Mokele

The quote originates from the cult-classic zombie-horror-comedy "Army of Darkness", the sequel to Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. I *strongly* recommend all of them, especially Army of Darkness. It's *hysterical*. Mokele

But quartz crystals are transparent, and they're crystaline, ditto for diamonds. And merucry is liquid, yet not transparent.

Nah, Gaboon vipers are pretty, and Kerry's far too ugly to have any of their genes. Though I suspect he'd win a lot of votes if he could exhibit their level of cranial kinesis. "I should be president because I can not only defend America, but also because I can swallow a turkey whole!" Mokele

<Bruce Campbell> "This....is my BOOM STICK!!" </Bruce Campbell>

So, why is it that glass permitts so many different frequencies through, as opposed to just one or two?

It's actually the reverse: Oxygen does not disolve in water to anywhere near the concentration it does in air. Thus, if you ventilate your respiratory surfaces with 1L of water and 1L of air, you'll get much more O2 from the air. To my knowledge, the only vertebrates that have returned to gills from lungs are some amphibians like sirens and Necturus (mudpuppies) which are neotenic (basically remaining in larval form, but becoming sexually mature). yep, from lizards/diapsids, though which group is a contentious issue. Others have actually already answered this, but I feel I should add one more note: Killer Whales are not actually whales; they're the largest species of dolphin, iirc. On a slightly related note, I've actually considered basing of my occaisional sci-fi stories on a species that evolved mostly independently of both land and light, around the deep-sea thermal vents. But, well, that's fiction... Mokele

Well, as I'm sure others will point out, how smart they actually were depends not just on brain size, but how big certain areas were, as well as other factors. To be totally honest, brain size, even compared to body size isn't necessarily a good indicator of intelligence. Some of the larger varanid lizards are pretty low on the brain:body ratio, but are cable of amazing (and sometimes frightening/dangerous) displays of intelligence and rapid learning when given suitable motivation (which pretty much means "food"). IMHO, the best way to establish the intellect of this species of Homo will be the tools we hopefully will find. Of course, that's also not a perfect measure, but hey, when it's been dead a long time, you have to take what you can get for info. Mokele

"We're, um, evaluating the flight sim. Yeah. For the past 7 hours."

I don't suppose anyone here has seen the film Demolition Man, eh? Very funny sci-fi film with Wesley Snipes and Sylvester Stallone, in which both of them get frozen and wind up in the future. At one point, Stallone happens to find out that Arnold became president (complete with having the "natural born" requirement overturned because of his popularity). The best part is this movie was made *way* before Arnold showed any interest in politics. Creepy, how life can immitate art, eh? Mokele

Even though I've not been here long, I'll add my voice to the list of congrats. Regardless of who you're voting for, the country would be better off if everyone did as you do and actually *thought* about their choice.

::reads the article:: So politicans are corrupt and the American public has the collective IQ of a moderately retarded tunicate. Why is this observation noteworthy? Mokele

Actually, dinosaur red blood cells would have DNA. AFAIK, it's only mammals who have RBCs that lack nuclei. Reptiles, birds, and all other vertebrates have nucleated red blood cells. Ostriches/emus would be a place to start for the smaller species of dinosaurs, I guess. Mokele

Actually, while I agree that the subject of the original post is a scam, it brings up some interesting psychological points: How would a human mind (assuming no degeneration due to time) react to immortality? Would we be able to take it? Would particular psychopathologies be common in those who are immortal? Mokele

Actually, the biggest thing I credit for my current mental capacity is debate. Having my beliefs challenged, explaining them, examining those of others, and debating them haven't necessarily made me think faster, but I've become a lot more aware of logical faults in both other's thinking and my own (and corrected my own logical faults when found), and it's helped me think more critically and logically. I think of debate as analagous to martial arts for the mind. Sheer strength, in mind or muscle, doesn't do any real good if it's not applied well. And, in turn, if you use your mind well, you can best even those with more raw intelect than you. Mokele

Turn a switch on, leave it on for maybe 5 minutes, then go upstairs and feel the bulb. If it's warm, then the bulb was turned on by that switch. Then call the landlord and yell at him about the motion detector turning your light off.

