Profile for too kraut, don't read

Error message

  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6595 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6595 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6595 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6595 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).
  • Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).

Recent posts

Pages

AuthorRecent posts
The Question to... well, just a question really... in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Wednesday, March 8 2006 14:19 Profile Homepage #67
quote:
Aran wrote:
he might come from a similar cultural background.
The doubt implied here is more probably honest and sometimes even mutual, Thuryl.
In addition, personalities appear much different on the web than in R/L, as I am sure you know.

quote:
Spring wrote: If by "commong knowledge" you mean "known to people who recognize his posting style"
Spring, not every spiderwebber is an avid reader of Polaris.

Hey, tin foil hatters, has it ever come to your mind, I am hired to transform this forum to the same vegetative state as the D&T in Polaris?

just joking. I admit it was intentionally creepy.

[ Wednesday, March 08, 2006 14:24: Message edited by: Habeas corpus fundamentalist ]

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
The Question to... well, just a question really... in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Tuesday, March 7 2006 05:37 Profile Homepage #45
I just barely in time managed to keep quiet as I am convinced I should about what I thought.
Seriously, on your photo on desperance you smile in a much more relaxed way than this IMAGE(http://i.esmas.com/image/0/000/003/803/macaulay01_N.jpg)
However, you do not walk around with your face frozen like on the photo and may have triggered some meme.

Have you ever thought it may have been a pretext?

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
The Question to... well, just a question really... in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Tuesday, March 7 2006 04:20 Profile Homepage #41
quote:
Originally written by Thuryl:

asked if I was Macaulay Culkin.
?

[ Tuesday, March 07, 2006 04:22: Message edited by: Habeas corpus fundamentalist ]

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
So Long & Good Luck in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Tuesday, March 7 2006 04:05 Profile Homepage #22
quote:
Point?
Is a point obligatory?
This is a fairly stable community of individuals who are each close to or undergoing an almost opalescent transition.
Do not be too harsh.
There are periodic purges here and nothing is meant for eternity.

Alec, some of your posts are the wittiest I have ever read.

The quote about the muzzled ox comes to my mind only that on spiderweb "treading grain" translates most closely to being witty,imho.

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Horror! The ubb... in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Monday, March 6 2006 15:00 Profile Homepage #7
I am puzzled by your horror.("Was birgst Du so bang Dein Gesicht?")
Is my Thunderbird inbox not aflat file too and it does not have to be rewritten entirely everytime a message comes in or one is deleted.
New messages are appended at the end and deletions just involve the index.
Rewriting occurs only during compactification of folders.
Well, everybody has to do some garbage collection or defragmentation every now and then. Do not tell me you manage without, Aran. The ReiserFS that claims not to need this is fairly recent and it appears to do some balancing of the index tree in the background afaiu.
The only weird thing I see is the effort involved in allowing the users to edit their posts at any time. I do edit my posts a lot and I find it hard to believe that every editing round appends a new copy of my post to the flat file.
----------------------------------
BTW, where are the profiles kept, signatures etc.
Are they not inserted on the fly when I read, i.e. they are kept "normalized"?
I did notice that displayed names are the current ones. Which is sometimes puzzling. The quotations reflect the names of the source at the time of quotation but the quoted post bears the name at the time of the viewing.

[ Monday, March 06, 2006 15:11: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Ash Got Banned... in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Saturday, March 4 2006 12:15 Profile Homepage #55
quote:
Originally written by Student of Trinity:

AL: *abuses JV*
JV: 'Change your sig.'
AL: 'No.'
JV: *bans AL*
As an ESL-speaker, may I ask how "Knock yourself out :-)" translates to "No."?

[ Saturday, March 04, 2006 12:16: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Did the forums help you register? in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Saturday, March 4 2006 08:57 Profile Homepage #10
This forum has led me to believe that the company cares about the mental well-being of its customers who may be more disposed to buy and register the games in case of some social challenge.
I am impressed about the community and have been recommending it to other parents.
I cannot keep track of how many registrations have come from this.

From a marketing aspect, I would recommend to pay a lot of attention to the preferences of potential customers - not only actual customers.
Knowing why customers register and why other potential customers do not register is the most important business secret - much more so than any piece of code.

Access to the community of customers and potential customers is therefore a valuable asset.
Can you own such a community?
Not to the extent that the members feel pwned unless you are Microsoft.

