coquina

But do you know that along with along with being left or right handed, you have a dominant eye? Hold your index finger up in line with your nose about 12" away from your face. Open both eyes and line your finger up with a vertical line. Then close one eye. Next open that eye and close the other one. In one instance your finger will "jump" to one side or the other in front of the vertical line. With the other open, the the alignment will remain the same as with both eyes open. This is your "dominant eye" and it usually agrees with handedness. I don't care how much you practice, you can't change it. If you are left handed, you can practice and become adept at using your right hand, but you are really still left handed. I believe that the same is true of homosexuality. I believe that although one can choose to act heterosexual, they are still homosexual, because that is the way they are "wired".

That was my impression as well. What about the ability to lie dormant for years undetected in someone who had a blood transfusion before 92? I know they always asked if you'd ever had jaundice, and if you had, you couldn't donate. Do you think it's possible there are a bunch of unknowing Hep C carriers out there?

Why don't you try and find out? I wouldn't buy one of the expensive brands - get the cheapest you can find that has had nothing added for flavor. or do it this way: http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/veggies/popcorn.html

The only thing I have ever seen along such lines was a get well card. It said, I'm sure that's not what you had in mind, but it stirred up and old memory, so I thought I'd share.

I belong to another forum for the "involuntarily unspoused". The spouses of a couple of the members died from Hepatitis C - one of them posted the following - is it true?

No, I know about the Wallace Monument. Mom told me about that too. She told me that when she was a little girl, (she was born in 1907) her dad took her up there, and a man was up there drawing maps of the countryside. Mother asked him why he was doing it, and he said, "Zum day you vill know." I know a person on another site who works in law enforcement in the Stirling area. His name is Bob McCallum. He was on duty when the Dunblane incident happened.

I presume you are male yourself - you could place yourself in one scenario, but not in the other. Sayo... Yeah - I remember that crowded rats turn to cannibalism, single-sex love is a definite improvement on that possibility.

The bit about population control is intriguing - I wonder if we all have genes that only get "turned on" when some external pressure is applied? I wonder if there is a higher incidence per capita of homosexuality in highly populated areas?

It was a wise-assed crack about the stupidity of leaving his wallet at the scene and a trail of cash register tape in the direction he took.

If I could come up with a way for women to stop losing the calcium from their bones as they age, I'd say that would be a good start.

If they're going to go to extremes they are going to have to raze the Supreme Court building - Moses and the 10 Commandments are carved all over it: On the doors: http://www.somosprimos.com/sp2004/spapr04/Copy%20of%20Carving%20of%20Ten%20Commandments%20on%20doors%20of%20the%20U.S.%20Supreme%20Court.jpg In the front at the apex of the roof: http://www.giveshare.org/news/news016_files/image017.jpg On the wall inside: http://www.revelationsofthebible.com/religion2.jpg

This guy must have been in the sludge at the bottom of the gene pool. http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=2897646&nav=23ihVwkE Any more examples out there?

As many of you know, I own and operate a machine shop. A lot of the production parts I used to build are now manufactured in China. My liason with that company told me that the Chinese government built their factory and put the most modern, up to date, machinery in it and the company does not have to pay a nickel (or yen, or whatever the heck their currency is) for it. The highest level employees are paid the equivalent of $0.50 per hour. They do not have to carry worker's comp insurance, or liability insurance, or health insurance. They do not have to comply with OSHA regulations. As a result, they are able to make a part that I sold them for $38.50 for $3.50. A friend of mine owns a Hallmark shop. When the market with China first opened up, she was sent on a trade mission. She was sent to a factory that made "handpainted vases". The employees were all little girls about 12 years old. They sat in front of a conveyor belt, and as the vase went by, they picked it up and painted a single leaf or petal on it and set it down. Each person only put on one stroke, in exactly the same place every time. My friend was shown their dormatories - they were in bunks 4 high. Their meals consisted of a bowl of rice with a little chicken or meat thrown in. When my friend asked the person who was showing her through the factory how much they were paid, he told her that the girls were not allowed to keep any of the money - it was sent back home to their families. He said that 10 years before, little girl children would have been thrown on a dung heap, and at least now they had some value. Think about that when you pick up a vase that says "handpainted in China".

Have you ever heard of Kilbride Church? I think it is near there. My mother's surname was Lockett, and that is where her grandparents were buried. She used to tell me about it, and that there was a tall monument that you could see from the river. I hope I get to see it some day.

The last time I had chemistry was in the 10th grade (40 years ago), I got a "D" then, and I haven't learned any more about it. I will throw in here that Zinc is used as a "sacrificial anode" on the underwater running gear of boats. Salt water will cause galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals. Because Zinc gives up its ions more readily that other metals, it is consumed before the steel is attacked. http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Aircraft/galvdefi.htm Here's a galvanic corrosion chart, the closer two metals are to one another, the less likely corrosion will occur. Zinc and Iron are only 6 metals apart. http://www.metal-mart.com/Guides/Galvanic.htm This may not have anything at all to do with what you are discussing, and if it doesn't, I apologise.

