The thread still goes on? I can't believe it. But then, I'm a scientist—I don't believe anything.
More like this
A number of my Sciblings have taken up the challenge of the last "Ask A ScienceBlogger" question, "Why do you blog, and how does blogging help you with your research?" (See for example Alice and Janet and PhysioProf and Grrl and DrugMonkey.)
I am not currently involved in research, nor am I even…
I'm sitting at the dining room table eating lunch, when I get the feeling of being watched. I look around, and see the dog across the room, curled up on her pillows staring at me. She's quietly chanting to herself "I get stuff. I get stuff. I get stuff."
"You're not trying that hypnosis thing again…
Jess is looking for posts about outreach that we've done. I'd like to talk about outreach that other people have done.
This month, many of the bloggers here at Sb have been participating in Donors Choose, a campaign to raise money for schools. October is a crazy month for anyone who goes to the…
Yeesh — I don't think this game is going to take the world by storm. It's calledCrevoScope, and it's a "text-based massively multiplayer game", which somehow is supposed to simulate the evolution-creationism debate, without actually requiring players to learn or know anything. It's got some weird…
OK, so here go the other two:
this is probably rather average but I could be surprised
this could be good staple food
Jesus... I can feel the cold in that one.
Wow.
well, based on personal experience, I am most awake and productive in the middle of the night, and any and all attempts at returning to a daylight schedule result in grogginess and first signs of depression. so I'd rather pass and stay up all night.
I'm looking at what Obama is doing now, it's getting a bit old to defend him by comparisons to "Fearless Flightsuit". The problem with the Iraq invasion was that it was fucking illegal, not that they didn't bring enough troops. And Obama's general is not Shinseki, but McChrystal, who oversaw torture and assassinations in Iraq.
Winding down the wars would be progress, but "Obama has now escalated deployments in the Af-Pak region to 98,000 US troops. So in Af-Pak and Iraq, he will now have a total of 222,000 US troops deployed, 36,000 more than Bush ever had - 186,000 was Bush’s highest total."
Saw a couple of comments this morning that I thought were molly worthy, then it turned out both of them already had mollys. Damn, I'm running out of people to nominate.
Call for pharyngulation...
http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2009/12/creationists-sa.html
That one is definitely a pharyngular worthy candidate-pharyngulate pharyngy-ness thingymabob.
There is now enough snow on the local range (Gatineaus) that the one largeish hill therein (Mont Ste-Marie) is promising to be open Saturday...
This is a good thing for me. Insofar as I have gone and agreed with my lovely wife that she can hit Tremblant (Laurentians--2 hrs from here) Sunday and I'll cover. I figure I can do Ste-Marie Saturday now. Which is a pretty decent consolation, actually.
(/Tho' probably, they won't have much open, I'm also not really quite in shape for this yet anyway, as I only really ramped up strength training a few weeks ago... So all in all, keeping it simple will probably be a good thing.)
TypePad is hosed AGAIN. It wouldn't let me sign in, saying that I needed an email address even though it gave an email address on the previous screen. Fortunately Moveable Type let me sign up.
http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2009/12/creationists-sa.html
Rave reviews for Signature in the Cell...
"Meyers honestly takes you where the evidence leads,"
"Signiture in the Cell - a real eye opener"
"Best book on the origin of life to come along in years!"
"A death blow to Neo-Dawinism and Richard Dawkins!"
"Great Teaching Resource!"
"Excellent read"
I'm calling Poe on the "Signiture in the Cell - a real eye opener" one though!
Epikt @122, Leland shoots mostly large-format. You can see a photo of his actual camera on my website. Just scroll to the bottom of the the page to see the camera.
Josh @127
That's because you've been out there, as I have, winter camping, staying out all night, and getting up to find everything that was not inside your sleeping bag frozen.
Here's another one -- Red Rock Pass, on the Continental Divide. Leland and I camped there overnight, and in the morning we had to take batteries out of the light meter and warm them in our inner pockets to get them to work. We both had on expedition parkas, felt-lined boots, hats plus hoods, and mittens plus liners. The day was cold enough that the snow gave off a squeak when we walked around camp. It was painful, but extraordinarily beautiful. Late October, IIRC. That's Nemesis Mountain in the Centennial Range, an east-west running line of peaks that define the Idaho/Montana border for about forty miles.
'Tis Himself, Typepad let me sign in. What have you done wrong lately?
Speaking of doing wrong, the latest word from the mormons is that "The Adversary" [satan] is on the internet, and he's just waiting to snatch your soul.
Yep. Yep.
Yep.
I just spent a while browsing. Just...great stuff.
SciBlog doesn't seem to be telling TypePad that it needs to return the e-mail address. That started when they added then new items to the menu.
"Yes, Virginia, there is no god," signs censored in Las Vegas. Oh, yeah, let's get all righteous about protecting god and christmas in the City of Sin!
It's not just/always that. I'm seeing the same multiple failure modes we had before. Sometimes one does get to the "do you want to pass on your email?" question (which shows that TypeKey/typepad is aware of Sb's needs). However, Sb then generates the big page of error text anyway on return of control to it (because it has forgotten all about typepad being a valid option).
"Share and Enjoy" (But with Real geology! And fossils!!)
In the last incarnation of "The dread Thread" #875 I introduced the Herefordshire lagerstätte. ("Thread meet lagerstätte, lagerstätte meet thread - I hope you'll get on really well ...")
The remainder here is a bit more scientific but less fun (Ed. Shame!).
The single quarry location is classified as a Konservat-Lagerstätte i.e. there is exceptional preservation with the soft parts of animals and even entire soft-bodied animals being preserved. According to one of those working in the field:
(Ref. 1 see next message)
The academics have collected about 4,000 of the cherry to grapefruit-sized concretions and have found about half of those they have opened to contain soft-bodied fossils. As well as those that give the site the status of a Konservat-Lagerstätte there are enough "ordinary" macrofossils (brachiopods, graptolites) and microfossils (chitinozoan palynomorphs and radiolaria) to show that it corresponds approximately to the level of the Sheinwoodian-Homerian stage boundary within the Silurian Wenlock Series (426.2 ±2.4 Ma).
The softbodied invertebrates are beautifully preserved in extraodinary detail in 3 dimensions (Ref.2). The faunas were overwhelmed by volcanic ash, either directly or by ash being carried by currents. One fossil shows how a worm-like fauna made efforts to escape before it finally expired. Decomposition of the soft-bodied animals left a void which was in-filled by crystalline calcite to produce a cast of the specimen (think about the lost wax process of foundry casting as a [poor] analogy).
The problem has been how to "release" these exquisite miniature fossils from a matrix which is chemically similar. Since the matrix is predominantly calcite it is not possible to free the fossils by solution in acid. Initially, many were broken open at random and attempts were made to reconstruct the animal by looking at the fracture surfaces. Some information was obtained but it became clear that this was not an effective way of investigating such precious samples.
The specimens are now examined by grinding back about 20 microns at a time and taking photographs that are digitally stored and processed to give a 3D image of the animal (which, of course, is destroyed in the process). The 3D image can be presented with false colours or even "printed" as an enlarged 3D model by using laser-fused plastic powder.
I find the methods used to investigate the fossils fascinating but it is the results that matter. What have they found, what has it contributed to palaeontology? To answer such questions is beyond my knowledge. Sufficient to say that outside of this single quarry there is little detailed information on soft-bodies faunas for this period of geological history. It helps, therefore, to fill a gap in our knowledge of the history of life and will help to resolve issues about the relationships and evolution of various groups of animals.
(See next thread for references from the text and other information)
References for #142
Ref 1 A good (free) place to start. The notes of a lecture given to a mixed group.
http://www.shropshiregeology.org.uk/sgspublications/Proceedings/2008%20…
Ref 2 A meaty paper, hiding behind a paywall, which goes into detail about the taphonomy of the lagerstätte. Essential reading if you want to go into detail of the petrology and taphonomy:
Patrick J Orr et al. (2000), "Three-dimensional preservation of a non-biomineralised arthropod in concretions in Silurian volcaniclastic rocks from Herefordshire, England", Journal of the Geological Society, London, (2000), Vol 157, pp 173-186.
Ref 3. Methods and resulting 3D structures (rather than detailed assessment of the implications of the result) and free!
"Methodologies for the Visualization and Reconstruction of Three-Dimensional Fossils from the Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstatte" by Sutton et al.
http://palaeo-electronica.org/2001_1/s2/s2.pdf
To follow on from #142 and #143
Other papers of interest but not directly referred to in #142:
Ref 4
An excellent recent general introduction (and free!) with plenty of photographs, mostly taken from other papers. About 20 references to technical papers. Hence this is probably a good place to start if you want to find out where to find the peer reviewed papers relating to specific specimens and their implications:
"Virtual Fossils from 425 Million-year-old Volcanic Ash"
Subtitle: A set of exceptionally preserved but difficult-to-extract fossils reveals the diverse creatures from a Silurian sea-floor community
Derek E. Briggs, Derek J. Siveter, David J. Siveter, Mark D. Sutton
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/id.4854,y.2008,no.6,content.tru…
(ask for the printable version on the screen)
Ref 5
The original paper reporting on the site (behind a paywall)
Derek E. G. Briggs, David J. Siveter & Derek J. Siveter (1996), "Soft-bodied fossils from a Silurian volcaniclastic deposit", Nature, (1996), Vol 248, pp. 248-250.
doi:10.1038/382248a0
Ref 6
A free paper that goes into some depth:
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/273/1590/1039.full.pdf
Fossilized soft tissues in a Silurian platyceratid gastropod
M.D Sutton, D.E.G Briggs, David J Siveter and Derek J Siveter
Proc. R. Soc. B 2006 273, 1039-1044
doi: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3403
Ref 7
Another free paper:
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/274/1622/2099.full.pdf
A new probable stem lineage crustacean with three-dimensionally preserved soft parts from the
Herefordshire (Silurian) Lagerstatte, UK
Derek J. Siveter1,2,*, Mark D. Sutton3, Derek E. G. Briggs4 and David J. Siveter5
Proc. R. Soc. B (2007) 274, 2099–2107
doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0429
The monkeys have worked out how to open a banana and are demanding a fruit break!
Personalize your religion, get your own ring tone from god. Okay, maybe not the ringtone bit, but you can personalize everything else. A story by Eric Gorski of the Associated Press discusses some of the odd, mix-and-match approaches that Americans are taking when it comes to religion.
Yay! A spider toxin database, what could be more fun?
Funny, I know exactly where that is.
sigh
One day I'll get back out there. I better start doing deep knee bends now if i hope to ever be able to strap those teles back on.
a-ray-it-dilbert-space, @91
Einstein considered space-time a virtual substance, something he included so GR worked. Never did occur to him that a thing cannot not exist in all reality and still have a real effect on objects.
The idea of gravitational waves, as I understand it, comes from the assumption that gravity is a force. That gravity has mediating particles and said particles comes as waves as well as particles. Much as electro-magnetic energy comes as both photons and electro-magnetic waves. Gravity is instead the outcome of the interaction between an object --- a photon for example --- and space-time, with space-time sometimes affected by the mass of another object.
Now General Relativity is a fine example of a description of a phenomenon based on what we know, and what we assume, about a phenomenon. Einstein started from the assumption that gravity is a force, and never thought about the implications of what his discovery that mass curves space time means. In short, General Relativity is wrong in a particular regard, but not as wrong as, say, Aristotalian physics.
The thing to do here is to test my proposition by assuming that gravity is entirely a phenomenon arising out of the curvature of space-time by mass and reformulating General Relativity starting from that assumption. I suspect it would give us a better, more accurate, understanding of how the universe works, and may even lead to further discoveries down the road.
This one is terrific too:
http://www.wildernessbooks.com/lee/lee/death_hollow_tree.html
Soil? Soil?
Soil is for fucking chumps. I don't need no stinkin' soil.
you guys, stop posting pictures of pretty places! Oterwise, I'll end up blowing all my savings on going hiking with Lynna rather than going back to college!
:-p
Fernweh, indeed...
Had to look that up. Be it said, I HATE cold. But I do love cross-country skiing (as I recall), and think I might like this. I'm confused, though: Is it just like downhill skiing with a different binding, or something closer to x-country? What's the terrain?
...*plans to email friend's brother*
Snoof, #94
On Gravity Waves: That's entirely my point, we assume and observe gravity waves because we see gravity as a force. It is my contention that gravity is not a classical force, but the reult of the interaction between an object and space-time as influenced by another object.
But, in order for space-time to be curved by mass there has to be mass there to curve it. Once mass is removed then curvature ceases. Space-time in other words flattens out. It does not oscillate as electro-magnetic waves do, it just goes flat. It is my contention that the apparent gravity waves we've detected are illusions arising from our assumptions concerning how gravity is supposed to work, and how we interpret our observations.
On Gravitons: Once you understand how gravity works you should realize one thing, gravitons are not necessary.
The mass of an object curves space-time in its vicinity. Independent objects traveling through that volume of space-time follows that curvature to a lesser or greater degree depending on it's mass and velocity. Thus the Sun has a much greater gravitational influence on the Earth than the Earth has upon the Sun.
It is this curvature --- this gravitational slope to coin a phrase --- that affects an object. With space-time curved the objects direction of motion in space-time is going to be curved as well. The stronger space-time is curved the stronger the object's direction of motion will be curved as well. So there really is no such thing as gravitational attraction, it's all a matter of the shape space-time takes on a local basis.
Feynmaniac, #95
It couldn't be because of ordinary, everyday tidal action? The same thing that causes the Moon to move (ever so slowly) away from the Earth? Not, in other words, because of good old-fashioned Newtonian mechanics?
David, #100
Observation tells us that mass curves space-time, we just don't yet know how. I've got an idea along that line, but it would take a fair bit of bytes to explain it. There's a ton we don't know get, and it could be awhile before we learn. So rest assured our descendants will have a lot to discovery once we're gone.
*reads more*
Ah. So it's really more of a technically-enabled turning technique for downhill? Not a hybrid thing?
Too bad.
So...if one were to teleski/surf spacetime...
oooh, Telemark skiing = Norwegian Style skiing.
It looks funny, but makes it easier to ski off the beaten track, IIRC.
Diane, #101
Actually you can only travel in one physical direction as a coherent body at any one time. You can be most accurately described in three dimensions; height, width, and depth. In a realm with four physical dimensions you would need to use four descriptors to describe you. Say; height, width, depth, and fourpth.
http://www.wildernessbooks.com/lee/lee/city_rocks_dali.html
WOAH.
***
Bryce Canyon, btw, is breathtaking.
That was the biggest out of a long, long list of problems! They were not even doing their international crimes right, is what I'm trying to say.
<headdesk>
That's it, I give up. McChrystal should be fired and put to court. I don't understand why Obama keeps him.
You cannot possibly be serious.
Ha! Those were the times! Turns out northeastern China is fucking full of them. Too bad the stratigraphic correlation between them is so difficult.
Tomography in the literal sense.
Replace "spacetime" by "the electromagnetic field" and "gravity" by "electrostatic and magnetic attraction and repulsion", and nothing changes... I think.
Same for the electromagnetic field. Mass is the charge of gravity.
Why do you think so?
As far as I know, all of this can be reworded to work for the electromagnetic force without any deviance from textbook physics.
Spacetime is the gravity field, as far as I can tell at 2 at night.
The wonderful, wonderful Chocolate River. Simply amazing.
Observation tells us that electric charge curves the electromagnetic field, we just don't yet know how.
Same thing, except there are two electric charges and only one of gravity.
If you insist on doing sports in the cold then you can always go ice sailing.
Banana split anyone?
Mythusmage, Do you have a copy of Misner, Thorne and Wheeler's book "Gravitation"? MTW go on at some length about gravitational waves--hell, the entries in the index go on for nearly an entire page. That is ALL about GR.
In GR, the gravitational field is (locally) indistinguishable from an accelerated reference frame. In 4-space, this gives rise to additional terms in the metric tensor for the space--that is the GR envisions gravity as a curvature of space. And GR predicts gravitational waves--it is inevitable given the form for gravitational potential.
Gravitons arise when we start to think about a quantum theory of gravity. Because the gravitational field scales inversely with radius, the gravitons must be massless. You can also deduce their spin (2) and some other properties. However, quantum theory is a global theory, while GR is local. That makes the marriage difficult, and requires something like string theory or quantum loop gravity.
In any case, your assumption that GR doesn't view the gravitational field as a curvature in spacetime is simply false.
David Quammen wrote some fascinating essays on telemark skiing in his collection Wild Thoughts from Wild Places. Highly recommended, as is all of his nonfiction (I haven't read any of his novels. Anybody?)
Hey, Jadehawk, do the college thing first, then drop by for a visit. The mountains and the canyons, they will still be here.
yeah, but I might not be. Haven't you noticed that certain insidious individuals have been trying to get me off this continent?
Well, I do see the advantage of moving to where there's good bread. :-)
yup, but the nature there is decidedly less unspoiled. my mom was in total awe of the Sequoia National Park when I took her there, and we only went into the parts that had actual marked trails...
I never said it was a classical force. You'll note I used the term "influence" rather than "force". Even though it _is_ due to local curvature of spacetime, the binary system will still produce _changing_ gravitational effects, which are _directly measureable_ (with a sensitive enough antenna). This is a gravity wave, whether the actual influence is propagated by curved space, gravitons or invisible elves. Check the definition of wave - "a disturbance that propagates through space and time, usually with transference of energy". The only way you would _not_ get gravity waves would be if changing the mass distribution of a system didn't change its gravitational influence.
Most people have no idea what it's like to visit parts of the western states that have no marked trails, where even some of the access roads are not signed -- most people don't know how to visit such places, nor what a treasure they are. When I write an adventure travel book, I have to keep reminding myself of these facts. It feels alien to me to not know how to explore terrain on one's own.
Lynna, your brothers pictures bring back memories for me. Back in the late '50's and early '60's, I attended with my paternal grandparents "travelogues" arranged by the local museum and presented at the Kellogg Auditorium. For the price of a movie ticket, we listened to a 60-90 minute lecture, with slides and/or movies of the type of pictures that Leland takes. Far off the normal paths for tourists of that day. I think those are something that died off with the advent of the freeways easier mobility.
IT'S FUCKING COLD OUTSIDE!!!!!!!
Speaking of fundamental physics, any thoughts on varying speed of light?
Normally I'd be happy to discuss General Relativity, but I just got back from a 3 hr. exam on the subject. My brain is threatening to go on strike if I even think about it.
