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• Commented on Pushing it back
  Re: '... longevity of a past civilization should be proportional to its ability to be environmentally sustainable, and so by definition less detectable.' Agree! They'd be full-on 3-R'ing. At the same time such a civilization might also have manipulated/bred various...
• Commented on Pushing it back
  Re: 'It's that the nutrient levels in plants correlate with atmospheric CO2 concentrations.' Just started catching up on reading the blog comments ... Okay ... question for you: It's been shown that specific wave lengths are correlated with plant growth/maturation....
• Commented on Pushing it back
  Haven't read all the comments yet so apologies if this has already been mentioned. My guess is that simple geometric forms (esp. straight lines) would be a good place to look for ancient habitats. A while back there was an...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  Re: '... GR as having been being proven for low gravitational stresses' Haven't been able to search out what 'low gravitational stresses' means in this physics context - a pointer to info would be appreciated. Thanks! (Searches for this term...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  Re: OBR review Here's the current Charter for Budget Responsibility - available to anyone interested like maybe the PM, rival parties and assorted cronies. https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/Charter_for_Budget_Responsibility_FINAL.pdf I'm aware that UK max tax rates have dropped (5% for corps, 1% for people)...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  Re: 'The tories are exhauisted & impotent, yet still "in power" ...' Budget season is coming 'round - given what happened with the last PM (Truss), I'd insist that the OBR review any economic/budgetary promises made by any of the...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  RE: '... theories of the universe that posit exactly that' Would appreciate any recommendations re: sources explaining this (speed of light - expanding universe) in plain language. Thanks! Moz @ 972: '... barrier that surrounds a black hole' Recently read...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  Re: 'Chop up some cabbage, saute it with LGM, and yum!' I just looked up that sauce - sounds worth trying - thanks! Re: FTL Forgot to post this earlier but since FTL is being discussed ... I'm curious about...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  Re: 'Because it's easier to grift or get polities enacted off of riled up people than those who are not upset with everything.' Better yet: Deadlock - bring all of the gov't and citizens to a standstill. Very costly for...
• Commented on Do my Laundry
  Re: 'The Eater of Souls isn't Bob, any more than its previous incarnation was Angleton ... but it thinks it is: there's continuity of memory and personality with the human host.' So - basically the Eater of Souls has no...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  Re: '... if they make trouble' Read an interesting New Yorker piece on this. I think that the last paragraph esp. the quote is a caution to all sides. 'On the night of Prigozhin’s death, a Telegram channel run by...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  Re: Sneaker males Unfamiliar with this term so I looked it up. The below pertains to Bluehead wrasses (Thalassoma bifasciatum). No idea how common this is across or up&down the evolutionary tree but there's a definite genetic basis. (IMO -...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  Re: 'Consider, for example, where physics includes a sort of macro entanglement (like quantum but at a higher level), leading to the evolution of low-energy PSI abilities ...' Ah - a universe where the phrase 'we're all in it together'...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  RE: '... hang on to rationality, just with a set of natural laws that are entirely different from what we are accustomed to' A few questions - just curious, not sniping ... :) a)When you say 'rationality' do you mean...
• Commented on A fistful of tropes
  Haven't read any comments and not sure this is a trope. But I'd really like someone to tackle this: solving societal problems (whether global, time/generational or interplanetary) without resorting to violence. So instead of shoot-em ups, we get some really...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: Borlaug Yeah, Penn was right: amazing scientific and humanitarian contribution and I'd never have guessed his name. Thanks!...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: '... actually being bred shorter to loose less in rains' Maybe the 'shorter' depends on how far back you're comparing to, in which country. :) Unfortunately I can't find 'wheat' height-change-over-the-years data. Durum was the wheat I was thinking...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: 'But they are no use for thatching.' I'm guessing that the number of Brits needing grain greatly outnumbers the number needing to rethatch. Greg & EC: Gluten for now is the only well-documented wheat component. A few other possible...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: 'My goal in starting with books is to get a good handle on the complete list of problems and the range of solutions ...' 'Internet of Plants' - just saw this - it's a take on the Internet of...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  RE: '... hard to compare current stats with the stats of 50+ years ago.' Agree. BTW - that pdf only shows 2020-2021 data, so can't use that either for any meaningful comparison. We also need to look at arable land....
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: 'When the stench of the festering sewage in the Thames finally got so bad that Members of Parliament were barfing on their benches ...' Based on a BBC news report that said that only '16% of surface waters achieved...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: '... living in an area surrounded by farming with an agri oriented state fair every year' Yeah - my point: ag needs an image overhaul/rebranding! Even the folks on this blog strongly associate ag with rural and not urban...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: 'My retirement project (hopefully starting late this year) will be to research indoor agriculture and see if I can develop an open-source greenhouse model that can be scaled up or down depending on what resources are available (e.g., plastic...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: 'If we ran agriculture as a closed-cycle process, we could capture unused nutrients before they enter the water system, but this isn't yet the standard method. Hence, major eutrophication of bodies of water occurs downstream of farmland. We could...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: 'Stephenson & his assocaites, supporters, collaborators & helpers wrought...' Didn't read the first article ('1812') because it seemed that the site wanted me to register - nope! Skimmed the other two article - yes, a profound change with various...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: 'There ought to be craploads of phosphate rocks about, ...' Agree - I was of the impression that the most commonly used is bird poop often imported from Brunei. Just checked and the largest producer in Brunei sold 37%...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Oops - meant to address @1412 to Greg!...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: Room-temp semiconductors I just saw this and was wondering whether this was the article that piqued your interest. 'A recent report of room temperature superconductivity at ambient pressure in Cu-substituted apatite (`LK99') has invigorated interest in the understanding of...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: Second shoe The indictment mentions DT's co-conspirators: four attorneys, one JD member and one political consultant. I think it will be important for journalists to remind people: Several of his past lawyers have pled guilty, been censured, have been...
• Commented on Pass or Fail
  Re: 'Or very light rail.' Had to look this up and found that Coventry has been building some very light rail. Since many UK-based commenters seem very much into rail, they probably have info/opinions about how this project is coming...