SodaHead - mac - Call me Sheriff's Questions

Embryos can learn!

2008-11-18T10:15:00Z

Embryos can learn!

17 answers, +12 raves

Stephan Reebs Natural History Magazine LiveScience.com Stephan Reebs natural History Magazine livescience.com – Mon Nov 17, 6:22 am ET via yahoonews Some say it's never too late to learn new things, but can it be too early? Apparently not, if the behavior of wood frogs is any indication. Those amphibians can learn to identify predators while still in the egg, according to new research by Alicia Mathis of Missouri State University in Springfield and several colleagues. After hatching, many amphibians and fish learn to recognize a predator by associating its odor with an alarm pheromone released by injured conspecifics. Mathis' team wondered whether frogs might have that cognitive capacity even earlier, as embryos. For three hours a day, on six consecutive days, the team exposed wood-frog eggs to water from a bucket containing crushed tadpoles mixed with water from a bucket housing fire-belly newts. (The newts, native to Asia, are unfamiliar to wood frogs, but eat tadpoles of other species.) A control group received newt water alone. Two weeks after hatching, only the tadpoles that had experienced the combo of crushed-tadpole and newt water reacted when newt water was presented by itself: they stopped moving, a typical anti-predator response. The study complements previous research showing that frog embryos can learn to distinguish between food flavors even before they hatch. Classes start early in a frog's life, it seems.

Well there goes the last sound argument for abortion...	76% (13 answers)
Undecided	18% (3 answers)
This is a lie!	6% (1 answers)
I don't understand...	0% (0 answers)

Is this man for real?

2008-10-30T22:33:52Z

Is this man for real?

58 answers, +49 raves

I'm going to say it here and now- if this doesn't make you say "Oh my dear God!"... it's already to late for you.

How much time do we have?	57% (33 answers)
This blows my mind....	29% (17 answers)
Undecided	14% (8 answers)
This is a lie!	0% (0 answers)
Tinfoil hats?	0% (0 answers)

Where do you draw the line?

2008-10-23T14:30:03Z

Where do you draw the line?

84 answers, +31 raves

“A well regulated Militia*, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” *Militia at the time of the writing was defined as "the entire free white male population, who were expected to muster bearing their own arms. " and today, all rights are assumed to be extended to all people, only restrictions being age. Thus striking the "free white male" term, leaving us with "the entire population, who were expected to muster bearing their own arms."

What part of "shall not be infrindged" is so hard to understand?	71% (60 answers)
If the miltary can have it, so can I!	8% (7 answers)
Non-"assault weapon"s only!	7% (6 answers)
Undecided	5% (4 answers)
Assault weapons are ok	4% (3 answers)
Stick to what the Founders knew as arms....	2% (2 answers)
All of the above	2% (2 answers)

Ideas?

2008-10-18T21:38:14Z

Ideas?

1 answers, +1 raves

Just a general question for ideas. I plan on keeping the current format more or less, but was interested in what you all wanted to see.

Undecided	100% (1 answers)
I'd like to see...	0% (0 answers)
I'd like you to answer...	0% (0 answers)
I'm happy! Keep doing what you do!	0% (0 answers)
None of the above	0% (0 answers)

Thoughts on this wisdom?

2008-10-16T09:13:03Z

Thoughts on this wisdom?

7 answers, +3 raves

No man has a right, in America, to treat any other man TOLERANTLY, for TOLERANCE is the assumption of superiority.

Interesting...	43% (3 answers)
WOW!!	29% (2 answers)
Uhm...	29% (2 answers)

Is there a special place in hell for people who ask if there is a special place in hell for people?

2008-10-10T23:21:15Z

Is there a special place in hell for people who ask if there is a special place in hell for people?

12 answers, +8 raves

Smartass!	33% (4 answers)
Yes	25% (3 answers)
I don't believe in heaven or hell	25% (3 answers)
No	17% (2 answers)
Undecided	0% (0 answers)

Thoughts on suicide?

2008-09-30T12:48:52Z

Thoughts on suicide?

32 answers, +10 raves

First, let me make it clear- I'm not having thoughts of suicide. This is a philosophical/theological question. And now the question proper: Is suicide ever a noble solution to anything?

I think....	53% (17 answers)
No, it is cowardly...	22% (7 answers)
It depends...	13% (4 answers)
Undecided	13% (4 answers)

BAILOUT DEFEATED!

2008-09-29T19:10:28Z

BAILOUT DEFEATED!

20 answers, +5 raves

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080929/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_mel... 2/3 of the Republicans and 1/3 of the Democrats did the RIGHT THING!

WHOOO!	75% (15 answers)
None of the above	20% (4 answers)
Awww... I wanted socialism!	5% (1 answers)

What do you think of this Conservative GOP alternative?

2008-09-26T12:47:37Z

What do you think of this Conservative GOP alternative?

7 answers, +3 raves

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 25, 11:04 PM ET WASHINGTON - A group of conservative Republicans in the House on Thursday proposed a financial rescue package of tax breaks and a new government-sponsored insurance program for mortgage-backed securities as an alternative to President Bush's proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. Instead of the government buying the toxic mortgage securities, banks, financial firms and other investors holding them would pay premiums to the Treasury to finance the insurance coverage. Democrats said the idea is unworkable and said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson agreed. The GOP plan, said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., is "a mortgage insurance approach that Secretary Paulson said does not work." The idea behind the plan is that the insurance would give investors enough confidence to buy the illiquid securities and establish a market for them. Rep Eric Cantor, R-Va., said the plan would be to remove the burden of the bailout from taxpayers and instead place it, over time, on Wall Street. "Instead of a purchase scenario where you have the government injecting $700 billion right up front into the markets, what you have here is an insurance plan," Cantor told reporters. "In order to get this insurance, the banks with these failed assets would have to pay for the government backing, pay for the insurance." The plan emerged after it became clear that House Republicans in large numbers weren't coming around to the approach favored by Paulson, which is to have the government buy up the troubled securities, hold them and eventually sell them off. Under the House conservatives' plan, institutions holding stronger assets would pay lower premiums for the government backing; higher-risk securities would require higher premiums. Robert Litan, an expert on banking and finance at the Brookings Institution, called the framework unworkable, saying it would not achieve the basic goal of creating a market — and establishing prices — for mortgage securities no one's willing to buy. "Everything depends on how you value the security," Litan said. "If you do the deposit insurance scheme, there's nobody out there to know what the right price is." The House conservatives' plan also would: _Offer temporary tax relief to free up capital for companies to lend one another. _Temporarily suspend dividend payments by financial institutions. _Require participating firms to disclose to the Treasury Department the value of mortgage assets on their books, private bids on them in the past year and their last audit reports. _Forbid government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from issuing securities on unsound mortgages. _Require the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the performance of credit-rating agencies.

I think that...	43% (3 answers)
Undecided	43% (3 answers)
I think....	14% (1 answers)

People are dying! We need to do something!

2008-09-25T09:07:13Z

People are dying! We need to do something!

3 answers, +1 raves

Bring these men and women back home! They are dying at to great a number for the benefit they provide! 1=23000&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=93d4849e923843439f158c2dda3367... target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://msn.careerbuilder.com/custom/msn/careerad... Support the fishermen! Shore the boats!

Undecided	67% (2 answers)
Who are you, and what have you done with mac? (Also, I have not read the link)	33% (1 answers)
YES! We need to bring these men and women home! They are doing a job that is to dangerous!	0% (0 answers)
Yes, we need to bring these men and women home! They are only earning money for others!	0% (0 answers)
None of the above	0% (0 answers)