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211 comments on DrumBeat: July 10, 2009

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TECHNO_ZOMBIE on July 10, 2009 - 10:04am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Hey now, hold on right there.....I am in the US, south florida to be exact, and I just took the quiz and got all 12 correct........Does that make me smart??? Is that why I went and spent all that money to get a PhD ?????? Wooo Hooooo.

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Darwinian on July 10, 2009 - 10:29am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Well I got all 12 right even though I am over 65, have only a high school education, (plus a few years of technical schools), was born in a sharecroppers shack and grew up on a rural Alabama cotton farm.

I think there is something more at play here rather than only demographics. The question most got right was the one about what prevents heart attacks. The question most missed was a true false, "Electrons are smaller than atoms". The results correct replies were less than 50%. Less than pure chance.

If you just watched TV all day you would soon gather that aspirin helps prevent heart attacks. The word "atom" is often used as a metaphor for something very tiny but the word "electron" is seldom, if ever, used in that regard.

It is the TV culture that is to blame...or perhaps something more sublime.

Ron P.

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Navigator on July 10, 2009 - 11:06am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I'm 62 and I got all of them right. I put down "some college" but I also have a lifelong technical career behind me. Still, I think I could have gotten all 12 right when I was in high school. I sent it to my adult kids who all have one or more degrees from major universities. It will be interesting to see how they do. None of their degrees are science related.

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RalphW on July 10, 2009 - 12:08pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

When you were in high school three of the questions could not have existed. :)

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bmcnett on July 10, 2009 - 2:01pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I got all 12 right too, but my score was 11 because one of the questions was wrong.

Antibacterials kill bacteria.
Antivirals kill virii.
Antibiotics may kill bacteria AND virii.

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darwinsdog on July 10, 2009 - 2:30pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The plural of virus is viruses, not "virii." And how can anything "kill" a macromolecular complex if it isn't even alive?

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bmcnett on July 10, 2009 - 2:47pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The word "kill" is often used figuratively (e.g. "bill killed in Senate") but yes! "virii" is not proper Latin. The Internet thanks you for picking on it.

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Han on July 10, 2009 - 5:48pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The word "kill" is often used figuratively (e.g. "bill killed in Senate")

Maybe antibiotics will kill bills also.
The point is that antibiotic means: against life (micro-organisms) and a virus doesn't live.

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bmcnett on July 10, 2009 - 7:37pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

By that logic, biowarfare can't include viruses, either.

Hey, look what patent I found:

BU-4641V, an antibacterial antiviral and antitumor antibiotic.
European Patent Application EP0560149

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old hermit on July 10, 2009 - 4:49pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Antibiotics may kill bacteria AND virii.

Name and references Please:

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BlueTwilight on July 10, 2009 - 11:34pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Written by bmcnett:
Antibacterials kill bacteria.
Antibiotics may kill bacteria AND virii.

The true/false question, "Antibiotics will kill viruses as well as bacteria," tests whether you understand the definition of "antibiotics." If you answered "true," you were wrong. By definition antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses. That an antibiotic may kill some viruses does not alter the correct answer.

This American answered all 12 questions correctly.

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Henri 2 on July 11, 2009 - 9:19am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

By definition antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses.

Antibiotics are there in two forms: bacteriostatica and bactericide. The bactericide antibiotica kill bacteria, the others prevent their division. Of course, ultimately with the same result.

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joemichaels on July 10, 2009 - 11:11am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

E.O Wilson grew up in rural Alabama. He said the backwoods areas of Alabama were in large part responsible for his becoming a naturalist.

You're in good company.

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WNC Observer on July 10, 2009 - 11:32am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

If people watched "Nova" every week, they would certainly have gotten all of the questions right.

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airdale on July 10, 2009 - 12:23pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I'm 70, watched(threw it out 8 yrs ago) no TV for many years, lots of technical training schools but no college except for inhouse core curricula and SoftWare Engineering at my previous employer(IBM).

I was born in a house with a midwife in attendance, never paid attention in grade and high school(skipped a lot). IQ tested at 150(if it matters).I am a Kentucky Red Neck. An electronics technician,field engineer,a staff level programmer,mainframe consultant, blacksmith, banjo picker , farmer and now retired and lay pretty much on my ass and do exactly what I want ,when I want.

I got all 12 correct and they were astoundingly simple questions. The planet question was solved by process of elimination.But I thought I heard it before. Taking tests is an art form, or so I believe. Yet this one required zero artwork

And I spend too much time on TOD.

Airdale

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Daxtatter on July 10, 2009 - 1:42pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

You are officially the man!

Daniel Achstatter

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airdale on July 10, 2009 - 8:37pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Nah,,,I believe every TODer who has a serious bone in his body should and likely will get all 12 right.

Airdale-the banjo picking I cherish,the rest was just killing time

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tonyw on July 10, 2009 - 11:14am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Wooo Hooooo, I just skewed the results by doing this from Yuwrop and got all 12 correct but had to guess about the "no longer a planet", knew that one had recently been reclassified as a "something" but since can't remember the order had a guess and got it right:-)
I don't have a PhD but employ a few:-)
Will try this on my primary school kid tonight.

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Nate Hagens on July 10, 2009 - 2:34pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I got 12 right but then missed the ones about my age and sex.

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barrett on July 10, 2009 - 4:05pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

All the surveys I have taken think I'm a 98 year old Tibetan woman making $100K.

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Leanan on July 10, 2009 - 4:32pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

And I am a 100-year old man, living in Afghanistan if they ask for a country, and in Schenectady if they ask for a zip code (12345). My profession varies, from agriculture to art to finance.

Honestly, I see no reason to give them any real info about me for free.

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ericy on July 10, 2009 - 5:15pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

My long lost brother!!!

I too discovered where zip code 12345 really is in much the same way. Afghanistan is usually one of the first in the pulldown list. The ones that really annoy me are the websites that force you to register and then want to send you a confirmation email that you must respond to before you can use the site.

Some sites let you enter a birth year in freeform text instead of with a pulldown. I tried entering dates like 1860, but for some reason they wouldn't accept that. Nor would they accept 2030. But some will accept something like 2008.

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Catskill on July 10, 2009 - 5:18pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Art Vandelay of Vandelay Industries (importer/exporter)

that's always a good one for a survey or anything where you don't want to use a real name

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TDI on July 10, 2009 - 10:52pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

For these kinds of registrations:

NgoSpam@hormel.com

If a "Company" field needs to be filled in:

"North American Veeblefetzer" (The imaginary corporate conglomerate in Mad Magazine satires.)

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martinw on July 10, 2009 - 11:40pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

in Schenectady if they ask for a zip code (12345).

Aahhh, thank you for clearing up a longstanding puzzle I've had. Yahoo news would sometimes display news from Schenectady for me. Obviously it must be when I happen to be logged into my yahoo account, and I must have entered the 12345 fake zip code for that account.

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tonyw on July 11, 2009 - 5:23pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

"Will try this on my primary school kid tonight." my 11 year old got all 12, the 9 year old got 8 and they're both down as 65+

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211 comments on DrumBeat: July 10, 2009

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