OK I just KNOW that this was a waste of my time, bi\ut I posted this on a Steorn forum thread that I started. I'm sure to get roundly abused for it. It's at: http://www.steorn.net/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=2951&page=1#Item_3 OK _________________________________ . I don't KNOW what it's about, but I'll guarantee that it's not about what it says, and I can make an informed guess, as can others here as to what's behind it. Even if I'm not 100% correct, explaining why it's not what it seems at face value may be useful. And may not :-). Since questions have been asked on other threads about age, qualifications and whether mommy knows people are using the PC I'll just say that: - I have a relevant post-grad qualification or two (none is a PhD) but they are so old that younger people use the fact to ignore them :-). - My 33 years since my 1st degree have been in the general area and in the last 13 years I have been self employed in a consulting and development role, hands on in generally relevant areas. I have a reasonable understanding of what's involved, or not. - You can work out my age well enough from the above. - Mommy (who is 80) doesn't know I'm on the PC but she wouldn't mind or be surprised. SO You *CAN* break the laws of Physics as all they are are descriptions of what we know so far. BUT the more we know the more consistently we see the whole jigsaw fitting together. Holes still exist between the pieces but they are increasingly small and hard to find OR have increasingly high improbability barriers. The barriers usually come in the form of high energy or great precision whether in timing, purity, stability of some sort etc. In the "early days" it was easy to stumble across "holes" in our knowledge. Helium was discovered "just" by looking at the spectral lines from the sun. Big Bang (if it exists :-) ) background radiation was discovered by making a large horn aerial and pointing it at the sky, and then wondering where the noise came from. The horn was for something else and the pointing was just happenstance. The Nobel prize just flowed in. Even special relativity leaps out of a simple observation which was well known by many but properly (perhaps :-) ) interpreted by Einstein. ie light velocity remains constant regardless of the observers motion - plug the fiogures into standard algebra and special relativity drops out [[ Genral relativity is another matter]]. SO What Steorn have here is a very very very large hole indeed, or no hole at all. The chances of a hole of this magnitude existing without someone stumbling across it when so far into our mapping of reality is so small as to be essentially non existent. This alone does NOT make it invalid, but it makes it very very very very improbable. The magnitude of the discovery needs to be appreciated. IF this were true then it would utterly and irrevocably transform not only Physics but all of life and civilisation as we know it. It would give free energy in every home hut and hovel planet wide, cheap access to space, flying cars, the complete restructuring of how we live and more. Probably. Even if what Steorn have now returns only a say 1% net gain (and it may be claimed to be 0.001% or 10% or ...) it breaks down the barriers to the impossible. The nuclear industry die overnight, and the oil industry in a decade. There's every chance that major links with fusion and fission would be discovered and whole new ways of doing nuclear power, and nukes, would present. Once you have the impossible perpetuum mobile within the bosom of mother Physics the implications would begin to be explored by essentially the whole scientific community. The Steornites would reap multiple Nobel Prizes (tm), more wine women and song than any insane man could desire, perpetual fame to the 10th generation, they would become the richest and among the most influential people on earth and millions of people would forget to hate Bill Gates. Now, while the ultra improbability of the "big hole" in the fabric of reality does not clinch the suspicions, the approach to nobel prizes, WW&S, trillions (literally) of dollars / pounds / punts / euro (or all 4) and a chance to blow Bill G off the top of the ladder does. Placing a large ad in an upmarket newspaper may be expensive and may be seen to betoken serious intent, BUT it's just not at all the way such things would really be addressed. Always assuming that you were not by now languishing for life in a secret military protetcive custody centre while Uncle Sams or Aunty Boris's scientists strove to make a better bomb from your labours, you would be being feted by the heads of the worlds few largest corporations and discussing how many million of their shares they were offering for each one of yours. You would not be seeking assistance to develop the product for use in mobile devices and laptops. Or seeking to assist people elsewhere to make use of the time delay in getting to market to develop devices which bypassed your patents. Now I just absolutely KNOW that the bad mouthers who wonder if mommy really knows I'm doing this will tear all the preceding to shreds, at least to their own satisfaction. So, rather than even starting to get into the physics et al, I'll just suggest the best candidates for "what its all about" and stand back a while. - Possible. Least likely: email address miner. Doesn't seem a good fit. - Possible - more likely: Publicity stunt. Certainly works. Likely to burn them badly though. - Less probable - excellent idea if it works: Mental filter opener upper. ie "Given that we have achieved this, how do you think we did it? Please provide all relevant technical details of how you think it's achieved. No idea is too wild or wacky. Especially not if one of them actually allows us to make the breakthrough that we have described in the hope that you will help us work out how to do it". A ?1950s SciFi story dealt with this theme but the "technology" was anti-gravity. The "discoverer" flew a small anti-gravity "rocket pack" for a top brass demo then (apparently) died and his pack self destructed. The worlds top scientists were recruited to reproduce his results. After some months they had a battleship sized device free floating. Some went insane due to the inability to accept the dameage the concept did to the "laws of physics". At this stage the original inventor / actor was introduced and the resultant anti-gravity device was added to the realms of good-science for future development. Steorn, most likely of the choices here, are doing similarly. Whether they are indeed a real small development company (others can research this) I don't know. They maybe a front for a government funded research effort or a private group seeking seed ideas. This concept is entirely in line with Edward De Bono's formal lateral thinking process. No idea is too silly. Every suggestion needs to be analysed to see how, even if stupid, it may have some relevance. Out of apparent inanities great Oaks may grow. Will it work? I don't think so - at least, not to produce a perpetuum mobile. More's the pity if it doesn't. But, if it does, Steorn has all you gents and ladies to thank for their Nobel prixes and riches beyond compare. And, you can experience a warm glow when you look at your household energy generator when you realise that you played an albeit inadvertent part in its conception. Also rans: Practical joke - see how many really silly things you can get people to say. Genuine delusion: They seem to knwo their stuff well enough for this to be unlikely. ... ? Russell McMahon rmcspam at gmale dotcom Real email when the at and male are translated appropriately The spam is a real part of the address. Used for risky forae that may bring deluges of junk. Enjoy. PS The probability of the above suggested theme is reinforced by the well set up opportunity to critique and comment on their "product" with multiple relevant categories. All ready from day one to accept the flow of comment, invectve, ideas, analysis and general free IP. -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist