The Peon

Hope this isn't a repost. Check this out! http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/stars/

Yesterday was my final for my second class college Algebra. I scored a total final score of 99! GPA remains rock solid at 4.0. I am sooo glad that I finished my Math first, now I move on to more interesting subjects. Oddly math grew on me... at one point I thought about actually teaching it. Math is like small little puzzles and the challenge was enjoyable. Next week I start Psychology which is one of my favorite subjects. I can't wait!

I agree with the big bang model having started our current universe, however it does not explain where the singularity comes from. I thus look at the evidence, and matter/energy itself. Energy cannot be created, nor destroyed. It simply changes form. Thus to me, all the energy that exists is eternal, having no beginning. Given that energy is in constant flux in one way or another, it is also inevitable that our Universe would have come about, and it's inevitable that it will come about again along with an infinite amount of variations of it.

Alright, I didn't mean to hijack the thread so this will be my last post on it about foooooood Top pic on the bottom left of the table there is a plate with boiled casava which is then fried in a pan to crisp the outside. I made a mojo sauce to pour on top of it (in one of the small serving cups). Mojo sauce is basically garlic and onion fried up in olive oil with some spices like cumin mixed in. Next to the casava is over-ripened fried plantains. When they are over ripe they are very sweet after you cook them. In the second pic center, you see salad tossed with seasonings (cumin, pepper, salt, and a few others). It's topped with olive oil and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Left of the center pic is a large pot of double cooked black beans using my grandmothers family recipe. You basically cook up the beans the day before you serve them, let them sit overnight then recook them before serving. They are one of the highlights of the dinner. On the right is garlic steamed white rice, to use with the black beans if you desire. Top left dish is chopped up Jalepeños if you want some kick in your beans. Top right is sliced lemon and lime for the meat.. Speaking of which, the last pic is what is referred to as "Lechon". It's basically a large pork butt roast, seasoned and marinated the day before in a mixture of lemon, lime, orange, pepper, salt. oregano and cumin. It is then slow roasted in an oven for about 4 hours then broiled to blacken and harden the skin. It's deeeelicious. I can cook all sorts of things, from this type of Cuban cousine to Indian food to the most wicked garlic loaded mashed potatoes you ever ate (I am famous among my friend and family for them).

These pics are from a dinner I hosted for some friends. And yes there was some waste

There are plenty of cheap or free methods to feed people who are needy. We are just too wasteful... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/food-waste-americans-throw-away-food-study_n_1819340.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_waste

Thanks for sharing all your thoughts, I have learned a lot from this thread!

Hmmm if the expenses were more or less equal for both systems, wouldn't it be more favorable to use salt water in lieu of the limited amount of fresh water on the planet? I am not only thinking about cost, but also about being more green. I mean, fresh water is limited and in many areas of the world some people don't even have steady access to clean fresh water, and here we are in the west taking dumps into it LOL!! I was not aware of those.. why aren't they standard? I will have to look into that.. Thanks!

Why would it need to be filtered if it was pumped into the oceans? Don't trillions of animals do it daily?

So I was sitting on the toilet and thinking about life, and my mind wandered to areas where fresh water is a luxury and how we here in the west literally take a dump into it. Why do we use fresh water to flush our toilets and use in our sewer systems? Why not use salt water from the ocean? How expensive could it be to pump it in from the ocean instead of using water treatment plants and recycle fresh water through tons of filtration systems? I know this would not be practical for many areas in the center of larger continents... but many many massive cities lie along or near the coast. With modern plastic polymers surely we could use materials resistant to salt water corrosion (maybe they already exist in desalination plants?). A large micron filter could handle the larger sand particles and debris. This would alleviate a massive problem looming with fresh water, and in addition would stop the dogs from drinking out of the toilet. Am I missing something here?

I think it's only natural. Scientists concern themselves with reality and facts. Truth is god to science. So by necessity a hypothesis without substantial evidence is suspect, and the "perpetrator" propagating it is viewed with skepticism. That is why scientists for centuries who make reality shaking discoveries have always been met with harsh criticism. It's to be expected.

It really is okay, I don't mind if they go "off topic" since it pertained to my interests. As long as they don't start talking about reality TV *shudders* I don't mind.. but it's your house and your rules moderator And really.. this is all very depressing guys. Let me tell you my mentality just a week ago compared to now. A week ago I was wondering, why on Earth is science not progressing in leaps and bounds all things considered (I envisioned tons of cash being injected into the sector).. and now I am getting an idea as to why that is not true. A week ago I thought I would make a difference in the world by entering a field which I knew was not very well payed for the work you put in to "get there", and now it seems like I would just be another fish in an overpopulated pond unless I could somehow just discover some new theory or idea. I know I am not stupid, but I don't think I am an Einstein.. or at least I don't feel like one. It's so depressing to see so much funding and effort made by mankind towards killing one another and towards consumerism but something as vital and important to humanity, science, is a bust. You would think Governments and industry in general would pour money into advancing most sciences and that the sector would be starving for new scientists. I see now I was just dreaming. I am really going to have to reassess my goals here. Either way, thanks for all the help so far. I wonder if anyone has any specific advice for me, other than to be a genius and discover something amazing that would make me known and lead to what I want which would be funding for research or working with a research group? Side note: Took my second math test. I got another 100. Still sitting on a perfect score at 4.0. I asked the teacher what I thought was a deep question about circles and finding the area inside, and she suggested I become a mathematician. I had to laugh considering how badly I dislike doing Math. My question basically was, at what point does checking the area of a non-circle become checking the area of a circle? For instance, you have to multiply the two sides of a square to get the area inside. If you add two more sides, you now have to do more math to figure out the area of the now hexagon. So my question was, at what point when you keep adding sides is the math getting at using pi to figure out the area inside? Granted, I am just in intermediate Algebra, I bombed bad in math in High School because I was a rebel when I was younger. So I have to take some remedial type classes to learn the "basics" before I can move on to stuff like Calculus. She said my question was along the lines of Calculus 2 (no idea what that means but I assume an advanced Calculus class). Either way, I impressed the heck out of her so that was good. I am actually overall very excited to be in school, and I have having a great time!

