11-16-2010, 10:28 AM | #1 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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Birth of a Black Hole
Scientists witness apparent black hole birth
By Marc Kaufman Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, November 16, 2010 For the first time, scientists believe they have witnessed the birth of a black hole. The evidence began arriving 30 years ago from a star 50 million light-years away that had imploded, setting into motion events that created a region where gravity is so great that nothing can escape, even light. ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...111506784.html |
11-16-2010, 12:44 PM | #2 |
Cheese Whiz
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Who was it that said, "The universe is stranger than we can imagine"? I know it wasn't me, so it has to be some other smart good looking person.
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11-16-2010, 12:56 PM | #3 |
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Not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine....
More at: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane |
11-16-2010, 09:00 PM | #4 | |
quantum mechanic
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Mind you, I'm not saying it is wrong (i.e. that its negation is correct) - just meaningless one way or the other. The idea of the "unknowable" is likewise meaningless (not even wrong). //pet peeve Last edited by thrawn_aj; 11-16-2010 at 09:01 PM. Reason: typo |
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11-16-2010, 09:11 PM | #5 | |
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You need to embrace the poet in you methinks. If that doesn't work think of bigger infinities. |
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11-16-2010, 11:15 PM | #6 | ||
quantum mechanic
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As a piece of poetry, it is quite impressive. Of course, meaning is not a necessary part of poetry . That's the only aspect I was criticizing . By the way, I've since reconsidered my (harsh) position. I could actually agree to some extent with Haldane - but only if I used some italics thus: Quote:
As for bigger infinities, I agree . In fact, Cantor's transfinite numbers were part of the inspiration for me to embrace science as a profession (I suspect that's what you had in mind ). Apropos of nothing (just a random thought) - have you seen the visual proof for why the cardinality of real numbers is greater than that of the natural numbers? Probably one of the most profound things I've encountered in my entire life. Popped my intellectual cherry on that one . The fact that you could prove such a seemingly metaphysical statement was what charmed me so much. That's also the day that philosophers and mystics who harped on about infinity ceased to impress me - because I could see that they had all missed saying anything substantial about it. It was a mathematician who finally tamed infinity and changed it from mystical nonsense into rigorous mathematics you could touch with your mind - the Prometheus of our time. Ages later, I leaned that some very important theorems in Fourier analysis rely on this strange fact. In fact, anytime people use infinite polynomial expansions to solve differential equations (and declare Linear Independence - a diff.eq. in-joke - my apologies ), they are making use of this exotic (almost philosophical) statement about numbers - that never ceases to amaze me . |
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11-21-2010, 10:18 AM | #7 | |
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I prefer to think that God is out there, somewhere, working feverishly trying to stump us! |
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11-21-2010, 10:53 PM | #8 | |
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11-22-2010, 07:38 AM | #9 | |
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