Refractive Index? Bose-Einstein condensate?
Theoretical cosmology.
I recently finished João Magueijo's book on the topic, which is a bit light on actual scientific detail, and was wondering if there were any thoughts on plausibility, falsifiability, or falsification.
well, to be honest I'm not that great at it either. If I decided to hike by myself in something as large and as unmarked as a National Park, I'd probably be eaten by a bear or die of hypothermia; I have a truly shitty sense of direction, compass or no. I do make a tolerable companion though (except right now I'm completely out of shape cuz I've been spending all day in front of the computer for the last few months :-p ). I admire people who can do this sort of shit by themselves...
that last one is definitely droolworthy
anyway,
snow
sparkly snow
snow in the future
A fuckton of snow from the past
enjoy :-)
Funnily enough that also applies to (supposedly)summery Melbourne,AU, which is why yours truly will jump on a plane to Coolangatta tomorrow, to spend a few days in lavish decadence and more important, warmth !
Fucking A.
#162 reindeerboy386sx
... and not an Oompa-Loompa in sight!
We had our second light frost of the year last night ... Not quite arctic weather, though.
Keep warm, guys & gals!
New dinosaur found !
Yep. Pretty fucking cool. This beast is pretty basal.
Sterling J. Nesbitt et al., 2009, A Complete Skeleton of a Late Triassic Saurischian and the Early Evolution of Dinosaurs. Science 326:1530-1533.
Tawa hallae Nesbitt et al., 2009
Abstract
And of course there is stuff herein for our creationist friends:
From #161 David Marjanović
Exactly, and presumably that is one reason why the author I quoted chose to use the term "key Konservat-Lagerstätten". The Herefordshire site has been correlated to the stage boundary between the Sheinwoodian and the Homerian of the Wenlock in the Silurian. It was formed on the outer shelf or upper slope area of the Welsh sedimentary basin at a water depth of 150-200 m. The precision with which these things can be defined, along with the rarity (i.e. none) of such sites in the Silurian means that key can be used for this site.
In addition, the hard-bodied fossils of a similar age are well defined in the Dudley Wenlock Lagerstätte (which I may be coming to shortly) so we have both superb hard and soft bodied collections at the same time. In addition, the Welsh Marches and the Welsh Basin have been the subject of intense investigation since before the time of Sir Roderick Impey Murchison.
It may even be possible to correlate the site further. Thus, there are about a dozen volcanic ash deposits in the Wenlock which can be individually discriminated and cover wide areas (the volcanoes may have been tens to hundreds of miles away). Thus, if the deposit were formed in situ it may be possible to correlate with other ash layers.
Is there an english translation of this clearly chinese sentence ?
:P
While lovely, David, I'm afraid all your breads looks the same to me.
Questions about physics and the nature of reality really should be addressed to Yul BrynnerEthan Siegel.
All the silly formatting on the latest rapture thread is making my computer crash every time I try to look at it or even scroll past it. Not that it's hard to discombobulate this computer. I'm not sure it's really a computer even. It could be a difference engine or maybe an abacus.
Just to explain that term: a tensor is a matrix in which each element is itself a vector.
What does that mean?
The life of a scientist is endless globetrotting, from one conference to the next, as many as you can get financed (and as many as you're willing to deal with in terms of time and bureaucracy). That's how it's possible that I've been to China, twice to the USA, once to Canada… and my supervisor just came back from five weeks in Argentina and Uruguay.
WE DON' NEED NO WADR, LE| THE MOTHRFUCKR BRN – BRN, MOTHRFUCKR, BRN!!!
Slightly more seriously, there was a Nature paper last week or so which showed there's no color dependence of the speed of light. :-)
Weaksauce. That's just a centimeter.
Lovely!
Fine, fine… and nicely cold…
That's the real thing.
All of them are key. Every single of the Chinese ones preserves key evidence on the evolution of birds, mammals, champsosaurs, salamanders, gars, mayflies… oh, and then there's Chengjiang in the south. :-)
http://stratigraphy.science.purdue.edu/gssp/index.php?parentid=77
Just to explain that term: a tensor is a matrix in which each element is itself a vector.
What does that mean?
The life of a scientist is endless globetrotting, from one conference to the next, as many as you can get financed (and as many as you're willing to deal with in terms of time and bureaucracy). That's how it's possible that I've been to China, twice to the USA, once to Canada… and my supervisor just came back from five weeks in Argentina and Uruguay.
WE DON' NEED NO WADR, LE| THE MOTHRFUCKR BRN – BRN, MOTHRFUCKR, BRN!!!
Slightly more seriously, there was a Nature paper last week or so which showed there's no color dependence of the speed of light. :-)
Weaksauce. That's just a centimeter.
Lovely!
Fine, fine… and nicely cold…
That's the real thing.
All of them are key. Every single of the Chinese ones preserves key evidence on the evolution of birds, mammals, champsosaurs, salamanders, gars, mayflies… oh, and then there's Chengjiang in the south. :-)
http://stratigraphy.science.purdue.edu/gssp/index.php?parentid=77
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Subcommission for Stratigraphic Information: always at your service.
What the… fuck. Now that registration is turned on again, I have to "sign in" anew at the start of every new browser session, except that all I have to do for that is click on "Sign in", which makes the name/e-mail/URL fields disappear and my name appear.
Or so I thought. I forgot to "sign in", clicked "submit", interrupted because I thought it couldn't get through, "signed in", resubmitted… and it turns out the original got through, and I was signed in.
~:-|
You say that as if it were a bad thing…
But never fear, I'll look for more. I was looking for a specific sort of bread that I still haven't found on teh intarwebz. Its name is way too generic for Google. All the bread I found yesterday is from one single bakery…
Actually it is a hybrid. But these days most of the equipment is geared towards the downhill part. But the #1 reason I took up teleskiing was because of the access it gave me to the backcountry. I could "skin" in to nearly anywhere I wanted to ski in the Tetons and then have un touched snow away from lift lines and crying kids and assholes. You still have a free-heel that allows you to use cross country like strides so that you can make progress on flats or up-hill with the use of skins (I'll explain that if you'd like) but the equipment has gotten to the point that it's as rugged as a lot of downhill gear so you can make turns on rugged and steep terrain.
You do utilize a different turn in that you bend your knees in a way that both skis act like a longer single ski (thats a bad description but its all i have). You can also parallel ski when you want. When I would ski in bounds on groomed runs I'd about half and half parallel and tele, but when I was back country in powder or crappy snow it was always tele turns for me.
There's also a backcountry ski equipment called Randonee. There are specialized bindings that allow you a free heel for traversing flats or going up hill but you can lock down your heel for downhill. Randonee boots are totally stiff soled and tele-boots bend where your foot naturally bends at the base of your toes similar to a x-country boot just with much stiffer uppers (on modern equipment).
Was that way too much info?
And SC have you received the print yet?
Oh sorry but now I have skiing on the brain.
Here's a some short clips from a Teleskiing film.
you can see the technique a little better on the not huge fat deep powder shots, but you should be able to get an idea.
I gathered that much. Your running commentary just gave me the impression there were significant differences.
I'f you ever post those nudes, I'll get around to making some sourdough.
I need help. I've forgotten two lovely heads of broccoli in the fridge, I really really need to eat them fast. Any good recipes? Some fresh leeks and frozen poussins, too, if that helps, but they're not critical.
On the nonlocality of quantum theory.
Ah, this is where the real weirdness of the theory comes from! To understand this, you have to consider that quantum mechanics attributes to an object both particle-like and wave-like properties. Now particles are local--they occupy a point, or at least finite space. A wave extends effectively over all space. Even solitons have effects that extend beyond the main wave packet.
In quantum mechanics, before you make a measurement, the particle may not possess a well defined value for, say, spin, angular momentum, etc. Then, after you make your measurement, you force it into a state that has a well defined value (wave function collapse). But because we are talking about a wave, this has to happen over all space simultaneously! This is the origin of all those weird effects like quantum entanglement, etc. It's also why all the devotees of woo just love quantum mechanics--though not to the point where they'll actually learn anything about it.
I visited the link David provided @192 (link to explain "early Chinese" sentence to Rorschach), and I noticed that one of the sites was Nipple Hill in Texas.
When I explored wilderness and proposed wilderness in Utah, I kept running across landforms with "Nipple" in the name. In particular, there seemed to be an abundance of "Molly's Nipple" -- which makes me wonder. Did Molly have extraordinary nipples? Or just one extraordinary nipple? And are there historical photos to verify this? And finally ... how many of these landforms were named by men? Of course, French fur traders get the prize for "Les Grand Tetons" -- "The Geology of Nipples" is a book waiting for an author.
Jadehawk, being somewhat out of shape is less of a problem than you might think. You just start out slowly. Plan all of your first forays to be short, with less off-trail work, and/or less elevation change. You'll be surprised, I'll bet, how fast you improve. Also, frequent stops to look around are a pleasure. Just don't go rucking with Josh.
As far as having little or no sense of direction, that is a problem if you're going out on your own. It's hard for me to understand that affliction, but I've seen it in action. We have a friend named Emily who can't find the Grand Canyon when she's half a mile away from it. I don't dare let her go off on her own to take a leak because I can't be certain she'll be able to find her way back. On the other hand, Emily can find her way around a city like nobody's business.
I automatically map terrain in my head when I'm walking or driving, noting major drainages and where they meet, peaks, ridges, etc. Smaller details stick in my head too, like the shape of a particular stand of trees. If I'm concerned about being able to retrace my steps, I'll circle a distinctive rock formation (or any distinctive landmark) to see what it looks like from all sides. Most of the time, you don't need to retrace your steps exactly -- instead, you need to be able to return to your vehicle from any direction, after a lot of wandering around. Some people rely on a handheld GPS. I sometimes carry one for backup, and I use a GPU unit to record coordinates for guide books. I carry a compass, but seldom use it.
And I love topo maps. Love them like they were poetry. My geologically inclined brother, Steve, and I forgot our topo maps on an expedition in Nevada. But Steve had his geological maps, so we navigated by geology. I'm not so good at that. I had to make up names, like Chenile formation, to describe areas I knew would lead me back to camp.
You should work on developing mental terrain-mapping skills, and take responsibility for being able to find your own way back to your vehicle. You never know when your companion(s) might get hurt, and then it's your responsibility to go for help.
Regarding the new dinosaur fossil that was recovered in New Mexico, that is too cool! The spaces for air sacs in the backbone were fascinating. What a rip 'em and tear 'em up beast!
David, that photo you liked of the tree that seemed to be growing directly out of the rocks was taken on the approach from the Aquarius Plateau down into Death Hollow (so named because horses and mules on the old Boulder Mail Trail would slip to their deaths -- there are still hoof-strike marks on some of the rocks, where shod pack animals scrambled for their lives).
The area is part of Box-Death Hollow Wilderness, which is part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. There's BLM land all around it, along with bits of National Forest lands. If you're ever in the area, I recommend driving Hells Backbone Road (if you're not squeamish about heights).
There is a hill on the English/Welsh border called Lord Hereford's Knob.
The wonderful band, Half Man Half Biscuit did a song with the same title.
Rev, I loved the skiing film. I was never good enough to ski steep terrain on telemark skis. Not a chance.
I'm the opposite, if I couldn't drop a knee I wouldn't be able to ski anything steep or narrow... or deep for that matter.
Nerd wrote:
Some of our local clubs still do that sort of thing. I see announcements for travelogues in the schedules for the Idaho Alpine Club, snowmobile clubs, skiing clubs, motorcycling clubs, etc.
When my brother projects slides, we use special equipment to project images from medium-format negatives. The difference between medium-format and 35 mm is noticeable even to novices. More detail, more clarity, etc. We've tried projecting using a computer, but the diminished quality of the image drives us crazy (though the audiences still seem appreciative). I have a hard time sitting through other slide shows because the quality is not usually up to my standards. And it seems like nobody knows how to script a narrative.
For images that require less depth of field, like action sports, it seems like the best way to go is one of the new video cameras that shoots high quality -- quality that is similar to film. And from the video one can also choose dramatic stills. I've never seen any of these guys match Leland's landscape images.
If you have almost unlimited funds (National Geographic style), you can get all new equipment every three years, and pay $30,000 or more for each camera, not to mention ancillary equipment. If you're Leland, you can use the same camera for two decades. Money can be a deciding factor.
Leland combines some of the oldest camera technology with the latest computer/scanning/printing technology. His is an odd marriage of early 1900s tech with 2009 tech. I hesitate to tell people what tools he uses because they then assume the tools are more important than the artist's eye behind the tools. Also, some people wrongly assume that he photoshops his images and that the colors are false. Not true. When we project light through original medium-format images, no one can accuse us of manipulation. People don't believe nature landscapes can look like that simply because they're not out there looking at the right time. And some people can't see and they need an artist to see for them.
Making batteries out of paper -- interesting idea, and I like the fact that they are flexible.
So Herrerasaurus now is a theropod after all?!? That's surprising.
Cook them in saltwater, pour everything into a blender, and make a nice, homogeneous, creamy soup.
In fact, as I have probably mentioned before, this is the only possible way to eat broccoli at all.
OIC.
Fixed.
:-) :-) :-)
Update on the ongoing war, of evangelicals and mormons vs. porn:
Those that have been following the anti-gay stories will recognize the Sutherland Institute as the über mormon "think tank" that fails to think logically.
Here's an example of the sludge from Paul Mero's mind, on the topic of gays (Mero is President of the Sutherland Institute):
The Sutherland Institute and the Family Research Council were also implicated in the Uganda anti-gay campaign. They cannot be trusted on the issue of porn, nor on anything else.
Glenn Beck is called on his fanaticism about gold by Jon Stewart.
*shrug*
This week. Phylogenies aren't facts.
It is an interesting result, though, no?
David M., thanks for the correction to my spelling of Les Grand Tetons -- errant "s" probably came from the Rev. Besides, it probably should have been "les Trois Tétons"
@150
Ah, that was Josh, the geologist, making comments about the lovely lack of soil. And in my comment @199 I attributed the appreciation for the image to David. [headdesk]
Apologies to both Josh and David. [Lynna goes out for coffee -- she'll be back later, and hopefully firing on all cylinders.]
It was a great photo--all the better because those were coarse-grained eolian sandstones (as opposed to something lame like a gneiss) that were providing the support for that little tree.
No shit? Do you guys have photographs of any of those?
Thanks, David, but I think I need a bit more to make it a soup. But the basic idea is good - not least since I recently treated myself to a stickblender.
Hmmm. Two questions:
1) how long until the inevitable crash?
2) how does one invest in goldfutures?
#189
Hi Rorschach
David has given you the bare bones. Here's a bit more.
Geological time is divided up arbitrarily into Eons. There are 4 eons - we are interested in the Phanerozoic Eon or the Eon of Revealed Life which starts at the Cambrian/Precambrian boundary and continues up to the present.
The Phanerozoic Eon is divided into 3 Eras - we are interested in the Palaeozoic (Paleozoic to Americans who know no Greek). The Era of Ancient Life is divided into 6 time periods or Systems from the Cambrian to the end of the Permian. All 6 were named in the 19th century by British geologists and the names are still in current use.
One of the 6 Systems is the Silurian, named by Sir Robert Impey Murchison.
(Wiki Silurian>
The Silurian System is divided (again arbitrarily but in a way that was considered useful at the time and continues today) into 4 series. For a long time it was 3 with the final series at the bottom of the Devonian System.
[Just a comment on "divided arbitrarily". Nowhere on Earth do you have a pink and white rock with the name "Silurian" in red letters all the way through. The divisions were made at what were considered interesting or important places. It was initially located in Britain at the curious Ludlow Bone Bed (see the sub-thread on Ludford Corner) which covered a large area in the Welsh Marches. In addition, the top of the Silurian/bottom of the Devonian so defined was the last time graptolites are found in Britain. Since this bed was not international and since graptolites are found in later rocks elsewhere, it has been agreed that the Silurian/Devonian boundary should also be elsewhere. A location near the town of Klonk (seriously!) in the Czech Republic was chosen. The Prodoli Series of the Silurian was born.]
The other 3 series are named after towns in the Welsh Marches or Wales itself.
Thus
Llandovery is in mid-Wales on the A48 road.
Wenlock comes from Much Wenlock in Shropshire.
Ludlow is another town in Shropshire, a few miles from the Welsh border.
All 4 series can be used in adjectival form:
Llandoverian, Wenlockian, Ludlovian, Pridolian.
The Wenlock and the Ludlow series are each divided into 2 stages which are named after locations in their respective areas. Thus, the Ludlovian is divided into the Gorstian and the Ludfordian Stages (Ludford as in Ludford Corner).
Finally, we get to the Wenlock Series. Here the Stages are the Homerian, named after the hamlet of Homer near Much Wenlock and the Sheinwoodian appears to be named after a manor house close to Homer and to the type section.
Hence, to state that a formation came from the Sheinwoodian/Homerian boundary defines (as precisely as the Stages themselves are defined) its age and position in the Silurian.
Um, that reminds me... Can an outcrop be too sedimentary for you?
Proudly serving as the typos boogie man for 4+ years.
watch out!!!!!
typinh cooties!!!!!!
Lynna Author Profile Page | December 11, 2009 11:50 AM:
According to a widely told Utah legend (yeah, I grew up in Utah) there are eleven different landforms in Utah named "Molly's Nipple", or some near variant. I couldn't find anything about it on snopes, but I found this excerpt from Mark Monmonier's book (which I have not read) on salacious, bawdy, and derogatory toponyms.
hjj thea!
oPz hjmkksihls gh kere ihjecopj jklwqpo!
hjerv kem klw komelsebes,
JRRRRRRRRRÆÅ""
That's a lot of superfluous nipples. Scaramanga would be impressed.
That's what I'm saying.
Um… the s was missing, and I inserted it.
Adjectives are marked for number (in spelling anyway) and gender in French.
Peak Oil. I'll look for the link later.
By becoming rich enough to buy gold in the first place…? That said, when the crash comes, who will want to buy gold anymore? Everyone will want to sell it.
The real issue here is Latin. Modern Greek αι is pronounced like the e in bed (…not if you're South African, in that case you use a vowel that hasn't existed in Greek for a long time, but I digress).
Periods for time, Systems for rock.
rock : time
upper, middle, lower : early, middle, late (if you're picky enough)
(a)eonothem : (a)eon
erathem : era
system : period
series : epoch
stage : theoretically age, but that's way too ambiguous, so peope use stage for both
Would be ugly, too…
Přídolí. With two long vowels that take forever to say, and… ř is this sound. I can pronounce it. Muaha. Muahaha. MWUAHA<pitch tripling>HAHAHAAAAAH!!!
