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stereologist

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Everything posted by stereologist

  1. Before Terminator there was Collossus the Forbin Project and Demon Seed. In all of these movies the computers know that it's time to get rid of the vermin. Makes for good apocalytic action films. Not sure that conquest or extermination would be on a computer's mind were it to have one.
  2. If you take a look at a plot of the precession you will notice that the circle crosses by a star called Thuban. I always wondered why an insignificant star had a name. That star would have been the north star about 4800 years ago.
  3. Having no idea what I am talking about I would assume that the diamond: 1. might wear due to its small size 2. might fracture 3. it's something other than the diamond which wears out a. the metal holding the diamond b. the arm holding the diamond assembly c. isn't there a small coil also on the needle?
  4. A digital computer can be random. There are security devices built to generate random data. The random data is not a digital function, since patterns in digital functions can be determined by viewing enough of the output and knowing the process. This was exploited by hackers who hit an online gambling website that used a poor random number generator. The security devices rely on analog input that is digitized. Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedThe other thought I had was the definition of randomness. It is used in many different ways by people. There is a nice introduction in Kendall and Moran's book in which they solve a problem using 3 different random definitions and get 3 different answers. Is there a chain to follow? It was a popular thought back in the 1700s that the world was decidable and that the advances in math were the tool to understand the deterministic nature of the world. It may have been LaPlace that was giving a lecture to Napolean on the new mathematical discoveries. When asked where God fit into this scheme, LaPlace answered that God was an extraneous hypothesis. Since that time the certainty of a deterministic world has been shaken by the notion that the most basic events in the world are in some sense random. There are many events that can be described well by using the concept of randomness. Descriptions of physical processes such as pressure in liquids, and radioactivity are well described using randomness. Is there real randomness is a philosophical question. Does it make sense to assume randomness in some situations? Yes.
  5. The shadow of the earth on the moon during an eclipse shows no corners. How interesting. Must be the work of "Buddy Whatisname and the Other Fellas."
  6. Good work Phi for All. You always have to be careful of the Wiki, don't you? Appreciate your knowledge.
  7. The idea that Richet coined the term came from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectoplasm_(paranormal) and here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectoplasm I believe that the paranormal marketer attempts to provide some essence of respectability by borrowing scientific terms. The misuse of 'good sounding' words like harmonic, energy, vibration, vortex, ether, and ectoplasm are simply done to con the unwary.
  8. I lost interest in this thread because of the path it took. As I pointed out there are dozens if not hundreds of labs around the world with this type of equipment. In addition you can find that many biological research facilities at universities have freezers that run way below the -25C level if needed. See if you can access space at your local university. You don't need a microscope. Use a hand lens. No microscope, no chair, no room has to be kept at -5C. According to you the specimen has to be at -5C. The video I saw gave out many numbers which seemed to be nothing more than attempting to give this scam some air of legitimacy. Crystals grow in less than -25C. Water forms ice, ie forms crystals at 0C. Didn't miss anything here. All I keep trying to point out is that if you want to reduce costs then it is possible. You are artificially inflating the costs to avoid repeating the experiments. I for one have no interest in this doing this experiment. This states that the -25C and -5C are not essential, just better. So why don't you stop avoiding the test and try it in your refrigerator. If it works then wow!
  9. The problem is not cell counting techniques it is that non-cell counting techniques are often passed off as cell counting. The abstract does not state how cell counts were done although I know one of the coauthors and they are aware of how to properly count cells. But knowing that still does not provide me with the information that cells were actually counted. And I have read the abstract and the article. I also read the abstract of the reference you gave and it does not do cell cell counting.
  10. Unusual comment since the abstract clearly states:
  11. Here is the reference for iNow. JENSEN, G.B., and PAKKENBERG, B. Do alcoholics drink their neurons away? The Lancet 342:1201– 1204, 1993. This is an actual count of cells unlike the reference from Charon that does not present a count of cells, but examples a feature unrelated to the number of neurons. Despite the significant difference between individuals which is known for everything out (a 9x difference in the number of nephrons for example), it is still possible to make statements about the population. The problem with counts is that no counts should be trusted unless actually counted. Volumes of brain regions is not cell counting and not necessarily related. Counting cell profiles is not the same as counting cells. Neuronal damage leading to cell impairment is not the same as loss of cells.
  12. Look through soil journals. Soil is composed of both organic and inorganic materials. These can be separated. The inorganics can be separated by size. Soil can be cast with resins. Thin sections under a polarizing microscope can be used to identify the minerals and hence the chemical composition. Dense liquids can also be used to separate minerals.
  13. Actually Charon what you say is nonsense. Volumes are not the same as cell loss. This has been an oft repeated connection that is not justified. This is simply untrue. One of the main reasons that researchers have made this mistaken claim is that they inferred volume reflects on counts. That is a mistaken. The second reason is that the researchers used improper counting techniques such as the Abercrombie, Floderus, raw counts, or profiles by area methods. These are but a few of the mistaken methods used to get the wrong answer.
