@AndyD273 Mornin peeps

@James Mornin.

@James Morning

I'm hitting my head against a brick wall here.

So, GR says that time can slow down in certain circumstances.

But, if I move to a place with really slow time, does that mean my cell processes actually slow down at the same time?

Like, would I still live, say, 70 years in my local timeframe and see several generations of people on Earth?

Or would I still just live 15 "normal" years, and, say, 70 years of "Earth" time?

ATM, I'm inclined toward the later. But then I get to thinking, it really comes down to whether chemical reactions happen at the same speed universally or not.

Which, IIRC, they don't.

In which case, all my chemical reactions in my body are slowed down proportionately, and I should be able to live 70 years from my perspective and watch lots of Earth generations die off.

@Hosch250 ...yes?

@Hosch250 That sounds right as I understand it. It's like running a video in slo-mo speed. For the person in the video the whole clip only lasted 30 seconds. For the person watching it, it is 2 minutes.

Say you are traveling to Trappist-1. It is 39 light years away. You get in your fancy ship, boost up to .99 C, and from an earth perspective you arrive a bit over 41 years later. But you you, on the ship, it's been a lot less time. You get your samples, hop back in your ship, and travel back. You arrive back at earth 82 years after you left, but for you it's only been a year. So now you're 1 year older, and your little baby nephew is now an old man.

I did not do the math.

Perfect, I want it.

I'll buzz by earth at .99c every few years and laugh at all the politics and wars and stuff.

/jk

I do know that if could get to actual light speed, the travel time would be zero. You would push the button to go, and then you would be there, with no local time passing.

But from the outside perspective it would take however long it takes for light to travel that distance

Traveling 1000 light years would still take 1000 earth years, but no time for you as the traveler.

This could make some good jokes.

Something about it taking no time at all to get to the destination when you take the light highway.

Wait, this is leading to some interesting implications.

That means a light particle can be anywhere along its line of travel at the same time.

Which means that we line up transparent Joe and transparent Bob, who can see things without interacting with them, they both see it at the same time.

Does this mean that light essentially creates wormholes to travel through and get everywhere at once?

@Hosch250 I believe it has to be everywhere (or at least "unknown?") along its area of probability since it's massless.

If we "determine" where a photon is, the determination also destroys the photon.

Hmmmm.

I'm going to go to Darwinian levels of extrapolation and guess that if we determine where the universe is, it also destroys it.

@Hosch250 I don't think that applies since the universe has mass.

But it doesn't have a second dimension of time :P

Although that interestingly enough, protons and electrons (and by extension neutrons) are made up of quantum particles, right? But quantum particles only account for... kind of making up this number but it gets the idea across... 0.1% of the mass of the subatomic particles.

The rest of the mass is the energy that holds the particles together.

So if you have a "pile" of quantum particles it won't have very much mass at all (won't weigh much at all) but if you energize and connect them it'll become drastically more massive.

Wrap your brain around that.

Hey, @Jolenealaska.

There is a "theory" I heard that there is only 1 photon in the entire universe. But because of the quantum thing it is actually everywhere at once, making people think that there are a lot of photons.

@Hosch250 Hello. Don't mind me, I'm just wandering around aimlessly :)

@Jolenealaska Pull up a chair, stay a while, as we talk about ships and light sails and black holes and elves.

And why cabbages haven't yet become kings (but pineapples have (nod to my friend who refers to imbeciles as pineapples)).

@AndyD273 Wait, is that a real theory?

@Hosch250 Yeah, I couldn't remember the whole thing, but that was the piece that I was trying to invoke

"To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax— Of cabbages—and kings— And why the sea is boiling hot— And whether pigs have wings."

It's quite the paradigm shift to read up a bit here after the way I spent my evening in real life.

It looks like the top answer shoots that down, which was for the reason I thought they might.

@NexTerren Which is why "theory" was in quotes

To detect a photon coming from our star and a nearby star with orbiting sensors... the photon would have to travel faster than... well... light to get over there in time.

I didn't say it was a good theory

Okay, fair! :P

@Jolenealaska Hows that?

A friend of mine (husband of a good friend) is trying to get a BS in (of all damn things) OSHA.

@Jolenealaska This is like nerd heaven. We'll talk about anything from world destruction to GR to how to transmit messages long-distance using only spoons.

