John Cuthber

Nope, it's not that I am arguing that the fact that the observer is, of necessity, not near the tree, What I'm doing is pointing out that the question is ambiguous. Until someone defines what they mean by the question, it's impossible to answer it. That's why I said "I'm still waiting for someone to define the question fully."

I'm still waiting for someone to define the question fully. No human existed when the big bang "fell in the forest" and made a lot of noise, but we can hear it now. So,nobody was there, but it made a noise.

Why do you think sleeping drugs are more dangerous than others? As far as I can tell, the therapeutic index for hypnotics isn't particularly low. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_index

The tree falls in the forest. The hearer is outside the forest. So they are not "there" to hear it. The point I was making is that, if you extend what you think of as "here" far enough there is always someone and the question is meaningless. Next time, check who is failing to understand before you try insulting people.

If there is someone in the forest, they don't hear the tree fall for a short while- sound traverses about a fifth of a mile per second. So the sound propagates outward. Eventually, it may well leave the forest and reach someone who has a big parabolic reflector and a microphone; they hear it If it didn't make a sound as it falls, what did they hear?

English certainly is shameless when it comes to picking up words from elsewhere. A while back a colleague and I were trying to find a language from which English hadn't stolen the odd word. We couldn't; can anyone else? (Klingon almost certainly doesn't count) Incidentally, if it's just "entering", it's trespass and if it's just "breaking" it's criminal damage. "Breaking and entering" is different from either of the two parts. If the door was unlocked, or if you don't go in, it's not B&E. I think that, if there's anything more to say on that it would be better in another thread

Yes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_plaster#Side_effects

And there's nobody in the FBI who knows how to tell lies. It's true that the FBI said it's the Koreans- that's a fact. What we don't know for a fact is whether or not it's true.

IIRC thiocyanate's major toxic property is that it resembles iodide and messes up thyroid function. There must be a dose that's low enough not to matter: one molecule per week isn't going to kill you. How low that dose might be is anyone's guess.

Since prisons have hospitals, we do that anyway. So it's irrelevant. Rather than rehashing that, perhaps you would like to answer my question about coercion.

The liver can metabolise cyanide. It converts it to thiocyanate. Unfortunately, that's still toxic (though much less so) In any event, chronic cyanide poisoning is a real problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konzo

Interesting idea, but breaking and entering are two different processes. Assault an battery are both from Latin. from time to time I have wondered what a native Dutch speaker would make of Middle English. Here's a bit from the start of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. For most English speakers it';s hard work to understand it. Hans, how easy is it for you to read this? Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; 5 Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, And smale fowles maken melodye, 10 That slepen al the night with open yë, (So priketh hem nature in hir corages): Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages (And palmers for to seken straunge strondes) To ferne halwes, couthe in sondry londes; 15 And specially, from every shires ende Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, The holy blisful martir for to seke, That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke.

I understand that prisons have hospitals so, while you see it as bizarre, and I see it as humane and probably a sensible investment, it hasn't got anything to do with the point. How is it not coercion?

Can anyone come up with a god reason why I should not assume that both parties are lying?

And the other half of my point...

To say that English does not have a marker for the infinitive is to demonstrate that you have not looked to check to see how the language is now found to work. It's there, but it's not the same as in, for example, French. English, without the Norman invasion would, I think be a lot like modern Dutch or German, but it would presumably include words from Scots or Welsh. An interesting idea, I guess we will never know.

It looks a lot like coercion to me. "Mr Bloggs- we can lock you up for a long time in circumstances that are probably worse than most criminals or you can "volunteer" for some experimental surgery. Obviously, it's possible that in future years, evidence may come to light that you were never actually guilty in the first place- but that's just the way the cookie crumbles."

Brain surgery doesn't have a particularly good historical record when it comes to treating what are perceived to be psychological disorders. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobotomy

A couple of points, the average salary in the UK is quite a good one. Most people are on rather less than the average. Most lawyers will earn a very good salary. According to this http://www.prospects.ac.uk/solicitor_salary.htm the starting salary is £K17 Which is something like £5000 more than the median salary for that age group http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_in_the_United_Kingdom The barristers can easily exceed £1K per hour and in some cases the money just gets silly. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-401488/Britains-lawyers-charge-staggering-5-000-hour.html

As far as I can tell, a paramagnetic material near a magnet will act like the traditional "keeper" on a magnet and keep the magnet strong for longer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_keeper

"There aren't enough atoms in the universe for life to arise by chance according to science." is just plain wrong. According to science, it did.

I think the technology still has room for improvement. http://gizmodo.com/11-spectacular-3d-printer-failures-511092085

The post seems to have nothing to do with the title. At most, it shows that one atheist has possibly got something in common with some psychopaths.

Most bases don't do that.

Looks like you are right. It's not working in IE