freenrg

wait a minute...I was swimming this morning and thinking about this (yes, I am that weird).The apparent lack of symmetry between the earth and the plane kept me puzzled. Why does the plane clock slow down with respect to the one on earth and not the other way around?You (rvalkass) mentioned that a distant observer could tell which one was moving and which one was not. But how do the clocks "know"?Then I thought...The clocks have to be synchronized at some point. ... So, the clocks are synchronized when the plane is still on the earth, right?. Then the plane takes off and moves around, and finally lands on the earth again and we check the clocks and find the difference.Does this synchronization and the fact that is takes place on the earth break the symmetry? I think it may, but I am not sure why.Does it?Why?

Well, I have to say, my first experience with Wordpress was good.Installation went fine, but it does require editing a file following instructions on the Wordpress website.Joomla's installation is a bit more automatic (not always problem free though).Once installed I looked at the frontpage and it looked very clean and simple. A blog, really.The admin site is also quite simple, but again, it does not seem to offer the options and flexibility of Joomla. It looks like a blog admin.So, at this early stage of testing, I would- Use Wordpress if your online strategy is based on a blog kind of website.- Use Joomla if you want to need to create a website with different sections and types of contents.I will post again if I see more things in Wordpress worth mentioning

pIng your blog regularly when you add content to your site. use services like submit express and pingmyblog for that.

hi mahesh2kThanks for the pointer.

I have checked the PingMyBlog website.
Why is there one column for Blog name and one for Blog URL? These columns have different blog directories.

Also, should I just click on "check all" or is it better to be selective on where you publish?

Thanks

Step 1: The Idea

Step 2: Legal Matters

Step 3: Your Domain Name

Step 4: Selecting a Web Host

Step 5: Designing a Website

Step 6: Marketing and Search Engines

Step 7: Interactive Websites

Step 8: Build a Customer Base

Step 9: Repeat Business

Step 10: Accounting and Taxes

----------------------------------------

...]

threepach,

Are you still around? Maybe not, you have no CENTS.

 

Step 1: The Idea

Step 2: Legal Matters

Step 3: Your Domain Name

Step 4: Selecting a Web Host

Step 5: Designing a Website

Step 6: Marketing and Search Engines...............Can you elaborate on this?

Step 7: Interactive Websites.............................And this? I do not even know what this is.

Step 8: Build a Customer Base

Step 9: Repeat Business...................................What exactly do you mean? Replicate the process?

......................................................................or get more business from existing customers?

Step 10: Accounting and Taxes

 

I hope you are still around, you seem to have real hands-on experience.

I really like Joomla 1.5. It is not difficult to use and it is very complete.There is a huge support community and there are millions of templates out there, many of them free.I thought Wordpress was for blogging, but after reading this topic I am going to give it a try. It is probably simpler to use, but I think Joomla may be more complete?By the way, Joomla 1.5 is very SEO friendly. Template design can be 100% CSS (content in HTML generated by php), which mean SE can index content perfectly.

If it is the second case... I have a solution for you. You should visit chmpdf.com. This is one of the best sites which will provide you with millions and millions of ebooks on almost all subject starting from literature, technology, philosophy etc etc. for free. All you need to do is to create an account and start downloading the books you wanted.
I have been using it for quite some time now and I am sure, this is one of the few best sites that provide such service.

There is a small limitation though. Free members can download only 3-4 free books per day, which according to me is much better than not having any other site that does this. If you want, you can pay a nominal amount and become a pro member where you get unlimited downloads.

Hi varalu,

I have tried that website you mention but I cannot create an account. Do you have an account?
The site states: "There is no registration in our project. Please don't ask".

Hi

 

Books

- The Four Hour Workweek. Tim Ferriss.

- How to Turn your Ideas into Millions. Dan S Kennedy.

- A Thousand Splendid Suns. Khaled Hosseini.

- The Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Dan Millman.

 

Audiobooks

- The Power of Intention. Wayne Dyer.

- El Arte de Vivir el Tiempo. Dokusho Villalba.

