So - glaubt die Presse - kann man die Finanzkrise lösen

Top-Manager fordern drastische Maßnahmen gegen die Krise Das Urteil ist vernichtend: Die Bundesregierung tut nicht genug gegen die Rezession - das ist die einhellige Meinung der Top-Manager von acht großen deutschen Konzernen. Laut einer SPIEGEL-Umfrage verlangen sie ein stärkeres Eingreifen gegen die Finanzkrise und eine bessere Kreditversorgung von Seiten der Banken. (...) Zitat aus: Spiegel Online von 6.12.2008, Autor: sam

Ein paaar Fragen dazu:

• Glaubt der Autor wirklich, dass ein paar Milliarden mehr an staatlichen Subventions-Milliarden eine Weltwirtschaftskrise - und sei es nur eine in Deutschland - lösen kann ?
• Glaubt wirklich irgendjemand - die (Spiegel-)Presse eingeschlossen - man muß dazu einfach nur aktionistisch ein paar Milliarden Euro unter die Leute bringen ??
• Wie kommt der Autor auf die Artikelüberschrift ? Aus den Interviewfetzen des Artikels komme ich zumindest nicht auf diese reißerische Überschrift: "...drastische Maßnahmen".
• Was ist überhaupt eine drastische Maßnahme ? A: Eine drastische Maßnahme ist ein Faß ohne Boden und viel heiße Luft - sonst nichts.-
  

Meine Meinung zur Fragestellung des Artikels:

• Eine Suggestivfrage zu stellen (wie man es bei diesem Artikel offenbar gemacht hatte) erscheint mir ziemlich unprofessionell und wenig erhellend für jedwede Problemlösung.
• Wenn man in Zeiten schlechter Wirtschaftlage jemanden fragt: "Glauben Sie, dass der Staat mehr tuen sollte, als er z.Zt. tut ?" (also eine Suggestivfrage stellt), was glaubt der geneigte Leser werden 90% der Interviewten (inclusive irgendwelcher Manager) antworten ? - Wohl kaum: "Nein - bleiben Sie mir weg mit staatlichem Geld... ich will es lieber selber schaffen. Ich bin nicht nur ein Schönwetter-Manager !"

So löst man Probleme in der staatlichen Finanzbranche

HSH Nordbank will 50 Milliarden Euro Risiko-Positionen auslagern Die HSH Nordbank will nach Informationen des SPIEGEL ihre Bilanz bereinigen, indem sie Risiko-Optionen im Umfang von 50 Milliarden Euro in eine externe Gesellschaft schiebt. NRW-Ministerpräsident Rüttgers feilt derweil an einem separaten Rettungspaket für die Landesbanken. Hamburg - Das Ziel ist klar: Durch das Auslagern der Risiko-Optionen in eine externe Gesellschaft wird die Bilanz bereinigt - und die Kapitalquote soll auf mindestens acht Prozent angehoben werden. Offen ist nach Informationen des SPIEGEL noch, wie viel frisches Geld die Eigentümer zusätzlich liefern müssen und wie die Haftungsverhältnisse für die neue Gesellschaft aussehen werden. Mit der Maßnahme kommt die HSH Nordbank den Forderungen des Sonderfonds Finanzmarktstabilisierung (Soffin) nach. Der Soffin hat bereits Liquiditätsgarantien von 30 Milliarden Euro zugesagt. Im Gegenzug muss die HSH Nordbank bis Ende Februar ein Sanierungskonzept vorlegen. (...) Zitat aus: Spiegel Online vom 6.12.2008 - Autor: sam -

Ein paar Fragen dazu:

• Ist es eigentlich juristisch erlaubt, Verluste in eine andere Firma einzubringen, wenn diese mit grosser Wahrscheinlichkeit pleite gehen wird ?
• Handelt es sich nicht um eine verschleppte Insolvenz, wenn man eine Firma ausgründet mit dem alleinigen Ziel, alle Riskopositionen einer anderen Firma zu übernehmen ?
• Ist es eigentlich erlaubt eine Firma zu gründen, die zum Zwecke der Verlustoptimierung gegründet wird ?
• Ist das nur bei staatlichen Firmen erlaubt, oder dürfen Firmen in der freien Wirtschaft das auch ?Oder ist das in der freien Wirtschaft so üblich und staatliche Firmen machen das nur nach ?
  

Coldplay's "Viva la vida" is a great song - but why ?

