TheVat

Science can't be the tool for all aspects of existence. A fMRI could monitor a brain in some meditative state, seeing what areas are most active, but that wouldn't fully address all the subjective aspect of a mystical experience. Those experiences are more to be approached through epistemology and metaphysics, where one acknowledges that scientific claims cannot be made. I don't think some human intuitions or holistic perceptions will ever be scientifically reducible in a way that somehow forms a complete explanation. As others note, science seeks to ask specific questions about the physical world and possibly make an inference to the best explanation. This in no way promises to answer all the big questions of philosophy.

16 inches, 85 decibels and 1.5 Teslas. You can subtract the decibels, if there's no rimshot. But you keep the Teslas, for the MRI your brain needs soon.

How easy is it to push a garden stake into the ground there? If it penetrates far enough, then pull it out and see if the tip is damp.

So the thread seems to be asking if there is reincarnation with memory transfer. The answer might be this is a metaphysical conjecture which has not been empirically determined. All evidence to date (usually from children claiming past life memories) is tainted by possible coaching from parents, information leakage, leading questions, and memories so vague or generic they could just be fantasy from an imaginative mind. The prominent investigator in this area, Ian Stevenson, seemed to me to be an earnest and dedicated researcher but gullible. And related theories like Sheldrake's morphic resonance, which posits a kind of memory inherent in all matter, also lack support. Though Sheldrake I give credit for at least breaking it down into testable hypotheses.

Most long distance transport requires something of value to be also shipped on the return trip, to make economic sense. Let's say the Vogons live in a metal-poor solar system and they will pay well for them. But what do they have? If they only have bad poetry, wine, and quasi-bamboo, we don't want that, especially at interstellar shipping rates. (and being metal poor, their whole economy might be so unproductive by galactic standards that their currency would be very low valuation) So they would need some product, possibly a biological whose crafting requires the unique ecosystem of Vogon and esoteric patented production methods - let's say the mind-altering and aphrodisiac musk secretions of Vogon dire-civets when they chew off their own feet after a poetry reading. Simply can't be reproduced on any other planet. Defies synthesis. Maybe.

Exbiologist here. The layout is the same in all vertebrates. Air is priority. Food coming down will automatically close the airway, in this arrangement, to ensure no aspiration. (assuming no pathology)

In very cold climates, PEX eases a lot of suffering. Though now it's being considered for the eco-villain list because it is plastic. Those semi-slit foam insulation tubes with the self adhesive closures are also handy, on the outside of pipes. You can buy them with the little T and L junctions and get thorough coverage of a water line. Another help for sink water lines (because counter/sink are often along an exterior wall) is to open the cabinet space under the sink at night, so warmer room air infiltrates that space better. (just be sure you don't have chemicals under there a pet or toddler could get at) Putting thin foam rods inside pipes seems like a recipe for a future clog - never heard of that. But I see the principle.

Not sure the bucket and pool shape would match, or have same surface exposure to wind and sun. Maybe different surface to volume ratio. Could you put a tarp or similar covering over pool, see how that effects water level change?

Can there be fluctuations in the evaporation rate? E.g. would more windy days increase it? Does humidity drop at some times of year?

Yep, data is very clouded. For example, you find research saying omega 6 fatty acids are inflammatory (when not balanced by omega 3 FA), but then olive oil is also seen as anti inflammatory though the 6 to 3 ratio is 10:1. (because it has oleocanthal and other phenolic compounds, and also MUFAs) Just one example - there are so many nutrients that can impact inflammation levels. Xantham gum is constantly debated as to its inflammatory effect, last I looked. And don't wade into the thickets on FODMAP foods, you'll never come back, lol. Gut biomes vary a lot. A big problem in the US is that so much processed food will have some touted anti-inflammatory food in it, e.g. peppers or spinach or walnuts, but those will be added in too small a proportion to do any good. Whereas in Europe a family would more likely purchase those items individually and then add them in more generous quantities to something they cook themselves. Dishes that don't have stabilizers and emulsifiers and corn syrup and carrageenan and xantham gum and all this other crap.

Since it's about balancing thermal energy and gravitational work, I would think V Sauce (Mike Stevens) would need a way to obtain the thermal energy after the sun has been spread around - seems tricky, given we don't know what energy inputs would be (and losses) to achieve this drastic effect. (more a Veritasium fan, myself, and Derek Muller has a stronger CV for talking about physics imo) The approximation (simplified) formula for Jeans' length is r being the cloud radius. And the T, as I said, is the tricky one. I get 30 inches. Wait.... that's my jeans length. Sorry.

Arguably the biggest bang for the buck in the US would be a massive change in public nutrition and nutrition education. At this point it would probably require a benign dictatorship to get many Americans to eat halfway decent meals. Stern admonition from doctors doesn't work too well. A lot of our healthcare system seems to consist of duct taping up the mess after people have spent years eating junk and avoiding non motorized transport. (the months I spent in France were a real eye-opener - most everyone is thinner, more personally capable of mobility, and there is a collective frowning upon junk food and snacking. In Sweden, they had Lördagsgodis, which is where everyone only eats sweets on Saturday - again, unimaginable in the US!)