- Blink - The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Malcolm Gladwell.

- The Tipping Point. Malcolm Gladwell.

Not necessarily. An inertial reference frame is one where the observer's speed is 0 and every physical law obeys its standard form. In the example of the Earth and the plane, by standing on the Earth as an observer, you make it your inertial reference frame and define its speed as 0 (which makes sense, the Earth's speed relative to the Earth would be 0). This then means the plane is moving relative to you, and hence the value of v in the equation.

OK.
So, if I am standing in the plane looking at the plane's clock, then for me (and for that clock) the plane is an inertial frame of reference and the earth is moving at speed v, in the opposite direction?

Yes. They're known as the Lorentz transforms and are used to change both time and position to account for relativistic effects.

 

 

 

If you did take a view of the Earth from a distance, you would see the plane was moving faster than the Earth. Therefore the plane is travelling at a speed v relative to the Earth.

So does this observer watching both the earth and the plane from a distance constitute an inertial frame of reference?

PROPOSED METHOD TO CLARIFY YOUR PURPOSE - V1.0

 

I trust that, by now, it has become more or less clear what I mean when I talk about purpose in this forum topic.

 

Moving on, I would like to propose the following method to clarify your purpose:

 

1. Think of what the things you love to do. (let us call this "HEART")

2. Think of what, deep inside, you feel you should do with your life. (let us call this "SPIRIT", or "CALLING" if you are not comfortable with SPIRIT)

3. Think of what talents you have, things that you are good at. (let us call this "TALENT")

4. Think of what your survival needs are. Think of ways in which you can meet these survival needs. (let us call this "SURVIVAL")

 

As you assign these categories to things such as actions, tasks, jobs, business ideas, ways of living, you may find that some categories have more overlap than others. For instance, maybe you are really really good at cooking (TALENT), but you do not particular enjoy doing it (not in HEART). However, because you are quite good at it and you can demonstrate it to a potential employer and there is demand for your skill, it is one way you could earn a living (SURVIVAL).

 

So how could this help with clarifying our purpose?

 

Suppose for a moment that

1. You love to cook

2. You feel deep inside that a life dedicated to mastering the art of cooking is a well lived life.

3. You are a very good cook

4. You can make a good living by cooking

 

In this situation, i would suggest that you consider defining a purpose for your life that revolves about cooking.

 

The exact formulation is very personal. For example, if your are "learner", you could say something like: My purpose in life is to continuously improve my skills, mastering the art of cooking, and to apply this mastery in my work. Or, if you are a "connector", your purpose could be something like: "My purpose in life is to master the art of cooking and connect to and serve those around me through my cooking"

 

Please note this is just an example to illustrate the method. Each person will have different items in those categories.

 

The non overlapping areas

Now, what happens if for me these four areas do not overlap.

 

For example (not my case, ok?), I have a degree in accounting and a job as an accountant, because I have a degree, but actually I am not an outstanding accountant, and I make mistakes and struggle at work, and I do not like it much anyway. Meanwhile, I love psychology, but I know little about it so I am not particularly good in that area and cannot make a living. In addition, I am very good at cooking but I am not very interested in doing it or improving that skill. Finally, I feel deep inside that I should dedicate my life to the preservation of the planet.

 

In this case, I would have a big puzzle to solve. So big, in fact, that I would not know how to proceed.

 

Hopefully we will find ourselves somewhere in between these extremes of perfect alignment and total disarray, and we can find ways to improve alignment.

 

Questions for you:

1. Which areas (HEART, SPIRIT/CALLING, TALENT, SURVIVAL) do you think are more important? Would you assign an order of importance to them?

2. Do you think any of these areas are not necessary to define a purpose or way of living that is right for you? Which ones?

3. Do you think there is something missing in this method? Maybe you can think of an area that has been left out, which you believe should be included?

4. If you are comfortable with the idea, could you tell us what you HEART, SPIRIT/CALLING, TALENT, SURVIVAL areas are for you?

