Forum

I would say that both of the following have enormous forum activity. Fun discussions are a must, and there are some cool and funny pics too: http://www.chess.com/groups/home/the-emperors-newest-minds http://www.chess.com/groups/home/the-gaussian-eliminators We are allied groups. Have fun and good synapses!

Here's a tourney for all, vacation alowed, have a fun, yo! if yous a dare, yo!

I am new to astronomy and new to the group too. I have recently purchased an Orion SpaceProbe 130ST EQ and have been doing some back yard observing. Before purchasing I did some quite a bit of research but didn't want to make to big of financial commitment. So far (its only been a week) I have observed Orion's Nebula, the Pleiades, and Jupiter and its 4 Galilean moons. Was very impressed with the results I got from a light polluted place like Houston. I have always been interested in the science of astronomy and physics. I have been reading "A Brief History in Time" and watching the History Channel's "the Universe" which I have on Blu-Ray. Look forward to chatting w/ all of you and learning from you experience. Regards, Matt

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1322493346942339345&ei=NcnZSoKiLcmb-Aac_6ypCg&q=elegant+universe&hl=en# It is a four part series, and this is the first, you can find the second, third and fourth on that page aswell.. contact me if you have any queries :-). This is one of THE most interesting videos I have watched, and that is saying something, they all involve "string theory". Enjoy :D

1. Set p, for pawn, such that the numerical weight of p is p=1.0 2. Set d, for development. In general, 3d=p (Siegbert Tarrasch) A sub-expansion of d: Nd4 is equivalent to 2d because of its excellent placement. So Nd4=(2/3)p. Also, Ba4 is given a special value of 1.5d, as it is well placed with the possibility of being easily tranferred to b3 or c2, and it also aims at f7 often. 3. Set m, for mobility: a. Find total number of moves for both white and black. b. Subtract the side with the least number of moves from the side with the greater number of moves, then multiply by 1/10 of a pawn for its numerical value (if w is white's legal moves and b is black's, then if w is greater than b, (w-b)(0.1p) is the worth of mobility expressed in pawns. 4. Set the value of individual pawns, where the value of: (GM Edward Gufeld's analysis) e, d pawns =1.0 c,f pawns=0.9 b,g pawns=0.8 a,h pawns=0.7 and add totals of all pawns. 5. Convert development values into pawn values, find sub-total. Add sub-total from mobility. Then add values from specific pawns. Repeat process for black, and subtract black's total value from white's total value. If the result is +, then white has an advantage. If the result is -, then black has an advantage. But the great thing about this is we can assign real particlur numerical weights for each position! NOTE: This is not always applicable, and incomplete; I need to still know a rigorous mathematical way to quantify spatial advantages.

according to humans, what are black holes?

Spectacular!! http://www.hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/25/

Faraway Galaxy Cluster Nets Dark Matter Evidence Hubble Opens New Eyes on the Universe http://www.hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/25/video/e/

http://discovermagazine.com/photos/11-great-astro-pics-winners-celestron-discover-contest

Here is another interesting article. http://sync.sympatico.ca/News/ContentPosting_CBC?newsitemid=space-astronomy-andromeda-galaxy&feedname=CBC-TECH-SCIENCE-V3&show=False&number=10&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True

Here is an article that I recently found. It is not the exact article I was looking for but the point is the same. Rod http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/ap_on_sc/us_sci_suicidal_planet

Anybody else want to join? Here is a link: http://www.chess.com/groups/team_match.html?id=16261 We will lock our side and the match will get started very soon (probably 3 hours)!

A mind boggling article on the true nature of things. http://discovermagazine.com/2009/may/01-the-biocentric-universe-life-creates-time-space-cosmos

Hi, I've always been self taught, I learned english on my own, I've got straight A's on my own. And I've always been intersted in stars, when I was a kid I often stargazed, but couldn't recognize individual starts constellations etc. So about a year ago my friend recommended me a stargaze software: Stellarium. Girls just love when you're showing them stars (but not mummle that they are 50k Kelvin hot). So I started learning and got it pretty fast. You can set your exact location (just compare it with google map and write in coordinates), and many other AWESOME features I recomend it to everyone, top off all it's complety FREE. If you already don't have it download it http://www.stellarium.org/

I'm in high school and I'm thinking of studing magnatars any one know anything about them?