@Hosch250 To D&D

Yep, lots and lots of D&D.

@Hosch250 Yes, I'm drawn to the nerdiness :)

@Jolenealaska Occupational Safety and Health Administration? Someone has to make sure that the guard rails are high enough I guess.

Though I didn't know you could get a BS in it.

@AndyD273 The Galactic Empire's greatest fault.

@AndyD273 Or that machines aren't likely to eat your fingers along with the sausage meat.

He has asked for my help so I have been tutoring him.

@Jolenealaska Well, hopefully it won't stress you out too much, but few of our ideas would meet OSHA guidelines.

@AndyD273 I didn't know either. But I'll be damned, it's a real thing.

The current class is Classical Physics.

We just finished Algebra 101.

@NexTerren But they had so many deep shafts... It would cost a fortune to put up the nets and stuff for all those! What's the worse that could happen if you cut just one corner?

Ugh. Someone talked me into playing Marvel Strike Force on my phone. On top of SWGOH its like having a part time job...but with Jedi and Superheroes.

@James Is it one of those grindtastic, pay-to-win games?

@Jolenealaska That must be tough. I was the unofficial tutor for Algebra 101 in college, and there were several people who didn't understand the basic rules. Like, I had to walk them through how 1 + 2 is the same as 2 + 1, and how you can extend that rule to variables.

Or that 1 + 2 = 3 is the same as 1 = 3 - 2.

@Hosch250 that's it

@Hosch250 Seems like there was were some failings along the way

@Hosch250 Really?! I would have thought high school would have covered that.

Yep. They got seriously behind in the class (they were only a bit past midterms by the end of the class), but they were finally beginning to understand things.

I think (hope) they got an extension from the teacher.

@NexTerren IKR?

"Now, 1 + 2 = 3, right? Well, check out this first trick; 3 = 2 + 1! Mind blown"

Well, I did it more like:

Walking them through each part very explicitly so they could see how operations could be applied to both sides of the = sign, and how things canceled out.

@Hosch250 Whoa whoa whoa, slow that down there.

It wasn't usually quite that simple, since we usually had variables and stuff involved, but some of it was pretty close.

This is an actual question he asked me the night before his final exam in Algebra: "So I get 10/14 as a final answer. Do I reduce that?"

:O

Wanna see something funny? Of course you do. BRB

Only comment I have is don't burn yourself out helping him.

If it gets to be too much, always remember to feel free to say no.

I do actually remember when I grocked the concept of variables in math. It was kinda similar to the feeling years later in my beginning programing class when I figured out that you could use a variable other than "i" for a count integer in a loop.

If I teach any of the kids programming when they get older, there will be at least one project where all the variables have to be named for characters in whatever their favorite show is.

@AndyD273 Noooooo.

Teach them to name variables for what they mean...

Not just any random nonsense.

For example, teach them to use index or i, or counter.

Not mickeyMouse.

foreach (var mickeyMouse in donaldDucks)

That makes no sense at all.

var elmerFudd = mickeyMouse.YosemiteSam(bugsBunny);

No idea what any of that does by looking at it :)

@Hosch250 Clean code! :D

(Or whatever your collection might be)

(var aStudent in students), etc, etc.

@Hosch250 That will be part of it too, but there are too many examples where there are industry standard variable names. How many programs have you seen some variation of for(i=0; i < 10; i++){}? This exercise is just to help someone get through their head that you don't have to use i. You could use mickeyMouse. The variable name doesn't matter. THEN teach them that the variable name should be descriptive.

@Hosch250 As mind-bogglingly frustrating as it is to try to communicate with him concerning logical/mathematical concepts, I am learning a lot about what makes him tick. Until spending some time with me, he thought he was a Trump supporter. We have a tacit agreement that my tutoring includes lessons of my choosing in Critical Thinking.

@AndyD273 None.

Unless you are implicitly typing the i variable, which is also unacceptable.

So, there are rewards here.

@Jolenealaska Oh, I'm no Trump supporter, but I voted for him, because I knew the Ds in congress and media would prevent anything exceptionally stupid from being carried out.

And after the "we can't say what's in the bill until we pass it" episode, I knew I couldn't trust the Rs to keep a D president in line.

