JohnB

Then we'd also find a way to open a can of sardines with a peeled banana. What if someone from the psych forum was using this thread as a basis for his/her thesis?

A 1997 Ford Fairmont Ghia. 270,000 ks. Power everything and a 6 stacker CD player. Dark Green, not the best colour for a car in Queensland, soaks up the heat. It was avilable when my last car was "modified" by a 4 WD. Better he hit my car than the pedestrians in front of me though. An Elise. Oooooohhhhhhh!

Bascule what is the "Singularity" you're talking about? From what I gathered in your post there could be incredible applications for reprogramming a psychotics mind and curing most mental illness, but abused it would be the most dangerous breakthrough that humanity has ever faced. If you could directly interface with and influence a persons neo cortex, then it won't be long before some Demagogue realises the benefits of an army of followers who are literally convinced that their leader is a God. While DNI is probably a good thing, it would seem that we should be careful. Otherwise 10 years from now we may all have the same sig "We are the Borg, resistence is futile".

Ah justice. Guilty without trial or appeal. Phi, I don't about the differences in Patent Law between Oz and the Us, but here, if he showed you the workings of the device before a patent was granted, then he would not be able to get a patent. I've no idea why, that's just the rules. If the US is similar, that may go some way towards explaining his reticence. He could also a be a charlatan scamming good people out their money too. Running the same scam for 20 odd years without being prosecuted for fraud? Seems unlikely. The above posts show an interesting problem within the USPTO. The engine is denied (rightly or wrongly) on the grounds of impossibility, where an "Immortality Bracelet" is granted? Hmmm, methinks they need to check their definition of "impossible" again.

Bloody good post Edtharan. Just to be clear I do not consider the idea of the isolated group probable, just considering it as possible. Should such a group survive, I would expect it's numbers to be very small. If they aren't extinct, they very soon will be. Wouldn't the size of the prey population needed by predators be dictated by the metabolic processes of the predator though? The only large land animals left in the wild in Oz are the Kangaroo and Wallaby, yet places like Kakadu manage to support hundreds if not thousands of very large Crocs. Obviously an active hunter would have a higher metabolism than the passive hunter and need more food, but what if it's only active when hunting? The difficult part of the debate is that we can only go on what we know from information 65 million years old. The world has changed in that time and I would expect the look and behaviour of any dino survivors to change also. Hence a claim of seeing a T-Rex would be very suspicious, it shouldn't be a T-Rex, it should have become something else by now. Both physically and behaviourally. Be that as it may, I simply file the idea of a small, isolated population of dino survivors in a remote location under the heading "Possible but Unlikely." Sayo, high resolution thermographic imaging is usually only used when there is a confirmed target to check. To try to search a forest by that method with no target in mind would take years. As I said earlier, there are still entire cities missing. We do use the imaging to gain knowledge of the extent of an achaeological jungle site, but only after we know the site is there.

Nah, that effect is counteracted by the souls of dead glaciers.

Bascule, my personal belief is that the legends of Dragons stems from a time when the last of the Holocene animals survived. We know that the big monitor lizards were still alive in Oz a mere 10,000 years ago. Is it so unthinkable that some were on the EurAsian landmass as well? A small and dwindling number finally wiped out? It would be this type of creature I would expect to find on an asland. Please note, these are not dinos, but a later monitor lizard. On rereading the thread I realised I changed tack half way through without telling anyone. On to the dino idea. Sayo, it's true that the world is satellite mapped, but so what? Satellite pics of the Congo, Amazon or a dozen other places would show what? The tops of trees about 100 feet off the ground. I disagree that signs of the animals (if they exist) would be blindingly obvious. Have a good look at South America, we know that there are cities lost in the rainforest but we can't see them. You could hide an entire ecosystem in there without it being visible to a satellite. If you have a look at the photo http://www.gerdludwig.com/images/blowups/Amazon/aerial.jpg you'll see what I mean. You're looking at tree tops about 100 feet off the ground. You could hide an armoured division in there. I've got a hundred square miles of rainforest not 3 miles from my house that if there were dinos there you wouldn't see them from a low flying aircraft, let alone a satellite. (I'm not suggesting they are there, just that you wouldn't see them if they were. ) What would be possible with ten thousand square miles? You will not know what is under the canopy until you go look, and we haven't really gone looking. That's all I'm getting at. For scale, Queensland has some 3,500 square miles of rainforest as Heritage Listed. God knows how big an area there actually is here. A surprising amount is only known from aerial observation, we haven't actually walked there and had a look at what's under the canopy yet. I would point out that the Wollemi pine was discovered only 11 years ago and it was in general forest only 200 km out of Sydney. If we can miss these in 200 years of exploration, what may be missed in the less well settled parts of the world?

