Ophiolite

Outstanding. Many thanks to Dave for implementing the solution and to Bettina for raising the problem.

No, two workers for PETA did this. That's different. Also the local diretor of PETA said ""PETA has never made a secret of the fact that most of the animals picked up in North Carolina are euthanized." I think you are all smart enough to see my point. Only ecoli said of his example, "Please note, this story hasn't been sourced or proven."

Overpopulation is the only problem the human race has.

This issue has frustrated me for some time. I frequently may be unable to visit the forum for several days at a time. I start with the oldest 'new' post, typicaly on page five or six. Before I have worked my way down to page four they have all disappeared. An option to at least view all todays posts would be a partial soluition for sure.

You've lost me here. Why would they be higher than the current average height? The suppression of susbtantial axial variation is by the concentrated effects of the moon's mass. If the mass is equally distributed in orbit the net effect on the Earth is zero, so that large scale fluctuations in axial tilt become possible, indeed, inevitable.

Ah! A very nice distinction, in both senses of the word.

Have you figured out why there have been no responses yet?

Welcome DQW. Does your materials science knowledge embrace fracture properties of tungsten carbide, by any chance?

No, Grant you are still failing to understand. In any community there are certain standards that the members of that community are expected to follow. Many of these standards are arbritary and incidental, others are well considered and relevant. All are more or less adhered to because a)they help to identify the members of that community to each other, b) they materially assist in the smooth running of that community. You don't walk into your classroom and urinate on the teacher's desk, do you? You don't sit down to eat your dinner at home, upend it on the floor and declare 'this is crap', do you? You don't walk into Virgin records with a megaphone and scream 'The pope's a freak', do you? These are counter to the accepted rules of the communities, classroomm, home and general public. Other's have explained why we have these conventions on SFN. Many of those reading these threads have english as a second, third or fourth language. It is discourteous to them to post in the way you do. To continue to do so is not discourteous....it is ****ing rude. So, Grant, we are not stressed over punctuation, we are concerned over politeness. I ask you again, please adopt a conventional approach to the written word so we can focus on what you say, not how you say it.

David - why do you persist in misspelling efficiency? It wrankles. Shards of dissonance pierce my psyche each time I see it. Why are you so cruel?

It means I am ashamed to share a country with you.

The moon (and to a lesser extent the sun) causes the tides. In its absence the tides would be much reduced.

I really hope the Uk in your location represents something other than the United Kingdom, Grant. Which part of the message several diverse people have delivered to you don't you understand? You are being RUDE. If you weren't only 13 I would express it in rather stronger terms. If you can't learn to be polite please do find that other forum. If you can learn to be polite I look forward to conducting a useful dialogue with you. Thirteen is not too young to begin the process of growing up.

I agree completely. However, I suggest that there is a broad band where such a line could be drawn. Anywhere within that band would meet the demands for *some* sort of biological relevance . It seems to me that within this band the debates over where exactly to place the line are based more on good old primate one-apemanship, than on science.

Onemind, if you haven't already done so, read The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bi-cameral Mind, by Julian Jaynes. He makes the radical claim, backed up by careful analysis, that humans only became conscious around 2,500 years ago. Despite the title, the book is surprisingly readable and certainly thought provoking.

Be afraid, be very afraid. Time to dust off the fall-out shelters. [seriously, good luck.] Back on topic: time and space began with the big bang. We do not know what, if anything, preceded it. This need not have been dimensional. We are too ignorant as a species to speculate meaningfully today on pre-big bang existence. You have to be agnostic on the character of pre-big bang. If you are definitive you have left the field of science and strayed into religion.

Exactly. All classification systems are artificial, pandering to the human need/skill/tendency to put things in metaphorical boxes.

Remember you are required by law to exclude Mokele from that exclusion.

Please tell us how life differs from living matter.

My two cents worth: I could never quite figure out Johnny 5's agenda (but I was pretty sure he had one). However I always found his posts interesting and was - I'm searching for the right word - amazed to see he was permanently banned. He appeared to have a far better understanding of several aspects of science than I (but that may have reflected more on my ignorance than on his intellect). Thomas, I have, until this instance, found Phi's comments and control to be reasonable. Like you I found this action disquieting. Like Betina I would urge you to stay. The measured tones of your post suggest you would make valuable and valued contributions. Stick around and we'll hopefully all learn this was an abberation.

Thank you for your well reasoned, passionately rendered, eloquently expressed , accurately researched, objectively phrased contribution. Now look up the word irony in the dictionary.

The impression I had, perhaps faulty, was that this was normally only bestowed on the most senior of persons, which I would not have imagined applying to a 'mere' Associate Professor. But keep in mind I am basing this perception on my undergraduate days which took place in the late Pliocene. I remain an unapologetic supporter of Fred Hoyle, so I will gravitate towards anything that might favour Steady State and get rid of the Big Bang. However, attractive as Marmat's points are I suspect there are other telling points against the argument. Still, there is a small body of cosmologists who do not believe the red shift indicates an expanding Universe, or that quasars are truly distant objects, or that old galaxies have mainly population II stars and young galaxies have population I. So, who knows? Interesting.

I'm slightly confused Demosthenses: in what sense is the energy not taken in directly? There is no system that I know, mechanical or biological, that does not perform some form of conversion of energy before it is used.

If you walk out onto a freeway into the path of an oncoming truck, which is travelling at 60mph, things are just fine up till the moment of impact. Sure you can see it coming, but its not there yet, so what's the problem. That guy waving his arms over on the hard shoulder, screaming at you to get out of the way - he's just impatient. Never mind, you wont be bored for much longer.