"Even people whose lives have been made various by learning sometimes find it hard to keep a fast hold on their habitual views of life, on their faith in the Invisible - nay, on the sense that their past joys and sorrows are a real experience, when they are suddenly transported to a new land, where the beings around them know nothing of their history, and share none of their ideas - where their mother earth shows another lap, and human life has other forms than those on which their souls have been nourished. Minds that have been unhinged from their old faith and love have perhaps sought this Lethean influence of exile in which the past becomes dreamy because its symbols have all vanished, and the present too is dreamy because it is linked with no memories.” ― George Eliot, Silas Marner

A similar strategy also explains the literal meaning of Brontosaurus: thunder lizard.

Environmental protest continues to take endless forms most beautiful. The use of chalk paint, to facilitate its removal, was a good way to downplay the vandalism aspect. And since Darwin's seminal studies included observations on chalk beds extending from England into N France, it seems a more respectful choice in terms of recognizing his contributions. (I may be over-connecting dots here) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/13/just-stop-oil-activists-spray-paint-charles-darwin-grave Lee said: “We are trying to get the government to act on climate change. They are not doing enough.” Bligh said: “We’ve done this because there’s no hope for the world, really. We’ve done it on Darwin’s grave specifically because he would be turning in that grave because of the sixth mass extinction taking place now.” Lee added: “I believe he would approve because he was a good scientist and he would be following the science, and he would be as upset as us with the government for ignoring the science.” The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed on Friday that 2024 was the warmest on record globally and the first calendar year that the average temperature exceeded 1.5C above preindustrial levels.

The systemic problem is that healthcare works best when viewed as a public good, like say primary education, and not a profit centered enterprise. Just as free public education somewhat resolved a massive literacy differential caused by economic inequality, so could national healthcare help the 27 million left out in the cold. (but we have this Right Wing ideology ascendant now, that the poor are somehow undeserving, that everyone paying into a NHC system is somehow a handout to shiftless freeloaders.)

One glaring problem with referendums here is that they are often Trojan horse proposals. Some special interest group (often corporate-backed) will write up something that sounds vaguely progressive like "protecting children" or "defending freedom to" or "maximize choice" while actually reducing fundamental rights in its implementation. Voting for trained legislators who can spot deceptive bills (or pointless ones that are just partisan grandstanding) is often the better option.

I am in process of trying to get information from Universal Security Instruments, the manufacturer. The website was not too illuminating on what they do with the radioactive material, just a vague mention of a "disposal department" if you want to mail it back to them. In my experience vague language usually means they just dump it. And the FAQ actually says it's okay to just toss them out. Hazmat days come every two years in my small city. And their list makes no mention of ionization smoke detectors, so it's anyone's guess what they would do. This is all so typical of the whole recycling experience in the US, where corporations drag their feet on closed loop recycling or actively lobby against it.

First, to all of you big box electronics stores who claim to recycle everything: grrr. Recent experience revealed how much the local Best Buy was actually throwing away because there's still a lot of e-waste that no US company has set up a method of harvesting. It's the usual reasons - lax regulations, cutting corners, labor costs of dismantling materials to extract the goodies, etc. So, given that my pile of six expired smoke alarms has six little chunks of americium 241 (HL=432 y), I don't think my local landfill is the proper place for them. What am I supposed to do, mail them at my expense to First Alert or whichever company manufactured them? Can I trust they will reuse the radioisotopes? Or should I mail them to the DOE with a note, please forward to Yucca Flat? I suspect the DOE would be unamused. I cannot find a straightforward answer on the web, just a lot of vague hints from zealous recyclers that I will burn in Hell if I landfill radioactive materials no matter how tiny their emissions. (these units are less than one microcurie or around 33 k becquerel ) (Our smoke alarm upgrade is partly prompted by the current news, and our proximity here to a tinder-dry national forest.)

Given that geographic naming is often based on the surname, I guess we Mericans can count ourselves lucky that we don't live in Vespuccia.

I personally prefer Napoleon BonyPart.

I usually rely on Honest Bob's Total Tubular for all my test tubes. Weirdly, they also sell surfboards.

Thanks to all three of you who weighed in. I see I was wrong to assume such a high kinetic energy required for an escaping molecule. I do understand it would quickly be in equilibrium with the ambient air above the meniscus. And get well, Ex. (my countrymen sometimes now say "be well," a phrase I'm less fond of)

Steam is vapor which is visible because some of the vapor is recondensing at it makes contact with cooler ambient air. So the vapor carries along tiny recondensed droplets of water which give a more visible cloud. The water in the glass under your bed has a temperature of, say, 20 C, but temperature is just the average kinetic energy of all the molecules, right? So there are a few molecules that happen to be so energetic that they happen to escape from the glass as vapor. The average kinetic energy of those escapees is 100 C or more. Their escape will slightly lower the temp of the glass of water, but only briefly because the water keeps staying in thermal equilibrium with the floor and room air.

Haha. No, she totally owns up to it, and empathizes enough to occasionally shrink or (even more shocking) organize and store one of the crap piles. And, to my suprise, a 120 year old coffee grinder works damn well.