Thanks Phi, that is the best argument that he is full of it. Bascule, I do wonder about Patent Offices in general. I always thought that the first requirement was that the invention actually worked. Maybe they should have granted a Provisional Patent, to be confirmed in, say 3000 AD.

Astrologers would have a lot of new starsigns to play with. What if civilisation had arisen in the Southern Hemisphere?

Since there is now only one observatory looking at the Southern sky for possible impactors, it is quite possible that one could "appear out of the blue". We have by no means a complete radar or visual early warning system in place. IIRC there was a fair sized one passed a few years ago and we only saw it on the way out. Passed closer than the moon I think. I recall that the Deep Range Radar at Aricebo can now track objects out to Jupiter, but there is only one Aricebo and a whole lot of sky to search. If an object had very low albedo, then it would only be detected by blocking starlight. It could indeed get quite close before we saw it.

Interesting list. The work on lensing in the sub wavelength area could have major benefits in nanotech and medicine. Number nine is Cold Fusion? Not energy producing, but interesting.

Bascule, I tend to agree. But it's a really big ocean and there are a hell of a lot of islands. Add to that that the Congo region (for example) is not a place that most people want to play in for a period of years. BTW, what would you call "hard" evidence? Photographs are universally denounced as fraudulent. Plaster casts of the tracks are deemed hoaxes. Strangely enough, those who look into this topic are loath to put a bullet into a creature to prove they exist.

If you had read past the first few lines, you would have seen that he's been trying to get one for some years. Cap'n, are you suggesting that the veracity of information is proportional to how pretty a website is? I'm fully aware that what he appears to present goes against current thought. I'm just not as convinced as you that current thought is as accurate as it could be. Can it hurt to have a look? After all, current theories could be wrong.

I can only assume that you've all seen schematics of this device. Or that you have seen it in operation, tested it and therefore know it to be a fraud. Or do you believe it a fraud because you know it can't work? An over unity device cannot work if our theories and maths are correct, are you so sure that they are?

Ah, but can you fault his logic?

An interesting if useless use for old data. (And a waste of 20 minutes:-) ) The branch of pseudoscience, (maybe, perhaps, one day a science) is Cryptozoology. Strange as it may sound, the entire world is not explored, and from some of these areas come stories of giant creatures. They may or may not exist, but in most cases no western researcher has actually gone to have a look. On the other hand, if someone actually found T-Rex or his descendents living in the Congo rainforest, would he announce it? The unexplored areas of our world are generally in the poorest parts of the planet. Anyone with a basic knowledge of human nature and Third world politics knows that there would some rich bastard willing to pay very well to be the first person to bag a dino and put his great big head on the trophy wall. (And plenty of people willing to take the bribe to let him.) The point was not made but is relevent, that the decrease in reported sightings of "sea monsters" did not come about with the "Age of Reason" but with the increase in the use of steam over sail. Sailing vessels are silent whereas you can hear a prop for miles underwater. Most animals learn quickly to keep away from those noisy things. Is there a person on this board that is willing to go on record as stating that we know every species that exists in our oceans? Our ancestors survived the bang 65 million years ago, is it so unreasonable to suppose that some of the dominant species of the times survived also? I can't speak for the rest of the world, but 10 metre long lizards were known to be alive in Australia as little as 10,000 years ago. Did they all die out then? How can we prove it? I have seen plaster casts of lizard footprints some 14 inches across from the 1970's. This is an area in the Catch 22 of science. It attracts the crazies which is of no help to the investigation at all. Because of the crazies, no reputable scientist will study the area because he/she would lose their reputation for associating with crazies. Because no reputable scientist will study the area, it is accepted by the rest of the scientific community as false because "If there were something to it, then a reputable scientist would study it." Catch 22. Think about it, what would happen to a researcher who said he was going to investigate the possibility that some sightings were real and that pteranosaurs (for example) had survived to the present day? He'd be lecturing in "How to end a career in one easy statement" wouldn't he? None of the above is meant in any way to suggest I support the creationist garbage of the link above. If some megafauna survived until recently, that does not invalidate evolution. For my part, I'm just asking "Can we be so sure that they're all dead?"

