tomgwyther

Abolish the federal reserve; re-introduce the Greenback. Job done.

I thought as much. common sense and logic would tell me that my odds on winning the lottery are the same from week to week, regardless of what I'd won or hadn't won previously, as the lottery game has no memory I'm still having trouble distinguishing between (i) & (ii) as both (although different in their time-line) involve winning twice.

I quite agree, I also have no intention of offending anyone, just invoking discussion. We must be carefull though, or a pro / anti gaga movement might start and split the scientific community in two!

A man living near me won the lottery twice, both times he got five balls plus the bonus ball The odds of his first win were 2,330,636 to one. But the second time, the odds shot up to 5,400,000, 000,000 to one. Yesterday, Mr McDermott celebrated aboard a yacht at the Port Solent marina near Portsmouth - symbolising the fact that he and his wife are soon heading off to the island of Kerkenah, off Tunisia, where they have bought a house. According to this, winning the lottery once has odds of 2,330,636 : 1 Winning the lottery twice has odds of 5,400,000,000,000 : 1 Now lets assume that I won the lottery last week. If I buy a ticket for next weeks lottery draw, what are my odds of winning? 2.3 million to one or 5.4 trillion to one... they can't be both, can they? Or, to put it another way. The odds on the same balls being drawn two weeks in a row must be staggering, but the likelihood of a particular sequence of six numbers being drawn on a particular day must remain the same. How does this paradox resolve?

Admittedly, 'Speechless' is probably one of her better songs, and Lady Gaga is one of the better pop acts. But that's like saying "I have genital warts; the best of the sexually transmitted diseases." Its lyrical subject matter and execution, although poignant, still didn't do much for me. Musically, it has two obvious chord progressions glued together. (1) 1,5,6,3,4,5,1. with the root note occupying the chord's 3rd every so often. it was used in 1717 by J.S Bach for his piece 'Air on G string' and has been used repeatedly ever since. (2) 1,7,6,7 using the relative minor of the tonic key which dates back to pre-history and has also been used repeatedly ever since. The are a few other stock changes borrowed from Bob Marley It modulates between A minor and C major, which basically means it was written on just the piano's white notes; the tell-tail sign of an amateur with little song writing talent. The only bits worth listening to were put in by Ron Fair who did the arranging and orchestration. Sorry Gaga fans, I still nothing her

To be contrary, and invoke discussion... I don't like her music. In a world where we have - at our finger tips - access to so much music, art and culture from the entire globe, spanning thousands of years; to spend time listening to a vacuous, one-dimensional-sounding non-entity, seems a waste of synaptic activity. If one were to remove the industry imposed pitch correctors, quantized sequencers and multi-band compressors, one would be left with a piece of 'music' unworthy of a passing musical grade for and eight year old student, let alone the artistic accolades awarded such celebrities as Miss. Gaga. There is sadly a growing trend for lacklustre, mediocre noise to be pumped out across the airwaves. It inhibits true artists from being heard. The Jeremy Kyle/Jerry springer watching, Heat magazine reading, McDonalds eating populous are not at fault though, they are blamelessly ignorant, as the media is saturated with such generic dullness, most people are unaware of the power and enjoyment which real music can have. If Lady Gaga's music were to impart wisdom, move people to tears of joy or of sadness, start a revolution, empower a people against oppression or change the collective consious understanding of the world for the betterment of humanity, then I might start listening to her. Until that time I neither love or hate her... I nothing her.

Would it not be in everyone's interests to close is ridiculous thread?

What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly? I really like this, could it be incorporated into the forum rules? Could it be incorporated into the new forum logo? On the subject of essential reading, off the top of my head, I'd go with Jostien gaarder - Sophies World (For the younger scientific mind) Bill Hicks - love all the people Roger penrose - Road to reality Richard Dawkins - God delusion Charles Darwin - Origin of species Lao Tzu - Tao te ching Stephen Hawkin - A brief history of time An atlas and a dictionary

It is outrageous that people who got to the polling station before it closed were not able to vote because of the huge queues The election IMO should be declared void as British citizens were expressly and openly denied the right to vote, a contravention of the Human Rights Act 1998. protocol 1, article 3, the equal franchise act 1928, and various UNDHR articles, not to mention international law to which were are supposed to be subscribed. I'm suprised at the apathy of some voters, in the past, stopping people from voting caused war, insurrection, revolution and the like; No taxation without representation and all that. One of the reasons we're in Iraq and Afghanistan is to secure voting rights for all, and we can't even do it ourself. Luckily, my polling station suffered no such problems. had it done, you might well have seen me on the news holding a sit in, restraining the exit of the ballot boxes; threatening to torch the whole place if our demands for votes weren't met.

Nice idea for a car engine. You could easily have air compressors (Old technology) placed at gas stations. You'd have to find a way to power the static air compressor though. I wonder if the car's inventor advocates or is even aware of what the narrator is saying in this clip. I know... lets use some compressed air to power the air compressors. Then we can use electric motors to power electrical power stations instead of coal, and we could use giant fans to blow in the direction of wind turbines to make more electricity! let me just check my 'Ladybird, my first physics book' to see if that'll work.... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darn, turns out, it's against some law or something

It made me 'LOL' also. Gold embroidery should be standard, not to mention diamond encrusted, pure Egyptian cotton woven by Latina virgins etc etc!

I'm willing to wait. I just read the news and maybe got a little over exited.

I get a T-shirt! that's all I care about. woo hoo! I've got some painting and decorating to do soon and could do with something to wear whilst I do it... Only joking! The t-shirt will have pride of place next to my Diploma and Gold disc. Newton had his apple, Archimedes had his giant lever, Darwin had his finches, and I shall take my place among these giants with my SFN attire; an unrivalled accolade, bestowed to only a few. Thank you SFN, and thank you to those who voted for me.

Maybe a composite of wire mesh and glass, A bit like the door of a microwave oven, or one of those heated windshields Just a guess. It wouldn't be completely transparent though.

Yea, Wales didn't get a mention, there are a few others missing. There are also a few added which aren't countries (Trasilvania for example is part of northern Romania. Also South Africa and Mauritius are missing) But if you're able to sing the whole song to someone on spur of the moment, it never fails to impress. Not to go too off-topic, but here are the lyrics I use when I perform this song. (Go on... have a sing along to the tune, you know you want to!) To stay on-topic: These are the countries i am aware of Juice. United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru Republic Dominican, Cuba Caribbean, Greenland, El Salvador too. Puerto Rico, Columbia, Vanuzuala, Honduras, Guiana and still... Guatamala, Bolivia, Then Argentina and Ecuador, Chile, Brazil Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, Bermuda, Bahamas, Tobago, San Juan Paraguay, Uruguay Surinam and French Guiana Barbados and Guam. Norway and Sweden and Iceland And Finland and Germany, now all one piece Switzerland Austria Czech and Slovakia Italy Turkey and Greece. Poland Romania Scotland Albania Ireland Russia Oman. Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Cyprus, Iraq and Iran. Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, there's Yemen, Kuwait and Bahrain. The Netherlands, Luxombourg, Belgium and Portugal, France England Denmark and Spain. India, Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. Cambuchia, Malaysia then Bangladesh Asia, and China, Korea, Japan. Mongolia, Laos, Tibet, Indonesia, The Phillipene Island, Taiwan. Sri Lanka, New Guinea, Sumatra, New Zealand, Borneo and Vietnam. Tunisia, Morroco, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, and then there's Botswana Mozambique, Zambia, Swaziland, Gambia, Guinea, Algeria, Ghana. Burundi, Lesotho and Malawi, Togo, The Spanish sahara is gone. Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Liberia, Egypt, Benin and Gabon. Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya and Mali, Sierra Leone and Algiers. Dahomy, Namibia, Senegal, Libya, Cameroon, Congo, Zaire. Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Rwanda, Lahore & Cayman. Hong-Kong, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Yugoslavia... Crete, Mauritania, Croatia, Bosnia, Monaco, Lichtenstein, Malta and Palestine, Fiji, Australia, Sudan

I love the animanics song, I actually spent bout six months learning it all the way through. had to have it on a CD in the car nearly every day. got it learned though. It's now part of my live on stage repertoire, I usually do it at the end of a gig for fun. p.s. Notice the inclusion of Palestine as a 'country'. I wonder if Warner Brothers were deliberately having a poke at the anti-semitic Walt Disney? Or whether it just fitted better lyrically.

