Acme

As I pointed out, Ben used ridicule quite a lot in his writings and those writings meant for the general populace. The outright rejection of science for creationism or any other religious tenet, folklore, or such other matters that fly in the face of logic and reason is ridiculous and therefore worthy of ridicule. Ridicule is a time honored means of public instruction from Aristophanes to Mark Twain to George Carlin, and ever shall it remain so. While Moontanman might risk losing his friend if he ridiculed her, what kind of friend is she for her treatment of him? None much I say. He may chose to ridicule her or not to her face in deference to the two of them specifically, but in a public forum such as this the ridicule is just and due. Even peace may be purchased at too high a price. ~ Ben Franklin

That's ok, but most people are not intellectual so it's not going to be a very effective tool in significantly altering the global or national statistics in favour of a scientifically held viewpoint. It merely serves as possible amusement for some of the scientifically-literate bystanders. A perfect example of an intellectual for which such a device would work ...he's not representative of the vast majority of people. Keeping in mind he was a boy at the time, which is of course not say he wasn't an intellectual boy. Nevertheless chadyn make a blanket assertion without equivocation and I meant to counter it in support of Phi for all's qualified assertion. Moreover Ben didn't simply write for intellectuals, he wrote for common people. Some other apt quotes while I find a source for his response when church leaders opposed lightening rods on churches, inspite of bell-ringers suffering a high casualty rate from lightening strikes. Edit: Ooooppssss. Forgot those devices of Ben's. "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." "Those things that hurt, instruct." "To follow by faith alone is to follow blindly."

Or not. To whit: source: http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/autobiography/page05.htm So to Ben at least, ridicule of himself was helpful. Moreover he employed it in many instances of his writing and no few of those directed toward religion and/or religious tenets. If you wish, I can cite a few examples related to science.

I...uhh....erhm.... am adrift in paraphrase and don't really know what I'm talking aboat. I am disillusioned enough to know that no person's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine INFORMATION to make them really know what they're talking about. ~ H. P. LoveCRAFT

No worries. I did not mean to suggest they bit themselves. In the article Charon linked to it says "Following exposure to S. invicta venom, N. fulva applies abdominal exocrine gland secretions to its cuticle." As they don't specify how the application is accomplished I wouldn't presume if it's done with the mandibles, legs, antennae or whatever. I do note however they specifically refer to crazy ants as having venom. >> "Further, formic acid, from N. fulva venom, ..." So again to my speculation about N. fulva bites and how they may incorporate their abdominally secreted 'venom' with said bite. I earlier suggested they might bite (a victim) and then apply the venom to the bite site, but in retrospect I'd also suggest/speculate that perhaps they rub their mandibles into the secretions first and then bite. Just thinking out loud. Interesting stuff to be sure.

Sorry for the delay Mike... life intervened. Not sure what more I have. On the Polynesians I seem to recall hearing they took something of a backward view of land/sea from that of continent dwellers such that their equivalent of an island would be a lake. Moreover, they seem generally only to want to leave an island in order to get to another island rather than to undertake an adventure to new horizons as your model/metaphor proposes. Re-reading my link I found this quote related to the above insomuch as Polynesians were not aspiring to some greater goal. While other research seems to counter the limited maritime expertise to some degree it does not appear to counter my proposition that Polynesians were interested only in island living. For an interesting take on the hows, whys, and wherefores of Western civilization taking a different path from more-or-less the same starting point -say island(s)- as the rest of the peopled world, I recommend Guns, Germs, and Steel. I have not read the book, but watched the PBS show of the same name. Luck is as luck does and the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley. Bon voyage!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel

Most people don't have the "well-founded" education and self control you have and you assume they have. Obesity is getting worse. Look around you and see how huge people become, because they are alway hungry. Something needs to be done. Maybe invent appetite suppressants and add them to our precious processed foods, so people eat what their body needs and not more. I confess I carry around an extra 20 lbs, just because I cannot lose that weight, because to do so means I will need to cut my food consumption in half, and even eating HEALTHY food is also too much fun for me. You cannot compare vitamin and mineral supplements with food that is engineered to be so appealing that many people cannot resist eating in excess. No doctor will prescribe candy to cure anything. ... CVS should remove junk foods from the check stand and replace them with healthy snacks. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I did not mean to imply that people -in general- have well-founded education about diet and health, rather that every effort to convey that education is worthwhile. Toward that end I think shows like Dr. Oz are helpful for adults/parents and instruction on nutrition in schools and kids TV shows for the tikes. The food processors and sellers -such as CV- are not on the side of our health regardless of their propaganda. They are on the side of money. The fatter we are, the fatter their wallets are. The issue of self-control in consumption is a broader problem than just food, as people expect their wants to be filled and filled now. This has become something of a birthright in the Western world beginning after WWII and I see no easy path to breaking that nut. Perhaps when we-all start running out o' stuff, we-all will start doing without stuff. :shrug:

A coastline more than looks like a fractal, it is a fractal; that is to say a coastline has a fractional dimension. Measure its length with ever smaller rulers and it gets longer and longer and longer wheras the area it bounds remains static. Well, what I really came for was to post an image of a Polynesian navigation aid. It has a flavor of your art Mike, and at the same time illustrates that there is no one model leading from -or to- an island. Models are as models do. source: Polynesian Navigation @ Wiki >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation

Never join a group whose symbol is a guy nailed to a piece of wood. ~ George Carlin There is no convincing a true believer, but here's a site dedicated to the proposition that it never hurts -too much- to try. Keep in mind it's fear they want to evoke in you/us. One person with courage is a majority ~ T. Jefferson An Index to Creationist Claims >> http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/

I just gave a reference saying otherwise, regardless of whether or not they bite Fire Ants. Did you miss that, or do you find fault with it?

