Lunch questions.
I got really worn out last week and didnt get to these questions! I’ve been listening to and trying to understand Bob Dylan lately. It IS infectious, I find myself singing songs all the time, the abyssmal trend-hippie covers of which haunted my childhood.
—————
Chris re-asked how to measure a second. You measure the atomic radioactive decay of Cesium and the time it takes to go through a set number of stages is a second. It was originally a celestial measurement and the need for a leap day comes from slight nuances in our orbit. We want the universe to correspond to our calendar days, so a leap day is like daylight savings time in that respect.
—————
Which chapter is the most superior of all Space Marine Chapters in Warhammer 40k?
Aarron
Well, the Ultramarines were the gene-seed, and the Grey Knights are the most decorated. So I’d say its between the two.
—————-
Do you think Quantum Theory has anything in common with what Jesus taught about Faith?
Paige
They are both intangible. Other than that, no. Quantum theory is largely comedy to me, since it is a lot like Nihilism or The Matrix in that it is proven by itself in that it is a theory that everything and nothing is concrete. I sincerely believe it is the extrapolation of some correlations and results of some physics experiments to this pseudo religious extreme. If it were the premise of a SciFi show it would be great, but the idea that someone would find it helpful in any way is laughable. I don’t quite understand how it would relate to Faith other than it is unprovable and requires faith of some kind to ascribe to. Perhaps you could elaborate.
No name questioner!
Why do ‘no trespassing’ signs say “posted: no trespassing”? Isn’t the ‘posted’ posted part implied?
Yes, but you could also wonder why warning signs say warning: hot surface instead of just posting an average temperature or saying “hot”. Its more a statement of legality than communication. My dad had signs on his Ranch that read: “Posted: NO TRESPASSING. This is your final notice” every 500 feet. Felt a lot more like an implication that you had your chance, and the rules were met and spelled out for you.
How long is a second?
Its actually amazing. A second used to be an astronomical time unit, measured, like many things in the old days, celestially. The egyptians took a day and divided it up 24 times, and the greeks divided those up 60 times, then 60 times again. The modern standard is the space between 9 waves of radioactive decay of a Cesium atom. Trouble is, pesky things like magnets and gravity alter the rate, so it must be isolated to measure.
….or you could time the sunrises of 2 days, and divide it 24 then 60 then 60 times. Modern methods may be fancy but they sure can be stupid. Reminds me of the predicament NASA had getting pens(which are gravitationally and atmospherically fed) to work in space. Pressurized pens would be dangerous, so they spent MILLIONS developing a space-pen that could write upside-down or in space and was prohibitively expensive except for collectors and spacemen.
Meanwhile, the Ruskies used pencils.
Im trying to internet myself to sleep. It ain’t working. Maybe I’ll read. Anyone else not get enough sleep during the workweek and then can’t sleep on weekends?
Eamon
Goodness gracious!
So fine. Nobody ask me anything.
Chris asked which way toilets flush on the equator, and the answer is that the equator is an imaginary line like a state border. You are either on the top or bottom half and it flows one way or the other.
I would now like to criticize our president. Clearly, he is either like those authors that create a masterpiece at their day job and then realize they can’t just write good stuff, or he fired whomever wrote those old speeches. His administration’s policy is absolute trash, which I may get to, but considering a president is more a figurehead and face than anything, I take issue with his misleading statements. I am not even concerned with the fact that I find this change repulsive, and Bush should never have had to write an order demanding that EXTREMELY devisive, and non-restorative actions not be publicly funded. I only will focus on his poor leadership.
I speak, of course, of the “false choice” dead horse he’s beaten into the ground, inspiring fanboy democrats everywhere to kill their own horse and find a stick. He stated:
“In recent years when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values. In this case. I believe the two are not inconsistent. As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been giving the capacity and will to pusue this research–and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly.”
A false choice is a dilemma where only two choices are given when there are in fact other options. You would think Obama would be an expert, considering a massively perpetuated false choice is what got him elected. He is asserting that the administration decided sound science and thoughtful research is sacriligious. He then goes on to state that because he claims he is of the one religion ascribed to by everyone who isnt an atheist(right?), and that he has decreed that stem cell research is morally acceptable because we can and want to, it should be publically funded.
None of my own opinions are in that paragraph, it simply is a direct translation of the bull-headed carpetbagging verbally displayed by our fearless leader. I do not condemn him for it, no one man can decide for the nation, and in a position of extreme power such as his, you can’t expect the vested groups surrounding him to sponsor an environment of clear thought and careful decision making. They’ve already made their decisions, after all.
In the Bible, a recurring theme is that of a good or bad ruler. Many lives are preserved and stories are told as lessons in leadership, and I’ve never understood why even the most extreme of candidates never focus on their God-given charge to be a talented, fair, just, and wise ruler. It seems we just get one at a time, at severe deficit to the others.
Don’t they know that focusing on just one is a giving in to a false choice?
Eamon