chuck kottke

Albert Hammond Jr.?? Who is that? Hammond organ family?:)

So basically you got this babe to go to the concert with you, but without her parents permission, and so now they decided to move the family to Saskatchewan because of this?? Bummer! ...sounds like time heals all, so just be patient. BTW - what was the concert??

Do you sell produce or electronics?:rolleyes::laugh3: Maybe singing the praises of the Zucchini or the ipods helps?? Random thought... is the instrument being played at the end of Strawberry Swing a (1) didgeridoo; (2) a bass flute from Ecuador, or (3) someone blowing over an empty bottle?:P

Greetings from the other side of the planet, Nada!:) Glad you could join in the zaniness here, and maybe Coldplay could swing down your way as they circumnavigate he globe!;)

congratulations Bart!!:sunny: That should be a fantastic event!! Bring plenty of beer, just in case they're thirsty..;)

23:51 & just finishing a look at some Chinese antiques from a seller in Beijing!:)

Chickens are just vegetables with legs and wings, that's all!:P Have you ever raised chickens? I would have to say that perhaps their wild cousins had some smarts, but today's chickens are not too bright, and as for empathy - I think their emotional range is rather on the selfish side.. along the lines of "see grasshopper - chase grasshopper! catch! fight other chickens for grasshopper meal!!" It's a lot like thinking of jellyfish as being sentient beings.. Same for most fish - they're more like life itself, and less like the social creatures we mammals are. (I'm being mammalcentric - truthfully, some birds are quite bright and social. Just not those tasty chickens!):P

Goodnight sweetheart, and sleep tight.:sleeping:;)

A quiet night in Chile? I thought every Friday was some fiesta celebration?;) Same here, actually - which is odd, since this is one of the last free week-ends of summer.. (Next week-end will be bonkers though - Labor Day is a madhouse up here..) Do you have a Labor Day in Chile??

Alright then... - and who might you be then?:rolleyes:

Hmm! Coffee is good! (fair trade I hope?;)).. I'm doing alright - I could complain, but nobody listens anyways..:laugh3: Thanks for asking though! And how are you, Lore?:)

Well, I think he's right! All we gotta do is... play harmonica! (make music?):P

Sounds like it! Relax, and give it time to heal - it's going to hurt for a while if it's similar to a sprained ankle..;)

Hello Lore, and from what I gather, Aloha? Shopping sounds like fun - keep the Chilean economy going!;)

After further edification on the subject, I find neutron stars to be far more complicated than I had first imagined. They could be considered still part of a trend in the lumping of subatomic particles together - that could be an even more interesting chart, showing the various ways fundamental particles get lumped together.. Nothing all that new, perhaps I'm not the first to suggest the bizarre ideas as such either. Still, it's intriguing to think of how it all flows together..

I didn't know neutron stars had crusts?!:stunned::) And there's something odd going on in the center..

Quick answer.. Hello Jay! I think they put a time limit on me here, so I'll be brief: Answer: It may not be of any immediate use, but as enlightened creatures, we should all see the value in new views on the universe. A flower has no intrinsic value, but yet it can brighten our day or our thoughts. Interesting thought about the mass of pure, condensed matter! Perhaps weaponry has been done to the hilt, and now we need to focus on more peaceful uses.. I would think it useful perhaps to understand better nuclear physics, and perhaps synthesize elements in quantities that are stable and useful; mass-producing platinum would be one example - rare, and yet highly useful for everything from catalysts to spark plug tips, one application of the knowledge base might be in creating more of these useful elements.

Hasselhoff's fine where he's at - testing new talent! But perhaps the center of the talent universe he may be, yet the center of the whole Universe? That's a stretch, even in an expanding universe!:laugh3: as an addendum to my original proposal: Since atoms are all about sticky particles that lump together, the new chart could start with the building blocks of those subatomic particles, and go even further back to strings/bubbles/etc.:P

new thinking A Proposal: Relatively Stable Heavy Elements Already Exist! They are called Neutron Stars.:P Tweak the Physicists. Neutron stars, the collapsed remnant of massive stars, really could represent dual citizens as both unique celestial objects and very heavy elements. Considering that stars have lost electrons due to their temperatures and their energy output (considering that stars are composed of plasma, and the matter lost during violent eruptions on their surfaces is composed of highly charged positive particles - mostly hydrogen and helium nuclei - this is empirical evidence of their excess of nuclear protons). Therefore, upon collapse, protons should exist, as well as neutrons in a neutron star. Since elements are basically protons and neutrons at the core, with electrons swarming above, and since elements remain elements even if their electrons are temporarily lost (hence elements as ions), it therefore seems reasonable to think of neutron stars as merely supermassive elements!:P The question we must then ask is: what lies between the minimum of gravitational hold found in the smallest of neutron stars, and the heaviest man-made elements yet discovered? For an update on this, see http://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news_releases/2006/NR-06-10-03.html The idea is that there is an island of stability between elements 105 and what lies beyond. So far, element 118 has been created, but is this the island that had been sought? Are there even more stable islands beyond element 118, and it's surrounding landmass? Perhaps there is a string of islands in the line of archipelagos, and we are just starting to see what is possible. Why the Universe hasn't already offered up such elements we just aren't sure. Maybe they decayed a long time ago, or are very rare. Perhaps nobody bothered to ask the Universe in a polite way. Whatever the case may be, we are trying to re-make the missing links. So, I am proposing a new, more accurate periodic chart: The common light elements forming the big island at one end, then the archipelagos, and finally at the other end, the mainland - the giant neutron star elements. Elements beginning at one gazillion, and their isotopes forming the mass of the continent, with hopefully a long string of islands between them and the tiny hydrogen atom. :sunny::curtain:

Post Your New Ideas On How the Universe Works Here!:)

Green glues. Green plastics. I've been searching high and low for eco-friendly, human-friendly building materials, since I may have to restructure a roof. So far, I did discover an article on the use of soy flour glues for laminated beams (ironically developed in the 50's, and now being re-examined as a safer method). Foamboard is one material that is un-green in every sense, except for not outgassing significantly, and excellent insulating properties. But, it embodies the use of carbon monoxide, phosgene gas, benzene, etc. in the manufacture, and if it catches fire, may release some cyanide compounds. So, I'm trying to steer clear of it, but it would be nice to find a waterproof insulating board that's safe. I thought one could be made of re-polymerized lignin, foamed with nitrogen gas, but that's just a guess - any ideas???

Python is never a waste of time!:rolleyes::P Besides, how else would we have learned about the Cheese miser?:laugh3: (5 bonus points to anyone who can remember what type of cheese he was misering!):D

Probability is against Russia as being innocent, but it is possible. Of course, the administration we currently have here in the US fabricated enormous lies to justify the war in Iraq, so I wonder about any "evidence" that's new - the test of time will tell the tale. It seems likely that Russia has designs on Georgia, owing to it's strategic position and it's pipeline. Thinking back to the poisoning of the Ukrainian president, it's not an unlikely possibility that propagandists have wanted an excuse to invade Georgia. Geo-political games afoot by the oligarchs, all human conditions aside..

Buzzed!:jester:

The point is life on a planet! I mean, here we are, and if you ever stopped to wonder how amazing it all is, it would knock the socks right off your feet! All this stuff works, and it works damn well - all the coordinated work of millions of us, and here we are, the lucky ones, who can sit atop the ladder and gaze upon it all - now that's a treat! Appreciation is the gift of realizing how great the gift of humanity is.