JohnB

1. Deciding that midnight in the middle of winter in Canberra is the perfect time to go for a naked trail bike ride. 2. When my wife wanted some of those "Space Bag" things for storing clothes and blankets I protested "But darling, our vacuum cleaner doesn't have a 'suck' function." (She spent 2 hours on the phone telling my mother and all my sisters about my brilliance.)

I thought psy testing only worked on sentient beings?

Photon exchanges? Elucidate please.

If you Americans find him. Please send him back as there are quite a number of people who would like to do some behavioural modification using retro-phrenology.

Husmusen, you're right, it stinks. A patient goes back to theatre 3 times because his wounds have come open, concerns are raised by the nurses and nothing happens? I'm also concerned that the RBH, Prince Charles and other hospitals didn't raise any real objections to what was going on. A lot of people closed their eyes to Patel's incompetence.

Unfortunately, it happens so often that doctors illegible handwriting is a standing joke throughout the entire western world. Doesn't it worry you? The simple fact that it is so common should ring loud alarm bells somewhere. Somehow I'm not really surprised that it doesn't.

Not big on FPS. Civ 2. Alpha Centauri. Starcraft. European Air War. (The user mods are awesome.) Crimson Skies. Airfix Dogfighter. Gruntz. The Myst series.

I thank you both, but perhaps I wasn't quite clear. Photons certainly exist, if you look at light the right way, otherwise you see waves. It could be very broadly (and rather incorrectly) said that both photons and light waves are merely properties of another "thing", which one you see depends on how you look at it. My thought was that electrons and magnetic fields may be something similar, just properties of some other "thing", each visible depending on the method of observation. It's almost certainly a silly idea, but I thought it worth kicking around.

Husmusen, I believe in the old concept of "Ministerial Responsibility", the Minister has the office, perks and salary, if his/her department screws up royally like has happened here, they should resign. The enquiry is apparently looking into 8 other hospitals because of "irregularities". Those of us outside the hallowed halls of the medical fraternity are asking how this guy could kill so many patients (to the extent that his nickname of "Dr. Death" was awarded by the nurses, they have testified to hiding patients from him.) yet not one bloody doctor complained. Told to turn off the life support to free up a bed? Sure, no problem, no complaints either. Nice theory. So how does this piece of human excrement manage to kill a patient or two per week and nobody but the nurses notice? How does he order the murder of a patient and his order is obeyed? Sorry mate, but doctors are not the most popular people in Queensland at the moment. Blike and Glider, I realise Doctors are pressed for time, but so are many other professions. Illegible writing is not acceptable in other professions, why should it be acceptable in medicine? It's a simple question.

Is a fair enough question, the nurse shouldn't have followed an illegible chart. The second example is way out of line though. The nurses are held responsible for the drs mistakes? By the AMAs own arguments, a nurse is not qualified to decide what is or is not an appropriate drug or dose. Out of curiousity, how many patients is a doctor allowed to kill before your Health Dept. does something about him? In Queensland it seems 90 is a good round number. Then the govt pays for his one way fare out of the country.

Does it? That's the first I've heard about it. Wouldn't surprise me though, the whole region is ex volcanic, there are probably faults and cracks running all over the place. Mate, we are prepared for anything. I picked my wife up from work and there were places where the hail was literally feet thick. There were still piles of it Friday afternoon. Try here to see some more photos. Truly amazing.

I'll be controlling some 40-50 people and designing walls on the fly during the build of a show. My designs and dimensions are always legible. If they were not, there is the danger that a wall could fall and injure or kill someone. I take it that injury or death to a patient is not really a consideration to a doctor? At an inquest, the excuse that "I didn't have time to write legibly" would result in me being charged. Why shouldn't a doctor be held to the same standards that I am?

I'm putting it in here because I'm not game to ask the question in a more "serious" forum. Since you can't have an electric current without an accompanying magnetic field. And since both magnetism and electricity both behave in sometimes bizarre fashions. Is it possible that electrons don't actually exist? What I mean is, is an electron analogous to a photon? Depending on how you look at it, light can be percieved as either a particle or a wave, hence "wavicle". Could electrons and magnetism have a similar connection, a "fieldicle" as it were? I'm not pushing this a theory, it's just something I've wondered about from time to time. Cheers. (Could we have a "cheers" smilie please?)