I'm sure every amateur astronomy has seen the meteor shower. I'm no exception. Foer the last two years I have been watching the shooting stars fly over on some nights. This year will be no exception. Does anyone know the date of this years metoer shower? Thanks, Calum.

The "Big Bang" discussion led to much discourse on infinity. The "Dark Matter" discussion led to much disagreement. How about this: Can you travel faster than the speed of light? I say yes and I can prove it. Simply. Anyone interested?

Evidence from ESA's Newton Xray space telescope for intermediate size black holes: http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=8417

Turns out love is mostly differential equations, who knew? http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/guest-column-loves-me-loves-me-not-do-the-math/?scp=1&sq=love%20and%20math&st=cse

you own a flashlight that shines red light you have ever said, "Oh, be a fine girl, kiss me." you can easily tell the difference between a meteor, an airplane, and a satellite you think it's only natural to see the sun set when you wake up and rise just before you go to bed you actually know the latitude of your home town, your college, and any other place you've been to more than twice you bring a clipboard and red light with you on EVERY vacation you snicker when someone complains about getting "only" six hours of sleep the night before you know which moon in the Solar System resembles the Death Star your family is tired of watching "Contact" over and over you can see the Milky Way despite the light pollution of your home town your favorite pastime when visiting beautiful spots in the countryside is measuring your Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude you actually know how to measure your Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude you've ever planned a trip to the moon to improve the "seeing" you've ever considered blowing up the moon to reduce the light in the sky from the full moon you've ever wondered how much you'd be fined if you blew out all of the streetlights on your street so you could see the stars better you pronounce "Maria" with the emphasis on the first syllable you consider a compliment to be the fourth variable star discovered in Gemini you've ever called 1,000 years "very quick" you pronounce "Messier" with a French accent the phrase "onion skin" makes you think of a type II supernova you can pronounce Chandrasekhar, Chicxulub, Schwarzschild, and Hyakutake you wonder why no one else is awake at three in the morning someone calls you a "wimp" and you wonder what dark matter has to do with anything you've lost the ability to enjoy a beautiful sunset because you're too busy wondering if the clouds will clear you think a "macho man" is a man who lives on Massive Compact Halo Objects you can predict the weather based on your observing schedule you think that the curvature of space-time is easier to understand than gravity waves you snicker when someone complains about getting "only" four hours of sleep the night before when someone casually wonders aloud how many planets out there might be able to support life you immediately think of the Drake equation you consider anything except for hydrogen and helium a "metal" you think the purpose of life is to study the sky you know the difference between a comet and an asteroid you've ever wondered what would happen if you detonated a nuclear bomb on Jupiter you missed the sunset because you were taking flats if North is drawn at the top of the page, you expect to see East on the left and West on the right the last "dirty snowball" you saw was beautiful you can convert from AUs to Angstroms you consider an insult to be the fourth variable star discovered in Ophiuchus you know what APOD stands for you missed the sunrise because you were taking flats you catch yourself saying things like, "You do realize that the coefficient of friction decreases exponentially as you step over the foul line, don't you?" while doing simple activities, such as bowling after such a statement, someone had to explain to you why all your friends looked at you as though you could no longer speak English words such as "retrograde", "logarithmic", "exponential", and "elliptical" are part of your everyday vocabulary you can draw an H-R diagram from memory you know what an H-R diagram is you've ever said that you're made of stardust the phrase "a mere billion years" is not a contradiction in terms you consider dressing up as Carl Sagan for Halloween you can spell Chandrasekhar, Chicxulub, Schwarzschild, and Hyakutake you attend the local planetarium religiously you know more than the person giving the planetarium show you're actually jealous when you hear someone complain about getting "only" two hours of sleep the night before you can refer to WINOs, MaCHOs, WIMPs, TOEs, and GUTs with a straight face you don't know why you wouldn't refer to