Subject: Re: Major sparks at TAMU? Tenure shot?
From: "Arthur E. Sowers"
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 22:16:34 -0500
On Thu, 9 Jan 1997, Arthur E. Sowers wrote:
>
> I finally managed to get to that site:
>
> http://home1.gte.net/tti/list.htm
>
> I never got through with a graphics/ppp on any ISP I had access to, but
> had no trouble using LYNX.
>
> For those of you who want to track dirty politics in academia, that is
> another example. I have had a number of conversations, mostly email, of
> people having similar experiences. Major advice: back up your hard drive
> onto portable media and hide it off campus.
>
> Art Sowers
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Written in the public interest, the essays on
> "Contemporary Problems in Science Jobs" are located at:
> http://www.access.digex.net/~arthures/homepage.htm
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
Subject: Re: Abuse of science by Clinton admin
From: John Alway
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 19:04:39 -0600
Joseph P. Pulcini, M.D. wrote:
[...]
> The vast majority of people who "have their dander" up about medical
> uses of cannabis are people who like to get high. Haven't you noticed
> that the most noise about it comes from hemp rallies? Don't you think
> the government has notice that this tie-died army which seems so
> concerned about this one particular medical problem doesn't seem to care
> about legislation regarding any other drug? No one considers it worth
> the political hassel. Which is *not* to say it's a useless drug; it is
> not. But the unfortunate fact is, millions of people smoke it for fun,
> and in 1997 no politician wants to dirty his hands with it.
A few points, and I realized this is a mouthful, but
it's necessary to reiterate these points because they
get to the nub of the problem:
1> There is a concept called "individual rights"
(aka natural rights) ... allegedly it was the foundation
of this country. The idea is that a man has the right
to _his_ life, _his_ liberty, _his_ property, and the
pursuit of _his_ happiness, i.e. a man is sovereign over
his life!
This means that, on principle, the gov't has no
business telling a man what he can and can not do.
All a proper gov't can do is keep men from encroach
upon the rights of others. Thus, this is a moral issue,
and the issue is that the gov't is morally _wrong_ to
use force against the innocent.
2> The question of _who_ speaks up for the legalization of
drugs doesn't address the issue. Iows, ad hominem arguments
don't wash among rational men.
3> The legalization of marijuana highlights precisely the
problem when gov't goes beyond its moral authority. Rational
men suffer. Those who value their lives, and desire to
take their own risks in pursuit of those lives are being
punished because the gov't is allegedly attempting to
protect a few mindless people. Iows, the rational are being
sacrificed to the irrational, the responsible to the
irresponsible. And here we see the essence of statism.
Let's face it, when it comes to the arguments for
drug legalization (and all drugs should be legal), they
are far more powerful than the arguments against legalization.
What's fascinating is that statists continually look for ways
to protect people from reality. I have news for you, there
is no such protection. If someone is extremely irresponsible
they will do themselves in one way or another. The dangers
of reality are everywhere.
...John
"Who will protect us from our protectors?" --Ayn Rand
Subject: Re: egg-balancing
From: wpenrose@interaccess.com (William R. Penrose)
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 19:26:41
In article <32D75DE1.57AD@petcom.com> John Sefton writes:
>Today is Jan. 11. 3:30A.M. I just spent considerable time trying to
>balance an egg on its thick end without success. Yet earlier, at 8 P.M.
>January 10 (egg-balancing day), at work, every one around the table was
>able to accomplish this with very little effort.
Last night was the point on the earth's orbit where it comes to a dead stop,
before moving in the other direction. If it didn't do this, there'd be no
summer this year.
Also possible that while you were at work, you hadn't had any coffee, and
maybe you had some at home before trying the egg-balancing again? I know that
if I have more than three cups of coffee in the morning, I make a lot more
typos while writing, even though I don't feel any different. A friend who
assembled ultraminiature surface-mount circuits would stop drinking coffee two
days before working on them, so his hands would be still enough. Does this
correlate?
