h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Your not harking on about them big black things,ing in the centre of our and every other are you.
What, will they come up with next, they weren’t happy with them just floating out there in outer space , no they had to put them somewhere more interest, so as to capture the imagination and stir up the perils of there existence.
Next they’ll be popping up at the bottom of the garden , that’s after all the fairy’s have fallen in the there event horizons.

the post is lacking a bit of detail but Im hoping to take a photo soon, so as to prove my point

Post 621 is a light hearted response to post 617 “On winternights' post 614, slow down a little, details, please? “, and not directed at you Jabberwock

s'ok, WN - I didn't think it was

"think of the odds against all that we 'know' about Relativity being wrong, compared to the odds against there just being a mistake in the experiment."[Jabberwock]

That's all well and fine, but I don't have a vested interest in Einstein being proved right or wrong. Einstein was a genius, and he left behind an amazing body of work, some of which he claimed would not have been possible without the help of his first wife. There will likely always be a great deal of respect for him even if better theories develop in the future, as they might (or might not).

Please, please, let us not go around cheering for any scientist,
no matter how brilliant. If Einstein was wrong about anything, it is important that scientists find out what it was so that a better theory can be developed. Anyway, Einstein will be remembered for that opera in which he's sunning himself on that beach.

Erm...exactly where did I mention Einstein, let alone"cheer" for him?

Post 618, yup, that happens. Historic case, Thomas A. Edison measured the time it took a signal to pass through the transatlantic cable when it was laying coiled on the bottom of the harbor in New York, got a signal lag time like about 15 minutes.

It was initially assumed that this would be the lag time for the cable when it was deployed.

It was later discovered, when the system was up and running, on a basis of careful astronomical observations, that the signal was crossing the Atlantic in less time than the signal took to pass through cable while it was still coiled, that induction effects had impeded the signal in the coiled cable.




With modern supercomputers (and CERN), conductance and fiber optic lengths have to be very carefully measured to take into account signal time in cables, else the timing of the entire system may be thrown off.




Whenever an anomaly involving the speed of light is observed, careful checking for possible error is definitely in order.

Results like the Fizeau Effect, the prediction under Einsteins' General Relativity of a reduced light speed in conditions of high gravitational flux densities, the Cerenkov Effect, are beyond reasonable dispute.

The key to this is REDUCED* light speed in conditions of local high mass densities and gravitational flux densities and depending on the relative state of motion of the region of high mass density or gravitational flux density, relative to the light passing through it.

The Cerenkov Effect establishes that it is possible to accelerate objects with a positive rest mass to speeds in excess of the local and ambient speed of light in special conditions like this, in which the speed of light is lower than the idealized speed of light in a vacuum free of gravitational stresses.




Einstein didn't invalidate the work of Newton, he simply expanded the model to include some extreme conditions not covered in the original Newtonian math.

At the cosmological level, Newtonian mechanics break down above the level of the local group or association of galaxies.

Below that level, gravitational bonding and Newtonian orbital mechanics are still possible.

Above that level, the principle of cosmological expansion itself becomes the over-riding principle governing relative motion.









*Please pardon the bold face, in lieu of italics, since italics are not available.

"Erm...exactly where did I mention Einstein, let alone"cheer" for him? " [Jabberwock]

I probably phrased that wrong, Jabs. You didn't cheer for Einstein. I got the impression that some other people have been hoping Einstein would not be proved wrong. That sounded to me like cheering of a sort. I thought you might be coming from that position. I was wrong. Sorry.

I cheer for meI'm a genius!. ONLY! I don't know enough to convince the world yetor if I doI've forgot it

“I got the impression that some other people have been hoping Einstein would not be proved wrong“, I guess that as there’s only a few of us around here that post, that finger might point at, little old me.
I’m ok with that,.
Paul, it is not, that I have a mission to defend his work and shudder at the thought that his work, one day may be proven to be longer relevant.
Einstein set a bench mark of excellence , I wish all those that follow in his footsteps well, but the problem with a bench mark or target is that there is a desire to beat it, and so be king of the new found law .
I can imagine hearing you say that , “this is called progress“, and you would be right but there are ways and means of doing things.
I’ve read too many articles over the years whereby Einstein is somehow made to be wrong, they are expressing their own opinions first and not letting the facts of there new found theory speak for itself and if so proven right then they are entitled to the recognition that they deserve.

out of all of them, only Einstein and Hawkins are the "ultimate" ones to me. But as a member of the RAOB (Buffaloes) we have a saying within our creed - "no man is at all times wise"

even the best can be wrong, but it might take centuries to find out

Peace, everybody.

it's close! awaiting results of latest from Cern for discovery of Higgs Boson or at least one particle next door to it

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2012/jul/05/science-weekly-extra-podcast-higgs-boson?newsfeed=true

[Waits for the big parade that has the Higgs Boson sitting on the lead float as it waves at the cheering crowds]

I don’t want to be the harbinger of doom and gloom but haven’t we been here before with such bold announcements only to find they’ve got it wrong.

They are pinning too much hope in this so called Higgs Boson, it annoys me some what to see so many ’s announce that they will improve mankind’s understanding and that it’s almost a done deal. No

I'm to a point myself where I'm going to be giving the Higgs Boson some serious study.

More links:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/07/05/stephen-hawking-i-lost-10_n_1650395.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/science/cern-physicists-may-have-discovered-higgs-boson-particle.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss&src=igw

[ to start a rock group named Higgs Boson before someone else gets the idea]



[Just kidding]