Hummings of a Happy Hurkle

These are hard. And they’re all wrong.

Not everyone is aware that an attempt to force creationism in the guise of Intelligent Design to be taught as science in a US public school has been soundly defeated in the US Courts.The judge was in no doubt, and he was scathing.Quote: "To briefly reiterate, we first note that since ID is not science, the conclusion is inescapable that the only real effect of the ID Policy is the advancement of religion."

I found this link: http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa011402a.htm. I have a completely open mind on this kind of stuff. I will immediately start believing in alien visitations, ghosts, telepathy and other paranormal phenomena some time right after I see my very first piece of direct, primary, incontrovertible, objective evidence.Each of the items described here sounds like it's trying to be that evidence, and yet they don't make it. Only the believers believe. Until then, believe me: this stuff is absolute bunk.

No-one can or ever will observe an event horizon. It's a theoretical mathematical construct with no physical reality. It's also in a region permanently hidden by view. It's also (in my submission m'lord) not formed yet.What we see is the radiation emitted by matter that has come under the influence of a gravitational field so strong and so localised that we believe it could not be explained by anything other than a BH.It's a proof by exclusion ie not a proof by construction. Mathematicians love those, but in the real world there's always another possibility.

Assume you have a collapsing star of around 10 solar masses. It cannot form a neutron star (too big) so it collapses down to thousands, then hundreds, then tens of Km in diameter. The Schwarzschild radius is maybe 50 Km. [I don't have an exact figure, but the formula is r=2*G*m/c^2. ]As matter is rushing inward towards this 50 Km target, time as viewed from a nearby inertial frame of reference slows right down. As an observer we see the light from the matter shifted to deeper and deeper red. Although we won't see it, right at the event horizon the light would be shifted to zero wavelength, zero intensity and the matter would be stationary. This corresponds to time standing still in our frame of reference. We know that time continues to pass in the frame of reference of the matter itself, but that isn't the point. For us, no matter can cross the event horizon within any finite period of time eg the life of the universe.Another way to look at it: just before a 50 Km event horizon exists there was a 49 Km event horizon, with lots of the mass still outside and unable to reach the event horizon within the life of the Universe. Before that it was 48 Km, and 47 Km, and so on. There is no way for the event horizon to get started.

My car has have climate control, and I'm certain it routinely mixes hot and cold air. I almost never touch the controls, so it's a bit hard to tell.Prior to climate control, I ran the A/C 365 days a year, as well as the heater when needed. Heating is free, and the A/C adds an imperceptible amount to the fuel consumption. The result is dry air, no fog, no need to open windows or wipe windows, cooler air at face level and warmer air at foot level. All good safety and comfort features, which many people have not been able to understand.

In Sweden, your social security number on everything from bank accounts to payroll slip is your date of birth plus a 2 digit tie breaker, odds and evens to distinguish male and female.In some Asian countries, a person you meet for the first time will helpfully tell you their name, occupation and age.Not everyone is as sensitive as we are about age and other personal details.