Just wondering...
POSTED BY: everyworldspinnin
UPDATED: Friday, June 3, 2005 06:14
VIEWED: 19516
PAGE 7 of 12
I can't remember the last time I read a topic that jumped around so much, much less started one that did. It's all good though. Posts should be conversations anyway. 
Wes
"I am a large, semi-muscular man..."
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Quote:
Originally posted by Jake:
Graduate student in astrophysics here. I sit around trying to convince others that the sky really is falling while I try to convince myself that I know physics and that this is the way to go to avoid getting a real job. ;)
Seriously though, I study galactic chemical evolution, which basically tries to reproduce the Milky Way galaxy we observe today through various theoretical formation models, as well as neutron capture nucleosynthesis, which essentially explains how elements heavier than iron are formed in stars and supernovae.
Don't know if this is up your alley or not, but what's your take on string theory?
"I am a large, semi-muscular man..."
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Quote:
Originally posted by ManiacNumberOne:
Glad we wandered back to the topic. I didn't really want to argue about religion at the moment.
By the way, I'm your friendly neighborhood Taxman.
"Oh, you're the tax man."
"No! I'm a taxman, not the taxman! A taxman!"
Sorry, couldn't resist (and wondering if anyone else will even get the reference)
Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6 (real)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/alternaljournal (fictional, travelling through another world)
Unreachable Star: http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinions
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Laywer (well, solicitor - we Brits take our division of labour very seriously).
For those unfamiliar from the other side of the pond, I became a lawyer because I thought it was all jousting in court, jousting in the boardroom and on your desk 
and drinking fresh coffee all day. LA Law lied to me.
What it means is I don't get to wear the wig and cloak in court - though I'm working on it in the next year or so (still won't get the wig though, those damn barristers get mighty protective).
"I threw up on your bed"
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TheSomnambulist wrote:
Quote:
...No I think I can safely say, I've never had bad sex... I may have played a big part in someone else feeling like they've had bad sex - but to my mind it's always been great!
I've had bad sex. While most assume that females are so talented (or at least so unobtrusive) that they can always provide 'good enough sex' for a male, it's not universally true. I'm not talking about unsatisfying sex, either. I'm talking about a sexual train wreck.
Really horrible. On the positive side, the females involved seemed to be having a fantastic time, though I couldn't figure how. It only served to prolong the agony. I'm sure females have many more of these experiences on average than men do: sorta just lying there thinking, "What's he on about?" It's not fun having the shoe on the other foot.
Count yourself lucky if it's never happened to you...
Regretfully,
zoid
P.S.
Kiss enough princesses and you're bound to get the occasional toad.
_________________________________________________
"Sure as I know anything, I know this: I aim to misbehave." -Capt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity, a.k.a. 'the BDM'
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Quote:
Originally posted by zoid:
I'm talking about a sexual train wreck.
You tried to pull an Ivan, didn't you?
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Quote:
Originally posted by everyworldspinnin:
Don't know if this is up your alley or not, but what's your take on string theory?
I know I’m not the one asked, but I thought I’d stick my change in as I have everywhere else. It’s my understanding that string theory is a mathematical theory, in spite of what people will tell you. It produces the right answer, but not necessarily through the correct means.
If you ask Steven Hawking, the guy in the wheelchair, he’ll say that if something gets the right answer he’ll accept it. (I know because he says that about many things in his books.) On the other hand many of the anti-string theorists say that the important part is not to get the right answer, it is to understand the elements contributing to the process that results in that answer.
-
This is not my field of expertise, but I think it helps to have someone make the distinction right up front. To be true it needs to be more than simply perfect, it needs to accurately describe the universe, and that is where people get into fights. Years ago they did the math needed to prove it was perfect, but there are many perfect things that don’t even make accurate predictions.
Quote:
Originally posted by everyworldspinnin:
I can't remember the last time I read a topic that jumped around so much, much less started one that did. It's all good though. Posts should be conversations anyway.
I’m glad you approve, you were the only one I was worried about pissing off.
Quote:
Originally posted by ManiacNumberOne:
I didn't really want to argue about religion at the moment.
We weren’t really arguing about religion so much, though there was a bit of that (sorry), more about physics.
Whether or not there is a god is not a matter for religion, and indeed religion stays out of the debate (but obviously not the tangents to the debate.) Religion only comes in after you’ve made up your mind on god.
The existence of god, or lack there of, is a question of the interaction of matter and energy as well as their natures. This falls under physics.
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You're right, it's not really up my alley. ;)
However, I like it in that it attempts to explain the universe as we see it. It's human nature to inquire about the world we live in, and to attempt to explain our perception of it on an extremely fundamental level (possibly *the* most fundamental level) with formulated concepts developed from observations and mathematics is, to me, just...beautiful. We take what we think we know about this universe and apply it to explain various phenomena. It doesn't mean what we think we know is actually what is occurring, but rather that what we think we know agrees fairly well with what we see. For all we know, we could be in left field and have not one clue of what's actually going on. ;)
On the other hand, despite some recent rumblings from a Dutch (?) research group studying Bose-Einstein condensates, it's kinda hard to really verify this theory. As it is, string theory is just that: a theory, albeit an attractive one. :) Regardless of whether or not it completely explains reality as we experience it is just a minor hindrance in furthering our understanding of our universe. ;)
As you can probably tell, I can't really say anything specific about string theory as I haven't had much "edumication" in it. I certainly am intrigued by it, but unfortunately I don't really have much time to dedicate to it. (I thought the life of a grad student wouldn't be much different than the life of an undergrad - I was *dead* wrong about that.) Nonetheless, I do intend to learn more about it, even if we don't know the degree of its validity. Afterall, where's the fun if you can't look at the world in a different way?
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Quote:
Originally posted by everyworldspinnin:
Sitting out here on my deck dreading going back to work tommorow, I was just wondering, what do other FF/Serenity fans do for a living? Me, I'm a PC Tech. How bout you?
Up until last November I was a member of the Navigation Division aboard the Fast Attack submarine USS Providence SSN-719.
Now I work for Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, a company that builds Ion Implanters.
For those who wonder what an Ion Implanter is, it is a very large (room-sized) machine that bombards silicon wafers with ionized particles, making them semiconductors, which are in turn used to make computer chips. Anything you own with a chip in it, from your computer to your cell phone to your car likely has a chip made with a Varian tool.
Captain Pete
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christhecynic queried:
Quote:
You tried to pull an Ivan, didn't you?
While I'm not really sure what you're driving at ("Oooh, er, that sounds a bit rude!"), I can assure you there was nothing particularly extraordinary about the maneuver ("More of a 'gesture' than a 'maneuver', really.").
And no, there wasn't anything physically wrong with either the girl or myself, either. We just weren't in the same ballpark psychically for some reason. The more she enjoyed it, the more bemused I became. For whatever reason, the experience lacked a certain mutual joie de vivre and sense of union that I generally consider characteristic of 'good sex', or even marginally acceptable sex. While I've had sex with any number of females who lacked technique or suffered from image issues, et cetera, the sex was always rewarding because of physical union and communion of spirits. I'd like to think not worse a verdict would be rendered of me.
It definitely gave me a different perspective on things though. Coupled with being present for two of my wife's childbirths, I realized that I'll never fully comprehend why women put up with such shenanigans...
Women -- all of them -- are truly miraculous.
v/r,
-zed
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