It is simple and thus many people on Youtube play it and sing it and even teach tutorials how to play it. Why is this ?

1) The hammering sound is made of very few accords and thus very simple and this actually makes it powerful, in fact it carries the song.

2) These few accords are kinda brutal.

3) They talk to the archaic, the most ancient part of our brain, to our earliest instincts: It talks about a stormy world where we withstand the winds that are blowing our face. The hammering is actually showing both things at the same time: The strength of the storm and the repetition of the beat is showing the resistance of us standing in this storm not letting us being blown away but encounter the storm. Well, that's just my interpretation.

4) The artists voice in this song is kinda understated, maybe by intention, maybe by accident, maybe for other reaons, but the lyrics hammer out the same message that the archaic music tells:

(Free repetition:) "I was sent to earth, the first man, the one who came to rule the world. But I didn't do well as a king, not even as a prophet, I overestimated my powers and was displaced from my post by some higher forces."

Actually the band name Coldplay fits into this scenario pretty well: "An unimotional (cold) description of the protagonist of the song being set into this world and describing his way of life from a distant point of view.

There is an artist named xcaroolyn (search for her on youtube) who intensifies (interprets) the message of the song even more than Coldplay themselves do. And I think she is totally right about the stricter accentuation of the hammering sound, so I recommend listening to her interpretation of Viva la Vida on Youtube.

About semi-skilled space workers and how to change that

I was asking myself a question that no current space worker or aficionado would probably want to pose: What would it take to make work in space more professional ?

Most people will probably protest and tell: "Are you crazy man ? Who could imagine more professional people in space than our current astronaut crews ?!"

Indeed our current work force in space are men and women who were educated and trained continusously for many years to fulfill their respective missions. Who could imagine a more professional work force ?

The answer is: I could.

But why? - Because I just call those guys semi-skilled: They trained hard to become an expert in handling almost everything. But they were never trained to become a plumer, a carpenter or an electrician. And Mike the astronaut was an engineer in space travel down on earth but he was not a Master of Science in Biology or Physics. Or if he was a Master of Science in Physics, then he was no Master of Science in Chemistry.

Almost every Joe the plumer or Fred the carpenter would beat their handling skills here on earth.

"So what", people might say: Space is different. We need another kind of specialist there.

I say: "No, that's the error in reasoning: We don't need semi-skilled specialists who can handle stuff in space, we need another space environment for craftsmen, engineers, scientists and tourists !"

I think technical progress in three deceisive areas will make this possible:

1. a cost effective method of going into orbit
2. the presence of artificial gravity
3. re-usable space ships and a carefree re-entry method

Ad 1) A company called SpaceX and others will be able to deliver a cost efficient lift into space soon.
Ad 2) Based on the spinning wheel concept artificial gravity is possible.
Ad 3) a cost effective method to protect space ships from the dangers of re-entry is essential. When there is such, many more real specialists can be brought into space and work there effectively.

We don't need specialists up there who can just handle stuff, we need specialists up there who can do stuff because it's their job, their profession !

If we have those people up there, not every broken pipe or problem will cost millions or take weeks to repair.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING (with Sandra Bullock)

What's special about that movie WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: What I especially like about that movie is that it often talks without speaking.

Of course the instrumental parts (issit orchestra ?) belong to this, above average music orchestra painting at timelines in the movie that would feel naked otherwise. And the first interesting thing about the music score is that the empty road is not filled with JUST music but with a music landscape of hills and valleys, i.e. changing emotions.

And then there is also the second interesting means of emotion paiting in this movie and that is the face of Lucy (and also the faces of other people in the movie): Lucy (Sandra Bullock) arrives at the house of Peter's family and at first you neither see the car nor see Lucy. However you hear the music painting, painting a balanced landscape but as the car gets closer to the house the music rises its emotions and paints some nervousness into the landsacpe. Lucy's face exactly matches this nervousness, these mixed emotions, but it also shows her inner balance at the same time.

Before the taxi came into view, the music painting had already started on just the empty road. I actually wondered then why there was emotion in the music when there was just an empty road visible. But then I understood as the taxi came into view: The music had described Lucy's emotions even though she was not yet visible.

Very sophisticated music painting - or more exactly - skillful timing. Such skillful painting can not be found every day.

And also funny: Lucy's feelings are like layers: There is the basic calm layer of her character shining through and then there is the HOW-TO-DEAL-WITH-THIS-SITUATION layer of emotions on top that shows her doubts and nervouseness.

