Phi for All

! Moderator Note Fresh threat, fresh thread.

And the winner of this week's "Science Perseverance Award" is wildie9! Major pat on the back for not giving up like so many do. Lots of folks just start making stuff up at this point, based on the little they know from popular science articles, and stitched together with whatever makes the most sense to them. Questions help us all adhere more rigorously to our most trusted methodologies.

Question gonna question. It seems oblivious to me.

That's not how ignorance works. If it makes sense now that your question was answered, as swansont said, there's literally nothing to forgive.

It's so ironic that we can obsess over how someone else perceives us to the point where it harms that perception. We look away so they don't see us watching them, so they never know we're interested. We agonize over the right thing to say, so they don't know how we feel because we never say anything to them. We assume they would prefer us to be different before we give them the chance to know us. Know yourself; the rest you can learn.

Don't you think, if there was, there'd be more tall people around? I thought you came to a science forum because you wanted something reasoned and trustworthy. What if this wonderful woman likes men who are your height? You might be harming your chances by trying to change. You should ask her. Are you too short to talk to her? Is your height affecting your voice? Are her ears angled in such a way that she can't hear you at your present stature?

You're definitely tall enough to talk to her.

michel123456 has apparently reconsidered our offer to entertain his pet time theories in their own thread, and has gone back to hijacking others. His membership is under review while he takes a few days off.

I suspected as much. Is she into sports, and that's why you're suddenly interested in them too? Or are you thinking that playing sports will make you taller? Have you asked her about any of this? You're already taller than she is. Has she told you straight out that you're too short for her? You two sound like a good match for close-dancing. If you're much taller than your partner, kissing is complicated. You should talk to her before you think about changing yourself.

Do you mean professionally? Many professional sports players are thinking about retirement by your age due to the stress sports places on the body. I hope you aren't thinking about doing anything extreme to yourself over an interest you've only had for "several days". Are you sure you wouldn't rather study science instead? If you do, there's a greater probability of having working knees by the time you're my age. You're well above the average for all ethnicities in the US. That's me, 195 cm at 17 (191 currently). It has some advantages, but also many disadvantages. I love visiting European cities, but I feel like an ogre sometimes, having to duck through doorways. Finding clothes can be hard. No problems reaching the top shelf, but OMG those lowest shelves have always been a pain. I wouldn't listen to anecdotal evidence about something like this. There are probably ways you can affect your height to a very small degree without dangerous side effects (stretching exercises and the like to keep the spine from compressing), but before I did anything crazy I'd ask myself, "Self, what's up with this sudden obsession with sports and being taller?" Hats and shoes. What makes your height unacceptable? What sport do you want to play that you're too short for?

The concept of the "fabric" of spacetime is for instruction only, usually combined with a heavy ball to represent a planet curving spacetime with its mass. There is no actual fabric in space, nor is there anything for a star to leave grooves in, as swansont mentioned. I think Douglas Adams would've quite liked the idea of the fabric of spacetime being corduroy, though.

My condolences also for the passing of your friend. I can't help but notice that positioning an event (such as a tearful goodbye appointment at a vet's office) in spacetime seems independent of change. Your latitude, longitude, altitude, and the time it took place aren't subject to change, are they? Yet it makes perfect sense to use time in this way.

! Moderator Note It's being considered. Not happy with the unevidenced precognitive ability assertions. I can move this if you want to stray from mainstream and do the work required to make such statements.

Um, study hard? Sorry for the vague answer.

! Moderator Note This is NOT your blog. It's a science discussion forum. If there's an aspect of gravity you'd like to discuss with the other members, or questions you have regarding its nature, please give us a good place to start. No lectures, please, this is more like a roundtable talk. Conversation, rather than preaching.

Are you being meticulous about misspelling his username? Every time? Because that might come off as insulting. Pop-sci needs to be questioned, because it's often overhyped and sensationalized, and that causes lots of folks to come here with misunderstandings. Science journalists have a limited readership, so they need to attract everyone they can, and that often means staying away from technical talk that's over most people's heads. It also means their vocabulary is not as rich as it needs to be to properly convey the concepts they write about. They have to "dumb it down", and that leads to some dumb interpretations. Post all the questions you want. Just don't base any assertions or conclusions on stuff you see in videos and pop-sci articles.

Ironically, if the protesters could hire dieticians to ensure a healthy diet, daily walking in a circle holding a sign could be the best way to lower your chances of cancer and heart disease. But I don't see most people being willing to give up behavior that puts them at risk for heart disease and cancer, much less demanding that it happen NOW!

Reading back on the thread, the concerns given were mostly about technical resources and financial limitations. I don't know how you got from there to "you guys consider the topic top secret and do not want to discuss further about it". I think the "standpoint" overall is that there's no way you're going to be able to do this, so why bother mapping it out for you? That's the really hard part, and since you won't be helping, why do we need you? To be fair, I'd be in the same boat if I asked Dr Swanson to help me do an experiment like this. Even if I could convince him I've got $50K to spend, he has a much better idea of the expertise, time, and manpower it's going to take. It also doesn't help that initially I told him I wanted to build this, but later admitted I probably couldn't, then accused him of not being willing to share his secrets. I'd probably wish I hadn't done that.

I'm unsure what you mean. Stand point? Is this some kind of paranoia-driven conspiracy you're proposing? If it's funny I don't get it.

I don't think it's shocking at all. Cancer and heart disease take time, and time gives us hope. Knowing your restaurant meal could be culinary heaven one minute but leave you gasping for a life-sustaining breath the next can be panic-inducing and terrifying. Pain is part of it too. No medication to ease my pain when I'm being burnt up in a fire.

Pop-sci is not sci-fi. Sci-fi is made up, but pop-sci is science reporting that often leaves out important details, focusing on the spectacular and amazing in order to be "popular". It's their job to maintain high interest in a difficult-to-understand discipline, not to be an accurate resource. Why would you think that? I think your problem is listening. Did you hear the part about a normal BEC experiment costing 50 grand? That would stop me cold.

"Miles and miles away from your grasp"? Our modern concepts of spacetime allow us to successfully land a craft on an asteroid 200,000,000 miles and miles away. I'll take that over your understanding, no offense intended.

! Moderator Note This is in the mainstream science sections, so time is part of a coordinate system, and extremely useful, not an illusion at all. If you want to post philosophy, or wild guesswork, don't do it in mainstream, OK? Thanks for understanding. Oh my gosh, read a book, please.

! Moderator Note Moved to Suggestions, Comments, and Support. Sounds like a Chrome thing. I've never seen anything like that here. "Compromised" makes it sound like someone's already cracked it, but could they be talking about a password that's been so popular that it's insecure? I wouldn't choose something like "IamGroot" or "12345" because those may already be considered compromised.

! Moderator Note Animitra Palit, too many of your posts have strayed away from mainstream physics, so I'm moving this to the Speculations section. You need to do a better job of addressing the concerns expressed by other members in the discussion, and support your assertions with mainstream science. If you can't support your ideas here, the thread will be closed and you won't be allowed to bring it up again. The membership is willing to spend a great deal of time discussing this with you, but only if you are also willing to put in the work.