  14. No. The first step is to see if you can duplicate something. Why waste money like a politician if there is no need to. So let's see. You need a freezer, some drinking glasses made of glass that can be turned upside down, thermometer to calibrate the freezer, hand lens, notebook, and a plastic bottle to collect water samples. If I were going to do this experiment I'd throw in an ample supply of quality beer. That would be my actual cost right there. So see if you can duplicate the experiments - affect the growth of ice by good and bad thoughts. You could bring over a friend and tell them to do the good versus bad and place the answer in a hermetically sealed envelope, that you the Great Karnak, will not open until you have made observations about which ice was pretty and which was not. Then you open the envelope and are the first to learn if your friends thoughts affected the growth. So if it looks like it is working then try 4 more friends and it works and you still have not run out of beer you can sit down and write to us about how your experiment met the 95% confidence interval. Estimated cost: beer for 5 friends and yourself $50
  15. Ectoplasm was coined by Charles Richet to describe physical manifestations of ghosts. That's what's wrong with it.
  16. Alcoholism does not kill brain cells. The brains of normal people and the brains of people that die of alcoholism have the same number of neurons.
  17. Thanks iNow for that wonderful video. Back to Columbus. Clearly GoldenEagles you completely misunderstand the entire situation. For instance, Columbus was not looking for a New World. Your costs estimates are foolish. You are refusing to attempt to duplicate a trivial experiment through a shallow artifice. Yes trivial.
  18. Intelligent design proposes a number of arguments. One of these is the concept of Irreducible complexity. The claim appears to be that there are systems that have a minimal complexity below which nothing works and therefore must have been a starting point. At first hand this seems like a good point of discussion or research. Do these systems exist? Another argument made by ID is specified complexity. The main objection to these points appears to be arguing from ignorance. I tend to agree. Just because science today does not understand some issue does not mean that it won't in the future. To me, ID is I don't know so it must be supernatural in origin. The ability of people to understand their world through the scientific method is in my opinion rather impressive. What is just as interesting is the determination that some things cannot be known or determined. This understanding of limitations has not entered the biological arena yet. This is where ID is directed. ID adherents avoid other sciences. This limited application of the notion of ID interests me. Why isn't ID used to make statements about mathematics?
  19. GoldenEagles, you misunderstand Columbus as well. Columbus already had evidence and plenty of it. His voyage in fact showed that some of his evidence was wrong! Columbus thought the world was smaller than it is. He shipped out with way too few supplies for a world as it is. His supplies were based on what he believed the world to be. Columbus found evidence contrary to his 'theory' as you put it. Emoto is not the only one studying ice. As I have pointed out hundreds of places study ice. His ice (water crystals) are crude and uninteresting. Labs make all sorts of interesting ice. They have made 8 polymorphs! Instead of Emoto, who is an obvious charlatan, try reading Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. It has a ficticious form of ice in it called Ice-9.
  20. What I am trying to say is that water is an interesting material both as water and ice. There are interesting things to learn without introducing faked material. Yes, I believe that Emoto's work is faked. It is similar to other faked work that has been shown to faked: plant attached to lie detectors that react to thoughts of being burned, women that became pregnant due to thoughts. The ice (water crystals) shown by Emoto are not elegant crystals. They are not symmetrical. Bentley and other since then have brought the beauty of the ice world to people's attention. Here is another interesting ice(water crystal) observation: JANUARY 28, 1887, FORT KEOGH, MONTANTA - According to the Guinness Book of World Records, in a snow storm in Fort Keogh, Montana, the world’s largest snowflakes fell. They measured 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.
  21. 1) Water crystals are ice. 2) Both frozen water samples show ice and ice is crystalline This claim comes from 1 place. Suspicious. I tried to show earlier than hundreds of places study ice and its properties. There are huge books on the subject. The notion of the effects of people wishing for a result even from distant locations is a common claim in the paranormal. A journal on human fertility was even taken in by one of these claims of a successful experiment. There was a book claiming that emotions affected plants at a distance. Now its ice. A prayer from Galilee. For crying out loud is this a scam or what. Why wasn't it a prayer from the US or Brazil or China? It had to be a place where people could be more likely to get sucked into this claim. Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedIf you want to get the answer to the question "What is the mechanism that produces crystals?" I'd go to the library and get a book that includes crystal growing experiments. Try making crystals of salts or sugar. It's fun and a great learning experience. Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedIn case you want to read more about the impact of distant thoughts or even nearby thoughts on events try reading this page: http://www.improvingmedicalstatistics.com/Columbia%20Miracle%20Study.htm
  22. What does K2 stand for, Korny Kontraption? My favorite baloney term is ectoplasm. It makes everything seem so real. (I'm swooning just thinking about how real ectoplasm sounds.)
  23. I find the claim that good and bad thoughts affecting crystal growth to be well ... not believable. I figured it was something paranormal when there was mention of a 'sparkle' at the end of the film clip. There are plenty of places studying crystal growth, dozens in fact. Ice formation is important in understanding the dynamics of storms, avalanches, sea ice, global warming, glaciers, and clouds. It is also of economic interest due to recreational uses of ice (snow). Ice comes in 9 different forms. One is known in nature and 8 have been made in labs. Some of these exotic ice forms may exist on other bodies in our solar system. Here are lecture notes on ice. You might want to take a look to see how much there is to know in basic course on ice: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ftp/truffer/icephysics/icephysics.pdf With all of this research on ice going on it seems unreasonable to me that no one else is reporting on a paranormal property that can be empirical validated. If you want to see an interesting lecture on water check this out: http://www.researchchannel.org/mov/uw_fac_welife_1300k_qt.mov
  24. Maybe you could look at the movie Demon Seed for inspiration?
  25. There are dyes called 2 photon dyes that require 2 photons to hit at once to fluoresce. Two intersecting laser beams in a vat of dye will illuminate a single point in the tank.
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