Her face talks and the music paints a supporting landsacpe and no words are necessary to make the audience understand what's going on. That's what I mean when I say this movie is talking without speaking.

There are many other examples in this movie where there are no words wasted. It's so great that the silence, the music and the faces (Lucy's face) are speaking so nicely in this movie.

Making "THE LAKE HOUSE" work

I like that movie THE LAKE HOUSE from 2006 with Keanu Reaves and Sandra Bullock.

I like it more than the original Korean movie from 2000 - see IMDB.COM for that plot: http://imdb.com/title/tt0282599/plotsummary , entitled Il Mare (International: English title), Si Wall Ae (South Korean title).

However, the timeline does not seem to work. So, I now wonna try to make things work and since pictures = actions overrule words in real life, the movie picture frames shall reign before the spoken text, too. What I mean by this will probably become clearer later on.

My date selection appears in green.
Essential must-be-correct movie chosen dates appear in red.
Wrong movie dates appear in light grey.

Explanations are given to justify the chosen date.

********************************

2002-01-05 (2004-04-14 Wrong movie date in trailer)
Alex gets to know Kate through the mail box

Explanation: Alex moves into the lake house in winter. It can not be in April of that year ! It snows again in April but that's not the time when Alex moves into the lake house. Alex and Kate exchange mails already when Kate warns him to beware of the upcomming April snow fall of that year.

2002-02-14 Valentine's day
2002-04-05 Second snow fall of the year, return of winter, red scarf

2003-02-13 Alex asks Kate to have a date in two years' time in 2005 on Valentine's day.
2003-02-14 Valentine's day

2004-01-05 Time span two years: Kate gets to know Alex through the mail box

2004-02-14 Valentine's day

2005-02-14 Valentine's day: Alex asks his brother about the date of the day (wrong answer in movie is: 2006-02-14). Alex dies on this day.
Kate waits for Alex in the restaurant in the evening but he doesn't show up (since he died that afternoon).

2006-02-14 Kate visits Visonary Vanguard (the company of Alex and his brother) together with her fiancée to talk about the interior design of their new apartment. During their talk she learns that Alex died (wrong time span: two years ago - one year ago - in the afternoon).

She then drives to the lake house and warns Alex through the mail box. Alex receives the warning in 2004 (one year before his actual death). He has enough time to avoid the accident. He receives the warning in 2004 because two years is the time span that their messages are seperated by.

It is neither necessary nor logical to also apply the two years' time span to Alex' date of death: The two year time span just applies to the time span of the messages.

***********************************

The movie came out in 2006, so 2006-02-14 sounds plausible. The above timeline is preliminary and subject to improvment.-

Love songs, movies and real life

There is a song named Heaven knows from the 1995 movie Hackers: In real life, people often don't reach the end of their personal movie, i.e. there is a kiss but maybe with a less suitable partner who is just regarded as Mr. or Mrs. Right.

In movies - such as Hackers - they luckily mostly get the chance to give their kiss to the right counterpart: If it's most romantic, we will see a kiss of surrender (from both sides) - to admit that there is something more important than oneself.

Actually, love in real life should be like that, too: The kiss, being a moment of absolut balance and truth and peace with yourself.

About the the death of the winning Blue Ray Disc

In my point of view, the Blue Ray Disc is actually dead. The movies in Germany are still too expensive.

NEC, Microsoft, Toshiba, Intel, IBM und Hewlett Packard had formed the HD-consortium to promote the HD standard.

The all deceisive question however is: Why should one buy a mechanical disc with a movie or software on it when all stuff could actually better be stored on a USB-stick ? Since the 8 GB sticks are out and other non-mechanical memory devices surely on their way, why should one use an antique mechanical disc system ?

The only reason seems to be for copy protection purposes. I wonder if that is a sufficient reason to become a successful product ?

Maybe a small company who builds a copy protection into a USB stick will be the final winner ? If I were in electronics, I'd bet on that.

Über Mülleimer im Weltraum und die Notwendigkeit zu recyclen

Zitat aus Yahoo-News vom 28.08.2008: "US-Kollege Greg Chamitoff wartete den Hometrainer, auf dem sich die Astronauten fit halten. Gemeinsam mit Kommandant Sergej Wolkow (Russland) luden sie ferner Nachschub aus dem ATV in die Station um und verstauten Abfälle in ihm.

