Forum: General Topic: Not sure what to do. Author Message dab #1 posted November 9, 2009 at 9:00pm (EST)   Check if you have a fever.

Forum: General Topic: Question about healthcare..... Author Message dab #2 posted November 9, 2009 at 3:31pm (EST)   I think no one really knows because no one has yet read the bill, including all the people who voted for it. Assuming it passed the Senate and is signed by the President and becomes a law, I think it'll be years before all the ramifications are figured out. No doubt several court cases will be required as well. Nothing that complex is understood quickly or easily.

Forum: General Topic: Is The Large Hadron Collider Being Sabotaged from the Future? Author Message dab #3 posted November 6, 2009 at 9:04am (EST)   The best thing is that the latest story is that the LHC was taken down by a bird dropping a baguette on it. Obviously a bird from the future.

Forum: General Topic: Social or Political issue that won't get me all passionate and kicked out? Author Message dab #4 posted November 4, 2009 at 10:54pm (EST)   Sounds like it'd be more fun to try to convince your audience that you believe the opposite of what you do on whatever issue you choose. Government response to global warming Drug legalization (that could get you a "warm" reception at school) Gay marriage (might run into religion) How Democrats and Republicans are virtually indistinguishable (is my bias showing?) Prison overcrowding Infrastructure neglect deterioration Plight of the family farmer How the US ignores the Caribbean nations

Forum: General Topic: Chem help Author Message dab #5 posted November 2, 2009 at 7:52am (EST)   In college we had an alternative to thermodynamics and I took it. And I'm embarrassed that I don't really remember enough from high school chemistry to even remember what enthalpy means. Something like the reciprocal of entropy? Or was that Gibbs Free Energy?

Forum: General Topic: News article Author Message dab #6 posted October 31, 2009 at 7:51pm (EST)   Iseult wrote: > General trends are that the Earth is warming up Depends on what time-scale you consider. Over the past 40 years, the Earth appears to be warming up. Over the past ten years, cooling off. If you look at the entire 4.5 billion year history of the planet, it's definitely cooling off. dab #7 posted October 30, 2009 at 9:04am (EST)   There are two problems with changing the name to "global climate change". One is that it suggests that the Earth isn't warming any more so you're suddenly looking for a new name so the movement doesn't look too stupid. The other is that most people know the climate is always changing so saying "climate change" is equivalent to saying everything is normal again.

Forum: General Topic: Help Mary with her homework? Author Message dab #8 posted October 15, 2009 at 11:03pm (EST)   Biggles' answer would be what I'd think of as the "normal" approach, two equations in two unknowns. However, I don't recall learning that sort of thing until at least algebra (8th grade) or probably algebra 2 (10th grade). LindaH's approach is probably what they were expecting the kids to do.

Forum: General Topic: Here's one for the farm animals. Author Message dab #9 posted October 14, 2009 at 11:57am (EST)   It's not about how many eggs a chicken lays, it's about how much each egg costs. By putting hens in little boxes, they automate all that and lower prices. It's the added expense of hiring the people to handle the eggs. I don't mean to defend the practice; I do intend to provide accurate predictions of the results. I'd like to see all legislation come with predictions as to its effects. The proponents would say what good would happen and the opponents predict the bad. If the opponents are right, the law is automatically repealed but if the proponents also predicted the bad but passed the bill anyway, then it can remain. dab #10 posted October 14, 2009 at 8:05am (EST)   Sounds like a lot of egg production in Michigan will go out of business and the prices of eggs will rise dramatically. It may be good for the chickens, but the people in Michigan are already doing poorly, from what I hear, and this will make things worse. Next page (only 10 shown here)