MigL

Agreed, neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment serves as a deterrent to the first offence. However they certainly put a damper on the ability to re-offend ...

I will never understand this need people have, to 'label' other people. We label them according to perceived aptitudes; those with athletic aptitude are 'jocks', those with technical aptitude are 'nerds'. We label them accordng to the government they need; 'liberals' need a government that takes care of people, 'conservatives' want a government that gets out of their way. We label them according to their roles in society; 'enablers' allow bad stuff to happen, 'complainers' bitch about bad stuff happening. We label them according to their station in life; successful people are seen as 'capitalists', people in need of social assistance are 'socialists'. Most people are not so dogmatic in their personal self-assessments, and realize tht they fit in a 'spectrum' ( that word is becoming overused ) between the extremes, yet on assessing others we often see, and 'label' them, with the extreme. I have always loved 'tinkering' with electronics/machinery, and some have called me a 'nerd'. At one time I could disassemble a laptop, and solder/desolder on its motherboard, or disassemble an auto transmission, then my vision went bad, and such things have become very difficult, so I'm no lnger a nerd. I started working out with weights, and joined a gym, in 1976, and it became a big part of my life, so much so, that girls used to accuse me of spending too much time in the gym; but I'm 61 now and no longer that dedicated so I guess I'm not a 'jock' anymore either.

You're a little late. Ringer has been waiting for your post since 2015.

Even if 3/4 of the stars in our galaxy are red dwarf stars, that still leaves 100 billion stars, out of a possible 400 billion, that are not. That is a lot of possibilities.

Today I learned that shortly after WW1, the Cona family emigrated to the US from my home town in Italy, San Angelo dei Lombardi, which currently has about 4000 inhabitants. They gave birth to a daughter, Maria, in the New York city area, who later went on to marry a Polish radio/TV repairman, also of immigrant parents, and together they had a son, in 1951, that they named Frank. Frank Wilkzec would go on to win the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on asymptotic freedom of the color force.

Being safe, and 'feeling' safe are two totally different things. One iis a reality, the other is a perception based on our biases, mis/conceptions, and life experiences. So yes, he may well 'feel' safer, and be totally justified saying so. You are angry that HIS perception is not the same as YOURS ?

My hobby is computer hardware, and I have built/modified many. About 15 years ago, a lot of my motherboards showed signs of failing electrolytic capacitors, with the typical bulging end. I desoldered and replaced quite a few on many motherboards. There were some reports in computer magazines, at the time, that failiures were caused by badly formulated electrolite as a result of bungled industrial espionage. See here ... Capacitor plague - Wikipedia I had never seen that problem before, and it has virtually disappeared again, as most electrolytic caps are used for decoupling, and although their specs may vary quite a bit over time, they are still adequate for their intended purpose. ( if the specs are critical, use a better quality, and much more expensive, sealed type )

Funny you should mention the passing lane hogging, speed limit enforcing, will not move even if you togglle your hi-beams, inconsiderate drivers, Zap. It has been my experience ( at least until Covid reduced tourists during the past year ) that if you pull up behind one of those drivers in Canada, nine times out of ten, they have American State plates.

You are confused. The analogy to the universe expanding is NOT the balloon expanding, but the surface of the balloon expanding. Small difference but huge implications, which render all your other points about the CMB, moot.

OK. There is a genetic element, a hormonal element and an environmental element. Possibly all three in varying combinations. I don't think anyone has ever argued for a totally genetic basis.

No, I'm not. According to that old adage, I shouldn't throw any stones, as I live in a glass house.

Getting back to the OP after an 'anal' post ... Apparently Governor A Cuomo can't control his instincts.

We have had numerous threads where the consensus ( including yours ) was that offence is in the 'eye of the beholder'. What you intended has little to do with the perception of a new, impressionable member. Maybe you could lighten up a bit. ( save the irreverent attitude for those of us who can 'hit' back 😎 )

TBH, I don't remember it, Zap.

Melodramatic I can live with. Glad you didn't say 'drama queen'.

We can make predictions based on our best theories, but they do have limits of applicability. We simply don't have any predictive or observational evidence for the center of a BH. All we know is that ( currently ) we have no evidence of any force that can counteract gravitational collapse, once neutron degeneracy can no longer counter it.

I notice that in the table you provided, INow, 55.3 % of workers in the Food Preparation and Serving Related industries are 'allowed' to be paid less than minimum wage, with the intent that they make up the rest n tips. This is a large chunk of the workforce ( and consisting mostly of women trying to make ends meet ), and I'm all for eliminating this 'loophole'. ( call me Mr Pink; referencing Reservoir Dogs )

That link was posted by me on January 21. Doesn't anybody read my posts ?☹️

Yeah ! Never mind the transgendered; why can JC ( and I ) post the same opinions and get treated 'respectfully', while poor Curious Layman was accused of having a hidden agenda, and pilloried ? Is this evidence of noob discrimination, as the rest of us have been around for 10 years or more ? Can we not be more inclusive ? 😀

Thanks for the clarification, Beecee.

We have a fairly good idea of the separation between objects in our observable universe, and we also know that separation between them is increasing ( expansion ). With this information, we can 'wind back' the clock, such that 4 Billion years ago those same objects were separated by half the present amount. Assuming a cnstant rate of expansion, 4 Billion years before that, they were separated by half the amount again. And the separation was reduced by half the previous 4 Billion years. A scaling factor that sounds a lot like Zeno's paradox. However, we know that expansion seems to be currently accelerating, and the universe may have undergone an exponential 'growth spurt' shortly after its 'origin'. This scaling factor is happening throughout the observable universe, such that there is no 'outside' that the expansion is moving into, and, the effect looks the same from every vantage point ( ie. there is no center ).

I find it amusing that people who readily give their opinion as fact, without evidence, then demand evidence from those who disagree with them. Actually, no; I find it extremely annoying.

Two different constraints in play here. Measuring anything to an arbitrary precision is known as the 'measurement problem', which, as Swansont explained, is due to the limited precision of our measuring equipment/experiments,is the first constraint. New technology and fresh ideas help kick this can down the road until we hit the next roadblock.. The other constraint is inherent in quantum systems, and represnted by Heisenberg's uncertainty Principle. It states that certain aspects of reality itself cannot be measured to arbitrary precision, and that is a propertty of the system, having nothing to do with the method of measurement

No ! post science and we can discuss/confirm/refute it. Post quotes from the Bible ( on a science forum ) and you will be ignored ( or shut down ).

Cows produce methane by the action of methanogenic microbes in their ore-stomach. These microbes break down coarse plants and produce methane as part of pre-digestion. Feeding the cows something that obstructs the methane producing microbial action, results in incomplete digestion. So you either need to feed them more food, or more easily digested food. There is no 'free lunch'; even for cows.