Der Frachter, der Anfang April an der ISS angedockt hatte, wird im September abgekoppelt und verglüht als kosmische Mülltonne über dem Pazifik. In den vergangenen Monaten ist die Flugbahn der Station bereits viermal mit den ATV-Triebwerken geliftet worden."

Erste Frage: Ist es notwendig das ATV abzukoppeln, bevor ihm der Treibstoff ausgeht ? Stellt das ATV ein Sicherheitsrisiko für die ISS dar, wenn es nach Verbrauch des eigenen Treibstoffs an der ISS angedockt bliebe ?

Muß der genutze Andockstutzen unbedingt frei gemacht werden ?

Zweite Frage: Benötigt man, um das ATV an der ISS befestigen zu können, unbedingt einen Andockstutzen oder könnte man das ATV auch anders befestigen (damit der Andockstutzen frei wird) ?

Dritte Frage: Muß das ATV unbedingt klimatisiert werden, um es als Lagerraum nutzen zu können ? Könnte man es später wieder mit Energie versorgen und in Betrieb nehmen, falls man das möchte (d.h. wenn eine Schleuse am Andockstutzen vorhanden wäre) ?

Vierte Frage: Könnte man auf einfache Weise eine Verschlußtür für den Andockstutzen schaffen ? Oder reicht vielleicht sogar ein Vorhang aus einer nicht benötigten Abdeckplane ?

Fünfte Frage: Wieviel mehr Energie wird bei Anhebung der Flugbahn der ISS benötigt, wenn ein ATV angedockt bleibt ? Wieviel kostet das mehr ?

Sechste Frage: Könnte man das ATV ggf. als Gegengewicht für eine rotierende ISS-Station (für künstliche Schwerkraft) nutzen (zusammen mit weiteren ATV oder sonstigen Raumfähren (Progress etc.) ? -> siehe The need for artificial gravity: http://bulsara-photon.blogspot.com/2005/03/lack-of-gravity.html

Siebte Frage: Wieviel Energie wird benötigt, um ein ATV (leer) zur ISS hoch zu bringen ? Mit anderen Worten: Wieviel kostet das ? Welche Vorteile und welcher finanzielle Vorteil geht verloren, wenn man das ATV abstürzen läßt ?

Achte Frage: Könnte man das ATV ggf. auch später ohne Gefahr für die ISS abstürzen lassen ?

Neunte Frage: Was könnte man auf der ISS alles mehr, oder einfacher machen, wenn das ATV angedockt bliebe bzw. zumindest weiter an anderer Stelle der ISS befestigt bliebe ?

Meine Meinung darüber das ATV als Mülleimer zu verwenden und abstürzen zu lassen: Ich denke, das ist eine schreckliche Vergeudung von Ressorcen. Wie kommt bloß jemand auf die Idee ein Raumfahrzeug oder einen Campingbus als Mülleimer zu nutzen ? Wer macht das denn bei seinem Auto oder Campingbus ?? Auf der Erde ist niemand so reich oder so beschränkt. Nur im Weltraum, da ist so etwas offenbar möglich...

...und das nötige Geld für solche Späße vorhanden.

Doch was ist ein ATV (Automatisches Transfer Vehikel) überhaupt: - Ein ATV transportiert Lebensmittel und Ausrüstung zur ISS (Internationalen Raumstation). Es ist klimatisiert und kann wie ein gewöhnlicher Raum der ISS genutzt werden.

Unklar ist (nirgendwo habe ich davon gelesen), was passieren würde, wenn das ATV an der ISS angedockt bliebe. Zumindest eine teilweise eigene Energieversorgung durch eigene Sonnensegel besitzt das ATV.

Einige Antworten zur neunten Frage, was wären sinnvolle Nutzungsmöglichkeiten für das ATV ? -

...to be continued

Über die Erwärmung von Oberflächen bei größerer Geschwindigkeit

Es stellt sich die Frage: Warum erwärmen sich Oberflächen ?

Eine Trivialantwort wäre: Wegen Reibung. Das ist aber eine makroskopische Antwort, also billig.

Eine bessere Antwort wäre vermutlich: Weil Vorgänge zwischen Elektronen und Atomkern eine Loslösung mindestens eines Elektrons vom Komplett-Atom bewirken. Gibt es viele losgelöste ehemalige Hüllenelektronen, so spricht man von einem Plasma(gemisch).

Eine Anschlußfrage stellt sich: Welche Temperaturen werden dabei maximal gemessen ?