 

 

Disclaimer: This method is not my invention. It is based on Steve Pavlina's ideas. It seems to works in my case to a certain extent and I would like to build on it.

rvalkass,

 

These equations describe the differences in time measured by the clocks on the planes and on earth, am I right?

 

where

 

So how do we calculate v?

 

example...

v of earth = 0

v of plane = 2,000 mph

 

how do we reach these values?

why is v of earth 0 and v of plane 2,000 mph and not the other way around?

Well i don't get it is this an abstract question? like what is the purpose of humans on this planet or just my personal plans, long term plans? Anyway my purpose is to live and be lived. I don't like making plans because i find the world to be a really random place and as so many things change around me why should i stick to plan and not change with it?

Not a purpose for humans as a group. I am talking about purpose as an individual, not as a group. - Not against purpose for a group, just not what I am asking here.
And also not about plans,...I intended the question not about an ultimate goal, or something to achieve in the future, but more about the reason for leaving and the way of leaving according to that reason. Why would I want to do that? Because I think when I live according to a purpose that resonates with me, I feel happier and more energized.

You say your purpose is to live and to be lived. Sounds good to me. It is a bit broad. it could mean many things, but as long as you know what is means that is great.

You have defined a purpose and now this is a tool, like a compass. Think about a compass. There is no destination on it, but it does help you move and face life in a certain "direction". You are saying "I want to move always facing NORTH (live and be lived). Note this is not a destination, it is an orientation. If you keep the compass at hand, and check it regularly, you may suddenly realize that you are living facing WEST ("worrying and agonizing about what is happening regarding person X. / job / "), and feeling miserable.

Now, regarding plans. I understand that you do not like to make plans because life is random, but I find that, with the kind of purpose that I am defining for myself (I would like to keep the details to myself for now - this topic is not about my purpose, is about how to figure out one's purpose), I will need to do some planning to channel resources according to my purpose. Only the plans must be flexible because life is unpredictable. I make plans according to my purpose and if something happens than renders those plan useless, I change them and move on.

The one thing that is very clear in my mind: With the right purpose there is no possible failure, the same way there is no "final" victory. When I say there is no possible failure I do not mean that nothing bad can happen to you. I mean that those setbacks are not perceived as failure, because you do not measure your success by results or achievements. You measure your success based on how well aligned your actions are with your purpose.

Let us look for a moment at an extreme example: Mother Theresa.
Do you think Mother Theresa had a purpose?
What do you think her purpose was?
Do you think Mother Theresa ever thought "That's it, I have achieved my goal- Good job, I am done!"?
Do you think Mother Theresa ever thought "I am a failure. I am not good at this, or I am worthless"?
Would you guess Mother Theresa was a happy person? Or do you think she was stressed out or sad? Maybe concerned about her own health?

I am writing too much. I will stop now.

We have quarks, gluons, neutrinos and all sorts of other things much smaller than protons and electrons. The problem with using them in nanotechnology varies between the particles, but they are numerous. Quarks can never be found alone (to our current knowledge) so offer no advantage over electrons. Gluons only exist to hold quarks together, so we can't do anything with them. Neutrinos are too unreactive - they pass through absolutely everything, we can't stop them and they are almost impossible to detect, so using them is practically impossible. If we could find one of these particles that we could control and use then that would be a breakthrough.

Hi

Would it make more sense to use whole atoms for nanotechnology? It seems to me that since they are bigger and more stable, we can build small molecular machines with them.

Using protons seems impossible. They are way too small for our technology to handle. Forget about quarks, gluons and their friend. it is a lot of work just to detect them!

-------

About the question of smaller than neutrons and electrons, just one comment. String Theory is be based on the proposed existence of tiny strings of energy that would be orders of magnitude smaller than quarks, electrons, gluons. Only problem is, a number of physicists complain that String Theory is not a theory at all because it is not refutable, or at least that is what I have understood.

Anybody knows the real deal about String Theory?

I don't think people will be happy for long time. They become happy for a short time i.e. happiness is periodic. You will be happy when you found that you lost something, you got delicious food when you are hungry, Someone arrived when you wait him/her so many examples of happiness. If you satisfied doing something in our life, this is happy.

Hi puneye

I think what you explain here, which is very true, is about pleasure, not happiness.

 

Many people think happiness = pleasure. Then they experience what you are saying: Up-down-up-down-up-down..., because you cannot stay in a state of pleasure all the time.

 

Pleasure is not bad, of course! It is just that we must learn to say goodbye to it without sadness when it is gone.

 

I would like to explain that I have experienced at times a feeling of happiness that was not linked to any specific pleasure or satisfaction of any need. It was a sense of joy, and expansiveness that seemed to be radiating from the center of my chest. It was like a diamond of happiness shining in my heart. It does not happen often. The most intense case was after spending two days in a zen retreat and simply driving by the sea. I just felt very happy, and for no reason at all. I guess my mind was clean enough to let all the light come in.

 

I know some people feel that way much more often than me, and I would like to cultivate that state in myself because it is wonderful, it feels great and it also energizes me and helps me do better in anything I do.

 

That is the happiness I want.

Does a mirror have a colour?

 

Objects "have" colours because they absorb some light and reflect some light.

 

The light from the sun contains all the frequencies we can see and many more, all mixed together. Objects absorb light that vibrates at certain frequencies and they reflect light that vibrates at other frequencies. The combination of frequencies that an object absorbs is what gives that object its colour. The true colour of an object is appreciated when white light from the sun hits it.

 

A [well polished] mirror reflects all the light that hits it, without absorbing any.

 

So, I think the answer is no. A mirror does not have a colour.

 

wait a minute...

White objects also reflect all the frequencies of light that hits them.

So what is the difference between a mirror and a white object?

I recently read The Four Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss. I found it very useful, with critical information and ideas that have changed the way I see my future business. However, as it is the case with any book, the 4HWW does not answer every question and I have a number of issues that i intend to clarify.

 

I would like to open a discussion on the ideas contained in the book, to build on Tim Ferriss' work.

 

Have you read the book?

Would you like to talk about it?

Why do they have frosted windows on the toilets on a plane?

Is this is a trick question? Plane toilets have no windows.

If the Big Bang Theory is true, and all matter was condensed into one extremely small and dense area, then what was outside of the area where all matter existed?

 

If the Big Bang Theory is true, and I understand it correctly, it is not just matter that is condensed, it is space itself that is condensed. The rapid expansion that follows is not so much about matter moving in space. It is actually space expanding.

 

Imagine a carrot cake with raisins in it. When you bake it the whole thing expands and the raisins move away from each other, but they are not moving from one part to another of the cake. It is the cake that is becoming larger and therefore there is more cake between one raisin and another.

 

Now, the question is about what is outside the carrot cake. There is an oven. God is using the oven to cook the cake.

 

Now, seriously, some cosmologists have created models with multiple carrot cakes, so when they "hit" each other big bangs happen. There are many different models which, by the way, are rather useless, because we cannot test them, but they can help you think about your question.

Get a red sheet of paper, and stare into it. Look closely at the "colour" itself, examine it. Think about what it looks like. Notice after 15 - 30 secs you cant see the colour. Its invisible. Is that what colour looks like?

No, the red colour looks like what you see when you start looking at it.

 

Once you have been looking at red for 15-30 seconds the red cone cells in your retina have stopped responding because they have run out of neurotransmitters, and they are no longer sending their signals to your visual cortex in the back of your head.

 

So after 15-30 seconds, you have actually become [temporarily] blind to red.

If it is 0 degrees celcius one day and it is twice as cold the next day how cold is it the next day?

 

Twice as cold...Let me try:

There is something called absolute zero. Absolute zero is the lowest possible temperature. It corresponds to −273.15? Celsius. Using a lineal* temperature decrease for the concept of "twice as cold", the next day we would be at -136.57? C (actually, -136.575? C).

 

* A logarithmic function might make more sense, because it is increasingly difficult to bring temperature down, at least on earth.