WINOs, MaCHOs, WIMPs, TOEs, and GUTs with a straight face you've ever called 11 kilometers per second "very slow" you know who Hertzsprung and Russel are you can spell Hertzsprung you've created countless mnemonics for the Harvard Spectral Class sequence even though you know the order backwards and forwards you stay up until three in the morning on a cloudy night, because you actually saw a star at 11:00 you think in acronyms you've ever convinced yourself that you could see the rings of Saturn naked-eye you know all of the different stages of sleep deprivation you know the entire Greek alphabet even though you've never had one class in Greek you have a personal vendetta against the weatherman you put on your application to JPL that you know how to use units correctly -- and that you can convert from cgs to SI you "know" that Mount Olympus is on Mars "pc" means neither "politically correct" nor "personal computer" to you -- it means parsec, of course you know when the next meteor shower is you think that -1 is bigger than 6 (it's brighter, anyway) you know why you'd want to spell or pronounce Chandrasekhar, Chicxulub, Schwarzschild, or Hyakutake you know the difference between a meteor, a meteoroid, and a meteorite you have your own meteorite you are envious when someone says they got ANY sleep during the weeks of August 11, November 17 or December 13 you know what is special about each of those three weeks you plan your whole yearly calendar around those three weeks you'd be willing to make yourself 20 years older just to have been in the Arizona desert in the early morning of November 17, 1966! the most important event on August 11, 1999 had nothing to do with the moon and the Sun your first reaction at seeing a fireball streak gloriously across the sky is to check your watch - or start counting your claim to fame is that you've met Tom Bopp, or witnessed a shuttle launch when someone mentions Jodie Foster you think of Eleanor Arroway you know the difference between pulsing and pulsating you haven't seen the sun in a month you've ever entered into a debate about whether Pluto is a planet you can see clouds in the dark you have RAMSDIS Online as well as several local weather stations bookmarked on your home computer you wonder why July 20th isn't a national holiday you know how to pronounce Arecibo you can give the mass of the sun, the average distance between the Earth and the sun, the location of the Earth-moon barycenter, the mass of a Hydrogen atom, and the value of the gravitational constant off the top of your head you find yourself crossing your "h"s on a regular basis you can tell what time it is by looking at the sky -- but only at night you know the exact value of the speed of light you can quote the exact value of an Astronomical Unit from memory you can quote the distance of a parsec in Astronomical Units, from memory you can quote the distance of a light year in Astronomical Units, to four decimal places, from memory you've ever referred to a gigalightyear your friends take it as a given that you're tired you've ever decorated your room with a reproduction of your favorite portion of the night sky you have the URL for the Astronomy Picture of the Day memorized you know how to say "armpit" in Arabic you've ever convinced yourself that you can see the four Galilean satellites naked-eye you've ever debated whether Charon is a planet terms like "Gamma UMa", "Alpha Boo", and "OU Oph" make sense to you you use Polaris to find the Big Dipper you know Greek and Roman mythology you haven't slept in two weeks, but you stay up all night anyway because it is clear you know what NASA stands for you can give the nominative and genitive of all of the constellations -- even though you have no idea what a "nominative" or a "genitive" is you know the difference between a constellation and an asterism you can pronounce Betelgeuse, Uranus, Charon, and Cassiopeia at least two different ways each someone calls you a "liar" and all you can think of is Orpheus and his harp you cancel a date because it is your night to observe . . . and then it rains you can list the four Galilean satellites in order of size, distance from Jupiter, or likelihood of life the word "Messier" makes you think of galaxies, nebulae, and clusters you can pronounce Bootes you can point precisely to any first- or second-magnitude star, even though it is completely overcast you can point precisely to any first- or second-magnitude star, even if the star is below the horizon a well-meaning but ignorant friend has ever introduced you as an astrologer this same friend has ever asked how your study of cosmetology was going you've caught errors on this list (if so, please let me know) your favorite part of the day is when you get to go to bed this list made sense to you you've ever made a list titled "You Might Be an Astronomer if..." http://astronomy.byu.edu/sdb/YouMightBeAnAstronomer.html