5.23.2005
Science....yo.
I don't get it...and I hope that I've never claimed to "get it." There have been times in my life when certain substances that I've ingested have led me to belive that I "got it"....and then I found myself twitching on the bathroom floor while giggling about the complex meanings of moon phases and their relations to Honey Combs cerel...
....If you people have the patience to make it through the following copy and pasted dialouge that went on between my friend and I ...maybe you can find out some way to "get it" (I've tried to edit it in order to make it legible, but give me a break....really...I already know my spelling is horrible)...AND damn if it ain't long....oh, and the parenthesis remarks are my afterthoughts:
Oh yeah. I'm M2...friend be M1. I could be more descript...but it's more fun when you have to go back and think about it six times over...
M1: Ahoy!
12:00 AM
M2: sup Chile dweller?
M1: what's new
M1: still cloudy
M1: i wish i could just go to bed
M2: not much...just worked and had the drinks at the bar
early tonight
M1: but then i guess my schedule would be off again, and we have 3 nights to go
big money?
M2: do you have to stay up and wait for the clouds to pass?
M1: nah
M2: it was slow all day
M2: I was expecting a 12 hour day and ended up with a 4 and a half
not too bad for that time though
12:05 AM
M2: have the clouds cleared and allowed an unobstructed view of the cosmos?
M1: alas no
we were just laughing at my students stupid comments page again
http://newphysics.diaryland.com
in case you'd like to review
so priceless
M2: oh, but I do
M2: "Iron helps us play!"
M1: hee
M2: quoting the Simpsons never seems to get old
M1: your ronald is so creepy
M1: did i tell you about the cookies i'm eating?
M2: no
M1: i went to babelfish to translate their name, and they are "capsules"
M2: but, I like my Ronald's creepiness factor
M2: how postmodern
M1: what's more, they are "mouthful" flavored
12:20 AM
M2: that's not a flavor.!
M1: they're really those wafer cookies that come in vanilla chocolate and pink
M1: no, it's not
M2: That's an adjective used to describe a state
M2: certainly not a flavor
M1: and there's a savory-looking picture of a raw cracked open egg on the package too
mmm.... egg...
M2: sounds tasty in the first description
I don't know about cracked egg flavor though
Is that supposed to demonstrate their farm-fresh tasty goodness?
M2: I love myself some farm fresh cookies!
M2: I like the "The sun is the most gaseous star in our solar system and the brightest!" (in reference to the previously mentioned link...)
M2: that's it...I'm coming to live with you and get an advanced degree in Astro Physics
M1: at least they got that it was a star
M2: true...it could be a planet
or a comet
M1: that comes up later, pluto being a star
M2: or maybe a "sun" is a cosmic being unto itself
M2: you mean, it's not? (by the way, sarcasim doesn't play all that great in writing...)
M1: you could totally put the smack down on some of the grad students
M2: wait, I thought it was a mysterious comet
M1: my advisor was just making fun of them even
M1: well, i can't tell you the truth about pluto over the internet like this
M2: scandelous
M1: someone might intercept the message
M2: like, God?
M1: sssh!
M1: i told you about how it was "dropped off" i thought
M2: no...I don't think so
M1: it's an alien transponder station!
M2: oh, that's right
M2: I can buy that
M1: it's just close enough that they can monitor us and report back to the main system
M2: have we still not seen the other side?
M1: i think it faces us, but pluto's moon intercepts the transmissions from pluto and sends them back to the home star
shhhh!
M2: so, seriously...in a non-serious way...does studying all this stuff make you think there's something else out there?
M1: home star...hmmm
M1: like, things that walk around like we do? probably not
but making amino acids and stuff is entirely probably
M2: no...not so much other humaniod things
M1: er, probably
M1: dammit
probable
M1: it's just a matter of the right conditions, distance from the star, chemical compositions, timescales, blah blah
M2: I have this LSD induced theory of different forms of energy
M1: people do stuff like that, work out the numbers and find the "habitable zone", where to look for earth-like planets around other stars
M2: well, I'm not a scientist, so it's not really a theory, but it's what I figured when I still did drugs
M1: oh, well, there is definitely something we can't see, like dark matter
and people talk about dark energy too but i dont' know anything about that except they talk about it
M2: which is what? Unformed engery?
M1: i could show you why we know there'sdark matter, but we'd need a piece of paper
M2: I think you've shown me it before
I don't remember the detail though
M1: i might not have, i only nailed it down in my head this semester
M2: it just seems so random...I mean, when you think about the slight things that make each human and individual...and for that matter, anything on this earth with DNA
I remember talking about dark matter with you
and black holes and such
M1: dark energy is (again, i know very little), energy that we know must exist to make up the total energy budget we estimate there is, but we don't detect it
i hope i didn't bs too much before
like, regular energy can be detected by looking at the amount of light emitted by something
basically, if you look at how fast a galaxy rotates, from center to the edge, it gets faster as you move away from the center and then levels out at some speed
M2: I think I understand...it's one of those basic physics things, right? The energy can't be destroyed so it has to go somewhere
physics again
M1: but rotation speed should be governed by how much mass is at a certain distance from the center, and once the galaxy starts to get less massive away from the center (less dense with stars and stuff), the speed should fall off and slow down after some radial distance
but it doesn't, so we know there's some other mass making it stay that fast
so there you have it, proof of dark matter
M2: I think I actually get it
M1: i find picture
M2: ok
M1: http://bustard.phys.nd.edu/Phys171/lectures/dm.html
look at the first graph with the "distribution of dark..."
does that play into the whole the ever extending galaxy thing?>
M2: i'm not that smart, but probably
M1 so, you got the figure?
M2: yeah
the graph needs some keys damnit
for us layman
M1: ok, so the "disk" curve shows how fast the rotation should go based on how much mass we see from stars
and the "NGC 3198" curve shows the rotation speeds we actually observe
in theory...right>
?
M2: yeah
that's alot of unaccounted for stuff
M1: well, we observe stars ok without any problem, and make a good mass estimate based on brightness
M1: so the "halo" is what makes up the difference, via this dark matter theory stuff
M2: I think it should be changed from the sci-fi "dark matter" to "unaccounted for stuff"
M1: people talk about a dark matter halo existing around galaxies
yeah, let's not act like we know what's going on here -- "and from graph a, we see a lot of stars and .. umm... i guess some other stuff... that we don't se..."
so...wow
M2: I'm learning
hence the "dark matter"...without light, there's absolutely no way to measure this stuff
M1: totally
M2: unless you go there...like Sphere
M2: only less lame
M1: to which the common response is, what the hell are you talking about, show me what exactly this dark matter could be made up of
and the response to that is ......buh....
M2: intense
M2: what are the running theories?
M1: you heard it
M1: buh
M1: i don't know, gravity particles or some insane shit
let's see what wikipedia has to say
M2: ok then
M2: I'm going with voices of unborn children
M2: gravity has particles?
M1: some crazy theories involve that
gravitrons!
M2: I feel like Devo needs to be involved in this discussion
M1: oh, and btw if that's all not crazy enough, guess what percentage of the universe is regular old, made-out-of-protons-and-electrons or energy-via-light, kind of matter?
you're not going to like this at all
M2: I'm gonna guess 75 percent
M1: like <5% href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter i'm even more confused after reading this
did you find any theories?
M1: i guess maybe dark matter is supposed to be made of normal particles, and dark energy isn't
M2: but it's still real shady and weird
M1: and i know people who don't believe in it
M2: that's it...I'm dedicating all my thinking to this
that are smart
M2: at least for the next two hours
M1: figure it out for us, i'll get it published for you
M2: well, what the hell do they think?
M1: man, i can't even get analysis done on pictures of stars
i don't know what kind of geniuses work on this
1:00 AM
M2: do they all hang out at the same school?
how confusing that would be
I like when you click on "Big Bang Theory" there's a sidenote at the top that states that this is also the title of a Bad Religion song
oh, and what a great album that is
M1: indeed
M1: i like that "ultimate fate of our present universe" is a whole link heading
this dark matter is going to make it hard for me to sleep at night
M2: I just clicked on that
M1: like it's tomorrow
that is the most ridiculous entry!
M2: well, did you follow the "life" link after that?
it's by definition, a multi-faceted concept
ultimate is so damn...definate
I much rather talk about the penultimate
M1: i'm also going to start using the word "disambiguation"
M2: so, what's going to happen right before the end of the universe, hmmm?
M1: rock and roll?
M1: cheese sandwiches?
M2: That would be cool
M2: Cats and manicures?
M1: disambiguation.
M2: that's a great word...I have to write it down and remember to use it
....If you people have the patience to make it through the following copy and pasted dialouge that went on between my friend and I ...maybe you can find out some way to "get it" (I've tried to edit it in order to make it legible, but give me a break....really...I already know my spelling is horrible)...AND damn if it ain't long....oh, and the parenthesis remarks are my afterthoughts:
Oh yeah. I'm M2...friend be M1. I could be more descript...but it's more fun when you have to go back and think about it six times over...
