For Prose

I am curious if anyone here takes cold showers and if so, do you feel you experience a sense of "hyper-awareness" during and immediately after? Many years ago I took cold showers religiously but for some reason or another stopped. I am now attempting to reinstate the daily habit and remembered what it feels like right after. Not to be confused with Cold Showers I found this link while searching http://www.thehackedmind.com/7-reasons-to-take-cold-showers-and-1-that-really-matters/. Might be a load of bull but most of it seems believable...

I can agree and see what you mean by that. And not that it is right, but I feel the same way about creationists, so when I read Dennett, it sometimes feels like he just uses some of the same "tricks" and utilizes clever words. Most preachers I know do the same thing (Still not saying I agree with the approach). For me, I feel that Dennett only misleads readers who are not aware with his mentality. If I was not exposed to him from someone who knew much regarding his works, I may have been or felt mislead. I don't really read Dennett to learn things I that I didn't already know I guess. I read his work because he finds ways of putting things I already know in a different context. Like the quote iNow posted.

One of, and please, throw out more than just "Has he ever solved a problem?". That is quite vague and I don't know what you are looking for.

You should read this and study it well. Very very well. https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/pdf/FallaciesPoster24x36.pdf

Lab accidents that result in some sort of uncontrollable creature = even better! Perhaps you should build your lab with the idea that it could be either taken down in short notice, or moved around to fit whatever type of experiment you may be working on. I own my own contracting business and would love to combine the two!

Yesterday. No but seriously, I realized it around 13 when reading about Socrates journey around the village and relays to the court: "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." Made me really reflect what I thought I knew and in part is what drew me further to the sciences.

I thought the same thing.

I am finding the quality of all the posts so far to greatly exceed my expectations. Very interesting PfA. While it has crossed my mind, I haven't thought about it like this.

Well put Eise.

And what of the time in between drinking the cups? If I am to do this experiment I want to do it right and feel there should be some time in between each cup.What time do you feel might be suitable? 5 minutes seems like a good amount of time to me. And on the side note, I don't drink filtered water because I worry about it containing anything harmful. I drink it because there is clearly a taste difference between tap and filtered water where I live. The tap water tastes like it has trace amounts of chlorine. Some people don't taste it as strongly as I do. Maybe it has something to do with my attempt at "refining" my palate for so many years when tasting wines.

Well, as the author pointed out, I would be more than happy to test it out if they want to send me one of their Whiteboxes...

I am really enjoying the responses so far. I would like to add something that came to mind as I was falling asleep. SFN also serves as a type of journal for me. I have always wanted to keep a journal but found that I am not very good at it due to the large part of keeping up with it. I can look back at things I have said as I progress through my education and determine where I am at and where I have come from.

Thank you for sharing Nicholas and I couldn't agree with you more on how helpful studiot is, especially with his diagrams.

I can understand that. But what of the enthusiasm outside of the classroom? I see where you are coming from with disparate applications. That certainly makes sense. I guess my personality may also have something to do with why I get so frustrated. I could never, no matter what the subject or introductory class, show little enthusiasm or motivation, even to apathetic students. They find it boring/dull? So what! I find it interesting and would inevitably let it show. I still find the basic things I learned 10 years ago fascinating.

Hey everyone, As I was reading through threads on the site tonight, I found myself asking why I am a member of this fantastic community. What brought me here, and why spend valuable time that could be spent elsewhere doing other things. My answer is this; I don't get the stimulation that I desire from my peers. Whether that be philosophy, biology, mathematics, or just about anything related to the sciences. It is very easy to find someone to talk to about trivial matters, or at least what I consider trivial, such as movies, eating preferences, yada yada yada, but not science. So, first off, interaction. Additionally, I find the learning and teaching others actually brings me a sense of contentment. What brought you here and keeps you involved?

Hey everyone, I am curious as to if there may be some physiological difference in which your body handles drinking water at various temperatures. I have a feeling that this is highly incorrect, but i have occasionally imagined that your stomach is like an oven when digesting food. Breaking of chemical bonds being the "energy", and to what effect "cooling" the oven might have on digestion. In my head, drinking hot tea stimulated and aids in the breaking of those bonds and drinking ice water does the opposite. Like I stated, I know this is probably wayyy off. I also think, as an argument against my argument, that we have probably evolved to seek out colder water which would usually be less likely to contain harmful pathogens, microbes, ect., whereas warmer or even hot water may be an indication of stagnation or bacteria filled. Feel free to discuss either the physiological effects or evolutionary mechanisms.