[ Saturday, March 04, 2006 09:03: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
50 years from now, 50 years ago in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Friday, March 3 2006 12:46 Profile Homepage #48
Re previous post: I cannot make head or tail of it. Goals change over the years and why should I be depressed about chances I took and pipe dreams that I dropped?

quote:
Originally written by Prometheus:

either you give immortality to everyone... or you give it to only those who can buy it, in which case you limit it to those who are wealthy, in which case you are essentially declaring that lower classes should die while upper class elitists should not. That is, without the slightest bit of exaggeration, a holocaust.
1. I object to the inflationary use of the word holocaust. Look it up in wikipedia and show a list of similarities and differences if you insist.
2. About poverty being associated with lower life expectancy we do not have to talk about the distant future but just look at present facts - and I do not even mean the obvious comparison between rich and poor nations. Take the U.K. for example.
quote:
(Dyer O 2005 BMJ 331(7514)p.419 Disparities in health widen between rich and poor in England.)
In 2002 the government set a target to reduce by 10% the degree to which the fifth of local authorities with the worst figures in infant mortality and life expectancy fall below the national average,compared with a 1997-9 baseline figure. But the class gap in health has actually been growing,the statistics show.
The problem is not only that drugs are expensive but that improvement of medical knowledge tends to widen health disparities. The middle classes are amazingly adept at pouncing on every new snippet of information about healthy lifestyles and incorporating it into their daily activities.
Overweight and smoking as well as TV-time per day are indicators for low socioeconomic status.
Are you serious about calling this the "holocaust" of relative stupidity or relative lack of self-discipline?

Eaxmple: Intellectual and physical activity delay the onset of Morbus Alzheimer.
So what are "we" to do to help the poor couch potatos watching TV all day to prevent them from becoming dependent Alzheimer patients?
[sarcasm]The present way out is to have them "enjoy life" and smoke and gain weight so they die in time which is more ethical than putting them on methamphetamine.[/sarcasm]
What other remedy do you have on offer?

[ Friday, March 03, 2006 13:20: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Census of Spiderweb community in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Tuesday, February 28 2006 00:52 Profile Homepage #69
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Sexual orientation: Lesbian
Marital status: Married
Highest educational degree completed: Ph.D in math&phsyics
City/metropolitan area where you live: Lower Rhine
Racial/ethnic origin: Caucasian
Nationality: German
First/primary language: German
Religion: Habeas corpus fundamentalist / protestant
How long you've been a Spiderwebber: Just sufficiently long to forget
Whether or not you're a septuagenarian eskimo:
Close call, depends on the perspective.

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
The Conservative Shift in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Monday, February 27 2006 15:06 Profile Homepage #55
If I may come back to R/L from Thuryl's "moderate number of relatively impractical ways of fixing this problem".

From what I see in my German habitat the electorate does not show a shift to the conservative side but rather a resignation of a large part who do not see anybody running who would represent them. The left/right distinction has become relatively irrelevant for these people.
The "shift" in the legislative results only because the "party of nonvoters" is not represented. I wonder how many states this "party" would carry in the US.
In addition, just remember the long lines of voters waiting for hours to have their votes counted. Who was paying for their rent while they were waiting and could not work? How many more would have voted if the price in time had not been so high?

There is no need for any utopian pipe dream government, imho, but a credible "blood, sweat, and tears" leader who can communicate like Bill Clinton or the Gipper and does neither go sailing during a war nor lets Ashcroft et al. take over - no matter which party.

The Bush phenomenon/ K-street project is a completely different thing, namely an instance of the globalization of the US-political process with increasing dominance by international capital. That capital is detached from the US or any other electorate for that matter - in some ironic symmetry to global terrorism. Think of Dubai.
What we are arguing about here is the waggering tail of the dog. The rest of the dog remains in hiding.

[ Monday, February 27, 2006 19:26: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
David Irving Jailed in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Saturday, February 25 2006 14:08 Profile Homepage #41
David Irving just landed a publicity stunt while he is writing his next book. In the Austrian jail he will have the time - no distraction and will not have to worry about paying for food or rent.
The fan crowd will just see that he is jailed for something he said several years ago and long recanted. They draw parallels to other frespeech topics like "valley of the wolves" and the Danish cartoons.
The law may have made sense years ago but nowadays it is just counterproductive.

I even caught myself looking up his biography in the Wikipedia.

The dilemma resembles the intelligent design controversy. It does generate interest and requires constant competent discussion which is not a bad thing only that the discussion enhances the impression there must be something to it if someone competent cares about debunking it.
Some of David Irving's books would make good examples for deconstruction in school - not in history or science but e.g in "Theory of Knowledge".

[ Sunday, February 26, 2006 08:43: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
A Year of Stats in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Friday, February 17 2006 14:47 Profile Homepage #42
I am fascinated by the automatic generation of post statistics.
Could we not have automatic posting as well?
Push a button for a one-liner - push it twice to avoid upsetting Thuryl.
Next would be automatic reading and reading stats of course -otherwise noby would care to read the spam.
Like:
Who had this board open for how much time on his display and who moved his mouse the highest amount of pixels across?
Grammar algorithm could even anylyse the posts themselves - never mind the semantics of course.
Some electric monk comes to my mind....