Is it better to be burnt alive or frozen alive?

 

I would definitely choose frozen.

 

As you start freezing there is some sharp pain, but as this proceeds, your pain sensors gradually stop working and you go numb. Eventually, you start feeling sleepy and loose consciousness before dying, I think, from heart failure.

 

Burned alive?

No, thank you. I do not care if CO2 will eventually make me loose consciousness. By the time that happens, I will have experienced a hell of pain, an unbearably acute pain. In fact, I think a person burned alive (as in a bonfire, for instance) will probably become unconscious due to the terrible pain before CO2 does anything. Besides, I would not advise that you try this, but, for the sake of the scientific method, you could burn a person fitting him/her first with a gas mask to avoid CO2 entering his/her lungs).

How do you explain colours, excluding black and white, and what they look like to a blind person that has been blind all his life?

 

Assuming blind from birth...

 

The blind person will not be able to fully grasp what you experience, but what I would try is to use an analogy with sounds.

 

First I would explain that with sight we can detect the shape of objects at a distance as long as there are no other objects standing in the straight line from the object to the eye using an energy that moves very fast in straight line and bounces off objects, providing a lot of information about their position, shape, etc (light).

 

Then I would move on to colors and explain that different kinds of surfaces of objects modify that energy (light) and with sight we can detect the different kinds of surfaces because the energy reaches our eyes in a modified form and our eyes have detectors that classify the energy that reaches them.

 

This is the point where I would use the sounds as analogy. Assuming the blind person is not deaf, she will be able to understand the analogy (obviously not experience it, but at least try to think about it). I would explain that the same way each object produces a sound of a different tone when we hit it and that has to do with the frequency at which the object vibrates, so does that energy we call light come in "different tones" depending on the surface it hits.

 

--------------

 

By the way, did you know that dolphins have a sense that we do not have?

 

They send and detect sonar signals that at least in theory allow them to build 3D images of objects around them, including the internal structure of those object, not just their surface (and do not think it is an internal surface, it is all the matter that light cannot penetrate).

 

Maybe dolphins have something analog to colors when perceiving the structures of objects of different densities.

 

Can you think about how they "see" the internal structure of objects in 3D?

More generally than that. Time slows down on an object in motion relative to another. Generally the effect is only noticeable at near-light speed, but you can see it using an atomic clock and flying around the world. Comparing the clock to one that stayed on the ground during the flight, you will find they have measured a different elapsed time period.

This is where I feel confused.

I had read about the atomic clocks and the difference in measured time.

You wrote that there is no absolute frame of reference. Then, as far as the plane is concerned, the earth could be the object moving, while the plane is at rest. Why does the clock on the plane slow down and not the clock on the earth?

What is special about the earth?
If there is no absolute frame of reference, why are the clocks acting as if the earth is at rest and the planes are moving?

I have a job. I work for a company that makes consumer electronic products and I am in charge of managing distribution across Europe.The job is OK, but I am not satisfied. It takes too much of my time and it does not allow me to contribute and serve others the way I feel I need to. It pays well and that is important, as I need to provide for my little family.Recently, I have decided that I am going to start my own business on the side and grow income until I can quit my job. Ideally I would like to run a business that takes 4-8 hours / week and generate enough income to support my family, pay mortgage, travel a little, save some, help others...

The whole point of having money is to try to be happy.If you choose money over happiness you are missing the point of having money.Suppose some genius in a bottle tells you: - I can make you feel absolutely and utterly happy everyday for the rest of your life, OR - I can make money flow into your bank account continuously and keeping the balance always above USD 1 billion.Are you telling me that you would choose the money?Are you out of your mind?I can see the appeal of money flowing into my account and being able to purchase anything I want, but please think!. The money and the stuff that you can buy are means we use in an attempt to be happy. The genius is offering the complete "happiness solution", why take a tool instead?Read books about rich people, or even better, books written by rich people.100% of millionaires will tell you that they are not happier after accumulating their money.