M1: Ahoy!
12:00 AM
M2: sup Chile dweller?
M1: what's new
M1: still cloudy
M1: i wish i could just go to bed
M2: not much...just worked and had the drinks at the bar
early tonight
M1: but then i guess my schedule would be off again, and we have 3 nights to go
big money?
M2: do you have to stay up and wait for the clouds to pass?
M1: nah
M2: it was slow all day
M2: I was expecting a 12 hour day and ended up with a 4 and a half
not too bad for that time though
12:05 AM
M2: have the clouds cleared and allowed an unobstructed view of the cosmos?
M1: alas no
we were just laughing at my students stupid comments page again
http://newphysics.diaryland.com
in case you'd like to review
so priceless
M2: oh, but I do
M2: "Iron helps us play!"
M1: hee
M2: quoting the Simpsons never seems to get old
M1: your ronald is so creepy
M1: did i tell you about the cookies i'm eating?
M2: no
M1: i went to babelfish to translate their name, and they are "capsules"
M2: but, I like my Ronald's creepiness factor
M2: how postmodern
M1: what's more, they are "mouthful" flavored
12:20 AM
M2: that's not a flavor.!
M1: they're really those wafer cookies that come in vanilla chocolate and pink
M1: no, it's not
M2: That's an adjective used to describe a state
M2: certainly not a flavor
M1: and there's a savory-looking picture of a raw cracked open egg on the package too
mmm.... egg...
M2: sounds tasty in the first description
I don't know about cracked egg flavor though
Is that supposed to demonstrate their farm-fresh tasty goodness?
M2: I love myself some farm fresh cookies!
M2: I like the "The sun is the most gaseous star in our solar system and the brightest!" (in reference to the previously mentioned link...)
M2: that's it...I'm coming to live with you and get an advanced degree in Astro Physics
M1: at least they got that it was a star
M2: true...it could be a planet
or a comet
M1: that comes up later, pluto being a star
M2: or maybe a "sun" is a cosmic being unto itself
M2: you mean, it's not? (by the way, sarcasim doesn't play all that great in writing...)
M1: you could totally put the smack down on some of the grad students
M2: wait, I thought it was a mysterious comet
M1: my advisor was just making fun of them even
M1: well, i can't tell you the truth about pluto over the internet like this
M2: scandelous
M1: someone might intercept the message
M2: like, God?
M1: sssh!
M1: i told you about how it was "dropped off" i thought
M2: no...I don't think so
M1: it's an alien transponder station!
M2: oh, that's right
M2: I can buy that
M1: it's just close enough that they can monitor us and report back to the main system
M2: have we still not seen the other side?
M1: i think it faces us, but pluto's moon intercepts the transmissions from pluto and sends them back to the home star
shhhh!
M2: so, seriously...in a non-serious way...does studying all this stuff make you think there's something else out there?
M1: home star...hmmm
M1: like, things that walk around like we do? probably not
but making amino acids and stuff is entirely probably
M2: no...not so much other humaniod things
M1: er, probably
M1: dammit
probable
M1: it's just a matter of the right conditions, distance from the star, chemical compositions, timescales, blah blah
M2: I have this LSD induced theory of different forms of energy
M1: people do stuff like that, work out the numbers and find the "habitable zone", where to look for earth-like planets around other stars
M2: well, I'm not a scientist, so it's not really a theory, but it's what I figured when I still did drugs
M1: oh, well, there is definitely something we can't see, like dark matter
and people talk about dark energy too but i dont' know anything about that except they talk about it
M2: which is what? Unformed engery?
M1: i could show you why we know there'sdark matter, but we'd need a piece of paper
M2: I think you've shown me it before
I don't remember the detail though
M1: i might not have, i only nailed it down in my head this semester
M2: it just seems so random...I mean, when you think about the slight things that make each human and individual...and for that matter, anything on this earth with DNA
I remember talking about dark matter with you
and black holes and such
M1: dark energy is (again, i know very little), energy that we know must exist to make up the total energy budget we estimate there is, but we don't detect it
i hope i didn't bs too much before
like, regular energy can be detected by looking at the amount of light emitted by something
basically, if you look at how fast a galaxy rotates, from center to the edge, it gets faster as you move away from the center and then levels out at some speed
M2: I think I understand...it's one of those basic physics things, right? The energy can't be destroyed so it has to go somewhere
physics again
M1: but rotation speed should be governed by how much mass is at a certain distance from the center, and once the galaxy starts to get less massive away from the center (less dense with stars and stuff), the speed should fall off and slow down after some radial distance
but it doesn't, so we know there's some other mass making it stay that fast
so there you have it, proof of dark matter
M2: I think I actually get it
M1: i find picture
M2: ok
M1: http://bustard.phys.nd.edu/Phys171/lectures/dm.html
look at the first graph with the "distribution of dark..."
