November 15, 2013

I've Recently Been Diagnosed with Dyshidrotic Eczema

A non-contagious rash that affects my hands and feet. Had it since I was about 15, but it has come and gone over the years - mostly in extremely brief outbreaks that last a few days then go away for several months.

Last July, a particularly bad flare up hit, and never went away. I've seen a dermatologist (who finally gave me the correct name of the condition), but his only advise was to use a topical steroid to reduce the itching.

I asked him how to prevent it, and he said, bluntly, "This is you, it's permanent, there's no cure. Try not to sweat."

Wonderful. I'll try to not sweat....in Florida

DUers, have any of you had success preventing outbreaks of Eczema?

There has to be a better preventative measure than not perspiring...

October 13, 2013

I have a feature request

If I have a DUer on ignore, and they respond to one of my posts, all I see is a message saying some anonymous user is being ignored. Why tell us there is a response without telling us the DUer's name? Bit of a tease, isn't it?

Is it possible for the software to block the message, but still show the name of the poster? Alternatively, how about a simplified interface for the Ignore List, so we can temporarily turn the entire list off and on without having to individually "un-ignore" each name till the correct one is identified?

October 6, 2013

It's not just Obamacare that pisses them off

the teabaggers are also not really 100% on this whole "Democratic Process" thingy...

Sorry if its a dupe!

October 2, 2013

iGoogle Alternative

So Google is killing iGoogle at the end of the month, and those who use the page need an alternative.

Here's a great selection of alts: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/6-great-alternatives-igoogle.htm

But I wanted to toss in a page called uStart (http://www.ustart.org/). It can import your iGoogle settings, has a look and feel very familiar to iGoogle fans, and is portable between systems.

Compare the two - here's my old iGoogle page:



and my new uStart page:



Pretty close, right. Hope it works for you!

September 28, 2013

Natural Born Idiots

How the Tea Party see Obama's Birth Certificate:



How the Tea Party see Cruz's Birth Certificate:

August 31, 2013

"I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action..."

"...without specific congressional authorization"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/10278442/Barack-Obama-on-Syria-text-in-full.html

The President's move to seek Congressional approval is appropriate, but he did not tie himself to limiting his actions based on such approval. In a bit of foreshadowing, he even noted :


and later reminded Congress:


If Congress were similarly "paralyzed," would Obama be similarly comfortable? He's acted without congressional approval on lesser matters, why would he not also act on matters of life and death? Certainly, such matters would be more important than the politics of the moment.

Obama is telling us straight up that he's ready to act. He's invited Congress to join him, but is he tying himself to that partnership?

August 24, 2013

How do Spiders Learn to Spin Webs?

I understand that weaving silk is a biological function for the spider, maybe comparable to growing hair, but spinning a web takes a bit of engineering. Some choices have to be made on whether a line is lateral, orbital, sticky, not sticky, etc. Yet spiders do not need to be taught this skill, they act on instinct.

Many animals act on instinct. Birds build nests, newly hatched sea turtles run toward the ocean, bees build well engineered hives, and so on. Perhaps all animal behavior is (or is triggered by) instinct.

So what is this power called "instinct"? Where is it located? What is it's source? Is it biological? Do we come pre-programmed, like some computer purchased with a version of the operating system already installed? It it related to intelligence at all?

Maybe spiders that spin webs--or use thread as a tool--are the smarter spiders, and maybe spiders that do not spin are the dull, dim relatives at the low end of the DNA ladder?

If instinct is not linked to intelligence, what is it? Merriam-Webster.com tells us that instinct is "behavior that is mediated by reactions below the conscious level."

Fire has behavior...and since there's no possibility that fire is conscious, can it be said that the behavior of fire is instinctive? What about weather patterns? What about the big-bang contraction and expansion of the Universe?

No? Then what is it about the behavior of systems that is different then then reflexive or instinctive behavior of life forms? Again, the dictionary tells us it consciousness. If learned behavior requires consciousness, what then creates consciousness? Life?

We really don't know what life is, or consciousness. Perhaps life is just a state of existence for an organic system that has reached a certain level of complexity. Perhaps consciousness is the act of such a system identifying itself as such as system.

We can't point to a spot in space where consciousness is (or is not), even though we recognize that consciousness is a real thing, and exists as a prerequisite for non-instinctive behavior, and though we can't point to it, touch it, or even measure it, we accept consciousness as self evident -- we think, therefore we are.

That doesn't mean we start a cult around the power of instinct, or open a worship hall, put on robes, get a special haircut, and start passing the collection plate.

It also doesn't mean that "God" taught spiders how to spin webs.

It means that if life can be reduced to "the behaviors of a complex system" then we might want to ask whether the most complex system we know of - the Universe - is alive, and is aware of itself. If life and consciousness happened on a small scale, it would not be terribly surprising to find that it happened on a large scale as well.

If the Universe is alive, and conscious, does it also possess intelligence? If not intelligence, does the Universe possess instinct?

Universal instinct, or Universal intelligence. Either sounds like a suitable explanation for what some people have called God.

July 24, 2013

Question about FTL Travel

Imagine a line (L) with three points (P1,P2,P3):



Earth is represented by P2, P1 and P3 represent crafts moving away from Earth at .75 the speed of light.

To an astronaut on craft P1, is P3 moving faster than light?

What if a third craft traveled at a 45 degree angle to L, stopped, turned around, and viewed P1 and P3?

It seems to me that from the perspective of the third craft, P1 and P3 are increasing the distance between themselves at a speed greater than the speed of light.

Knowing little to nothing about Physics, I don't know why my perspective is inaccurate, but I believe it must be. I'm confident that someone here can straighten me out!

June 29, 2013

Tell me about the burden of proof...

The obvious standard is that the prosecution must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. A defendant is not required to testify. They can remain simply silent, and in the end, ask for a dismissal based on the prosecution's ability (or lack of) to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Since Zimmerman openly admits he shot Martin, but claims it was done only in self defense, does his defense now assume some responsibility to prove those claims? Can the defense make any claim at all, and will a jury be instructed to assume such a claim is a fact?

Is there any responsibility (whether legal or merely practical) which is placed on the defense to support their version of events?

June 25, 2013

Curing Cancer with HIV

If this is a dupe, I'm sorry. I just couldn't not post this...

#at=217