We got hit hard by that bill, since my dad was a union worker and the union provided "cadillac" insurance.

Well, most of my intro to C++ program class had loops like that. loops always used an integer variable named i. It was my first programming class, so it took me a while to figure out that it could be something else.

@Hosch250 How do you think that has been working out? The democrats and media keeping Trump in check?

Yeah, you need to do int i.

@Jolenealaska Pretty good. They've fought him on pretty much all the bad immigration policy and kept it from being carried out.

It's not perfect, by any means, but mostly he's not been able to do too much.

@Jolenealaska Not great... he keeps lining them up and knocking them down. It's kinda funny how they keep doing it.

I like how he pulled us out of the no-win situation in Afghanistan, and that the two Korea's are working together a bit more.

Wow. We see things very differently.

@Jolenealaska Probably. And that's ok

And at the very least, the media is keeping us informed of his actions because they do disapprove of them.

More perspectives is better than a mono culture.

I'd rather a more sensible person next time around, but with the way it's currently shaping up, I can't even hope for it.

It's going to be 2016 all over again.

I don't know what to think of the Iran situation, but I do know I don't want them getting nukes. If possible, I'd rather everyone got rid of the nukes, but that won't happen, so the next best thing is to keep them to as few as possible.

Otherwise, they'll start being used as commonly as chemical weapons, like Syria.

@Jolenealaska Generally speaking, when politics comes up in here, we've been able to keep it really civil and had some really good discussions, but we definitely don't all agree on stuff.

@NexTerren Yeah, but I never pay because that would be stupid. I've been in the star wars one for a couple years, never dropped a dime.

Its like collecting stamps...digitally.

but the stamps have blasters and lightsabers.

Someone who would turn a kid into a bomb would have no compulsions against using a nuke.

@Hosch250 I'm glad that Trump called the air strike off. I agree that keeping the number of nukes held by totalitarian regimes should be as small as possible, but I'm hopeful that there is a way to do it without a full blown war.

@AndyD273 Yeah Andy is crazy and a racist and I am probably crazy and I dunno...a fascist or something.

the number of nukes held by totalitarian regimes should be as small FTFY

@Hosch250 Andrew Yang.

@James Well, I don't see a way to do UBI without large-scale inflation, since not all the money would be paid back in taxes.

@James Apparently it's the cool thing these days. everyone is a racist, even Nancy Pelosi and AOC's chief of staff.

@AndyD273 The real threat of nuclear is from non-state actors. Any state actor, with known borders has a whole lot to lose.

But, I'm sure he's better than Harris or Warren if you like him.

@AndyD273 We have stupid in (hi-fi, super-bass, fifty ft stack) stereo

Talking about which, how's your twitter account going?

@Hosch250 Think about all the excess capacity/output our system creates, UBI creates a baseline for everyone based upon a small portion of that output/productivity.

@Hosch250 Not that anything in particular you seem to support is insupportable, I suppose some points can be made that several things are going well. BUT, he crosses lines that I CANNOT accept. The racism of the tweet events over the weekend was kind of a Pearl Harbor for me. I have to see him out of office.

Yes, if that excess capacity/output can be directly translated back to dollars.

If, as I tend to agree it will, UBI reduces reliance on other forms of government support, reduces (this will take longer) social, medical, mental and penal costs and the included VAT...that math works in my head.

@Hosch250 Doesn't necessarily need to be. We are on track to add over a trillion dollars to the deficit just this year.

@Jolenealaska Yeah, I don't deny I dislike that.

UBI would give people more economic mobility, allow them to move where they can afford to live, get education that makes them more productive, reduces stress at home which helps improve production as well...add extra spending power and it makes sense that the economy would grow, with a VAT in place that generates quite a few additional tax dollars.

But, if it comes at the expense of unilaterally banning gasoline and private transportation and the ability of citizens to defend themselves, that's a pretty bad alternative translating directly to mass deaths in cities because no food could get in, etc.

Even some of the founding fathers proposed a UBI for citizens, based on what the coutry as a whole could produce.

@Hosch250 Yang isn't crazy left wing on all that stuff.

He's the closest thing we have to a centrist in this campaign.

@James Yes, but it would be almost as shocking as China nuking NK if he got the party support.