There are definite genetic differences in athletic ability. Among other things they can be due not just to height, but more specifically extremity length. The ratio of "fast twitch" to "slow twitch" muscles also plays a part. I posted to a similar question on another thread - the relavent parts of my post are copied below. I remember first noticing this in gym class in high school. There was an extremely tall black girl in our class. One day we were on our backs on the mat getting ready to do situps, and she was beside me. Her head was even with mine, her hips were even with mine, her thighs were several inches longer than mine, and her lower legs were longer too. Since then, when I have watched the runners on sporting events, I have noticed that this is typical, but perhaps not in such an extreme. In any event, longer legs give one a longer stride, and fast twitch muscles enable them to move the leg faster. Therefore, it follows someone who has both, can run faster and jump higher. (Remember the movie "White Men Can't Jump"?) However, according to the articles this is only true for the short distance runners. People with slow twitch muscles are better for endurance sports like marathons.

I guess you know Hawaii is an island arc. There is a "hot spot" in the mantle there. As the tectonic plate moves over the hot spot, it burns through the crust, causing a new volcano to form. Here's a good link to "hot spot mantle plumes" from the USGS. Hawaii is only the end of an island arc that becomes the Emperor Seamounts and stretches to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/Hawaiian.html So - you are asking specifically how the minerals in lava rock formations vary... Hawaiian volcanoes produce a kind of lava know as "aa" - http://geology.about.com/library/bl/images/blaa.htm Here's a link about lava types. http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/183_SR/012/012_4.htm To help you understand what it says: Mafic - definition: http://en.mimi.hu/gis/mafic.html Breccia: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=breccia , so "autobrecciated" means sharp fragments of lava embedded in the stuff that cooled slowly and is smoothe. basalt: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=basalt Unfortunately, the definitions may just confuse you more. Your lavas come from basalt, which are mafic rocks, containing iron and magnesium, that come from deep within the earth. They are therefore, an extrusive igneous rock - meaning that they came to the surface in a hurry. You also have "Pillow lavas" that formed when the lava came out under the water and was cooled very suddenly. Hope this helps.

As always, thanks for the info. Please define "cold pressor response". I'm not familiar with the term.

How does a "stun gun" work. Does it cause pain, or just scramble the signals so you can't move?

I'm A positive.

We have a huge problem with it in Yorktown. The Colonial National Park is here, as well as the Yorktown Battlefields. All that area is protected from hunting. At night the deer leave the park and eat everyone's gardens and shrubs right down to the nub. Another problem is that they carry the deer tick, which in turn carries Lyme disease, so when they come into the yards, they drop the ticks. Fortunately, I live far enough away that I am out of range. I see a deer occasionally - they come for the apples that grow in my dad's old orchard. I don't try to do anything with the apples because of all the spraying you have to do throughout the season to make them edible, so I'm happy for the deer to have them.

The title is what you need to google to come up with more information. I'd think the number of tendons must be the same. The insertion point of the tendon may vary however, the closer the insertion point is to the end of the bone, the better leverage one would have. I read an article in Discover Magazine a few years ago that stated that blacks generally had a higher percentage of "fast twitch" muscles, which enables them to sprint faster and jump higher. Unfortunately, I don't have the magazine anymore, so I can't give you the month and year it was published. Here is a link about "fast-twitch" vs "slow twitch" muscles. It doesn't discuss the difference in races, just the difference in the muscle types. http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/generalinfo6/a/muscle.htm But, I think the biggest difference is that in general, blacks have proportionately longer extremities than whites. The following quote was pulled from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The article is titled "Measures of body composition in blacks and whites: a comparative review". I remember first noticing this in gym class in high school. There was an extremely tall black girl in our class. One day we were on our backs on the mat getting ready to do situps, and she was beside me. Her head was even with mine, her hips were even with mine, her thighs were several inches longer than mine, and her lower legs were longer too. Since then, when I have watched the runners on sporting events, I have noticed that this is typical, but perhaps not in such an extreme. In any event, longer legs give one a longer stride, and fast twitch muscles enable them to move the leg faster. Therefore, it follows someone who has both, can run faster and jump higher. (Remember the movie "White Men Can't Jump"?) However, according to the articles this is only true for the short distance runners. People with slow twitch muscles are better for endurance sports like marathons.

Maybe we've just got more rocks per capita than most. It's an obvious evolutionary link between humans, minks, and other valuable fur bearing mammals.

I used to hunt as well... with a bow and arrow as well as with guns. I didn't enjoy it much, I don't really like killing animals, but I have no objection to those who do as long as they only kill enough to eat and don't waste the animal. Anyway - I think you're right. It is probably an evolutionary survival skill, it would certainly be a case of "survival of the fittist" some some great natural catastrophe occurred. It's not limited to hunting and fishing, but being able to survive with limited resources - find your way through a forest, find shelter, make a fire, etc.

Man - I know what you're talking about there. Once chomped down a defective Hershy's Kiss that had a chunk of foil inside it. Ouch! What about migranes - does the pain from them work the same way?