I've brought a new phone to keep me going until i find something a little more snazzy. :)
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I've brought a new phone to keep me going until i find something a little more snazzy. :)
Finally done moving, and we got the air conditioner installed in the window today. I am not moving from my chair for a week.
My daughter got an A on her most recent paper for language arts.
Sony has finally seen their error in yanking the Linux support from the PS3. Today the PS3 is officially considered jailbroken. Using only a USB dongle, meaning no voided warranties. :D
Oh god, hope that hubby doesn't find out. He's a linux junkie.
Good for her :)Quote:
Originally Posted by littlelolligagged
Two more days, then I blow this pop stand. Goodbye Midland, hello Austin.
She came home so very excited. That actually has been happening a lot this year; I knew the new school has an extremely good reputation, but I had no idea it would work out like this. I don't remember if I have mentioned this to you or not - but even he is happy there. He says the kids are nice, but he's not sure if he wants to be friends with them or not (this is fine, I'd find it much stranger if he came home saying he had made friends this soon) - but he also says he really likes his teachers a lot. His note in his Friday folder last week said he's an awesome kid. And you know he is. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Nessus
Admittedly, her paper itself was nothing to write home about, but I do have a nasty habit of looking at it in terms of Buddy Boy's writing skills rather than what is normal for her age group.
Just placed an order @ Amato's for dinner.....YUM EH!
Also just got $8,000 cash for some furniture that we had picked up for free a while back, apparently it was designed by a hoity toity designer.
Say GOOD BYE to credit card debt!:banana:
And hello to extra cash in the checking account! :tiphat:
And the Cross Country team just ran by in just shorts again...:twisted:
Fucking banner day :)
I love this stuff:
Co-evolution.
Quote:
Bat and moth arms race revealed
Researchers have revealed more detail about the evolutionary "arms race" between bats and moths.
One study in the journal Current Biology has shown how a species of bat uses a quiet "stealth mode" of the clicks it uses to locate its prey.
Another from a Royal Society journal showed that a moth can distinguish between clicks that mean it has been spotted, and clicks that mean a strike.
This allows the moths to choose when to spend energy on defensive measures.
Moths live for just a few days and must evade predators and find a mate, often without eating.
Bats eat a wide array of insects but many species prefer the simple, high-nutrition snack that a moth provides.
They both navigate and hunt by emitting a stream of ultrasound clicks and listening for the echoes in a natural form of radar, with the clicks repeating faster and faster as the bats close in on prey.
Some moths, upon hearing the clicks, are known to reply with their own high-intensity clicks, or to fly erratically in looping evasive manoeuvres, or even to simply drop out of the sky.
The interplay between bats' strategies to hunt and the moths' strategies to avoid being eaten are frequently cited as a classic example of co-evolution.
"It often seems like predators and prey are going through a contiunous cycle or 'arms race', where each is trying to outwit the other," said Hannah ter Hofstede, the University of Bristol researcher who co-authored the Current Biology study.
"The predator is always trying to capture the prey and that selects for better defences in the prey. Over evolutionary timescales, that causes gradual changes in both groups."
In a strategy that may be a moth-hunting adaptation, some bats are known to use clicks that are at a frequency, or pitch, either above or below moths' hearing ranges.
High-pitched clicks have a larger range, while lower-pitched clicks are absorbed less by the atmosphere. It remains unclear whether these pitch-shifting techniques adapted specifically to bypass moth defences or simply to cope in certain environments or situations.
Dr ter Hofstede and her colleagues were able to listen in on the Barbastella bat as it hunted, demonstrating that it had a completely different approach - its clicks were much reduced in volume, becoming even quieter as it closed in on prey.
"It seems like the majority of bats... call very loudly because they need as much information as possible from their surroundings," Dr ter Hofstede told BBC News.
"We're saying that this [low-volume tactic] is an adaptation to get around the moths' defence - it doesn't have any other useful purpose."
