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The whole practice of carbon dating shouldn't really be used anyway as it is flawed to begin with.

Growing an avacado from a pit is pretty cool. After you use an avacado, take the pit and suspend it, round side down, in a small bowl or glass of water. I use 3 toothpicks, stuck into the outside of the avacado, roughly equidistant around the middle and halfway down. You want maybe the lower 1/3 in the water. After that, some references will tell you to give it a week in the dark, and some say to just sit it in the sun. I am lazy, so I just put mine on the windowsill and let them go.

After a week to a month, the darned thing will sprout. You'll want to keep water in the bowl, and let it grow until you have 3 or 4 strong leaves. Then transplant to a small pot, keep it watered, and there you have it.

You won't get a full-sized tree (they grow 60' 70' tall in the wild) and you probably won't get fruit, but the leaves are pretty, and its cool to tell people that you're growing an avacodo tree.

This is a decent refs: at AllSands.com. Of course a google for "growing avacado" will get 100s of results as well.

I've also grown small herbs (ha ha, not THAT herb) in office settings. Basil, oregano, thyme, some mints .. the plants are pretty, they smell great, and if they get plenty of sun they'll flower. Nothing big and showy, but quite nice overall.

I for one live in Connecticut, and i know that we are a target for terrorists. For we have major plants for kaman areospace http://www.kamanaero.com/ , Pratt & Whitney http://www.pratt-whitney.com/, Sikorsky http://www.sikorsky.com/, a Navel base in New London http://www.subasenlon.navy.mil/, a nuclear sub http://www.allsands.com/History/Places/grotonconne ctic_tz_gn.htm, and finally, the company that makes all your viraga http://www.pfizer.com/

oops, that second link should be Searching for Atlantis, it contains the quote in italics above.

I didn't know why they consider blood type as a hiring factor, so I found this:

Personality assessment through blood type analysis has been prevalent in Japan sine the early 1970's. The Japanese term for this theory is 'ketsu-eki-gata', and is taken surprisingly seriously by the people from that part of the world. Books have been published on the topic, selling very well. In fact, Toshitaka Nomi has published over twenty-five books, and is considered the worlds leading expert on the topic. The blood type categories are used in a similar way to astrology in the west, focusing mostly on relationship aspects of life. Nomi goes further in his books though, even using blood type make up within a country as a theory for that nationality's general national traits.

Japanese companies often take blood type into consideration when hiring employees, to ensure harmony throughout the staff. All the major car companies in Japan have reorganised themselves in order to attain positive blood type combinations in different working sectors. Surveys have been carried out to try and determine the preferences of different blood types, be it for food, clothes or any recreational activity. It is also a popular topic of conversation in social settings.

More can be found here.

For my next shot, I'll pick on Catholics for believing they actually eat the body of Christ and drink the blood of Christ. It's not just wine & bread once it's been consecrated. Most Catholics don't think about that, but ask a priest about it.

In the bad old days, Catholics would burn you at the stake if you though that the wafer was just a wafer and that the wine was just wine.

More info about transubstantiation

Well, you'll only get modded as offtopic, but since this is probably of interest to most slashdot readers I'll help out.

Give All Sands laxatives or the constipation constitution advice a peruse.

Try eating lots of peanuts, prunes, sweetcorn, beans and fried eggs all mushed together in a blender.

Good luck!

Puffer fish are so cool. If prepared incorrectly for sushi, people can die. They are also known to cause mild hallucinagenic effects. I think the Iron Chefs should be preparing Fugu. (puffer fish sushi) =)