npts2020

What the yogi purportedly did was to slow his biological processes or suspended animation (similar to hibernation), some people can do this to an amazing degree. What cryonics does is completely stop all biological processes, or death (at least until a host of technical problems are overcome). ***Note cryonics is the freezing of a body, cryogenics is the study of any form of matter at low teperatures.

Mr Skeptic: What is your definition of a "heavier" isotope? I am not an expert at physics or chemistry but it seems to me that deuterium and carbon-13 are among the lightest isotopes out there.

Jackson33: So I take it that you feel that those being beaten and shot at by Pinkerton thugs a century ago or working under the conditions at a meat packing plant as described by Upton Sinclair in "The Jungle" were at fault for their own predicaments and the Peabody's, Carnegie's, and Harriman's of the day are blameless?

I think DoD would have something to say about it, they already don't like the detailed information that is available.

Some of the turbines pictured cost as little as $500, if one provided only 10% of my electricity, it would pay for itself in 4-5 years, so wind generation is quite competitive where I live. Furthermore I expect the prices to go down substantially as production gets ramped up, what other forms of electrical generation are likely to become cheaper?

I can't argue with your reasoning, Norman, I am just one of those old fuddy duddies that doesn't like apparent violations of not being able to create or destroy matter. It may turn out that such violations must exactly cancel each other out but if that can be proven false, it would require a major shift in our way of thinking..... well mine anyway.

Check out these commercially available home wind generators. http://www.treehugger.com/file/2008/11/five-home-wind-turbines-you-can-actually-buy.php

People can blame the Democrats for all of the bailouts if they want. Unfortunately, it was one of the few bipartisan acts passed by this congress.

I think you have quantum processes confused with chemical processes. My understanding of quantum computing is that it uses single atoms, photons, or subatomic particles for memory storage, whereas the brain uses chemical processes requiring larger scale molecular reactions for it.

Wow! A fractal hand. No longer a need for laser tweezers, you could just pick up atoms with your fingers.

With the current human situation, I would think it was a bad thing. Pressure on resources causes strife, especially when one group of people is seen as consuming the lion's share of them. How a larger population, putting even more strain on our ability to produce resources, can do anything other than exacerbate tensions I can't imagine. On the other hand, if you profit from warmongering and other human maladies it could be a good thing.

This is why it is going to court.

Unfortunately it IS more expensive on some levels to do things in an ethical manner. It costs more to pay for my trash to be hauled away than if I were to toss it out of the car window on a road somewhere. Likewise it costs more to pay employees a reasonable living wage rather than pay as little as you can get away with and let someone else worry about any negative consequences. I completely disagree with your notion that nobody can possibly understand what a "required minimal wage" is, which also implies that no attempt should be made to do so. As much logical reasoning as I have seen you bring to bear on this forum, I find such an attitude astounding in that you should know as well as anyone here that few solutions will be perfect, anyway. As stated previously, it is just my opinion that some attempt at defining acceptable business practices should be made. To begin with, most of the other auto companies haven't been operating in America long enough to have large numbers of retired employees. Secondly, they built factories in relatively depressed areas of the country where wages are much lower. Thirdly, unions have been ruthlessly kept out by any means possible, reducing any ability the workers have for bargaining for themselves. Finally, why even allow retirement if nobody is going to pay for it anyway?

H. P. L. did have some personal knowledge of insanity. Probably too much opium.

Nice pic Jacques. Tonight was the first clear night here at sunset for a few days, so we finally got a good view. I can easily visualize some superstitious ancestor seeing two eyes glowering at him from the dark.

Maybe the mechanism that causes virtual particles doesn't work in extreme gravitational conditions?

Well, labor unions are only a response to the original problem of corporations screwing the little guy to the maximum possible extent and if they are the problem, then there is something intrinsically wrong with the way businesses relate to their employees. (this is only a generalization of large, especially in modern times, multinational corporations) IMO the government should have guidelines for acceptable corporate behavior which could even be optional but required for certification of your product by the government to avoid carrying a label explaining why it isn't. Included could be binding third party arbitration for labor disputes, acceptable minimal wage and pay disparity from top to bottom, safety rules, environmental guidelines, etc.....that is a whole other discussion, however.

CaptainPanic; We are in total agreement about the technical feasibility of conversion to renewable energy (and probably most other aspects) but the political reality is those vested interests I referred to above are going to be very resistant to the change, especially when we can get by with slogans like "drill baby drill" rather than critical thinking on the matter. Also, energy nationalization is the only way I can see that will result in investment on scale and with enough speed to keep prices reasonably steady over the long term. This, however, is a very tough sell in a country that seems to have an aversion to government controlled anything, even when it is obviously a better way of doing it. I just hope "the ultimate capitalists" can finally realize there is a future beyond the next financial quarter or election that needs planning for if it is to be better than today. DrP; No problem, what's a few terrawatts between friends, eh? You can just crank up your money machine to pay us.

My lifes goal is to one day be adequate. No matter what I do it seems somebody wants something else.

Way to Go. And your still here? In four years I hope you are able to say the same to me.

Exercise!!!! That sounds like work. Oh well, anything worth achieving is work. Look around, all of the "best" bodies get plenty of exercise regardless of their diet and there is no substitute. Exercise also will help longevity and particularly quality of life in later years. Ernst Mayr after his 100th birthday famously attributed his long life to exercising for at least one hour every day "of course these days thats only walking out to the mailbox and back but I still do an hour of exercise every day".

My bet is that we don't get the almost 30 years from any current bailout of Detroit that we got from the last car manufacturer bailout (Chrysler in 1979) before it is having to be done all over again.

If there were no vested interests involved, the plan would have already been completed or at least be substantially underway. I advocate automating the roadways and powering the whole system with solar and wind energy. That alone would convert about 1/4 of Americas energy use (almost all petroleum at that) to renewables.

In any other part of this forum, a discussion of something like a Laffer Curve would be immediately moved to pseudoscience and speculations. It is an interesting observation that seems to fit some of the data but imo does very little to explain why things might act that way in reality. I would be willing to bet that a majority of those advocating tax cuts couldn't tell you what a Laffer Curve is, at any rate. I don't mind paying taxes if I get something tangible for those taxes. The problem is that Americans get the least for their tax dollars of any developed country in the world. Tax cuts would be great but we need to better utilize what we have before cutting that amount.

Try to find out who is getting how much money. You would think you asked for a detailed CIA budget. Various news organizations and NGO's are having to go to court in an attempt to get this information. -------- I agree that competition is a good thing but unless you want anarchy it must be directed toward a specific goal (besides maximizing profits). The down side is that you will have failures from time to time. If the government didn't shell out a single dollar, there would still be a stock market, banks, insurance companies, and automobile manufacturers even if at a reduced level. There might not be any Ford, AIG, or Citigroup but there would be a major opportunity for other corporations who managed themselves better to step in, people are not going to stop banking, driving cars, or buying insurance. Why should I, who has steadfastly refused to put myself into debt, be giving one penny to corporations who willingly overextended themselves and would rip me off in a heartbeat, given the chance? Nobody, in any discussion I have had about this, can tell me how anything has changed so that we can expect things to improve. The biggest problem is not so much the "loss" of wealth but that the world cannot afford a prolonged period of low economic activity at this point in human history, without dire consequences for many. If the federal government wants to start its own bank and compete with commercial banks, then we would have a bank truly too big to fail and one not beholden to making a profit for shareholders. (It's really too bad there isn't an economics forum here)