@Hosch250 I think at least part of it was Iran acting up like a toddler to get attention on them before the G20 summit so that they would have people wanting to bargain with them. Trump stole that by visiting North Korea and not attacking Iran.

UBI would be another point people could game the system, people would keep buying things they couldn't afford (fancy houses and boats)--just another notch higher since they would have UBI to spend too, etc. It's a nice idea on paper, but it's another one of those ideas I can't see working. Of course, I'm not opposed to trying it in a city or state first, and seeing what happens.

I just don't think it's a great idea to shove the whole country down this path without any serious data on what actually happens first.

I think better ways to help would be a) don't give student loans (or very minimal numbers) to certain high-demand degrees that don't translate to jobs to encourage people to get useful skills without getting debt they can't pay off, and b) limit the percentage of a person's income the banks can loan to them--including all forms of loan, such as CC, etc.

Say, philosophy or greek classics. It's great to know them, but they aren't useful professional skills except for archeologists and librarians and a very few other fields, most of which need other skills as well.

So, we shouldn't allow student loans for those fields other than, say, 10-100 per year.

@Hosch250 RE: UBI, I'm more inclined to let other countries try it first, before we try it on a big scale here. So far it's been a failure in most cases.

Encourage people to get degrees in STEM fields, medical fields, or get skilled labor training not provided by colleges.

You can make a good wage welding, or fire-fighting (at a professional level), etc. College doesn't help there, unless you get a masters/PhD in, say, petrochemical engineering with a focus on fire-related stuff.

Like that guy they brought in to shut down the fires in Kuwait.

@Hosch250 Especially with how well the economy is doing at the moment. Apparently there is a huge shortage in a lot of the trade related jobs

CYA guys! I'll remember to stop by here next time I need a nerdfusion.

@Jolenealaska Have fun!

@Jolenealaska Nice meeting you!

I'm glad we can mostly disagree on politics and the like and keep everything civil, but it's a little weird when someone new arrives and you don't know their temperment...

@James You use this phrase a lot. I'm curious, just to get a definition, from your perspective, what some of the sources of the crazy is in the right channel?

@AndyD273 Obviously Trump himself :D

And the Westborough Baptist people.

@Hosch250, is that your list, or your guess for James?

Either one is fine, I'm just curious.

Both :)

OK

I'll wait to hear back from James before I chime in with my .02

@AndyD273 Eh, worst case, if the conversation gets out of hand, we can refuse to engage, and if they keep pushing, James can handle it.

Depending on the level, I've seen things go from a mute to a chat ban, to a temporary room closure, to a permanent room deletion from SE.

The last one was the Anime room where people were constantly fighting over abortion.

@Hosch250 Eh, I suppose. I'd definitely prefer to have a reasoned discussion about opposing viewpoints, but I'd also be willing to hold off until someone has a chance to get a feel for the room, and figure out that disagreeing isn't the same as attacking

And some other politically and/or religiously sensitive topics.

@AndyD273 Same.

And, TBH, most visitors don't really stick around, especially when there's been a minor conflict, unless then need a ban.

@AndyD273 Top of mind is denying climate science...most of the rest is all the BS political gamesmanship.

The thing is, I really don't like debating people all that much, since the chance of actually changing their mind is kinda low, compared to the chance of starting a war. But a discussion where two sides are trying to see the point of view of the other side is a lot of fun and much more productive

politics is virtually indistinguishable from a game :)

@AndyD273 I can say I've never seen a political discussion change someone's viewpoint when both sides already had an opinion, and one side wasn't just looking for confirmation or virtue signalling or some other flavor of not actually having an opinion.

startribune.com/…

Interesting...

Huh, I was just mentioning the cadillac tax, and I didn't even know about this: msn.com/en-ca/news/newspolitics/…

@NexTerren Yeah. I mean, if someone presented me with verifiable evidence of something, I like to think that I'd be willing to alter my position on it, at least to some extent. But probably the best case scenario is to let both sides give their points as clearly as possible, and then let that convince the people who haven't made up their mind on an issue.

Good though. The whole thing was a tragedy of errors.

@Hosch250 Old news. Apparently "America" is considered offensive speech on some campuses, because "it implies that other countries in north, south and central America aren't the real America, and so aren't as good."