Nobody Knows What TIME Really Is. But it might be this...

[James Warren]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxb336no2rI

[HRM Resident]

James Warren <jwwar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxb336no2rI
>

Interesting, but dumbed down. It depends on whether or not the 2nd
“law” of thermodynamics has been proven. I don’t think it tells us
anything new. It doesn’t answer the question. It just jumps from video to
video by that guy.

We have a handful of physical constants so carefully balanced that if
the tiniest amount were tweaked any, life in the universe would be
impossible.

Imagine an n-dimensional space with one axis for each of the different
constants we’re considering. Assume that these constants can be anything.
There’s a tiny volume in this space within which life is possible, but the
total area is infinite in size. What’s the probability that you’d hit the
sweet spot by chance? Tiny volume ÷ unlimited space = 0, so the likelihood
is zero. What about that?

So, where did we come from? What is time? Speaking of that, it’s
supper time! Have to eat. :-)

--
HRM Resident

[James Warren]

On 2021-11-20 5:15 PM, HRM Resident wrote:
> James Warren <jwwar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxb336no2rI
>>
>
> Interesting, but dumbed down. It depends on whether or not the 2nd
> “law” of thermodynamics has been proven. I don’t think it tells us
> anything new. It doesn’t answer the question. It just jumps from video to
> video by that guy.

The point of the video what to say that we still don't know what time is
despite much thought and effort put into studing it.

>
> We have a handful of physical constants so carefully balanced that if
> the tiniest amount were tweaked any, life in the universe would be
> impossible.
>
> Imagine an n-dimensional space with one axis for each of the different
> constants we’re considering. Assume that these constants can be anything.
> There’s a tiny volume in this space within which life is possible, but the
> total area is infinite in size. What’s the probability that you’d hit the
> sweet spot by chance? Tiny volume ÷ unlimited space = 0, so the likelihood
> is zero. What about that?

Why should I imagine all that? I's obvious God did it. :)

>
> So, where did we come from? What is time? Speaking of that, it’s
> supper time! Have to eat. :-)
>

Supper time for me too!

[axemen99]

Theoretical physics versus applied physics...
https://halifax.citynews.ca/local-news/proposed-nova-scotia-spaceport-announces-payload-client-for-initial-launch-4778010
Nova Scotia spaceport announces payload client for initial launch.

[HRM Resident]

James Warren <jwwar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2021-11-20 5:15 PM, HRM Resident wrote:
>> James Warren <jwwar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

>snip<

>
> Why should I imagine all that? It's obvious God did it. :)
>

Which one?

>>
>> So, where did we come from? What is time? Speaking of that, it’s
>> supper time! Have to eat. :-)
>>
>
> Supper time for me too!
>

Speaking of that, sort of, this Covid thing was an excuse to do less
and eat a bit more. Eighteen months = 6 pounds gained! Arrgghh! I
already got rid of a couple. I was going to have to be more stubborn.

--
HRM Resident

[HRM Resident]

axemen99 <axem...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Theoretical physics versus applied physics...
> https://halifax.citynews.ca/local-news/proposed-nova-scotia-spaceport-announces-payload-client-for-initial-launch-4778010
> Nova Scotia spaceport announces payload client for initial launch.
>

I have vague recollections of something space related being considered
for the Canso area, but I thought that idea fizzled out decades ago.
Obviously not!

The location does check a lot of the space “physics” according to the
article. Maybe yet another reason for Nova Scotia to be a place people
want to live.

--
HRM Resident

[Mike Spencer]

The Natural Philosophy of Time, G. J. Whitrow, 1961

if you want a backgrounder on the subject. Yes, I read it, or most of
it, but so long ago that I have trouble deciphering my marginal
notations now and it seems not to have left me with any enduring
wisdom.


--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

[axemen99]

On Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 8:22:29 PM UTC-5, HRM Resident wrote:
> The location does check a lot of the space “physics” according to the
> article. Maybe yet another reason for Nova Scotia to be a place people
> want to live.
>
> --
> HRM Resident

Another Nova Scotia goodness...
The development and production of plasmid DNA, the key ingredient to manufacture mRNA therapeutics and vaccines, will happen at the company's Windsor, N.S., plant.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-biovectra-mrna-vaccines-1.6253465

[HRM Resident]

On 2021-11-21 2:20 a.m., Mike Spencer wrote:
> The Natural Philosophy of Time, G. J. Whitrow, 1961
>
> if you want a backgrounder on the subject. Yes, I read it, or most of
> it, but so long ago that I have trouble deciphering my marginal
> notations now and it seems not to have left me with any enduring
> wisdom.
>
>

I'm sure there are cheaper sources, but Amazon has the hardcover
for $449.00 and the paperback for $49.48. TILT! Who would pay $450 for
a book?

Anyhow, as I said, it's almost certainly available at a used book
store . . .

--
HRM Resident

[Mike Spencer]

HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:

> On 2021-11-21 2:20 a.m., Mike Spencer wrote:
>
>> The Natural Philosophy of Time, G. J. Whitrow, 1961
>

> I'm sure there are cheaper sources, but Amazon has the hardcover
> for $449.00 and the paperback for $49.48. TILT! Who would pay $450 for
> a book?

Ubyl fuvg! Whitrow was a distinguished and well known scientist but
not such monumental stature as to make his book a rare collectible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_James_Whitrow

Y'all were opining on effects of hypothetical changes in physical
constants. Whitrow argued that life was possible only in three
physical dimensions. (Brief summary on the Wikipedia page.)

