assassin_696

Haha, if you wanted to shoot yourself in the foot by appearing illinformed then the bolded part is golden. The UK economy over the past two decades has consistently outperformed any other major developed economy.

100% agree with you, although Science and Maths are more-or-less 100% fact and imagination can be 'too far' sometimes(as in ridiculously unconsiderable to the matter kind of 'too far' :P)? I agree that there's a high factual content in maths and science, but there's also huge scope for imagination. Many of the really hard, interesting maths problems I do in further maths aren't algorithmically applying some kind of recipe for problem solving, but thinking creatively and intuitively about mathematics. I think it's such a shame that kids have to go through most of their school lives learning formulae and problem solving techniques and covering huge swades of theory before they can get to the interesting stuff. I know it's simply the nature of the subject and probably inevitable but I'd introduce proofs and abstraction at a much early age in maths. At a higher level I'd make the exams more like the AEA (Advanced Extension Award) and STEP (bad-[wagon] Cambridge maths entrance paper) questions, that require creative thought more than rote learning. The same applies to science. As others have said, from an early age instill in kids what science is before you start teaching them all the facts. Then (hopefully) when you start building up the facts with them they'll have a healthy curiosity and understanding.

A lot of you seem sure it exists. What evidence do you have, beyond the fact that we quantify it and perceive it?

Didn't Sylar say something about her never being able to die when he took her abilities? All the other regnerates feel pain, but she doesn't now. I'm starting to think she's almost permanent and there's something very special about her, although it's clearly not her intelligence and forward planning.

I don't care about your opinions of the song, Dream Catch Me by Newton Faulkner does a weirdly accurate job of describing my feelings. Also, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths and Song For The Road by David Ford. Edit: Thinking about it these songs don't really describe me, just how I feel and stuff. Edit Edit: A song that describes me quite well me Skinny Love by Bon Iver.

Vaccines for contaigous should absolutely be mandatory. And in fact I'd pretty much say that vaccines for non-contaigous things should be mandatory as well. Especially in countries like the UK where we all pay for the NHS I don't want someone having to have very expensive treatment that could have been solved with a cheap vaccine in the first place.

I really like Californication and By The Way, but I think Blood Sugar is a great album. Perhaps a blend of the funk rock in that and the acute awareness of Californication.

Less emphasis on rote learning, more emphasis on creative thinking (even/especially within scientific subjects) and independent learning. Yes, in every subject the basics have to be taught but beyond that you have to make more time for asking and answering those "but why?" questions. Never, ever, ever stifle a child's inquisitive and imaginative nature.

The number of comments on the Daily Mail website that started: "These two vile men are representative of the state of our culture today...." is ridiculous.

Even hardened politcal commentators admit he's a pretty phenomenal public speaker. I find him completely mesmerising.

I believe America made the right choice. The world needs this change, I would be extremely proud and honoured to be an American today.

Palin's dire, and has no presidential qualities, let alone vice presidential ones. She has little to no knowledge of the wider world, foreign policy and economics.

Apparently Barack Obama's grandmother has died.

P.S. You Rock My World - Eels I'm not sure what it is about the song, but when those strings kick in at the beginning everything feels good in the world. Maybe because it comes at the end of such a bleak album, but it's just so beautiful and simple. I was at a funeral the day I realised I wanted to spend my life with you .... And I was thinkin' 'bout how everyone is dying And maybe its time to live I suppose the stoicism in some way reflects my outlook on life.

(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady - Oasis

Saw it on Friday night, the cinema was heaving but me and a friend managed to get pretty good seats. I think this film is has really polarised people, but I loved it. For a start, I don't think it was as good as Casino Royale but that was a really superb film. I love Bond films and everything that comes with them so I couldn't not like them. I also think Daniel Craig is fast becoming my favourite Bond. I can empathise with him more than any other for some reason, and since I wouldn't mind being James Bond the empathy is a plus. The action scenes were fast, brutal and very realistic. Bond is more like Bourne now, but still brings a charm and elegance to it all. I also thought the scene at the opera was one of the best ever. On the downsides, there's less character development than in Casino Royale. We saw a vulnerable Bond in CR who was betrayed by a girl he truly loved. It naturally follows that in Quantum of Solace Bond's going to be pissed and colder, still feeling the pangs of betrayal. This is evident, and makes sense, but perhaps makes Bond a little cold in this film if the film is viewed in isolation. The action scenes are by and large superb, gritty and realistic. However a couple (especially the first car chase) are ruined by the camera editing. In short, it's a must for any fan of the films but don't expect another Casino Royale. I'm hoping this is the dark middle of a trilogy.

Here it is/was :P I'd almost forgotten about this thing. Facetious name, I know. I certainly wouldn't call it an official TIF team but feel free to join if you feel like it. I left a while ago to join the Richard Dawkins Foundation team but have just rejoined for the hell of it.

No, it's altered by presence of gravitational fields and slows down in moving reference frames. There is no absolute time.

Time isn't a constant. There is no universal time. The question is far more complicated and subtle than many of you seem to assume.

It's not as simple as that. We could quite easily "perceive" the existence of time, work it into our laws of physics to explain our perceptions and then declare that it exists without ever proving anything. In fact that's pretty much what we've done. We perceive time and change in our day to day lives, and the laws of physics reflect this to some extent, but that doesn't mean that it exists.

I'm not sure whether or not it exists, but it's exact nature is quite interesting. For a start the units we use to denote it, seconds, are completely arbitary, as with most things. Secondly nearly every law of physics is completely reversible, i.e. they work in both temporal directions. This naturally begs the question why do we experience an arrow of time? The answer is probably due to the second law of thermodynamics, which in itself isn't time reversible but it's a statistical law that only applies for large numbers of particles. At the quantum mechanical scale two particles have little care for the direction of entropy. I have a book called The End of Time where it's author argues that time is but an illusion. I haven't read it yet, so I don't know his arguments well enough to present them here, but it sounds very interesting. And no, time isn't really a dimension in the conventional sense. Einstein's special relativity merely stated that time and space as used in physics are interdependent and linked. Not really. See above.

Dazzling looks, wit and intellect. If I was looking for a long term partner I think I'd want all of the above, plus a deep bond with her family. I think girls who love their families tend to be more committed in relationships.

Please just use the sticky.

And now the granddaughter is calling for the two of them to be fired! Considering she's the member of a group called The Satanic [bleep]s who've posted provocative pictures of themselves on their website, released an essentially vampiric pornographic DVD and performed at Glastonbury I'm surprised she can take the moral high ground. It saddens me to think she'll probably be able to sell her story and profit from this. You had sex with Russell Brand, what did you expect?

The news coverage this is now generating is ridiculous. Doesn't Gordon Brown have better things to do? It seems like everyone who dislikes either Brand or Ross is wanting their heads. They both apologised in a private and sincere matter and people need to move on. I'm suddenly very worried for the state of the UK when I read some of the comments made on the news websites.