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[Descan]

No, they are totally things.  There have been (as close as can be done, given their nature) direct imagings of the things.  Sagitarius A at the center of our galaxy being one of them. (There are numerous others in our galaxy alone.)

Ah, I meant in the sense they're not things in the same sense as, say, a radiator.
But thanks for clearing that up.
And, again, don't take anything I say seriously. I'm a 14-year old trying to sound smart.

I think the problem isn't that they are not thing, but that they are TOO MUCH thing, too many thing in one space. Universe looks at it and goes "Right, this is too much thing, this is too silly," and breaks physics.

[Graknorke]

It's technically true, though.
It's just that, strictly speaking, black holes aren't really things.
Don't quote me, though, my understanding of them is fairly limited.

But she completely misses why it is significant that radiation comes off black holes. Because of their ability to prevent EM radiation from escaping you wouldn't expect any radiation to come off them at all, until you start considering the quantum effects that cause Hawking radiation (pair production, I think it is.)

[wierd]

pretty much. Quantum tunneling also plays a significant role in the hypothetical basis of hawking radiation.

(We would need to send a probe to a distant, quiescent (not feeding) black hole and measure the ambient particle density near it in order to experimentally verify the existence of hawking radiation proper--- but we can test the idea in a high energy physics lab using temporary microsingularities- assuming you can keep the press from sensationalizing that and saying "ZOMG! Blackholes in a lab!" or some similar bullshit.)

[Bohandas]

Sorting one of my old folders out, years of assorted images all dumped together in one great pile. While sorting through it I appeared to have stumbled upon the remains of an old rage thread.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This didn't make me angry, more than anything it made me curious - quite frankly it is like a scientific enigma that must be studied; how can one person be that stupid. I can't even hate, it's legitimately amazing, like discovering the DoDos were capable of survival.

Did he say that War Is Peace!?

[wierd]

I see the ministry of Truth has been hard at work!  Big Brother be praised!

(We interrupt this salutatory message to remind everyone that it is time for the 15 minutes hate.)

[Xantalos]

It's a 2-minute hate, wierd! Have you not been listening to Big Jaden?

[wierd]

I'm sorry, but I am too busy being admonished verbally by the fitness instructor on the other end of my telescreen telling me how she had 5 children for the party, and is able to stretch better than I can.

I will present myself for proper reeducation at MiniLove after my session has concluded.

[Aqizzar]

Hawking radiation is another of those interesting kinds of radiation- It is high energy particle radiation, similar to nuclear radiation, except that it comes from some freaky quantum tunneling fun stuff.  Basically, due to the uncertainty principle, you can never be precisely certain about the exact location of a quantum particle, nor its momentum or direction of travel. As such, particles appearing near an impermeable barrier, like the event horizon of a black hole, have a small but greater than zero probability of spontaneously being OUTSIDE the horizon when measured. Couple this with another facet of quantum physics madness-- "empty" spacetime is FAAAR from empty (It produces very short lived particle-like phenomena called vacuum fluctuations that exist as virtual particle pairs for the teeniest, tiniest amount of time possible before annihilating and returning to nothing. Really.) and you end up with a certain nonzero probability that these particles will come into existence near the horizon of the black hole, one part will fall in, and the other part will escape. This makes the energy fluctuation into a real particle pair, stealing energy from the black hole to do so, (shrinking it), and emitting that energy away from the horizon as a liberated high energy particle that tunneled its way past that impermeable barrier (the event horizon).

I've been reading about black holes for 15 years and this is by far the best explanation I've ever heard for how Hawking radiation works, including the descriptions in Hawking's own books.  Thank you very much.

[IcyTea31]

The fun thing, in this interestingly fractal universe of ours, is that that works about the same at the atomic scale. I had never thought why black holes wouldn't emit radiation, then I realized why and facepalmed, then I read wierd's post and drew some parallels to molecular chemistry, for me a slightly more familiar field. Then came the moment of enlightenment. As Aqizzar said, that is a very, very good explanation, and I thank you for it.

[redwallzyl]

Speaking of hawking youtube.com/watch?v=XfcC6FYyL4U
Should work.

[Frumple]

I just want to say, C, if dark sorceries could actually spawn singularities in the nether regions of adulterous partners, we would probably have hella impressive scientific advancements. Stick a manwhore on the front of a spaceship and have the gravity drag it into the future. Strap a swinger's club to a gyroscope and power the world.

Your country needs to hurry up and industrialize that phenomena.

[NullForceOmega]

Wow, that was absolutely hilarious, not even rage worthy.  Just so gods-be-damned hilarious that it very nearly makes me cry.

[Dampe]

My school's website filter went down today.
Yup.
All students had unrestricted access to all websites.
Of course, I just spent my lunch period kicking around on the Bay 12 Forums!

[Sergarr]

so this is apparently a thing

[SealyStar]

so this is apparently a thing

I was going to say that I posted that here recently but then I remembered I actually linked to the similar subreddit /r/menkampf.

/r/stormfrontorsjw reached its logical peak recently with a quote from a black supremacist type literally saying Hitler was a good guy because the Jews he killed were white.

EDIT: Just found on the sub: WTF Britain

Say what you will about the US government (either or both parties) but can we all agree that Old America is in some serious trouble too?