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Weird theoretical physics questions thread
I thought the book we used in the undergrad class at UT explained this as good as it could be. Introduction to Elementary Particles, by David Griffiths. Griffiths is really good about explaining complicated theories. Every so often I go back and re-read these parts and try and understand it all. I think there is something important to discover still here. The symmetry breaking freezes out the weak force, so it is almost completely absent at the low energies where we live. But that weak force is special: It is the only force that changes kinds of particles, and it may (hopefully!) act on dark matter. Maybe it ties to dark matter, and the Higgs field and the symmetry breaking is part of how it works with dark matter. But nobody know yet.
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Gold bug / silver bug / numismatic / metals thread
I don't know what is going on in this thread, but the silver price has gone nuts this month. It is up like $15/oz in December. It is still supposedly hard to sell (refiners are backed up), but that is getting better.
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Art Fanatics Thread of Visual Dominance
Excellent use of Oklahoma Suks cans. Well done!
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Waymo cars Hit the Freeways
A whole bunch of those miles seem like zero-passenger miles. I do see Waymo cars all over the place, but they very frequently seem to be completely empty.
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Holiday Travel F-d? FAA Turkey Day Boogaloo!
I don't associate RJ with what I can't afford. I think that is one of the small commuter jets that I am never too happy to be riding on. It ain't no G5.
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Government Shutdown 2025: This Time It’s Personal
Why would YYZ have any issues?
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UPDATE #1: TEXAS indoor football operations facility. this BAD BOY is going to be GINORMOUS.
So THAT is what that structure will become.
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Comet 3I/ATLAS
This is very cool. There have probably always been these kind of things passing through, but we have not been able to see them until recently. As an fellow astronerd I can confirm parts a and b, but c is full of shit. There is an actual Harvard faculty astronomer, Ari Loeb or something like that, who has unfortunately gone off the deep end as far as aliens. His reasoning seems to be: A) If we are ever visited by aliens, they must come from outside the solar system, B) This comet comes from outside the solar system, therefore A+B) THIS MUST BE ALIENS!!! I'd ignore anything about aliens from Dr Loeb, which is most everything he ever says about extra-solar things.
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Gold bug / silver bug / numismatic / metals thread
I have heard that the refiners are saturated with silver now and not buying. Resulting in retail shops not paying a good price since they are now exposed to price drops since the shops can't sell to refiners now. Too bad since otherwise it seems a great time to sell silver.
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Trump’s America
Is it though? If I did not read this board, I would probably have no idea who Charlie Kirk was. He isn't a politician, just a talking head. Why should I know who he was? And as far as the shooting, that is just one tiny drop of the deluge of shootings that happen in this country constantly. As mentally unhealthy as it can be to keep track of politics, being unaware of who he was seems completely normal to me.
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Gold bug / silver bug / numismatic / metals thread
Attaching the photos of that note. You can see the X cancellations if you look closely. The back is especially pleasing
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Gold bug / silver bug / numismatic / metals thread
These cuts were indeed made when the notes were turned in for redemption, which meant gold back in those days. The Republic of Texas did everything they could to default on these obligations, and avoided redeeming them. As a result, these sold on the market for just a few cents on the dollar, to any speculator who wanted to bet on them being paid eventually. When Texas joined the Union, the USA figured that it was not acceptable to default on obligations of what would now be part of the Union, and the money (gold!) was found to finally redeem them, and the speculators came out very well in the end. Nearly all of these are cancelled, but not all the cancellations had a piece cut out like that, the nicest ones just had the cuts in the note, but not into multiple parts, or pieces removed, etc. A really nice one is coming up for sale in a couple weeks, this shows the full note design. https://currency.ha.com/itm/obsoletes-by-state/texas/austin-tx-republic-of-texas-10-jan-1-1840-cr-a5-medlar-25-pmg-choice-about-unc-58-epq/a/3599-20137.s
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Gold bug / silver bug / numismatic / metals thread
Kind of like that. It can be fun to make a 'type' collection where you get one of each kind of design. For the Mexican ones, I want to get ones that actually circulated as money, while most of them are later restrikes made as bullion. They are all good gold though. That makes it harder, and I have not actually made any progress on my Mexico gold collection yet, I have none. I do have a few USA gold coins in this way though. But the idea would be, if SHTF and you had to flee with whats in your pockets, I would care very little that I paid a premium on my 50 pesos, but care quite a lot that I had 1+ oz of gold to sell in them. My plan is flawed though since I don't have any 50 peso coins. Hmmm...
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Gold bug / silver bug / numismatic / metals thread
I like the idea of building a fun collection, that has the side-effect that you could sell the gold if SHTF. Not the most efficient way to stack metal, but a fun way that still gives you some insurance precious metal.
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Trump’s America
And also, you don't get caught for testing that.