Eine Gegenfrage wäre: Wie soll denn die Temperatur überhaupt gemessen werden ? Kann man Temperatur überhaupt vernünftig messen ? Wie bewertet man Temperatur ? Sind 1000°C normal, was ist mit 2000°C oder 3000°C ?

Was bewirken 2000°C anderes im Vergleich zu 1000° ? Wird ein Buch bei 2000°C doppelt so schnell verbrannt wie bei 1000° ? - Man sieht, der Begriff Temperatur scheint unsinnig.

Besser wäre vermutlich die Frage: Wenn ich eine Energie von 2000 J zuführe, was geschieht dann anders, als bei 1000 J Energiezufuhr ?

Eine sehr interessante Frage wäre: Welche Mechanismen sorgen für eine Zustandsänderung des Oberflächenmaterials ? Interessant deswegen, weil man vermutlich von mehr als einem Mechanismus auf atomarer Ebene ausgehen kann.

Eine erster Mechanismus könnte sein: Die Ablösung von Hülleneletronen eines Atoms (von außen nach innen).

Eine zweiter, interessanterer Mechanismus könnte sein: Das Schwingen des Atomkerns gegen seine Hüllenelektronen (s. den Artikel Über die Desintegration von Flugzeugen ohne Fremdeinwirkung) Dieses Schwingen dürfte bereits bei Geschwindigkeiten eines festen Makrokörpers in einem Luftkörper oberhalb von ca. 100 km/h Relativgeschwindigkeit eine Rolle spielen.

Gehen wir mal von ca. 1000 km/h Relativgeschwindigkeit zwischen Luft und Festkörper aus:

Dann...

...to be continued

Über die Desintegration von Flugzeugen bei einem Absturz ohne Fremdeinwirkung

Beobachtung: Es fällt auf, dass bei Flugzeugabstürzen oftmals eine fast vollständige Desintegration sämtlicher Bestandteile des Flugzeugs und seiner mit ihm beförderten Inneneinrichtung, Waren und Menschen stattfindet.

Man könnte daher vielleicht besser von einer Desintegration auf atomarer Ebene sprechen, als von einem Auseinanderbrechen des Flugzeugs (was impliziert, dass größere Materialverbünde intakt bleiben, wenn man so will: eine makroskopische Desintegration stattfindet).

Untersuchung a: Es wäre daher interessant herauszufinden, bei welcher atomaren Belastung ein Atom desintegriert. Zunächst würde man vermuten, dass hierfür der aufbrechende Zusammenhalt der benachbarten Hüllenelektronen verantwortlich ist. Das ist auch vermutlich nicht falsch, aber eigentlich nicht der entscheidenede Punkt:

Da nämlich der Kern deutlich schwerer ist, als seine sämtlichen Hüllenelektronen zusammmen, so kann man modellmäßig sicher besser von einer volumenmäßig kleinen und gewichtsmäßig großen Masse in einem Hohlkörper mit dem ungefähren Durchmesser 10EE-10 m sprechen.

Weil die Massenträgheit (bis zu einem Gegenbeweis) auch auf das System Atomkern-Atomhülle zutrifft, kann man sich den Effekt einer plötzlichen Abbremsung (sprich: Crash eines Flugzeugatoms auf den Erdboden) gut vorstellen:

Der Atomkern nähert sich plötzlich einseitig der "unteren" (dem Erdboden zugewandten) Seite der Atomhülle: Dadurch finden starke Abstoßungsreaktionen zwischen Atomkern und seiner unteren Atomhülle statt.

Mit dem möglichen und zu beweisendem Effekt, dass viele Elektronen quasi durch ihren eigenen Atomkern "weggesprengt werden". Und zwar so weit, dass eine Atombindung zwischen benachbarten Atomen nicht meht gegeben ist.

Untersuchung b: Grundsätzlich wäre es daher interessant, die Grenzgeschwindigkeit(en) herauszufinden, bei der Zerstörung nur auf Grund von makroskopischen Atomverbundsfehlern auftritt und bei welchen Geschwindigkeiten in einem unbeschädigten Atomverbund ein Versagen auf Grund von Interaktionsvorgängen zwischen Atomkern und Atomhülle auftritt.

...to be continued

About a BBC documentary about Nano robots by Nick Green from 2004

Preliminary statement: I assume that journalists are always under pressure to make a story look interesting, even more interesting than it would actually appear to the majority of spectators (if they came across the subject themselves).

The documentry: In 2004, BBC aired a documentary on TV about the dangers of nano robots and the threatening end of the miniaturization of electronic devices, referred to as "the end of Moore's law" (see Wikipedia.com for details).

