Favourite pictures v2.0

[Té Rowan]

Smoking! That must really have had a blast doing that calendar. But, they're GlavKos and they know it.

A teen boy's life is not an easy one
when Mom is on the go…

[Neko-]

Well... atleast he used a condom... That shows some responsibility (regarding STDs and birth control)

[Spica75]

Yeah, BUT the cosmic microwave background radiation ("relict radiation" in Russian) is probably acting as sort of "reference frame" syncing things up since the Big Bang.
Is Moon really there when no one is looking? It is, because it is constantly bombarded by particles that keep collapsing its waveform.

And yet time does not halt for an object when you put it in absolute vacuum.

Search for "quantum imaging". Not much open info yet because this is such a hot topic for the militaries of today, all hush-hush, but I heard that existing practical applications are already staggering, changing the world drastically. There would be detection systems that see through things formerly considered opaque, like seas and mountains. Does not bode well for boomers, secret underground bases and such. Radars tech will make a quantum leap forward. We may end with a world that is utterly transparent and nothing could be kept secret, with scientists of 2040s hotly debating the latest MRI scan of the Earth's core in hi-res.

Meh, as with "quantum computing", that's >90% buzzword-ism and hype. Some of what is called "quantum imaging" doesn't even have anything at all to do with quantum physics of any kind!

It was modern, 21st century development. Einstein called quantum entaglement "spooky action at a distance" or something the like, there was no solution at his time.

I was more referring to his writings about time. Which i consider far superior to the vast majority of "ideas" that have spawned in the last 30 years.
There's been a basic tendency to apply maths blindly and then, when it doesn't work out, add more dimensions until you can hammer that square peg into a round hole and say you have a functional theory.

While AFAIK modern science leans toward quantum entaglement being fundamental while spacetime is secondary to it.

I'm yet to see an argument in that direction that isn't outright craptacular.
It's similar to arguments about multiverse and "timelines" and the "everything that can happen, does" concept, all of which are rubbish once you start analyse them seriously(no matter how fun they can be for fiction).
Some of those so called theories actually require an intelligent universe, AND that the universe actually cares, specifically about literally everything. So much logic fail...
That's also why, if timetravel was possible, there would be no paradoxes, because the universe doesn't care, it is only by assuming that a specific chain of events is the "correct" one and hence holds primacy that something like the grandfather paradox even becomes possible at all.

My "skepticism" comes back to first class with my best ever physics teacher. He started by writing up math, then explained it thoroughly, including how it proved the earth was flat. Then he asked the class to figure out what was wrong with it, since as the earth isn't flat, something had to be wrong.
After a lot of attempts, he provided the answer, nothing was wrong with it. The math was impeccable.
That was his standard warning to students to never ever just rely on math for physics, because while it's a great tool and excellent for speculations, the thing to remember is that the math is not reality, it can only be used to represent it, and if you go look for the wrong answers, we CAN always get them.

And i spent a lot of time going over things in regards to physics while working on achieving functional concepts for FTL in the 90s.
I came up with 4, but sadly technology is nowhere near what is needed to test practical viability.
But the one thing i ended up with as a conclusion again and again in the years i spent on that, was that time by itself is constant and immutable, even if our perception of it, including the effect on particles, is variable. As otherwise, physics simply refuse to work.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

I prefer classical physics - it behaves. I don't always like the way it behaves (thermodynamics is evil) but it behaves. Pity you need quantum mechanics and/or relativity to solve some of the bigger, or smaller, problems. I knew there was trouble ahead when the prof introduced half-integer spin.

[Cheb]

And yet time does not halt for an object when you put it in absolute vacuum.

How could we know that physics as we know it doesn't break in such case?
There is no such thing as emptiness achievable in practice. There is always radiation.

I'm yet to see an argument in that direction that isn't outright craptacular.

Aw, shucks. The idea looked so romantic.

Some of those so called theories actually require an intelligent universe,

I haven't yet seen any serious research into our universe as a game engine where physics is made in such a way to conceal LOD switching from the observer.
No one in Einstein's time would have imagined the concept in such detail as we can do now.

[Spica75]

Aw, shucks. The idea looked so romantic.

Not sure i would call it "romantic"...

How could we know that physics as we know it doesn't break in such case?
There is no such thing as emptiness achievable in practice. There is always radiation.

Because reality isn't binary with very few, yet still logical exceptions. Hence, unless this is an absurdly extreme oneoff exception to pretty much everything it resembles in any way, it should be possible to achieve a difference by looking at identical objects while under as different conditions as we CAN manage. And since doing that does NOT give an indication in that direction, well...

I haven't yet seen any serious research into our universe as a game engine where physics is made in such a way to conceal LOD switching from the observer.

That's not what it's called, and i think i like your description better.
Still, there's a bundle of ideas about the universe out there which, if you look at it, simply cannot work without intelligence behind it, hence, no matter how they very clearly do NOT say any such thing, whether they know it or not, they definitely imply it.

The grandfather paradox for example is one such. It absolutely requires that the universe is capable of recognising a timetraveller, AND is capable of knowing the future and/or past, capable of actively comparing said future/past to the timetraveller, AND then capable of ACTIVELY enforcing the paradox. Lots of things that takes attention, ability to "think" as well as energy. And where's that energy supposed to come from?

