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I was given a warning for hijacking thread https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=4306454#post4306454 and would like to dispute it publicly. The Forums Global Guidelines says: "Do not hijack an existing thread with off-topic comments or questions--start a new thread." First of...

Hey, Astronuc! Thanks so much for the info. That's the basics of what I hoped to find out. I appreciate the answer!

First of all, I never said there was a problem with anything. I've just been wondering how, exactly, distribution works beyond the journals that initially bring us things. Second of all, based on Andre's example, I'd say improvements would be welcomed. Graduate students are still in school and...

There needs to be order in science, and there are organizations that act as "creationists". The IAU is one example. They decided a new way of defining what a planet was and now Pluto is taught to be a "dwarf planet". That was an official decision "made by someone" that now needs to be respected...

Additionally, new schools, in particular, must go through some process for having their curriculum accepted before being accredited, right?

Out of curiosity, I wonder where I could find this. And yet, this very statement implies a standard. After all, you can't "weight" different universities without a standard to weigh against. Also, I wonder if some of that weight is based on money before serious consideration to the actual...

It sounds like you're saying that university/college programs don't need to change with new discoveries because they are intended as a general foundation only. Do you really think that's true? I wonder what the point of science is, if not to also incorporate its new discoveries into our...

That's good to know Evo, and thanks for the clarification. I know people DO get kicked out of the forums, so it's a reasonable concern. Still, my suggestion stands on maybe changing the approach. Instead of the scary, "You have received a warning", maybe the policy could be changed to "This is a...

Posting something to the wrong sub-forum can be an easy mistake that doesn't warrant a "warning". My thread "How does science maintain cohesion?", I think, makes a good discussion. I was told it should go in the "General Discussion" sub-forum and not "General Physics". The reason I didn't put it...

There is so much information out there and new studies happening all the time. How is all of this information organized so that new discoveries are incorporated in standardized curriculums? I guess I'm wondering how all of the thousands of colleges and universities across the globe stay on...

Actually, by definition, the universe IS everything. I know there's a new popular movement about the "multi-verse", but that's ultimately semantics. The "universe" is intended to describe everything that is. What you appear to have a picture of is not the universe, but a galaxy. There are a...

Despite how it may first appear, this isn't a chemistry question. Since probabilities and statistics are often used in testing, this seemed to be the best sub-forum for my question. I hope it is. I've been thinking about testing methods these days, which reminded me of an interesting story...

Thanks for the link. I did read through it. The reason it doesn't fully help is because it focuses on regional changes of CO2/O2 based on the local season. It doesn't seem to describe any global increases of O2. The source of my (limited) knowledge is the movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Any other...

I'm writing a paper (not homework) and would like to refer to how the entire Earth's O2 levels rise when it's spring/summer in the northern hemisphere. I understand that this happens because most of the Earth's plant life is there. Can anyone please tell me the proper name of this phenomena, or...

Here's my newest idea: What if they were military aircraft that were still in our atmosphere? The brighter one may have been sending off powerful signals that actually moved the air, making the moonlight reflect off of the atmosphere instead of the signals themselves. This seems feasable...

I asked my husband how many arcs he remembered and he said he thought 6-8. Between both of our memories, then, and the fact that I was most comfortable with the number 6 to begin with, I think 6 is the best guess. Jared or James, your input is a little confusing. I'm not sure what lense...

That's interesting. I'm surprised that you're certain it wasn't signals. I'm reluctant to immediately accept the moisture theory. Here's why... I know that double rainbows exist but: 1) I've never heard of more that two. The arcs we saw were no less than four and no more than six. I doubt...

I've been putting this off for a while, but I saw something kinda neat last month (mid-late September actually) and I'm curious to see how common it is and to understand it a little better. My husband, daughter and I were staying at a cabin in the mountains and got back to it one night when...

Hey, dude! You've obviously used a process of reverse osmosis to extract the essential issue of this thread. :wink: From here on, the discussion probably belongs in the Earth sub-section, but I'll write this for now, anyway, and assume the thread will be moved. I understand your arguments...

If our rivers were enough to meet water demands then desalinization plants wouldn't be on the discussion table. I'm looking for someone that actually knows how they work. If we desalinize water from the ocean to help supply our dwindling water resources, then I'd think we'd want to re-salinize...

I just wondered what these plants do with the salt they remove from seawater. Do they return it immediately, about where they took it from, or do they use it to infuse the fresh water that's returning to the oceans/seas with?

Are you seriously going to fuss about this coment, when I made so many others that should be advancing the conversation? This sentence is a conversational segue from your coment that our water isn't threatened so let's live it up to the idea that we should be more vigilent about what's going on...

We all have something in our nature that compells us in a certain direction. I believe the best thing to do is support and encourage a child to follow their heart. If they trust you and have support in their exploration to discover their own desires, then you will be a greater resource for them...

I'm not arguing that there is no irresponsible development independant of overpopulation but it seems a bit ignorant and short-sighted for you to not also recognize overpopulation as an issue. About the cows... Grain fed animals may not need as much land area but isn't that largely because...

The essential point of the above post is quoted here: "Much of [lost resources] is caused by uncontrolled development, rather than overpopulation, and there's no reason to think that simple population controls would eliminate these problems." This is an entirely different issue. "Uncontrolled...

