Paul A. Clayton

236 reputation

bio	website	sites.google.com/site/…
	location	Greenbelt, MD, USA
	age	47
visits	member for	4 months
	seen	9 hours ago
stats	profile views	0

I am what might be considered a computer architecture hobbyist, having posted some macroarchitectural and microarchitectural thoughts on the comp.arch newsgroup and the Real World Technologies forum.

My church affiliation is Presbyterian (PCA) by temperament and general belief.

I am only mostly useless. Mostly useless is slightly useful. (Yes, I liked the movie The Princess Bride.)

	236 reputation	bio	website	sites.google.com/site/…	visits	member for	4 months
18 badges		location	Greenbelt, MD, USA		seen	9 hours ago

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May 15	comment	What are some examples of scaling laws in biology? Obviously, one has surface-area to volume issues (e.g., it is speculated that huge dragonflies were possible in the past due to increase O2 despite lack of lungs) and cross-sectional area to volume/mass issues (e.g., bigger animals tend to require disproportionately thicker legs).
May 14	comment	If Evolution Is In Progress, Why Fight Extinction? Evolution by natural selection is not progress but adjustment toward a local optimum; the local optimum changes with environment (which includes the biological systems that change to seek a local optimum). One might also ask why librarians and scholars seek to preserve publications that seem to present outdated ideas; existing biological systems contain historical information and formerly isolated systems present convenient laboratories for improving understanding (much of the anti-extinction effort is compensating for artificially increases mixing).
May 7	awarded	Analytical
May 7	awarded	Informed
May 7	awarded	Enthusiast
May 6	awarded	Citizen Patrol
May 6	awarded	Commentator
Apr 9	answered	Is there any relation between weight class and extreme lifting performance in O-lifting?
Mar 25	comment	Why do some people find vegetables so repellent when evolutionarily they should find them an attractive and thus tasty food? There are presumably also availability factors. If bland or slightly bitter foods are easily acquired relative to sweet and rich foods, then mere hunger might be sufficient motivation for consumption. Overconsumption is perhaps the major danger of good-tasting foods; when they are rare/expensive this is less of a danger. Also it takes time and selective pressure to deliver an evolutionary change; modern agriculture and commerce are somewhat new. If health detriments are primarily quick death at post-reproductive age, the selective pressure against such might be relatively low.
Feb 25	awarded	Editor
Feb 25	revised	Why did the urinary bladder evolve? added pipeline buffer factor
Feb 25	answered	Why did the urinary bladder evolve?
Feb 22	comment	Why is it that cats can jump so high for their size, compared with humans? Part of this difference comes from strength being proportional to the cross-sectional area of the muscle (increasing as the square of linear dimension/height) while mass is proportional to volume (cubic with linear dimension/height). The rest (probably a majority) might be leverage and perhaps proportion of fast-twitch muscle.
Feb 19	comment	What are some alternatives to Charles Darwin evolution except creationism? Creationism is a hypothesis and--barring the more extreme forms of created history--is testable to a large degree. (Distinguishing between an ET material intelligence and action from outside this universe would be difficult, but falsifying a singular event hypothesis is much easier.) Even a falsified hypothesis is still a hypothesis (albeit of limited utility).
Feb 18	comment	How does natural selection favour large body mass and size (or so it seems) Also similar to biology.stackexchange.com/questions/1767/…
Feb 5	comment	Athletes: nature vs. nurture? Mental aptitudes (which presumably are influenced by genetics) would also influence on athletic prowess both in the activity and in the training. A highly driven, goal-oriented personality is more likely to train with firm intention. A perfectionist is less likely to be satisfied with "good enough" performance--avoiding big fish in a small pond issues. Aggressiveness and risk-tolerance are rewarded in some sports. Social skills--e.g., reading and deceiving opponents and fostering teamwork--can also play a role. Trusting one's training experts would also be important--autonomy is not good.
Jan 28	answered	Why do some animals have 8 Limbs (e.g. Spiders, Octopuses)?
Jan 28	comment	Why do some animals have 8 Limbs (e.g. Spiders, Octopuses)? Crabs might be another example (10 limbs but only 8 legs with common sideways--but not 360 degree--motion).
Jan 28	comment	Why do some animals have 8 Limbs (e.g. Spiders, Octopuses)? The question asked about animals with 360 degree motion.
Jan 28	comment	How many organisms have ever lived on Earth? The question asked for the number of individuals, which is different than the number of species. For reproduction by binary fission, would one (and which one--e.g., the longest survivor?) count as the original individual or are both new individuals? When does a colony or symbiotic collective become a single organism (e.g., mitochondria are presumably not considered distinct individuals but considering the biosphere a single organism seems to be going too far)? The high and highly variable rate of bacterial reproduction would make estimating this count problematic.