Skye

Not really, the awards aren't necessarily based on recent work. Like they say, one of the most important things to have in winning a Nobel prize is longevity. So I don't know whether it's due to his vitriol directed at Bush and Blair. I'd say that may be part of it, but he has been interested in politics since the seventies, and is basically against what he sees as oppression. As an aside, there's some irony in that one of his major issues was with treatment of Kurds by Turkey, and the Iraq War he opposes has probably given Iraqi Kurds a greater level of autonomy. But saying that it is a surprise is, well a surprise. Even I had heard of him as a playwright and I don't give a crap about literature.

What exactly do you mean by macro?

Natural selection, the ones without resistance die. They have shorter generation times, higher mutation rates and plasmids that can be spread between cells.

I'm sure if you need blood bad enough to get it transfused the small amount of metals in it isn't going to bother you.

Yeah I could use that alarm clock, I sometimes turn mine off in my asleep if it's within reach. Same with the phone, I pick it up too while asleep. I don't say anything though.

The problem is that there haven't been many successes. Maybe Libya, but can you imagine Qadafi getting a Peace prize?

The 2005 Ig Nobel prizes were awarded on th 6th of October in a ceremony at Harvard University. There were some pure gold winners, my favorite was for Literature. The Internet entrepreneurs of Nigeria, for creating and then using e-mail to distribute a bold series of short stories, thus introducing millions of readers to a cast of rich characters -- General Sani Abacha, Mrs. Mariam Sanni Abacha, Barrister Jon A Mbeki Esq., and others -- each of whom requires just a small amount of expense money so as to obtain access to the great wealth to which they are entitled and which they would like to share with the kind person who assists them. There were a few Australian winners (yay!), such as for physics, showing that pitch really does drip: John Mainstone and the late Thomas Parnell of the University of Queensland, Australia, for patiently conducting an experiment that began in the year 1927 -- in which a glob of congealed black tar has been slowly, slowly dripping through a funnel, at a rate of approximately one drop every nine years. REFERENCE: "The Pitch Drop Experiment," R. Edgeworth, B.J. Dalton and T. Parnell, European Journal of Physics, 1984, pp. 198-200. ...and for Biology, some really exhaustive work on frog odours: Benjamin Smith of the University of Adelaide, Australia and the University of Toronto, Canada and the Firmenich perfume company, Geneva, Switzerland, and ChemComm Enterprises, Archamps, France; Craig Williams of James Cook University and the University of South Australia; Michael Tyler of the University of Adelaide; Brian Williams of the University of Adelaide; and Yoji Hayasaka of the Australian Wine Research Institute; for painstakingly smelling and cataloging the peculiar odors produced by 131 different species of frogs when the frogs were feeling stressed. REFERENCE: "A Survey of Frog Odorous Secretions, Their Possible Functions and Phylogenetic Significance," Benjamin P.C. Smith, Craig R. Williams, Michael J. Tyler, and Brian D. Williams, Applied Herpetology, vol. 2, no. 1-2, February 1, 2004, pp. 47-82. REFERENCE: "Chemical and Olfactory Characterization of Odorous Compounds and Their Precursors in the Parotoid Gland Secretion of the Green Tree Frog, Litoria caerulea," Benjamin P.C. Smith, Michael J. Tyler, Brian D. Williams, and Yoji Hayasaka, Journal of Chemical Ecology, vol. 29, no. 9, September 2003. Unfortunately the kiwis were given an award, probably out of sympathy, for 'Agricultural History': James Watson of Massey University, New Zealand, for his scholarly study, "The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers." REFERENCE: "The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers: Reflections on an Aspect of Technological Change in New Zealand Dairy-Farming between the World Wars," James Watson, Agricultural History, vol. 78, no. 3, Summer 2004, pp. 346-60. I thought the Economics award was hilarious too, bringing cartoons to life: Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for inventing an alarm clock that runs away and hides, repeatedly, thus ensuring that people DO get out of bed, and thus theoretically adding many productive hours to the workday. Almost matching the longevity of the pitch experiment, and showing the kind of commitment to science that borders on the insane, was a Japanese guy who photographed every meal he ate for the last 34 years: Dr. Yoshiro Nakamats of Tokyo, Japan, for photographing and retrospectively analyzing every meal he has consumed during a period of 34 years (and counting). No, wait that guy is really just crazy. There was some controversy that ElBaradei won the Nobel peace prize, but the Ig Nobel Peace prize didn't even make sense. Maybe that's part of the wacky zanyness of it all. Claire Rind and Peter Simmons of Newcastle University, in the U.K., for electrically monitoring the activity of a brain cell in a locust while that locust was watching selected highlights from the movie "Star Wars." REFERENCE: "Orthopteran DCMD Neuron: A Reevaluation of Responses to Moving Objects. I. Selective Responses to Approaching Objects," F.C. Rind and P.J. Simmons, Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 68, no. 5, November 1992, pp. 1654-66. How would you like to have your genitals removed? Think about how dogs feel. This guy did: Gregg A. Miller of Oak Grove, Missouri, for inventing Neuticles -- artificial replacement testicles for dogs, which are available in three sizes, and three degrees of firmness. REFERENCES: US Patent #5868140, and the book Going Going NUTS!, by Gregg A. Miller, PublishAmerica, 2004, ISBN 1413753167. I'd just like to get the large ones fitted to a Chihuahua, 'it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the..' Yeah. And finally, two pieces of research that both could fit into fluid dynamics, the first is funny: Edward Cussler of the University of Minnesota and Brian Gettelfinger of the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin, for conducting a careful experiment to settle the longstanding scientific question: can people swim faster in syrup or in water? REFERENCE: "Will Humans Swim Faster or Slower in Syrup?" American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal, Brian Gettelfinger and E. L. Cussler, vol. 50, no. 11, October 2004, pp. 2646-7. The second is just disturbing: Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow of International University Bremen, Germany and the University of Oulu , Finland; and Jozsef Gal of Loránd Eötvös University, Hungary, for using basic principles of physics to calculate the pressure that builds up inside a penguin, as detailed in their report "Pressures Produced When Penguins Pooh -- Calculations on Avian Defaecation." PUBLISHED IN: Polar Biology, vol. 27, 2003, pp. 56-8.

Yes, but that doesn't change the second point I made. It would do little good for interupting the insurgency to invade Iran. If the US has the capacity to prevent the trafficking of arms, then they should simply do this in Iraq. Seal the border, or trade routes, interdict the arms in country, whatever. The point is that doing this is almost impossible, and so occupying Iran would do little to prevent the spread of arms.

Ok, I think that it could have been worded more precisely. The problem for me here is that an F16 could be dropping bombs in some way that wouldn't be considered terrorism, unless you are using the term loosely. So if it dropping bombs on a nearby military base, then you would say that it is simply taking part in normal warfare, the purpose is to defeat the enemy through the use of force. On the other hand, if it were bombing suburbs in order to cow the population, then you could call it terrorism, the purpose is to cause terror in the enemy populace. I'd suggest that the word 'terrorism' be used in those situations where the intention is to cause terror, rather than where people are terrorised.

Well electrolytes in water conduct electricity, and a salt bridge is electrolytes in water.

quantum, there are two major issues here. The first is that Iran is not the sole, or even the major, foreign contributer to the Iraqi insurgency. The second is that invading Iran would do little to control the spread arms. The US can't control the traffic of arms within Iraq, so why do you think it could control the traffic of arms in Iran, a much larger nation?

That doesn't make a lick of sense. Gandhi was a revolutionary patriot and he advocated non-violence, let alone terrorism.

It's a silly argument, really. I think awarding it to El Baradei is a reminder of how important preventing nuclear proliferation is, and it's something that would ring true with Bush. So it's a symbolic award, and if the US government has any sense they'll use it to focus on North Korea and Iran. In that sense, this is a gift to Bush, it can add a cretain credence to what he says.

The most recent paper about prions I saw news about was on how size of the prion particles affects how infectious they are, small being more infectious than large. I actually couldn't find the paper, but found this, which is pretty damn similar. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/nioa-nsc090605.php JR Silveira et al. The most infectious prion protein particles. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature03989

All's fair in love and war, as they say. Of course, that line doesn't hold up so well when the judge asks you to explain why you blew up the deceased car.

That's fine, it's not really an issue because the word defence is often used to mean 'defence of the nation and its interests' within defence bureaucracy, so it is broadened to mean whatever the politicians want to do with the forces. But my point was that China's military only operates only for the defence or security of China, whereas the US military operates over a much broader area. That's partly what I was saying by saying the US spends the money 'to provide security in the broad areas that the US economy relies on, North America, Europe and North Asia.' Ok, it's not the whole world, and if war actually broke out spending would have to rise, but there's alot of money spent to provide a big disincentive to people making war in these areas.

Well there's not much point comparing the US defence spending with China's, because the role of defence is not analogous in each state. I don't think any reasonable person would think that the US needs to spend that amount in order to simply assure the security of the US. The money is spent to provide security in the broad areas that the US economy relies on, North America, Europe and North Asia. You can look at the Iraq War as an attempt to extend this to the Middle East.

Well alot of the technology from the F/A-22 will carry over to the JSF, but I would be cautious about saying that that makes it nearly as capable. I think it will be a good air support aircraft. But I think it's a strange choice for a carrier aircraft, it has a small range and a single engine.

Shave off your hair and paste it to your face like a beard. Then when he's walking by, jump out from behind a bush and scare him.

Go, Mr. Lee!

Well that's the part where I think it falls down. There are connections at a global scale, but I don't see them working as a system to prevent damage. ...and it eats socks and Bic pens?

In Oz you can claim a form of welfare whilst a full time student. This is means tested both on you and your parents. The welfare is not a loan. In addition, you can apply a government supported place at a university. Most of the cost of the course is paid for by the government, the rest (~US$5,000 pa) is put on a no interest loan. This is essentially paid back in the form of a progressive tax on top of normal income tax. You can pay the fees (or some proportion of them) up front and get a 10% discount, and you can pay back more money than you are required to if you wish.

It causes severe mental retardation for people without phenylalanine hydroxylase, which ordinarily converts about three quarters of the phenylalanine to tyrosine, the rest of the phenylalanine then goes to be made into protein. The only way to avoid the retardation is to carefully limit the amount the amount of phenylalanine that the phenylketonuronics eat, so that they get enough to live (it's an essential amino acid, which humans can't synthesise, so they still need some) but not more than enough so it builds up and causes damage. This has to be done from birth to be effective, so there are routine tests for newborns. Interestingly enough, it's not known how the extra phenylalanine causes retardation.

It sells pop sci books.

It'll be interesting to see Russia's reaction. They still pursue foreign affairs policies that are fairly independent of US influence, so they probably don't want to be pushed around, in case it spreads to other situations.