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Mindwolf's comments
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Mindwolf  ·  3108 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Dear "Skeptics," Bash Homeopathy and Bigfoot Less, Mammograms and War More

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/john-horgan-is-skeptical-of-skeptics/

    Unfortunately the talk, which he has now published on Scientific American’s website (which means it’s fair game), was more than a bit disappointing – not because he was critical, but because he does not seem to get skepticism with a small or a big “S.” The result was a string of cherry picked strawmen.
Mindwolf  ·  3187 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Bigger than the Higgs, bigger even than gravitational waves...

FYI: This is a bit of over-hype. Sensationalism is probably not the best word for it. The events the article (and others listed below) are statistical anomalies. Mere bumps in the data. It would be really cool if it were accurate but so far nothing to say, write an article behind a paywall about...

Mindwolf  ·  3198 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The 12 Greatest Challenges for Space Exploration.

Yeah a pretty dumb line.

The hammerhead shark used the electromagnetic field given off by its prey to detect and catch them.

Mindwolf  ·  3209 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: World's largest solar plant goes live, will provide power for 1.1M people.

Well you are the final boss...

Mindwolf  ·  3209 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: World's largest solar plant goes live, will provide power for 1.1M people.

Do... Do I have to fight you now?

Mindwolf  ·  3245 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How to use the Feynman technique to identify pseudoscience

I dub this the #science #tagoftheweek winner! rrrrr, the duty to name next week's winner now falls upon your head!

Mindwolf  ·  3259 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The science myths that will not die.

It worked. You have summoned me. And like Cthulhu I shall lay waste to all. Or pick next week's #tagoftheweek. Whichever comes first.

This. This motherfucking blowhard right here, gets it.

Mindwolf  ·  3274 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Want to mail Mars? Better start saving.

Most correspondence would most likely be digitized. But I'm sure there would be a few letters and maybe some small packages. For mostly nostalgia's sake or very special occasions.

That is assuming of course that:

1: We actually colonize Mars.

2: We have an active long term colony.

3: We have shipping routes between the two worlds.

If all that works out and there is a shipping/courier route making regular trips between the two the cost will be lower. But that would be way off in the future.

Mindwolf  ·  3280 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Quest to drill into Earth’s mantle restarts.

Yeah. I'm pretty sure we were supposed to reach the mantle "in five years" since the 60's.

Mindwolf  ·  3280 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Researchers find new phase of carbon, make diamond at room temperature.

What makes this different from standard lab grown diamonds is that there were only originally only two known phases of solid carbon, graphite and diamond. Making a lab grown diamond required large amounts of heat and pressure.

This new phase that they discovered (which is magnetic by the way, how cool it that?) only required ambient pressure and temperature. Yes this will lead to cheaper lab grown diamonds but it is also an amazing discovery in its own right.

Oh, and get well soon!

Mindwolf  ·  3292 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Uranus might be full of surprises.

Your endeavor to document and remember this makes you...

put on sunglasses

anal-retentive.

Mindwolf  ·  3293 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Armadillos Carrying Leprosy Bacteria Spreading in Southern US

Very true. Leprosy is also effectively treatable using MDT Multidrug Therapy.

Mindwolf  ·  3293 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Uranus might be full of surprises.

2010: Odyssey Two Goes into a little detail as to what may be at the center of Jupiter. Clarke surmised that it my be a gigantic diamond.

Is it true? We don't really know. It is very hot, possibly as high as 56,000 K, and very dense. The central core pressure is estimated to be 100 million times the atmospheric pressure at the earth's surface.It is expected from a variety of planet formation scenarios that the planet has a rocky core of about 10-15 times the mass of the Earth, but on top of this is a seething 'ocean' of metallic hydrogen and other exotic states of hydrogen and helium, its chief constituents. Whether the central rocky core is in the form of a 'diamond' or not is not something that could be easily anticipated from the mathematical modeling of the planet's interior. In other words, Arthur's guess is as good as anyone!

Mindwolf  ·  3293 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Uranus might be full of surprises.

Yes. Even though Uranus is gaseous, it has a hot rocky core that we can learn a lot about.

Mindwolf  ·  3300 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: On the Origin of Species voted most influential academic book in history.

Perhaps "are important" would be a better term for this?

I do very much think that academics books matter. There are still a great deal of books on academic topics that are being published that help to break down extremely complex concepts and ideas into something that a layman can understand. The first think that comes to my mind is The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. This book broke down String Theory into a fascinating and informative lesson into the basics of the universe.

Mindwolf  ·  3300 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 40 years ago today, the 'Witch of November' sank the Edmund Fitzgerald.

If it's the same article I delete my post. If it's a different article I may keep if it shared different information or has a different viewpoint.

Mindwolf  ·  3316 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: In unexpected discovery, comet contains alcohol, sugar

Obama drinks water from Mars to gain the power of the ancients.

People are still sore about that.

Mindwolf  ·  3316 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 'Zeno effect' verified—atoms won't move while you watch

HA! Awesome response.

Mindwolf  ·  3334 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The placebo response is getting stronger in painkiller trials - but only in the US.

I agree. And I do believe this is one of the issues that several hospital groups are looking into.

Mindwolf  ·  3349 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How El Chapo Builds His Tunnels

What is it about that term, "strange and wonderful" that calls up the mystery and excitement of scientific discovery? It's terms like that that perfectly sum up the feeling I get when learning about discoveries like this.

Mindwolf  ·  3384 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Gravity’s Oldest Puzzles.

It's pretty amazing the detail in which we can measure it, isn't it?

Mindwolf  ·  3386 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Why El Niño has never been more turbulent.

Yeah it's pretty messy. Revenue above all else, after all.

Mindwolf  ·  3386 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski Movie Club - Voting Thread #18

Snatch

Mindwolf  ·  3392 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: No, the EMdrive is not a miracle of science or anything else for that matter.

It isn't.

Mindwolf  ·  3392 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: No, the EMdrive is not a miracle of science or anything else for that matter.

I would just like to say that I am EXTREMELY attractive. So much that I have my own orbit.