Was this verified with a birth certificate or what?
I imagine scientists have their ways (fin size, teeth, cellular, DNA, etc.). Then again, some scientific circles are still arguing the validity of carbon dating.
EDIT: Here, allow me:
"Using a method called radiocarbon dating, the scientists measured amounts of carbon-14 (a slightly radioactive form of carbon that is present in all living things) in each of the shark’s eyes that they sampled between 2011 and 2013. Along the recent historical timeline are key reference points for assigning dates, like the dropping of the atomic bombs and an increase in nuclear testing at the conclusion of World War II. Presence of a “bomb spike”, or significant increase in carbon-14, meant the shark was born before the 1960s. Only the three smallest of the sharks studied lacked the telltale bomb spike. The other 25 were aged with an aging curve based on known carbon-14 decay rates and the sizes of the sharks."
I remember seeing Saguaro cactuses in the Sonoran desert in Arizona and they said it takes them about 100 years to grow their first arm.
But just about every single one I can spot had arms on them. So I wondered where the foundlings were?
I can tell you from personal experience, that is not always true.
About 50 years ago, a developer was about to begin excavation for a new planned community northeast of Phoenix called "Fountain Hills". Rather than just destroying all of the desert flora, cactus and such, they invited the public to come and take what they wanted for home landscaping, within certain limitations. Saguaros were protected and thus forbidden.
My father drove the old '67 Impala wagon out to the site and we filled it with various cacti and succulents; barrels, cholla, agave, etc. One particular cactus that we took resembled a barrel, but was slightly different in shape and color. Within 20 years, that cactus had grown as tall as the house and had two arms. Of course the cactus could have been 30 years old when we found it.
[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 05-08-2020).]
No. In earlier times (but occasionally even within my early lifetime) it was considered to be in poor taste..'socially unacceptable' to speak of an animal's gender in public.There were words you just didn't use. Peafowl was commonly substituted for peaCOCK, just as the word 'horse' was used to describe only a male equine. (no one would use the term 'stud horse'.) A female horse was/still is simply a mare. Nowadays, common usage is such that peacock might mean male or female of that bird family, and horse can refer to male, female, or gelding (castrated male horse)
Nor in the old days would many people refer to a male bovine as a bull, or a castrated bull as a steer. Both, would be referred to as a 'beef critter'..but usually meant a steer. You can see (hear) an example of this in the 1941 movie I referred to, when Alvin York is at what we would today call a turkey shoot...a shooting contest with an animal as the top prize for best marksman. In the language of the day and of the area of Appalachia, he (and everyone else) called the steer a beef critter. (nowadays as well, most people call any bovine a cow, when that word really means a female bovine that has had at least one offspring already)
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 05-10-2020).]
No. In earlier times (but occasionally even within my early lifetime) it was considered to be in poor taste..'socially unacceptable' to speak of an animal's gender in public.There were words you just didn't use. Peafowl was commonly substituted for peaCOCK, just as the word 'horse' was used to describe only a male equine. (no one would use the term 'stud horse'.) A female horse was/still is simply a mare. Nowadays, common usage is such that peacock might mean male or female of that bird family, and horse can refer to male, female, or gelding (castrated male horse)
Nor in the old days would many people refer to a male bovine as a bull, or a castrated bull as a steer. Both, would be referred to as a 'beef critter'..but usually meant a steer. You can see (hear) an example of this in the 1941 movie I referred to, when Alvin York is at what we would today call a turkey shoot...a shooting contest with an animal as the top prize for best marksman. In the language of the day and of the area of Appalachia, he (and everyone else called the steer a beef critter. (nowdays as well, most people call any bovine a cow, when that word really means a female bovine that has had at least one offspring already)
Good stuff, as related in the above stuff!
EDIT: <<<<< Oh, and keep up the good ratings, pretenders. You prove my point perfectly.
[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 05-09-2020).]
Picking up from Boondawg's last remark, the Ratings System should be, if not completely abolished, then shorn of its capability to cause the "automated" banning of any forum member. Or if it does result in an "automated" or "peer ratings-driven" or "speed ban" membership ban, the ban should be reviewed in a timely manner by a human moderator, with an eye for doing justice to the spirit, if not the literal expression, of the Posting Guidelines. Perhaps that's already the case, but I wish there were some affirmation that such is already the case.
Especially as this applies to the Totally O/T section.
Spammers---actual spammers--should be stopped or removed by another modality.
I think that would be a step towards a more perfect forum.
In no way do I suggest that I have the prerogative of registering this as any kind of demand that would traverse the world, from my location close on the West Coast (of the U.S.) and then all the way (East, West, Trans Arctic; Trans Antarctic?) to the Netherlands.
But I think there is value in the expression of it, as an idea, or an "appetizer" for thought.
It's a suggestion--even a recommendation (my own)--for anyone who uses the Ratings System to rate another member. Do you want an open discussion forum--a level playing field (so to speak)--or a forum that caters specifically to certain lines of thought, certain cultural preferences, certain temperaments--I'll try and leave it at that.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 05-10-2020).]
Picking up from Boondawg's last remark, the Ratings System should be, if not completely abolished, then shorn of its capability to cause the "automated" banning of any forum member. Or if it does result in an "automated" or "peer ratings-driven" or "speed ban" membership ban, the ban should be reviewed in a timely manner by a human moderator, with an eye for doing justice to the spirit, if not the literal expression, of the Posting Guidelines. Perhaps that's already the case, but I wish there were some affirmation that such is already the case.
