Phi for All

I was a desktop junkie until I had a motherboard fry the week after the warranty was up. Since then I've just unintentionally gravitated to laptops, and I really do appreciate the mobility to get out of my home office when I want. I have a Dell Latitude D830 that I got several upgrades on. It's two years old and cost about US$1500 with all the extras I got (9 cell battery, better processor, more RAM, bigger hard drive, Windows XP instead of Vista, etc). I've had no problems with it and I'd buy another Dell. So I think the answer is to go with the mobility if you have the money to buy more power in a laptop. Otherwise, you'll get a better computer for less with the desktop, but you'll be tied to wherever you place it.

Scientific method can be used for every natural phenomena. If something can't be observed in a scientific fashion, then it is not a natural phenomena and must be considered supernatural. When the supernatural becomes observable, then scientific method can test it.

I have to admit that I've heard in the past that mixing bleach and ammonia released chlorine gas, and when I googled to get a source, the beeb popped up first. Even though it's from their H2G2 section, I assumed the BBC would check with their science types for data like this. As I said before, my mistake.

So it's OK for me to go to McD's drive-through and refuse to move my car until my manifesto has been fully stated because my freedom of speech is protected? I don't think so. I can stand behind freedom of speech as long as I'm not standing in a way that blocks others from enjoying their rights.

My mistake. And the BBC's as well, apparently: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A795611

If you mix ammonia with bleach you liberate chlorine gas which will cause massive cellular damage if you breathe it in. And there are even worse reactions depending on the mixture. Never, ever do this in an uncontrolled environment.

I described accepted scientific theory once to a friend as the solid ground you can confidently walk on without fear of it breaking beneath you. The terrain changes constantly as new evidence is discovered, but you're still on firm ground. Speculation is a sheet of ice. It's OK to walk on it when it's close to the solid ground, but the farther you go out on it without the proper methodology, the thinner the ice becomes. Scientific method, when done properly, makes the ice thicker and safer, and when your speculation goes through the proven steps, it may even become a theory and thus you've created more solid ground. When you use pseudoscience or rely solely on intuition and speculation, however rational it seems, you're walking on thinner and thinner ice. Many people who post their ideas here have already fallen through, and the resulting hypothermia seems to suppress the normal warning signs one should experience when in grave danger. They defend their intuition as science as they slowly turn blue and sink.

Pft. I was expecting some of that God-like rep power for my triple entendre. But now that I've mentioned it, you can't give it. It's one of those whatchamacallits....

FACT: Thomas Edison was so adamant that the US should use direct current, supplied by smaller generators rather than rival Westinghouse's alternating current, that he endorsed the use of the electric chair for executions in order to prove how lethal AC current was, even though he was not in favor of capital punishment. http://www.snopes.com/science/edison.asp

I find it interesting that 4 out of the 10 Republican Senators who voted in favor were women, including Kay Bailey Hutchison, Rep Senator from Texas. Apparently Halliburton's influence in that state isn't as strong as the outrage that comes from the rape of fellow women.

No, I was being literary. In Catch-22, there is a character with the last name Major, whose father gave him the first and middle names Major Major. The father was an alfalfa farmer who was paid not to grow crops, and who promptly got up every day at noon to make sure the chores weren't done. He used his government subsidies to buy more land to not grow alfalfa on. When the son went into the army, a computer glitch promoted him from Private to Major, so he became Major Major Major Major. As swansont said, Catch-22 is a great satire and you should give it a read.

Do all physicists make Snark-y references? What if we resurrect the Religion forum and make it where you have to ask for permission to post in it, and no one with an agenda will be allowed. So if you ask for permission, you obviously have an agenda, so....

It's a government thing, a major secret. A Major Major Major Major secret.

I think it's more of a farm reference. Have you ever not grown alfalfa?

That's a strong, no-nonsense argument and I really like the strategy. Unfortunately, many conservatives see healthcare reform as helping people whose lifestyles they disagree with. I think they see it as too much leveling of the playing field, and so they'll never be moved to make it easier for the indigent sick to be healthy. Kudos to Representative Grayson for a big brass pair.

Intuition and speculation will only get you as far as the first step of the scientific method. If you skip any of the steps in the process and rely on intuition alone to tell you you're right, then you aren't doing science.

Several FOX News memos have shown that they often aim their negative research at liberal targets, which they don't do with conservative ones (and do the opposite with positive research). Is that rational for a "news organization", whether they find something or not? And too often, if they don't find anything, they can always say they're investigating, which to some FOX News viewers means it's a forgone conclusion.

I'd say it *can* be society's job, it that's what society chooses. That's my argument for universal health care in a nutshell. It's certainly not a right, but we can choose to cover everyone if we feel we're worth it. We've advanced far enough to make it a reality in many cultures. I actually watched the first part of the video (just the first jumper, I really didn't want to view the trauma). I had a completely different idea of what they were doing when I posted the first time. This didn't seem excessively dangerous, but as has been said, one little slip and it's all over. There's a place I go walking near my home where the sidewalk briefly borders a busy street, and if one weren't paying enough attention or tripped or turned an ankle, you'd be run over before you could roll out of the way. I walk that path several times a week and I know I have to be extra careful, but it could still happen.

Oh yes. Many people hope what they suspect is true, and when they find out it is, then they can say they knew it was true.

A new electron beam device uses metal feed stock to create parts without molding or cutting. From the article: "The beam melts the wires and applies them carefully on top of a rotating plate to build an object up slowly, layer by layer." This is a huge step for space travel, but it also gives us a great short-term reason to invest in space stations and moon bases for manufacturing satellite and rocket parts. Very exciting!

Ooooh, well said! Yes, and probably feeling insecure due to the size of that snake on the woman's stomach. I think it's weird that Americans want to preserve the chastity of their women but it's the brandishing of the male genitalia that gets harsher ratings in movies. Or do they think that parading the python is going to put prurience in the place of purity in the minds of the ladies?

... plus the shame of having it displayed on each post, which just causes people to leave, essentially banning themselves. Most everything can be handled in-thread, imo, but that takes vigilance on everyone's part, not just the staff.

They already have an infraction system as a disciplinary measure. The reputation system is supposed to be for the community to have an influence on posters.

It was more a commentary on FOX News viewers. FOX has the highest ratings, and I don't think a lot of their viewers watch anything else, and they definitely don't bother to go back and check through the archives. So each new distortion is just fresh gospel to the exclusive FOX viewer. I know several people like this. It's a "mistake" when a FOX reporter contradicts himself or misrepresents a story, but it's a "lie" if anyone else does it.

Ah, the key to FOX News ratings.