ecoli

This could result in an unnecessary semantics argument. See above.

we can??

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/code#English definitions 1, 4,5 and maybe even 6 apply to DNA: Nucleic acid bases can certainly be construed as symbols that, when read in a specific sequence, represent amino acids. DNA sequences definitely has rules for converting information into another form (DNA -> RNA -> AAs), although these rules aren't set as explicitly as man-made codes the molecular result is largely the same. 5 and 6 are applications of the other definitions that loosely apply here. This doesn't follow logically from what I said: "words are vibrations in air", but this does not imply that all vibrating air molecules can be construed as words. Only a small subset of vibration frequencies can be interpreted by the ear and brain as speech and this is limited by physics and cultural context. Well I agree that not all created things have meaning. White noise can be generated but may not contain meaning as speech would. I just don't see how you took that as my meaning. I agreed that the proposition that has yet to be proven AKA the burden of proof to demonstrate the premise is on the one stating the premise. Get some rest ;-)

well according to the christian rapture, all the righteous will be taken up to heaven. Even if that's only 10% of the Christian population, lots of people disappearing all at the same time is something you might notice ;-)

Something like the Christian rapture would be fairly convincing.

Then I have to disagree with your definition of "code" here. I agree that "I love you" is meaningless out of context. But, if DNA is just a molecule, then words are just vibrating air molecules. I'm pretty sure I didn't make that claim. Which is, in fact, one of the reasons I stated above, albeit in other words.

Ah yes I understand the difficulty of your situation. It is a form of inductive reasoning, but that doesn't mean the conclusion is true (the very definition of an inference allows for this possibility). For example, the reason we know codes are man-made is because of the documentation showing who specifically or which culture developed a particular code. So, the premise that all codes are man-made is not true, unless we willingly blind ourselves to the possibility of codes that are not man made. because it makes the argument that the premise is true because it has not been proven false (by willfully being ignorant about good evidence that DNA codes are not designed). In fact you shouldn't be convincing the creationst that DNA wasn't created by a mind, but you should ask for evidence that it WAS. The burden of proof is on the one making the argument, not the listener.

This is worth a read for Trekkies: Economics of Star Trek

simple probability rules: the probability of independent events are multiplied.

! Moderator Note The personal attacks need to stop now. Thanks.

Wait... so buying alcohol on ebay is illegal but buying gun ammunition is not

or a*b*(1-c)*(1-d) ^ (a*b) try plotting the output and see what you're actually trying to envision.

The analogy of DNA and code is actually a good one. Where this argument fails is that it argues from ignorance and a false premise. We know DNA wasn't created by a 'mind' therefore the premise of 2 is incorrect. The premise "all swans are white" is only as good as your non-observation of a black swan (which do exist).

You're cherry picking your data studiot. How many 'scientific' ideas have been/are ridiculed and have been shown to be incorrect or otherwise useless? One only needs to browse through the speculation forums for evidence of that.

They specifically mention no lasting psychological harm during the followup. This is obviously small time stuff compared to stuff in the wikipedia article.

Originality of theories is largely oversold. "If I can see so far, its because I stand on the shoulders of giants."

sounds like you can't go wrong taking a bunch of math.. Besides for psychology & education and (maybe) biochemistry, you're going to need a lot of math for everything else. So either pick one of those things or learn to love it.

It's unfortunate that blacks are underrepresented in STEM fields, in general. This likely has more to do with long term socio-economic conditions than overt racism, however. For example, its not like the Nobel committee is biased towards Jews, its just that there skewed representation due to many factors, education in particular. And I say "unfortunate", because STEM fields especially benefit from diverse, multi-cultural perspectives.

You'll be fine: the point of education is to learn something new. And, if the course is being taught correctly, AP courses assume that you don't have much background knowledge before the class starts.

LB is used to culture many different microorganisms for a variety of purposes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysogeny_broth

does this need to be a continuous function?

They haven't been answered, because there's more speculation than data to address those speculations. Well data on the economy exists, but even economists can't agree on how to interpret that data and I've often seen the same dataset/ graph used to justify both sides of an economic argument. Such is the dismal science.

exactly what iNow said: good for whom? If the brilliant people are going to where there are jobs for them, then those people and the countries they move to definitely benefit. The countries they move away from... well that's less clear. If an engineer moves away and develops new tech that results in unlimited clean water for everyone: clear win for everyone. If the engineer develops a slightly better toothbrush... well idk.

found this similar problem on stackoverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2608331/net-http-rb560in-initialize-getaddrinfo-name-or-service-not-known-sockete You might want to post this on a [bio]Ruby thread/forum. If the program isn't connecting BlastDB and you're sure your network connection is fine, perhaps there's some deeper issue/bug. I don't know how many Ruby programmers we have on SFN [i am not one]

Unfortunately, the position of ditch digger has already been taken. I'm going to go back to school in the hopes of qualifying for the position of ditch fill-back-up-er.