nik

Wow. Looks like the Klingons are winning hands down. I think the utilitarian look of the Klingons exudes a military air.

Was there not an episode or movie in which the Klingons built a phaser out of various

parts of their uniforms? They used it to break out of a cell.

Time is a spacial metric parameter. That is, it is an element whereby we measure the universe. Current theory holds to an 11 dimensional universe plus a single time dimension. These dimensions, though considered to be orthogonal, can be interlinked

or depend on each other depending on the metric one uses. For example, the

Schwarzchild metric, which is used to calculate space-time measurements in the

vicinity of masses (but does not work at all inside a black hole or singularity, or at

radius=0) draws a link between the three spatial dimensions we are used to and

add a dependence on time. However, to say that time is a particle (as we currently

define particles and time) is not exact. Rather, the particles define the metric

whereby we measure time and space.

Additionally, the particle physicists have a whole class of particles called the gauge bosons that mediate forces. These include the photon, gluon, Z, W, and the

speculated (but never seen) graviton which mediates the gravitational force. If you want to define time as being affected or "mediated" by a particle, then you would -

loosely - attribute this to a graviton. Keep in mind that this force is so weak compared to the others, that our experience to date does not include the graviton.

I don't use one. Depending on what I'm doing, I either use an optical mouse, an aerial mouse, a touch sensitive screen, or a VR glove - none of which require a pad.

- Being micromanaged.

- Office politics.

I got "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

...... Never even heard of that movie.

I have raw fish at least twice a week and more often in the summer.  I tend to have sushi 2 or 3 times a week at work and sashimi (just "straight" raw fish) at home once or twice.  It's incredibly healthy, though I can see how many North Americans and Europeans would be anxious about it.

 

As for wasabi, which Bysty mentioned, I had a nasty experience with it the other week, a situation in which I'm sure some of you would have gagged.  I was at a pub with some friends and we decided to play a game like Russian Roulette, but with sushi.  As you may know, wasabi is green paste put between the fish and the rice to give it a little kick.  In this game, 10 pieces of sushi are served on a plate, and one is jam-packed with wasabi and inedible for many people.  Everyone plays rock, paper, scissors to decide who eats the first one.  I was #2.

 

On this night, the selection was a piece of squid or tuna sushi.  The wasabi is hidden inside the rice so you can't see which one is the bad one until you try it.  I made it through the first round OK and was still a little unsure at that point what the game was about since I wasn't paying much attention to the explanation, which was in Japanese, and we were all consuming alcohol.  As we approached the second round, the tension began to build as there were only four pieces left for the six of us, meaning that two people got off lucky only having to eat one piece each.

 

Down to 3 pieces, I tested my luck and chomped hard into a piece of squid.  It tasted fine at first, but then I noticed a spicy, burning sensation in my mouth.  I managed to swallow half the sushi and a lot of wasabi without tasting it by biting it in two and piling it down.  Alas, the taste was too much for me and I could fee my stomach beginning to convulse and my throat pushing what had made it that far slowly upwards.  When my neck started gyrating forwards, I decided it would be better to spit out the remainder of the sushi rather than wait for it to drag the rest of my meal out with it.

 

I don't really hate wasabi, but it's not my favourite.  If you're not sure what it is, for the quantity I ate, try to imagine drinking vinegar from a glass or eating a pet bottlecap full of salt or something.  Not pleasant.

Wow! I've played that game before! I've got a pretty tough stomach, but I know the

feeling. I like how that much wasabi makes the hairs on the back of my neck stick

out.

maybe I'm alone but I was including personality when I considered how attractive they are. That's why I said Duras, I also really disliked that Vulcan captain Sisko had a rivalry with, you know the baseball game ep. He was so arrogant he needed an up close introduction to a sharp object as well.

If you want to talk about personality, I would have to say Ursula and B'Etor [?] were the least attractive.

Does the holodeck replicate certain items when it has to, such as food, water,

spittle, dirt, etc.?

As sad as I was that Data died, I felt a huge amount of respect, honor, and even happiness for his character. His death was the final, determining step in his quest for humanity. In a single act of courage and honor, he captured that which defines humanity more than anything - mortality.

The Picards have a pretty good history of exploration. It's no coincidence that the

captian of a fictional exploration vessel - the Enterprise D - was given the same name.

When Columbia streaked across the Texas Sky for the final time?

In a gym near my house, watching it on TV.

On 9-11?

Going to bed at my home just outside of Tokyo (it was evening there, and I never

found out until the next morning).