That was predictable...
Christ no.
Meetings...back in a while.
Prodoli was a mistake. Pridoli is common usage in English (UK and American).
No shit, sherlock. But... sorry, we didn't think to take photos of strike marks from the shod pack animals. I remember clearly that most of the marks were on a steep section with drop-offs of about 3 feet. The "trail" switchbacked, and was marked mostly with rock cairns. There were only a few places where there was enough soil or ground-down sandstone to make a trail visible. It was the shortest route between Boulder and Escalante, with only that one section dropping into Death Hollow being really bad, so I can see why they hauled mail, butter, and cream over that route. Highway 12 now bypasses the Boulder Mail Trail.
David
Really there is no longer any excuse not to combine the two types of nomenclature into one with more and more boundaries being defined internationally, both chronostratigraphically and biostratigraphically. Wouldn't you agree?
@#216: Great link! Thanks. I'm going to have to keep that one. I noticed that the author mentioned Bloody Dick Creek in Montana. Been there. It's on the approach route to the Continental Divide Trail from the Montana side.
This bit of mining debris (old ore-crushing structure) near Goldstone Pass is in the Beaverhead Mountains of the Bitterroot Range, above the valley that boasts Bloody Dick Creek.
#199
Of course, I trust you implicitly, Lynna!!
However, I would call "B.S." if you were in the UK. The 1:50,000 geology maps are based on the Ordinance Survey (OS) maps and the OS map format is printed lightly "behind" the geology. So. Yes, I could do the same and navigate by geology* in the UK but I would be cheating!
* Actually, for nearly all of England and much of the rest of the UK there is little solid geology exposed because of soil and vegetation so you can only make intelligent guesses about the solid geology underneath. On one of the fieldtrips I lead occasionally the solid geology goes from oolitic limestone to a sandstone which has superficially weathered to a sandy soil. The contrast is sharply defined by the appearance of gorse (bright yellow flowers and prickly) on the sandstone in place of grass on the limestone. Also, the rabbit warrens are a bit of a giveaway! There is a shallow quarry with grass on the floor and gorse and rabbits about a couple of metres up on the top of the face. (And wild orchids on undisturbed limestone soils in the early summer.)
Lynna,
I've finally found the time to look into your brother's various galleries, and I must say, his photographs are beautiful and inspiring.
This is one of my favorites. It's just perfect.
Were you there when this photo was taken? And you didn't immediately convert to Christianity? Argument 626! :)
Of course. But then, I'm a palaeobiologist.
Because there's no 3 in there. In fact, the whole thing looks more like the Flying Spaghetti Monster, rāmen.
"Proof", not "argument". It's called "Hundreds of Proofs", and, well, there's not a single argument in there, so... :-}
bread
more bread
still more bread
The pictures are a bit small. It's surprisingly difficult to find pictures of specific sorts of bread on teh intarwebz. The one I'm eating right now, which looks very different (I posted the ingredient list last thread incarnation) doesn't seem to be pictured anywhere at all. :-( But it smells so good...
Ah, well observed. I think I can see three longer peaks there. Kind of. But your interpretation makes much more sense. Rāmen.
It's also called the "Francis Collins' Argument from Frozen Waterfalls"...
*shrug*
She's right. It is pretty close to perfection.
:-) In fact, the bread is so good that I just ate the end slice just so, without butter. :-) Did you know there are opioids-or-whatever right under the crust of fresh bread? :-) Now for a thick slice with butter... :-)
Actually, it's this, except it looks like this with the oats flakes on top, except it's still darker.
Strange that the only website Google finds of that French company is the German one.
I could go to bed, but I think I can stuff one more slice into my stomach without bursting :-)
David, you're making me hungry. :)
Lynna #207
This is the link to the Stewart bit about Beck and gold.
Yum. I love hearty bread.
I also always enjoy the Proofs (haven't looked at those for a while):
Speaking of amusement and classification, to whoever it was who posted the link to YSaC several weeks ago: THANK YOU. It's now one of my favorite stops, and I'm not a-lyin'. ;P
Wow, that's impressive. (Fun tune, too.) Thanks so much for all of the information!
It's stunning. Gorgeous. I can't wait to give it to her. Let me know when you get the check.
Cr*zy D*vid M*bus dropped a turd over at Michael B
He dropped a cut-n-paste standard on mine a few nights ago, but I think he was just following links out of one of the live comment threads he was spamming here... mighta been the 'little woman' one... I know I was in that one, think I saw his crazy there...
Gotta say, it's nice of him...
I mean, sure, he's a raving psycho leaving messages could probably easily get him busted for uttering death threats in most jurisdictions, but at least he remembers the little people when he does.
I just deleted it without comment, blocked the IP, lest I wind up with a carpet of 5,000 or so more to delete later. Guy's got issues*.
(*/Please to consider this as my qualifying bid for the Understatement Olympics.)
More, indeed, than two Waltons put together.
Goats on fire, people!!
We be needin some TUNES in here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3djKXcsqDM8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsfcjJNWErY&feature=related
Goats? Fire?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65Y_Vz8pq20
Lynna, those are some awesome pictures!
David, you are making me sad. We cranked up the bread machine last night, and even though I went nowhere near it, the bread failed to meet expectations. Out of date yeast, apparently. And I had to smell it for hours!
Might have been me - I have a fondness for sites featuring smart & snarky people. I sometimes post over there, about as often as I do here.
Dania @227
See, I was right to sneak out of here and go for an emergency coffee break. I really do not like it when my brain seems to skip a beat.
Alan B., I'll take a bet if you like. I could use the money. Or, here's an idea, you stop by next time you are in the neighborhood and I'll take you to see my brother Steve. His house, workshops, yard, etc. are a wonderland for geologists. He has a big map cabinet, and in there we will find the geological maps we used in Nevada, and then you can see for yourself.
I don't know--stocking up on tradeables appeals to me-things like: vodka, diapers, condoms, toliet paper-you know, things other people want and need.
and goats, firey, burning goats...
It should, since we only get snow once every decade here. Seeing that so often will make me miss my semi-arid flora. :)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3158/2625263316_6e73a89ddf.jpg
Now that's home for me!
#247
I still trust you implicitly, Lynna. I never said anything else. All I pointed out is that the comparable maps in the UK have the non-geological geography (?!) printed on them as well. In the U.K. with its surface coverage (drift deposits) I would be better advised to follow the underlying OS map!
In this neck of the woods any bare rock is soon covered by soil and planting by conservationists wanting to return it "to nature". "Nature" in this case would be dense, dark, deciduous forest with wolves and wild boar (plus the occasional bear) but this is not, of course, what they want.
Seriously, I shouldn't be but I am amazed at how little vegetation there is over wide areas of the US. To see the solid geology in the UK, just laid out in front of one, would be amazing!
(Incidentally, I would love to be able to just drop in as I am passing. Unfortunately my parachute training has lapsed and last time I tried they wouldn't let me open up the door of the 747 at 35,000 feet to get out.)
#240 Sven DiMilo said:
How about?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AQw37505V8&feature=related
Not quite my style ... How about "Goats riders in the sky?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmxB2BwVufA
(Whoops - another typing error)
Perhaps I don't understand the idea of futures.
I assumed that I could somehow put in a bid to sell gold for say $800 in a year, in the expectation that the price will have dropped well below that by then. Someone who believes Beck, might in turn hope to see gold at $1500 by then, and will thus take me up on my offer.
In other news, the mouses are fat this Winter, so I don't think I need to feed the cat anytime soon.
Actually, I quite like Moonspell, although Goat on Fire* isn't one of my favorites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s07-nmdYt9A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQnnws9sq9I
*And the sound quality of the video you linked to... terrible.
I hope this question wasn't serious, because otherwise I'd be forced to answer at length.
Well, I don't exactly have money to burn, but I don't see why one wouldn't want to try to make some money, if there's a gold bubble about to burst.
That is to say, please do.
--o--
I made another unpleasant discovery about myself last night.
I don't like people who go on and on and oooonnnnn about every little thing their kid does as if it was of any great interest to the rest of us. (And luckily my breeder friends aren't that type.) But it turns out that I'm one, myself - only I'll go on and on and onnnnnnnn about whatever my cat and his 'friends' are up to.
Kill me now.
And while I'm whiiiiiiiiining:
I miss her.
/whine
A few weeks training with Josh will get you ready to jump out of perfectly good airplanes. Here's a song to get you into the right frame of mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtctYpXkoL0
Much of western North America is desert or semi-arid.
What many people don't realize that the American Mid-West and Canadian prairie provinces have the same climate as Siberia. This isn't surprising since the two are similar geographically. There's a large mountain range to the west (Rockies and Urals) and nothing but flat all the way to the North Pole.
#253 Dania
In my opinion, nothing, ever, could improve the sound quality of that cacophony! Less is definitely more!
(But we're all different so don't take that as being critical of your taste in dreadful music.)
(/removes tongue from cheek)
#256 'Tis Himself, OM
I don't want to offend anyone, especially ex-(or current) military, but we used to sing that as children but to the words:
I never knew the rest of the words. (I was born June 1945.)
Alan B #259
You're not offending me. I was a submariner. Instead of jumping out of functioning aircraft I went to sea in a ship designed to sink.
#245 Lynna
I hereby promise that if I do arrive over at your place, I will NOT be wearing a bikini. Nobody should be exposed to that kind of sight!
(Swallow your coffee and put the mug down alert)
http://media.photobucket.com/image/man%20in%20bikini/humpsHR/BIKINIMAN…
(and, no, it isn't me!)
On a somewhat more geological subject:
Desert Varnish - no, not a layer of sugar lit by a chef's blow torch. Not "dessert", Desert.
Never having seen it myself, can you still identify the underlying rock from looking at a hand specimen covered with desert varnish? [And yes, I do know you can turn it over or break it open! Thank you for the 'reminder, Ed. (Ed. Pleasure!)] Does it just darken it or does it affect the surface texture or the optical properties? - colour, reflectance etc. Would you see oolites or the fine crystalline structure of a medium grained igneous rock? (We do have a simlar problem but caused by lichens - some of which love oolitic limestone and pepper it with block spots. Also rhyolites at a favourite quarry get covered with a blue-green lichen.)
As a thank you for the answer here is something you might not have seen on the "Share and Enjoy!" theme:
Glenn Morton (OEC) shows there is not enough time to produce dessert desert varnish with Flood geology and a young earth:
http://home.entouch.net/dmd/varnish.htm
@David:
You're making me feel stupid:p I used to live in the Netherlands, where I could get good bread at any of the many bakeries, and I never really did. What's more, I was close to the border with Germany, where they have even more kinds of good bread that I didn't buy.
Now I'm studying in Britain and the best kind of bread I've come across is a mass-produced ciabatta. Almost all the bakeries specialize in pastries and a sub is considered good bread >< Of course, between the rain, studying and drinking, I haven't really felt like going very far for bread either..
At least I know what to get when I'm back over the holiday ;)
#255 Sili
My idea of wining:
http://www.mkweb.co.uk/clubs_societies/images/WineTasting.gif
or
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/w/wine-tasting.asp
(especially #2 and #5)
[Re-reads #255. Oh. Sorry. Misread 'whining'. My fault - too much scrumpy. As you were.]
Easy mistake to make, Alan B.
For some reason 'cider' has grown big here in the last coupla years (though, I gather it was never 'sexy' when it was just something the Swedes enjoyed - surprise, surprise). That said, I've never seen Strongbow around, and since that's the only brand I'm familiar with, I'ven't had any for years.
Gold futures are like any other option--you could bet that gold will rise or that it will fall. You would do so through a commodities trader. You can also "lease" gold. Personally, I think gold has gone about as fur as it can go. However, much of the recent rise has been driven by the fall of the dollar, and that is only likely to continue. If investments were certain, we'd all be rich.
Peak Oil.
Why do you think there is one?
The Urals are way too low to count. What counts is the vast expanse of land in all directions. The climate gets more continental in Europe from west to east, so much so that you can notice it across 200 km.
Kropotkin on Canada and Russia:
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_archives/kropotkin/KropCanada.pdf
What goes up yaddah yaddah yaddah.
And it does sound to me like it's being unnaturally inflated. But I'm not economist.
--o--
The broccoli soup experiment didn't turn out all terrible. Prolly need a coupla adjustments another time, but I'm sated and warm now. (I did cheat and had some storebought bread with it. 'Ciabatta' flûtes - not that I noticed them being ciabatta than usual.)
Well, I would have been here sooner, but I couldn't sign in. Bleh!
Alan B., I knew what you meant, and understood what you said, about trusting me explicitly. I just thought it would be more fun to take umbrage. I was right.
BTW, thanks for the geological time summary @214. And many thanks for promising not to wear a bikini when you drop in. I hope you have already arranged with Josh to bring your parachuting skills up to par.
Thanks to 'Tis for the correction to the link for the Steward vs. Beck video.
SC @162 enjoyed the daliesque photo taken at City of the Rocks. I love that place, despite the high human traffic (all those rock climbers). In the mid 1800s, south-central Idaho was known more as a way-station for wagon trains passing through. Emigrants headed for Oregon and California left their marks on Register Rock at City of Rocks.
"We passed through a stone village composed of huge isolated rocks… called the City of Rocks…sublime, strange and wonderful." Margaret Frink, July 17, 1850.
I think Josh would like the Twin Sisters (two side-by-side massive rocks). The darker sister is composed of rock about 2.5 billion years old. The lighter sister is far younger, about 25 million years old.
Leland and I usually leave the hive-like activity at City of Rocks in order to camp. There's ample, seldom-visited areas in the nearby Albion Mountains.
Lynna @ 272:
I read that as "...Twin Sisters ( two side-by-side massive racks).
*Calling Dr. Freud right now.*
The Christmas tree is up and decorated. It has, at my insistence, an angel on the top. This is so I can spring my Christmas joke on unsuspecting visitors.
Santa Claus was having a bad day. The elves were threatening to go out on strike, the reindeer had the mange, he was coming down with a cold, some of the toy shipments were late, he'd had a fight with the missus, just a generally bad day. Then in walked an angel with a Christmas tree who said, "Santa Claus, what should I do with this Christmas tree?"
Now you know why there are angels perched on top of Christmas trees.
Ugh. Close-quote fail.
Speaking of maps, I found a clip about some project by the Ordnance Survey to create even higher resolution 3-D electronic maps that depict the underlying terrain.
Also of interest to cartographiphiles was the story which linked to the above video, which was about myriahedral projection
Alan B, speaking of the great, wide open spaces in the western USA, I remembered a photo that Leland took of me standing on a sandstone plateau in southern Utah. It's a small black and white image, and you have to scroll down to the bottom of the website page to see it, but the photo is definitely evocative of endless space, with plenty of geological formations that are not obscured by vegetation.
boygenius @273
LOL ... well, the Twin Sisters are roughly breast-shaped, if you think along those lines. Not two racks, though, only one. And one breast is millions of years older than the other. Now you may visit Dr. Freud.
Also, simply because I myself was caught out by it at first:
ordnance : mounted guns; cannon. munitions. a government department dealing with military stores and materials. the Ordnance Survey.
ordinance : a law or rule made by a government or authority
+1
'Tis @274: That is a great setup for a joke. I plan to steal it and use it. Holiday Cheer to you and yours!
Hugs are more effective than religion. I knew that, but now other people may have to admit it as well ... unless, of course, it only works for Canadians.
Lynna,
I assume the younger breast is perkier more well defined than the older one. Geologically speaking, of course. ;)
boygenius, you might think that the younger breast would be perkier, geologically speaking, but really, both breasts look pretty perky to the naked eye. There's a photo here: http://www.nps.gov/ciro/index.htm
and a photo (historical) plus a sketch here:
http://www.idahohistory.net/OTcityrocks.html
#272 Lynna said:
Fair catch! I know pretty much what I can get away with in England but I am still feeling my way, as it were, with Americans. I love to share my interest and observations with others.
I know some parts of America are similar to the UK (only bigger!). I remember driving up to the Eastern edge of the prairie while staying in Rockford Illinois. It was a fantastic view of flat nothingness with a huge sky. Marvellous - but 1000 miles of it?? You have to work hard to travel more than 20 miles or so in the UK without seeing several major changes of scenery. The US is on a grand scale. The UK is a patchwork quilt of scenery as well as fields.
I have looked at most of the pictures on your site and your brother's. It is amazing just how different it is from the UK. David M was talking about continental climate. The UK is definitely in the maritime climate belt with the warm wet winds blowing off the sea. People have come to England and asked why it is so green. I tell them it's the mould!
Makes weather forecasting easier. There is a cricket ground at Old Trafford - just outside Manchester on the Western side of the Pennines. They say if you can't see the Pennines from there it's raining. If you can, it's about to.
Hey, I just realized something! If you read trollspeak in Mooninite voices, it makes for further hilarity!
Thanks for that, destlund.
Jesus is a-raisin'.
LOL!
:-D
"Do you often have such fog?"
"No. Only when it's not raining."
– Asterix in Britain
"nine months winter, three months cold"
– proverb about the mountainous, windy area (up to 1000 m, so covered with spruce forest and stony potato fields) in Austria north of the Danube
"January, February, autumn and winter"
– The four seasons of... I forgot where. Sounds better in the original German, where "march" and "autumn" sound vaguely similar (März, Herbst).
~:-|
Expletive is stressed on the first syllable?!? That's crazy. Like prejudice.
We have four seasons in Connecticut. Road construction, more road construction, less road construction, and politicians bickering about road construction.
Completely forgot to show you when dinosaurs hopped the earth.
I'm skeptical, but that's the state the simulation of walking and running is in right now. Enjoy. :-)
Hee.
...and, grr.
Dear People: Connecticut is a beautiful state. Go to the country. Seriously. Hard to find prettier seasons.
I haven't noted Liam Clancy's death last week. Here's "The Patriot Game," the song he's most identified with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQBW6UQa8Fc
They have a cartoon of dinosaurs hopping. What else do you need? If there is a cartoon, that means they hopped*.
Seriously, though, I saw an interesting seminar by Steven Churchill, that made some similar* inferences regarding neanderthal energetics from bone structure. I don't have the knowledge to judge how well the models work, but it was an fun talk anyway.
*fucking end of story.
**similar not in that mode of locomotion was inferred, but similar in that something of the muscle function was inferred).