First, let me say that you are one of the few I had in mind that I really wanted input from, so thank you! Does this mean that you recommend storing the water filter pitcher in the fridge? I enjoy drinking room temperature water, and thus keep it out. Do you know if the change in dissolved salts or oxygen would attribute to the "clean" feeling I may (imagine) experience? And I know exactly what you mean with the wine. I tended bar for 7 years in many upscale restaurants which allowed me to taste hundreds (if not thousands) of different wines.

I have a quote i would like to share as I feel it is relevant to this thread. " As you read the text, think like a researcher; consider the evidence that is presented, think of alternate explanations, plan experiments that could lead to new hypotheses.' "Before closing these introductory comments, let me take the liberty of offering the reader some advice: Don't accept everything you read as being true. There are several reasons for urging such skepticism. Undoubtedly, there are errors in this text that reflect the author's ignorance or misrepresentation of some aspect of the scientific literature. But, more importantly, we should consider the nature of biological research. Biology is an empirical science; nothing is ever proved. We compile data concerning a particular cell organelle, metabolic reaction, intracellular movement, ect., and draw some type of conclusion. Some conclusions rest on more solid evidence that others. Even if there is a consensus of agreement concerning the "facts" regarding a particular phenomenon, there are often several possible interpretations of the data. Hypotheses are put forth and generally stimulate further research, thereby leading to a reevaluation of the original proposal. Most hypotheses that remain valid undergo a sort of evolution, and, when presented in the text, should not be considered wholly correct or incorrect." (Found in Cell and Molecular Biology 7th Ed. by Gerald Karp. "To the Student". page x (not a typo)) My wish is that teachers would stress this at the beginning of their course and continue to stress this throughout periodically. If we want to train scientists and mathematicians, why not start treating us as such? I want to fed monotonous information required for later but I also want it to be done so with some type of reminder that it might not be correct. (This is my opinion. It only applies to all the teachers I have ever had, not to teachers as a whole, as I have not been instructed by all teachers. There may be some out there that exist and would suite me perfectly.)

And maybe, if you are truly intent on having them fail, have the supporting male character be either the cause or maybe that he was unable to accomplish something the virologist tasked him with.

Hey everyone, I wanted to get some opinions from others on filtered water. Whenever I change my Brita water filter, the water always seems like it goes down smoother and has almost a crispness to it. Of course, I know this could be in part to the fact that my mind knows I have just changed the filter, and could be imagined only. I am curious to know whether or not there is anything behind this and if anyone else shares the same feeling or perception. I do have a ppm meter that use and always replace the filter when it is half of the starting amount. I also will admit that I use my filter longer than is recommended because a) I am a single individual and I suspect that the time when it tells you to change is based upon information collected from either family use or multiple individual use and b) It's a wonder that I can even afford the filters while I am in school so I try to get as much utility from each one as possible. Let's hear what you think or can contribute to why this may be. Maybe you feel it's all in my head, as I sometimes wonder myself.

I agree and think you should.

Hey everyone, I was hoping to have some discussion around one of my favorite philosophers and cognitive scientists; Daniel Dennett. He is no stranger to these forums. All someone has to do is search his name to find many articles where he is mentioned. To start out, maybe we could discuss this excerpt from his book "Breaking the Spell". You can find it here. Or here. http://www.stoa.org.uk/topics/education/Daniel%20Dennett%20-%20Teach%20Our%20Children%20Well.pdf I would like to hear and talk about what you think on the matter. And I realize that it is something that could not realistically happen, at least not anytime in the near future...

Interesting Sato. My experience has been the exact opposite. Within biology, this same sort of thing tends to happen quite frequently, but all of my math professors will spend hours talking to me and would even try and works problems in fields that they knew nothing about. This is in my experience. I don't want Phi to feel insulted.

I wonder if your disappointment rivals my dissapointment when trying to elicit discussions in and around the field of science with my teachers? I am not quite sure how you find it insulting, as I have made no mention of diminishing remarks of the actual competence of the teachers themselves. I, too, would then find it insulting. Criticizing one lacking aspect of something is not the same as criticizing as a whole. And I do find it lacking. If that disappoints you, well you might feel even more disappointed to know that this same sentiment is shared by my some of my peers. And at what point do I get into the more advanced topics? When I am actually pursuing my phD? Why teach if it is not something you are interested in?