From Tom Sharp:

Re: Comet dies on film, leaving trail of mystery (Jan. 22, 2012): The sun grazing comet article states,

"But ultimately, the fact that one can see this comet against the background of the sun means there is some physical process not yet understood, Pesnell said."

Please note that the reason this comet is bright with the sun in the background is because Nasa's comet model is wrong.

The Electric Comet theory predicts the brightness and not a black dot that Nasa supects.

The electromagnetic field of the comet reacts with the magnetic field of the sun and produces an extremely bright photon glow. It's that simple. It's like turning on a light bulb. The comet acts like the filament in the bulb. The sun provides the hydrogen proton (+ charge) and the comet provides the electron (- charge).

From Jon (j hlo ux@a tt.n et):

Re: Was blackmail essential for marriage to evolve? (Dec. 2): Interesting article on marriage and blackmail, however I think another dynamic is at work. Since evolution is about exploitation, the question must be, what is being exploited? If marriage is a foundation institution of civilization, along with altruism and cooperation, then it is the very institution of society that is being exploited. Human beings have been self domesticating for millenia. We have become so domesticated that we cannot live without the social structure that we draw upon and contribute to.

I wrote an essay about this domestication called Well Governed Sharks that you may find interesting (see here).

Jon

From Amrit S. Sorli:

Re: Possible hints of much-sought mystery particle reported (Aug. 17): Mass is an energy form of quantum vacuum in symmetry with diminished energy density of quantum vacuum. Presence of mass diminishes energy density of quantum vacuum respectively to the energy of a given mass. A given particle with a mass diminishes energy density of quantum vacuum, mass-less particle does not diminish energy of quantum vacuum. In order to explain mass of elementary particles this view does not require existence of the hypothetical boson of Higgs.

From William L. Row, Jr.:

Re: E.T. might be detectable through his city lights, study proposes (Nov. 3): This article is the cutting edge of arrogant assumptions about what "life" is.

First of all, consider this; if another intelligent species had used this method to investigate Earth, but NOT in the last few thousand years... they would have decided Earth is lifeless. This time interval of no city lights represents 99.99% or more of Earth's history, although life has been here for (at least) over a billion years.

Furthermore, the assumption that these ET life forms have eyes... and that these "eyes" detect light in the same part of the electromagnetic spectrum that ours do, is just nonsense. We're adapted to our sunlight, yet we might see in infrared, ultraviolet, microwave, or many other ranges of EM that our star emits. "Lights" may be something very different to ET.

Another assumption is that life forms would want to live near each other at intervals of distance that mimic our cities. This is a human need, to form economic colonies of closely grouped habitats. Life in other places may be in the form of separated molecules that work together at large distances, sharing common thoughts.

In closing, the search for ET will be a waste of money until minds are opened as to what form ET may take when found. Any semblance whatsoever to humans or human activities would be a bizarre coincidence.

From Roger S. H. Schulman:

Re: Ravens show things to partners, a rare ability, study finds (Nov. 29): I'm confused by the news that the crows' behavior of "showing things" to its fellow birds is rare, and usually utilized only by humans and their close cousins. Domesticated dogs do this on a regular basis. Any dog owner knows this. The dog will look at the toy, then at the human, then back at the toy. Even lead the human to the toy. Isn't that the same behavior?

From Charles Montange:

Re: Ravens show things to partners, a rare ability, study finds (Nov. 29): While in the Galapagos Islands, I saw a flightless cormorant repeatedly show non-food objects to its mate, on their "nest." If she liked the object, she would carefully place it in a spot around the nest. If she did not, she would ignore it. The cormorant would then dive off to retrieve another object to display to her.

From Terry Chilcoat:

Re: Physicists extract light from seeming emptiness (Nov. 18): I was very pleased to read your article, especially "They ap­pear for an in­stant and disap­pear again, the en­er­gy fu­el­ing their ex­istence "bor­rowed" from the void.' This goes along with my theory that the entire universe (matter and dark matter) started out as 'void' nothingness smooth even nothing. Since there was 'nothing' then there was no time constant. So, a previous universe collapsed into 'nothingness when time stopped" and our universe sprang (phoenix like) from this 'nothingness' instantly as there was no 'time constant' because there was no matter to create a 'time constant'. If a void can be coaxed into creating a photon then it can be coaxed into creating matter. Hence our universe.

Terrall (Terry) W. Chilcoat
US HWY 395 N
Gardnerville, NV

From Carlton Maley:

Re: Is too much TV watching as dangerous as smoking? (Aug. 16): If it is merely the result of sedentary activity, as stated, then reading and desk work might be equally risky. Could obesity be the real culprit?

Carlton Maley
Washington, DC

From Artur Oliveira:

Re: Physicists extract light from seeming emptiness (Nov. 18): In my opinion this is another strong indication that the vacuum does not really exist! I already talk about that even three years ago and I strongly suspect that I'm right! See here (unfortunately there is no translation into English).

From Bruno Angelin:

Re: Physicists extract light from seeming emptiness (Nov. 18): In the article:

"That's be­cause the equi­val­ence of en­er­gy and mass, dis­cov­ered by Ein­stein."

The equivalence of energy and mass was discovered by Olinto de Pretto. Einstein proposed the theory of relativity, using the same equation and the same meaning that De Pretto has published two years before. Please do your homework there.

From J David Strauss:

Re: Global warming already causes some droughts, scientists say (Oct. 28): It would be interesting to deytermine if similar effects are noticeable in the winter rainfall regions of the southern hemisphere. As a resident of the Western Cape in South Africa i hjave noted that we have experienced similar conditions over the last ten or so years with higher temperatures recorded progressively each year over that time period!

Thank you for your regular, most interesting and revealling news release.

J David Strauss
Western Cape, South Africa

From Miguel Melgar:

Re: "Junk DNA" may help explain human-chimp differences (Oct. 25): Isn't it possible that Homo sapiens get more cancer than chimps because while the chimps mainly continue ingesting what might be called their ancestral diet, humans do not. The human diet is currently far from what might be considered ancestral.

From Andy Turnbull:

Re: More unequal societies spread faster, according to simulations (Sept. 28): Could be, but there's another possibility. I suggest that perhaps societies are unequal and they spread faster for the same reason -- that the ruling class is rapacious. I would not suggest that invasions of other countries are led by the poor -- rather that they are led, or ordered, by the wealthy.

Andy Turnbull
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

From Michael Haynes:

Re: More unequal societies spread faster, according to simulations (Sept. 28): Was it taken into account that in more stratified societies- some of them are stratified because some individuals and small groups create more value than others, and those that create value become enormously rich, while those that are poor get only slightly richer (because the economy in general is larger) than they were before? And that the freedom to try to better yourself is a strength and a strong culture is better at expanding than a weak one? Is this worse than a society that us universally poor than the poorer than the general poor in a stratified society? (note- this is only applicable to those societies where individuals are free to attempt to improve themselves, even if they are far poorer than the top)

From Anadish Pal:

Re: Possible hints of much-sought mystery particle reported (Aug. 17): Hint or an arrow? There is a hint of a Yeti too in the Himalayas for the past 200 years.

From David Michael:

Re: Scientists testing theory that there are multiple universes (Aug. 4): Have to say I find this article extraordinary that physicist have thought previously there is only one universe. What did they think there was some sort of fence around our universe? This must surely be the greatest case of tunnel vision ever if its true.