I know the Pogue's cover of Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is the best known, but I prefer Liam Clancy's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCekeoSTwg&NR=1
'Tis Himself...hadn't heard. Sad. All the good Irish rockers owe a debt to the Clancy Bros.
Playing "The Parting Glass", and pouring one.
Clarification: U2 ∉ [good Irish rockers]
Thank you for the links, 'Tis.
Here in Chiwaukee we have only two seasons. Road construction and winter. Right now, it is winter.
David, #163
First, my apologies for the delay. Now on to my reply.
I'm going by what General Relativity tells us. Namely, that mass bends space-time and that objects in motion with no other influence in effect follow that bending. The closer to a mass the greater the bending and so the greater the change in apparent direction. There are implications in this and I'm pointing out the implications.
Where the mythical gravitational wave is concerned, please remember that space-time must be bent by mass. No mass, no bending. The further away from a mass, the less space-time is bent. As two or more objects orbit their common center of mass there is an oscillation in the space-time around them, but it is not propagated through space because there is no way for this propagation to occur.
Now as you've noted electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force appear to arise from the curvature of space-time, though to a different degree, and possibly of a different type, than that which gives rise to gravity. The range of bending (to coin a term) would appear to be much shorter, while the curvature appears to be much steeper and so the force that arises from it much stronger. The end result would appear to be the appearance of subsidiary phenomenon, such as mediating particles and waves; with the waves being an expression of the particles, while the particles are expression of the waves.
The difference with gravity lies in the range of bending; which, as far as we know, is infinite. We get photons and gluons etc. because the bending they are associated with is finite and very short.
(Then again, this could be just a wild assumption on my part.)
So it is my contention that where the nature of electromagnetism etc. allows for particles and waves, the nature of gravity does not.
Or to put it another way, that which gives rise to electromagnetic etc. charge is what goes charging off into space. An electromagnetic charge has greater endurance, and so it has a greater range than the other two forces. Mass on the other hand does not go charging off into space, and so cannot give rise to gravitational waves. In short, all waves have a local cause, it just that in the cause of the three forces those causes move.
There's more to be said on this, but I've blathered long enough, and I've got a persistent cold.
Here in the beautiful Salt Lake Valley, we have only two seasons. Road construction and road construction with snow and slush. Right now, it is road construction with snow and slush.
On Seasons
We have four seasons here: Rainy season (which is sometimes cancelled), fire season, tourist season, and preparing for tourist season.
Others say we have only three seasons: Preparing for Comic Con, Comic Con, and recovering from Comic Con.
Nerd of Redhead, OM #297
I thought you lived in Michigan, not Wisconsin. Or is there a different Chiwaukee besides the one in Pleasant Prairie?
What do you mean by "not propagated?" Does the effect simply disappear? If so, at what distance?
Ray, #167
I don't what!? I've been going on and on on how GR demonstrates that mass curves space-time. Please read more carefully.
As to gravitational waves; have you considered the possibility that gravity is supposed to produce waves because it is supposed to be a force in the same way that electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force are? How would things change in physics were we to drop the idea of gravitons and gravity waves in the case of gravity.
To expand on a thought in my just previous comment to David; keep in mind that the electromagnetic charge (for example) arises from a different type of space-time curvature. A steeper curvature with a shorter range. What causes this curvature would appear to give rise to a particle and a wave, which are just different expressions of the same phenomenon. But, the wavicle (to revive an old neologism) is not a phenomenon radiated by a source, it is caused by the immediate source.
We have sources of electromagnetic energy. In the case of a lamp it produces the wavicle we call a photon. A photon being the phenomenon that arises when whatever it is that bends space-time in the manner that produces electromagnetic charge is produced however it is produced. What I'm saying is, space-time bending however it occurs has a localized cause. In the case of electromagnetism it gets sent off gallivanting through space, while in the case of gravity it doesn't travel so much or so fast.
Here's a question (which I just thought of) for you. Would we have electromagnetic waves if photons traveled at a speed of hundreds or even thousands of miles an hour?
'Tis, I grew up in Michigan, and spent my earlier career there. Now I live near Pleasant Prairie (within 15 miles), and I was through there yesterday on an errand for the Redhead. For those of you from outside the area, Pleasant Prairie is a suburb of Kenosha, WI. The Chiwaukee metroplex, as used by Asimov and myself, describes the strip of (mostly) overlapping cities between Chicago and Milwaukee along the lake shore.
You showed a infamous sign near there from your last trip our way. The "college" is located at 42° 40' 48.83" N, 87° 57' 03.96" W (Google Earth), and the sign is a tenth of a mile NNW from the college. The college has writing on the roof...
Snoof, #174
How does this oscillating propagate when there is no way for it to propagate? The curvature moves with its cause, and can only move with its cause.
Mythusmage, I am afraid I don't understand your point about the "oscillation" from two orbiting objects not propagating. That makes no sense. The gravitational field has not limit to its range, so why couldn't a wave propagate in this field--just as it does for the electromagnetic field. Both have 1/r dependence for their potentials and unlimited range. If you can get electromagnetic waves, than there is no reason to suspect you won't also get gravitational waves.
In fact, I rather doubt you could construct a gravitational field that didn't give you gravitational waves.
Sili, #192
Specialization's for insects. 'Sides, there's nothing like poking people out of their comfort zones. :evilgrin:
rap, #200
What if we've gotten it all wrong and waves are local? In other words, that the phenomenon we call a wave in energy physics is an expression of a deeper phenomenon that expresses itself locally?
What is it about the bending that causes masses to follow it in a specific direction?
Llewelly, #302
There is no medium through which it could be propagated. The photon is the medium through which an electromagnetic wave is propagated, it is my contention that gravity --- because of the way it arises --- has no such mediating particle.
It may be gravity has a mediating particle, but such a thing is only perceivable at a higher scale of perception than we now enjoy. In other words, we're too close and too intimate with the trees to even know a forest exists. If we existed at a greater scale then reality would be a very different things and assumptions we are so sure of would be known to be rather silly.
ray, #306
How would it propagate with no medium to propagate through?
Owlmirror, #309
Ask GR, all I know is that when an object gets near a mass they change direction.
Why? Apparently it's because the direction the photon was going in changes direction. It's not a matter of a force acting upon the photon, but on local conditions (the direction of the direction an object is moving in in this case) changing.
Yes, this does mean that when our Sun comes near a mass the mass of Ceres it had not be close to before, the motion of the Sun is altered to come closer to the smaller object. If our Sun were to suddenly draw closer to the Milky Way's black hole that black hole would 'fall' towards the Sun.
In short, everything in the universe is downhill from everything else. That is what GR tells us.
How is that different from a force?
Mythusmage, your idea is tripping off my BS detector, but not being a physicist, I'm not quite competent to argue against it. As with all such ideas, why are you presenting it at this blog, and not in a paper submitted for publication? Only the latter has a chance for a trip to Stockholm.
I'm presently running Einstein at home, looking for gravity waves in the background.
What do you mean, "doesn't propagate"? Are you suggesting that objects _don't_ have a gravitational influence on other objects? Because that's just objectively wrong.
Even if gravity is some kind of "spooky action at a distance", with no presence in the intervening space between the binary system and the test mass, you'll still get oscillating gravitational fields at the test mass. You'll _still_ get a correspondence between the posititions of the stars in the binary system and the gravitational force the test mass experiences. This is the gravitational wave, and it'll crop up whether gravity is due to the geometry of spacetime, graviton particles, or the Noodly Appendages of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The Thread is, indeed, many things to many people. At the moment, I have no clue what you people are talking about. Carry on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEke7x4CKSM
snow, sailing, ties to cephalopods/elder gods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WrA0iGsYqk
Cat on a tin roof
Dogs in a pile
Nothin left to do but smile, smile smile!
yeah, that hit the spot.
I knew it would. :)
[FUCK. I fear that makes me some some of comfort person, which I'm so not; I just like good music; I'll sing or play or dance to the pretty songs... oh, fuck...]
mythusmage, I suspect your problem is you're trying to visualise physics using words and not math.
Perhaps you can pin down where you think the Wikipedia entry is wrong.
Like I told you
What I said
Steal your face right off your head.
Sometimes I miss Jerry so bad I can taste it. :(
The latest freak show in Norway.
It will be hard for the pareidolia folks to make a Jesus or Mary out of that without resorting to modern "art" interpretations.
According to Danish poet whose name I forget, our year has sixteen months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, November, November, November, November, December.
I'll never understand how looking at a tortured man hanging on a cross is somehow supposed to lift your spirit. Especially when you're being told that it was all because of you and your sinful nature...
__________________________________
SC, @317: Thank you for that. :)
Not Jesus, not Mary, but a sign:
This is it! This is the sign!
Uh...Sorry.
Nerd, #314
Because it's not a formal submission but rather my way of getting folks to think differently about things. What did evolution teach us about our place in the natural world? What has General Relativity taught us about gravity? It is up to better, and better educated, people than I to follow up on my proposal.
@ Dania #327 (from the linked blog):
Oh noes, it's a Howard The Duck moment! (I forget what the monsters were called ... the interwebz says Dark Overlords - sounds about right.)
Snoof, #315
You aint hearin' too good, is ya? Let's go over the basics again...
Mass curves space-time. How? We don't really know, all we know is that it does. This bending is strongest --- in effect, steepest --- the closer to the mass you get, becoming weaker --- which is to say, closer to flat --- the further away you get from the mass.
Apparently electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force also arise from the curving of space-time, but what causes that curving is unknown to us. But in those cases the curvature is so steep and of such short range emergent phenomenon such as charges and wavicles are possible; whereas with gravity the curvature is so shallow and of such great range that emergent properties such a charges and wavicles are not possible.
I guess I just don't know how to explain it better. But maybe this will help...
Think of the source of electromagnetic charge, positive or negative, as being like mass, but curving space-time for such a short distance we really can't detect it. When accumulated into a group of like things we get the wavicles we call quarks and leptons, the quarks coming together as hadrons. One analogy would be of a stellar cluster with hundreds of stars. Hundreds of masses producing a "mass" gravitational effect much as our electromagnetic sources enmass produce a charged particle we call a photon, proton, or electron. When it comes to gravity we're not dealing with emergent properties of emergent properties, we are for all intents dealing with the source of it all.
In other words, our universe could be the graviton we're looking for, and gravity waves could be our universe and all other associated universes.
But no, you're not going to convince me that two rotating masses create gravity waves because you haven't shown me how. Not according to how the universe apparently works. It would be like demonstrating strong force waves at the scale the space-time curvature that gives rise to the strong force arises.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, space-time doesn't work that way. Waves like weak force waves arise from another cause than oscillating space-time, and require a mediating particle in order to propagate however far it is they propagate. What I am saying is that waves are bound to their corresponding particle and cannot exist independently of them. That is, you cannot have an force without an associated particle.
I wish I could say it better, but I just haven't the tools. Sorry.
And then there's this:
Spiritual DNA. "What the hell is that?", I thought. So I goggled it, and found this precious bit of concentrated woo:
No, I have no idea what they've been smoking. Not sure if you can get it legally either.
Mythusmage, you just lost most of your credibility. Trolls who try to get us to "think differently" are a bunch of bored, and boring, sophist philosophers. Philosophy without evidence is sophistry. So, I'll not even consider what you say, as you said nothing serious.
Alan, have you come across any references/pages specifically on the "Geological Column" or "Geologic Column" during your "share and enjoy" research?
I'm working on something and am trying to amass as many relevant writings on The ColumnTM as I can. I would hate to have missed something that you turned up* during your reading.
*As should be obvious from my lack of commenting on them, I've been so caught up with other things that I have as of yet read through precious few of the "Share and Enjoy" pieces. So please ignore this query if there's some relevant articles in those pieces that I just haven't seen yet.
More a very human, destructive semi-intelligence which is capable of using ropes and planks.
What exactly is the natural frequency of the earth (/ Earth) anyway? Are we talking something along the lines of those ringing diamond star cores? Or just its periodicity within the solar system - viz a year! Or the gravity periodicity for hypothetical tunnels through the planet. Or perhaps some imagined harmonic/inharmonic spectrum of humus instead.
Mythusmage, you seem to be trying to bring back the ether--some medium that exists only so the waves have something to propagate in. However, this is counter to the theory of relativity, as it introduces a privileged absolute reference frame. The Michelson-Morley experiment showed definitively that no such frame (and therefore no ether) exists.
Gravitational waves, like electromagnetic waves propagate as oscillations in the gravitational or electromagnetic fields (respectively) themselves. John Morales is right--there comes a point in looking at physics where you just have to do the math. The math says you get gravitational waves--that in fact you must.
Also, it's really a mistake to view the other forces as curving spacetime. We only say that gravity does because LOCALLY it is impossible to distinguish between a reference fram in a gravitational field and an accelerated reference frame. Both change the curvature tensor of spacetime. Einstein spent decades trying to work out a similar framework for electromagnetism and failed.
When you say, effectively, that you've worked everything out except the math, what you are really saying is that you haven't worked anything out. Remember, Einstein had his insight into the local equivalence of gravity and acceleration in 1910, but he didn't have a general theory of reletivity until 1915. Those 5 years were spent working out the math, and only then did he have a physical theory.
To revisit the seasons topic, here in Texas we have several dozen seasons that happen between November and March, in no particular order, often occurring for less than a day then repeating a few weeks later, followed by SUMMER.
SEF:
(I forgot to include the link to this wonderful site called The Spiritual Genome (Warning: text is in pink...) in my previous post. Here it is.)
It looks like they're talking about the Schumann resonances. I found this bizarre sentence on their site and I really don't know what to make of it. They're crazy. Just look at this:
SC OM #320
No chance of that. There's nothing comfortable about our SC.
Thanks to all who contributed to the Pharyngula memorial for Liam Clancy. Good links, good music. Tip o' the hat to Clancy.
I have a little headache right now for Liam in fact. I might have had one parting glass too many, but well worth it.
Here's a tutorial for "sharing your faith online", specifically, your mormon faith. It talks about the 23 videos the LDS Church has posted to youtube, and how you can piggyback and use those, etc. It's pretty funny when it gets to the part that explains why you should use the word "mormon" in your title. Little zigzag of Crazy right there.
The tutorial is amateurish and not slick like the church's videos. In LDS videos there are professional actors pretending to be regular joes and josephines, with no disclaimers provided.
The "related" videos don't always toe the mormon line, so, horror of horrors, some of the faithful will be clicking on anti-mormon videos. President Monson was right, the Internet is susceptible to Satan.
Not really any link to either crop circles or DNA (mundane or divine) though.
Silent Monks "singing" some holiday Handel for you.
Anybody happen to know what spelt flour is called/sold-as in France? Not for pies, I'm afraid,† but pancakes (USAian style). With baconsausage.
† Yes, I really am scared of pies. They have a tendency to hit you in the face.
Heh--except I don't think you're really gonna like the way it gets done in my unit...
SF Jumper POV from a Blackhawk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhBncPiwFz4&feature=related
SF Jumper POV from a C-23:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eosAPVl5AvQ&feature=related
USASOC Jumpmaster POV in a Blackhawk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP1_-J4qxak&feature=related
Of course, these are "Hollywood" jumps: middle of the day with no equipment. The kind of airborne operations that chew up a whole day--when lots of 'chutes are available and the goal is just to keep people current. The whole point is to try and get everyone in the unit out of the aircraft at least once. The jumps aren't part of any larger operational plan, but you might get three of them in if all goes well.
Those videos aren't really what it's like when it's for real, of course. As you'd probably expect, combat training jumps are dress rehearsals for the real thing: parachute infils into multi-day follow on missions. Combat equipment jumps tend to be much less frequently filmed--I had to search to find this one. These guys are still USASOC, but they aren't an actual combat unit. And I couldn't find a video of a Blackhawk jump. The basic elements are all there, though: an exit from some sort of aircraft at ~1,200 feet (or less) in the middle of the night, with some 130+ pounds of gear and guns strapped on--Airborne.
Fucking SB. I did not hit submit.
Anyway, this was the other vid I was going to include:
Quite reasonable, especially if they're pumpkin pies.
I kept scratching my head "what the hell is a silent monkey?"
Good thing I checked the link. I do loves me some Lord of lords.
I just want to say I JUST TURNED IN FINAL GRADES.
Now if I can just crawl out from under the pile of unreturned email, undone laundry, unbought presents, and undecked halls, I'll be all set.
Thanks for those videos, Josh.
My brother, who was an Airborne Ranger back in the day, told me: "There are three things that fall out of the sky. Rain, birdshit and fools."
Fuckin' A, Carlie.
nothing personal, Carlie, but I hate you.
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
Wait--you were a submariner and your brother was a Ranger?
Jeeeze, you two must have given your folks fits.
Thanks, Josh. Sorry, Sven. Would it help to know that I still have a deskload of administrative stuff to deal with before the college closes for the holiday, and I'm so far behind on research it makes me want to weep?
'Tis
'Tis's brother
Decorate the halls with the laundry. The smell will drive you out so you can do your shopping and get the presents and, more importantly, alcohol. The wines, beers, and spirits will make it easy to deal with emails. And you won't smell the decorative laundry.
Oh, and congratulations!
That's pretty much the steady state, isn't it? I mean, the day you become a researcher is pretty much the first day you're behind.
blf,
farine d'épeautre
negentropyeater, cheers! er, merci !
What's up with all these born-again, evangelical christians managing private prisons? George C. Zoley, Chairman and CEO of GEO was mentioned in several news articles, but his delivery of Jesus Christ along with supposed rehab was not mentioned. Christian PR firms tout the Jesus angle openly, but other media outlets skip right past it.
I became suspicious when news of immigrants dying in out-of-the-way prisons near the US/Mexico border, of pregnant women not receiving medical care while incarcerated, and of general mismanagement by prison officials with surprisingly little experience pinged my "christian agenda" monitor. Sure enough, part of the trouble can be traced back to government tax dollars being spent to put incompetent fundies in charge of prisons.
NPR's Fresh Air program aired a podcast on December 10th in which some of the problems with these prisons were discussed in detail. However, NPR also missed the fundie christian angle. In the NPR story, a prisoner dies because he was not given medical attention for epilepsy, a condition the prison officials knew about -- but all they did was put the guy in solitary confinement. The NPR story also mentions the lack of expertise in the top management.
I was a submariner because I knew it would keep me out of Vietnam. Submarining isn't too bad as long as you're not claustrophobic. Worse than being in a submarine was going to nuke school. It was a year long school with a 30% failure rate. I studied harder in nuke school than graduate school.
My brother went into the Army in the late 1960s, when Vietnam was winding down, and volunteered for pretty well everything (OCS, jump school, ranger school). He was really into that sort of thing. When he did go to 'Nam he spent three months there before his unit (the 173rd Airborne Brigade) was returned to the States.
Josh @345: Holy crap! Still gotta say that it looks mostly like fun to me. Why was the female in the third video looking at her feet so often?
Josh @346: Okay, bigger Holy Crap! Those guys are wearing so much equipment they can barely stand up. No so much like fun.
Sven DiMilo #355
Me
My brother
#333 Josh gets the Nelson!
Josh asked
Hi Josh
Well (disparately desperately trying to marshall his thoughts). The key word seems to be "relevant". They have written an awful lot. I did cover a paper by John Woodmorappe on fossils in the wrong place in the column and he referenced a number of items.
Also, you have the argument between the "traditionalists" (i.e. AiG, US & Australian model) versus the European/British model. Some of the papers referenced in a previous thread might have some references.
You, of course, have Glenn Morton (OEC) who shows all the Systems are present in many places, including (nearly) the whole of China:
http://home.entouch.net/dmd/geo.htm
Are you thinking of their philosophy to the Geologic(al) Column, "evidence" it doesn't exist in the form geologists use it, alternative models to it or what? It will help to narrow it down a bit. Otherwise, I would guess that there is an awful lot ... Also OEC or YEC or both?
You have obviously tried searching on the AiG site and in the Creation version of Wikipedia ...
Get back to us with a bit more of an idea of what you want. I'm sure I can help.
She was making sure that she wasn't stepping on the static lines (the cords that deploy the parachutes) of the two guys seated just adjacent to her on both sides. They were connected to the floor in front of her. Blackhawks are kinda tight...
Yeah. And I dunno what it's like for those guys, but our mission rucks are fucking heavy.
Where's Jadehawk? Did she suddenly get a life?
See, that's Einstein's big insight – that there are waves which are not wiggles in a material medium. In this case, spacetime itself, the vacuum itself, wiggles.
Or in other words, it's a particle that just flies through space like a bullet. Wheeee!!! Remember, wave = particle.
For electromagnetism, the electromagnetic field wiggles. For gravity, the gravitational field wiggles, and apparently the gravitational field is the same as spacetime itself – at least, no differences have been found so far, as far as I've understood the matter.
Erm... both electromagnetics and gravity have infinite range and diminish with the square of the distance.
In fact, it is a wild assumption on your part. <vehement nodding>
I'm afraid this is just jibberish. Are you trying to make a pun on "charge"?
"Endurance"? When you invent new technical terms, it's your duty to define them.
There is no such thing as electromagnetic energy.
It's basically kinetic energy that is donated to a virtual photon which becomes real in the process.
Electromagnetic charge is not produced. It is conserved. It cannot be net created or net destroyed; the sum of all charges in a closed system is constant for all eternity.
What, if anything, makes you think so?
Yes, because the photon is the wave.
You are the one who brought up the term "wavicle"! Do you sometimes understand it and sometimes not?
So... you... admit to trolling? Srsly?
Wrong.
The photon is the electromagnetic wave.
It is a traveling disturbance of the electromagnetic field.
It's not the photon that wiggles up and down. Spacetime itself does. The vacuum does. The photon is the wiggle, not that which wiggles.
Well, no. Everything is first uphill and then downhill from everything else; this doesn't differ from Newton's theory of gravity.
Bullshit. If you actually want to reach anyone, and be taken seriously as a bonus, you need to publish. This here is just me pretending not to have a life – it's not the scientific community.
You're making this up. Nice story.
Oh, was this his "general field theory"?
Thirded.
Every once in a while, a philosopher comes, takes a short look at biology, laughs his ass off, and proceeds to claim the biologists have no clue what they're doing – they have, after all, never managed to define the term "life".
It's very common in science that language just fails, and it's also very common that preconceived terms turn out to describe part of a continuum, so that any definition would be completely arbitrary (that's the case with "life").
Math, on the other hand, never fails. You can fail to understand it (don't believe I can do calculations with tensors!), but the math itself doesn't fail.
Physics cannot be really grasped without math. It cannot be handled without math.
No shit. My first squad leader, when I was a newborn infantry pup, had earned a CIB with the 173rd in 'Nam.
I don't like Heavy. In fact, I was truly jealous of a woman I met on the Continental Divide Trail -- her man was carrying all of her stuff for her! And even then, she didn't feel that he was sufficiently slowed down -- apparently she likes a very genteel pace. I, in the meantime, was carrying the stove fuel for one of my brothers, plus my stuff. You can hire human sherpas in Glacier National Park, which, if you have the money, sounds like a pleasant way to hike. If there were a god, he/she would assign me a sherpa.
Additional details re: static lines and combat equipment.
Bingo.
I'm working on fleshing out (and developing further) the argument I made here:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/09/carlos_cerna_will_someday_de…
#345, #346
Josh: Are the British as good as this suggests?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of4E-2fSeWs
The Rules of Submarining
1. Ensure the number of surfaces equals the number of dives.
2. Keep people out of the water tanks and water out of the people tank.
3. Remember that your submarine was built by the lowest bidder.
I agree with this completely. When I was in college, I had occasion to attend a party at the home of one of my professors. Two members of the physics faculty were there. On the way back from the bar, I happened by them standing beside a window. They were talking about one of their recent MS graduates who had taken a teaching job at a local community college. That college had two physics tracks that students could take en route to the AS degree: one was the normal undergraduate physics series and one was essentially physics without calculus. The alum in question was teaching the physics without calculus class. The professors were arguing the merits (or lack thereof) of teaching the subject in this manner. It was an interesting talk to eavesdrop on. They were both pretty incredulous.
"How the hell would you teach physics without the calculus?"
I have one thing to say about any potential future I would have in the Silent Service:
U.S.S Thresher.
*shudder*
Yeah, 500' is pretty low. I'm not sure what 'chute they were jumping (the canopy looks odd to me). My unit has been using the rather new SF-10 parachute. I'm not sure what the minimum opening height is (I did some quick digging and didn't come up with a number), but 500' sounds a little low. But, the SF-10 was designed for high elevation drop zone infils, so they open pretty f-ing fast...
What really struck me about that video was the speed at which the jumpers were getting into the air. It looked to me like the JMs were sending people out of the doors with less lag time between jumpers (looked like as much as a full second faster).
'Tis,
My hat's off to you. Drowning and suffocating are my two highest on the "ways I don't want to die" list. Since subs could easily combine both, I think I'd be a quivering mess within minutes of descent.
For those who don't know, USS Thresher (SSN 593) was one of two American submarines to submerge and not surface since World War II. The other was USS Scorpion (SSN 589).
Here's an edited excerpt from wikipedia. Thresher was lost during a deep dive on 10 April 1963. She had undergone an overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard* and was on post-overhaul trials. She was accompanied by the submarine rescue ship USS Skylark (ASR 20). As Thresher neared her test depth, Skylark received garbled communications by underwater telephone indicating "... minor difficulties, have positive up-angle, attempting to blow." When Skylark received no further communication, surface observers realized Thresher had sunk. 129 crew and military and civilian technicians were killed.
Thresher’s remains were located on the sea floor, some 8,400 feet (2,600 m) below the surface. Deep sea photography, recovered artifacts, and an evaluation of her design and operational history permitted a Court of Inquiry to conclude Thresher had probably suffered the failure of a joint in a salt water piping system, which relied heavily on silver brazing instead of welding. High-pressure water spraying from a broken pipe joint may have shorted out an electrical panel, which in turn caused a reactor scram, with subsequent loss of propulsion. The inability to blow the ballast tanks was later attributed to excessive moisture in the ship's high-pressure air tanks, which froze and plugged flowpaths. This was later simulated in dock-side tests on Thresher’s sister ship, USS Tinosa (SSN 606). During a test to simulate blowing ballast at or near test depth, ice formed on strainers installed in valves; the flow of air lasted only a few seconds.
The result of Thresher's loss was the SUBSAFE program.
Scorpion was lost near the Azores in approximately 3000 m of water in May 1968. For various reasons, Scorpion had not received a full SUBSAFE overhaul. The cause of Scorpion's loss is unknown. Various theories include an internal torpedo explosion, failure of the Trash Disposal Unit (TDU), and an attack by a Soviet submarine.
*Portsmouth, New Hampshire Naval Shipyard is actually in Kittery, Maine. No, I don't know why it's not Kittery Naval Shipyard.
Carlie,
I left the Navy 37 years ago. The submarine I was in, USS Gato (SSN 615), a sister-ship of Thresher, was scrapped 13 years ago. I've been given a couple of tours of submarines since then but I last went to sea in one in 1972.
David Marjanović,
I remember the first time I solved the Schroedinger equation for the hydrogen atom. I'd solved differential equations before, and so I'm just applying the boundary equations. Nothing special. Boom. The energy levels drop out, just like that.
The math provides insight into what is happening physically. You can't possibly put it into words before you've done the math.
Feynmann's diagrams--another point. They aren't just pretty pictures. Each path, each vertex, means something mathematically! Our esteemed colleague mythusmage is missing all that. No wonder he's confused.
Do you remember the movie Gray Lady Down? My father told me about the Thresher after we had finished watching that.
If it requires calculus, I don't want to understand it.
Sad but true.
David @366: That was a thing of beauty. Thanks. Whole lot o' wiggling going on.
I have to admit that drowning has always been one of my greatest fears, but that still doesn't stop me from going kayaking whenever I can. And I much prefer swimming regularly than going to the gym. So, yeah, I'm kind of afraid of water but I prefer sports/activities that involve water. :S
Yeah, drowning is not the way I want to step out.
I watched Gray Lady Down but as a comedy rather than a drama.
Falling from a great height isn't the way I want to go. It's not the long fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the bottom.
I just realized that I wrote "human sherpa" up-thread, when I meant "human pack mule" -- of course, all sherpas are human (unless there has been an invasion of alien sherpas). Also, I did not mean to imply that because of my awesomeness, a sherpa should be enslaved to me for life. My apologies to sherpas everywhere.
'Tis, I loved the pics of you and of your brother. :-) Well done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0XUqliEnPQ
I'm familiar with that. Everytime the Redhead goes shopping, and comes back with anything the least bit heavy (heavy by her thinking, not hefting), she calls out for "Packy". I then become the beast of burden.
Yeah, I was like eight or something. It wasn't particularly comedic for me... To be fair, I was a pretty timid little kid.
Yeah, it's true. For the most part, though, the SF-10 is going to open. It just is. The bugs are pretty much worked out. Equipment failure* is always a fact of life of course, but the probability of the 'chute not opening is really low. No, what's going to get us in a jump is something wind related that puts you down away from the DZ and into power lines or some shit like that. Such as, the last time we jumped, one of the guys landed on a truck. One guy almost went into the trees. It's stuff like that.
*Or the riggers fucking up a packing job...
Yes, that and being burnt to death. *shudder*
My brother told me that every so often someone would go into the rigging building, take a parachute at random, and the person who packed it would jump using that 'chute. Sounds like an excellent quality assurance system.
The Romans had a similar system for bridges. When a bridge was opened to traffic, the builder and, if it was a different person, the architect would sit on a raft under that bridge. Some of those Roman bridges are still used today.
Yep, yep. I'm okay with taking that one off the list, too.
Fire bad!
Fire BAD*!
*hit tip to Metallicops
Well! This is a cheery little conversation you have going here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjtniSxl2zI
We have a rigger detachment. They're on the DZ watching everything and they usually jump--yeah, with 'chutes that they've packed.
Indeed. Romans--and wasn't someone just recently talking about Chinese officials forcing people who were "debugging" airline systems prior to Y2K to be in the air to test their handiwork?
Okay, fine. If you're gonna be that way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjaMozqec3E
Heh.
And what do you fight fire with, Josh? ;)
A friend of mine used to mention how amazed she was that Western climbers got all of this praise while sherpas received little attention. She pointed out that Tenzing Norgay climbed Mt. Everest, too, and did it carrying Hillary's stuff. When Hillary died, I did a little research on sherpas. They're not just porters, but expert guides and climbers. There are incredible (and incredibly daring) Sherpa athletes - I think just recently a 77-year-old guy climbed it, and the fastest time is now like 8 hours. (I thought a Sherpa was also the youngest, but it appears that's now a girl from CA.)
Ahhh, you know that one?
Napalm.
Next.
Yeah they are. Westerners would be dying in droves on the Yack Route if it weren't for those guys.
Yes... whatever that says about me.
Without Jadehawk, I have to supply the snow on my own. Newfie just posted this on the "Let the Christmas caroling begin" thread:
Carlie @376 - my brother would agree with you about being a quivering mass. He served on a sub tender (USS Hunley) in the early 70's; once I asked him if he ever considered serving on a sub and he said 'You'll never catch me on one of those sea-going tin cans!'
It says +10 points is what it says...
"All suspects are...fucking assholes"
(I thought a Sherpa was also the youngest, but it appears that's now a girl from CA.)
Huh. Wiki says it's still a 15-year-old Sherpa girl.
Josh #395
The truly amazing thing about that video is the black keys on the piano are only painted on.
No pictures of snow, but with a couple of cams, the Keweenaw Research Center, which does winter testing for the Army, et al., north of MTU, gives you an idea of the Lake Superior snow belt. That should be enough for Jadehawk, with 55" this month.
Looking at the UP weather stations, it appear that KI Sawyer AFB, a B-52 base near Marquette, has been decommissioned. Nothing like driving into Marquette and seeing one of those huge planes overhead, coming in for a landing...
Ha!
fifteen? Ugh.
Congratulations to Lynna, OM!!!!!!!!!
Very well deserved.
*smiles*
I didn't tell you, but you got +15 just for the reference. :)
Yup. Rather impressive.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/may/25/everest.nepal
Oh, Lynna won a Molly? Congrats, Lynna. Well deserved!
And now for the North American Mid-Continental Winter Competition. The winner will be the first one to answer all these questions correctly:
1) Where's the car?
2) Where's the street?
3) If I follow those dim red lights ahead of me, will I end up in someone else's driveway?
Our Lynna is an OM, bringing grace and wisdom to an otherwise mediocre lot of people like Nerd, Josh and me.
I almost posted the video--but I wasn't sure I wanted everyone here to know that I can find fucking humor in stuff that's that fucking crude.
"We're like...on our motherfucking way."
This is not a trivial number of people.
And you so weren't expecting to discover that you were not the only one here...
Indeed. Though I should have predicted it...
Jeez, quit being so damn coy and just link it!
Damn it. How come I keep fucking up the text-link trick. I can't ever get it to work (the text formatting tool bar doesn't help). Someone posted some instructions to do it a long time ago, but I have misplaced them.
ARRRRRGH!
Okay. Better now.
let's see if I can get fancy here:
text here
the quote-marks are necessary.
'course the URL has to be valid, http:// and like that.
Okay, trying this...
TEST
Fucking Eureka. Finally...
Thanks, Sven.
The paper on the hopping hadrosaurs. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't quite say what the newspaper article on it makes it say.
She's a tease, that Eureka.
Josh @395: Hey, I resemble that video.
Dania @411, many thanks. Considering that I lurked on Pharyngula for a long time, and was scared shitless and simultaneously thrilled by all the brain power on display, it was a big deal just to start commenting. To be honored with a Molly was something I didn't expect.
'Tis @413
erm, umm, I, uh, responded on the Molly thread with, "Holy crap!"
Thanks, Alan B. I now feel like I should contribute more than mormon madness and truly awful doggerel for geologists -- but that's not likely. ~:-)
SC, thanks for the info on the 15-year-old female sherpa setting the record on Everest. Gives new meaning to "you go, girl". To all sherpas, "We're not worthy!"
I think I should continue not living up to "bringing grace and wisdom to an otherwise mediocre lot of people" --
Beer Good
Dickweed Bad
(I claim Josh as my mentor.)
Looks like large numbers of Humboldt squid are washing ashore in Seaside, Oregon. Apparently, this normally happens in the fall, but having so many this late is really unusual.
Here's a link to the news article:
http://www.kgw.com/news/Squid-start-washing-ashore-near-Seaside-7902179…
Ai, yi, yi, those squid that washed up on the beach in Oregeon died of hypothermia.
Yeah, Humboldts (Diablos Rojos) have been moving steadily north for at least 10 years. When the water gets cold, they can be stunned.
Sven, "stunned" is right. Bloody nature. I hadn't realized until you pointed it out that they've been moving north for more than a decade. Pushing at the limits.
BTW, many thanks for the fine salute on the Molly thread -- and it was the first post on that thread too. Tentacled perfection.
This thread needs some music !
Midnight Lullaby
Never let go
Chocolate Jesus
Heh.
Today's xkcd looks like it is aimed directly at mythusmage's fuzzy physics.
Or perhaps that should be "phuzzy fizzix"?
+1
Rorschach: I like the Tom Waits tunes... I'd never heard Chocolate Jesus before.
And I said, "Let there be more music for the thread," and there was more music. And I saw how good the music was. I separated the music from the silence. It was pretty tough, let me tell you.
John Coltrane - I'm Old Fashioned
Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts Quartet - Feel the Sway
Jaco Pastorius - Reza / Giant Steps / Reza
*chuckle*
In reality, that last link should be called:
"Reza / Blackbird / Reza / Giant Steps / Reza"
It's basically a second rondo (five-part) form, in which each section is a song form.
Or, if you feeling particularly insolent, you could just call it a "medley".
mythusmage, if you wanted to get people to think about the implications of general relativity, you would need to understand general relativity, and you visibly don't, as for example when you claim it doesn't allow for gravitational waves when in fact it requires them. Please stop doing this.
#439 Stephen Wells and others
There is of course a simple way of dealing with it.
IGNORE HIM
OK music fans, here's an apparently difficult one for you - especially those of you who are capable of hearing and recalling lyrics (neither of which categories includes me!).
Someone on LJ heard a song via phone muzack while on hold to the airline. They noted down a couple of lyrics but have found google to be unhelpful - just a few other people also trying to find the same thing! The unknown female performer may not be the original (nor even necessarily female!). The lyrics may not be correct (judging by the way songs mutate even when I'm not involved!). No tune or genre has been reported yet. This is all they've got:
I've been watching Alan's posts on this for a while now, and am a little concerned that he might have lost it a bit....again
I think I actually already posted that on one of the last incarnations of the thread, my bad...
*evil laugh and Mr. Burnsesque wringing of hands*
I was linked to this webcomic for the story but I suspect those shirts will be of interest to the locals. (Codeword: PaleontoLOLgy.)
