Forgot your password?

typodupeerror

Comment: Google is even more anti-Australian! (Score 1) 246

Google is even more anti-Australian than anti-European! You can't even find the Gulf of Carpentaria on a Google Maps search!

It actually turns out that there is a whole naming dispute over the Persian Gulf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Gulf_naming_dispute

Comment: Re:Rule number 7 (Score 1) 56

by Dr. Gamera (#39967375) Attached to: U. Chicago's Epic Scavenger Hunt Is Back For 2012

You know you're a geek when you get the joke immediately because you recognize the number.

For a couple of days after we change the clocks in the spring and fall, the usual minute-long recorded message at the USNO Master Clock is shortened to thirty seconds, presumably because they are essentially getting slashdotted at those times.

Comment: Re:Obama knows how to play politics if anything. (Score 1) 834

by Dr. Gamera (#39943583) Attached to: GOP Blocks Senate Debate On Dem Student Loan Bill

I prefer option three: not starting people out in life with massive, difficult to escape debts. I think I will vote for the candidate who wants to change that system, rather than the politicians who want us to believe that the problem is keep the interest rates low.

A perfectly rational response: you prefer neither pay-for method mentioned, and so neither proposal affects your November vote.

Comment: Re:Obama knows how to play politics if anything. (Score 1) 834

by Dr. Gamera (#39943123) Attached to: GOP Blocks Senate Debate On Dem Student Loan Bill

It should also be noted that when the Republican House passed a measure last week to extend that interest rate, the President immmediately threatened a veto.

The Republican measure in the House would have paid for the low interest rate on student loans by cutting funding for preventive health care.

The Democratic measure in the Senate would have paid for the low interest rate on student loans by closing a tax loophole for individuals with income exceeding $250,000.

Choose the pay-for method that you prefer, and factor it into your November vote accordingly.

Comment: Re:Radiation Hormesis (Score 4, Informative) 86

by Dr. Gamera (#39942669) Attached to: Jars of Irradiated Russian Animals Find a New Purpose

There's not been actual scientific evidence for radiation hormesis in humans, despite it being your pet theory.

It's not hormesis, per se, but it's clear that humans (and other lifeforms) can endure at least the low levels of radiation coming from their own bodies. Humans are about 0.35% potassium by mass; 0.0117% of potassium is potassium-40; potassium-40, which undergoes beta decay, has a half-life of 1.248 * 10^9 years. Each 1 kg of body mass has about 410 micrograms of potassium-40; that's 6.2 * 10^18 potassium-40 atoms. 1.248 * 10^9 years is 3.938 * 10^16 seconds, so roughly 1 out of every 3.938 * 10^16 potassium-40 atoms decays every second. Out of the 6.2 * 10^18 potassium-40 atoms in each kg of body mass, that's about 160 atoms. Average adult weight is something like 70 kg, so figure 11200 potassium-40 atoms are undergoing beta decay inside the average adult body every second.

Comment: Get your Tdap booster! (Score 1) 293

This is one of those stories where there's actually something useful you can do. If you haven't gotten a Tdap booster as an adult yet, do so when you get your next Td booster. (You do get a Td booster every ten years, right? You don't want tetanus, do you? You know they used to call it "lockjaw", right? You know the bacteria that cause tetanus survive in the environment outside of living hosts, right?)

You can never do just one thing. -- Hardin

Working...