My statement about this documentary: The way that Nick Green builds up an apocalypic tension in that documentary saying (among other things) that "the end of Moore's law will bring our economic progress to a halt" and finally destroy our industrial civilization is at best provocative and at worst absolutely nonsense.

Everyone with a slightly clear mind will accept that indeed the miniaturization will come to a halt one day because at the size of the atom level it might not be possible to further miniaturize electronic devices.

However, the conclusions that Nick Green draws from this are pretty much outrageous and rediculous.

Nick Green elaborates that when this happens, companies will not be able to make any more profits.

I can only assume what his funny trails of thoughts want to express by this statement: If he wants to say that companies will not be able to continue competition due to this, I would suggest that he interviews some company leaders who sell products in a saturated market (because that's a similar situation):

It seems that Nick Green takes the view that only competition due to technical innovation let's a company go ahead of the other and therefore gain them a temporary winning margin which delivers them the gains that they need to survive the battle.

Wait: I tell Nick Green a secret: If that was true, our world would have stopped long ago: One thing is clear, if there is no technical progress in a certain sector with mass products such as e.g. butter there must be other mechanisms at work as reality shows us every day. So, how can those companies survive ??

Well, it's rediculous being forced to answer that question, I actually feel like an idiot: In short I could say: The company with the better management will succeed the economic battle.

But, all right, I give some more ideas: The company with the higher marketing budget will probably gain an advantage (and the battle), the company with the cooler packaging design will win the battle, the company with the better sales personal will win the battle, the company with the better milk buying agents who get a better milk prize will win the battle and so on and so on and so on.

And what about the end customer: Will he suffer from the lack in technological progress in the production of butter or even computers and electronic devices ??

Answer: Of course not, as log as you don't take the butter or the computer away from him: The end customer still can do wonderful things with the butter of a hundred years or a computer - e.g. writing better articles than other authors against stupid documentaries such as the one by Nick Green.

And by the way, there will be technological progress in other areas so there is always hope.

End note: Thank you BBC for all the other great documentaries.-

Über die Fähigkeit Musik zu hören und Bilder zu betrachten

Für wen ist es leichter Musik zu hören oder Bilder zu betrachten ?

Ich denke für denjenigen, der dieses noch nie gemacht hat: Denn wer Musik zum ersten Mal hört, der besitzt die Gnade der Unschärfe: Er hört die Melodie und die Stimmung.

Wer Erfahrung hat, der hört die einzelnen Noten und die minimalen Abweichungen und Fehler im Spiel.

Genauso bei einem Bild: Ein Fachmann sieht die einzelnen Bildpunkte, ein Anfänger die Stimmung und das Gesamte.

So sollte der schaffende Künstler am besten einen Anfänger nach seiner Meinung fragen.-

About dark curtains and heat collection

Experiment: A thin white linen curtain in front of a window, the window is tilted (that's possible at many European windows) so that there is a gap to the open air for venting the room, and there are other smaller gaps between the curtain and the wall on the right and on the left hand side (inside the room) which allow heated air to enter the rest of the room (if there is any heated air).

To make the experiment a little more fun, let's further assume that the curtain consists of a 1 mm thick layer of flexible woven copper behind the thin almost transparent white linen layer (which is an isolator like most textiles).

Observation: When there is a white linen curtain at a window, its colour guarantees that sun beams (and thereby heat) are reflected pretty well.

In contrast to that, if you spray the white linen with a thin layer of let's say black paint, sun beams and thereby heat is collected pretty well, heating up the room.

Conclusion: A thin layer of dark material at a surface is sufficient to change the heat behaviour of a much bigger voluminous body below:

This indicates that the relevant physical processes of turning sun beams into heat take place at the surface of (such) materials.

Since the sun beams are not powerful enough - as far as I know - to change the core of an atom, it seems obvious that the excitation and electron recombination are changed by dark surfaces in a way that let's the resulting electro-magnetic waves not turn into light beams that move away from the surface again (i.e. are reflected) but instead let electro-magnetic waves change their wave length and frequency in a way that turns them into infra red heat waves (the latter is an assumption that one should prove or disprove).

After these different kind of e-m-waves do exist ("are alive finally"), it does not seem to matter that the material below is of different structure (i.e. actually white if exposed to light or is of copper or is just air).

