This weeks Science stories - Page 4

flowperson · 11-19-2007, 10:23 PM

Hi Tao...I once had a friend from Kerala province in S. India (SW tip). His great uncle had been an officer in the RAF during WWII and brought a taste for single malt back home with him after the war.

He enjoyed his shots of "the elixir of life" as he referred to it, and I enjoyed my herbal relaxants (since alcohol gives me an instant headache) and we got along famously for a number of years. Have lost track of him these days.

But as we often say, different strokes for different folks.

flow....

greymare · 11-20-2007, 09:21 AM

mmmmm whiskey. my favourite......mmmmmm dammit now Im thirsty. thanks guys.LOL

Tao_Equus · 11-20-2007, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flowperson

Hi Tao...I once had a friend from Kerala province in S. India (SW tip). His great uncle had been an officer in the RAF during WWII and brought a taste for single malt back home with him after the war.

He enjoyed his shots of "the elixir of life" as he referred to it, and I enjoyed my herbal relaxants (since alcohol gives me an instant headache) and we got along famously for a number of years. Have lost track of him these days.

But as we often say, different strokes for different folks.

flow....

I love Kerala!! Spent 4 wonderful months based Kovalam doing that whole spaced out hippy thing on the beach.

Fond fond memories.

Tao

Grey,

Well if you are a lover of sipping whiskey, a quality malt, there is no finer than Ardbeg. I discovered it about 10 years ago and it is a uniquely flavoured whiskey, so deeply peaty and smokey that it almost reminds you of TCP. Its not an everyday bottle and to mix it with anything,even ice, would be a real sin!! I hope you get to try it sometime

Tao

greymare · 11-20-2007, 09:20 PM

its on my christmas wish list. thanks tao

wil · 11-20-2007, 09:47 PM

Speaking of beach bums and whiskey

Quote:

A surfer dude with no fixed address may be this century's Einstein.
A. Garrett Lisi, a physicist who divides his time between surfing in Maui and teaching snowboarding in Lake Tahoe, has come up with what may be the Grand Unified Theory.
That's the "holy grail" of physics that scientists have been searching for ever since Albert Einstein presented his General Theory of Relativity nearly 100 years ago.
Even more remarkable is that Lisi, who has a Ph.D. but no permanent university affiliation, solves the problem without resorting to exotic dimensions, string theory or exceptionally complex mathematics.

A successful Grand Unified Theory would use a series of equations to show how the four fundamental forces of nature — gravity, electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces — relate to each other.
Electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force, which controls radioactivity, were linked more than 30 years ago, and some progress has been made with linking them to the strong nuclear force, which binds protons together in the atomic nucleus.

YouTube - Is this the theory of everything?
http://sifter.org/~aglisi/Surfing/surfing.html
FOXNews.com - Math Team Solves 248-Dimensional Puzzle - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News
[0711.0770] An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything

flowperson · 11-21-2007, 06:54 PM

Hi...Here's two links which describe the possible discovery of the grotto beneath Augustus' palace where ancient Romans ceremonially enacted the legends concerning Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome. The second link is a video feed which should take you directly to the story after you endure an advert. If it doesn't just click "OK" and select the appropriate player, and then it'll take you there.

The legend about Romulus slaying Remus is reminiscent of the Cain and Abel myth. Lots of origin myths are about a battle between two founding brothers, and one must kill the other so that civilized life may continue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/wo...pe/21rome.html

BBC Media Player

This story is about the new discovery which holds promise for producing viable human stem cells for use in research and therapy without going through the embryonic maze.

flow....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/wa...21bush.html?hp

wil · 11-21-2007, 10:16 PM

Scientist finds fossilized claw of man-sized sea scorpion - CNN.com

The discovery in 390-million-year-old rocks suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were far larger in the past than previously thought, said Simon Braddy, a University of Bristol paleontologist and one of the study's three authors.

flowperson · 11-26-2007, 06:43 PM

Hi ...
Pretty slim pickins this week, and I'm not talking about the guy who rode the H-bomb backwards in Dr. Strangelove.

First there's an article on the future gridlocks predicted on the internet unless infrastructure is sufficiently expanded and maintained:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20071121...DT9xgqHL6s0NUE

Second, an interesting article on the detection and prediction of the OCD syndrome in certain individuals and families. I wonder if Pontius Pilate would have passed the test ?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7109763.stm

flow....

flowperson · 12-02-2007, 08:59 PM

And now we understand why Pooh was so enraptured with "Hunny".

flow....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3787867.stm

flowperson · 12-07-2007, 07:18 PM

My question about this is, will this enhance virtual reality, virtual presence, or both at the same time ?

DUH'OH !

flow....

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t...cid=1124566963

flowperson · 12-10-2007, 08:09 PM

Ever have those dejavu experiences and wondered where they came from?. According to this they must come from your "non-working" memory.

Now that the political circuses have begun in the USA, I find myself using my "irrelevance filter" more and more when I turn on the nightly news. Of course it's probably childish to think that way since these people will affect everyone's life for good or ill when they take control, as we have so vividly discovered the past several years. But at my age I tend to try to avoid emotional abuse whenever it's potentially proffered.

flow....

BBC NEWS | Health | Brain 'irrelevance filter' found

flowperson · 12-11-2007, 09:40 PM

While we all back down to idling speed to await another holiday season, our two little robot friends on Mars just keep on making news.

Starbuck's really going to like this second article !

And last, just to remind us all that change is the only constant in life, even when it comes to the ongoing development of the human genome, we find this.

flow....

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Mars robot unearths microbe clue

BBC NEWS | Health | Coffee 'protects female memory'

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/sc...ml?ref=science

flowperson · 12-16-2007, 08:40 PM

This should be interesting to anyone here who must travel across time zones very often. Thankfully I don't have to do that these days.

flow....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7140017.stm

flowperson · 12-19-2007, 08:58 PM

Of all of the biological puzzles out there waiting to be solved, one of the most important is discovering just how the human immune system really works. This would alleviate much suffering in the world when you consider the susceptability of individuals to all diseases and the toll exacted on people by painful auto immune diseases such as arthritis and lupus.

Here's an article on some of the progress being made these days.

flow....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7143889.stm

flowperson · 12-24-2007, 07:25 PM

Here's something that we all should ponder at this time of year. What would humans become if they were the ones who play G-d with life forms, and do so with intentionality ?

flow....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews