Gracchus

My apologies tendered. I was, as you noted, considering the brick as an energy source and the room as the sink. Until, the brick reaches thermal equilibrium energy does indeed flow within the brick.

Jobar

Not to embarrass you, Gracchus, but HRG is a professor of physics. He knows whereof he speaks.

And welcome to II- we have any number of highly qualified people here, and though we do make mistakes, as Darwin's Terrier will testify, those mistakes are usually caught toot sweet.

Megusic

aaaaaaah!! you guys!!! all this back and forth and i don't even know what's going on! where is the blushing face when i need one?? that'll work i suppose. if only i had the time and energy right now to look up everything you are talking about!!

i did want to add one more thing htat i just remembered about the comments from said roommates boyfriend. while archeologist's were discussing the similarities between Lucy's and modern man's pevlis' (pelvises?) the guys says "so what? might as well compare a cow's to a horses!" i was involved in another convo while i overheard this one and wasn't paying attention enough to realize i had overheard it until i started thinking about it the past couple of days. anyway, any thoughts?? although i'm sure your replies will be above my current mode of thinking i'd like to hear what you have to say to this one.

you guys really are great btw, so passionate about this stuff...

Quetzal

Hey Meg! Actually, what this person said isn't all that far off. Australopithecus and the various flavors of Homo are different species - like comparing cows and horses, I suppose. Heck, they're not even in the same genera. The interesting bit about Lucy's pelvis is the shape of it shows that she was bi-pedal. In other words, she walked upright like us rather than brachiated or stooped over like an ape. The knee joint that was found (from a different specimen, but still Australopithecus), and the position of the foramen magnum on Lucy's skull also shows upright posture. So yeah, comparing her to a human is sort of like comparing a horse to a cow. However, comparing her to a human and an ape for instance shows how unequivocally she's closer to us than them.

If Ergaster's around, you'll get much more than you bargained for as a answer - but she's a gen-u-wine paleoanthropologist so knows whereof she speaks.

Oolon Colluphid

I can’t easily find an online pic of the Australopithecus afarensis AL 288-1 (aka Lucy)’s pelvis compared to a human and a chimpanzee, so this one of A africanus will have to do. It’s near enough -- certainly nearer to the africanus than either of the other two. Judge for yourself whether there might be a connection.



Cheers, DT