From owner-biophys@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk Wed Aug 29 07:09:21 2001 Return-Path: Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id 30B4A17A6C for ; Wed, 29 Aug 2001 07:09:20 +0100 (BST) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id C9B2417ADB for ; Wed, 29 Aug 2001 07:09:17 +0100 (BST) Received: from niobium.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (niobium [193.62.192.41]) by mercury.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id 76E3317A6C for ; Wed, 29 Aug 2001 07:09:13 +0100 (BST) Received: (from news@localhost) by niobium.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (8.9.3+Sun/8.8.8) id HAA28974 for biophys-list@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk; Wed, 29 Aug 2001 07:05:29 +0100 (BST) X-Authentication-Warning: niobium.hgmp.mrc.ac.uk: news set sender to using -f From: "William L. Bahn" X-Newsgroups: alt.physics.undergraduate,alt.sci.physics,bionet.biophysics,bit.listserv.physics,cu.physics.ugrads,git.physics,harvard.physics,ubc.physics,uiuc.org.biophysics,ut.physics.general,uwo.physics References: Subject: Re: Animal Magnetism? Lines: 115 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 Message-ID: Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 00:04:28 -0600 To: biophys@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk Sender: owner-biophys@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Jim Pappas wrote in message ... >I'm sorry. The message was a modified version of a letter I sent to a >researcher. > >However, upon re-reading the message, I fail to see how you concluded I was >looking for someone who had NOT conducted research on the issue. > >Here is the passage in question: "If you have not conducted or read any >research on the topic, would you >please advise me as to how I might find the answer to this question?" > Take a group of people and divide them into two groups. The first group (Group A) is composed of people that HAVE conducted research (or read about it) and the second group (Group B) is the people that have NOT do so. You statement is saying, "If you are in Group B, would you advise me...?" You are telling them what you would like them to do if they have NOT conducted or read any research. What do you want them them to do if they HAVE conducted such research? You aren't asking those people to do anything. Look at it another way. What if someone wrote: "If you have conducted or read any research on the topic, would you please advise me as to how I might find the answer to this question?" Do you see how this is very different from what you wrote? >The way I read it, I am actually LOOKING for someone with the requisite >knowledge to answer this question! I did not say, "Provided that you have >not..." > >BTW, you call it "babble", yet it is something that can be isolated and >tested because it will happen every single time you do it; swing in a circle >over a female and in a pendulum over a male. My question has nothing to do >with whether or not it occurs, but WHY it occurs. > >It is only "babble" to those who have NOT tried it. You actually believe this? Tell you what. Here is what we'll do: We'll arrange a sheet in such a way so that people can come in through a door and sit down in a chair and you won't be able to see them. I get to set the room up and select the groups, but a representative from each of us will record the gender of the person entering the room. You will know where their head is positioned and you can then swing a necklace of your choice over their head and declare whether they are female or male and we will record it. We will do this for groups of 10 people that have one person of one gender and the rest of the other gender. For each group you get one point for declaring whether the odd person in the group is male or female and one point for correctly identifying which person is the odd person (even if you get the genders wrong). We'll do this for ten groups. So at the end you can have a maximum of 20 points. Since you claim that this phenomenon will happen EVERY time, you should have complete confidence that you will score 20 points. Tell you what, if you score more than 15 points I will give you $10,000. If you score less than 15 points you give me just $1000. If you score exactly 15 points, neither owes anyone anything. We will each come to the party with a certified check for the specified amount and the checks will be held by a third party (such as a Title Company escrow agent) and given to the winner (or returned in case of a score of 15). It's an easy $10,000 for you. How soon do you want to schedule time and location? > >--Jim P. Pappas > >"William L. Bahn" wrote in message >news:O3Hi7.2663$Vx4.441701@news.uswest.net... >> I noticed that you are only looking for advice from people who had NOT >> conducted or read any research on the topic. Wonder why? Perhaps that is >> because anyone who has actually tried it knows that it is a bunch of >babble? >> >> Jim Pappas wrote in message ... >> >I am not a physicist, but I am looking for an answer to the following >> >question: >> > >> >Why is it that if you hold a necklace just a few centimeters over a male >> (of >> >any species), it will begin to swing like a pendulum, whereas, if you >hold >> a >> >necklace over a female, it will begin to move in a circular motion? >> > >> >I have heard of this technique being used in a variety of areas, from the >> >identification of gender in animals, where the gender is not obvious, to >> >pregnant women trying to discern whether they are carrying a male or a >> >female (by hanging it over their lower abdomen). >> > >> >If you have not conducted or read any research on the topic, would you >> >please advise me as to how I might find the answer to this question? >> > >> >Thank you so much for your time and consideration. >> > >> > >> >--Jim P. Pappas >> > >> > >> > > .