Timewaster's Guide Archive

General => Everything Else => Topic started by: Firemeboy on January 19, 2007, 08:52:36 PM

Title: A first for me...
Post by: Firemeboy on January 19, 2007, 08:52:36 PM
I don't know if any of you read Digg, but it's a great site to get caught up on the latest geek news, among other stuff.  Anyway, I wrote an article on a blog that I contribute to, and it was submitted to digg and made it to the front page.  Kind of fun...

http://digg.com/tech_news/The_Wikipedia_dilemma_What_is_the_ideal_reading_level
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: Spriggan on January 19, 2007, 08:55:17 PM
that's awesome, your like internet famous for the day.
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: Firemeboy on January 19, 2007, 09:26:18 PM
Yeah, I probably just used up my 15 minutes.  Rats, I was hoping my 15 minutes involved dry ice, plastic tubing, and lots and lots of peanut brittle.
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on January 19, 2007, 10:32:56 PM
What about the rubber snakes?
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: Firemeboy on January 19, 2007, 10:58:09 PM
Well, the rubber snakes are implied, of course.  :)
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on January 20, 2007, 01:49:47 AM
I see you use your real name in this one.
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: Faster Master St. Pastor on January 20, 2007, 02:25:44 AM
Yeah, I probably just used up my 15 minutes.  Rats, I was hoping my 15 minutes involved dry ice, plastic tubing, and lots and lots of peanut brittle.

This 15 minutes wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the Darwin awards would they?
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: Peter Ahlstrom on January 21, 2007, 08:10:35 AM
Duuuuuuude what's the reading level of this paragraph from the Scurvy article?

Pathophysiology

Normal collagen synthesis depends upon the hydroxylation of proline and lysine residues in the endoplasmic reticulum, to form hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine, respectively. Prolyl and lysyl hydroxylase, the enzymes that catalyze the hydroxylation reactions, require vitamin C as a cofactor. In cases of chronic deficiency, hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine are not formed in appreciable amounts and the resulting collagen fibrils are considerably weaker. This is due in part to the loss of hydrogen bonding between hydroxyprolines and constituent heteroatoms within the collagen ?-helical trimer, which otherwise confer mechanical stability.
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: dawncawley on January 21, 2007, 08:03:16 PM
Umm, well, I cut and pasted that segment into Word, and did a Spell and Grammar check, which then gave me the readability score, which on the Flesch-Kincaide grade level was at a 12.0.  Don't worry, I didn't keep the work, I was just awfully curious about the answer to that question :)

Edit: That grade level seemed low to me and I remember that the ease of readability number was also on there, so I checked it, and the above mentioned paragraph had a readability score of  0.0, which I thought was interesting.
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: Pink Bunkadoo on January 22, 2007, 04:49:48 AM
in the endoplasmic reticulum

Wait, I know that word!  Endoplasmic reticulum.  Yes, it rings a bell.  Now what does it mean?
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: Archon on January 22, 2007, 10:36:04 AM
If memory serves, the endoplasmic reticulum is a part of animal cells that acts as a kind of transport system throughout the cell.
Title: Re: A first for me...
Post by: Shrain on January 22, 2007, 07:41:17 PM
Yeah, that sounds right. Hmm. I remember when I made this "cell cake" for AP Bio back at OHS. I got a pack of cinna-crystal gum, and shaped them into bunches of wavy endoplasmic reticulum. Funnest cake I ever baked. What sucked is that it took our teacher forever to grade them, so it was kinda too stale and gross to eat. Dang. And I was looking forward to devouring that cell.