If he has a small.. problem, maybe he can blame it on Playmobil -- though perhaps it's chicken-and-egg if it's that the Fairy Tale Pavilion caused BPA exposure versus if the BPA led to Fairy Tale Pavilion exposure. It's interesting that bisphenol A is compared to diethylstilbestrol in its wikipedia entry (the same age group affected directly by BPA might also be interested in third-generation DES [NSFW] gonadotropic effects).

Exactly! Those of us using a REAL operating system like Windows 3.0 never have to worry about mixing 64-bit and 32-bit environments! ;)

Yes, it's definitely far more than a mere substitution of appearance.

For an interesting report of the effects of transition on a bright male-to-female writer (and anecdotes on how various world cultures handle someone straddling the boundary of gender presentation), Conundrum is an interesting read (at least so far---I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book: the writing style is a bit old-fashioned, and not all of the topics interest me; so, I haven't been reading it very quickly). I don't think the writer lost any of her brilliance or ability through transition, but her interests shifted, along with the ways she perceived her environment. Transition won't rob someone of their abilities, but for some professions (e.g. writing, public speaking, adjudication, and other fields where communication is critical), there will likely be an effect due to changes in perspective and interests. Professions that revolve around competitiveness or cooperation would likely be affected, as well. I'm not going to say the effects are positive or negative in terms of overall performance, because I don't think a clear-cut case can be made either way---just that things often become a little different. A common remark among friends of those transitioning is, "After I adjusted to it, I realized I was talking to the same person as before," which would tend to imply there is no universal rule-of-thumb saying that someone transitioning becomes drastically different.

I'm not offering an argument or a refutation of one, just presenting what I know, from my own* research. This sort of topic appears in threads on slashdot from time to time, and it is always interesting to me to see what posters have to say.

* (arprffvgngrq, naq yvxryl gb arire raq)

You *can* say it is incorrect, in most cases.
In fact, water overconsumption can easily lead to hyponatremia. It would be more correct to say "Steady, adequate freshwater intake throughout the course of the day curbs the likelihood of hypernatremia, a form of dehydration. Note that in a balanced diet, a significant portion of the body's water and sodium requirements come from food. Note that fruit juices, or a combination of fresh fruit and freshwater, meets the body's needs for water and sodium near-optimally. Note that isotonia, the excessive loss of body fluid, such as through diarrhea or vomiting, is a type of dehydration best treated by electrolyte solutions like Gatorade or Pedialyte, or parenterally via a 0.9% saline drip in severe cases. Note that hypovolemia, the excessive loss of body fluid typically through excessive bleeding, should be treated with medical care. Also note that rapid intake of freshwater over a short period of time is not as effective as a sustained intake throughout the day, as sudden rises in body water content are simply filtered by the kidneys in healthy individuals. Repeating this rapid intake behavior excessively can lead to hyponatremia, a form of dehydration, or, in more serious cases, hypovolemia, a condition related to dehydration that requires medical attention. In individuals with compromised excretory function, rapid water intake may lead to severe hyponatremia, a form of dehydration that requires medical attention, or a more severe condition of hypervolemia characterized by a swelling of the limbs known as peripheral edema or more severe and life-threatening complications, particularly in individuals in poor health or with poor diets or diets lacking in protein. Greatly excessive and sustained intake of freshwater combined with excessive perspiration may continue past hyponatremia to the point of water intoxication, a medical crisis that may cause brain damage or death."

But, I guess that doesn't have quite the same ring to it, eh? ;) "brain damage or death" is probably one of the potential side effects that bottled-water manufacturers want to list on their products... heh.

Note, IANAMP (==medical professional); I just study medicine (and mostly neuropathy and neurosurgery, at that) as a hobby, so please feel free to correct the above.

1) " finds in difficult to wake up " I think you meant " finds it difficult to not wake up "|

2) I can sleep through just about anything, too. Luckily, now I'm on armodafinil, so it's not as serious of a stumbling block for working. ;)

3) " but that wouldn't go over too well with her" -- well, off the bat, probably not. However, if you set up an agreement with her (she's required to wake you up, and 50% of your on-call time when you get called gets put into a fund that she can use to save up for nicer things that she can't buy on you guys' everyday budget), she'll be getting her money's worth. She might want to try melatonin to help her fall back asleep without making her groggy in the morning, too (results vary significantly from person to person.. so you'll find it in the supplement aisle, obviously)
--os

Hmm. And here I was, thinking that maybe the recovery system erected a wooden plank above the rocket to intimidate local wildlife from eating it after it lands but before you arrive to retrieve it!

FUCKEN MICROWAVES, HOW DO THEY WORK?!

Actually, microwaves are made from unicorns and enchanted hobbits, so technically they are, in a sense, made of magic.

