cool

This is a nice read (very science-heavy) but I can't help but think that causality and the violation thereof is so much relativistic bullshit; "the light exits the medium before it enters it" being true from the lab frame doesn't make it absolutely true. However, if you can violate causality with light this way, bear with me, now, does that make it (theoretically and potentially, not mechanically) possible to construct a light-speed journey so that, not only does it not create the oft-posited effect by which our traveller would return from a short-to-him relativistic journey to find himself in the far future of his home, but make it possible that the longer the journey, the earlier he returns--in effect, making FTL speed a means of *backward* time travel?

(Note: I know better, but the thought experiment is fun)


I've linked to some Zen koans before, but for a different understanding of Zen, hit Zombocom or Superbad. This one gave me pause.

I must get ready for work, so before I go to the glare and harsh lines of that place I hate so, here's some of the wonder of nature for your eyes