Well, in regard the Tawny ant, while they lack a stinger, they do use the formic acid as a poison in attacks and as the definition says a venom is a poison 'transmitted by a bite or sting' and if they bite and then transmit the formic acid from abdomen to bite site, then I reapply your misapply. http://urbanentomology.tamu.edu/ants/rasberry.html I wonder if a human victim of Fire Ant attack would find any relief rolling about in Stinging Nettles?

Interesting. Particularly in that your link says formic acid is the detoxifying agent when formic acid is a common toxin among ants. In fact formic acid takes its name from the Latin name for ant, formica. Formic acid is also the toxin that gives Stinging Nettle its sting. resource: http://hubpages.com/hub/Formic-Acid-Dangers-and-Uses-in-Nature-and-in-Humans I don't think venom is misapplied in this case. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/venom Reading further in my link they give this on the Fire Ant toxin. I'm no chemist so I'm in no position to judge the Ph here.

http://fair-use.org/bertrand-russell/the-principles-of-mathematics/ Russell's The Principles of Mathematics seems a reasonable foundational menu even today. Bon appétit!

Always some contradiction in your preface. I don't want to mention this but... I don't want to brag but... But I digress...on to the nut of the matter. Alas the vitamins & supplements are about on par with the Cadbury chocolate, which arguably contains antioxidants. People are as people do and there is no substitute for well-founded education and self control when it comes to good health. http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1789253 Annals of Internal Medicine Enough Is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

Here's a slide show of 27 benefits humans gain by grooming/petting and otherwise interacting with their domestic pets. I have quoted a caption from just one slide; full banana at the link. While I don't see any references to specific studies the reference to cortisol and serotonin suggest such studies have been done. http://pets.webmd.com/ss/slideshow-pets-improve-your-health

I better let imatfaal make his own clarification as I took a slightly different approach. So what I did was with C found to be 58 I then reasoned since A & B are the smallest two and D & E the largest two, then C is the middle weight. So any pairing to give 121 has to have both terms greater than 58. There are only 2 possibilities: 60+61 & 59+62. But, if you let E=61, then E + C = 119 and that weight's not on the list, so the answer is D=59 and E=62. Similarly I found A & B. Hope that's helpful; thanks for playing.

Correct! Implicit in your approach is that one has to realize the lightest pair-weight must be from the lightest 2 pails and the heaviest pair-weight from the heaviest 2 pails. Nice work and thanks for playing.

Hope this is new here; didn't see it scanning the category. 5 pails of water are weighed two at a time in each possible pairing producing the following list. What is the weight, in pounds, of each of the 5 pails of water? 110 lbs. 112 lbs. 113 lbs. 114 lbs. 115 lbs. 116 lbs. 117 lbs. 118 lbs. 120 lbs. 121 lbs.

Curse you Mr. Wizard! Just admit it's a worthless gimcrack we can all do without. Edit: speeling air

True dat. More to the point, who needs that 'feature' anyway? It's no more efficient -arguably less- to check your e-mail as opposed to check the site. The less efficient being if you do have an e-mail notice and want to reply you end up here anyway and have essentially wasted a little bit of your precious life checking for notification that you need to waste a bit more life some place else. Just one more gizmo and doodad forum writers throw on to make their product look better to buyers. Doesn't matter if it doesn't work either because after all by the time that becomes apparent you already have made the sale. Now if you'll excuse me I have to check my e-mail to see if notification is working to see if anyone replied to this notification problem yet. Five steps closer to death.

Other than being prohibitively expensive, I see nothing 'wrong' with it. We're herbivores evolved to eat both meat and plant. You betcha! Better we get back to the wonderful individual practice of butchering our own meat in the yard. Damn civilization and modern practices!! Then why post it? Again, we are evolved omnivores. Everything in moderation Chuck. So you will provoke an argument and then not defend the provocation? Nice work! Soylent Green is people!!! Or if you prefer, Johnathan Swift's modest proposal to eat children. "I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust. "

Perhaps this is OT, but the door was opened. You represent a common misconception -if not insidious meme- in understanding scientific thought and progress. You show the contradiction yourself because most certainly those 3 historical characters knew full well what went before, i.e. they did their due diligence in research. No one discovers anything of import in a knowledge vacuum. Back on topic, a good programming language to learn is one that does what you need. I first learned GW-Basic (we called it Gee Whiz Basic back then). Later took some required course work in Pascal but never used it outside of class. Now when I need programming I tell someone what I want done and let them choose the language and work out themselves what isn't giving me what I asked for.

Mmmmmm.... Seems like a passel o' disconnects, diversions, and doubtful discombobulations here to me. The opening post claims a general interest in a poorly defined detriment in a highly skilled circumstance and the poster now has moved to talking about a personal connection which won't be talked about. Fire him/her? I'd have to hire him/her to do that and if an interview went anything like this thread my bs detector would be all a'buzz. I know who you are and I saw what you did.

I recommend a protractor. A sorta silly interlocution.

Errors and ambiguities aside, electric drag boats have been around for a number of years. http://www.seattleoutboard.org/electric.html Now you know the rest of the story.