1

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: What is the most asymmetrical animal?

« on: 27/09/2015 23:23:04 »

Still up to their shoddy tricks I see. I am posting this after they removed it. (Although I did instantiate one of my cyber golems to post it originally.) As you can see from this, it terrifies certain people.  Anybody want to make a side bet on how often this stupidity is repeated? (Hint: golems are very easy to instantiate ..."ad nauseum" here )

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Well played, Oxford!

"Bored_Chemist" is many things, but a Clown?  Funny?

Pecos_Bill wise up!

But I wonder why you  (Bored_chemist ) find it your personal mission in life to follow him continually about and hector him?

This thread began on September 16th. It lay here peacefully until the 23rd when Pecos_Bill had the temerity to make his opinion known at 3 AM.

You, Sir, showed up at 9AM that day to contradict him after seven days in which you had not enough interest to speak at all.

This same behavior was seen in the notorious GCSE dogfight - now locked away as too radioactive to be entered anymore.

This is the sort of thing that gives people nightmares about nuclear weapons in England. You see what you precipitated here ... over an obscure point of biology.

Here are a pair of concepts for you to meditate upon.

1. Live and let live.
2. Mind your own damned business.

For as Rodney King said - As the smoke was clearing in the LA riots, "Can't we all just get along?"

ADDENDUM: Because if you keep this up one of us has to go. And they can't keep me out.

2

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: How do I monitor lizards?

« on: 27/09/2015 22:42:29 »

How would you imagine that I care? The lizards don't, and you are still missing out on the sailing while the wine of life keeps oozing drop by drop.

But since you persist, maybe instead of inventing nanoscopic satellite trackers, you could train fruit flies to spy upon them in their crevices.

Then again there may be the odd clairvoyant kicking around here who would be happy to accept travel money and expenses for several weeks of his/her professional services.

Or perhaps after you invent teeny,tiny Television sets, you can teach them the beautiful game. Then when Heart of  Midlothian defeats Barcelona, you can locate their dens by the sound of their cheering.

As to your mal de mer some people swear by smoking the elixir of Egypt. That's not my style so I go with applying a scopalamine patch behind my left ear 8 hours before I embark. When I went out to the Farallons for the humongous rock cod found in that water, even the captain was barfing over the lee rail. Scopalamine might not work there, but it does fine going after ling cod around Monterey bay.

3

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: How do I monitor lizards?

« on: 27/09/2015 20:33:24 »

The technical aspect is subservient to the dictum that money makes the mare go.

Why speculate about the feasibility of nanometric satellite tracking devices to implant under your little reptilian neighbor's skin when you haven't got the money and could be out sailing a hobie cat around the island instead?

4

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: How do I monitor lizards?

« on: 27/09/2015 20:08:24 »

What is required, Sir, is money --- tres, boo coo, lots of money.

In the event that you do not have tres, boo coo, lots of money you will need a grant.

To get a grant you will have to explain why you think your lizards have more interesting lives than eat-> sleep in rock crevice -> eat -> sleep in rock crevice -> et cetera, etcetera and so forth - with occasional breaks for elimination and copulation.

Sounds kind of iffy to me. However the British Research Council is known to engage in flights of scientific whimsy and you might just luck out -- especially if you intimate that your lizards secretly worship images of Margaret Thatcher and sing "Rule Britannia" in subsonic frequencies.


Edit: As to "molon labe" it is all Greek to me. Just like the fascination with guns as penile substitutes, and the idea of dying for one's country. I am confronted with the profound stupidity of both every day here in America as I remember my comrades who gave their lives for a bunch of delusional old men's neo-colonial war. And one that the French had already lost to boot.

5

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: How do I monitor lizards?

« on: 27/09/2015 17:42:22 »

"Molon Labe"  was the reply the Spartans made at Thermopylae when the Persians asked them to lay down their weapons. "Come get them you suckas" in common American parlance.

I know this since it has become the watchword of the gun freaks here in America because people advocate restrictions of their "Gunny Boos". For instance not selling AK-47's - which may be converted to full automatic fire with 3 inches of wire - at local "gun shows" flea markets.

Ever a fearless lad, I will step up and wonder if "Come get them, you suckas" has the ready to purchase radio triangulation gear and the micro-miniature tagging devices to carry out this study?

6

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Why do we have hair under our armpits and the pubic area?

« on: 27/09/2015 04:03:48 »

[ A. ] Because some people prefer their partners to look like adults  -- and not like 6 year olds with an endocrine disorder.

[B.] It retains the pheremones better the more to deliver an uppercut to the lizard brain retained in the limbic system just caudal to the olfactory nerves. 

7

The Environment / Re: Is VW likely to have killed many people in the UK with their diesel cars?

« on: 27/09/2015 03:03:34 »

I will say no more of this. It was posted at 23:34 on a Saturday night. It, thus, graphically shows that the super-ego is soluble in ethanol - and in vino veritas.

The true nature of this person is evident in his own words.

I have heretofore tended to think the song "God Save England" was a sarcastic and unfair exagerration ... but after reading this....

