I've been listening to Wolfson's lectures titled "Modern Physics for Non Scientists" and he explains this well. This is exactly what special relativity explains! I downloaded it from demonoid. I can send you an invite if you want.

It's also part of the failed Michelson-Morley experiment. They knew that light moved at a constant speed. They thought there was a fixed frame of reference that light moved through. They thought that light was a wave moving through the universal aether. They thought that by measuring the speed of light in different directions and at different times of the year, they'd see differences. It failed. They measured the same speed of light in all directions at all times of the year!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson-Morley_experiment

Special relativity explained the failed experiment. Special relativity says that all physics are the same for bodies moving in uniform motion. As long as you're moving at a constant speed, you'll always measure light as the same speed! There is no fixed universal frame of reference. Nothing can be said to be at rest, or moving. You can only say something is moving "relative" to some other object. This leads to all sorts of weird things like time dilation and length contraction. Read up on it.

In reply to this comment by Drax:
When the Klingon Bird of Prey decloaked I was like, OMG!!!1!

But seriously, this does a great job at explaining the time / space relation. It still doesn't touch on one spot I've been trying to wrap my monkey brain around for some time.

Light travels at a set speed, nothing can travel faster then this speed. It's like a big universal speed limit. That should mean that if I'm traveling on a magical cosmic space train that's traveling in a straight line at.. lets say 500,000 mph, if I where to shine a flash light in the direction I'm traveling then the light emitting from that flashlight should travel (relative to me) at the speed of light minus 500,000 mph. Otherwise the light would be traveling faster then the speed of light to someone not onboard the magical cosmic space train.

This would also imply that there is a universal speed of 0. Which would mean we could measure our planet's speed through the universe to this speed of 0 by shining beams of light in various directions from our planet and measure how long each beam takes to reach certain distances (satellites positioned in front of each beam or something). After all our galaxy is moving through space, we're spinning in the arm of this galaxy, we're orbiting a sun.. all of these -should- factor in to how fast each of one is -actually- moving, right?

This big brainy friend of a friend told me once, no.. that's not how it works. And I suspect as much, unfortunately he wouldn't explain further. So I don't understand the workings of how there can be a set speed at which light travels and nothing can ever exceed this speed, when there's no specific speed of Zero to start accelerating from. Otherwise some things could very well be traveling faster then the speed of light relative to other things.

>> ^robdot:
if I where to shine a flash light in the direction I'm traveling then the light emitting from that flashlight should travel (relative to me) at the speed of light minus 500,000 mph. Otherwise the light would be traveling faster then the speed of light to someone not onboard the magical cosmic space

I think your wrong on this point, the speed of light is a constant. it will measure the same to all observers.


Then it -would- travel at speed of light minus the speed of the train to me, otherwise for someone "standing still" (whatever that is) the light would be traveling the speed of light plus the speed of the train.

I'm just gonna stop here before my HEAD ASPLODES.

if I where to shine a flash light in the direction I'm traveling then the light emitting from that flashlight should travel (relative to me) at the speed of light minus 500,000 mph. Otherwise the light would be traveling faster then the speed of light to someone not onboard the magical cosmic space


I think your wrong on this point, the speed of light is a constant. it will measure the same to all observers.

When the Klingon Bird of Prey decloaked I was like, OMG!!!1!

But seriously, this does a great job at explaining the time / space relation. It still doesn't touch on one spot I've been trying to wrap my monkey brain around for some time.

Light travels at a set speed, nothing can travel faster then this speed. It's like a big universal speed limit. That should mean that if I'm traveling on a magical cosmic space train that's traveling in a straight line at.. lets say 500,000 mph, if I where to shine a flash light in the direction I'm traveling then the light emitting from that flashlight should travel (relative to me) at the speed of light minus 500,000 mph. Otherwise the light would be traveling faster then the speed of light to someone not onboard the magical cosmic space train.

This would also imply that there is a universal speed of 0. Which would mean we could measure our planet's speed through the universe to this speed of 0 by shining beams of light in various directions from our planet and measure how long each beam takes to reach certain distances (satellites positioned in front of each beam or something). After all our galaxy is moving through space, we're spinning in the arm of this galaxy, we're orbiting a sun.. all of these -should- factor in to how fast each of one is -actually- moving, right?

This big brainy friend of a friend told me once, no.. that's not how it works. And I suspect as much, unfortunately he wouldn't explain further. So I don't understand the workings of how there can be a set speed at which light travels and nothing can ever exceed this speed, when there's no specific speed of Zero to start accelerating from. Otherwise some things could very well be traveling faster then the speed of light relative to other things.

I don't care much for the camera work. Can anyone tell if his hands are actually pressing buttons, or is he using a keyboard somewhere and this is just the display? Also, I like that it can easily change boards/etc, but I think I'd prefer a real pinball game. I enjoy watching the mechanical interactions of the different elements in the game, not just watching the pretty lights flash at me (although pretty flashing lights are good too). Cost is probably cheaper, though. Pinball machines aren't cheap.

I get the classical migraine. Flashing lights slowly appearing from the periphery of my vision, and spreading until I lose about 60% of my eyesight. After about thirty minutes of this the headache kicks in, which will last for up to a couple of days. I usually feel a bit distant over this period and my speech gets a little slurred on occasion.

