Cap'n Refsmmat

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?4981-Squid-eyes-human-eyes-and-evolution Apparently it's not a stupid question!

Awesome question, thanks. I'll add my own: Your Institute's website describes you as an "ardent conservationist," and as an ecologist you know the effects of human actions on animals. However, there are some people that hold the opposite view, that the extinction of some species is acceptable. They might reason that the extinction of one uncommon species doesn't harm us at all, or that nobody needed the dodo bird anyway. How would you respond to those sorts of anti-conservationists? Why is the Earth's wonderful diversity and amazing weirdness worth saving, even down to the rarest and least known species? (I feel like we're asking really hard questions. Hm.) Also, take a look at Dr. O'Shea's previous visit to SFN, where we discussed his attempts to capture X-rated squid footage. Twelve-year-old me, registered for merely two days, helped make Steve's day by suggesting the use of pills with cameras inside to study squid. Hence my next question, Seven years ago I suggested the use of "camera pills" to study squid. Has that idea ever panned out, or did the squid start taking apart the camera to build the first squid television network?

I just watched this, and it's really interesting. Sam Harris argues that it's possible to use science to determine which actions cause human suffering and which actions contribute to human well-being (and the well-being of other animals), and that science can, in fact, answer moral questions. For example, there's the question of women wearing veils or burkas. Harris says that we can ask whether mandatory veiling contributes to their well-being, whether it helps them succeed in society, and whether it helps them develop emotionally and individually in society -- and there is a definitive answer to the question. There's no "well, we'll have to respectfully disagree," but there can be definitive evidence to answer the questions and make a moral judgment. (Watch the video for his entire argument, of course, since I doubt I can do it justice.) I'm not sure what to make of his claims. What's your take? (edit: incidentally, Harris will be publishing a book about this in October.)

Dr. Steve O'Shea, director of the Earth and Oceanic Sciences Research Institute and noted giant squid expert, has kindly agreed to be interviewed by SFN. Just take a look at the articles linked - O'Shea is a giant squid expert and creator of the Squidcam, a live site for watching giant squid in captivity. Have a question for Dr. O'Shea? Want to know more about giant squid, squid research, or the work of the Earth and Oceanic Sciences Research Institute? Post your questions here, and we'll collate the best ten or so questions to be emailed to Dr. O'Shea. Then we'll post his responses. So, off you go. What would you ask Dr. O'Shea?

I've created a monster. Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedThe source code repository is now available online: http://bitbucket.org/capnrefsmmat/rhyming-robot/overview/ Enjoy. The brains of the program are available here.

I'd build in a blubber release valve so liposuction wouldn't be necessary.

For convenience, we also have a LaTeX system that allows you to typeset your equations nicely. There's a tutorial available here.

How about just interchangeable parts? "Whoops, looks like I'll have to go down to Wal-Mart and get another leg. Blast. Maybe this time I'll get one with a fake tan built-in.

...what would you have done differently while designing the human body? I'd install quick-access panels and shutoff valves for blood vessels, so surgery would be a matter of having the right size of wrench.

We can accept those choices, but we can also try to prevent others from taking them, can we not? In your college example, sure, you don't have that right, but you certainly can nag other parents to save up for their kids' college so you don't have to pay for everyone. Incidentally, if you'd like to pay for my college, I wouldn't mind at all.

http://www.scienceforums.net/etc/rhyme/poetry.php So, the poetry generator is up and running. It works fairly well; it attempts to achieve iambic pentameter, it encourages alliteration, and it tries to make lines reasonably follow from each other (although this isn't always possible). Tinker around with it, and if you get anything really funny, well, post it here For "brains", each character represents one line. So uuubb makes the first three lines Unabomber, and the last two Bible. The number of characters in the brain specification and the rhymescheme must be the same. (Note that the Erotica option is definitely not work-safe, as well as several others. Please don't go posting the results all over the forum.)

That defeats the purpose of the pool, doesn't it? You can't lower costs for those with serious diseases because they're lumped together with everyone else who has a serious disease, and so either they pay an insurance premium roughly equal to the average cost of treating their serious disease, or they can't afford the insurance and give up.

The issue comes when people think they have a brilliant idea that happens to be wrong. Putting it in Pseudoscience is essentially saying "Your idea sucks." Naming it "speculations" is better, but perhaps there's another solution. I'll have to think about it.

That's not the kind of performance I was thinking of, but thanks anyway.

No, I don't think that's quite right. I think what that means is that if you look at our orbit from above, the angle Earth-Sun-L4 (a triangle with the Earth, the Sun, and L4 at its corners) will be 60 degrees. I think you'd have to do some trigonometry to figure out where to aim. I'm not entirely sure how to do it.

What? This makes no sense at all.

How long do you have until you get the BSc?

It takes four moderators to agree before a member can be banned, and bans can only occur after previous attempts have been made to change the member's behavior. (For example, after numerous in-thread warnings or private messages.) In general, we prefer one-week suspensions over permanent bans, if possible.

Any particular reason you chose the ESV over others? The Oxford Annotated goes for the NRSV, and I also have the NIV.

Would this thread be for airing complaints, asking questions, or just talking about threads?

The trouble is that only administrators can make the exceptions, and there are quite a few requests. I've already gotten four or five. Judging by the success of the Religion forum -- 17 threads, almost 700 posts, no thread closures or major problems -- I think it would be safe to lower the requirements, but also to make absolutely clear that the privilege can be revoked for misbehavior.

You make a good point, and being more welcoming to new and inexperienced members is a great goal. I think we're getting much better at this, but we can always improve. I hope that by opening up a bit and asking our membership what they think, we can make SFN a much better community. The staff has plenty of ideas, but it's great to get ideas from the perspective of a regular member.

Gravitational slingshots work as long as the object you slingshot around is moving. If it's merely very massive, you'll gain speed as you approach and lose that speed as you recede away.

There should now be a notice in the Religion forum, visible to all members with less than 100 posts, explaining the postcount limit. I hope this reduces confusion.

I really should make the explanation for that more obvious, shouldn't I? Religion requires 100 posts, while Ethics and Philosophy require 30. I'll see about putting a more prominent notice in those forums to explain it.