Shroomy, I can't help with your question but I have to ask. Have you been to Relto lately?

Swansont, I'll have to accept your professional opinion. (I'm not inclined to doubt you and even if I did, I'm really not knowledgable enough in the area to debate you. ) I heard about nucell back in the 80s and never really kept up with it. The idea behind the two devices does seem similar to me though. I must admit though, I wasn't that impressed by the other link. It sounded more like an opinion piece than anything else. The writer quotes the same figures you do, but aside from that it's full of "I think...", "It seems...." and "I believe....". By itself, not a particularly convincing piece. Unfortunately for many I'm not the usual type of sceptic, I expect both sides to prove their arguments, that piece fails to do so.

Try a google for "nucell", I heard about this type of battery in the late 1980s. The nucell used Strontium 90 as the alpha and beta generator and produced AC current.

Pardon me, but it's not true, it's an excuse. Many other people in many other professions are also pressed for time yet they seem to be able to write legibly. For doctors to use the "lack of time" bit is nothing more than a cop out and a lame one at that. It would also show a great lack of interest in the welfare of the patients.

Do you get a "Hazardous Materials Violation" for making a caustic remark?

What else do you expect when you build a city on a fault line?

I told them at the last meeting that someone would finally cotton on....... Time to talk to our, um, "corrections" department.

The lady involved has now been returned to Australia. Good. There will be an inquiry. Like that will do any good. FWIW, I am a Liberal voter and I'm not happy about this situation at all. There is, however a hell of a lot we don't know so it's rather pointless getting too angry about it. She came to the notice of the Immigration Dept about 5 months after she disappeared from Brisbane. We don't know where she was or what she was doing for that time. (I'm not saying she was doing anything wrong, just we don't know what she was doing.) "The Phillipines" did not take her in, give her food etc, Mother Theresa's Sisters of Mercy took her in. There is a big difference. I, personally, do not want more enquiries into these cases. I want a Royal Commission, with full powers. So far some 12 departmental officers have refused to give evidence in the Cornelia Rau case. One reason being that giving evidence before an "Enquiry" leaves the person open to civil litigation where evidence before a Royal Commission does not. Husmusen, we don't have a two party system, or if we do, so does everybody else. There are some 30 political parties registered with the AEC so there is a diversity, but as in all nations it eventually comes down to "left of centre" v "right of centre". I take it you are also aware that with the hard line on illegal immigrants, the number of responsible parents paying an organised crime syndicate thousands to allow their children onto leaky, overloaded boats has dropped severely. Most of the detention camps have been closed. I live in a safe Liberal seat and the signs were up here, what was that about "false beliefs"?

Thanks mate, I thought it was something like that.

If there are four candidates, then you vote for only one of them. The candidate with the greatest number wins. As opposed to the "Preferential" system.

Pangloss, there is a fundamental difference between a Republic and a Constitutional Monarchy. There is no President. This being the case, the closest American equivalent to "Prime Minister" would be "Leader of the House". The Prime Minister is nothing more than the leader of the party who controls the most seats in the Lower House. While this means that the appointment is political, rather than popular, there is always the caveat that the person chosen to lead the party (either as PM or "Leader of the Opposition" ) will be the one leading the party into the next election. So he'd better be popular. Imagine if the US had gone to the last Congressional election being told; "If the GOP wins then Bush will be POTUS, if the Dems win then Kerry is POTUS." That's roughly how our system works. You are quite right about the checks and balances thing. One major difference between the US and the Westminster system is that there are far more parties in Britain and Oz. This means that it is unusual for one party to control both Houses of Parliment. It only takes one or two Senators from the minor parties to really mess up a government plans. Dak, you use "First past the Post" polling don't you?

Please excuse my ignorance, but I thought the Einstein equations merely stated that nothing could travel at lightspeed. They say nothing about going faster. Would it not be theoretically possible (if velocity increases in quantum jumps rather than a linear progression ) to go from slightly below LS to slightly above without actually travelling at c?