It is my understanding, that it is already the case..at least referring to 'speed or auto' bans that come as a result of the little nudge arrow moving too far to the left. Cliff P. posted how it worked at one time and explained that if a person were auto banned by the nudge arrow, he would add his own + vote if that vote met the threshold that stopped the ban, he would reverse the ban. I don't know where that post is now, but here's the original post explaining how the nudge arrow worked.
And there is a quote in the following thread with a little more explanation, & I believe that quote is from the explanation Cliff gave that I can't currently find: //www.fiero.nl/forum/A...100421-1-073181.html
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 05-10-2020).]
The problem I have with the rating system is not really the system, but some who use it. What good does it do to give someone a negative rating, if you do not have the courage to say why? It's like keying someone's car in the middle of the night. Be a man (or whatever you identify as). Stand up on your hind legs and speak.
Here is my entire list of people I have rated: (blurred because it is nobody's business who or why)
Getting back to the sharks... not only do Greenland Sharks live a really long time, but they spend most of that time partially (or even fully) blind. Copepod parasites attach to their eyeballs, and cause severe corneal damage, which wrecks their vision. Imagine spending hundreds of years with parasites attached to your eyes!
Encounters with Great White Sharks are not uncommon, along the coast of California. It's often a surfer that has the encounter. Sometimes it's just their surfboard that gets bitten; sometimes they get bitten, but fatalities... not very often. But there was a fatal encounter just the other day, in the surf zone, not far from the coastal town of Santa Cruz, and just north of Monterey. It was published on May 10 in the New York Times. The victim... a young man who was out with his surfboard. He was a surfboard fabricator and customizer.
I'm like "Charlie." I don't surf. (That's one for the 'dawg.)
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 05-12-2020).]
Encounters with Great White Sharks are not uncommon, along the coast of California. It's often a surfer that has the encounter. Sometimes it's just their surfboard that gets bitten; sometimes they get bitten, but fatalities... not very often. But there was a fatal encounter just the other day, in the surf zone, not far from the coastal town of Santa Cruz, and just north of Monterey. It was published on May 10 in the New York Times. The victim... a young man who was out with his surfboard. He was a surfboard fabricator and customizer.
Me? I'm like "Charlie." I don't surf. (That's one for the 'dawg.)
I went on a snorkling trip with this girl I was dating back in... I dunno... 1997, 1998? We went to the Florida Keys and booked a catamaran to go snorkling. We went out a ways, and were swimming around looking at all the cool stuff. There was a group of sharks (I didn't know they hung out together) off in the distance. One was a hammer head, the other was what looked like a bull nose shark. So, the girl I was dating had the bright idea that she was going to swim over to them.
Little bit of background. She was the daughter of a preacher, and I dunno... she liked to live a very fast and somewhat reckless lifestyle. She was 15 years older than me, I was 19, she was 34. Sigh... I know, what can I say... I was 19. Anyway... at any opportunity that she could get a "rush" she would do it. She's the kind of person that would jump from a plane to go sky diving for the rush of it, or do things just because they were wrong, so she could get the rush of possibly being caught.
So this seemed like a great idea to her too at the time. I was pissed. She started swimming towards them, and I immediately knew this was a bad idea. She startled them... and one of them (I cannot remember which one) darted towards us while the other went off somewhere. She immediately started to panic, just like I thought she would. I was pissed... super pissed. She started splashing in the water and totally panicking. So I grabbed her, and started pulling her back towards the catamaran. The entire time I'm thinking how stupid and needlessly reckless, and that if I get bit, I'm going to be F**KING pissed. The shark came right at us, and came in really close, but just passed us by. I never got bit, and I didn't really see the shark anymore because I was trying to get her on the boat (with me still in the water of course).
I got out, and when we got back home in Fort Lauderdale, I broke up with her.
No. In earlier times (but occasionally even within my early lifetime) it was considered to be in poor taste..'socially unacceptable' to speak of an animal's gender in public.There were words you just didn't use. Peafowl was commonly substituted for peaCOCK, just as the word 'horse' was used to describe only a male equine. (no one would use the term 'stud horse'.) A female horse was/still is simply a mare. Nowadays, common usage is such that peacock might mean male or female of that bird family, and horse can refer to male, female, or gelding (castrated male horse)
Nor in the old days would many people refer to a male bovine as a bull, or a castrated bull as a steer. Both, would be referred to as a 'beef critter'..but usually meant a steer. You can see (hear) an example of this in the 1941 movie I referred to, when Alvin York is at what we would today call a turkey shoot...a shooting contest with an animal as the top prize for best marksman. In the language of the day and of the area of Appalachia, he (and everyone else) called the steer a beef critter. (nowadays as well, most people call any bovine a cow, when that word really means a female bovine that has had at least one offspring already)
Weird thing. In my great great uncle's day a woman's private parts were called a c0ck frequently. He was Korean War vet aged.
[This message has been edited by ls3mach (edited 05-20-2020).]
"Using a method called radiocarbon dating, the scientists measured amounts of carbon-14 (a slightly radioactive form of carbon that is present in all living things) in each of the shark’s eyes that they sampled between 2011 and 2013. Along the recent historical timeline are key reference points for assigning dates, like the dropping of the atomic bombs and an increase in nuclear testing at the conclusion of World War II. Presence of a “bomb spike”, or significant increase in carbon-14, meant the shark was born before the 1960s. Only the three smallest of the sharks studied lacked the telltale bomb spike. The other 25 were aged with an aging curve based on known carbon-14 decay rates and the sizes of the sharks."
Like there could be exposure to a dangerous virus or other pathogen during such a procedure?
These Greenland sharks are mostly blind because of a parasitic worm that afflicts their eyes. That's what I've read.
Yes, I was thinking risk from the sampling procedure introducing a pathogen into such a sensitive organ of the body. It seems a shame to tinker with such a venerable old fellow.