These kind of e-m-waves ("heat waves") have a nature that is able to "infect" (heat up) almost all other materials. And this refers both to gaseous materials such as air but also to solid bodies such as metals.

Result: A dark material is "dark" because its electron hull behaves differently when it is hit by e-m-waves (light waves), compared to an electron hull of a "bright" material.

Explanation: An explanation is easy if we assume that the material is hit by light waves with wave lengths between 397 to 656 nm:

Whitish materials (mainly) will turn the impacting light waves into visible light waves again or in other words "reflect" the light.

• Not a prove but: Feel the temperature of the copper on the backside of the curtain and compare it to the temperature of the darkish painted curtain.
• Not a prove but: One is often blended by the bright beaming of whitish objects but never by that of darkish objects.
  

Darkish materials in contrast seem to turn most of the impacting light waves (of somewhere between 397 to 656 nm wave length) into "heat waves" of something between 1000 to 4000 nm.

• Not a prove but: Feel the temperature of the copper on the backside of the curtain and compare it to the temperature of the whitish curtain.
• Not a prove but: If dark objects would send out as many e-m-waves in the visible as a whitish body does, the human eye would perceive shiny objects. But this is generally not the case.-
  

How do darkish materials achieve the change from light into heat: The easiest explanation seems to be that the electron hull configuration of darkish materials is excited by light waves but reconfigures mainly by sending out infrared waves (perceived as "heat waves").

Side remark: Not all visible e-m-light-waves turn into infrared e-m-heat-waves and some not even can (as a look at a term scheme of a spectrum shows): E.g. the alpha-3 excitation falls back from m = 3 to n = 2 whereas the infrared excitation has its base n =3 and thereby just sending out visible e-m-waves.

About the subjective darkish or whitish character of objects: One could possibly say that the human eye actually perceives surfaces as dark if a reasonable percentage of light - that hits a surface - is turned into "heat waves" and therefore "vanishes" from the human eye since the human eye is not able to perceive heat waves (at temperatures up to 100°C and way above at least).

Since less e-m-waves are turned back into light, less light waves can reach the human eye in comparison to surfaces with a "whitish electron character".

It can be assumed, since the human eye is easily deceivable, that a material only then appears as dark, if there are other surfaces around that reflect light seriously better (and thereby build an observable contrast).

On the other hand, a dark walled room containing dark objects is certainly perceived as a dark room with dark objects (but maybe also just because we know that there are brighter objects in the rest of the world).

Something clinical: To observe this thing more clinical, it can be said that an object can send out a minimum and maximum number of e-m-waves since the number of electrons are finite that can react with incoming (e-m light) waves.

So, if we look at a surface of 5*10-10 m (i.e. 25 atoms) and if we assume that only one hull electron interacts and if we further assume that the atoms don't interact with eath other we would have an y-axis from 1 to 25 units.

If we further see the time span of excitation and electron recombination ("mean time of exitation and electron recombination") as a defined known time intervall, we can estimate the maximum number of excitation-recombination intervals per time unit.

Let's just assume that each electron can experience a maximum number of 10 cycles per time unit, the x-axis then would go from 0 to 250 since we have 25 electrons (atoms) that are active.

A z-axis which would go from 0 to 100 % then could show us the amount of e-m waves that are turned back into "light waves" or changed into "heat waves".

Judging materials with this 3-d-graph, we might be able to decide more easily if we wonna regard a material as darkish or whitish.-

La curiosidad de la entrada a la atmósfera terrestre

Referencia: Hay una curiosidad al respeto de la entrada de un vehiculo espacial a la atmósfera terrestre.

Al menos yo lo miro como una observación especial: Si un vehiculo espacial se acerca a la superficie de la tierra, cuando sube por la atmósfera terrestre, pasa un sector de unas 30 kilometros donde experimenta temperaturas muy altas.

Este sector se extiende aproximadamente desde la altitud de 85 kilometros hasta la altitud de 50 kilometros.

En cuanto a la temperatura, este sector es más peligrosa para el vehiculo espacial comparado con el sector de 50 km hasta 20 km de altitud.

Pero porqué es más peligrosa ? - Al pronto no parece muy lógico.
Porqué ? - Porque la densidad atmosférica no es tan denso que es en las altitudes debajo de 50 kilometros.

No hay tan muchas moléculas de aire entre la altitud de 80 km y la altitud de 50 km comparado con el sector de 50 km hasta 20 km de altitud.

Conclusión: No hay en el momento. Pero es muy interesante pensar sobre este.

