Thread Drift

[Nanci]

Lise, you're so smart!

Salsa, you should see the research on pigeon visual perception.

From Wikepedia:

In a famous article in 1995, Watanabe, Sakamoto and Wakita described an experiment which showed that pigeons can be trained to discriminate between paintings by Picasso and Monet.

The birds were first trained on a limited set of paintings: when the shown painting was a Picasso, the pigeon was able to obtain food by repeated pecking; when it was a Monet, pecking had no effect. After a while, the pigeons would only peck when shown Picasso paintings. They were then able to generalize, and correctly discriminate between paintings of the two painters not previously shown, and even between cubist and impressionist paintings (cubism and impressionism being the two stylistic schools Picasso and Monet belong to). When the Monet paintings were shown upside down, the pigeons were not able to properly categorize anymore; showing the cubist works upside down did not have such an effect.

In 1995, the authors won the humorous Ig Nobel Prize in psychology for this work.

In a later paper, Watanabe showed that if pigeons and human college students undergo the same training, their performance in distinguishing between Van Gogh and Chagall paintings is comparable.

Similar experiments had shown earlier that pigeons can be trained to distinguish between photos showing human beings and those that do not, and between photos showing trees and those that do not, among many other examples.

In all these cases, discrimination is quite easy for humans, even though the classes are so complex that no simple distinguishing algorithm or rule can be specified. It has therefore been argued that pigeons are able to form "concepts" or "categories" similar to humans, but that interpretation is controversial. Nevertheless, the experiments remain important and often cited examples in cognitive science.

[Trek420]

Kitsune06 "it takes a freakin' long time, Knot. I was at 4 days, then lost my place over the weekend and gave up. That was when TD was around 168 pages. =P"

I'm not doin' it, I'm just going to wait for "TE TD, the movie"

[mimitabby]

I think you guys are impressive, trying to read so far back into this thread.
I can't do it.

I was, however on the Marinoni website. They make beautiful steel bikes.
a guy here in my building has one. he complained that he didn't have enough gears though (that was the only thing he didn't like about his bike)


I am so happy to hear that Salsa is riding again and wish BMof4 could too.
Speaking of a lot of kids, I just heard that Nancy Pelosi had 6 kids in 5 years!

Nanci, when I was a teen, i could smell the smell of onions on my hands for days after my step mother asked me to cut an onion up and put it on a slab of meat to roast in the oven.. I didn't like so i wouldn't do the chore.. (what a brat I was)
I never smelled maple syrup on my hands after washing though.

KY, I am so glad that you are feeling better. Life is good, even though we're going to get rained on this week.

about babies, Lise, you are right, it's just biology. If we try to make sense of it, we're going to have headaches. the only requirement for having babies is enough health to bring it to term. That's how a species continues. We as human beings have tried to interject our morals, religion and opinions upon the process, and we just can't. Evil people can produce babies, as well as nuns (who say DARN!) and grandmothers who say OOPS and little girls who are still whining about having to do their homework. And some gals with the best intellects and instincts can't.
I always wonder about the little souls who ask to be born into the arms of a mom who is drug addled. I knew a kid like that.
There was this young woman with a heroin problem. she had already lost 1/2 an arm to tracks... She had this baby boy. (she was clean at the time) he was a beautiful child, and when he was very very small, i had an opportunity to watch him (and her) she was a careless jerky kind of person, but this little boy was sensitive and very aware. he was about 4-5 months old. He followed her every cue..Having had 2 babies myself, I was startled at his acuity and the way he was tuned in to his mom.
She had a nice boyfriend, someone with plenty of sense and clean time..
Fast forward. Mom is dead. Boyfriend adopted the boy, the boy is doing very very well. She was really a terrible mom, but the boyfriend was a great dad.
The kid is in highschool now, taking college classes.
ohwell, no more storytelling for now.

[KnottedYet]

I'm not doin' it, I'm just going to wait for "TE TD, the movie"

Honey, you and I were there from the very beginning. We don't HAVE to read it again, but it really is pretty fun!

[Nanci]

Mimi- did you ever try, when cutting onions, sticking a small slice on the top of your head- then they don't make you cry? Works for me!

I can also smell stuff in my pee- onions, coffee, asparagus- anything strong flavored.

My mom never let me do anything! No cooking, no laundry, no dish washing...I got to pick up apples in the yard for 10 cents, and mow the yard, starting in sixth grade, for $1.

[mimitabby]

Mimi- did you ever try, when cutting onions, sticking a small slice on the top of your head- then they don't make you cry? Works for me!

I can also smell stuff in my pee- onions, coffee, asparagus- anything strong flavored.

