Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[gatso]

Continuing the theme of unusual action pictures...

Click to see full-size image.

That's an amazing feat of balance.

nah, they've cropped the pic so you can't see the strings attached to it's ear

[Rod Paradise]

Red, do you pick berries etc in the wild?

Just been picking sloe berries & it's the best crop I can remember - we picked about 5 1/2 pounds of them in about 1/2 an hour. That'll make about 4 litres of sloe vodka for Xmas/New Year, to go with the 6 litres of plum vodka & the 4 litres of bramble, raspberry & blackcurrant rum. Think it's going to be a good festive season

[RED-DOG]

Red, do you pick berries etc in the wild?

Just been picking sloe berries & it's the best crop I can remember - we picked about 5 1/2 pounds of them in about 1/2 an hour. That'll make about 4 litres of sloe vodka for Xmas/New Year, to go with the 6 litres of plum vodka & the 4 litres of bramble, raspberry & blackcurrant rum. Think it's going to be a good festive season

So strange you should ask Rod. We did blackberries today, and I have my sloes all spotted and earmarked ready for picking tomorrow.

[Rod Paradise]

Red, do you pick berries etc in the wild?

Just been picking sloe berries & it's the best crop I can remember - we picked about 5 1/2 pounds of them in about 1/2 an hour. That'll make about 4 litres of sloe vodka for Xmas/New Year, to go with the 6 litres of plum vodka & the 4 litres of bramble, raspberry & blackcurrant rum. Think it's going to be a good festive season

So strange you should ask Rod. We did blackberries today, and I have my sloes all spotted and earmarked ready for picking tomorrow.

Hope you get as good a crop as we've had - we didn't even dent the amount on the bushes. Asked if anyone was looking for some in the local, but everywhere's the same apparently. We've had the first frost as well, the belief up here is brambles until the first frost, sloes after it.

[RED-DOG]

So I think I understand Hawkings "Everthing in the universe was compressed to the size of nothing in a singularity before exploding out in a big bang" right? But have I missed a bit? Has he told us where it all came from it before it got compressed? 

[AndrewT]

So I think I understand Hawkings "Everthing in the universe was compressed to the size of nothing in a singularity before exploding out in a big bang" right? But have I missed a bit? Has he told us where it all came from it before it got compressed? 

There was no 'before' - time started at the big bang as well.

[boldie]

So I think I understand Hawkings "Everthing in the universe was compressed to the size of nothing in a singularity before exploding out in a big bang" right? But have I missed a bit? Has he told us where it all came from it before it got compressed? 

There was no 'before' - time started at the big bang as well.

Actually Hawkins disputes that himself towards the end of one of his later prints of "A Brief history of time". (the concept of "Virtual time") But it's not completely worked out in the final/new chapter in the book (and I've not read it anywhere else..though haven't really been looking for it)

Just to be pedantic; "Time" of course didn't start at the big bang. The concept of time started when humans wanted it to start and will end when the human race is extinct.

[RED-DOG]

Time" of course didn't start at the big bang. The concept of time started when humans wanted it to start and will end when the human race is extinct


Gotta think about that one. Can't quite get my head around it.

It may not have been called time pre humans, but it still must have existed.

[AndrewT]

Time" of course didn't start at the big bang. The concept of time started when humans wanted it to start and will end when the human race is extinct


Gotta think about that one. Can't quite get my head around it.

It may not have been called time pre humans, but it still must have existed.

Yeah, Boldie is wrong. I think by 'time' he means calling things hours, minutes, seconds etc, which obviously only started with humans, but time itself clearly already existed. It's like claiming that there was never ten of anything before a human counted their toes and said 'I'll call that ten'.

[RED-DOG]

Time" of course didn't start at the big bang. The concept of time started when humans wanted it to start and will end when the human race is extinct


Gotta think about that one. Can't quite get my head around it.

It may not have been called time pre humans, but it still must have existed.

Yeah, Boldie is wrong. I think by 'time' he means calling things hours, minutes, seconds etc, which obviously only started with humans, but time itself clearly already existed. It's like claiming that there was never ten of anything before a human counted their toes and said 'I'll call that ten'.

Great example.

So my point is, (and I take absolutely nothing away from Mr Hawking here) are we any closer to understanding where it all came from?

[HOLDorFOLD]

Time" of course didn't start at the big bang. The concept of time started when humans wanted it to start and will end when the human race is extinct


Gotta think about that one. Can't quite get my head around it.

It may not have been called time pre humans, but it still must have existed.

Yeah, Boldie is wrong. I think by 'time' he means calling things hours, minutes, seconds etc, which obviously only started with humans, but time itself clearly already existed. It's like claiming that there was never ten of anything before a human counted their toes and said 'I'll call that ten'.

Great example.

So my point is, (and I take absolutely nothing away from Mr Hawking here) are we any closer to understanding where it all came from?

No.  And that's if you're just just thinking on a linear time line and one universe ... start adding alternative/spatial dimensions to the mix and the mind boggles

[Jon MW]

...
So my point is, (and I take absolutely nothing away from Mr Hawking here) are we any closer to understanding where it all came from?

God, ldo

[cambo]

So I think I understand Hawkings "Everthing in the universe was compressed to the size of nothing in a singularity before exploding out in a big bang" right? But have I missed a bit? Has he told us where it all came from it before it got compressed? 

not all that clued up on such things but i think "string theory" if correct would get us closer to understanding ?

[boldie]

Time" of course didn't start at the big bang. The concept of time started when humans wanted it to start and will end when the human race is extinct


Gotta think about that one. Can't quite get my head around it.

It may not have been called time pre humans, but it still must have existed.

Yeah, Boldie is wrong. I think by 'time' he means calling things hours, minutes, seconds etc, which obviously only started with humans, but time itself clearly already existed. It's like claiming that there was never ten of anything before a human counted their toes and said 'I'll call that ten'.

This will sound a bit confusing, I admit...but;

But if you accept that time was there at the start of the big bang, time had to have been there before the big bang. You only have to allow for  -1 and -2 etc. You could say "It started with 0" but Time is linear..therefore you can allow for -1 and -2.

 This is not the same as say "B.C." as in "Before Christ there was no christ and therefore Christ started at Christ"..or "Before toes, there were no toes and therefore toes started at point X".
Therefore time either already existed before the big bang, or (and this is my point) time did not exist until humans started with it.

To continue with the "ten" methaphor. There has always been "ten" even when there was only 1...the naming of ten however was started by humans.

[AndrewT]

Time and space are facets of the same thing. If there was negative time before the big bang then surely there must have been negative space as well - tell me about negative space and what that was like.