About being grown up

Being grown up is a state where you have convinced yourself that you know more about life than somebody else. Thus grown up means that you think that you have grown in mental size up upon some other people.

An amusing idea.

Are you really bigger or do you just copy behaviour to pretend that you are bigger ? Do you use those phrases or cloth to pretend ?

And by the way: Is it really necessary for your life to be bigger than someone else ??

Maybe you should have a look upwards to realize that there are other peole who have grown even above your size.

My suggestion: Don't waste too much time on thinking about your size. It's all relative.

Just try to learn some more every day and pass your knowledge on.

About god

• Without god, would there be love on earth ?
• I believe: Yes.
• Without a devil, would there be evil on earth ?
• I believe: Yes.
• So, I ask you:
• Do you need god to be good ?
• Or do you need a devil to be bad ?
• Don't tell that !
• No excuses !
  
• Are you afraid to become bad - without god ?
• Are you afraid to become good - without a devil ?
• Don't be afraid !
• Don't be afraid !
  
• Don't be afraid of yourself !
• You can be love, you can be bad
• and you can be anything in between.
• So -
• what about god ?
• God does not live your life -
• it's you !
• So -
• where in life is god ?
  
• Do you need to know ?
• Would it make a difference ?
  
• But allright, I'll tell you:
• God is in the summer breeze
• when you're smiling.

Sun flares

On April 18th, 2008, ESA (the European Space Agency) published an
article about sun flares:
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM4SB4XQEF_index_0.html

In case it's gone there, I've uploaded a PDF-copy to my web space:
2008-04-18-ESA-Solar flares set the Sun quaking.pdf

The article describes a correlation between sun flares and solar quakes.

Cited from that article: "The correlation is not the end of the story.
Now the researchers have to work to understand the mechanism by which
the flares cause the oscillations."

The interpretation of the correlation won my attention as
my interpretation differs.

About extraterrestrial life

Observation: From time to time - when there is a German astronaut involved in a space project - I observe this news in the (German) press:
German astronaut believes in extra terrestrial life

It's never been said directly so far, but what is says in between the lines is:
German astronaut believes in little green men from planet Mars

My statement concerning such articles: Are we still in medieval times ? Does anybody still seriously believe that all life forms on earth (Menkind, trees, animals, bacteria...) are the only life forms in the whole universe ?

Suggestion for people believing in that:

• Check out the undersea research concerning bacteria life
• Check out astronomy sources concerning extra solar planets
• Just think how unique life really is.

Reference:
"Deutscher Astronaut glaubt an außerirdisches Leben"
DPA - Samstag, 2. Februar, 16:11 Uhr

Lübeck (dpa) - Der deutsche Astronaut Hans Schlegel glaubt an außerirdisches Leben. «Da bin ich felsenfest von überzeugt», sagte er den «Lübecker Nachrichten».

«Auf welchem Niveau, ist aber Spekulation. Die entscheidende Frage ist, werden wir jemals so weit kommen, um in der Lage zu sein, mit außerirdischem Leben Kontakt aufzunehmen? Da bin ich skeptisch.» Der 56-Jährige startet am kommenden Donnerstag (7.2.) mit der US-Raumfähre «Atlantis» und dem europäischen Weltraumlabor «Columbus» vom Weltraumbahnhof Cape Canaveral (Florida) zur ISS.

Schlegel soll bei seinem ersten Außeneinsatz in den Weltraum aussteigen, um «Columbus» an die Station anzubauen. «Dass mein amerikanischer Kollege und ich aussteigen, stellt schon eine höhere Gefährdung da», sagte er. «Die Anzüge sind praktisch unser eigenes kleines Raumschiff. Wir haben darin unsere eigene Kühlung, Sauerstoff und Stromversorgung, und wir sind nur mit einer Sicherheitsleine mit der ISS verbunden. Da muss alles funktionieren.» Er freue sich sehr auf den Einsatz.

How to cross a street

Theme: I read that our brain takes 3 seconds to analyse a situation. So what happens if there are cars driving on the street ? You don't have 3 seconds to react.

Thesis: Our brain is triggered by the approaching cars. It just plays the snippets of software that are appropiate for the situation. Even for cars approaching with different speeds, it has different replies.

Annotation: I think that it's one of the first things that a baby learns how to get from A to B and watch the reaction of your environment C while doing that.

Remark: Please excuse if the text above appears trivial. I didn't check on Google if the thesis is wrong, already known or whatever. I just wrote it down for fun.