My mom never let me do anything! No cooking, no laundry, no dish washing...I got to pick up apples in the yard for 10 cents, and mow the yard, starting in sixth grade, for $1.

No, i never put onions on my head, then my hair would smell. I don't mind my eyes tearing up a little...
I am the same way, i can smell all sorts of stuff. Heck, I can smell when my husband isn't drinking enough water on a bike ride because his urine is too strong!
I am well endowed with nose. I have never had a cold that took away my sense of smell. ever. (and i have had some riproaring colds!)

your mom never LET you do anything? what a strange concept!!

[Xrayted]

Off to work, just checking in quick.
BTW, anyone know why I can't edit my posts? The edit button is there, I click it, do my edit and then it bumps me totally out of TE and makes me log in again. I'm doing something wrong, I just don't know what.

[mimitabby]

Off to work, just checking in quick.
BTW, anyone know why I can't edit my posts? The edit button is there, I click it, do my edit and then it bumps me totally out of TE and makes me log in again. I'm doing something wrong, I just don't know what.

it could be your browser. try a different browser?
(like firefox?)

[Fredwina]

.
Fredwina- As much as I enjoyed Hugh Laurie in the Black Adder series, I preferred him as Bertie Wooster.

Oh No! another BBC series to check out! Would have checked in earlier , but spent yesterday fighting off a sinus infection. I'm back at the looney bin know as Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services. Oh joy!

[Quillfred]

We share a hill (sloping north) with our neighbor to the north. Most of it is on our property line. People tend to be pretty chainsaw-happy due to the lake views.

About two weeks ago I noticed some surveying of the north property line. We ignored it (shouldn't have) and subsequently listened to chainsaws and grading equipment all weekend. So neighbor didn't keep her word to notify us of future plans. Problem is the this hill is sensitive watershed area that is also maintaining the integrity of our east slope. We talk to fiance of owner who (silly him) is initially dismissive of us ("what do you GIRLS want, I'm paying these guys $20 an hour"...). I ask questions with the words permit, licensed contractor, site survey in them. The dufus gets sheepish and admits that the only "expert" opinion came from a landscaping company. Also lies about trees cut.

So the hill is getting chopped at the bottom. Rainy season is upon us. I call the city who will inspect tomorrow. No permit, no site eval, no consideration.

Thanks for letting me ven.....Quill

[Nanci]

Sorry about the hill, Quill. I had some major beaver destruction at my old place- no way to make them stop!!

I am so smart! SMRT!

I bought BF's Christmas present today. There's this (giant, super-fancy, has everything) health club that he has been pining away for for the last four years. He can't afford it. No other HC measures up. This is the one that _all_ his coworkers and all our friends belong to. I have no interest in HCs. I'm just not into it. But I thought I would stop and ask questions at lunch, since my employer is doing open enrollment right now, and that's one of the things you can sign up for. Oops, you have to be married to have a family membership. I am so disappointed. But wait- I can buy him a gift membership, and don't even have to waste money on a membership for me! I can get it payroll deducted bimonthly, costing roughly one hour of pay per check. After two years, the annual cost decreases by 1/3! They can never raise the rate.

I am so excited I am giving it to him when he gets home. I could have waited till Christmas, but what if he needs the pool, or the ice pool, or whatever before/after IM FL.

Mimi- I'd be so happy when I'd eat dinner at a friend's, and "get to" wash the dishes! Maybe she was like me, just wanted things done her way, and the easiest way to accomplish that is do it yourself.

[mimitabby]

Sorry about the hill, Quill. I had some major beaver destruction at my old place- no way to make them stop!!


Mimi- I'd be so happy when I'd eat dinner at a friend's, and "get to" wash the dishes! Maybe she was like me, just wanted things done her way, and the easiest way to accomplish that is do it yourself.

Nanci
please come to my house. We will feed you good food AND pies if you will wash dishes and do house chores for us.
My kids always "got to" help us but they never WANT To!

you can bring as many lizards as you want. and pigeons too. We are a pet friendly zone.
(and that's why my son's girlfriend's doctor has BANNED her from our house!)

[chickwhorips]

i found out that my dad is now back at home. no more hospitals or meds. seems that his alzheimer's meds were giving him hallucinations and the other meds were giving him problems with his memory. go figure.

so he's off drugs and at home. seems to make sense 99% of the time. though while my stepmum is at school teaching he is at a day care center, but is able to spend the rest of the time at home with her.

[mimitabby]

aren't you a little young to have a dad with alzheimers's?? Aren't you in your 20s or early 30s?

I'm sorry to hear that. That's what took my own father out.
but i'm glad that once again the patient did better without the drugs!

[chickwhorips]

my parents had me late. my sister is 40 and my brother is now 44.