you just might overreacted a little in that depression thread Zeno

If you have complaints send me a PM. I edited my last post and the thread can be reopened, if it remains on topic (evolutionary theme), and if a certain poster can at least meet conditions of civil PM discourse.

well BMT wiki link in there explains the topic very well

and, I don't have much to add

moving on

About the evolution and depression: depression is introspection going a bit too far. Introspection in moderate amounts is good for survival. Depression comes when introspection is maybe 2 SD more than the average. The comparabely low frequency of depression hasn't been enough to eliminate introspection, although manifest depression decreases survival.

If introspection goes beyond a certain border, we discover we and the world is **** and that we will die and be forgotten. Finding out about those truths and especially letting them sink in is not beneficial for breeding. In lesser amounts introspection gives us the tools for learning from our own mistakes and not blame others or some god for the things that happen.

I am moving on also - seems the wise thing to do.

Reopening it so I can show a few wonderful examples of "transference" would be an argument for reopening it. There are wonderful philosophical concepts on knowledge and thinking that are parallels that no one will get.

I have many loose ends that need attending to from Vegas, and actually have to do a bit of work this week, so I probably wouldn't actually get around to it.

There might be intended puns in the above.

Also, thanks Zeno for keeping this little corner of the internet moderated. I'd not be here if it wasn't moderated.

I thought - chicks like the brooding type explained it.

In these days, a hotel elevator merely being able to say "beep" is unacceptable.

usual thing that happens to me when thinking about a problem:

How small of a chance becomes insignificant in your life? not sure myself....



all USA after jump

http://www.technewsdaily.com/crime-s...ime_splash.php

Doesn't your question imply these crimes are randomly distributed?

I read somewhere the Sun fuses H to He at a rate of 4 million tons per second, so this mass is being converted to energy at that rate. Does that mean it's gravitational pull is diminishing at the same rate? Not that I'm panicking, since after doing some quick math looks like it will take about 50 million years for it to burn off one earth mass.

Recall "only" about 1% of the fused mass becomes energy.

Yea, is your argument that the skew is so big that even if the 1 in 300 is relevant most instances that happen depend on some other variable (like poor community)?

I like to believe in the just world hypothesis. That is why I only commit crimes of violence in the finest of communities.

It is just my way of giving back.

I don't have enough info to make such an argument, but the question does arise if people who take measures agaist such violent acts couldn't lengthen these odds considerably. Perhaps we can better our chances by 3 or 4 times by installing a home burglar/car alarm, maybe a fence, and (as you suggested) staying away from the "bad side of town?"

Are these your chances in a day/year/lifetime? I suppose living on the beach teeming with hot latinas could be worth a 1/1000 lifetime chance of getting burglarized, but I don't know how begin a risk calculation ending in forcible rape.

year

I think analyzing those stats wold be interesting. I haven't done an extensive analysis on on life long risks and how dose buying risk protection actually helps.

Or in general - what risk protection is actually worth buying?

Gun, pepper spray, life insurance, avoiding driving cars, 100 oz gold bar, 100 oz silver bar, friends in local police department, gym membership, avoiding flying planes, marital arts, folding knife, bars on windows.....

My risk is sure to be cut drastically due to my expert level nighttime knife folding skill.

Good point. So I won't panic for sure now. But it is a true statement that the Sun is losing it's pull very slightly but constantly, and so I suppose the Earth's orbit is getting slightly larger every second?

Can't see why you wouldn't be right in principle. But the sun may pull some debris into itself, heck even earth gets some space dust and rocks on a daily basis. And Jupiter protects us from collisions with Schoemaker-Levys with its gravity. How much does the sun engulf?

No clue. But it is converting ~1% of 4million tons per second to energy, or 40,000 t/s, and I wouldn't think that much stuff is being pulled in.

What's the qualification for 'violent' crime?

Could be like when there's some report on the huge %age of kids that were abused and you find the definition of 'abused' includes almost anything beyond light tickling.

Check my math. I found the mass of Haley's comet is 3x10^14 kg. So the sun would need to gobble up one Haley's comet or the equivalent about every 96 days to keep up with its mass lost to fusion.

Okay, big error on my part. It turns out what I read was that the sun's loss of mass due to fusion is about 4 million tons per second, the rate of H to He fusion is actually about 600 million tons per second.

At the new rate, the sun would need to devour about one Haley's comet per day to keep up with its mass lost to fusion.