It looks like it given the symbols used. P for pressure, rho for density etc. u-arrow is definitely a vector field, so it could be fluid flow. Otherwise it could be equally anything described by a vector field, like electromagnetism or gravity but they usually have a lot more E and G involved I think. I used to solve these but then I got a certificate so now I don’t have to.

Exactly. There’s a definite pattern here. Cameron pandered to the removed in his party in 2010-16, opening the door to populist removed like Nigel, and Starmer is now pandering to the removed in his party, opening the door to populist removed like George. In both circumstances, the normal people (moderate Tories, tender leftists) are completely disenfranchised, and the party ends up irrevocably split. I know history repeats, but usually there’s at least a short period where we learn from it first…
And we’re left, once again, with nobody to view for. So many people will hit the elect button, and chaos will ensue. The system needs a reset.

You’re denying the moon landing happened although the moon landing definitely, demonstrably happened. You’re getting downvoted for peddling batshit.

My training is in applied mathematics, so I’m only conceptually aware of strange attractors. It’s my understanding that they are chaotic systems that tend towards a stable state. As such I’m a little skeptical of the claim that the universe itself is a strange attractor, since it is broadly predictable and hence not chaotic, and it’s expanding and thus not tending towards stability!

What caused the initial imbalance, and what prevents it from happening again?

Now you’re talking about some of the biggest unsolved problems in physics :)

I don’t know if it necessitates a creation myth, though. The big bang theory doesn’t imply a creator, but also doesn’t require a steady state.

What’s this about a strange loop? I don’t know if I’ve heard of this before.

I suppose that’s fair, since “looks the same in every direction” is a bit of an oversimplification. The principle is an assumption, rather, that we are not privileged observers, and therefore the universe should look the same in every direction. It then follows that we should be very interested to understand why when it doesn’t.

I can’t agree with you that the assumption of universal entropy increase is at all unreasonable. The laws of thermodynamics appear to hold everywhere, therefore entropy must be increasing everywhere. England’s extrapolation to presume that life is an expression of this law might be tenuous, but the law is pretty much ironclad. That’s not to say that structure can’t arise; it clearly can because: hello. But the tendency of the universe as a closed system with a one directional arrow of time is heat death. That’s just a result of thermodynamics. Eventually.

Jeremy England proposed a while back that life is just an expression of entropy increase. Interestingly, if this could be verified (I don’t think it can) it would point to life being universally abundant.

That we’re not special is one of the founding foundational principles of astrophysics, the Copernican Principle. It goes that we aren’t special, we don’t have a privileged viewpoint, and therefore the universe should look the same in every direction. It does get applied in other fields of science in one form or another, since it’s more a way of thinking than a theory as such. Again, it’s not falsifiable but it does seem reasonable.

This is a valid reading of the Fermi paradox. But just for balance I’m going to devil’s advocate all over it.

The chances of life to occur are small enough,

Not known. At the moment the data set is one habitable planet = one occurrence of life, so the odds might be very high indeed, even approaching 1:1

The chances of evolution to pass through multiple extinction events and producing a being capable of higher intelligence is even smaller,

They are smaller, but how much smaller is impossible to tell. What if extinction events are less frequent than they are here? What if 100% extinction events are as rare as they are here? What if intelligence is a natural point of evolution everywhere?

The chances they have done this faster than humans is smaller still,

This one’s not true. The earth is relatively young at 4 billion years compared to 15 billion for the universe. A billion year headstart is completely plausible

The chances they have evolved close enough to us to have visited is near impossible.

Agreed that the earth’s position in the milky way is a bit of a galactic backwater. At 25000 light years from the centre, stars are more sparse here than they are at the centre. But our nearest star is 4ly away. We could have a probe there within half a century with our current technology if we wanted to. So I disagree on the “near impossible” part.

The universe is huge, there’s almost certainly life elsewhere - but to ask whether they visited earth is like speculating on whether ghosts exist.

Can’t really argue with that. Until we see some evidence, ghosts and galactic visitors are in the ‘conspiracy nut’ bin. But it doesn’t mean life on other planets doesn’t exist. There are many theories why we wouldn’t have seen or met alien life if it does exist. Absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence.

Also the universe is expanding at such a fast rate that unless we develop faster-than-light tech, we will never reach another solar system.

Hubble expansion isn’t a big factor at the galactic level. Galaxies are traveling away from other galaxies at relative speeds faster than light, but for stars within the galaxy, the scale is infinitely smaller and the expansion is so small it’s difficult to even measure.

This proves that you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

Wrong. 1) The Labour party do intend further privatisation and 2) the current creeping privatisation has been directly attributed, time and again, to worsening outcomes. A third point would be that capitalism and healthcare fundamentally do not mix, as one relies on quantitative feedback and metrics, while the other can only be measured subjectively.
The NHS model is not that of European healthcare systems, and further privatisation under this model will cause damage.

It does have this! Amazing, thanks!

Thanks for the tip. I was sitting on a train today and I hit the back security ring against the headrest and the whole headset nearly came off. I was wondering how sturdy it might be. Now I know, thanks!

The time derivative of position is velocity. The derivative of velocity is acceleration. Derive again and you get jerk. Then it’s snap, crackle and pop.

(For those too young, these are the names of those characters they use to sell Rice Krispies)

Thank you!

E: they’re not available in the UK! Dammit, the search continues…

I just tried this and it works really well!

If you find a good one, and you remember, please let me know. I’d love to find one that lasted more than a few years.

I had to go to Amazon for it, it’s the only thing I will buy from there because I haven’t seen them elsewhere. The brand is Musicozy, cheap and made in China. I’ve had three and they’ve all broken because I’m only spending about 20 quid at a time. But it’s worth it for the sleep!

Worried now as I only got mine last week from a no-brand seller

Open ear bone conduction headphones. Light, affordable, waterproof and safe to bike with. Also good in the office as you can still hear what’s going on whilst listening. Only drawback is they’re pretty quiet and easily defeated by heavy traffic/loud kids etc.

Also not recent but as someone who suffers from tinnitus, a Bluetooth audio sleep mask has improved my quality of life more than any other minor purchase I’ve ever made.

Legend has it that babies born en caul, or “in their waters” will never drown at sea.

The “UK Deep State”, according to Elizabeth Truss:

• The Bank of England
• The free market
• Her own party
• The Financial Conduct Authority
• A lettuce