Misc. Science Topics

[austintorn@aol.com]

And you are full of Whit-man! (I mean "lady") [Walt, another W.W. guy]

[racecar]

O RLY...What ever gave you that idea?

[racecar]

I can't speak ex cathedra on language...so how does language condition thought?

To some extent human awareness and perception is shaped by language.

http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedai...luence_our.php

"The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis -- stated in its strongest form -- claims that language determines thoughts: if a language doesn't have a means of expressing a particular idea, then people speaking that language can't even conceive of that idea. This strong form has long since been rejected: There are plenty of thoughts we can have without having the words to express them.

But there is also little question that the available words do have an important impact on our thoughts. If a language doesn't have a way to express numbers above 10, for example, then that would probably result in a somewhat different understanding of the world for its speakers compared to speakers of languages with more comprehensive number systems."

How can you bring some order to what has always been an inexact science...and include the evolution of underground language...like profanity.

"I create as I speak"

"Basically, that society’s not sex positive (duh!). Here’s a good video about the origins of curse words. It’s pretty well documented that cursing was religious to start with. In the Bible, the offensive kind of cursing was to curse someone using God’s name (also swearing in God’s name [often falsely] which is why we have swear words). This belief requires us to believe in some kind of magic within words, that the use of some words has the power to alter physical reality. [Interesting aside: abracadabra epitomises this precisely, one theory being that it's Aramaic for I create as I speak]"

http://anadder.com/what-swear-our-wo...bout-us-part-1
http://socyberty.com/education/evolu...ds-came-to-be/

From a no-cussing legislation discussion I learned a new way to say a-hole from Dennis Miller the other night, alimentary canal exit hole...It's funny. PC with attitude.

My family and I were in a mall music/game store the other day. A lot of people, including young children were also there. A song with profane language came on. It made me take notice. I looked around and it seemed that no one really noticed. The sales associates were giggling (sort of nervously) and looking around.

Would a Euro-style (official) language even be possible or acceptable?

[austintorn@aol.com]

It was said that God damned a lot of people and things, and so I guess people, being what they are, imitated “God’, the vengeful version who even broke His own commandments, making Him not really a good role model at all. But cursing and damning caught on, and so we have it that even God’s last name [Dammit], ha-ha, was taken in vain.

Some would-be-but-not-quite swearers would also exclaim “Jesus H. Christ” when annoyed, or “Jesus, Mary, Joseph”, as my aunt used to say.

Worse words then came about as analogies to a person being some unsavory part of the body as a way to get in a great insult.

For me, and some, a new four letter word is W-O-R-K.

Shitake [a mushroom].

[austintorn@aol.com]

O RLY...What ever gave you that idea?

Your feet are Long-fellows.

[austintorn@aol.com]

The Global Warming Data Is In

It is no longer “if” but “when”,
“Where”, and how fast.

The impacts are already obvious
In the extreme north:
The Arctic ice melts dramatically,
Polar bears drown,
And Inuit hunters are forlorn.

What will be the global pattern
Of the coming human resettlement?

It will be in the northern high latitudes—
The “Northern Rim” of the U.S.,
Canada, Russia, Denmark, Iceland,
Sweden, Norway, and Finland,
Where -40 degrees will no longer
Be an impediment,
Not that it will be easy,
But, it is also the greatest untouched
Mineral, water, and energy reserve.

Russia’s Siberia is nowhere near ready,
As its inhabitants have come and gone,
With no real planned infrastructure to begin with.

Alaska and Canada are ready,
The U.S. army of WW II having
Injected massive infrastructure
Into those regions where
Human settlement
And economic activity continue today.

It will be no utopia, though,
For it will be but a conversion
From land that is hardly livable
To land that is somewhat livable.

[austintorn@aol.com]

There are no Psychic Powers.

One good example of how we know
Is the million dollar challenge.

The James Randi Educational Foundation
Will award anyone who can demonstrate
A paranormal or supernatural power
Under controlled observing conditions
One million dollars.

So far no one has made it
Past the preliminary test.

You'd expect that if anyone
Actually had these powers
That they'd manage
To demonstrate something
In order to win the money.

[austintorn@aol.com]

*** Many Places ***

Sir Roger Penrose
Has though about something
For a very long time,
Ever since Paul Dirac told him in class:
“…the superposition principle,
Whereby very tiny objects could be
In two places at the same time.”

This blurry flux even allows
An “infinite” number
Of locations simultaneously.

Yes, quantum mechanics works perfectly;
But, what leads to the world
At ordinary scales?

What collapses the wave function?

Penrose believes he has
Identified the secret
That keeps the quantum genie
Bottled up in the atomic world,
A secret that was
Right in front of us all along;

But, I cannot reveal it
Until more people join ToeQuest.

(Stay tuned)

[Mikal]

There are no Psychic Powers.

One good example of how we know
Is the million dollar challenge.

The James Randi Educational Foundation
Will award anyone who can demonstrate
A paranormal or supernatural power
Under controlled observing conditions
One million dollars.

So far no one has made it
Past the preliminary test.

You'd expect that if anyone
Actually had these powers
That they'd manage
To demonstrate something
In order to win the money.

Don't knock what you have not experienced!
There are psychic powers and healing is one of them that is a beautiful gift. I wouldn't talk to the James Randi Foundation for $5.00 let alone a million for the gift is precious, private and the greatest display of unconditional love you can give to another human being. Aside from that privacy is far more important in life than notariety and importance. These things hold no importance when you have realizations as to the true seriousness of life.....

Regards Mikal

[austintorn@aol.com]

Don't knock what you have not experienced!
There are psychic powers and healing is one of them that is a beautiful gift. I wouldn't talk to the James Randi Foundation for $5.00 let alone a million for the gift is precious, private and the greatest display of unconditional love you can give to another human being. Aside from that privacy is far more important in life than notariety and importance. These things hold no importance when you have realizations as to the true seriousness of life.....

Regards Mikal

Never-the-less, no one at all could show anything at all over the years. They wanted to bring their own fake spoons in to bend. No show, no go. Nothing. Zippo. They tried; they failed.

On the other hand, something like empathy is shown to work via science (by mirror neurons).

(Note: this is a science thread. There is an isolation between science and non-science threads now, as desired by TQ. The olden days of crossovers are surely over, as the twain no longer meets.)