Further, the Affiant sayeth not

8

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Why am I allergic to chicken and turkey?

« on: 26/09/2015 23:23:18 »

Except for a West African Ju Ju man, I can't think of a worse place to come for medical advice. This forum is crawling with charlatans and mooncalves.

Here is the web page of the British Society of Immunologists where you can click on "Find a Clinical Immunologist" and get professional medical advice from a British Immunologist. [1.]

Which reminds me of my Russian Immunologist story.

It seems I had occasion to take the train to Yektarienburg and a Russian immunologist shared my sleeper compartment from Novosibirsk. It being Spring and the Tiaga being flooded with Birch pollen I was trying to cough up a lung. The Immunologist offered to treat me, and I told him that I had my doubts about desensitization treatments since my colleague at Santa Cruz public health nurses had almost died from an anaphylactic paroxysm in the immunologists office following a treatment.

The Russian Immunologist spoke very candidly of his low opinion of western immunologists in general. So you may take that for what it is worth. You must pay your money and take your chance, but I recommend personally insisting on seeing the epinephrine is on hand before each treatment.

No poultry could be tough. Can you eat Salmon?  How about Gumbo z'herbes or a mushroom omelet?

[1.] https://www.immunology.org/page.aspx?pid=1708

9

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Is there any way to stop a nose from running?

« on: 26/09/2015 21:18:36 »

I will give you my best answer without exploiting your distress for a cheap laugh. I am currently getting over a cold while in the midst of a heat wave. Hardly seem fair does it?

Your nose is running as part of your body's effort to defend itself. In the case of an allergic reaction then the way to stop it is to deal with the allergy.

If, as me, you are in dubious battel with a cold virus your nose is running so you don't get pneumonia and drop off the twig. The snot is flowing because it contains antibodies from the humoral arm of your immune system. IgA is in the first line of shock troops. The snot also mechanically removes virus particles so they can attack the other people on the tube.

Stopping the snot is ill-advised. It will stop once the danger is over. Until then take steamy showers, drink Labsong souchong tea for hydration, and be sure to go in to work because the boss deserves a case of that stuff too. if the snot turns green or you get a fever you should phone your doctor

Pecos_Bill has a bright red bandana to blow his nose with. He has stayed home today so he can rest and annoy despicable people.  Yippie-Ki-Yi-Yay!


******************
Upon reflection and another half liter of Labsang tea, I note that you have sinus trouble, if that is previously diagnosed - and not your personal impression - and if you are too messed up to work, I would request a consult from EENT or whatever they call the critters in England. If you haven't been previously diagnosed then I would take another week's time to see if it doesn't improve.

Always assuming that you can avoid tobacco smoke and stuff like that. if you can't avoid it. then I'm afraid you may well just need to learn to whistle.

10

The Environment / Re: Is VW likely to have killed many people in the UK with their diesel cars?

« on: 26/09/2015 20:39:02 »

I am  disgusted by this callous and nonchalant regard for human lives  and suffering... to say nothing of the carefree disregard of the needless drain on the NHS budget.

Is it any wonder that the SNP wants freedom from being yoked alongside brutes like this?

My data is not from the daily mail. I repeat it again..

Public Health England’s (PHE) figures suggest that PM2.5 is a major cause of disease in London, and at least as important as road accidents, communicable disease, liver disease and suicide, and ranks up to 5th overall

Furthermore his statement that "whereas the particulate figures are speculative" shames every honest person in Britain. This man is fully aware that "PM 2.5" refers to particulate matter of 2.5 mm.

11

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: What is the most asymmetrical animal?

« on: 26/09/2015 20:06:30 »

The question of the most asymmetrical animal - which happens to be the matter at hand - depends upon a clear and rigorous definition of symmetry or everything else said is nonsense.

Symmetry is a mathematical abstract of reality...just like arithmetic...

Stop the music!   Stop the music!

Mr. Evan_au Sir! Why do you let this snotty Oxonian clown pull an egg-sucking stunt like that and then erase my own measured (but justified) response... without having the decency to tell the readers what you have done?

Apparently the forum rules which you prattle on and on about are applied differently to Oxonians but we hoi polloi  must submit to their ridicule and humiliations in meek silence.

Well Shuck you, Farly- you and your under-handed snotty "bored_chemist" Oxford, Pal  I didn't start this, you pair of cowards.

Because I am the man who is about to teach you the you-don't-know-the-half-of-it-Buddy Blues.

Put'em up you asshats.

12

General Science / Re: How do I succeed in mechatronics?

« on: 26/09/2015 19:44:54 »

Счастли́вого пути́

13

The Environment / Re: Is VW likely to have killed many people in the UK with their diesel cars?

« on: 26/09/2015 19:04:05 »

I have previously said here...

The way to do  that (achieve clean air) is to use 4th generation nuclear power to energize electric vehicles.

To say that I haven't addressed this problem here is just plain common.

This is the Naked Scientists open science forum -- not the Oxford faculty club. This petty behavior detracts from the usefulness of these discussions and is deplorable.

It is particularly deplorable when we are discussing the health and welfare of human beings in general and the people of London in particular.

