Questions of a weird mind

[Ravens_cry]

Well, I'm just going to be the first to claim control over Ganymede. It's the place in the outer solar system with the least deadly environment. It may be cold and airless, but at least we won't be bombarded by deadly radiation much.

I claim Venus then. Earth like gravity, an atmosphere that can be turned into a construction material, plenty of energy, easy delta-v to certain asteroids to make up for any lack, and an atmosphere where breathable air is lifting gas with a layer where temperature and pressure are close to Earth-like.
Cloud cities here I come!

[Elemental]

I claim Venus then. Earth like gravity, an atmosphere that can be turned into a construction material, plenty of energy, easy delta-v to certain asteroids to make up for any lack, and an atmosphere where breathable air is lifting gas with a layer where temperature and pressure are close to Earth-like.
Cloud cities here I come!

A good choice for now, but given the expected evolution of the Sun, you'd be doomed before anyone living on Earth.
Though it would be possible to alter its orbit...
Nah... That'd mess up the orbits of the other planets.

Anyway, if you end up having problems with Venus, you can come and live on Ganymede if you need to.

[Ravens_cry]

A good choice for now, but given the expected evolution of the Sun, you'd be doomed before anyone living on Earth.
Though it would be possible to alter its orbit...
Nah... That'd mess up the orbits of the other planets.

Anyway, if you end up having problems with Venus, you can come and live on Ganymede if you need to.

That's awful generous, I'll be sure to take you up on that if worst comes to worst.
"If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; If not, why then, this parting was well made."

[Last_resort_33]

I've got one.

gravity holds us to the earth, but the earth spins at something like 1,000mph. our momentum is directed away from the earth.

does this mean that moving counter to the earth's rotation would make you heavier?
and if that's right, how much more would stuff weigh if the earth didn't rotate?

(((2 * pi radians) per day)^2) * radius of Earth = 0.0337305619 m/s^2

Acceleration due to gravity is about 9.80665 m/s^2 (Wikipedia) so the difference is about 0.34%

which from a 140 lb (~60 kg) person is about 7.5 oz (~200g)

[Elemental]

(((2 * pi radians) per day)^2) * radius of Earth = 0.0337305619 m/s^2

Acceleration due to gravity is about 9.80665 m/s^2 (Wikipedia) so the difference is about 0.34%

which from a 140 lb (~60 kg) person is about 7.5 oz (~200g)

Which, due to the inherent strength of a full grown human, is nothing.
There are probably all sorts of other factors that work to minimalise this difference anyway.

[Ravens_cry]

Still, it is a comprehensible difference; it isn't such a small number our brains only understand it through numbers.
Thanks for answering a question I did not ask but now am glad I know.

[Yora]

Does this happen to other people:

I have the habit to sing songs that have lyrics which are related to something I am lost in thought about it, without noticing it.
Just went to get by Xbox started for the final level of Mass Effect 3, and was singing the chorus from "The Ultimate Showdown".

[Elemental]

Ultimately, people sing songs that are catchy.
And because of my friend, I keep getting his music, music I detest by the way, stuck in my head because of its catchy rhythms.

[Timeless Error]

Does this happen to other people:

I have the habit to sing songs that have lyrics which are related to something I am lost in thought about it, without noticing it.
Just went to get by Xbox started for the final level of Mass Effect 3, and was singing the chorus from "The Ultimate Showdown".

Yes, but I hadn't noticed it until fairly recently, when, a few weeks ago around midnight, when I was trying to stay awake working on homework, I started humming the first two lines of St. Judy's Comet by Paul Simon over and over again: "Little sleepy boy, do you know what time it is? Well the hour of your bedtime's long been past." When I realized what I was doing, I was kind of stunned (and all the more certain that it was my subconscious's doing because I don't even really like that song all that much, and wouldn't consciously hum it of my own free will). I've had several similar thematic-song instances since.

[captainspazam]

If the world ends on 12-12-12, then will the Earth be destroyed by time zones?

[captainspazam]

Sorry about all those questions. Somethings up with my network :(

[Elemental]

Despite the fact that that prediction is based on a misinterpretation of a Mayan calendar, I think... Somehow I doubt that anything capable of destroying the world would do so by timezone. It'd probably destroy the world based on when it's 12/12/12 where the Mayans lived.

Still, I don't believe in that at all. If the Mayans were still around, they'd be preparing for a celebration, not catastrophe.

Interesting question though, and it managed to conjure up an image wall of fire slowly moving from place to place in my mind.
Quite humorous is a weird, destructive sort of way.

[Ravens_cry]

Reminds me of an old Canadian joke, "The world will end at midnight, 12:30 in Newfoundland."

[Story Time]

If the world ends on 12-12-12, then will the Earth be destroyed by time zones?

No, the Earth will not end...not in that way, certainly. I find it really silly to think that some fool could calculate the end of the world based on a calendar date. It's a thoughtless assumption.

If ( a big if ) there is an end to the world it will be discovered by observation, not by calculation.

[Elemental]

No, the Earth will not end...not in that way, certainly. I find it really silly to think that some fool could calculate the end of the world based on a calendar date. It's a thoughtless assumption.

If ( a big if ) there is an end to the world it will be discovered by observation, not by calculation.

Or calculations based upon observation.

[Story Time]

...not an acceptable answer. The definitions and implications are too wide. Please be more specific.