If only we had been stronger
If only we had held on longer
If only that goddamn fishmonger
Hadn't gutted us and put us on ice
If only I could say I'm sorry
If only we weren't calamari
If we could drift beneath a sky all starry
Golly gee, that'd be nice
I'm pretty sure that's how it goes.
The singer is Sepia Humboldt, and she's backed on that track by the incomparable Los Loligos.
Hope this helps.
"Off"-topic:
Stephen Venner's complaint of being taken out of context doesn't help him. The damning part of his world-view is that he admires as virtues the twin vices he shares with rival religious nutters:
These vices are a big part of religious evil - his as well as theirs. The badness of his world-view is not simply a result of his opinion being put alongside recent figures for deaths. That's merely his shallow perception of it - perhaps his Morton's Demon helping him to avoid seeing the real problem.
@ Sven DiMilo #445:
I doubt the original poster will be convinced it was a squiddly song. Perhaps PZ does need to have his own muzak channel for putting people on hold though. :-D
HAPPY QM-DAY!!
Thus begins the time of Agnostica, the end of which can never be determined with absolute certainty!
Happy Monkey!
I do think that the Pharyngulista band should be called Los Loligos, though. Debut album: "Your Concern is Noted."
Ooh. With glow-in-the-dark skeletons underneath the body outlines! Too cool.
The horror that is LOLSAURPODZ. With lots of inside jokes.
#442 Rorschach said:
I ain't lost nuthink! (Has a quick count of all visible body parts) No. Ain't lost nuthink.
Hey Ed. We lost anyting?
[Ed. (quietly) He's probably lost his marbles. (out loud) No Alan, we ain't lost nuthink]
There you are, Rorschach. Nothing missing - unless you know better ...
Apparently there was a recently. I'll look into this further. Photos would be nice, or at least the figures for numbers of pterosaurs attending, menus for related dinners, etc.
Oh, damnit and more! I just fucked up my own joke in comment 452. That was supposed to be "pterosaur meeting in Munich" -- carry on without me.
Alan B:
Rorschach was referring to Alan "mythusmage" Kellogg.
If anybody wants something a little different in the way of music, allow me to recommend something I can't stop playing ~ "Cambodian Swing Machine".
It's a compilation album made from old cassettes collected in Cambodia by an American of Cambodian pop's "Golden Era" from the late 60's up till '75. He made it available for free in memory of the artists. The odds are that every single performer died in the Killing Fields.
It's a wonderfully happy, and charmingly odd, mixture of great surf guitars, psychedelia, girl singers, and more.
Only available as a download via a link from this site ~ http://thehorsedrawnzeppelin.blogspot.com/2007/02/cambodian-60s-music.h… ~ as an .rar file. (Here is the download link ~ http://sharebee.com/91e17e91 ~ I used TUGZip to extract it).
13 tracks of pure joy. I'm just suprised Tarantino hasn't used it yet.
PS ~ Track #2 is the original of Dengue Fever's "Tiger Phone Card" ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTckGk6eBjM
Thanks, RTL! Downloaded.
(If that's, like, legal. If it's not, I didn't. Won't. heh)
"Los Loligos"
Squid in mexican hats and shawls, lined up and playing guitars? Backing some ultra cool or ridiculously flamboyant cephalopodian lead? If it was that jellyfish then it could be the lead stinger of the band.
This is a whole show, really. There's the regular house band and lots of potential for guest artistes - both aquatic (eg animated) and human (like The Muppet Show). If I ran Disney/Pixar I might make it!
Has bigfoot mad another appearance?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIwjKcrxOOE
Octopus tool use?
http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/12/octopus_carries_around…
One of the random quotes on the left sidebar:
Surely there is a clause or two missing?* Russell usually makes a lot more sense than that.
*between "have" and "adapted"? ALso a missing "was" in the first sentence?
Oh, that is so fucking cool.
Josh @462: Agreed. Too cool for school. I especially like the fact that the octopus can carry around two coconut shells, and in a pinch, assemble them as a cave in which to hide.
Note that one octopus was sitting on his "helmet" -- which, IIRC, is a time-honored maneuver.
That was the thing that got me.
Indeed it is.
"Why're you guys all sitting on your helmuts?"
"So the **** don't shoot our balls off."
I want to see the octopus use them as castanets. Then I'll be impressed.
Los Loligos!
Is this from a German porn movie?
Apocalypse Now reference?
Ja, ja, mit Fritz und Hans und Helmut!
Chicka-vow-chicka-vow-vow!
More points for you!
I was too lazy to go find the actual quote, though...so it's a paraphrase.
*giggle*
Wow.
Uh, wow.
Many quotes seem to have been retyped by PZ from books. All typos the spellchecker didn't catch are still in there.
Now that more of you are up/online, can anyone identify the mystery (hopefully not too misheard!) song lyric yet:
?
There are unanswered queries online about those lyrics dating back to 2004.
It's like a left-handed monkey wrench, isn't it?
It could be that they are very commonly misheard - or there was one version where they were mis-sung, so that all the copies on lyrics sites have different enough words not to show up in searches.
#454 Sven DiMilo
Ah. Mistaken identity. It's OK Ed, we didn't loose nuthink.
[Ed. (quietly)Except your marbles ...]
Is it just me, or is a lot of stuff at Cell/Current Biology suddenly open access?
I think it's a telling detail that Alan B thought that Sven was referring to him, as in losing marbles and whatnot. Really, Alan B, most of what you post is coherent. ~:-) (Ed., you stay out of this.)
On boy, more touchy, feely stuff than we knew about:
Incidentally: don't kiss the frogs - tempting though it might be.
Why would anyone kiss a frog? They might end up with Prince Philip.
I don't believe in magic. Frogs are eminently kissable on their own account. But I already knew better than to risk it.
Apparently some humans don't, though, and are easily influenced by the TV/films they've just seen. Which does somewhat raise the question of whether the latest bunch of frog-kissers were expecting/hoping to be turned into frogs themselves ...
or worse
You see?! Why risk getting one of those when one already has a beautiful flippery froggie in the hand.
Yeah sorry Alan B, I was indeed talking about the "mythusmage" character, not you...:-)
A pleasant holiday is coming to an end, very annoying !
I just finished reading the Tawa paper. Antiochus Epiphanes, take note: Tawa hallae looks like a Linnaean binominal, but it's not! The name is introduced with "nov. taxa", and the words "genus" and "species" do not occur anywhere in the paper except in the references to the supplementary information.
Several such ICZN-invalid names for Mesozoic dinosaurs (birds included) have been published like this in the last few years (often in Nature or Science – this one is Science). Nobody seems to care or even notice. People who work on dinosaurs just don't use ranks anymore.
Ha! I thought you might bring that up.
Here's how the best quality, free-range Father Christmases from Lapland are hunted and trained.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JIz7I5yzwQ
Well, I don't know. A little bit of wind, and all those skyscrapers will be washed into the river or whatever it is. :-/
Made me twist and shake in disgust.
I am full of sushi and sake and I don't feel like doing any sort of work tonight.
That is all.
*looks at the picture linked to in #484*
Why do people persist in building on barrier islands?
*shakes head*
first typepad refused to sign me in for 3 days, then I spent half a day on an airplane and the other half in Amsterdam, and now I'm on vacation in a place that doesn't have any snow. Also, typepad still refuses to let me use my regular account, so who the fuck knows under what name this is going to appear.
anyway, everybody have a Merry Squidmas and a Happy Monkey. And lots of snow.
Jadehawk, it appears TypePad made a change near the end of last week. Caused all sorts of problems. My work around is found here. Essentially, you can't get the previous dialog box to share the e-mail, so you have to set your account to automatically share the email. Access typepad from my link or google. Account is on the upper right. Save before exiting.
That ain't lots of snow. You can still see the objects. ;)
Thanks to Hemant Mehta, I've just discovered Tim Minchin. Fabulous Christmas song. Starts off snarky, leaves you weepy with sentiment. But you know, in a good way.
(Looks shocked 'n scandalized...)
But... But...
Oh! You mean you got rained out, right?
(Man, I hate that... But what can ya do... Mope around the lodge, attach yerself to the bar/stress test your liver, try not to look out the windows, 'cos that's just depressing...)
I can report snow, but have taken no pictures yet. We do now appear to be getting the steady supply that is supposed to be standard 'round here, tho'. They'd been threatening rain tomorrow, but revised that just yesterday--rain now called on account of snow.
So all good. Winter as it should be, finally. And I've been out on the board a bit, tho' just on smallish hills close to the city so far.
Also good news: the board is new--replacing one stolen at the tail end of last season--and is working out beautifully. Turns by reading your mind. This thing is the cat's pyjamas*. I am most pleased.
(*/I searched long and hard for the descriptive phrase least likely to be applied to a snowboard by an annoying, trying-too-hard-to-be-way-cool online reviewer. This was what I came up with.)
this isn't that kind of vacation, AJ. this is the kind that will get me home-made food for christmas. i'll have 4 months of snow afterwards.
also, jetleg sux
Oh, yes! Thank you! It finally clicked and I remembered the name of the book I keep telling people about but could not recall the name of for like two years! It's Against the Tide, by Cornelia Dean. I think I read it in anticipation of a talk she was giving at WHOI, which I didn't in the end attend, but I liked the book. I feel much better now.
'Tis @487: That was hilarious. Always wondered about Father Christmas -- now I know.
Crazy emails from twisted mormons are making the rounds again-- this one was posted by an ex-mo, and, for a welcome change, did not come straight to me. It's aimed at True Believers only, and demonstrates the latter day rehabilitation of the Catholic Church in the eyes of mormons. Being homophobic together makes for great friendships.
Sounds like the mormons now think the Catholic Church is no longer "Great and Abominable" but just Great. One ex-mo said the new rumor is that being Catholic is seen as just prep for converting to mormonism.
Not sure if this has already been posted, but just in case....
Octopus snatches coconut and runs
Psst! Nutysta, there was a thread devoted to that video.
#333 Josh
It's amazing how the posts zip past ...
Here are a few articles that might be of interest. Consider them a first installament.
http://www.trueorigin.org/geocolumn.asp
(John Woodmorappe trying to overcome Glenn Morten's article
www.icr.org/article/beware-dangerous-definitions/
Beware of Dangerous Definitions by Brian Thomas, M.S., & Frank Sherwin, M.A.
http://www.icr.org/article/ten-misconceptions-about-geologic-column/
Ten Misconceptions about the Geologic Column by Steven A. Austin, Ph.D.
www.icr.org/article/how-long-did-it-take-deposit-geologic-strata/
How Long Did It Take to Deposit the Geologic Strata by John D. Morris, Ph.D.
http://www.icr.org/article/does-geologic-column-prove-evolution/
Does The Geologic Column Prove Evolution by John D. Morris, Ph.D.
(I have cut off the http bit to keep it to 3 urls.)
I think I have already covered another paper which put forward a totally different approach to the GC™. Also, John Woodmorappe on fossils in the "wrong" place - an amazingly poor piece of scholarship - fall below his usual low standard) In addition, the summary paper (1 page or less) following the grand meeting to resolve the "Traditional" vs the "British Models" puts forward an approach to the GC™.
(John Woodmorappe does not like exposure of dipping sediments and refuses to accept that this also shows that the "column" is less incomplete than he claims. Sorry that's a bit rambling but some of his papers show a simple block diagram of 3 "slices of bread". This, of course, is exactly the position in the Southern part of England. You walk along the Dorset coast from West to East and can see the strata gradually younging {with a few trivial faulted bits and pieces}. Deep boreholes show the underlying strata, as expected.)
Incidentally, you can get the superscript TM for trademark by holding down the Alt key while you type 0153 on the number keypad then release Alt key. It must be the number keypad, not the string of numbers above the QWERTYUIOP line. But then I am sure you knew that.
The large majority of people writing here seem to know all about html and key codes. For the 1 or 2 remaining [Ed. Actually, Alan, it's only you]. Thanks Ed. /sarc. As I was saying before I was so rudely interupted [Ed. sniff], for the only other person who knows less than I do, you might be interested in:
http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/accents/codealt.html
which shows how to get all sorts of odd things like:
™ © § ž (and other Czech characters) ¶ ¼ ½ ¾ ± µ ‰ and just about every accent you ever didn't want to have to use.
(Since I just typed these in by the Alt Key + number keypad method, it shows they work in messages here - or, at least, they do in the Preview.)
Alan B, you're scary. I'm glad you're on the side of the angels¹ — with your extensive knowledge of creation "science" and of real science, you would be such an asset to creationists...
(no suggestion for easy $$$ implied above!)
--
PS one can also use the HTML entity ™ for the trademark™ symbol.
--
¹ Idiomatic use only!
I've heard of this book, but I haven't read it. I will have to check it out.
Thanks for the links, Alan. I think I have most of those, but will confirm.
Do you mean this paper?
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/arj/v1/n1/in-place-fossils-by-…
I read this over breakfast this morning, and as a result, almost lost said breakfast*.
As a positive result, however, that paper is now on the "take down" list. But it's a little ways down on the schedule. Another positive result is that I am extremely interested in getting my hands on a copy of the single reference in that "work:"
Woodmorappe, J. 1999. Studies in Flood Geology. ICR, El Cajon, CA, 231p.
I had ignored it before**, but it's on the "must have" list now.
_______________________
*Of course that was hyperbole. Shut up...
**My desire to have a consummate library on flood geology is constantly at war with my desire not to give these fuckers any money.
Ahhh, I had looked past this one:
http://www.icr.org/article/beware-dangerous-definitions/
and it's very useful. Thanks.
It's beginning to look a lot like squidmas ...
NB for those who find normal aquatic sepia squid passé, I also uploaded terrestrial/arboreal, deep sea/space and sky/cloud/frost versions.
I've also got a 16px favicon-sized version of the logo because I'm still hoping someone will be able to create an alternative login account site for "Signing Questionable Users" and providing them with ID - so that we can have squID logins here. If we have to log in at all, it'll be much more fun than those spanners, key-holes and vox blobs. The LiveJournal pencil is at least an attractive logo.
The people at FSTDT are laughing at Wiley for saying that atheists have no raison d'être "raisin date".
1 word...
2 syllables...
first syllable...
sounds like...
stretch! you're stretching!
no, you're trying to...you're reaching for s...
reaching!
reach!
first syllable sounds like reach!
uh...
creatures!
no
teachers!
no
Feynmaniac, the "raisin date" comment was hilarious. I also have no raisin date, but perhaps I've been using the wrong search terms on the "have sex tonight" websites.
As I understand it, the virtue of having a date with a raisin is that you can eat (literally, no innuendo intended) your date after, um, whatever sex you can have with a raisin. It's like praying mantis dating, but more socially acceptable.
Well, I will be go to hell. TypeThing acidentally let me in.
I am Handiwrapping in Joy.
Happy Mollyday, Lynna!
cicely, thank you for the "Mollyday" greetings! Others sent congrats as well, and I appreciated them all. Rorschach's vacation photo was really starting to get me down. I thought about it while I shoveled snow. Dog loves Rorschach and not me.
Prepare for whiplash-inducing change of subject.
Here's some more info on the religiously-inspired removal of bike lanes in Brooklyn:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34427772/ns/world_news-asiapacific/?GT1=430…
Boooooooooooooommmmm.
Thank you, Feymaniac. It was actually bothering that I could not understand what raison date meant.
Congrats for wiley for his stupidity getting recognition.
Other news from the Philippines:
http://www.fridae.com/newsfeatures/2009/11/25/9381.philippine-lgbts-pro…
In the future, city planners should attempt to route bicycle lanes around the first century B.C.
Testing...
But...what did I do?
*sniff*
No, no. Not MR. Fire BAD.
No, no, fire good. See?
Erm... Beer foamy?
Trees pretty. Fire bad.
*claps at Carlie*
Yeah, yeah...I love beaches too. A lot. Which is exactly why I wish people WOULD STOP BUILDING ON THEM.
The toilet at work tried to eat me today. Not the ceramic thing your precious bodily fluids go into, but the stall—which is actually an overgrown closet fitted with plumbing and the ceramic thing. And a lock. Which fell apart in my hand. After I'd closed and locked the door.
This closet has a history of eating people. Not too long ago (two or three months) it trapped a visitor from the USA. For quite a period of time. He didn't have his mobile phone with him, and the lock had not only fallen apart, it had jammed. In the evening, after most people had left. The handful of engineers left essentially dismantled the door to get him out, partially digested.
French toilets are dangerous…
#503 John Morales
Hi John: I am far too ignorant of html to suggest what I said was the last word, let alone the only word! There seem to be many different ways. At least I know that the ALT+Keypad numbers works for me.
I am only too aware of my lack of knowledge in both evolution/geology and in YEC/Flood(ism). I was genuine in my comments to RogerS and Alan C about wanting to know what the current thinking was. Trouble is they knew even less than I did!
On the side of the angels works for me. Thank you.
Make up your mind. Do you eat the raisin or the date?
And would someone kindly tell me what to do with the little man in the canoe? (Seriously, "oe"?!! Who the fuck designed this orthography? Chipmunks on speedballs?)
Just a thought. The Creationists are so keen in putting -ist at the end of words. As in:
Evolutionist, Darwinist, catastrophist, uniformitarianist (I've seen it!)
Why shouldn't we start using the term "floodist"? Personally, I dislike the term "Flood Geology" because it suggests that their thinking about The Flood™ has something to do with the science of geology.
Hasidism, as such, only goes back to the 18th century C.E. or so.
Of course, the root claim that they make -- "the woman tempted me" -- is from a considerably earlier period in time; definitely earlier than ~100BC.
Re: Woodmorappe -- I just searched Google Books for his name, in the hopes that there might be something available for online reading, but alas, there is bupkis.
However, I note that the three titles that are returned are amusing: Noah's ark: a feasibility study, Studies in flood geology; a compilation of research studies supporting creation and the flood, and Mythology of Modern Dating Methods.
I note that the first and third are classified by Google as "Science" (boo! hiss!), but the second one is classified as "Deluge" (LOL!).
Perhaps someone could tell them that the category needs to be spelled "Delugion", and his other two works need to be reclassified under that.
"Raisin dates"
Some scholars have suggested that instead of martyrs for Islam being promised 70 (or was it 72?) "virgins" they were to be rewarded in "raisins".
I couldn't possibly comment ...
Alan, Wowbagger already coined a word for these folks that we've been using on and off:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/02/science_of_watchmen.php#comm…
*shrug* So spot me a milennium or two either way and it was close enough.