All that information is really depressing.. I figured Science would be one of the biggest fields invested in and one of the fastest growing sectors. Is this only in the USA? Are EU nations more progressive? If I had to move to another country to fulfill my ambition I would not mind doing so...

The reason I would like to get a PhD is to eventually be considered an expert on the subject (genetics), particularly to be a consultant for projects, or to lead a project myself. I am interested in projects involving gene therapy and nano/biotech advancements. I am not overly interested in working as a professor or teacher of the subject. I am relatively new to understanding the whole process, I just know I want to see it through to reach my goals. If I don't need that much education to achieve my goals, then so be it. Thanks for all the feedback so far. I think what I really need to do is sit down with someone who works in genetics as a project lead or who works for a company involved in the type of research I want to be involved with and ask some hard direct questions. On a side note, I took my second test today. I got a 100%! So far I have taken two tests and got 100 on both. So my GPA is still sitting at 4.0 But then again it's a math class so it's not hard for me. I have always been good at math.

Could you imagine the glory of a Mercurian Sunrise? Or the epicness of the Sunset?

That is so counter intuitive. The whole purpose of running a biowheel and biofiltration is to build up the bacteria that break down nitrates. You would assume that alcohol would be detrimental to the "ecosystem".. or am I missing something?

Wow thank you for all the encouragement and advice! I do feel I want to be at the helm of whatever research group I join. Taking your advice however, I will do some more research into the matter. I was not aware of such a high "failure" rate among Scientists. Is that in ALL fields? I heard Genetics was a growing field, I figured a company would sop up pretty much any new Dr. as they graduated. I was really psyched to eventually be the one directing the research and hopefully making great discoveries and insights. One of my talents is really good abstract thinking. I came to my own conclusions with several theories that turned out to be actual working theories once I read about them. Most of the time I have been right (a big one I predicted on this forum almost 6-7 years ago was Neanderthals having interbred with Sapiens, the thread still exists). I wanted to lend this sort of talent to the field of research, where abstracts are what brings in new insights and ideas. I guess ultimately if I was consigned to being a lab rat, and help conduct experiments for existing scientists I could be somewhat satisfied with that. It's a very exciting field and I can't wait to be a part of it! 18 months to go till I can get my first job (job placement in biotech in my area and with my school is about 98%, they are starving for more lab techs here). Any more advice, or even a rebuttal is greatly appreciated!

All my life since I was 5 years old (my earliest childhood memories that I know are real) I wanted to be a scientist. I loved bugs and discovering new insects and facts about nature. At some point along the line, I got lost and forgot about my dream. I am 34 now, and all my adult life I never felt smart enough to be a scientist or even if I did become one I would achieve nothing in life, all despite the fact that I come from a pretty smart family. My mother is in MENSA and my father is a successful business man. My brother is a neurosurgeon and my sister... well she is my sister. They always encouraged me to go to college, saying I was even smarter than they were! But while I enjoyed the praise and didn't fight it, in the back of my mind I somehow felt I was not intelligent enough. Something clicked in me recently and I felt I could no longer avoid my destiny. So I signed up for a "biotech" degree at my local college. Ultimate goal? To achieve a PhD in Genetics. I chose Genetics because I feel it is the key to solving human suffering and disease. Think about it. Using future gene therapy techniques, we can cure genetic disease before the baby is even born (and possibly permanently cure that disease for all future generations of babies born to that one). We can even alter our DNA to achieve greater physical feats and achieve greater intelligence. DNA to me, is the power of a god raveled into a small little bundle of joy.. I made this thread because right now at this present moment I have 0% doubt I will see this through. I have never been more sure of anything in my life. I made this thread so as the years go by, I can return and post my achievements and hopefully eventually join the ranks of the experts on this forum. If any one has any advice or encouragement, it will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Thanks for clearing all that up guys!

Guys relax I am not here trying to defend some pseudoscience or push some agenda, I just saw the video and it raised some questions in my mind and I don't think youtube is the right place to ask them. I am a layman and don't have a perfect understanding of physics or science so bear with me I realize the answers you guys are giving me is from a big picture point of view, I trying to understand why this would not work for the purpose intended. I mean, if you hold the magnet next to the assembly, with enough strength would the wheel not continue to build momentum if it had nothing to stop it from doing so (I am assuming gravity plays a role in here somewhere)? If not what exactly is stopping the wheel from building that increased momentum?

Ya obviously it would require a manual start, but once it gets going couldn't you use magnets at alternating distances to bleed off speed so it doesn't continue building momentum and thus keeping the energy in a closed system?

Is such a thing even possible? Could it produce enough energy to not only slow itself down but also provide? Example:

Surprised no one posted this yet... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19184370 What does this mean for current human evolutionary models? They mention "the research adds to a growing body of evidence that runs counter to the popular perception that there was a linear evolution from early primates to modern humans". Explain please.

Wow this is fantastic! That means in one fell swoop this year Paganism, Islam, and Hinduism will all be disproved! Huzzah!