The multiverse idea has a vaguely similar problem. The idea being that every possible decision "splits" lines off.
Buuut... That would mean creating another number of universes every moment, for the count of every particle in the universe cubed. Minimum.

And then comes the issue with separation and information transfer. If there is not enough separation, then by default, the forces affecting the universes will all effectively be the same, which means they will eventually be converging rather than diverging.

But, how does the different realities KNOW what warrants a "split"? This does not work without information transfer. RELEVANT information transfer. So, there has to be a complete separation to avoid convergence behaviour, yet at the same time, information has to move between the realities, and it has to be the correct information, or otherwise realities would split incorrectly and purely by random, and by pure random, the vast majority of possible options would never be taken, and again we get convergence instead of divergence.

Ie., the only way the multiverse idea would work, is if something is actively making it work.

No one in Einstein's time would have imagined the concept in such detail as we can do now.

I think you gravely underestimate the mathematicians and physicians of history. It's a common fallacy to assume that the past was less capable because it lacked this or that, usually information and instruments. But with my primary interest being history, i have found this to be false so many times that it's become laughable.

Before the Anti-Kythera mechanism was found, everyone KNEW such a thing could not be made until the Renaissance. Then the additional investigations into it was made and it was found to not only be MORE advanced than previous thought, it was also found to almost certainly have been serial produced.

And the math behind it was found to be to the level that it wasn't until the 1970s, maaaaaybe 1940s at best, that it could have been replicated in modern times, with modern knowledge AND using computers. Not without a math AND clockwork genius sitting down for weeks, months, possible years to both figure out what was needed and then to put it together in a functional fashion.
Archimedes is known to have built similar mechanisms, even if unknown to what level of precision, but based on rough descriptions, still at least pretty darn good, and definitely better than what the "known world" managed 1500 years later.

#####

I prefer classical physics - it behaves. I don't always like the way it behaves (thermodynamics is evil) but it behaves. Pity you need quantum mechanics and/or relativity to solve some of the bigger, or smaller, problems. I knew there was trouble ahead when the prof introduced half-integer spin.

And this is why i prefer to deal with physics on the theoretical level and not mathematical.

A quick check gave me this:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-spin-1-2
as probably the best and simplest answer, while in other places, "eh we can't explain this because it takes a semester worth of math and physics so you shouldn't bother" and other crap. While the above one seems to manage the explanation quite nicely with a 3 minute text.

And i also find that a lot of the "official" physics, it spends far more time confusing the issues than dealing with them.

Personally, i've never seen a need to distinguish between "classic physics" and quantum physics, because they both still behave logically, even if it may not always be the obvious logic.

[Cheb]

I think you gravely underestimate the mathematicians and physicians of history.

Virtual reality, definitely. The specifics of implementation on limited hardware - which the LODs are - I guess possible, but stretching it.

as probably the best and simplest answer,

Oh!
really makes you (think that you) understand!
..quaternions. Why did it have to be quaternions. Grr. As soon as I advance my game engine beyond the rotating cube stage (12 years stuck in) I'll have to deal with quaternions, argh. Why.

[Té Rowan]

There is an image I'm tempted to hang up here, but it might be a tad too naughty. So far only seen on Rule 34, it is an image of one Usagi Tsukino, blushing and naked but for a T-shirt she holds in front of her. The text on the tee reads: "I saved the world =NAKED= and all I got weas this lousy T-shirt".

I know, a crummy old joke. Still worthy of a grin. So is Minako with a handful of rubber boyfriends: "They had a sale".

[Neko-]

You now have my curiosity...

[Té Rowan]

Sadly, they are on the raunchy side, so I'm unsure if posting them is a good idea. Y'all'll've to make do with a flag for Canada-possessed China I recently snagged off Spacebattles:

Anyways, for the pic of Usagi, it is image #3468015 on Rule 34, and the Minako pic is #1258848, same place. Should you actually choose to go there, remember that Dante's Law applies: "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here". It makes Mos Eisley look teetotal at times.

[Té Rowan]

Oh, and here is one slightly more on topic. It looks like collateral damage during a Martial Arts Fast Food battle.

[Neko-]

So... have to track down a rule 34 imageboard and see if I can somehow get the images... And don't worry... I've seen some s%!t in my time... Hardly anything really gets to me nowadays.

As to your last post: I'm impressed if that's a french fry...

[Té Rowan]

Rule 34 = "If it exists, there is porn of it." That's why I will only give hints.

I know of three Rule34 boards. The one on paheal is where I found the images.

It looks like a french fry to me, but I do think it was affixed there for the image opportunity. Still kinda funny.

[Neko-]

Okay found 'm... Not that explicit, but still pretty well done and funny.

[Té Rowan]

Still bluish. Not gunna risk Sunshine disappearing under a torrent of butthurt reports.

One more, from the cute/humour department:

Shinonome Nano stuck by her key in the doors of a JR East 107 EMU.
Aside: The 107s were the only trainsets that wore Jupiter's colour scheme.