NFS, Bamboo, 1964, Gerbils, Amoebae & HP Calculators

[Wacky]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

in near mint condition

Mint is a different plant. Do not confuse it with Basil. Both are green herbs, but the aroma and flavour are quite different.

The gerbils eat a very varied diet.
...
Generic laboratory mouse "blocks"
...

Carnivoirs ?
And be cautious about the source of that meat. Many of the laboratory mice have been subjected to chemicals that render them inappropriate to feed to the cat (or gerbils).

Did you observe that Gerbils really like the seeds of Helianthus annuus?

[paulunderwood]

The Calla Lily is looking much worse. We figure it is knocking on Heaven's door. There isn't anything modern science can do to save it now, so we have put it in God's hands. If it dies, then it was meant to be.

From what I can gather from the wiki is that these plants live in marshes and so I guess they like a lot of water. Do you water them copiously daily?

If the Calla Lily was human, it would have moved to Florida last week.

Perhaps they would flourish in the Everglades

[Xyzzy]

Carnivoirs ?
And be cautious about the source of that meat. Many of the laboratory mice have been subjected to chemicals that render them inappropriate to feed to the cat (or gerbils).

The blocks are green, square-shaped, compressed mouse food. Not blocks of mouse meat.

Did you observe that Gerbils really like the seeds of Helianthus annuus?

They have to be strictly rationed, or we'd have gerbils the size of rats.

Check out the math-related stuff on this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower

[Xyzzy]

From what I can gather from the wiki is that these plants live in marshes and so I guess they like a lot of water. Do you water them copiously daily?

The little stick that came with them said to water them sparingly. We guess at this point it can't hurt to water them a bunch.

[Wacky]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

The blocks are green, square-shaped, compressed ... food.

Manufactured by Soylent Corporation, I presume.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

We did bruise a leaf and it did smell kind of familiar. There is an old lady who lives across the street who told us it was basil as well, but then again, she thinks it is still 1964.

I'm convinced it is basil.

I showed the picture to my wife. "Basil" was her instant identification.

Personally, I'd nibble a bit of leaf, secure in the knowledge that well under a gram of even the most toxic of plants wouldn't cause me serious or permanent harm. At worst, I'd throw up, have a nasty attack of the thrupennies (Cockney rhyming slang, look it up) or, just possibly, have some rather interesting dreams.

FWIW, I grow a whole bunch of plants in my garden which are seriously toxic. Some of them kill dozens of people per annum world wide. One such is Nicotiana glauca, aka "tree tobacco" which is a weed in hot parts of the world like Texas and the Canaries (which is where I collected my seeds) but, strictly speaking, doesn't survive the British winter. That said, at least 6 plants lived out of doors all last winter and, if not thriving, are at least surviving. The first came into flower a week ago. Anyway, small amounts of N. glauca would probably be banned by the authorities, if it wasn't for the fact that larger amounts are seriously lethal.

If I can breed a frost-resistant strain of N. glauca I may be on to something ...

Another toxic plant is monkshood, an aconitum. Its roots look exactly like horseradish (which I also grow, BTW). though the above-ground plant is totally different. Mistaking one for the other kills a few every year.

I was given a Brugmansia (aka Angel' strumpet) earlier this year. Every part of that is poisonous...

Paul


P.S. WTF does all this have to do with the number field sieve? Perhaps we need a subsection devoted to gardening.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by xilman

IAt worst, I'd throw up, have a nasty attack of the thruppennies (Cockney rhyming slang, look it up) or, just possibly, have some rather interesting dreams.

I just did a Google search and was amazed to discover that "thrupennies" has a second interpretation, and one I've never heard before from any Londoner.

The version I found is the one generally referred to as "Bristols", the plural of "Bristol", which is derived from the football team (soccer team in the parlance of the Colonials) Bristol City.

Some Cockney rhyming slang has now become part of the general (British) English language. Examples include "raspberrry" for a noise made to indicate disapproval (from raspberry tart), and "berk" (a contemptible person akin to, and rhyming with, a US jerk) from Berkeley hunt.

This topic denonstrates thread drift par excellence.

Paul

[m_f_h]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

There is an old lady who lives across the street who told us it was basil as well, but then again, she thinks it is still 1964.

Basil didn't change since then.

She has a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL sitting out back, in near mint condition. We keep offering her $5000 for it but she thinks we are being silly since thats more than she paid for it, and it is used. We're going to offer her less next time we talk.

If it dies, then it was meant to be.

Most living creatures are meant to die.

[dsouza123]

Originally Posted by m_f_h

Most living creatures are meant to die.

What are some of the exceptions ?

[m_f_h]

Originally Posted by dsouza123

What are some of the exceptions ?

well, m-maybe... ... You're a bit curious, aren't you ? And...
Remember we're doing math here. There are things like the strong law of big numbers. You think something is true universally just because you know some millions of positive cases and no counter example ?
Let me just take some harmless example : numerical user id's in a relational database. Or, the number of posts of a given user. Before having a closer look at the question and evidence presented on this forum, I'm sure you'd expected that they are always equal to some finite integer...
Hey, as Shakespeare put it : There are things between heaven and earth, Horatio, which you never dreamed of in your philosophy... (or the like - freely from memory... maybe more, maybe not between, maybe passive voice...)

[cheesehead]

Originally Posted by dsouza123

What are some of the exceptions ?

Well ... amoebas, because they multiply by dividing. Anything that used a process that close to RPN before the founding of Hewlett-Packard deserves respect, in my book.