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Everything posted by Prometheus
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Is it too late to learn certain things?
Prometheus replied to Tampitump's topic in Science Education
Most things in nature sit somewhere on a bell-curve. Even assuming that most older people have a harder time learning new things, it is not necessarily true for all older people. If you want to find out if it is true for yourself you'll just have to give it a go. -
Where is the evolution tree for DNA?
Prometheus replied to RobRit's topic in Evolution, Morphology and Exobiology
But in a way is it not tacit acknowledgement that evidence trumps faith when it comes to saying things about the world? By torturing data and misrepresenting evidence they validate the idea that data and evidence are prerequisites to believing in something. Their god is to be known via his works rather than faith. It's a step forward perhaps (unless they really don't care about the evidence and are just trying to 'win' a debate. -
2001 is in a league of it's own when it comes to being realistic. Apart from the fetus flying through space at the end maybe.
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Babylon 5 had some pretty believable tech: even rotating ship segments to simulate gravity and aliens that had to wear encounter suits in human created environments. But Firefly would get my vote too: can't believe they pulled that - by far the best sci-fi show at the time.
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Invasive blood pressure monitoring, the way it is currently done in hospital, will never be suitable for home use if that is what you are after. Passing a catheter into an artery is full of risks, and even in hospital having an arterial line qualifies you for closer care. Maybe a technology based on pulse oximetry could be extended to measure blood pressure, though if it was easy to do it would already have been done.
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According to some studies you are 4 times more likely to stop if you seek professional (medical) help. Also group sessions seem slightly more helpful than individual counseling. Stead LF, Lancaster T. Group behaviour therapy programmes for smoking cessation. (Review). The Cochrane Collaboration, 2009. Lancaster T, Stead L, Silagy C, Sowden A. Effectiveness of interventions to help people stop smoking: findings from the Cochrane Library. British Medical Journal, 2000; 321 (7257): 355-358. Brose LS, West R, McDermott MS et al. What makes for an effective stop-smoking service? Thorax, Published Online 27 Jun. 2011.
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Basically yes: this happens. I gave this site a quick look and it seems accurate.
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The vast majority of I.V. fluids given to patients is normal saline (0.9% NaCl - isotonic). There are extremely few circumstances when you give anything via an artery. You will get some normal saline 'flushes' if you have an arterial line, but if you need fluids it would still be given into a vein. I never gave anything but such flushes in 10 years of nursing. I saw it once though - an I.V. medication given into an artery by accident: not good. Generally food intake is not well monitored at all in hospital: if you find yourself in hospital and you are concerned with any aspect of your diet ask your nurse for a referral to a dietician (at least a day before anticipated discharge home).
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Yes, but there are particular values of x (i.e. the roots - of which there are two here) for which it is often easier to see the values of A and B.
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Angela Merkel is a published scientist with a PhD is quantum chemistry. I know little about German politics: it would be interesting to learn whether she is known to have a more sympathetic ear to scientists than other politicians.
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Well, A and B are constants, but x is a variable - so we can vary it as we like. Can you think of any particular value(s) of x that might be of help in solving this equation?
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Yep. You might be able to just see the equality of the numerators now, or you might want to multiply both sides by the denominator to make it explicit.
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A sponge can also leak, especially when squeezed. Maybe i'm just a pessimist. Why trivial? If everything in the universe is pointless (i think we're all agreed here there is no grand plan, or meaning, to existence) then any one thing we do is as trivial as anything else in the universe. Trivial only makes sense in contrast to something: if everything is trivial then the word is meaningless as it doesn't discriminate one thing from any other thing.
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The reason you cannot see how it gives rise to your third line (which is correct) is that your second line has a mistake (check the denominator on the RHS). Correct this mistake and you'll see the equality in the third.
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It's not so much that it has become equal but rather that you are supposing it is equal. Having supposed they are equal the task is then to find some A and B which satisfy the equality. It's not necessarily the case that there are solutions for A and B that make the equations equal, in which case the supposition would be mistaken.
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I don't think that's wise...
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Must have: I don't know what it would mean to be infinitely wise.
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Not forever. Eventually you would get to a point where you have experienced everything you are going to experience in a life - except the process of dying. The sirens' call would be too strong for me.
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Would like a scientific/philosophical view on a discussion.
Prometheus replied to RobRit's topic in General Philosophy
Why is it that if you are no more than the atoms from which you are made you are merely something made from atoms, while if you are created by a god you are miraculously made by god? Others, I'm sure, will give excellent scientific/logical dissections of the fallacies contained in the post, but i'd like to stick with the emotional fallacy as it is a common reason for believing in god, and theists often don't expect it to be argued (although it might be taken as an invitation for a flowery riposte). Why is man so disappointed to find that he happens to be whatever the universe is doing at that particular time and place? I find it awe inspiring to realise i'm not something separate from the universe and created into it, but rather a manifestation of it. Consider how much more subtle and nuanced creation is, as gradually revealed by the scientific method, rather than the monarchical imaginings of priests and theists. Merely atoms that are arranged such that they may think? There is no merely about it - let us rejoice in it. -
Could join a board game group if there's any around, then you get the social aspect too
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I like to play board games with my nieces and nephews. They have to learn and follow rules, read and often orate various things, perform simple numeric tasks and plan future events. I've not seen any research specifically looking at boardgames but it must be doing them some good. Puerto Rica is one of my favourite games.
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I thought the word had Greek roots to reflect those scholars who sought to explain phenomena by natural rather than mythological means. Are you really surprised that people on a science forum would demand evidence for various claims, even in a religious based topic? This alludes to why a Hindu and atheist might come to believe the same thing but by different means. A Hindu might believe because that is what has always been taught whereas an atheist might only believe if some evidence has been supplied. With the scientific method one is able to ask questions of nature and listen for an answer. But with the more traditional, faith based, approaches what nature has to say is irrelevant: instead we impose onto nature what we wish to be true rather than engage in a dialogue with her.
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I'm both a Buddhist and an atheist, so where does that put me? Do i have two religions/belief systems? Many Hindu cosmologies have a similar view of creation. I think it would be informative to explore why a Hindu might believe this and why an atheist might believe this. It is the means by which the belief was arrived at which is pertinent here. Would you care to explore this avenue with me?
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Kind of. I know convincing someone to convert in Islam, for instance, is particularly meritorious - more heavenly goodies. There was a particular word for it, but it escapes me now. On the other hand had a Jehovah's Witness give me bible lessons for a long while, all the way through making my scepticism clear. I got the impression he actually cared about my soul. Bless him.