geoguy

Does anyone over 10 years old really like any parades? St. Patrick's Day? Santa Claus (yawn). what's that wierd one in California the Americans have where they do nothing but boast about how many flowers were wasted? I had a friend who worked for a local TV network and she said the lowest point of journalism was when they would do a blip on some local parade. Just what new can be said when the 5th band goes by that sounds as bad as the 4 that went before it?

Probably not but even if it could it would mean....? As a geologist I can't get my head around more than 25% of the published papers in my own field...probably half of that published in math journals and 'skim' the surface of theoretical physics. There are whole 'blocks' of science that are big black boxes to me. i can read about String theory, the quantum and so on and it means....? None of us can cope with understanding more than a minute fraction of the science that is out there now....if some alien came down and give us the answers to everything we' still have glazed over eyes. 'Gee, there are 16 dimemssions and not 22?'....46 distinct subatomic particles. wow..... 10 to the 21st power of stars and not 10 times that? I'm hungry, want to get some fries?'

I'm happy for any gay couples who have the option of marriage or not. Being married or not is a decision that impacts them more than any fleeting opinion I have on the subject. We have gay couples in our circle of friends...one a police officer, one who is the cover illustrator of my wife's books, one a professional gardener. They and their partners go through the trials and tribulations of any of us in society. I'm pleased that at least here, in Canada, they don't have to live with a negative stigma. Our lives are richer because of the diversity of the culture around us...the more ethnic groups, languages, lifestyles and so on. None of our gay friends have yet 'tied the knot' but we'll be happy for them if that's a decision they make and will feel privileged to witness their marriage vows.

Many of us may have taken more than you may have...but in my case it was 30 years ago. Pre calculaters when a science student's best friend was the slide rule. However, you are correct if I stretch my few remaining brain cells back to university days. We did a problem once with the proof that negative infinity and infinity were one and the same BUT that infinity minus negative infinity did not equal zero. this was proven in linear algebra and also in what we used to call projectile curving planes. The word Reeman Sphere (sp?) pops into my brain but if I think about it any longer a fuse is going to blow. Jeopardy is coming on and I need to save some cells so my wife doesn't humiliate me.

I don't understand what this belief of yours has to do with whether or not Freudian psychoanalysis is valid or not. If someone has a broken arm one doesn't call a witch doctor and if someone has a physical deficiency in the brain many would not waste time calling in a Freudian analysist. Even if someone has a non-physical psychological issue most health care providers today would still not call in a Freudian analysis but would try other approaches to help the patient. Few would be obsessed with the complexities of the patient's buried repressed subconscious sexual relationship with their parents Instead they might try stress relief, coping skills, etc. Freud would be out of the picture. Edited to point out this is in response to the full positng and not the just parts quoted above

I wouldn't call it popular as in 'the norm' but also not completely dropped. Freud never was and still isn't held 'in awe' outside of his field by the scientific community. He was held more in awe by the popular culture. Most biologists, anthropologists, and so on were never enthused about the fellow's theories. Better understanding of the brain as an evolved physical organ has sidelined Freud even further. The reason one may have poor coping skills or depression isn't because of some early childhood relationship issue with mom or pop but a chemical deficiency, etc. that is corrected with diet, pharmaceutical regimen or allergy avoidance.

Not necessarily. If a fly is caught is entrapped in a microwave it might just fly out as if nothing happened after your dish is cooked. I'll let someone else explain the physics. Here's one link among many via Google: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=265489

No one is good at this thing because the scenario is based on fantasy as the physical properties of matter and energy would be violated. One would need more energy than there is in the universe. Back to reality. TheCPE points out an often forgotten variable is space travel...deceleration. It is one thing to propel an object to a thousandth the speed of light but quite another to slow it down again. Acceleration might be done with systems or fuels in orbit around the sun, or planets in the solar system but what is the energy source for deceleration? An interstellar spacecraft might weigh a millionth the weight of the fuel sources and infrastructure used to accelerate it to a thousandth the speed of light ....but to decelerate it needs to take all that with it....increasing the weight a million times...and the absurdity continues because then you need to increase the amout to accelerate it by a million times....then to decelerate...the numbers become absurd. One can't used gravity at the other end to stop the craft because of the enormous speed. One could ricochet using the gravity of various stars along the way to slow down but that could add tens of thousands of years to a one way trip to a star. The irony is that the faster a craft goes, the more 'breaking power' it would need from stars along the way and increased speed might not be much help to reduce the time of the journey.

I have two mountain bikes. One for the Rockies west of the city and one for the Badlands to the East. Both are sturdy 'tanks' and get banged up. I leave one among the sagebrush in the Badlands and just use it when I'm out in that area. Both tires are usually punctured by cacti by the end of the day and I toss them and replace the tires and tubes with replacements found in our city alleys...it's amazing how many good bikes are tossed out these days...I'll take the tires off them. Bikes, like watches, used to be valuable and cherished possesions when I was a kid. The bike I use in the Rockies is a 15 year old work horse. Speed isn't an issue. No desire to go around the corner of a trail or mountain road too quickly and come nose to nose with a Grizzly, Cougar or Moose. Other than tires, I've never replaced anything on these bikes over the years. One is an 'Alaskan' and the other a 'CCM'. Bought them for less than a hundred dollars each. I can't see myself ever buying a new bike in future as there's hundreds of excellent second hand bikes that are at almost give away prices or left in the alleys for free take away.

Don't lock yourself into a specific degree unless you are confident with the choice. About half my fellow first year science students switched their major by the time they graduated. This was years (cripes decades) ago but it's still useful in the first year to get to know other options. Even if you go for the Mchem then take enough variety in courses so you have the option to switch gears. A lot of the sciences become more fascinating as you dabble in them at a university level.

"Mixed water fountains? Good grief, next thing you know 'negro' boys will be sitting next to our white daughters in school." One man's slippery slope is another's stair case. The irony is that the world at the bottom of the slippery slope can sometimes be a much better one than that at the top.

You are confused because you've neglected the number one requirement in science....define terms and compare eqivalencies. An opiate is a specific compound with physical molecular structure....an anti-depressant is a general concept that may or may not include specific molecular structure....it is an array of physical entities. One doesn't compare subsets such as 'a smile' (a physical event) with 'expressions of human emotion' (that can include a smile). In science a subset is not exclusive in a comparison. Science 101.

Not true. You are still mixing up an entity with a function. An opiate, chocolate bar, up of coffee, etc...as well as any number of medications can be an anti-depressant. There is all types of examples of opiates as anti-depressants. Methadone has been used as an anti depressant for decades.

As a nerd I was always attracted to intelligent females. There is no better line, and it's legitimate and not 'forced', than to ask her opinion on an intelligent issue. Show interest and let her talk....don't try and monopolize the conversation. My wife is a great looking smart lady and in our first out of class meeting was chance encounter and casual talk in the library. We talked about class material but also made each other laugh and so on. The biggest thrill of my life was a few days later when I was in class and she came in and actually sat down next to me. WOW! A beautiful smart lady sitting next to me. I mentioned that I really enjoyed talking to her and gave her a photocopy of some info we had talked about... After that we talked a few times while waiting for class to start. It was towards the end of the term and I finally got up the courage to ask her to go out on an evening hike with me and I'd show her an owl nest I had found. She actually said yes. This was a lady who had been asked out by a hundred guys to movies and so on. When she saw the little owlets sitting on the tree branch in the she said it was magical. That night she kissed me on the cheek when we parted. The next time in class we sat next to eachother a little closer and she put her hand on mine. The best line is a legitimate one by simply asking what she thinks about something and actually showing interest in her answer. You don't have to fake it as she might be a very interesting person ...a kindred spirit. When that 'clicks' just be yourself.

The question isn't quite posed correctly. An opiate is a physical entity. An anti-depressant is a description of an intended use of drugs. It's like asking what's the difference between an apple and foods for reducing cholesteral levels... rather than asking the difference between an apple and an orange.

It's been 30 years since I took a university math course so please forgive my lack of coherent math expresion so well put by many postings above. if .999 repeating equals 1 then does 8.99 repeating equal 9 ? does .0199 repeating equal 02 and thus: .99 repeating equals 1 and does .011199 repeating equal 0112? Then every interger and decimal in between repeated equal the next higher or lower number if it has a repeating 9? and thus if a equals b and b equals c etc. then Does every number equal every other number? If this posting makes no sense that's fine but if it 'sort of' makes sense then a math keener might rephrase the intent. My skin is thick on this one and I defer to others.

It's a great question. However, modern man has no more control of the properties of matter and energy than a primitive bacterium. We understand matter and energy better but every atom is subject to the same properties whether it is in the most advanced computer or a speck of inter gallactic dust. The properties of the universe aren't about life and non-life or 'man' somehow gaining some anthro-centric ability to change reality. It happens in every episode of Star Trek and Star Wars movie but those are fantasy. Of course what man eventually accomplished using the existing properties of matter and energy will wow us one day.

That's a question that could start food fights. If philosophy is defined as some pursuit of wisdom or rational thought then, yes, science is a subset of philosophy. If philosophy is defined as having some connection to ethics, morality or seeking 'the Truth' then maybe not. Science in an ironic way is the antithesis of seeking 'Truth'. It's almost an acknowledgement that there is no end game such as 'the Truth' and that the process must constantly evaluate itself and be open to accept evidence that dethroans theories. Science can be a subset of Philosophy or a tool of philosophy...as can mathematics. To further cloud the water, it's been debated whether mathematics is a science. Does mathematics present any evidence of anything that is not self-fulfilling by the logic of mathematics? Yikes...my brain won't turn off. I suppose I lean towards science being a subset of philosophy. My reluctance to view it that way is that in the real world of day to day debate, the door opens to convaluted arguments justifying pursuit of concepts such as 'intelligent design', anthropic principle in physics and so on.

an aside: lakmilis touches upon an important concept in 'science'. Science is about the 'what' and not the 'why'. The 'why' is ok to pursue at a finite level of what's happening, etc. to explain a result and so on but the 'evidence' is the physical 'what'. When the word 'why' can be replaced in some phrasing with 'what' it is subject to scientific methodology....when the word 'why' is more of open ended speculation then it's left the realm of science (not that it isn't worthy of fascinating discussion). When I first doing research in geology I kept asking 'why' . Children never stop asking 'why'. Over the years one realizes the the 'whys' get fewer and one accepts that reality is what reality is regardless of any human curiosity or need to place it in some larger meaning. 'Why' begins a treadmill to more 'whys' and implies purpose rather than scientific conclusion.

That's why pay no attention to such polls. Any poll with an open question but a finite set of options is meaningless. Is your favorite ice cream? (a la the logic this thread's poll) a) chocolate b) chocolate ripple c) chocolate chip d} strawberry The results mean what? Nothing.

Good post.

I also live in Calgary. Your premise is not correct. In the 7 months when at least some snow is likely , October to April we here in Calgary receive on average a total of 7.4 inches of precipitation.. During those 7 months of 2006 and 2007 we have received 7.1 inches of precipitation according to Environment Canada. That's an inch of precipitation a month and for those 7 months. Calgary and southern Alberta in those months is a desert. The winter temperatures were more or less average with a bit warmer than average January and February and slightly cooler than average March and Apiril but well within normal fluctuations. The number of 'sunny' days during those 7 months was average in 2006/2007...the sunniest city in Canada (Prince Rupert, B.C. was the least sunny)

??? In response to my saying what? Enamel, dentin are all composite materials composed of a hard mineral - hydroxyapatite (HA) and protein + water HA is Calcium Phosphate (apatite) where some of the phosphates are replaced by hydroxyls. . We use acetic acid to separate teeth such as those from paleozoic sharks from limestone matrix. The calcium phosphate is not dissolved by this acid. Other material other thatn teeth, such as those of the class inarticulate brachiopods are also calcium phosphate.

an aside: It takes as much energy to decellerate an object with mass as it does to accelerate. One of the challenges with getting an object to move faster than we have to date is how to slow it down. For example, a technology infrastructure might be built one day just outside of the solar system to 'boost' an object via some energy source to get it moving at a 100th the speed of c but there would be no technology to slow it down unless it was 'on board'...(which would add too much mass and thus never get up to anything close to 100th the speed of c).

No. I'm more concerned about folks who typecast whole groups of people like Blacks or Physicists or women.