When the Berlin Wall fell?

Tutoring fellow high school students in math.

When Challanger exploded on take off?

Sitting in Jr. High math class.

When you hear Elvis was dead?

ELVIS ISN'T DEAD!

Just kidding. I believe that was August 16, 1977. I was playing in the

backyard in northern Michigan.

When Armstrong took a giant leap for us all?

Not alive then.

When the last American chopper left Saigon?

April 30, 1975 if I remeber correctly - Probably running around the house wreaking havoc.

Yep, I teach physics at the University I work at.

This is a simple topic. List a food or beverage that you can't stand.

 

For me it's bananas, I start gagging involuntarily when I taste banana. It's some weird reaction I can't control.

That's very interesting that you don't like bananas. I like fresh bananas, but I detest dried bananas. A few years ago, I was biking across the country, and for two days in the middle of nowhere, the only thing I had to eat was two pounds of dried bananas that I packed. I got so sick or eating dried bananas that I still loath them.

Presumably, the Medusans are pretty awful to look at. It is said that if a human looks

at one, they will go mad.

I have heard some of those rumors too. Does anyone know how far we actually are from molecular transport? I cannot wait! 

How far from molecular transport? Pretty far. As WEAREBORG said, all we can

do is examine QM effects on single photons, and maybe separated electrons, but

not entire molecules, let alone nucleons. These experiments really aren't too much

beyond what Michael Faraday was doing 100-150 years ago with EM waves.

I've spent about 1.5 years in Japan for work, and some of the typical Japanese eating habits include:

- It's polite to slurp your food - the louder the better.

- One can pick up his bowl, bring it to your face, and drink right out of it.

- People eat raw eggs with rice and natto, fermented soybeans.

- In general, Japanese people eat much faster than Americans.

I picked up many of these habits there, and was a bit out of place when I first returned to the U.S. However, the Japanese also think Americans have odd eating habits. One of the biggest differences include the fact that Americans "overcook" everything. That

means that we process, mash, grind, and "mutilate" our food (e.g., hamburger).

American's, on the other hand, are typically struck by the Japanese "fresh" food. In

fact, many of the elegant Japanese meals still have the face on them (American's have

a hard time eating something that still has the eyes). In fact, the most elegant Japanese meal I've eaten was a large platter of fish set in the center of the table at a restaurant, but the fish was still alive with the skin just peeled back. The diner was expected to just pick the meat of the fish and eat it. A bit uncomfortable, but there was no question as to the freshness of the meal.

Je peut parler Francais.

Nihongo o hanasemasu.

I can speak Japanese and French - learned them for work. Probably learn Russian or

Mandarin pretty soon, too.

Yeah.... Leave it alone, man. You sound like a typical guy, like me. (That's not

an insult, that's just the way it is.) Guys are pretty smart when we're thinking above the belt, but that takes some control and restraint - true wisdom.

Grad school, as for many others, gave me my first cavities. It's all the sugar from

the caffienated pop and coffee.

Interestingly, my best friend and I are almost complete opposites.

I thought it was funny that in a previous topic ("Hello" ) started by Peronal Jesus, you

(Shadowfigment) actually replied to your own posting. Amusing, but I suppose you were just trying to bump it?

Ok, I'm ignorant. What's a name game?

I used to live in Texas, and watching the lightning make its way across he desert was

an impressive sight.

Someone mentioned the Ferrari Enzo, and that would be in my top ten. I would also

definitely have to have a 1987(?) Vector W-8 or a 1996 Dauer 962 LeMans.

The largest number I have heard of other than from here:

100 grillion to the googolplexed power

 

This article says that the universe is at least the above in radius. It's a very long article about dimensions and stuff so I'll post an excerpt to show you.

This article mixes ancient mysticism and unproven statements to produce a result that the writer made up. Further the writer produces a unit of length by taking a product of a constant times a unit of volume. (One of the first things I teach physics students at the University is, "Check the units! If the units don't make sense, then you

probably did it wrong!")

In the scientific world, we have a technical term for the "scientists" who produce such results and write such articles: crackpots.

Accepted, PROVABLE, minimum radius of the universe = 20 billion l.y. = 1.9*10^26 m = 1.9*10^28cm = 1.9*10^29mm =1.9*10^32um = 1.9*10^35nm =1.9*10^38pm = 1.9*10^41fm.

Interesting note: Size of a proton ~ 1fm. Fascinating that the currently measureable

universe spans 41 orders of magnitude!