What kind of job do you have, where you can sit around balancing eggs? Are
there any openings?
Bill
********************************************************
Bill Penrose, President, Custom Sensor Solutions, Inc.
526 West Franklin Avenue, Naperville, IL 60540
630-548-3548, fax: 630-369-9618
email wpenrose@interaccess.com
********************************************************
Subject: Re: hydraulic testing machine
From: imbe@primenet.com (Smith A. Cat)
Date: 11 Jan 1997 18:14:02 -0700
On Sun, 05 Jan 1997 17:32:00 -0800, Erin Nichols
wrote:
>Hello,
>I'm not exactly sure if I'm in the right place for this...
>
>I have a bit of a science paper to do (very short, only a couple pages),
>and it's on a laboratory instrument, in my case, a hydraulic testing
>machine. I couldn't find a word written about the thing in several
>local libraries, and the internet hasn't really been living up to its
>reputation. I just need to know what the heck a hydraulic testing
>machine is used for (generally, and specifically in materials testing),
simply, a hydraulic testing machine, as opposed to a mechanical
testing machine, uses hydraulic fluid to drive a piston and apply load
to a specimen. a universal servohydraulic test frame can be used for
static tension or compression testing, or for fatigue testing (cyclic
testing). hydraulic test frames use a servovalve to switch the
flowing fluid to the top or bottom of a double-acting piston and
thereby generate controlled motion. the feedback loop can be set up
so that a displacement, load, or the output from a strain device
controls the machine. the particular advantage to the sevohydraulic
test frame vs. the mechanical types is that the stroke distance and
speed of the machine can be varied over a very wide range without
having to do something like changing gears.
>the "theory behind the instrument,"
not much theory particular to the hydraulic test frame vs. other
hydraulic systems, just that a relatively incompressible fluid can be
used to transmit force smoothly and without the danger of rapid
expansion associated with, say, pneumatic force generation.
>and things like that *someone* must
>be able to answer pretty easily...
yeah, pretty easy. don't know what was wrong with those dweebs up
there who didn't do squat.
>
>Thanks,
>Erin Nichols
>
>--
and feel free to ask a more specific follow-up question.
Subject: AUTHORS WANTED
From: Ted Denver
Date: 12 Jan 1997 03:08:39 GMT
SUBJECT: AUTHORS SEEKING PUBLICATION
EXPANDING: NEW YORK CITY LITERARY AGENCY
Accepting new (and previously published) writers.
Our offices are located in New York City,
the Lake George region of New York State, and Marco Island, Florida.
What to submit, and where to send it.
All fiction and non fiction, including scripts for
TV, Movies, and Theater: send brief synopsis,
first chapter, self-addressed, stamped envelope (S.A.S.E)
For poems: send 3, S.A.S.E.
For Short Stories: brief synopsis, first 3 pages, S.A.S.E
Please do not submit your complete manuscript unless invited.
International Literary Agency
33-29 58 Street
Woodside, NY--11377
(718) 651-8145
Subject: Re: hydraulic testing machine
From: Jim Buch
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 18:54:38 -0800
Smith A. Cat wrote:
>
> On Sun, 05 Jan 1997 17:32:00 -0800, Erin Nichols
> wrote:
>
> >Hello,
> >I'm not exactly sure if I'm in the right place for this...
> >
> >I have a bit of a science paper to do (very short, only a couple pages),
> >and it's on a laboratory instrument, in my case, a hydraulic testing
> >machine. I couldn't find a word written about the thing in several
> >local libraries,________________________________________________________________
and the internet hasn't really been living up to its
> >reputation.
_____________________________________________________________
The reputation is intact. I used webcrawler to search for hydraulic
testing maching and got about 20,000 hits. The third from the top of the
list was SATEC and on the first mouse click was a listing for hydraulic
testing machines.
The reputation for young students to get others to do their work for them
by posting on the internet is upheld and verified in spades.
The reputation of the internet for having people who go out of their way
to be helpful (even when undeserved) is also upheld.
