Acme

Not all changes are advantageous; some are detrimental, e.g. genetic disease, and some are benign, e.g. baldness. By the same means that all genetic changes occur. Edit: See Mutation As we have pointed out, things like quantum physics have only come along with the passage of time and the passing along of knowledge. I don't understand what you are arguing about here. Yes. Those are just specific examples of the general trait of humans to be social and/or cooperative creatures. While not all creatures are social, being social does convey advantages. (Disadvantages too, such as the spread of disease or war for examples.)

That's right. If it happens and it fits in the prevailing environment, it stays. Of course it's right, else I would not have writ it. However, chance continues to play a roll in whether or not an evolved trait stays or not. Even with our brains as they are today, were an impact the likes of the Chixculub event to hit tonight it would spell the end of civilization as we know it and humanity -should it survive- would have to revert to the scrap & scrabble existence of eras past. The Dark Ages would look like a Sunday school picnic by comparison. Duck & cover!

The case is that evolution does not happen in order to fulfill needs.

Roger; you're welcome. You might try silicone spray to lubricate the threads. I'm no chemist though and can't say how it may react with chlorine.

It may be too corroded to remove and you may have to replace the canister. See this article on corrosion of plastics by chlorine. Some Plastics Can Be Adversely Affected by Drinking Water Disinfectants

The brain never fills up, i.e. it does not have a maximum capacity. The primary limiting factor for an individual to learn is time. While there are stupid people and geniuses, the capacity to know is not determined by a linear function as is say filling a bucket. Hofstadter's strange loop goes to this issue of non-linearity: Strange loop Were DaVinci or Plato to meet Hawking there is no reason to presume that Hawking could not explain his insights to them to their satisfaction. DaVinci & Plato are some of the giants on whose shoulders Newton stood and Hawking likewise stands on Newton's and Einstein's shoulders. It's shoulders all the way 'round the loop. Did you know a language when you were born? Can you learn a new language yet today?

Erhm...it's invisibility. Or were we not supposed to see the error? Anyway, check out the Rochester cloak. Or maybe the Berkeley cloak. Blurring the Line Between Magic and Science: Berkeley Researchers Create an Invisibility Cloak

OK Presuming that last question is "Put another way, how is it that the brain formed in all its complexity 200,000 years ago, yet as a species we are still developing the use of that organ?", then I can only imagine the answer is by necessity one of esoteric language and/or equations. Complex questions have complex answers. Nonetheless, in a sense our brain is a tool and as with any tool it can be used for myriad purposes. There is some hint in your wording that brings to mind the meme that we use only 10% of out brains, and if that is the case it is simply wrong. I think it may be more of an issue of time, chance, and social evolution rather than molecular evolution. Granted humans had to molecularly evolve to a point where we gained the brain we have, but past that it has been matters of invention, survival, and cooperation. Before writing, all knowledge had to be passed on orally and unlike what you suggested earlier that all members of a tribe knew everything that the tribe knew, there was specialization. Weavers, hunters, cooks, witch doctors, or whatever 'profession' were specialties. So too is polymathy a specialty. There is no certainty or evolutionary formula regarding talents and there is no certainty that the talented would survive or pass on their knowledge. If you're interested in what consciousness is, I am fond of the ideas of Douglas Hofstadter. His latest book, I Am A Strange Loop synthesizes his thinking on the issue. (Forewarning; esotericism and mathematics be there. It should not be attempted by folks of small souls.)

I can't answer that directly as I have no knowledge of what a Chinese farmer does or how he is educated. But at first blush, I would say yes. And I have a good reason for saying that, even though my reason may be quite wrong. Inasmuch as you have told us what you are not leading up to, by all means let's hear your reason for the blush.

The short answer is, we don't know. The less short answer is, we are trying to find out. Virtual Fossil Skull Helps Study Brain Evolution

It is not possible to achieve that rotation rate for Earth in the first place and even were it possible, at that speed the entire planet would start flying apart and your tube & balls would be of little consequence. Gigery pokery? I guess that's one phrase for it, but not the one I'd choose. Fortunately science does not need to rely on your...erhm..., well, science does not have to rely on you.

Yes, but the pore pressure is a result of the weight of the large volume of water & not injection pressure. These injection wells go deep into layers that are porous & don't normally hold water. Pour water in & the pressure in those pores go up.

No, that is incorrect. The wastewater disposal wells in Oklahoma are not pressurized as are the fracking wells. That was elucidated in several of the articles we have already covered. It is the volume of water injected that has caused the problem as it accumulated over decades of disposal in Oklahoma and the start up of quakes was related to the proverbial straw in the camels hump.

The wastewater [commonly saltwater] comes up with the oil and according to that report on induced earthquakes that I cited in post #49, there is less quake risk if the drillers put the wastewater back down the hole because it maintains the initial equilibrium. This is different than drilling separate wastewater injection wells that are beneath the extraction levels which is what has caused the Oklahoma quake swarm. Note that extraction itself can induce quakes regardless of the dispensation of the wastewater. It's a dangerous world; be careful.