By the time water is threatened for us in the life or death sense, it'll be to late. It may not be "life or death" in the US at the moment, but it is threatened and we need to take seriously where we're headed. Maybe you don't care about people in Africa or Asia, but you can at least look at...

I'm not talking about your chances of having it if it runs in your family, because I can see depression and/or anxiety being contagious if you were raised in it. I'm talking about actual, they've isolated the gene, genetics. I've often heard people say "it's a leak in the brain", as though...

Many of you are saying that western civilizations don't have a population problem and that, once "developing" cultures industrialize, like us, their problems will dissappear, too. Think about this: The only reason population becomes a problem is because Earth's resources are finite and it's...

Thanks for the in depth info, bobze. I'm actually trying to understand this from an evolutionary perspective. We all know that evolution is caused by genetic mutations. I'm trying to understand the evolutionary relationship between specific bones and the skeletal system as a whole. I would...

Each bone evolves independantly of the others, right? I'm pretty sure that each bone has it's own gene. Assuming I'm correct, my primary question is, did each bone also evolve its density or is there a single gene that controls the density of all bones, collectively? I hope my question is clear.

Hi Jim! Yes, I understand that the sun is the reference point in this conjunction. But there is still less distance for the light to travel in this scenario. In the conjunction, there is only the distance from Earth's orbit to Jupiter's orbit. But in the opposition, the light has to travel that...

Still, this is interesting info for a novice like myself. It seems odd, though. I'd think if Jupiter was closer, i.e. conjunct, then events would happen faster or sooner. After all, the light doesn't have to travel as far. Anyone care to explain why a conjunction makes events happen later? Maybe...

I think if you kept a calendar of Jupiter's position in relation to the sun, you could take your noon reading and then wait for the moment that Jupiter rises. At that moment, you can determine your new local time by how much time has elapsed from the sun at high noon and Jupiter at the horizon...

Thanks for your input D.H. Unfortunately, I'm ready to give up finding help with this problem. If you re-read the middle paragraph of post #3, as well as my subsequent posts, you'd see that my question is how one reconciles local time - by a noon sundial reading - with a reading of the moons of...

I'm really not missing the point. You can only make the aforementioned calculation if you know local time. It's the comparison between local time and port time that allows you to calculate the meridian. But when you're sailing in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around for a frame of...

True. But what if neither the meridian nor the time are known? Before clocks were reliable enough to take across the ocean, neither of these factors could be known! As far as I know, without knowing the longitude and without a reliable timepiece, the only way to know the time was by a noon...

Thanks for the fun link! So you don't think my 16 power binocs are enough to recognize the transits? What about a 100 power spotting scope? Here's part of what I don't understand: The way to figure out how far you are from the home port is to compare local time with home port time. The only...

We've never owned a telescope so I know my questions are naieve. We're thinking of getting a Yukon 6-100X100 spotting scope. Would this allow us to see stripes and/or colors on Jupiter? What about rings on Saturn? Thanks!

I was watching the Nova show, "Lost at Sea; The Search for Longitude", which describes our quest to accuately determine our longitude as we travel across the sea. It said that watching the moons of Jupiter was an accurate way of keeping the time of your home port but wasn't practical to do on...

Tenet/anti-tennet, glass half full/glass half empty. It's all on your point of view I suppose! Thanks lisab and Andre for your contributions. Andre, I like your signature saying as much as the others you contributed! lisab, I like yours, too. It's a different category but still a gem. I...

Born2bwired, it's optimistic and kind of you to speak in defense of Feynman. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I agree with your assessment of his intentions. Let's pick apart this passage a little... This quote alone is saying, quite clearly, that the photon is not associated with a wavefunction. In...

Duality is verifiable. This just goes to show that even highly respected physicist can be blinded by their own biases.

"Wave function collapse" is simply the terminology that describes the change of state from wave to particle. To say there IS no collapse is to say that there is no duality. Period.

So is Feynman saying that the wave/particle duality doesn't actually exist?

LOL! I'm not actually trying to make any religious or ethical points. I know that makes this thread much less interesting, so I apologize! I'm just thinking about how even scientists are human. It's, therefore, essential for scientists to separate personal biases from scientific inquery in order...

Seeking "scientific tenets" For example, the medical profession has, "First do no harm"; a tenet establised by Hipprocates. Are there any similar ones for physics? Like, "first test it" or something like that?

Hmm... I have to say this post has me most perplexed. The best I can think is that you thought I was quoting you when I was actually quoting Humanino?? I think that must be what happened. :confused: At any rate, I'm off to bed now.

ansgar, I understand your perspective and I agree with you. It's nice to know that I simply misunderstood your quote, although I'm sure you can see how easy it was to do. The relevance of my point is twofold: First, intelligent layman can still be of value to those with degrees by offering...

I don't mean to interrupt a perfectly productive argument but I can't let this one go. I am a layman and I'm happy to give you some very good reasons why "you" should bother. 1) In every layman lies the potential for a future scientist. If you can successfully reach out to an interested...

These "points of view" are points of measurement. They are measuring spacetime. In other word, bodies are required to measure spacetime and no single body can exist as an absolute frame of reference for this. But that doesn't mean spacetime doesn't exist without them, it only means it can't be...