tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post1569837621884620431..comments2024-03-28T23:22:41.774-05:00Comments on TYWKIWDBI ("Tai-Wiki-Widbee"): Links for you to exploreMinnesotastanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-32312063850653156292012-05-22T22:49:10.563-05:002012-05-22T22:49:10.563-05:00Sentence amended. Thank you.Sentence amended. Thank you.Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-61230267304350748082012-05-22T20:04:13.601-05:002012-05-22T20:04:13.601-05:00As a Canadian, I can assure you that it is not cal...As a Canadian, I can assure you that it is not called "tire money" but "Canadian Tire money" as it comes from the retail chain called "Canadian Tire".<br /><br />I've seen it accepted at face value at garage sales, and ads for it in local classifieds. They also collect it in-store and use it for donations to local sports charities.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-3758604383549835542012-05-22T14:25:32.934-05:002012-05-22T14:25:32.934-05:00I didn't view it as rude at all. This blog is ...I didn't view it as rude at all. This blog is peppered with sharp-eyed readers who effectively serve as copyeditors for me. It all helps make the final product better. :.)Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-32840998006325325722012-05-22T13:18:15.570-05:002012-05-22T13:18:15.570-05:00It is not linear.
http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leap...It is not linear.<br />http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/amsci.htmlSteve Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02390599836623957502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-87027227488685931612012-05-22T08:37:52.554-05:002012-05-22T08:37:52.554-05:00Groovy. Now that I reread my comment I hope it did...Groovy. Now that I reread my comment I hope it didn't come across as rude. I have always had a problem with the way Liverpoolians treat women and I want them to get the bad press they deserve.Kenthttp://www.pdchq.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-84440052250259672372012-05-22T06:50:48.618-05:002012-05-22T06:50:48.618-05:00Fixed again. Thank you for taking the time to cla...Fixed again. Thank you for taking the time to clarify that.Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-68642987474311596762012-05-22T02:48:23.998-05:002012-05-22T02:48:23.998-05:00Actually, the 2009 sighting in your previous post ...Actually, the 2009 sighting in your previous post is not so controversial. It is the 2011 sighting, with suspiciously imperfect bilateral symmetry and more bleached out looking allegedly "female" half, that is contested. Sorry for the confusion!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-39911930496294405292012-05-21T16:51:40.522-05:002012-05-21T16:51:40.522-05:00Oops. You're quite correct, Kent. I've f...Oops. You're quite correct, Kent. I've fixed the text. Thanks for the heads-up.Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-35847741579169445732012-05-21T16:01:42.821-05:002012-05-21T16:01:42.821-05:00The article linked from here:
"Also at Lapha...The article linked from here:<br /><br />"Also at Lapham's Quarterly, a scary story about how force-feeding was used in the American justice system in 1910."<br /><br />has nothing to do with the American justice system. It's listed as from Liverpool, England.Kenthttp://www.pdchq.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-72587884825382872272012-05-20T07:30:24.401-05:002012-05-20T07:30:24.401-05:00Thanks, Sam.Thanks, Sam.Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-69553487176398591752012-05-19T23:33:13.780-05:002012-05-19T23:33:13.780-05:00Just want to thank you Stan for all your effort , ...Just want to thank you Stan for all your effort , your blog is a wealth of information and entertaining trivia , looking forward to seeing more when you get back !Samnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-13216781070342064202012-05-18T22:27:04.499-05:002012-05-18T22:27:04.499-05:00Interesting; I had seen the cardinal photo elsewhe...Interesting; I had seen the cardinal photo elsewhere but had not heard the leucistic explanation before. <br /><br />I've put an addendum on my old post about that cardinal:<br /><br />tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2009/01/gynandromorph-cardinal.html<br /><br />Tx, finchwench.Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-22242651231225877912012-05-18T21:19:29.085-05:002012-05-18T21:19:29.085-05:00I love your blog. So many wonderful things to app...I love your blog. So many wonderful things to appreciate about this world of ours.<br /><br />I think about colony collapse disorder frequently because we have 10 hives per square mile here where I live. Africanized bees are a terror- one never knows if the mere act of walking past a tree or dead cactus or a water meter box is cause for alarm. The bees are thriving here in the desert southwest and it would be wise to study exactly why they are thriving. I suspect the lack of contact with pesticides might have a great deal to do with it. We don't live in an agricultural area and the mesquite trees are thick with blooms and the thousands upon thousands of bees harvesting nectar in those trees.Ninabinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-86403044245501349912012-05-18T20:16:36.748-05:002012-05-18T20:16:36.748-05:00Wow, that FBI agent must be useless. Therefore, we...Wow, that FBI agent must be useless. Therefore, we must not need the FBI. I'm using logic like his here. He doesn't realize that he doesn't bypass screening because he is super special and has a cool job; he bypasses security because FBI agents have guns and they can't run guns through x-rays because they lose control of their weapons in crowded checkpoints. They can't walk though metal detectors because a gun would alarm the metal detector. If he doesn't have his gun, he is just one of us, poor fellow.