After identifying my triggers, the main one being caffeine, I've pretty much got things under control. Probably only a couple of attacks over the whole of last year. I do miss my coffee though, and unfortunately decaffeinated still has more than enough caffeine left over to set me off.

The wonderful aroma when I pass a coffee shop is as near as I get to a caramel frappuchino these days.

The series is set in the year 2517, after humans have arrived at a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity. Whedon pitched the show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things".

The show explores the lives of people who fought on the losing side of a civil war and now make a living on the outskirts of the society, as well as the pioneer culture that exists on the fringes of their star system. In addition, it is a future where the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures as well. According to Whedon's vision, "nothing will change in the future: technology will advance, but we will still have the same political, moral, and ethical problems as today.

Mal - Latin, for bad.

I found this while searching for the reason firefly was canceled.

---------------------------------------------
Memorandum

To: Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Television Incorporated
From: Shillton Skankowski, FOX Television Entertainment Network Group
Date: February 19th, 2002

Dear Joss,

After that power brunch we had yesterday I just thought I'd send you a memo and let you know that I've talked with the other executives here at FOX and we've decided to give your little space western idea another chance. However, and I'm sure you'll understand why, we ask for a few simple adjustments to your marvelous show idea before we can continue.

1. We need to have things blow up more often. Something should blow up at least once in between every commercial break. Two or three things blowing up in between each commercial break would be even better.
2. The women on the show should kiss the men on the show more often, and each other just a little less (as in, not at all).
3. The name "Firefly" doesn't seem to properly convey the idea of a space western. We recommend you rename the show "Space Western" so that the viewers don't confuse your show with a PBS documentary about fluorescent beetles.
4. The focus groups who reported to my assistant after viewing one of your episodes said they didn't really understand who the bad guys were. We recommend you have all the good guys on the show wear white hats and all the bad guys wear black hats, so the viewers are better able to keep track at a glance just who they're supposed to be rooting for.
5. We recommend you add a new character to the show. A cute little girl. Focus groups respond best to dark haired girls who are about nine or ten years old. We know this is a science fiction program so we recommend you make her a robot who speaks in a monotone manner and takes anything other characters say very literally, to comical effect.
6. The women on the show are wearing too many clothes.
7. You put the show in outer space but I don't recall there ever being any actual aliens showing up. So we recommend you get some of your makeup guys from the Buffy tv show and have them doctor up some extras to make them look like Little Green Men or something. Also make sure they're wearing black hats.
8. Drop that Ron Glass guy. He's a bore.
9. Focus groups reported that the rooms inside the spaceship looked too much like a poorly furnished studio apartment. We recommend you repaint all the sets to make them look more like those cool sets on that old Star Trek show. Make sure there's a lot of bright flashing lights and "beep beep" noises in the background.
10. The women on the show need to be prettier. Go wherever you got that cute Gellar chick and hire some more who look like that.
11. Get in touch with the Jim Henson Company and add some aliens that are actually muppets. Kids like muppets. You can't go wrong with muppets. Or maybe get that guy who does ALF. He's been doing some phone commercials recently, but I'm sure he's available. Make ALF a guest star every few episodes and maybe we can get the 1-800-COLLECT guys to put a commercial on your show.
12. Make the 'future' of the Earth a little brighter. People wanna believe we're gonna do better. Right now the show's outlook is just a little depressing.

Of course you'll understand that we will not be offering any more money for these changes. In fact in order to broadcast your fine television show on our network, we ask for a simple retainer of $250,000.00 per episode, to defray the costs regarding a lack of interest among advertisers.

We look forward to working with you again.

Sincerely,
S. Skankowski

---------------------------------------------
Memorandum

From: Joss Whedon
To: Shillton Skankowski
Date: February 20th, 2002

Dear Skanky,

Get Bent.

As always,
Joss

...well, some new cars do have 'adaptive brake lights', where the braking intensity is displayed by lights become more intense and/or spread over a larger surface area.

Except in emergency situations I would think flashing lights annoying.

I thought he was bang on. The game is repetitive and relies far to much on startling the player with with a loud orchestral stab and flashing lights. There's very little suspense or tension. Plus I was playing with a mouse keyboard combo and it became incredibly easy after a few levels.

Batman should totally crash this party. His car would blend right in with those red flashing lights..

I don't know - it seems to me that they both come to a stop at the same time.

Usually there are flashing lights before the bars come down. I think he just ignored them.

I love all the redonkulous extra crap he puts on it. Whee, flashing lights! R/C car! Salt compartment! "The guys go crazy!" (What does that even mean? It sounds like he's trying to convey that the soldiers of tomorrow will really like the salt compartment. Personally I've never caught myself wishing for one.)

Srsly tho, most of that gimmicky crap will break right away or will never work in the first place... and/or it's stuff you don't even need.

Well most of them have flashing lights and happy noises. I don't see a problem.

wonder if putting some flashing lights on the front would help.

It would be faster to pull a bulb and light it - and then probably blow that bulb out with too much juice or some other factor.

He's just showing us something that's really bad-ass you mugs wouldn't have thought of. Of *course* you should use a flashlight instead, but like he said, if you don't have one... too bad. If your battery's dead and your flashlight's dead... too bad.

If an electromagnetic pulse destroys your cellphone after both your car battery and your flash light are dead... start walking.

Got any more holes or criticisms to throw at this really clever video?