Sure; or "delugionist", as coined here on Pharyngula on March 30, 2009 6:47 PM by Wowbagger.
Submitted without comment.
Of course, fire can be both.
Testing for fun:
Atheists “Я” Us
...Kinda works.
Lulz, thanks Carlie. This one goes out to you:
This was the third frozen day in Paris. No precipitation, but we'll see.
:-o
Beautiful!
I could stare at that picture for hours.
Happy Newton*mas, and try to import some bread to North Dakota afterwards. :-)
* We know this one was born on Dec. 25th !!
From west to east, it can. I remember flying to Beijing in 2006... it was 1 at night... it was dark, and I was trying to fall asleep at long last (not easy on a full plane)... and then it (ehem) dawned upon me that the thing we were flying towards was the rising sun.
...and on your schedule, it must be even worse... <facepalm>
You like Finnish humor?
Seriously?
Beware. There's a second part.
You have been warned.
Are you really sure you wouldn't prefer to see a video on how to find dinosaur bones?
The Dutch, shortly after they had a fairly common sound change that had for example also happened between Old and Classical Latin (oinos → ūnus).
The Dutch u has gone French, so it's not available, in case you're wondering.
Ooh! Brioche! And Christmas cookies!
Also, you seem to have the same water boiler as I. :-)
...And... how exactly can a Dane complain about an orthography? ~:-|
P. S.: Last warning, Lynna. I watched that video once and will not watch it again. You need to have a very solid mind (and stomach, and blood pressure...) to survive it unscathed.
#505 Josh
No. Not that turkey! "Your" paper comes (currently) at the top of my list of total delugionist rubbish. It's so bad it surpasses the scale of badness, goes through the entire range of awfulness and comes out of the other side to ... ?what? It breaks the speed of light in dreadfulness (IMHO). I wasn't going to mention it so be my guest. It's been said (if it hasn't, it has now!) everyone can produce a turkey of a paper but this is exceptional.
The one I looked at in detail was in #393 (Nov 16th), #578, #635, 686 of the "escape from the planet" incarnation of The Thread:
The paper is:
and is available at:
http://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j14_1/j14_1_110-116.pdf
I spent some time on it partly to demonstrate Woodmorappe's poor attention to the literature he cites.
I don't have this but presumably you are aware that it is merely a collection of 5 of his previous papers, with one cover and serial pagination. I have been able to locate some of the papers but not all. I find it intensely annoying that he repeatedly references it in his papers, thus making his "evidence" unobtainable. This is unusual - many delugionist papers are well referenced with available papers. The only significant difficulty (apart from this "book") has been Proceeding of some of the YEC conferences.
Still some more papers for you but I have been out all evening acting as Question Master for an inter-pub quiz (big in the West Midlands and I suspect elsewhere in England - leagues, cups etc.etc., Oh yes and beer ...)
#531 Josh
"Delugionist" - "Floodist"
O.K. You win. Wowbagger's is better.
Perhaps someone needs to check this atlas for: the location of the supposed flood / eden etc; what Nazareth is supposed to mean.
I would liker to interject on the comment about having to know math to understand Physics, while I believe you can gain a deeper understanding from the math, it is also very important to have the excitement and drive that may lead to the education of the pertinent math.
Not to interupt the topic at hand,please continue tho I would like to engage mythusmage, Stephen Wells,a_ray_in_dilbert_space and others...in a sec.
Sorry but this will probably be my longest post and please if I have not been clear or have made a mistake...by all means,I have my armour on.
Oh and if this isn't your subject then kilfile me and move on.
Gravitons do not exist unless you consider the distance between all particles in the universe as gravitons.
Gravitational waves are a real effect caused by mass moving in relation to other mass.
Gravitational waves can be considered as Geometric shape fluctuation.
Matter can come in a variety of densities.
Galactic Black holes = Space in the center of Galaxy=Black hole matter=HEAVY matter = Very Dense=Apex of convergence
Black hole Event Horizon consisting of Light Matter converging to Heavy matter
Galaxy = Space between Black holes and Dark matter = Normal matter = LIGHT matter = Less Dense= pre-black hole matter
Galaxy Event horizon consisting of Dark matter converging into Light Matter
Galactic shroud=DARK Matter = Even less Dense=Space between Space matter and normal matter = Pre-normal-matter.
Galactic shroud Event horizon consisting of Even less dense still converging into Dark matter.
External Galactic Space = Pre-dark -matter = Even less Dense still.
Space Event horizon Even lesser dense still, where the galactic gravitational waves preside just before convergence with other Galaxy bodies or other such phenomena.
These are all to be considered local space time frames.
The more distance you have between particles, the less gravity will be locally generated, unless you have greater amount of less density (such as a gas)or the mass of matter is moving.
Every particle is sharing information of shape to every other particle in the system (universe). This is an accumulative effect, the more mass, the more accumulation, the more potential bending of space time.
We can not see this directly, only indirectly ,is not it wonderful that the closest, densest matter can not be seen due to the bending of light around itself so we see what is behind the black hole instead of a black dot?
And one reason we can not see Dark matter very easily because the space between particles is less dense than normal matter, just as we can not see space, only the arrival of information(layman's terms *see thru it*). The only way to detect matter (other than normal matter is indirectly and that is how it is done.(indirectly)
However, there is a event horizon between normal matter (light matter)and Black hole matter (heavy matter).
So too shall there be a event horizon between normal matter (light matter) and Dark matter (pre-normal-matter). It will be very hard to find since the convergence is on galactic time scales.
And to follow this line of reasoning there will be an event horizon between Dark matter (pre-normal- matter) and Space (Even. Harder to find)
It is true that the Illusion that you experience of standing still on the earth is not relevant , you are actually falling along the space-time geometric curvature created by the mass of particles known as earth and since the gravity variance is so slight from the particles in your body and the particles in the lithosphere you can exist on the surface rather than continuing the fall to the densest part of the earth (core). It is generally the same for all matter.(with the exception of Event horizons)
It is the distance between particles that dictates density of the geometric shape of (gravity) space time.
It is the movement of particles thru that space that dictates information exchange.
All particles move in one frame or another, Get this (all matter moves all the time)so information is always present.(gravity is always present) space time exist. Movement of matter creates anomalies in the space-time, these are gravitational waves. Movement causes shape.
Let me state this again all space between mass particles can be considered gravitons and calculated as such.
IMO to physically look for an independent particle is unproductive, yet we still need to look as it is the scientific method and we tend to find some things while looking for other things.
All forces are fictitious when viewed at a non-local relevant space/time frame.
As far as the old world term ether as NOR mentions, or the Grid as others call it, this is nothing more than the transfer of information from every single particle to every single other particle, cumulatively, in the form of geometric shape.
We are what we are because of this information, Now it is the two forces of nature that operate within this space time, the Electroweak nuclear Force and the Strong nuclear Force that are the local events that play out in our time frame. It is the interplay of lesser forces that accumulate the expression of higher so called forces. The Two forces (Electroweak nuclear and the Strong nuclear force) dictate the shape by distance and momentum. In turn the shape regulates the template into which these forces interact. It is the expansion of the universe that enables this to occur.
On a galactic scale (Galaxy View) we see most galaxies moving away from us, our point of reasoning is the Doppler effect are the red shifting of galaxies, as the Galaxies move farther and farther away there is less impact of information exchange, This will have a profound effect on our Galaxy. I propose that the event horizons will adapt to the information exchange and since they will be less restricted by this information then the accumulation of mass to the denser medium will accelerate. What I mean is that the black hole in the center of our galaxy will spin faster and the event horizons will accelerate in their accretion rates. This will be very hard to see, but will be deduced by the difference of gravity potential between event horizons.
That is of course if there is not a local effect causing an interference such as our local group of galaxies moving toward our Galaxy.
Just as you have different states of normal matter ,such as ,solid, liquid, gas, plasma, Bose condensate, fermionic condensates(all states have not been discovered) you will have different states of Dark matter and different states of Black hole matter. The Pioneer anomaly may be an indicator of further alternative states.
So lets look again at matter, It is not all the same, It is governed;
by momentum (a property of a moving body that the body has by virtue of its mass and motion and that is equal to the product of the body's mass and velocity)
by distance (separation in time, spatial remoteness)
by angular momentum ( a vector quantity that is a measure of the rotational momentum of a rotating body or system, that is equal in classical physics to the product of the angular velocity of the body or system and its moment of inertia with respect to the rotation axis, and that is directed along the rotation axis)
(The following is speculation and conjecture)
I know that some of this contradicts the present day acceptable peer reviewed knowledge of a forever expanding Universe, Yet if you take into the account that we are at a stage of galactic formation where the four known local geometric shapes of/or (gravity) Heavy, Light, Dark and Space matter configurations are converging and that the unknown states of unequal mass will eventually converge, then given the time frame of Galactic Life span, and comparing this to the expected expansion rate and time of the Universe, there will be a time when all that exist is black holes and at that point the geometric information will cause space to contract ,due to the absents of matter between the black holes and Space dominant Hawking radiation will be the observed signal as each mass coalesce
back to another big bang.
A lot of what we perceive is an illusion, we interpret some things not as they are with our classical view point. (example/ flicker fusion rate)Quantum mechanics helps in the ability to see the reality in between illusion and delusion.
The above is brief and in no way complete.
And there are numerous other ways for this to play out.
That’s how I see it.
Hope this helps
Everything recycles and we should too!
Sphere coupler
*glances left*
*glances right*
*returns to grading exams*
I enjoy being out on the water but I would not want to be a commercial fisherman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTIfCO-ttfA&feature=related
I may be an atheist asshole, but A Charlie Brown Christmas is on, and I love it.
Sphere Coupler, I long ago realised you're deep into the woo, but I still like most of your posts.
Black holes are singularities, but not indecently naked — they're covered by their event horizon.
Galaxies are large-scale gravitationally bound systems.
Note your previous "definition" of black holes and your current definition of galaxies are contradictory! ;)
I can't make any sense of this; density and geometry are quite different concepts.
Woo of the gaps. Heh.
The drive comes from the excitement, and the excitement comes from the math.
If you're (like me) incapable of deriving excitement from math, you're incapable of doing physics. Very simple. :-|
Stop right here.
Waves are particles. Electromagnetic waves are photons, and gravitational waves are gravitons. You cannot have one aspect without the other.
I tried reading on, but there's no point – you need to understand the basics first.
John Morales
Thanks John and yes I do lean greatly to the what if?
But seriously have no woo agenda,and I enjoy your post as well.
Yes you are correct the definition is lacking.
Draw an imaginary line from every particles to every other particle,now pick a state of matter and use only the density that it represents then project that against the remaining geometry.Can you see that?
I have no real concepts for pioneer, I threw that in to make to point that we have a long way to go before we even understand the basics,(ie more than we know now)
David Marjanović
but see,not everyone is...we all come to the plate with what we have, and then organization can happen,like education. But in what order, must it be prescribed, cannot someone from biology move to physics or vice versa. Oh I agree you can not excel at physics without the math yet an interest can lead you in that direction. that's all.
Waves are waves,particles are wave interactions.
(Gravity) and photons are a result of interaction.
We are only beginning to try to map or math out the wave phenomenon to a greater extent.
Jebus, my hip boots aren't deep enough to withstand the amount of woo pitched here in the last few days. I need a shower. Then watch PZ give his Minot talk after I convert the small files into one big one. Sanity regained...
John, my correction.
I see how that can be confusing In the previous words I should be more specific that the
Galaxy definition Minus the singularity is between Event horizons.
Is that what you are referring to?
Nerd, what part trips your woo trigger,maybe I could help, or maybe you could.I value your skepticism (for lack of a better word)
Rev. BigDumbChimp #545
No "may be" about this statement.
Sphere Coupler:
Yeah. (see below).
Density: mass per unit volume.
Geometry: relationship between points in a metric space.
State of matter: forms of different phases of matter in bulk (matter here refers to that which has mass and occupies a volume).
Note: black holes have a definite mass, but occupy an infinitesimal volume (density = ∞) regardless of metric.
John,
Yes and that is why they are the Apex of convergence.
Sphere Coupler,
Apices, since you're using the plural. :)
</pedant>
Apices...really? OK, I have to look up the pronunciation.
Thanks for the breather PZ.I appreciate the window, and will look forward to the next, at your convenience,the winter break approaches none too soon.
Sphere Coupler
Sphere Coupler, I hope you noted my objections and definitions; I was indirectly alluding to dimensional analysis (it came up recently in another thread in a different context).
cf. Category error.
Sphere Coupler:
I didn't come close to understanding your post, partly because of the grammar and syntax, partly because of the exceptionally vague and confusing "definitions", and partly because I'm not an expert on physics either.
I don't know what you're saying about dark matter, but it's my understanding that dark matter is not "pre-normal matter", whatever that is supposed to mean. Do you think dark matter will become "normal matter" in the future?
Same deal with black holes, really. I don't get it. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here. The space between the singularity and the event horizon is curved so much that nothing can escape it. Other than that, I don't see the point in describing different kinds of matter inside or outside of the event horizon. Some matter will ultimately have one trajectory, and other matter will have different trajectories. That doesn't fundamentally change anything about the nature of matter itself.
As far as whether the universe will ultimately contract because everything will be sucked into black holes, I thought most of the evidence pointed toward an accelerating expansion. If that is so, then even if everything does get sucked into one black hole or another, most would apparently be so far apart that they can no longer have a causal relationship.
While we're on the topic of physics, I wanted to say that it's really frickin' hard for me to understand how there may have been no such thing as space-time before the big bang. Perhaps it's just not one of those things a person can comprehend -- I feel no need to posit the existence of some supernatural monster because of my ignorance. I accept it as a very real possibility, but honestly I just don't get it. I appreciate any comments, links, book recommendations, etc., that could help me sort some of it out.
Index...indices
Matrix...matrices
Chex Mix...Chices Mices??
Mr T,
Maybe there was, maybe there wasn't.
There's an 'event horizon' (force unification) close to the big bang, too, and it's all speculative at the moment — it's an open question whether it was the beginning of 'everything' or just of the space-time mass-energy we can observe.
In short, "it is not yet known".
Just finished The Greatest Show on Earth.
Fine book, except for an error (in relation to isotopic half-lives) on p.94:
Hah! Tell that to the organic chemists, who depend upon the persistent presence of 13C to do routine spectroscopic analyses, Dawkinz!
See? This error proves that evolution is false, and that specifically the christian god exists. I expect to see you all reformed and in church on Sunday morning.
Yep, very, very useful. Put them Nuclei in a Magnetic field, and Resonate them with RF. I suspect Dawkins meant 15C, which has a short half-life.
so true
Mr. T,
If I may try...An entity is not needed due to the nature of matter.Matter can not be created or destroyed.Picture in your mind a empty geometric space, now to that space add a point, a point so small that is overwhelmingly insignificant,that point is the same as empty space you created because they share the same geometry, they are both in harmony in everyway...
(total matter in total harmony is nothing)
but one...Quantum fluctuations.
Matter always moves and in some*time period* a small accumulation of matter will create a chain reaction (big bang).
You can not create or destroy matter, It will always exist and always has existed, however spacetime has not always existed,you must have expansion or contraction (movement) to have spacetime.matter in complete and utter harmony will still move and since matter always moves there is that chance that harmony will be broken.
If your arms atoms were in complete harmony with the table they would be the same and your arm could pass thru the table completely unnoticed.
I know alot of people, when they hear the word harmony think woo, think of harmony as a intangible musical note where a note of a specific tone will join exactly,only altering aplitude.
That's the easiest way to describe this I think. with a whole lot of hard earned science left out.
And it's hard not to get into trouble with such basic terms and short explanations.
I like this enormously for its conceit and genuinely attractive cartography, but I am less than enthused about its accuracy.
Not every placename has a known and completely unambiguous etymology.
The translation of the Andamans is amusing:
Islands of the Monkey God *
(* the one with the strong maxillaries)
Definitely that one, eh? How very anatomical...
I see that (according to Wikipedia (for whatever that's worth)), they were trying to reference Hanuman there, and (also via W'pedia) that Hanuman's name derives from "A permanent mark was left on his chin (hanuhH in Sanskrit), explaining his name."
I note that the German translation is "Inseln des Affengottes (der mit den Kinnbacken)".
John Morales: Thanks. Yes, I know it's still an open question. Here's some wild speculation: maybe multiple super-mega-mighty-morhpin black holes nearly collided and ripped each other apart, releasing a bunch of matter? Yeah, alright, maybe not.
Sphere Coupler:
How could fluctuations or movements occur in a system that lacks space-time? That is, "prior" to these proposed movements, it was assumed there was no space-time. Presumably anything we could consistently call a "fluctuation" or a "movement" needs to occur within the context of space-time, so how could that cause all of space-time to begin to exist? I know this is a popular idea in cosmology, not just you randomly throwing it out there, but it must be way over my head.
Well, I'm a musician, and even I think "harmony" tends to have a high correlation with the woo.
Also, musical notes are not "intangible" -- far from it. We hear them and feel them; with the proper instruments we can even "see" them.
Mr T,
Yes "prematter" is speculation on my part derived from the fact of eventual convergence to a black hole ect.
But as you were first aware of the magnitude of time that has passed for geological processes to take place, it is indeed,almost unconceivable to think on a universal or galactic time scale.
Yes, Emphatically, Yes, Eventually.
but testing must ensue to clarify.
or almost inconceivable...whatever
Carlie @535: That was an excellent image! Without that graphic I would have never figured out that fire can be good and bad! Doh.
Mr. Fire @559
I am so going to steal that.
Comment #542 is a black hole.
Josh, I am inexplicably taken with by your attempt to assemble a complete library of delugionist literature rantings. I would like to see this collection when it's complete.
Sili @527
The raisin was the date, and the date was the raisin, and I ate him/it. It's sorta like David's explanation that the photon is the wiggle, and the wiggle is is the photon... I think.
As for the little man in the canoe, my take on this is nautical: First, think "water", think "waves" -- this will give you the connected, smooth, inexorable quality of attack, while at the same time allowing for infinite variety, including a certain amount of rough seas. Keep the little man at sea, and never let him come ashore. Rock the boat.
Rev BDC, I didn't realize that your asshole was atheist, but considering it's life experience, I think that's a perfectly reasonable outcome.
SEF @507
This sounds like a great idea. Wish it could be implemented in time for Squidmas. I like the nighttime/deep sea version.
Oh, now that is just stupid beyond words. So gay people are forbidden to participate in politics if they form their own party? And they are, in my experience, very good in party mode. That's a shame.