does that play into the whole the ever extending galaxy thing?>
M2: i'm not that smart, but probably
M1 so, you got the figure?
M2: yeah
the graph needs some keys damnit
for us layman
M1: ok, so the "disk" curve shows how fast the rotation should go based on how much mass we see from stars
and the "NGC 3198" curve shows the rotation speeds we actually observe
in theory...right>
?
M2: yeah
that's alot of unaccounted for stuff
M1: well, we observe stars ok without any problem, and make a good mass estimate based on brightness
M1: so the "halo" is what makes up the difference, via this dark matter theory stuff
M2: I think it should be changed from the sci-fi "dark matter" to "unaccounted for stuff"
M1: people talk about a dark matter halo existing around galaxies
yeah, let's not act like we know what's going on here -- "and from graph a, we see a lot of stars and .. umm... i guess some other stuff... that we don't se..."
so...wow
M2: I'm learning
hence the "dark matter"...without light, there's absolutely no way to measure this stuff
M1: totally
M2: unless you go there...like Sphere
M2: only less lame
M1: to which the common response is, what the hell are you talking about, show me what exactly this dark matter could be made up of
and the response to that is ......buh....
M2: intense
M2: what are the running theories?
M1: you heard it
M1: buh
M1: i don't know, gravity particles or some insane shit
let's see what wikipedia has to say
M2: ok then
M2: I'm going with voices of unborn children
M2: gravity has particles?
M1: some crazy theories involve that
gravitrons!
M2: I feel like Devo needs to be involved in this discussion
M1: oh, and btw if that's all not crazy enough, guess what percentage of the universe is regular old, made-out-of-protons-and-electrons or energy-via-light, kind of matter?
you're not going to like this at all
M2: I'm gonna guess 75 percent
M1: like <5% href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter i'm even more confused after reading this
did you find any theories?
M1: i guess maybe dark matter is supposed to be made of normal particles, and dark energy isn't
M2: but it's still real shady and weird
M1: and i know people who don't believe in it
M2: that's it...I'm dedicating all my thinking to this
that are smart
M2: at least for the next two hours
M1: figure it out for us, i'll get it published for you
M2: well, what the hell do they think?
M1: man, i can't even get analysis done on pictures of stars
i don't know what kind of geniuses work on this
1:00 AM
M2: do they all hang out at the same school?
how confusing that would be
I like when you click on "Big Bang Theory" there's a sidenote at the top that states that this is also the title of a Bad Religion song
oh, and what a great album that is
M1: indeed
M1: i like that "ultimate fate of our present universe" is a whole link heading
this dark matter is going to make it hard for me to sleep at night
M2: I just clicked on that
M1: like it's tomorrow
that is the most ridiculous entry!
M2: well, did you follow the "life" link after that?
it's by definition, a multi-faceted concept
ultimate is so damn...definate
I much rather talk about the penultimate
M1: i'm also going to start using the word "disambiguation"
M2: so, what's going to happen right before the end of the universe, hmmm?
M1: rock and roll?
M1: cheese sandwiches?
M2: That would be cool
M2: Cats and manicures?
M1: disambiguation.
M2: that's a great word...I have to write it down and remember to use it
Comments:
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Uhhhh ... who else thinks it's time for an intervention?? Mellen, please, whatever it is you're on, it's time to stop and let the healing begin. The power of Christ compels you ...
On a related noted, I actually prefer the idea of cats WITH manicures ... that way whenever they're scratching the sh*t out of your furniture, they'd do so with class.
On a related noted, I actually prefer the idea of cats WITH manicures ... that way whenever they're scratching the sh*t out of your furniture, they'd do so with class.
# posted by 
: 11:46 AM
: 11:46 AM
i gotta back Gerry up on this one---what you're huffing, Mel, it's just not safe.
i do have news for you, though, which i will remit via email.
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i do have news for you, though, which i will remit via email.
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