[AntonioLao]

before my visit, I called Melvin Gottlieb to ask his permission. He was then Princeton Plasma Physics Lab director. I just found his obit at
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/01/0108/2a.shtml

Once I got to the facility, they did not let me in at once. I had to wait almost half a day at the plasma library. At first they thought I was some government official checking out the lab since it was funded by the U.S. Energy Department, which was called ERDA at that time.

[Guille]

Originally Posted by dleviwing

Guille;
For your understanding:
A "senior moment" is when we old people have periods of memory lose or confusion brought about by "AGE". I truly hope you never have this experience.
Best regards;
Dave

I don't in present, but as I say, I will (or think: I know no "old" (definitions of this word vary in a wide variety of age periods) that doesn't happent to him/her) in the future.

[AntonioLao]

It is forgiveable to lose recollection of anything in life, but as long as I am alive, I cannot forgive myself for losing the memory of what a TOE really is.

[Guille]

Originally Posted by AntonioLao

It is forgiveable to lose recollection of anything in life, but as long as I am alive, I cannot forgive myself for losing the memory of what a TOE really is.

Well, I think it's all ready a good acheivement to have understood what a TOE really is. I'm still not sure of exactitude.

[AntonioLao]

For me, a TOE is to know how to get free energy forever and also to live forever by using this free energy over and over and over ...like a perpetual motion machine.

[Guille]

Originally Posted by AntonioLao

For me, a TOE is to know how to get free energy forever and also to live forever by using this free energy over and over and over ...like a perpetual motion machine.

PMMs are impossible, right?

Ok, now I understand it: TOE's meaning and significance is also relative...

[AntonioLao]

Originally Posted by GUILLE

PMMs are impossible, right?

PMM is possible only if some laws of physics are broken.

Perpetual motion machines (the Latin term perpetuum mobile is not uncommon) are a class of hypothetical machines which would produce useful energy in a way which would violate the established laws of physics. It is generally accepted that perpetual motion machines cannot exist. In particular, perpetual motion machines would violate either the first or second laws of thermodynamics. Perpetual motion machines are divided into two subcategories defined by which law of thermodynamics would have to be broken in order for the device to be a true perpetual motion machine. These two subcategories are referred to as "perpetual motion of the first kind" and "perpetual motion of the second kind". Scientists and engineers accept the possibility that the current understanding of the laws of physics may be incomplete or incorrect; a perpetual motion device may not be impossible, but overwhelming evidence would be required to justify rewriting the laws of physics.
Any proposed perpetual motion design offers a potentially instructive challenge to physicists: We know it can't work (because of the laws of thermodynamics), so explain how it fails to work. The difficulty (and the value) of such an exercise depend on the subtlety of the proposal; the best ones tend to arise from physicists' own thought experiments.

Because the principles of thermodynamics are so well established, serious proposals for perpetual motion machines are met with disbelief on the part of physicists, which makes a discussion of the merits (if any) of the proposal difficult if not impossible.

Serious discussions of perpetual motion usually occur only when dealing with the topics of open systems, aether theories, free energy, and vacuum energy.