Post Race!

[Shaggy Hiker]

A car engine would have no difficulty running for a week. It's the starting that kills them, as the oil isn't circulating immediately and the warmup is hard on them.

Also, nothing much shuts down during sleep. The brain is still functioning, the lungs are still functioning, the heart is still pumping, and for some people, the muscles are still moving. So what is really shutting down? The example of the dolphin just makes things even more perplexing. The dolphin does sleep half a brain at a time, but that's because it would drown if it shut down completely. So, why does it have to sleep at all? Whatever the gain is, it has to be pretty significant.

[Niya]

Well it could be only a cognitive necessity. I've ready somewhere that it can be likened to needing time to defrag a hard disk. That theory makes sense as well.

[FunkyDexter]

So since Windows Vista my PC has been taking power naps instead of getting a good solid nights sleep? No wonder it's performance has degraded.

[dday9]

To be honest, I don't know why many techies dislike Windows Vista. When I purchased my first laptop it came with Vista and I had problems with it.

[dday9]

My computers now have Windows 7, which I like a bit better than Vista, but not much more. They're pretty much more or less the same to me.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Well it could be only a cognitive necessity. I've ready somewhere that it can be likened to needing time to defrag a hard disk. That theory makes sense as well.

Sure. That's what I think it is, too. My point is that it isn't optional, it's essential. That seems like it is something that AI folks ought to be thinking about.

I came up with a design where a robot would dream by setting up scenarios and running through them in a virtual world. The learning that went on would translate into making better decisions in the real world....and then I moved on to a different project for a few years. Still, I think the idea is sound, though I couldn't say whether or not our dreams work like that.

[dday9]

I believe that dreams do affect our subconscious on such a deep level that it's hard for us to recognize that anything is being affected. Kind of like an intense hypnosis.

[Gruff]

I think sharks also sleep with half their brain.

I know some people who's brains appear to sleep seven eighths the time 24 7.

I read about a drug that would allow you to compress your sleep cycle. Get the equivalent of eight hours out of two. Wasn't worth it though as it included vivid ugly nightmares.
(Maybe it was fiction. Can't remember due to lack of sleep.)

[dday9]

That's bull crap, I'm not having a cow!

[Shaggy Hiker]

You opine the bovine?

[dday9]

I know some people who's brains appear to sleep seven eighths the time 24 7.

I read about a drug that would allow you to compress your sleep cycle. Get the equivalent of eight hours out of two. Wasn't worth it though as it included vivid ugly nightmares.
(Maybe it was fiction. Can't remember due to lack of sleep.)

You edited your post making my bull crap post look odd...

It's the post race!

[dday9]

By the way, you were talking about Modafinil.

[Gruff]

You sure? I thought it might be SqueezeAnapin.

[Shaggy Hiker]

No, I think it is moo daffodil.

[FunkyDexter]

I favour CluckHyacinth

[Shaggy Hiker]

How about HircineHibiscus?

[Gruff]

Happy Thanksgiving American Bros and Bras.

[Gruff]

Gobble Gobble.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Did some of that.

[dday9]

Believe it or not, I did not gorge myself yesterday.

[dday9]

For some odd reason I was not all that hungry.

[dday9]

Shaggy must have passed his bug onto me via the Post Race.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Could be. I don't feel like I ate all that much, but I was unpleasantly stuffed by the end of it. There is something about turkey that it fills me up super fast. That's not a bad thing, though.

[dday9]

I was hoping that my dad would deep fry the turkey again this year, but instead he bought a "fully cooked" turkey and just threw it in the oven roaster.

[FunkyDexter]

Seriously?! You guys deep fry turkey?!

Only in 'Murica.

[szlamany]

Although I have never deep fried a turkey it has both pro's and con's that should be considered.

http://www.idealhomegarden.com/recip...vs-oven-baked/

I would not call it an America-thing - I've only heard of one person ever doing it (I am near NYC myself).

[dday9]

Seriously?! You guys deep fry turkey?!

Only in 'Murica.

More of a southern thing, even then I only heard of a few people doing outside of Louisiana.

[dday9]

Another thing we didn't have this year which we usually do is a turducken.

[Shaggy Hiker]

It is NOT solely southern. It's just that the only decent cooking systems are made in the south.

Deep fried turkey sounds kind of nasty, as it sounds like it's really fatty, but that's not the case. The oil doesn't get into the meat, and the heat seals in the moisture. You end up with some of the best turkey you can get, and the cooking time is trivial, so it's a great way to cook for a crowd. My brother-in-law can now cook three turkeys at once (all in the 15 lb range, due to the limitations imposed by the pot size), and they come out looking pretty ugly, but tasting great.

Deep fried turkey is my favorite to eat, and favorite to cook due to the speed of cooking. The major drawback is the horrible cleanup process that follows. If you recycle the oil, as my brother-in-law does, you have to vacuum filter the oil, cause it has lots of particulates in it, then you end up with oil on everything, so there's a fair amount of scrubbing to do on the parts you want to clean, like the pot an utensils.

[dday9]

Yeah, the clean up's really the only bad thing about deep frying a turkey(other than the fact that it's deep fried).

[Shaggy Hiker]

That link suggested that the cleanup was less for deep fried turkeys. That surprises me. On the other hand, they didn't suggest recycling the oil, which would make cleanup slightly better. If you cook over dirt, and have a few dogs around, they'll clean up any spilled oil and keep right on cleaning until they hit either groundwater or bedrock, whichever comes first.

A few years back, some friends of mine deep-fried a couple wild turkeys, and they couldn't get the dogs to leave that area alone afterwards. It was like crack for dogs.

[dday9]

Another great thing with deep fried turkey is the cracklin it produces. I MUCH prefer turkey cracklin over pork cracklin.

[FunkyDexter]

Well I've learned something new. I think I'll probably stick to roasting though.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I would say that you'd stick to deep-fried before you'd stick to roasting. After all, roasted turkeys can be a bit dry, so it's harder to stick to them.

[Gruff]

Had a not so tasty turkey TV dinner on Thanksgiving day.
I forgot all the restaurants were closed.

Had a nice dinner at my Daughter's on Sunday though.
Winter ale and grog flowed like wine.

[Shaggy Hiker]

What else should if flow like? You'd be a bit disappointed if it flowed like honey, wouldn't you?

[dday9]

I'm wanting to go back to school.

[dday9]

I've been accepted in my local university as of today.

[dday9]

Now I just have to apply for academic bankruptcy.

[dday9]

Whenever I last attempted school I took 37 hours and only completed 2.