Suffer is such a subjective term. I will only agree with you when I see Bonobos writing up questions on number theory. Notably, as you move past base ten you must add a new character for every addition. E.g. base eleven requires 11 characters, 0-9 and [usually] A. Then so on adding characters... In regards to the OP and converting bases the math is as you remark, but in a practical sense working in higher bases demands learning new numerals which complicates not only calculations but knowing the value of a numeric string.

I'm following all the arguments trying to verstehen. Also have been reading up on tubes and their operation in regards to radio broadcasting. (I noticed that Mordred commented, "Circuitry architect will allow it." ) So John, as I understand it the joint modulation you are talking about has its roots in 'natural' errors if you will; i.e. a normal variance inherent in the signal as well as normal variance introduced by the tube that does the modulating. However there is no information in the 'erroneous' signal and I am trying to understand if it is possible to put information there. I have to wonder why, if there is no distinction, engineers bother to talk about AM & FM at all.

Gotcha. However, that uses 2 different signals each with a different type of modulation and I am asking about 1 signal with 2 different types of modulation. I'm not sure your Wiki's "...the audio and video are combined at the transmitter before being presented to the antenna, but separate aural and visual antennas can be used" is the same thing as I am asking about. I ran across some reference to sonar using a hybrid modulation earlier but I'm not sure if I saved it. Very interesting. Double the fun! My searching turned up a lot of the digital signal processing themes as you mention. I am unsure how they may or may not apply to the analogue scheme I am asking about. Yeah; surrender gracefully the things of youth. Keepin' my ears on.

Thnx, but as I said, I studied radio and electronics in school as a boy so I understand the principles. It's that understanding of principles that prompted my question about a hybrid modulation. (I understand there is also phase modulation but I'm not familiar with it nor sure if it is a factor here.) That's in line with the kind of answers I'm looking for. I gather you are not aware of this actually being done? I have to wonder if one or another frequency range would be better adapted to a hybrid modulation. And would such a hybrid radio modulate each mode one-at-a time or in parallel? And if one-at-a-time, would you modulate the amplitude first and then the frequency, or the frequency first and then the amplitude?

Excellent. Danke. Have saved the PDF and will be reading it. Be back with any questions or observations if or when I find them. Addendum: So the authors did not carry out any experiments and they only point to spin-transfer [nano]oscillator experiments by others as working examples of their combined modulation calculations. (They call it NFAM: Nonlinear Frequency & Amplitude Modulation) Since these micro devices are working in the microwave frequency range it seems reasonable that one could scale-up to a longer range broadcast transmitter. (Oui/no? ) It also appears that the authors are looking at the case of a single input signal so we still have the question of whether or not we can have 2 input signals where one is doing the amplitude modulation and the other the frequency.

I get that. If you mean that both the transmitter and receiver would be unique for handling a dual-modulated wave, then I agree. Not necessarily the only reason, but I agree that is a valid example of a reason. Then too maybe we would modulate both the frequency and amplitude with the same signal, possibly for some gain in response or other quality desirable in the modulating information. None of those look like a combination of FM & AM. The frequency is constant in all 3 diagrams so they are all amplitude modulated signals.

So can you quote the material from it that deals with combining AM and FM on/in one transmitted signal? So you don't know if its used; gotcha. I know what AM and FM are which is what prompted my question about combining the two methods of modulation in one transmitted signal. Anyone else?

Yes Can you expand on that? Perhaps point me to some references or talk about what you know of it? What applications does it have? What advantages/disadvantages over just AM or just FM? I searched for almost an hour using different terms and got nada. Little help?

The last time I studied radio electronics we were still using tubes (valves for you Brits), though the ideas of amplitude modulation and frequency modulation remain the same. Moving to the crux of the matter, is it possible to transmit a radio signal that is simultaneously amplitude and frequency modulated?

I will be ready to sell them baubles and get them into movies. They will get famous and vainglory and loose all interest in sucking out brains. Then I will steal their girl friends who will invite me up to their ship and I will sabotage it so it blows to smithereens shortly after I get home. Then I will go out on the lawn with the neighbors and say, "Hey! That looked like an alien space ship blowing up. Do you think maybe somebody sold them baubles, got them on TV, got them all vainglorious, stole their girlfriends, got invited up to their ship, sabotaged the ship to blow up, and then came home to discuss it with the neighbors?". Then I would say, "Nah; that's too crazy." and I would wink and go back in for a beer and watch Dancing With the Alien Stars and think, "Yeah! You won't be dancing long you vainglory aliens". That will make them think twice about trying to get us to join the federation. So yeah; I'm ready.

Thanks for the video Mike. I thoroughly enjoyed it. As to your question about a timer/clock, the answer is no. The field reversals are not regular. As they explained in the video, there have been reversals sometimes on the order of a million or so years, but also periods of no reversals over 100s of million years. Irregularity is not a characteristic of a clock or timer.