[ Friday, February 17, 2006 14:55: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]

--------------------
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. (not mine)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
iCome, iSpam, iWin in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Monday, September 26 2005 19:57 Profile Homepage #92
On what makes us post.
We feel the urge to express ourselves and to leave a trace on this world.
We want to put this very moment to some use.
What better use can there be than to strive for recognition that we are thinking and feeling individuals.
So the very idea that the "quality of a post" is to be assessed by the readers is an error. The quality of a post lies in the feeling that results in the writer.

This explains, BTW, why the posts appears as so much rubbish to the readers. The rubbish is not perceived as such when we write about our lone deep insights.

There is this feeling of frustration, however, that we make such an effort to post and get so little recognition in return. Maybe our effort appears as rubbish to the other readers as well?
This is a horrible thought. What can we do to avoid this?

Imho, the "problem" lies in the traits of the community. It is so much like a family with a patriarch imposing minimal CoC, which makes us feel so ok and so much "belonging here".
At the same time it ignores the complex plans in our complicated real lifes like a *rumblings that are not fit to print because they would just distract*. It is addictive and replaces real life experience like a virus.
When we post, it feels like slipping back into an uterus and escape from the world.

As an emergency procedure to prevent us from killing ourselves this is quite ok.
However the longterm social healing is simply not achieved here.
The post count measures more of a severity of the disease: "r/l social impairment". To mistake it as a measure of our contribution to the community and our right to expect recognition in return is a key symptom of the disease - not a measure of reachieved sanity.

I wish you the strength to move on in your life. Do not post here unless it is absolutely necessary. Go somewhere were you can develop a vision for your life, like a r/l community. That will make you feel well.
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Our President in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Tuesday, August 9 2005 11:39 Profile Homepage #152
I am not very christian and not very religious at all but equations like
quote:
Jesus = Male
Jesus = God
God = Male
remind me of the middle age argument about how many angels fit on the tip of a pin.

Writing down such equations appears to me as a serious misunderstanding of what God is about - if not blasphemy because God is meant to transcend all categories. Quite simply, there is nothing that equals him/her.

I do admit that there was a time when - during my evening prayer - a picture came to my mind of a friendly old man in a red and white T-shirt and bermudas sitting in the sand and having all the time in the world for me. I mean in each of us. a different picture may come up and it somehow reflects us.

[ Tuesday, August 09, 2005 11:40: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Our President in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Monday, August 8 2005 14:57 Profile Homepage #143
God differs from electrons, nucleons, etc, because we cannot make reproducible experiments with her.
So could God be categorized as abstract, like hope, like belief, like trust etc?
Imho, no, because
1. We cannot agree.
2. Neither Jews nor Christians nor Muslims are allowed to depict God. God is meant to be outside all categories.
As soon as you form a sentence about God, like "God exists", "God is real", the acceptance of that statement depends on what every one of us understands by the word "exist" or "real" as if the word God did not designate a noun but acted like a super question mark.

[ Monday, August 08, 2005 14:58: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Our President in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Monday, August 8 2005 11:22 Profile Homepage #134
I find it encouraging that even here on spiderweb some doubts about Bush and Iraq are being posted.
Here are two cartoons, that exemplify my answer to the double question at the start of this thread:
IMAGE(http://cagle.com/news/RoveInformant/images/babin.gif)

IMAGE(http://www.cagle.com/news/BushIraqSpeech/images/morin.gif)
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Long-distance relationships? in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Saturday, July 30 2005 21:53 Profile Homepage #9
In principle yes, but.
Let me give an simile.
Can you move a bike by pushing it instead of riding it?
Sure you can - especially if a tire is flat and you have no other means of transportation.
Or if you are afraid and have yet to learn how to keep your balance.
Would I commit myself to pushing a bike as a sole means of transportation - probably not if I had any better opportunity.
Would that imply infidelity or lack of commitment?
That depends on me and my hopes, n the bike and the distance and the weather and ...

What I find remarkable, MSW, is that your relationship is meant to be exclusive if I understand you correctly. Are you sure that is in your mutual interest?

The problem with long distance relationships I see is one of bandwidth in communication.
There are so many emotions and attitudes that remain uncommunicated without eye contact. So many opportunities to fill in the gaps by wishful thinking.

You may be able to push your bike with your eyes closed clinging to the bike for a while if you are on a well-known path. And it may feel much better than walking without a bike and without the hope to ride it some day.
However, it is nothing like the real thing - not to speak of the Tour de France.