As to the ignorant falsehood that "air pollution isn't killing in droves like it used to" I repeat the previously entered statement which was purchased by the city of London for its peoples' welfare.

Public Health England’s (PHE) figures suggest that PM2.5 is a major cause of disease in London, and at least as important as road accidents, communicable disease, liver disease and suicide, and ranks up to 5th overall. [op.cit ]

14

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: What is the most asymmetrical animal?

« on: 26/09/2015 18:27:59 »

I repeat ..

 "A geometric shape or object is symmetric if it can be divided into two or more identical pieces that are arranged in an organized fashion. Can you do that with the images I showed?"

Apparently not.


All the smoke and mirrors  -- all the sound and fury -- here has obscured that fact.

Oxford, eh?

I was taught how to put my case more strongly than that at Stanislaus State College, Turlock, California.

And they enrolled me straight out of the Army with no high school diploma - only a GED certificate - for $600/ semester.

15

Technology / Re: Why do we still use passwords instead of digital signatures?

« on: 26/09/2015 18:07:31 »

An asymmetric (" public key") digital signature system can be easily instituted with the use of a thumb drive. So the supposition that it would not be feasible at point-of-service (like an ATM) is ridiculous.

As I said in the original message (which was conveniently ignored) I wrote this using Thunderbird email with the enigmail extension - both of them are free. It was no more trouble to do than sending an unsigned message from my gmail account. Had I sent it to someone using Thunderbird/enigmail it would have come up in plain text like any other email with an indication on the toolbar that it had been confirmed as an unaltered message from someone with access to my secret key - and I keep that puppy on a personal thumbdrive on my keychain.

Had I wished to do so the entire message could have been encrypted and signed (and decrypted and confirmed) just as easily. In the recent movie about Edward Snowden, we saw that is how he communicates privily with his contacts -- and they with him.

Why is this not used more often? The US government sued Phillip Zimmerman, its creator, for exporting "war materials"------ unsuccessfully.

Make your own conclusions about it - and why the idea was poo-poo'd here - for yourselves.


*****************

Upon reviewing evan_au's post, I am reminded that the break-in at OPM stole the fingerprints of everyone who had worked - or applied to work - for the federal government in the past 20 years.

You would be well-served by watching John Oliver's interview with Edward Snowden about secure passwords.[1.]

But Snowden still uses asymmetric - public key - cryptography for anything serious.

[1.]

16

The Environment / Re: Is VW likely to have killed many people in the UK with their diesel cars?

« on: 26/09/2015 17:42:31 »

It amazes me to see how lightly the empiricism of John Locke and Francis Bacon has infected the medieval scholasticism of the naked scientists.

To put that in the broad scots, "Why don't you people deploy some recce, open the window and see for yourselves?"

Public Health England’s (PHE) figures suggest that PM2.5 is a major cause
of disease in London, and at least as important as road accidents, communicable
disease, liver disease and suicide, and ranks up to 5th overall.

-A review of recent primary epidemiological evidence on the health risks of air
pollution for the City of London Corporation, including quantitative estimates of the
effects in Central London [1.]

Apparently the naked scientists have many among them who are tired of living.

This phenomenon is denoted by the verb "autodarwinate". What we see here is a segment of the human species autodarwinating.

For those who may be interested in making old bones, here is a map of air pollution in London.

http://www.londonair.org.uk/london/asp/annualmaps.asp

Those who think it is a significant endeavour to sit around talking about VW should have their Mommy's put them to bed, because the hour is late for such babes in the woods.


[1.] https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/business/environmental-health/environmental-protection/air-quality/Documents/Impacts-Of-Air-Pollution-On-Health.pdf

17

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: How do radio waves work?

« on: 26/09/2015 08:46:32 »

Radio waves are so much easier to understand when you ignore those tacky Maxwell Equations.

They are, after all, partial differential equations and so much more complicated than take away and "goes into" stuff.

I mean really, you turn it on and tune in the station. Naked scientists, wise up!

18

Technology / Re: Which route is more fuel-efficient?

« on: 26/09/2015 08:37:05 »

Assuming that you have a rear wheel drive vehicle, if you back up the incline you will get better traction when the wheels pull you up the hill than if you go up in whatever gear pushing the car forward in drive.

That way will use the less gas.

19

Chemistry / Re: Why are materials such as some metals always colder than room temperature?

« on: 26/09/2015 05:49:03 »

Perhaps i can help with a klein, bissel, wenig Gedankenexperiment, Nicht wahr?

Imagine that it is 60 degrees with a 10 mph wind and you are mother naked under a suit of chain mail. ( The thermal conductivity of 1% carbon steel is 43) Do you feel cold?

Now you take off the chain mail and dress yourself in wool trousers and a nice thick wool sweater.  ( The thermal conductivity of wool is 0.07) Do you still feel cold?

Don't try this at home kids. You could catch your death.

20

Technology / Re: Why do we still use passwords instead of digital signatures?

« on: 26/09/2015 05:04:39 »

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I'm afraid that I haven't a clue. People are so lazy and gullible.

I used Thunderbird email with the enigmail extension to sign this..

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
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