work is to buy steel "slingshot ammunition." It's identical in every respect to ball bearings except precision (a lot less perfect of a sphere) and price (immensely cheaper).

If you need to find something else, you're severely limited. It must be a paramagnetic material in the shape of a sphere.