One of the base tenants of relational theory is that a view is indistinguishable from a base table. You can take 2 tables and make a view using them. Or you can flip it around, have a single base table and 2 views that resemble the original tables. Both methods are equally valid, and a user querying the data can't tell the difference.

Until you outlaw NULLs in base tables. Now base tables and views are not interchangable.

I agree that NULLs shouldn't be stored in a table, but I also believe that I should be allowed to hurt myself if I really want to. I don't want to do it, but it's just too slow to do it the correct way. So I compromise now, submit a bug report, and revisit when performance improves. And future-me swears at past-me for doing it.

Most cable companies are required to carry the Over The Air channels on the same channel numbers. It's generally part of the local monopoly contract the municipality negotiates with the cable company. If his contract says he can't watch those channels, it's probably unenforcable. A fine example of clauses companies put in contracts, assuming you don't know your legal rights.

From that link, $518,000 a year gets you into the 1% club. From there, you have to claw your way into the 0.5% club that starts at $1.5M. It doesn't materially affect your arguement though.

For me, I really don't care about the magic "1%" number. I care about having enough money to do what I want, and saving for 30-40 years will get me there.

BTW, thanks for the link. I'd always had questions about the statistics of "what it means to be in the 1%". Like, "is that number average or median?", etc. This answers some of those questions.

Sorry for the fast thinking here. I'd written a much longer post, but /. ate it when I tried to login.

What is the psuedo-distance between branes?

We know that gravity's effects drop of as distance^2. Working under the theory that gravity propigates at the speed of light, we can measure brane distance in light seconds. If branes are only a light-second away, there's too much mass. Too many branes too close together would turn everything into a black hole.

If we assume some non-trivial distance between branes, say 1000 light years, then that could explain the distribution of regular vs. dark matter. I don't feel like integrating galactic masses over distance^2 right now, but the ratio of regular vs. dark matter should be able to tell us how far apart branes are.

Rolling with 1000 light years (an order of magnitude doesn't affect this thought experiment). Larger structures (galaxies, clusters, etc) would be gravitationaly bound cross-brane, but smaller structures (stars) would not.

That's enough n-dimensional physics for me tonight.

The Galactic Rotational Velocity implies that dark matter is something different than standard matter, not just invisible matter. I'm broadly covering all forms of invisible matter here, cold-dark matter, non-baryonic matter, matter in other branes, etc.

Using your idea with the galactic rotational curve, the thought exercise would not yield the required mass distribution to explain the rotational curve.

Now, if we posit that nearby branes don't necessarily have the exact same physical constants, that could result in brane-sibling galaxies having different shapes depending on the local physics. While interesting, we're well into the realms of science fiction.

In short, I like you idea, and need to think about it some more.

The cheap cars have an "oil light" instead of a gauge. The light turns on before complete engine seizure, but after the engine is effectively destroyed.

I can only assume that this is a cost cutting measure, since the light uses almost as much dashboard real estate as a dial. I would hope that manufacturers would be willing to add a better sensor and software gauge, but I can't say what the cost delta is between the 3 options.