My paperback copy is quite tattered. A friend moved here in '71. had
a cellar hole blasted out of the ledge and then, with energy far
beyond mine, raised a crappy barn, built a very nice if unconventional
house, raised pigs, chickens and the calves from our milk cow, attended
grad school at Dal and then, after dropping that, ran a small business
in Bridgewater. He had arrived here with several (many?) cartons of
technical books on a very wide range of topics. (Did I mention that
he was also a lot smarter than I?) With all the above-recounted
busyness, he had no time for his library which he stored in his
blasted-out cellar and didn't think about for over a year. When his
house was tight enough for books, he went to get them, only to find
that he should have included a drain in his cellar. He had wrapped
the cartons in plastic sheet to exclude "dampness" but that didn't
withstand being sumberged. Some books were reduced to pulp, some were
merely stained, some were recoverable with the cover & outer pages
partially pulped. My Whitrow is in the last category. I have several
other of his recovered books that he simply abandoned when compelled
to move away by complicated health and family issues in '77.

> Anyhow, as I said, it's almost certainly available at a used book
> store . . .

The indefinite article? "a", not "the"? How many serious used book
stores are there in Hfx (or NS) now?

Did you know that there is now only one company in N. America that
makes matches? Don't let the Eddy Match web site deceive you. The
Eddy marque and all the other Canadian and US match brands now belong
to D. D. Bean in Jaffrey, NH. (No proximal connection to L. L. Bean.)
Jaffrey is a little New England mill and farming town where I lived
when I was three or four. D. D. Bean is a family business, making
matches since the 20s. Butane lighters and unfashionability of
smoking has reduced the industry almost to the same state as buggy
whips. Sobeys has no matches on the shelf presently. The ones I've
been buying -- wooden matches in pocket-sized boxes -- under the Eddy
brand and Jaffrey location, are marked "Made in Chile" where,
according to the Bean web site, there is a company with century-old
match-making gear still in use.

D. D. Bean is struggling to keep afloat. I surmise that the Chilean
matches I would buy, were they on the shelf, are sitting in a
container somewhere waiting for the global transport snafu to clear.

TEOTWAWKI

[HRM Resident]

On 2021-11-21 6:48 p.m., Mike Spencer wrote:
> HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On 2021-11-21 2:20 a.m., Mike Spencer wrote:
>>

>snip<

>> Anyhow, as I said, it's almost certainly available at a used book
>> store . . .
>
> The indefinite article? "a", not "the"? How many serious used book
> stores are there in Hfx (or NS) now?
>

Ah yes. I was think 20+ years ago. I seriously doubt there are
any left. Worse yet, in the not too distant future, I bet NEW books
will become a rarity. Newspapers are on the decline. Books could well
be next. Bloody Internet!

--
HRM Resident

[Mike Spencer]

HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:

> On 2021-11-21 6:48 p.m., Mike Spencer wrote:
>
>> HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> Anyhow, as I said, it's almost certainly available at a used book
>>> store . . .
>>
>> The indefinite article? "a", not "the"? How many serious used book
>> stores are there in Hfx (or NS) now?
>
> Ah yes. I was think 20+ years ago. I seriously doubt there are
> any left.

John Doull is still there. For awkward values of "there". His
various locations in downtown Hfx over the years were easy to get to,
modulo downtown parking. Now he has an enormous space in a Dartmouth
mall/plaza/strip-city. Happy, of course, that he took the trouble to
move when he outgrew the charming old bank building on Barrington
St. but not so pleased that I have to use Gwgle Maps and employ a
navigator to find it in the Dartmouth sprawl.

> Worse yet, in the not too distant future, I bet NEW books
> will become a rarity. Newspapers are on the decline. Books could well
> be next. Bloody Internet!

Get your TEOTWAWKI tee shirt now!

[Lucretia Borgia]

On 23 Nov 2021 17:38:54 -0400, Mike Spencer

<m...@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> wrote:

>
>HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On 2021-11-21 6:48 p.m., Mike Spencer wrote:
>>
>>> HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>>> Anyhow, as I said, it's almost certainly available at a used book
>>>> store . . .
>>>
>>> The indefinite article? "a", not "the"? How many serious used book
>>> stores are there in Hfx (or NS) now?
>>
>> Ah yes. I was think 20+ years ago. I seriously doubt there are
>> any left.
>
>John Doull is still there. For awkward values of "there". His
>various locations in downtown Hfx over the years were easy to get to,
>modulo downtown parking. Now he has an enormous space in a Dartmouth
>mall/plaza/strip-city. Happy, of course, that he took the trouble to
>move when he outgrew the charming old bank building on Barrington
>St. but not so pleased that I have to use Gwgle Maps and employ a
>navigator to find it in the Dartmouth sprawl.
>
>
>> Worse yet, in the not too distant future, I bet NEW books
>> will become a rarity. Newspapers are on the decline. Books could well
>> be next. Bloody Internet!
>
>Get your TEOTWAWKI tee shirt now!

More than books, I am sorry to see computers/net do away with writing
letters. I love some of the old ones I have written by my
grandmother, early ones where to save paper she wrote normally then
turned the page half way round and wrote in lines through the
previous!

Today you can maybe see photos of old relatives but that doesn't tell
you what reading a letter by one did. I gave quite a few of my
mothers to a cousin, while her father was a POW in Korea my mother and
father in Tokyo endeavoured to find out what they could through
American contacts and she wrote to my grandmother with all the
details, it was interesting to read and compare to what he wrote about
it after he was home.