<br /><br />TSA needs to be reformed, but it has a purpose. <br /><br />Screeners follow rules like "No knives allowed" because law enforcement officers carry guns, not knives. Screeners don't make decisions outside their pay grade, such as "Oh, he's allowed to have a gun, so I'll allow him to have a knife" because if they are allowed to start making judgement calls then they will be lulled into allowing friends to bring things on, then some lady who says she's a school teacher, then some young man who says he's late for his grandmother's funeral.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-20800103915206264552012-05-18T19:08:43.877-05:002012-05-18T19:08:43.877-05:00When I was composing my own "gynandromorphy c...When I was composing my own "<a href="http://finchwench.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/passerine-gynandromorphine/" rel="nofollow">gynandromorphy collage</a>" of songbirds, I encountered <a href="http://news.discovery.com/animals/bi-color-cardinal-mystery-110531.html#view-comments" rel="nofollow">some discussion</a> alluding to controversy about whether or not that Northern Cardinal was in fact a gynandromorph or just partially leukistic by some genetic/developmental defect.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-22104629486745612912012-05-18T16:18:39.560-05:002012-05-18T16:18:39.560-05:00Thank you, dronir.Thank you, dronir.Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-79248303821943053922012-05-18T16:11:59.623-05:002012-05-18T16:11:59.623-05:00Re the accurate clock: leap seconds don't happ...Re the accurate clock: leap seconds don't happen because of the inaccuracy of atomic clocks. It's because the rate of rotation of the Earth is changing, changing the length of the day. The leap seconds are added to keep atomic time close to solar time.<br /><br />(Oops, this turned into an introductory essay on timekeeping.)<br /><br />Basically, there are two kinds of time: solar time and atomic time. Atomic time is what the clocks measure: a steady progression of equal units of time (seconds, say), and very accurate. Of course at very accurate levels it all depends on local gravity and so on so a we have a sort of average of several atomic clocks around the world: the International Atomic Time, TAI (Temps Atomique International).<br /><br />But the actual events that define the day and the season to us humans are not constant. We want our day to last just long enough so that the movement of the Sun doesn't go out of sync with the clock in the long run. The actual time between noons is not constant because the rotational speed of the Earth is changing slightly all the time. This has a random component due to shifts in the mass distribution because the liquid insides are in motion (and maybe because the continents are moving around too, but I'm not sure if they're massive enough). <br /><br />There is also a linear trend towards a longer day because of tidal effects of the Moon. The Moon is moving away from us and simultaneously slowing us down, until we reach an end state where the Earth and Moon are both synchronized and the day on both of them lasts one month. This will never actually be reached because it happens so slowly that the Sun will burn out before that. So on average the day gets longer all the time, although in the short time it might get shorter for a while too because of the random fluctuations.<br /><br />The time standard which is related to the rotation of the earth is called Universal Time (UT). The raw form, UT0, is measured using astronomical observations. With some averaging and corrections applied, we get UT1. Universal time and the TAI diverge from each other steadily because the TAI moves at constant pace while UT1 does not. <br /><br />Ideally we want a time which is constant, but also corresponds to the movement of the Sun. This is why we have the Coordnated Universal Time (UTC), which is the time by which we set our watches and clocks. It's defined so that it progresses at a pace set by the TAI, but every time the difference between UTC and UT1 grows greater than 0.9 seconds, a leap second is added to or subtracted from UTC at the next half-year point (either Dec 31st or Jun 30th). So UTC diverges from TAI, but not from UT1, while still moving at the constant pace of TAI.dronirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04727111870617606514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-54240118994385346012012-05-18T14:04:36.846-05:002012-05-18T14:04:36.846-05:00Oops. It was something I bookmarked long ago, and...Oops. It was something I bookmarked long ago, and I posted it without viewing it this morning, misremembering it as a highlight of a non-NBA game (probably conflating it in my mind with that half-court saving-the-ball-from-out-of-bounds shot in Estonia).<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIqXBQyAb0E<br /><br />Text fixed. Thanks, Dave.Minnesotastanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382888179579245181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4912713243046142041.post-55309071187532808482012-05-18T12:03:20.974-05:002012-05-18T12:03:20.974-05:00Umm...how was that behind the back pass not from t...Umm...how was that behind the back pass not from the NBA? It was the Nuggets and the Celtics. :)Duhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00912182406581186155noreply@blogger.com