DrP

It doesn't 'Pander' to them... it just recognises they have the same rights as all other humans... rather than being anti them. That is such a poor argument.. as an outside observer and follower of the thread - you lost this argument pages ago.

You 2 are kinda going in circles here - I see both sides... Logically I have to agree with Strange as we have no proof of 'ourselves' being anything more than the physical make up of all our parts.. But saying that I don't think I would like the idea of being disintegrated to wake up somewhere else... my clone would have my memories, but I would be dead - lol... The clone may well BE me in every way - but there is no way of actually telling if it would be me or not - I reckon I'd be dead and my clone would be a 'like' of me.

Doesn't look like he's coming back anyway - he just had a chip on his shoulder through not really understanding things and wanted to rant - I doubt we'll see him again. He might be mental himself just like my ex gf who was spouting similar rubbish rubbish before her sectioning.

My ex used to say the same thing... "mental illness isn't real - we are just what we are and get a label if we don't conform to western standards - they have it right in India where the 'different' are respected revered and helped". She also violently defended homeopathy and any kind of new age BS. She was put into a mental hospital under a section 5 months after we parted ways. Poor lass. Some people will just believe whatever they want... back to her - she believed a video proof of a 'ghost' that was filmed in a local shop. The film was of a bag of sugar levitating off a shelf in an impossible way and falling to the ground. The local nutters were using this as absolute proof of the supernatural.... 1 month later I read in the paper that it was a hoax - neadless to say she did not believe it was a hoax even though I showed her the interview in the paper with the shop owner who admitted that it was a hoax and publicity stunt... she STILL was convinced that the interview with the shop owner was a cover up to hush the truth. She WAS mentally ill.

You poured quite fast from a nearly empty kettle as it was boiling, so the element is still going to be very hot... You tipped out nearly all the water, so the element had a chance to be free from the water for a second or too - I reckon it dried out. When the kettle is righted again a small amount of water that did not drain out of the kettle met back with the, now dry, hot element and boiled off to steam in an instantaneous squeak.

What Swans' said about them being in a 'metastable state' - that's exactly what I was thinking and what I was trying to get across. I like the idea of a land slide of exploding rocks... lol. As Strange suggested this could kill one of them off and they can then scan the rocks and realise that they can harness this property if they impact the rocks on a smaller scale. Good luck with your book!

Some materials change their chemical orientation and crystal structure during an impact.... some Ti containing ceramics for example. I do not know of any that produce heat (although, being pedantic, the act of hitting a rock will heat it slightly)... If it is just si-fi you are after then I think it is feasible that the crystal structure of these alien rocks could re-arrange exothermically through impact. The energy from the impact could start the reaction/phase change or crystal reorientation and heat could be produced.... although if it is fiction then you can make up anything. ;-) The impact in the ceramic I was thinking of imparts enough energy in the system to overcome the energy of binding (or whatever it's called) and the structure rearranges... the result is a ceramic ball that can be hit over and over with a hammer and it does not break (until all of the structure has re-arranged and then it becomes brittle and finally shatters).

Awesome photo... I used to use flicker for landscapes, sunsets, local crops and whatever took my fancy.

I agree with post 9... That sounded too much like a statement of fact, whereas I believe it was your idea or belief that this is how it happens and not demonstrably provable. as such.

I consider most sports a science based hobby. Lots of science in golf and many other sports from equipment development (which isn't a hobby I suppose) to body mechanics and brain science of muscular memory. In most ball sports one has to consider the spin on the ball, the surrounding air and wind conditions, hardness of the ground, how hard to hit the thing... etc... all science.

I agree with all the speculation regarding work stresses and binge come downs but it could also be a slight artefact of not being missed until they are due for work. For example, someone dies late on Sunday and he live alone, he wont be missed until Monday morning when he fails to show up for work. Maybe those deaths are recorded as 'died on Monday'?

This is a science site... Why would you assume that a bunch of chemists and physicists have no experience of electroplating!? I would assume the exact opposite. lol.

I'll repeat what I'd read and posted back in post 60 as it was lost on the last page but seems relevant to the thread.. "The secret of a happy life is contentment" Aim high, expect or be prepared to take the low.... accept whatever comes inbetween. Be content with that.

Just to add, I have read before that "The secret of a happy life is contentment" i.e. if you can be content with your lot you will be happy... Aim very high and accept whatever you get even if you don't achieve your dream, some dreams are just that, dreams. Accept it and be happy.

QUOTE:"....seem to be veering off the subject" What exactly do you think the subject of this thread is then?

or 'disregarding' then, maybe.

QUOTE: A word that means "the deliberate ignoring of". Shun?

OK then - A BB gun with a smooth bore barrel which is roughened along one side of the inner tube (instead of riffling) - This would spin the BB as it exits and cause said spinach.

........... ......... Urrrg... Bubbles, last night a source of fun and laughter, this morning the source of a sore head..

What do you know about bubbles? There were bubbles in my drink tonight. I used to have a cat named bubbles. There is a lot of science behind them involving surfactants, surfaces, molecular interactions, fluid dynamics and stuff. There are bubbles in sci-fi things and they get used in entertainment by magicians. I've been working on something for about 10 to 15 years and it is kinda succeeding, so I thought I'd take advantage of a voucher from my local offering a half price bottle of bubbly wine. It was very nice and I had fun drinking it and socializing with people tonight. A happy night! One of my old Physics lecturers used to do special talks on bubbles. I attended his 10 week course on solving the Shrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom using spherical polar coordinates in my first year at uni. I missed the opening lecture and man! it was tough to catch up with. It was all maths and I'd never really done spherical polar coordinates or wave functions much before. You had to use different methods to solve for each term with r, theta and phi. Man he could drone on as well, lol. Anyway, - bubbles.. Cheers!

I prefer this to the last one - it's happier.

Damn! I reached my negative vote limit for the day in this one thread in about 20 seconds. Never reached the limit before now. How abhorrent can a person be. lol. I think he must be doing it on purpose for some kind of humour that we are missing, no one can be that much of a dick. MW - No one is going to help you with that attitude - go away and find somewhere else where you can be rude to people. I can think of many things I would like to say... but won't because I think it would break the forum rules.

QUOTE: "packet bursts of energy" - Quantised bursts you mean? ;-) I am looking forward to see the derivations of quantum mechanics by classical means - The math may be over my head, but I will look forward to reading through and trying to understand it.

QUOTE: "h is derived from experiments" Yes - ones that show that energy is quantised, no? :-/ Which is quantum mechanics? Correct me if I am wrong please someone - I am not a 'pure' physicist.

Then 'The Penguin Dictionary of science' will be a great companion to your course books for explaining terms from the books that you do not understand. Helped me a lot. I think it comes in PDF. Type it into google - the PDF option is on there somewhere. I used to own a hard copy. Presumably you have an A-level in chemistry? (of course you do, you wouldn't be doing a degree in chemistry without one) - As I mentioned before - if you have questions, you can ask here and people will answer if able... but it has to be a specific question, not just a blanket "explain NMR" because to answer that properly we could write a book... and there is no point in that as it has been done already. I hope that helps - good luck with your course.