Who says the governments involved need to tell anyone?

I work out what things I need to complete on any given day. The actual nuts and bolts of how I do it is done on the fly. There are too many variables in my industry for detailed planning.

.Another Urban Myth down the drain.

Ships and aircraft go missing all over the world all the time. I have yet to see any credible evidence that there is anything unusual going on in the designated area. If you doubt, post an example. I'll see what I can find on it. Sorry guys, but my reading shows that the whole idea is a beat up to sell books about the "Bermuda Triangle" to a credulous public. If you read the bibliographies of such books, you'll find they often actually reference each other, not original sources.

Why spend all that money? And a Carrier group is quite obvious. How about 2 or 3 old tramp freighters and a couple of luxury looking yachts? Put the needed men and equipment on board and go cruising up and down the coast as nice juicy targets. Q Ships worked quite well before, there is no reason they won't work again.

Ah. My apologies, while we have a similar debate down here, it is "Merry Christmas" that is standard and the push is for "Happy Holidays". It appears both our nations have a similar debate but from differing directions. On that basis, it probably would have been better for him to say "Happy Holidays". Concerning the list, yes I was aware of the conferences. Unfortunately they were pretty much of the type "We've done this, what will we do next" In other words they are "a piece at a time" response to the fortunes of war. There was no overarching plan that these fit in to. Which was my point. If using the list of conferences shows that there was a "plan" in WW II, then surely the conferences that have been going on concerning Iraq would show that there is also a "plan" there. Whether or not the public is privy to any knowledge of these conferences or what they discuss is a moot point. Anyway mate, Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, whichever you prefer. If you're out on the road watch out for the idiots that drink and drive.

They did? Getting kicked out of the Phillippines was part of a plan? A diversion perhaps? The only "plan" was to defeat the enemy. To hold his advance until sufficient forces could be trained, equipped and brought to bear to defeat him on the battlefield. That sounds to me pretty much what Bush is saying. I didn't see any reference to congressmen in the transcript, could you point out where I missed it? It would seem logical however, that anyone with a "defeatist" or "we can't win, we might as well give up" attitude is not exactly aiding the effort of their nation. I must admit, I simply took the Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka as brevity. Say those two and you've probably covered 80% of the population. (I don't know what the demographics of the US actually are, I'm just taking a punt here. ) The other option is to drone on for 20 minutes naming every single possibility in the hopes that you haven't left someone out. The Christmas/Holidays Debate. We have this debate down here too. Most Aussies view it as a complete waste of time. I've yet to hear a Muslim, Jew, Buddhist or anyone from any other religion complain about "Merry Christmas", or for that matter "Happy Easter", the other time when this foolishness appears. It always seems to be someone from an Anglo-Saxon background noiseing off about possibly "offending the minorities". Guess what, they don't care. Minorities celebrate their observances without any protest or interference from the Christian (supposedly) majority and they let the Christians celebrate theirs. To be frank, the only times I have ever heard the representative of any minority speak on this subject is to say just that. "We don't care, it doesn't bother us." I hope that's a typo. ( I'm sure it is.)

FWIW, from an Aussie perspective, I don't think it was a bad speech. Cosine, I think you took some of it out of context. He didn't call those who opposed the war "defeatists" at all. He specifically referred to those to whom everything is doom and gloom. In regard to not giving a timetable, that is fair enough. If either FDR or Churchill were asked in 1942 what his timetable was for WW II what would he have replied? Some jobs take as long as they take. That is the reality of some situations. I think the carol reference was more because it was written during a war. The relevent lines being "the Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on Earth, good-will to men." Isn't that a reasonable hope for any season? I think the reference to the Iraqi voter was actually quite telling. Most of us live in free nations, and have done so for generations. It is instructive to realise that for some people, voting, having a say in your government is not a right. We take it for granted, many others aren't so lucky, and many of those realise just how precious the franchise is. The Iraqi ex-pats I know are quite hopeful for and confident in the future of their nation.

From my reading, the Celts were probably the most advanced people of their time in certain areas. As they were (on the Eurasian landmass) pretty much nomads they did not have the time to sit down and ponder mathematics. They did however have superior metalworking abilities, especially in weaponry. Makes sense if you think about it, they were always outnumbered wherever they went so survival depended on superior weapons not superior numbers. Who are the "germanic people" anyway?