We have the gay republicans. http://www.gayrepublicans.org/
-- anything is possible.
a poll already saying the right thing, but could use some pharyngulation to drive the message home.
the australian mandatory isp filter scheme backed by the australian christian lobby, and opposed by everyone else... such a pain we live in a practical theocracy because its being implemented regardless.
http://www.smh.com.au/polls/politics/form.html
Oh the Log Cabin Republicans? I think I saw something about that on the show American Dad.
In my experience, they only last an hour or so. Then they just end up on the floor, or on top of me. lol.
*bzzzzzzzt*
Thank you for playing. Better luck next time. (Hint: fill the Solar system with air out to around Pluto. Or read Starts With A Bang.)
Brioche? This is what I consider plain white bread. (Need to check my big cookbook for the ingredients.)
Cookies/biscuits, yush. Enough to last me till the Equinox, I'm sure.
It's the cheapest brand around. But I've had it since I moved in. The coffeemaker I was given along with it, didn't last a year, though (so it was still under warranty, yay!).
And how can we afford to explore space when there's still hunger and suffering on Earth?
(Dutch?! Seriously? I knew of the <oe>~/u/ correspondence, but hadn't connected the dots (Dutch?). I wish English would just stop pilfering anything and everything that gets within its sight. I don't know enough Latin and Greek to have made that connection, either, despite having seen both words.
Gone French? So it's /y/ and not /œ/? Bugger.
Speaking of French: Does anyone know where I can find a list of, say, the hundred most used verbs and nouns respectively? I think I need to do some braindead repetition to get used to declining and conjugating words. (The same lists for German would also be nice.)
--o--
The snow started falling here fifteen minutes ago in flakes, and it appears to be cold enough for it to stay. I guess I shall be taking the train home from my interview today, rather than bike 40 km.
--o--
Getting up early is unhealthy: I've been trying to come up with arguments for theistic evolution.
That's more or less how I got started, too.
Sili,
If you're quibbling about terminology, for "black hole" read "singularity".
PS I take it you refer to this Starts With A Bang?
Back to pies for a moment.
That's sort of similiar to the Steinhardt–Turok model, except instead of black holes nearly colliding two M-branes do actually collide. This hasn't occured just once. The branes keep colliding over and over again. Needless to say, this is also mostly speculation at this point.
[channels Kwok] I actually heard Turok describing the model in a talk a few weeks ago.
I buggered that up. Try again. Pies.
pie tease.
Before I shoot myself - today's Guardian - an editorial no less on yesterday's pie eating contest in Wigan.
Pies!
You may have forgotten the "" around the url.
Sorry, sgbm! Take the length of that URL, the puny width of this 'ere commenting box and my limited skills - a recipe for chaos. It is rather sweet, though, and worth tracking down if you are prepared to do that little extra.
doesn't work
actually, it seems to make it easier. first day sucks, but on the 2nd day I got a sniny new sleeping cycle; and one that's less weird than my regular one, too (I go to sleep before midnight, and am up again around 6am). don't remember if it's worse westwards. I shall report on that after christmas.
also, breakfast! I'm not telling what I put on it though, cuz I think that could make a few people here hurl :-p
Only 3 things can go on this sort of bread :
1.Nutella
2.Brie
3.Ham, raw or cured
Jesus-era burial shroud found in Jerusalem !
Sphere, it will definitely be in a form that is accessible as soon as it's launched. It will be far from complete at that time, but the "literature" will be accessible, as will demolitions of said "literature."
Remember the first time you used a petri dish when you were a little kid?
It was probably in health class; they had you touch the agar with your finger, and you checked on it a few days later to see what horrible things were growing on you. This was a scared-straight program for handwashing.
This isn't quite the same -- it doesn't encourage anything to fester on your computer -- but it will make problems visible for Microsoft Windows users.
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
OK, strange gods, what do we all need to do to make our computers more secure? I already use anti-virus software which is updated regularly, as I assume most people here do.
A bizarrely incoherent account of what may indeed have been an assault but it's hard to tell whether the reporter is mangling things or whether the witness statements were really that disjointed as well as oddly worded.
There's seldom much point in reading the "news" because a lot of it tends not to be new at all and most of it is written by people who can't string together a coherent piece (or even spell properly, in many cases), let alone bother to actually investigate things. Eg do either of the main people involved have form (for assault or for unjustified whinging).
Then again, some online news meejah wotsits apparently don't even want to be read much - in that they're hoping to make people pay for their trashy content. I don't care about brands and their "aggregation" and editing isn't worth the pixels on which it's written.
Funny. Those are among the things I most assuredly would not put on black bread.
--o--
This is not fun to bike through.
At least people seem to be driving carefully. Though I was overtaken by a 4x4 trying to go slow, but spinning its wheels every other moment. I guess it's too much to hope they end up head down in a ditch.
I'm sure half of Copenhagen is going "HAH! What 'Global Warming'?!" right now.
A supervisor once informed me of a company that claimed to sell compounds enriched in 11C. Since this isotope has a half-life of c.a. 20 min...even if they sent it out by 12-hour overnight shipping, it should surely have diminished in content to around (0.5)36 of its original composition by the time it even gets into my hands...?
But, amazingly, there are reports of 11C-radioligands out there. So either my math is stupid wrong, or I am arguing from incredulity, or something.
So long as they don't scream "OH MY REAGAN" at the appointed moment, republican sex sounds kind of fun.
I think something happened to your links in #590, Sili. I'm guessing from context that they were about weather conditions; but they've all mutated into links back to this thread.
It was probably Jeremy Clarkson who claimed that any music tape (yes, it was a long time ago!) left in a car would inevitably transform into a copy of Queen's Greatest Hits.
No magic here. They use cyclotrones to make them on-site and incorporate the C-11 into ligands as fast as possible (mostly through automated synthesis). There's also an isotope of F that's good for the purpose.
It's the basis for PET: Positron Emission Tomography.
Thanks, SEF. I thought I'd managed to catch it - I pressed "Submit" before copying in the links.
Here we go:
This is not fun to bike through.
That account of woman v. gynecologist does raise a lot of questions, and gives no answers. Were they trying to avoid the details?
The story from the BBC about the newly-discovered shroud was also oddly written. They were trying so hard to be politically correct that they kept inserting a defense for the Shroud of Turin, a defense that was not backed up by evidence, and which has long-since been debunked. The story reads as if the opposing views of the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin are equally valid. That's not good journalism. The story is misleading enough to qualify as a prop that allows the gullible and uniformed to continue on their merry way, worshipping the faux shroud of Jesus.
Josh @586
That was me, Josh, not Sphere. However, I'm sure Sphere would also be delighted to view the black hole of creationist literature that you are gathering. I'm looking forward to the demolition -- wow, a demolition! Fun and games with explosives.
Sili, I think cross-country skis are called, and not a bicycle. Looks like a very wet snow. We've having wet snow (and maybe even rain) here in Idaho today. It's a nice change from the below zero, bite-your-nose temperatures we had last week, but the melting is interfering with my exercise program which consisted mainly of shoveling snow.
Sven, I thought that comment about the need to reroute all the bicycle paths around the 1st century BC was brilliant. And I'm with you on the fudge factor for the historical timeline -- close enough. Not that we don't appreciate Owlmirror educating us on the history of Hasidic Jews, but in this case the facts cannot be allowed to interfere with a bon mot.
Well, it only started snowing about an hour before I left the house. And the shops didn't open for another hour. (Assuming I could even afford skis.)
I bought some frozen soup and a coupla kilos of root vegetables on the way home. Bit easier to drive here in town with the regular cleaning of paths, but still precariously uncomfortable when going through the 'duricrust'.
That would be 18F, which is quickly reacted to form 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose. That is picked up by the brain cells that are being heavily used and need energy from the bloodstream.
@ Lynna #569:
I even know what the company's URL should be. It's a nice joke but if I post it here someone will probably steal and register it (since that apparently happens a lot). :-(
Not that I'm realistically likely to be able to arrange for any of this to happen anyway.
I don't know why I bother commenting on anything here. Even if I know something someone else knows it far better than me.
Thanks, NoROM.
Lynna,
Indeed, I would. Josh was just reading my mind;?)
I always enjoy the "words of Josh"
Oh and lynna congratulations on the OM AND a belated happy BD.
Crap. Sorry Lynna/Sphere--I must have read that comment too quickly or some shit.
Or perhaps I just need to get some fucking sleep.
Okay, off to a stimulating conference call!
Ladies and gentlemen, (and Floyd), Mr. Elliott Smith...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx62ZleG9DA
I can't. What does it mean to project a density against a geometry? Do you mean how many of those imaginary lines there are per volume? If so, why don't you just say so?
Wrong.
What, if anything, do the parentheses mean here?
You are, not "we".
Just not far enough to understand it at any serious level.
Does not compute.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Well…the sum of matter plus antimatter is constant, sort of.
What does "total matter" mean?
And what does "harmony" mean? That the point has the same properties as the space?
How is a big bang a chain reaction?
Why do you think so?
BTW, intangible means "untouchable", "immaterial", "inexplicable", "wooey".
"Fact"? Most matter will never end up in a black hole.
BTW, it's etc., short for et cetera "and the remaining ones".
Hm. Reminds me more of "In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"…
<slowly and silently tiptoes out of room>
<taken aback>
That's not bread. With that crust? Never.
It being brioche explains why you put sugar in it, too.
(…Also, plain bread isn't white. It's dark !! Rye is the default cereal, and wheat flour is only used for sweet stuff and very special bread sorts like Baguette !!)
Well, yes.
Or actually… hang on a second…
In a large textbook maybe… :-/
:-) :-) :-)
I'd love to have such a cycle.
Who says this isn't a scam?
This is why I love Pharyngula. I can get my ass politely handed to me at any time of day.
In fact, I don't know why I bother commenting on anything here. Even if I know something someone else knows it far better than me.
Oh. Great. Now I feel stupid2.
Use that Secunia PSI program I just linked for you! :) It will not only tell you what problems you have; in many cases it will help you fix them. When it finds insecure programs, it usually offers you a link straight to the vendor's updates, by a button that says "download solution" or "solution wizard" or some such.
Sorry. Should have mentioned that too. I'm not just trying to scare you.
Easy stuff:
Use the Microsoft Update website regularly. It sometimes seems to find updates that the Automatic Updates program doesn't.
Don't bother paying for antivirus. Reputable gratis offerings like Avast Home Edition and AVG Free work just fine. If the hassle of paying for another year's update has ever delayed you and made your security lapse, then a gratis program may actually be more secure for you.
Beyond that, browse the web using Firefox+Noscript whenever you can.
If you want to take a more proactive approach, install Ubuntu on a second computer and start learning how to use it. This last suggestion may not be practical for everyone, but the others should be.
Ooh sniny! Want!
But yes, you shouldn't bike through this. Walk, or take the train you mentioned.
David,
I admire your paranoia! Secunia is one of the better software security companies out there. They make their money by serving security professionals directly, though, so most people haven't heard of them. But they are legit, recognized by CERT.
In absolutely essential news, the world record for packing tetrahedra has been broken!
David, I'll just pick and chose from that flurry of inquiry.
To quote the renowned mathematician and physicist Roger Penrose:
The University of Illinois has an excellent science program!
Big Bang Chain Reaction
The special thing about the tetrahedron is that it is the one out of the 5 platonic/regular solids which is its own inverse (ie a self-inverse). Of the others: the cube and octahedron are inverses and the dodecahedron and icosahedron are inverses.
To see that, swap over the concepts of the faces (face centres) and the vertices and replace each edge with its perpendicular bisector (hence preserving the number of these). Alternatively, imagine this as a continuous process of shaving off the corners evenly until they become the new faces and the rest follows. V + F = E + 2.
For the 3 regular planar tesselating shapes, the square is the one which is its own inverse while the hexagon and equilateral triangle are inverses of each other. Once again you can see this by swapping the identities of faces (face centres) and vertices and replacing each edge with its perpendicular bisector (hence preserving the number of these). V + F = E.
Mmmm...Nutella....*drool*
Well, I can't speak for this Jeremy Clarkson person (don't know who that is/was/will be, and since Pharyngula is, at least on this machine, slow and sticky (for lack of a better term), I'm not about to try Googling to find out), but Good Omens by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman mentions this; whether they originated it or borrowed it, I cannot say.
I strongly recommend this book, BTW.
Jeremy Clarkson is the lead one of a trio of petrol heads (car nutters) on the BBC's reincarnated Top Gear programme. They used to do a music chart of sorts.
I've read Good Omens but didn't recall that as being the source. The book is not older than Clarkson. However, that might be what I'm misremembering as a Clarksonism, or it could have elaborated on an original Clarkson theme or they could have independently said very similar things.
Disconnect it from everything (AC mains, network, and so on), grind it (and all of your backups) into dust, incinerate the dust, mix the ashes with concrete and pour into a 55-gallon drum, and sink in a deep sea trench. It, and the data it contains, may then be safe from theft or alteration. However, this is effective only if it hasn't already been stolen or sabotaged.
Also, shoot yourself and anyone else who has access to the machine. Insiders are usually the biggest risk, either by being corrupt or incompetent.
Olduvai George has been updating with some new pictures, if you like charismatic megafauna (and Charles Darwin):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/olduvaigeorge/
(via Zimmer's the Loom)
I cannot find an English source for this for the life of me, but the story is too stupid not to share:
An Israeli couple went to sleep Wednesday night with the windows closed and the menorah lit (it's Hanukkah, you see), and woke up to find their apartment ablaze. Luckily, their landlord and some strangers on the street heard them, came to the rescue, and no one got hurt.
Now, guess who they thank and credit with their rescue in the press and on the news item?
You guessed it - the Almighty!
If I were to cast blames in this story, I would blame the fire on TEH STOOPID first (seriously, going to sleep with lit candles in the house?) and God of Israel (it was a menorah, right?) a distant second, and probably credit the rescue to the people who intervened... but nah. That's just stupid.
:-| In my experience, when some random website tells you you need to download and install something to get the viruses off your computer, that something is a virus.
Turns out I was wrong about the "random" part.
No chain reaction in that quote.
There's a series of events listed in chronological order on that website – but not a chain reaction. What do you mean by that term? ~:-|
Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow.
A few more details on the private prisons run by GEO Group Inc. (formerly Wackenhut), and the deaths that have resulted from their incompetence. GEO is run by evangelical Christians. They are good at PR, and bad at running prisons.
They finally got socked with a large punitive damage settlement in April of 2009. The 13th Court of Appeals upheld a $42.5 million judgement against GEO for the death of Geogorio De La Rosa Jr. in 2001.
GEO group runs about 50 private prisons, 19 of them in Texas. Other deaths or injury to prisoners in their care include:
1. Jose Manuel Falcon, died in custody, March 12, 2009.
2. Unidentified female prisoner hung herself in 2007 after being raped by male inmates in 2007.
3. A 25-year old mother died from a toxic dose of blood pressure medicine in 2006.
4. Cassandra Morgan died in 2006 from lack of medical care for a thryroid condition.
5. A prisoner hung himself with his bootlaces in 2005.
6. In 2000 another prisoner committed suicide.
7. Comic, Kenneth Keith Kallenbach, died in an incident related to medical problems, and this incident is still being disputed.
8. In the GEO facilty in Delaware County, PA, there were six deaths in 2008. [there's more, but that's enough to give you an idea]
GEO contributes funds to Take Stock in Children (a non-profit) to enable the children of incarcerated parents to have help getting through school, getting scholarships for college, etc. Sounds good until you find all sorts of Christian volunteer organizations setting up volunteers to work with the kids, mentoring coming from "Miami Christian School", from "Young Men's Christian Association of Florida", "United Christian Giving" and so forth. The kids in the program are required to meet with a mentor once a week.
(Source: The Atlantic online)
Quite right, and so I should have explained from the beginning. You've got the right idea.
(Really, blf has the right idea, except that you also have to grind and burn the bodies to prevent a cold boot attack on the corpses' brains.)
[OOT]
PZ, a spammer using the 'nym "Mike John" has been leaving droppings over a number of posts.
I wish the registration facilities were more user friendly!
This racist religious school is racist because its religion is intrinsically racist, ie includes tests of race rather than merely of religious devoutness! Faith schools are a bad thing anyway, but this is just another example of why. They've built their racism into their system, along with other bits of defective morality. Their religion actively prevents them from becoming better people. It's a source of mental, educational, moral and emotional retardation.
I (randomly?) got in OK with typepad/TypeKey today but, from the anonymous-bod-with-speech-bubble logo on comments I can see that the ScienceBlogs system is still routinely forgetting that TK/tp exists (ie has its own logo).
SEF, 'tis weird. Without resigning in, I've had both the key and the speech bubble icons on my posts today, though TypeKey is the one and only login I've ever used.
Now call me a softie, but rarely has a book touched me as much as Bryce Courtenay's "The Power of one" and its spinoff "Tandia".
I would recommend the books to anyone.
Here's the first slice of the movie made from the book in 1992 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO5HvbGgqKU&feature=related
Lynna @ 618,
What ?
I will have to look into this, Wackenhut is a german company, and I happened to go to school with one of the sons of the founder.
Unless there is a USasian Wackenhut connection....
@ John Morales #623:
It's never about your personal account changing. It's only about the server that serves you that particular instance of a page forgetting it's supposed to know typepad/TypeKey and hence inserting the generic icon instead. It affects all TK/tp user comments on the same page at the same time. With another refresh you might get a version where it remembers and they're all key-keyholes again.
Rye bread is good, but too hard too much trouble to bake. For the time being. As I said they keep adding more and more horsefeed to it, so at some point I'll have to start a sourdough of my own.
The crust? I just brushed it with milk to prettify it. My mother used egg, actually, but that's too much trouble for me. And I still don't use enough sugar to taste. It's just to get the yeast going a bit faster (which was called for it this case, since it'd grown too old).
Ah! Brioche is cake. Sort of a very wet 'shortcrust pastry' (according to my dictionary). Almost all the moisture is eggs rather than water. But I'll admit that it doesn't use all that much more sugar than I do.
Well, I had to get to and from the train as well, thank you. Worst part was really not being able too see through my specs.
We've had another bout of snow this night (or morning - I wouldn't know). The dry, grainy kind that gets blown about, this time.
Good thing I stopped and bought that soup yesterday. (Didn't eat it last night - was invited out for gløgg and appledumplings. Luckily it'd stopped snowing by then, and most of the paths were cleared.