I hope you're right, Nick. I've thought that things would be helped if past music technologies weren't looked at as obsolete, but rather as their own unique ways to make sound. I have also enjoyed experimenting with various effects pedals, but you can probably tell from my previous comment that I prefer solid-state…

Actually, I think that the evolution of processors and other technologies was a major source of the diversity in pop music throughout the 20th century. But with the advent of digital, all sounds are producible;then eventually, no more ways to redefine your sound through technology that haven't been done. Whole…

This seems to be an illogical question, no matter how it is interpreted really. It's like asking: which is bigger: a tree or a leaf on that tree? Nonsense to pluck the brain out of the universe (and all other brains as well) and then compare it to this hypothetical universe devoid of brains and ask which is bigger…

I've thought of this many times myself, and started to realize that the loonies on the left probably don't show up to the voting booth as often as those on the right.

I'm crushed by this news and chilled by the reality of cancer risk for space travelers. :(

Yes! Perfect response.

Actually, in the article on Science Daily, they do mention that health care workers (as well as: "dentists; firefighters; fishermen; car assembly workers; entertainers; smelters and foundry workers; stonemasons and glass blowers/cutters; painters; train drivers/maintenance engineers; soldiers; commercial divers")…

Perhaps those who are genetically endowed in ways that make them more likely to enter the field of mathematics, are also predisposed to passing on these defects. I'm thinking of the case of a likely mutation, not caused by abnormal environmental exposure to toxins necessarily but the particular allele that…

Lol. You're absolutely right. He was pretty hellbent on getting a handle on the population. The stupidity of dictators is just so astounding to me. Though it may look good on paper to just wipe out a bunch of people, the actual process is pretty much always going to cost more than it benefits, even if those people…

This makes me wonder, since we are talking about the motives of one single man essentially, if this did not start out as a prideful attempt at quick reform, quickly becoming overshadowed with contempt as the ineptitude of his schemes became apparent. Really, this all just makes Mao look like an unbalanced individual…

A lot of people like to "point out" that society views murder as a more acceptable topic than rape, but I always counter that society has deemed certain types of killing to be acceptable (various forms of self defense), but there are no acceptable forms of rape. So there's also that. Also, the point included in the…

As long as organic food is more expensive to grow and raise, it will be a luxury. If all farming switched to organic, no matter how much they subsidized it, much of the world would starve. Organic methods are also higher impact on the environment, and the "natural" pesticides they use (yes, they use pesticides) are…

I was going to give an even more caustic reply, but from the looks of your history of posts, you've been hurt enough already. Probably back in your younger days you gave it a shot being a "sensitive", "nice" guy and found to your horror that that doesn't get you laid. You then began to get supremely butt-hurt, a…

So basically, dating is a race to the bottom. Most people in society are sexist and subscribe to gender norms, so you increase your chances by being just like them. I Don't need a dating site to tell me this garbage. This is why I hate dating sites, and just about every bit of dating advice I've ever heard. I…

Looks like pseudoscience to me.

Pretty much since Edison's Menlo Park, science research has been done by collaboration.

I believe his statement was tongue in cheek. Maybe I'm being charitable?

Yeah. Observation comes afterwards often because observation is so expensive and time-consuming in high energy physics. Theorists aren't just going to sit on their hands the whole time and wait for CERN.

Science uses both inductive and deductive reasoning.

I think some of this perception of silliness comes from the common notion of female sexuality as harmless to its object (but still bad for society of course) and male sexuality as potentially dangerous to its object (which is hard to see as silly). Also more generally, men are portrayed as more serious in gender…