Quite understandable, though one thing does stick out to me... I have to disagree with this; many human societies have done quite well for themselves while not respecting individual rights of all people. I don't think that makes it right, but merely would point out that such respect for universal individual rights is not actually necessary for survival. To use an example, Rome practiced slavery as well as human rights abuses that make modern people cringe, but they, as a society not only survived and prospered, but created a vast empire that lasted for many centuries. As I said, I'm not saying that makes such things right, merely that they aren't a necessity for survival or social cohesion in all cases. Mokele

But would there be situations in which their creation *would* be ethical, in your eyes? And is it the creation you object to, or the subsequent use? Do you believe those two facets of the question can be truly decoupled; is the act of creation of human hybirds itself wrong or right, or is it always contingent upon purpose? Mokele

Yep. Over here, at least in the southern US, "swamp" usually refers to the bayous, wetlands, deltas, etc. Typically, those places are high in nutrients, and defined as swamps by the presence of gators, more or less. "Bog", I believe, is the term in use for carnivorous plant style habitat. Frustrating, an ex of mine from Minnesota used "swamps" to refer to "bogs", so evidently this isn't the case universally. But even still, the trick is just not to plant them. Instead, I keep mine outdoors in pots, with the pots placed in a tray of distilled water to keep them damp. Mokele

Well, I'm personally on the "other" position, for reasons that have been covered already, but I'm suprised nobody has brought up the first thing that came to my mind: "Hrm, why might human-ape hybrids be bad? Who's seen the original Planet of the Apes?" Mokele

Very interesting, and I've learned a lot from working with them (one of the grad students I work with is using them in her project). One thing I *have* learned is never, ever EVER put your hand near their mouths, especially the big Protopterus dolloi (some of ours are over 2 feet long and nearly 5 inches in diameter). My co-worker got nailed *bad* from one, and she's heard of someone who lost a finger to one. Aside from that, though, they're all kinds of neat. Mokele

Actually, not necessarily. In insects, it's thought that wings first evolved as thermoregulatory organs, and then became aerodynamicly efficient for drifting on the breeze (I'm not really sure if that counts cas "gliding" because it doesn't involve laminar flow and the usual concept of lift, but rather relies on turbulence and boundary layer effects and vorticies). Well, the phylogeny that seems most reasonable to me says a bit of both: there were proto-feathers long before flight, and around about gliding simple feathers came about, then advanced feathers (like modern ones) later. Of course, a lot of it is hypothetical, and there's still the issue of which preceded which. Mokele

I downloaded the whole thing over 56K modem, and it was worth every second! The bowtie comment was stellar! Mokele

I think of it this way: The ID card is just a way of confirming your identity by matching you and your card with computer records. Similarly, we could use retinal scanners or fingerprint scanners instead of ID cards, (if it were cost-effective), with the same effect. Plus you can't lose those. ...Ok, well, you can, but not having ID would be the least of your worries then... Damn! Bruce Wayne

Well, I was in aerospace grad school not so long ago, and while computer simulations are now a big thing, as are computer controls for wind tunnels and the models in them, as far as I know, it's pretty much the same. Mokele

Actually, I live in southern Ohio (central US, temperate clime with snow in winter for those who aren't in the US), and I grew them just fine outside, with the exception of the tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes genus). American pitcher plants actually are usually frost tolerant and can be found in bogs as far north as southern Canada in some species' cases. The Venus Flytrap is actually native along the Atlantic coast as far north as New Jersey. The cobra plant lives in Oregon, and I actually can't grow it because my location is too warm during the summer. Many sundews (especially the cape sundew) are cool or cold tolerant, as are some of the lesser-known carnivores, like Heliamphora, Pingicula, and Utricularia. In fact, the only group I know of that has no cool-tolerant members is Nepenthes, the giant tropical pitcher plants. So in short, it's not hopeless for those in cool climates. And a terrarium with grow-lights does wonders too. Mokele