They cook oils only on the surface because the resonant frequency is a good match. This is the cause of much of the food spattering in a microwave oven. The heat will pass gradually into the oil from the surface by convection, but the surface gets a LOT of heat by absorption. Much food has a high water content... and microwaves will heat water, but are not nearly so good of a resonant match. Thus, a depth of about half an inch to an inch will absorb a lot of the microwaves, and pass the heat by convection deeper into the food. If you thaw something frozen in a microwave or try to cook a casserole in a pan and not a casserole dish, this becomes obvious. Some of the "inside out" apparent effect is due to microwave hot spots;.... so now we have turntables so that the standing wave issue is less significant.

It's not too hard to learn to understand, but that "inside out" myth still exists.

For a human, the skin and blood vessels near the surface manage to absorb and spread a lot out environmental heating from the sun---as evolution would suggest is simply logical. Unfortunately, strong microwaves will have more penetration than that, causing tissue damage below the skin. Still no inside-out cooking of people, though. :D

Hmm...
Life insurance will be more expensive, pay raises will be lower, doctors will own more yachts when they die, retirement age will be 116, there will be more conservatives and less social change, food and other resources will become scarce, there will be more population and everything that comes with it, more people will go to grad school, families will be bigger, family reunions will need more seating, more senators will be balding, viagra sales will skyrocket, and the year will be greater than or equal to 2036.

Next question!

Hmm...
  "drawing a laoud applause" "not yet made it clear weather" "will be shipping quite a few number of units"

laoud? weather? few number of units?

I tried saying "Enhance!" a few times, but that didn't un-blur the article's spelling/grammar/word choice+usage. ;)

"We need to get over this outdated notion that there's a "right" way to use a keyboard. There isn't."

That's probably true. There isn't necessarily one best way to use the keyboard, I don't think, especialy since finger propertions and keyboards themselves vary a little bit. But, there are definitely wrong ways to use a keyboard that can lead to repetitive strain injury.

Btw, I never took a touch typing class, and my standard "home" position gradually evolved to be *close* to that of a touch typist, but isn't quite (A-W-E-F on left hand, J-I-O-L on right hand). My speed is probably over 90wpm usually (been a while since I've taken a test). No typos while typing this post, no looking at keyboard. Being forced into touch-typing (arg, just made a typo as soon as I said it, but in my defense my cell phone was sitting on the monitor and it just went haywire for a second), I probably would've been slowed down like you were. I'd hate to see someone who was a self-taught typist end up with some sort of RSI, though!

See http://www.techlib.com/area_50/xraydefender.htm -- tho techlib.com isn't resolving right now (server down, I'll bet), so you'll just have to try an alternate source:

http://www.techlib.com.nyud.net:8090/area_50/xraydefender.htm coral cache says gateway timed out...
http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/www.techlib.com/area_50/xraydefender.htm wayback machine doesn't have it archived...
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:SErH8Fhj52cJ:www.techlib.com/area_50/xraydefender.htm+site:techlib.com+backscatter&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&ie=UTF-8&source=www.google.com -- you can at least read the text on google, and get thumbnails of the images on the page:
http://www.google.com/search?oe=UTF-8&q=site:techlib.com+backscatter&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
Too bad the schematic isn't readable at thumbnail-size, but maybe techlib.com will be back up soon?

"OSS/DIY medical gear!"
Measurement is already here.
Link #1 - http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/doc/
Link #2 - http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=homemade+ekg
Of course, control is another issue, but there's still some things you can do with little more than a soldering iron:
Link #3 - http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-A-TENS-Machine-to-Remove-Pain/

I think the imagery is supposed to evoke a sense of the human-drawn caricatures and pseudo-cartoons in Time and The New Yorker, to give the article an illusion of boldness/seriousness/elegance/grandeur/something ("delusion of grandeur" might be more appropriate---I could probably come up with more innovative uses---and just to give it a shot:
1) Campus bookstore for a school famous for engineering or aeronautics.
2) Set for a science-oriented education+news show starring former astronauts.
3) Large, manned environmental test chamber, akin to Biosphere-2 but less geared toward ecological studies.
There's three. Who else has ideas?)

Why run linux version 6 when you could run linux version 13?????
Thats right, YOU TOO could be running the latest and greatest, instead of an ancient, dinosaur version of linux! ;)

I have seen the sig "I like paying taxes; with them, I buy civilization." I do not think enough people have pondered that statement.

When I am next employed*, I will be more than happy to pay my taxes. After all, my fiance (who has a rare facial neuralgia) has benefitted from taxpayer money via state programs.

* = If you're in the delmarva / manhattan area, I'll work like a slave** for you to support myself and my fiance. Email me! 0.707107 at gmail.
** = Obviously, with all her health problems, she has still done me a world of good, or I wouldn't still be with her, so I care enough about her to work overnight shifts, overtime, etc., to make sure her healthcare costs are paid.