[ Saturday, July 30, 2005 22:05: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Web "anonymity" vs. real life identity in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Saturday, July 30 2005 05:18 Profile Homepage #19
quote:
I think it's best to wait until people take you into their confidence, as opposed to probing and perhaps getting false ideas.
Sorry, if I may have appeared less than tactful in this matter.

However, how do you find out whether your ideas are "false"?
My own test consists in trying to convince others, probing assumptions, limited provocations asking questions - not afraid to make a fool of myself.
Is this not what you suggest in your own signature, Drakey?
My maximum suspicion arises if someone tells me that my ideas are "false".

I have the feeling, I better shut up here at the moment, however, and I have also been told so in private.

[ Saturday, July 30, 2005 08:03: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Web "anonymity" vs. real life identity in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Saturday, July 30 2005 04:24 Profile Homepage #17
Drakey, is that not what everybody would dearly love - being able to decide yourself on what criteria you are judged?
Would that not be wonderful if we could all taylor the criteria to our preference?

However, things do not work that way among critical thinkers in RL.

[ Saturday, July 30, 2005 04:35: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Web "anonymity" vs. real life identity in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Saturday, July 30 2005 01:20 Profile Homepage #14
quote:
Unless your parents are completely off the wall, a potential boss won't have a problem with something your parents don't have a problem with.
Same applies to your kids. However, I did talk about opening this thread to a relative whom I trust in such matters and this relative advised me strongly against it. I just hope it is o.k. now.

[ Saturday, July 30, 2005 01:21: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Web "anonymity" vs. real life identity in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Saturday, July 30 2005 00:11 Profile Homepage #12
Agree with Thuryl's and Slp006's posts above.

The trouble is that someone who has to make a judgement about you in R/L may google your name ten years from now and not care about the context of your post.
She may be less concerned with making an optimal decision but with minimising risks.

At the moment I sit alone and relaxed in a quiet room. Writing this feels a bit like confiding thoughts to a diary and I am so very far from envisioning the guys coming in their white cloaks to take me away.

However, should I rather write as if I were writing bits and pieces of my resume?

[ Saturday, July 30, 2005 00:48: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Web "anonymity" vs. real life identity in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Friday, July 29 2005 16:24 Profile Homepage #0
I feel deep sympathy for all attempts to avoid overlap between ones identity on the boards and ones private identity.
I hate the loss of control about the context in which my own R/L name is mentioned anywhere in the internet - and this runs deeper than the childish illusion of freedom for sometimes ludicrous to foolish posts.

So I appreciate that Drakefyre wrote on the photo thread
quote:
... me@10
It is actually almost exactly three years to come.
However, you pay a price for that: Curious smartalecs start to wonder who you are in R/L and come to marginally plausible conclusions that they tend to incorporate into their prejudices.
At the end of the day you have to choose between protecting the innocence of your web identity against wrong conclusions based on intended lack of information and revealing details about yourself in order to establish trust.

For an example look here:
Education Camps
By now, I believe to know that this piece has not been authored by the Drakey whose posts I have read during my limited time here.
Intelligent remarks, anyone?

[ Friday, July 29, 2005 16:45: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
A Waste of Time? in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Friday, July 22 2005 10:48 Profile Homepage #37
quote:
Alorael, who has also learned all kinds of things he'd never otherwise know. ...
We all could have an even more exciting life if we really really wanted could we not?
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Dream Job... in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Friday, July 22 2005 10:37 Profile Homepage #8
What would you have left to motivate you if you had plenty of money?

1. I would want to be a sponsor for drug development regardless of shareholder value.
TB, HIV/AIDS etc.

2. I would want to BUY the real estate in Palestine form both parties who claim it for themselves.

3. I would want to establish cenralised final exams and pay out bonusses for teachers and students according to their success.

[ Friday, July 22, 2005 10:39: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ]
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
The arrow of time in General
too kraut, don't read
Shock Trooper
Member # 3980
 written Friday, July 22 2005 00:29 Profile Homepage #80
Kelandon, I love your yoghurt example-only I am not sure it has to do with arrow of time.

There are actual experiments in which you can observe some "unstirring" (spin-echo), i.e. you start with a macroscopically ordered state, allow some motion at rates that differe over a microscopic length scale and thus prepare a macroscopically unordered state. The system may still be ordered but the order is not apparent macroscopically, because the order is in the correlations which we do not see. Then you reverse the process - like reversing an external magnetic field - and after a while the order reappears.

This demonstrates that not all kinds of order are captured by our view on the macroscopic scale.
In principle it should be possible to prepare a cup of youghurt with fruit in such way that by meticulously precisely adjusted stirring you get the ordered state back. However, thsi seems to be even beyond the tricks of David Copperfield because we have only macroscopic tools at our disposal.
Posts: 311 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00

Pages