[projectaon] Re: 25totw errata
- From: Sam Seaver <samseaver@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:38:07 -0500
> Re the physical size of the bacteria: can they not form bacteria
> mats/colonies in places on earth? (or is that just algae?)
> Fossil stromatolites of such things exist, I think?
Yes but such mats have food available in every direction, i. e. you
find them in water.
>
> --
> http://www.feline1.co.uk
>
> On Wed 27/04/11 9:20 AM , Timothy Pederick pederick@xxxxxxxxx sent:
>
> On 26 April 2011 02:15, Jonathan Blake <blake.jon@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> The word "bacteria" is often used as a
>> singular, so do we want to distract the majority of readers who
>> couldn't decline a Latin noun if their life depended on it?
>
> I'm as pedantic as you, but I just had to comment on this because of the
> mental image it gives me: someone accepting (i.e. not declining :-P) a Latin
> noun, and it leaps up and kills them...
>
>>
>> Unless Dargorse is a location that I've forgotten about, I'd say
>> "dargorse buds".
>
> Quite aside from the debate on when to capitalise former backpack items, I'd
> say that "dargorse" is a name for a particular fantasy species of gorse, not
> a location.
>
>> Pedantic as I am, I can't help pointing out that you probably meant
>> "epidemic" instead of "endemic". ;)
>
> endemic, n. Prevalent in a particular area or region. [Or book.]
>
>
> On 26 April 2011 22:21, Sam Seaver <samseaver@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> I don't know the correct grammatical term for this, but we do not
>> normally use "this/these" in front of a word like bacteria, its
>> actually too generic of a term. But then, I typically refer to
>> individual species in my work. Come to think of it, its the same with
>> "people", its rare to hear someone say "These people."
>
> Probably a dialectic or idiomatic thing, but "these people" is not at all
> unusual to my ears.
>
>>
>> The word "Bacillus" is a genus name, it should be capitalized (ie our
>> genus is Homo, our species is sapiens.)
>
> Only where the generic name is not also a common name, like Geranium vs.
> geranium, or Octopus vs. octopus -- especially where, as in these two
> examples and probably also the case of "bacillus", the common name
> encompasses more than just that genus.
>
>> On an unrelated point, it seems incredible that there's enough for 5
>> meals. Bacteria grow on surfaces, they don't grow in volume, only
>> where there's food in direct contact. Imagine for 1 meal, you'd need
>> enough bacteria to fill the volume of your average apple, the surface
>> area required to grow bacteria to fulfill this requirement for one
>> meal alone is staggering.
>
> If the real world can give us bacteria like Epulopiscium and Thiomargarita,
> almost a millimetre in length and visible to the naked eye, then a fantasy
> world can surely give us bacteria the size of small seeds or even rice
> grains. :-)
>
>
> On 27 April 2011 05:32, Jonathan Blake <jonathan.blake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>>
>> "At once you recognize the bacteria to be Gnallia, a benign species of
>> bacillus that is often used to prevent and cure infections of the
>> blood. The raw bacteria are edible and rich in protein, and there is
>> sufficient here for 5 Meals."
>
> This sounds just fine to me.
>
> --
> Tim Pederick
>
--
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mathematics and Computer Science Division
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 S. Cass Avenue
Argonne, IL 60439
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sam-seaver/0/412/168
samseaver@xxxxxxxxx
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