The Hall of Fire

That and population explosions are followed by die-offs. There might be other factors in the Arctic ecosystem that depend on a controlled seal population. Living systems are feedback loops from the molecular level up.

I for one am grateful for the Crusades as contact with the Arab world brought us important concepts like algebra, zero, and the way light travels in space. I think they also taught us some basic hygiene as well. It's so convenient to forget that while Western Europe wallowed in a Dark Age the Islami...

What does it mean when the numbers are good but the people are discontent? Just asking.

Anything to piss off the Serbs.

Actually, any time you're solving for an unknown you're doing algebra. Whether you realize it or not. True, most can get through a day without actually setting up the equations and walking through it, but any time you're calculating compound interest, counting back change, sorting out how much carpe...

All you need to do to get on the national stage in the US is make a lot of noise in the right place at the right time. Seriously. We've got a lot of people who're in the spotlight for no good reason. Most of them aren't in politics, but some are.

I remember my seventh grade math class was severely over-crowded. Everyone had desks, but it was an elaborate dance getting in and out of said desks. To alleviate the problem, the teacher had me and one of my classmates moved into honors math. This wasn't exactly the best move for me - I probably co...

Voting based on grades would preclude many of our past and present leaders. But the US is not renowned for honoring its intellectuals with higher office, so no fear there. :P Making an "A" and doing the job aren't always the same thing. Making an "A" and just knowing your stuff a...

Well, an imam in Britain agrees with you Faramond, on the grounds that according to Islamic law the only unclean thing about dogs is their drool.

Most of it reeks of resentment - "why's he a hero when I'm not?" The better arguments were towards the end, and they had nothing to do with his time as a POW.

If someone waits to obtain health insurance and under national law the insurance company cannot turn them down, they simply pay a higher premium. They should not be eligible for any more government subsidy of their premium than a healthy person would be. In other words, the crime of not obtaining c...

Um, actually, I don't like the conclusions about the climate one little bit. They scare me. But I learned a long time ago that not liking something doesn't make that something any less true. If you can't escape, you have to deal. No one's saying that all the CO2 in our atmosphere was put there by hu...

CO2 concentration is rising in the atmosphere, rising fast. The only source of atmospheric CO2 that is increasing in tandem is human activity. Everything else (both sources and sinks) is measurable and is being measured, and the conclusion is that it's us. How about deforestation? Does that have a ...

S will insist I dress up and then wear whatever. The time he took me to this incredibly nice restaurant, insisted I wear a dress, stockings, jewelry, the whole nine yards and then had the nerve to appear in jeans still has me in knots. And the thing is, this restaurant really was the sort of place w...

Actually, yov, I find this to be educational, amusing, and frustrating all at the same time. Especially the short course on the carbon cycle. That was just priceless. Took me back to 10th grade bio - man that teacher was great. Too bad she's retired now.

halplm wrote: Plants thrive on CO2. Why is it so hard to believe that with more CO2, more plants grow (particularly in the oceans), and thus, that CO2 is absorbed?

It's not hard to believe. It just isn't happening.

That's the same kind of logic that says fat you eat becomes fat in your body, which is absurd, but easy enough to convince somone of. Except the fat you eat, along with just about everything else you eat that is digestible, does eventually become fat in your body if you don't do anything to burn of...

Dave_LF wrote:

River wrote:(and that is why those that study quantum mechanics are out of their minds).

Only when they're observed.

Well .... you can't really compare human systems with natural systems, because natural systems don't change their behavior as a result of finding out what you know about them. At the quantum level, they do (and that is why those that study quantum mechanics are out of their minds). But at the scale...

You know, given the stripping routine everyone goes through in security these days, the simpler you can dress the better. After a couple years of riding ambulances I have few illusions regarding what emergency personnel will think when you're in an accident. The only interest the EMTs and nurses hav...