[Elemental]

...not an acceptable answer. The definitions and implications are too wide. Please be more specific.

It's simple, if you observe an asteroid in a near Earth orbit, you still have no way to be sure if it will ever collide with the Earth, it could go anywhere.
However, if you do the calculations based upon it's current orbit and factor in the gravitational effects acting upon it, you can determine whether it will collide with the Earth, or move to a different orbit, or be captured, etc.

Discovering a potential threat means nothing, because they number in the millions. You need calculations to be certain.

[Story Time]

Wow, how odd. Elemental made me think of something:
"Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
"Which came first, the observation or the calculation?"

I will admit that calculating something helps, but it's a really big sky out there. Even more, the Mayans were a culture really really ancient. So should we choose to believe a prophecy from a people group that no longer exist? What authority makes their claim accurate ( let alone, right )?

I remember viewing The Matrix film right before the year two thousand. And there seemed to be this big anxiety in people about The Millennium ( which did not really roll around until two thousand one ). And I found it strange. What should make us think that the Mayans were doing anything more than...tripping out on their herbs?

[thubby]

Wow, how odd. Elemental made me think of something:
"Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
"Which came first, the observation or the calculation?"

can't help myself here.
egg. chickens evolved from something that, by all available data, would have also laid eggs.

[Elemental]

Wow, how odd. Elemental made me think of something:
"Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
"Which came first, the observation or the calculation?"

I will admit that calculating something helps, but it's a really big sky out there. Even more, the Mayans were a culture really really ancient. So should we choose to believe a prophecy from a people group that no longer exist? What authority makes their claim accurate ( let alone, right )?

I remember viewing The Matrix film right before the year two thousand. And there seemed to be this big anxiety in people about The Millennium ( which did not really roll around until two thousand one ). And I found it strange. What should make us think that the Mayans were doing anything more than...tripping out on their herbs?

We shouldn't believe their prophecy. Mostly because they didn't have one.
The Mayans believed that the current world was the third or fourth or somethingth world that had ever existed, and that each previous world had been destroyed at the end of a long cycle by the gods who grew unhappy with the inhabitants.
If they were still around now, they'd be celebrating.

The only reason people believe it's the end, is because people seem to like thinking that the world is about to end. There are probably a hundred or so predictions that the world's going to end in the next few years based either upon recent events, "SCIENCE" or supposed prophecies from long-gone civilisations.

[Ravens_cry]

Not to mention that it no more meant the world was ending than a mayfly getting excited because on December 31st of any given year the calendar ends.
The Mayan were not stupid, but if they were so good at this prophesy gig, you'd think they'd have predicted the Spaniards and made appropriate preparations.

[absolmorph]

You made me cringe by saying Académie Française, I think their attitude of "WE decide which word is French or not" seems so wrong to me, especially when the youth is speaking something completely different.

I feel I should note, since it wasn't addressed beforehand, that due to the constant evolution of language, what people (especially youth) speak is typically different from what is official. I don't know if it's particularly bad with French, but... Dude. People got mad about "lol" being a word in the dictionary.

Despite the fact that that prediction is based on a misinterpretation of a Mayan calendar, I think... Somehow I doubt that anything capable of destroying the world would do so by timezone. It'd probably destroy the world based on when it's 12/12/12 where the Mayans lived.

I'd get an extra hour! Woohoo!

The only reason people believe it's the end, is because people seem to like thinking that the world is about to end. There are probably a hundred or so predictions that the world's going to end in the next few years based either upon recent events, "SCIENCE" or supposed prophecies from long-gone civilisations.

Don't forget about computer glitches.

Now, to contribute to the thread's purpose: what is the purpose of a rubber duck?

[pffh]

Still, I don't believe in that at all. If the Mayans were still around, they'd be preparing for a celebration, not catastrophe.

The Mayans are still around, several millions of them in fact.

[Ravens_cry]

Now, to contribute to the thread's purpose: what is the purpose of a rubber duck?

It's a bath toy. Like little toy boats and sponges shaped like the stylized silhouettes of various animals.

[Brother Oni]

can't help myself here.
egg. chickens evolved from something that, by all available data, would have also laid eggs.

Depends on how you interpret the question. The question as written "What came first, the chicken or the egg", I agree with you for the exact same reasons.

However if you interpret the question as "What came first, the chicken or the chicken egg?", then the answer is the chicken, as by definition a chicken egg is laid by a chicken.
Where did the egg come from that hatched the first chicken? An egg from a very closely related bird that was the chicken's ancestor, but didn't fulfil enough of the arbitrary taxonomic criteria we've defined the chicken species as.

In the same way, what came first, the observation or the calculation? Depends on how you interpret the question.

[Ravens_cry]

Actually, I would say the definition of a chicken egg is something that hatches into a chicken. If we took a chicken and surgically switched it's ovaries with, say, a duck, and somehow got them working, would what be laid be called a chicken egg?
I say no.
So the answer is definitely the egg.

[Story Time]

Now, to contribute to the thread's purpose: what is the purpose of a rubber duck?

It's a bath toy. Like little toy boats and sponges shaped like the stylized silhouettes of various animals.

And to squeak! Squeak, ducky!

[denthor]

please send a pm with your answer.

Why do normal people that are intelligent think that thinking weird?

[Ravens_cry]

And to squeak! Squeak, ducky!

And to write songs about.

[Ravens_cry]

And to squeak! Squeak, ducky!

And to write songs about.