[QUOTE=Uncwilly;537357]The Boar Buster trap was developed to specifically trap feral boars.
[YOUTUBE]MHr3yLWMVU[/YOUTUBE][/QUOTE]On a hunch I thought perhaps the poster deleted a leading dash. And ...

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MHr3yLWMVU[/url]

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;537449]<snip>
And to a longer one about its development
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsFXhGoDnW0[/url][/QUOTE]
One interesting tidbit: You have to eliminate 70% of the feral pig population every year, [i]just to keep it from increasing[/i].

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;537513]One interesting tidbit: You have to eliminate 70% of the feral pig population every year, [I]just to keep it from increasing[/I].[/QUOTE]
Which sounds right, without eliminating them, it would mean a 233% increase in population yearly, or each sow can lay 3.5 piglets in average. It fits. Of course, this without considering mortality, and assuming a population distribution of 2 females for one male. :razz: (in reality, a lot of them perish in the wild, victims of diseases, predators, fight for mating, but otoh, they lay litters of 7, 10 or more...)
edit: [URL="https://feralhogs.extension.org/feral-hog-reproductive-biology/"]after a search[/URL]

[url]https://unherd.com/2020/01/cast-out-how-knitting-fell-into-a-purity-spiral/[/url]

[url=https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/software/seti-home-search-for-alien-life-project-shuts-down-after-21-years/]SETI@home Search for Alien Life Project Shuts Down After 21 Years[/url] | Bleeping Computer
[quote]SETI@home has announced that they will no longer be distributing new work to clients starting on March 31st as they have enough data and want to focus on completing their back-end analysis of the data. SETI@home is a distributed computing project where volunteers contribute their CPU resources to analyze radio data from the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). “It’s a lot of work for us to manage the distributed processing of data. We need to focus on completing the back-end analysis of the results we already have, and writing this up in a scientific journal paper,” their news announcement stated.[/quote]

Have we already suggested that they recommend GIMPS instead?

[QUOTE=Nick;538936]Have we already suggested that they recommend GIMPS instead?[/QUOTE]

I've long argued that under the assumption that we are far from alone in the universe, and the further reasonable surmise that not all those advanced alien races are friendly, GIMPS is clearly the most important DC project on earth. We know that even if we are not alone, that exchanging data between populated planetary systems is a very fraught thing, you really need to make the most of every bit in conveying info about yourself. So what is the most bit-efficient encoding that conveys the overall technological state of a civilization? The sequence of M-prime exponents known to them, of course - so basic a mathematical thing can reasonably be construed to constitute a universal mathematical language of a kind. So if someday we should be so unlucky as to come into the crosshairs of a hostile alien species interested in possibly acquiring our planetary real estate (and our women, in proper 50s/60s-SciFi-trope fashion :), the best way to dissuade them is to convince them, when they first come across our distant-origin we-are-here data broadcasts, that we are technologically at least on par with them, preferably even more advanced. Which boils down to "our largest-known M-prime exponent is bigger than yours."

[QUOTE=ewmayer;538965]I've long argued that under the assumption that we are far from alone in the universe, and the further reasonable surmise that not all those advanced alien races are friendly, GIMPS is clearly the most important DC project on earth. We know that even if we are not alone, that exchanging data between populated planetary systems is a very fraught thing, you really need to make the most of every bit in conveying info about yourself. So what is the most bit-efficient encoding that conveys the overall technological state of a civilization? The sequence of M-prime exponents known to them, of course - so basic a mathematical thing can reasonably be construed to constitute a universal mathematical language of a kind. So if someday we should be so unlucky as to come into the crosshairs of a hostile alien species interested in possibly acquiring our planetary real estate (and our women, in proper 50s/60s-SciFi-trope fashion :), the best way to dissuade them is to convince them, when they first come across our distant-origin we-are-here data broadcasts, that we are technologically at least on par with them, preferably even more advanced. Which boils down to "our largest-known M-prime exponent is bigger than yours."[/QUOTE]Haha, suuure, that is definitely the sole criterion for determining tech prowess. :cmd:

[size=1]I guess it is an American thing to think that bigger is always better? Instead perhaps we should be sending out the genetic codes for viruses, or something, to show that we have at least some cursory understanding of what makes things up at the smallest scales.[/size]

[QUOTE=retina;538966]Haha, suuure, that is definitely the sole criterion for determining tech prowess. :cmd:[/QUOTE]

Not at all - but can you think of a more bit-efficient one? DNA sequences, or even viral RNA ones, tend to be rather longer than the mere ~1kbit needed to encode all known-to-us M-prime exponents. And what possible meaning would a viral RNA sequences have for an alien race with its own, likely quite different, micro-pathogens? The code needs to be universal, thus basic-mathematical.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;538970]And what possible meaning would a viral RNA sequences have for an alien race with its own, likely quite different, micro-pathogens? The code needs to be universal, thus basic-mathematical.[/QUOTE]It is meant to be a kind of threat-cum-prowess thing. We (think we) know how stuff works and the nano-scale so be careful or we might decide to build some nano-weapon to undermine the very foundation of their construction.

Whereas, if we just send a bunch of numbers it only shows we are all nerds and still have the infantile thinking that bigger things are better.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;538970]The code needs to be universal, thus basic-mathematical.[/QUOTE]

This is hilarious!!! :tu:

I'm reminded of "The mote in God's eye." :smile: