Cap'n Refsmmat

We're experimenting with MegaHAL, a chat robot that reads text and uses it to generate wacky responses. We fed it all of Duration/MotorDaddy's posts.

From what I understand, the problem isn't getting ocean water. It's that removing the salt from the water takes a lot of power, energy and equipment, which makes it too expensive a lot of the time.

Hence having to draw Lewis structures. We did those to figure out molecular geometry. Perhaps I should have been clearer. You have to figure out which molecules are the most electronegative in terms of the Lewis structure/geometry to get an idea of whether one "end" is more electronegative than another.

Do you know how to draw Lewis structures? If so, you need to draw them. Then it's a matter of figuring out which atoms in the molecule are the most electronegative. (The electronegative ones will attract more electrons, making them negative. This makes the molecule polar.) I've left out a good bit of detail there but hopefully that'll be enough to jog your memory.

The ISS's orbit will gradually decay, resulting in it eventually reentering Earth's atmosphere and burning up. It certainly wouldn't last a million years.

That one was really pun-gent, Phi.

My parents have an interesting question to pose after an acquaintance suffered a massive heart attack: is there a diagnostic method to detect artery clogs before they strike, besides an angiogram? Angiograms are, after all, a bit invasive for a routine test. (Though apparently it's fashionable in some countries to get regular angiograms, like they're colonoscopies.)

When you go to make a new thread, scroll below the box to enter the post and find the Additional Options box. Check the "Yes, post a poll with this thread" box.

The Bad Astronomer's take: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/06/12/a-boy-claims-he-was-hit-by-a-meteorite/ Which does match up with what we're suspecting here.

The trouble was discoverability: the index page was so long that you'd never reach the bottom to notice that we have a Suggestions forum, for example. I'd suggest that if you're relying on the forum index for catching new posts that you use the Get All New Posts link (top, under New Posts) or subscribe to specific forums (go to that forum, find Forum Tools and subscribe). You can view your subscriptions within the UserCP and see all the new posts in forums you subscribe to there. When vBulletin 4 comes out we'll probably restyle the forum index anyway, so this won't last forever.

Most American universities have no community college pre-requisites -- you're expected to go straight from high school to university. As for university requirements, they want you to have graduated and usually want three to four years of math and science, and some places ask that you have taken a foreign language in high school. It all depends, though, and they might not hold the same requirements to someone who's been out of school for a while. They do not test American History or any America-specific stuff. The SAT has three sections: Critical Reading tests your ability to read passages, see what's wrong grammatically, understand what's being said, and comprehend vocabulary. Writing tests your ability to write an essay on a given topic. Math tests, well, math. It covers algebra, geometry and some trigonometry -- no calculus though. Most bookstores should offer SAT study books with practice tests. I'd recommend getting one to see what you're up against. I might also point out that out-of-state tuition at a large American university can be as much as $20,000-$30,000 per year.

I know a lot of dog breeds have developed all sorts of weird genetic disorders due to inbreeding for specific traits. I, however, would be happy with a mutt with no major disorders.

American colleges like to see community service and involvement, not just SAT scores. But really good scores are a good bonus. Tuition for international students won't be great though, even at public schools, because public schools depend on tax money to subsidize tuition, and you don't get the subsidy as a non-resident.

I would get the mold checked out and your inner ear checked by a doctor. There are loads of things that can cause vertigo, including many health problems, so it's best to get it checked out.

I presume you mean "chipped" as in with little electronic tag things. I should point out that such devices currently require a much larger gauge needle than your ordinary vaccine would, so it's not exactly something you can slip in with an ordinary vaccine.

Richard Harry. Think about it... (My dad knew a kid with that name.)

QuickBasic isn't available easily for Windows anymore, I don't think. I know I played with QBasic, its descendent, for a while in elementary school.

Python comes with a program called IDLE that makes it easier to write Python programs. You could use Notepad, but it'd get inconvenient after a while.

That's not any programming language I've ever heard of. You'll need to learn the basics of programming and compilers before you can program anything. I'd suggest learning Python as a beginner. There's a great tutorial available here, and I know a bit myself, so if you have questions you can just ask on the forum.

What kind of programming are you trying to do? Web pages? Try copying-and-pasting a bit of what you made into tags so we can see what you made and get an idea of what's going on.

IIRC = If I Recall Correctly PI = Principal Investigator

How exactly does one count the number of spiders swallowed without noticing?

Whoops. That's what I get for trying to debug vBulletin.

Not if you don't want it to be. You can just go to Posts -> Add New and start right away, unless you really want to configure everything perfectly.

Blogs are for anyone. Read the announcement thread about them for more information and a link to the signup page, if you're interested.