"And of course this leaves a lot of area blank for no reason." True, I guess it would. Brainy can stay

There is no causal or correlative connection between the spiral and the brain, other than pure aesthetics. it was not my intention to speculate or assert that there was. I did have a version which omitted that brain all together

It appears that the use of stone from Israel is only prerequisite in Jerusalem. From The Jerusalem stone company: In fact, to this day the City of Jerusalem requires the use of Jerusalem stone on all buildings in order to preserve the unique character of the city. I can't find any evidence that it is necessary in all churches. Nor that it exists in the majority of churches. A friend of mine - devout Christian, pasture, evangelist, theological studies type - seemed unaware of it, but added it would be a 'nice touch.' you can order Jerusalem stone for construction if you so desire. I also found that you can order a floor to be laid in your church made from stone containing pre-historic fossils. A nice touch I thought... To have a 300 million year old animal fossil embedded in the floor beneath you feet as you read a book which claims the world is only about 6000 years old. Ironic flooring; a whole new market.

I think the number you're looking for is nearer 390. It's what gives us lucky Earthlings such spectacular solar eclipses. The Sun's distance from the Earth is about 390 times the Moon's distance, and the Sun's diameter is about 400 times the Moon's diameter. Because these ratios are approximately the same, the Sun and the Moon as seen from Earth appear to be approximately the same size: about 0.5 degree of arc in angular measure. From Wikipedia

Excellent looking rocket Blike. Not sure if you've seen this video, but thought I might share it with you and other rocket enthusiasts. it's basically a group of amateur rocket enthusiasts building a space shuttle style machine. it's only a short 10 minute video which cuts out a lot of the detail , more detail of the build and launch is available all over youtube, including video shot by the makers of the rocket. Enjoy

Apologies for the late reply. An asteroid can become a meteor. An asteroid can on occasion leave the asteroid belt, Sometimes due to it synchronising its orbit with Jupiter; sending it on an elliptical, Earth crossing orbit. Also - as far as I'm aware - the term 'asteroid' refers to particularly large space debris. So the phrase "An asteroid hitting the Earth" is still somewhat accurate.

Today, I found myself working in a commercial kitchen, I used to be a bar/restaurant manager and so occasionally help out old work colleagues. Whilst standing in-front of the gas stove, I accidentally spilled some water onto the lit gas burner ring, which spontaneously combusted in a bright orange flame. Intrigued, I repeated splashing water onto the flame and each time, the same resultant orange flame occurred. Sometimes the flame would be nearly eight inches high. There were no other flammable substances on the stove, so why the combustion? The only explanation I could think of would be that the hydrogen and oxygen were somehow separated by the heat of the flame so as the hydrogen would combust and the oxygen give it its orange hue. The only other factor which may, or may not be of relevance would be the aluminium foil underneath the gas burner. I've fuelled a camp fire for hours with empty beer cans before; the fire had to be extremely hot though. So, how or why is water combustible?

Asteroids orbit around the sun as planets do. Meteoroid, is incoming space debris Meteorite, refers to something which is found on the ground meteorite: rocklike object consisting of the remains of a meteoroid that has fallen on earth. It may be stony (see chondrite), iron, or stony iron (see pallasite)

I'm not sure who's been implying that animals do not have intelligence, period. As far as I'm aware, any animal has some degree of intelligence. The key word though being degree Humans could arguably be at the top. We have a large brain in relation to our body size and a very large cerebral cortex, especially the frontal cortex. Chimps can understand a number of different symbols and use them to communicate to humans. Even generating their own language. In one such case, A chimp pointed to the symbol for 'Water' then the symbol to 'Bird'. It was realised that the chimp only did this when he saw a swan. Dogs also show a great deal of intelligence. They can look at an object and then retrieve a similar one, or they can look at a 2D picture of an object and retrieve the real 3D object. They can demonstrate abilities which small human children cannot in some cases. here is an interesting dog from a recent documentary. This one can understand language, process it and apply it to a real-world objective task