While the lower volume of clicks reduces the range over which the bats can successfully hunt, the team showed that the approach leads to Barbastella bats eating significantly higher numbers of the nutrient-rich moths than other, louder species.
Another study by John Ratcliffe of the University of Southern Denmark and his colleagues has shown how one species of moth is taking part in the arms race.
The team played bat clicks to the moths while measuring the impulses along the nerves in their ears, discovering evidence of a seemingly complex cost-benefit analysis.
Firstly, the moths responded differently to higher or lower click rates, showing an ability to discriminate between a bat that has only just noticed and one that is quickly closing in.
What is more, the team found that the "habituation" - the likelihood that after hearing them many times, the calls would elicit a response - was different for the high-risk compared to the low-risk calls.
The explanation is that a moth in a less threatening environment is well served by spending its energy and time avoiding capture when pursued only rarely by a predator. But a moth that finds itself frequently chased cannot spend all of its time diving and clicking, Dr Ratcliffe told BBC News.
"You've got five days to find youself a mate - hopefully a few mates - and if you're constantly being knocked out of the sky by the sound of bats or always producing sounds of really high intensity, you have a problem."
The more highly threatened moth must first and foremost find a mate and so take greater risks, responding less often to the calls of an oncoming predator.
"The moth is doing something more; it's not just 'push a button and the moth puts out a product', the moth is actually assessing and reassessing risks over and over again," said Dr Ratcliffe.
"We've got a bug that's using very little information but they're probably better gamblers than guys in the casino."
"The team played bat clicks to the moths while measuring the impulses along the nerves in their ears" :bulb:
Just how does one do that exactly? Christ. Scientists are insane. :up:
Only the good ones. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
:haha:Quote:
Originally Posted by Veldan Rath
Perv.
13 hours of sleep!
That's excellent, sunshine.
That can cause back problems.
Not on memory foam. :) it's the bed that hugs you. :D
I feel great! Not motivated, but great!
I may just have helped perpetrate a House fanfic :o
That I live in a country where I can run accross the nephew of the Queen, and 5th in line to the throne, in the tramway on my way home. No security in sight and he and his wife both used a public transport card just like everybody else.
:pQuote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
It's completely distracting!!!
Gods, I HOPE it's the College team and not the High School! :eek:
3 and a half hours of Age of Empires II againist Brandy and Brent. I totally forgot why I loved this game so much in high school. :D
The missus gave me some home-made bird cherry liqueur. It's probably the most delicious liqueur I have EVER tasted. A strong, full, almond-like taste, sweet, with just a hint of cherry... it makes love to your mouth :o god it's delicious. After today she'll also be able to provide me with moose and pheasant and hare meat :o I got me a good one. I can stay home and clean the house or something. I hope she doesn't read this *waves innocently*
Moose? Sounds interesting...
Moose is pretty nice
Mmmm I love it, it's delicious... it's also pretty expensive, but up here people hunt, even tiny ginger people :) so it ends up cheaper than beef, I reckon. My northern bushmen friends always make fun of me over this, because I just can't get my head around this madness. They explain that they just can't afford to eat beef like us rich city-folk, and I'm like :confused:
I'm sure it is, I am now wondering how I can get me some moose steaks but the tyranny of distance is interfering with my culinary curiosity...Quote:
Originally Posted by Nessus
My band has probably got a one-weekend 'tour' this october :up:
School. Public School. It started today. I'm down one kid till 2:30, and the other till 5:30. Oh how I love VPK. :D:up:
Ha, I live in a 'Moose State' and I don't get it that often.Quote:
Originally Posted by termite
But it is tasty.
Lor is happy because Miss Lor to be has finally hit the time of the month and i don't have to stress so much about becoming a father just yet.
You can take all the precautions you like, but when a woman is late - fuck it stresses you! :mad:
:haha: You think you were stressed, imagine how us women feel every single month! ;)