spam bot question

[new home owner]

As a retired chemistry teacher, your classification of acid (lemon) as bitter instead of sour strikes me as unknowledgeable. Do people still call soil "sour" if the pH is too low?

 

[Becky]

Not sure I follow you here - what are you referring to?

 

[Chuck]

As a retired chemistry teacher, your classification of acid (lemon) as bitter instead of sour strikes me as unknowledgeable. Do people still call soil "sour" if the pH is too low?

I think the terminology of sour soil went out of use with my father and his generation. This was before the term acid rain was ever spoken. As the difference between bitter and sour I suppose that all depends on the extreme of either. I guess slightly bitter could be sour and vice versa.

 

[new home owner]

To prove I am human, I answered the question "name a fruit that is bitter and yellow." the answer lemon was accepted. Lemons are sour, not bitter because they are acid not basic. It is a point that my students always confused. It bothered me a tiny bit that this website continued that confusion and misinformation.

 

[MaryMary]

Welcome to the forum!!

I don't remember having to answer a question to prove that I am human... Maybe it's part of the spam filter @Ian put in after the "Invasion of the Great Wall of Spam," back in August? Only he or @Becky would know for certain. If it's a program he installed, I'd say the question was either already loaded into the program... or it could be another of those "across the pond" differences.

I wonder if it would have accepted "quince" ??

https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/spammers.9260/

 

[Beth_B]

To prove I am human, I answered the question "name a fruit that is bitter and yellow." the answer lemon was accepted. Lemons are sour, not bitter because they are acid not basic. It is a point that my students always confused. It bothered me a tiny bit that this website continued that confusion and misinformation.

Ah! I too was confused about the "Spam Bot" thread title, but thank you for clarifying that from a chemist's POV. I had never thought about the distinction. (what would be yellow and bitter? Persimmons? No, they're more orange.) hmmm.

Anyway, I'm not admin or mod but my guess is those capcha questions are bundled up with the forum software, which I think is out there for general use, and not specific to this forum. @Becky, @Ian or @zigs will surely correct me if I'm wrong.

Added...forgot about quince! Haven't eaten one in eons but they can be bitter if not ripe.
Would unripe fruit count? Like unripe yellow plums? Since I'm not working today I'm on a search for yellow fruit that is not sour, but bitter.
@MaryMary, go! Fetch!

 

[Beth_B]

https://www.google.com/search?q=bit...d-metropcs-us&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

 

[zigs]

Welcome to the forums

Not got access to the ACP on here, so can't sort it out, good point though

 

[Becky]

To prove I am human, I answered the question "name a fruit that is bitter and yellow." the answer lemon was accepted. Lemons are sour, not bitter because they are acid not basic. It is a point that my students always confused. It bothered me a tiny bit that this website continued that confusion and misinformation.

Ah right, I follow what you are talking about now. In common parlance they are often described as bitter, which suits the purpose of a robot check

 

[MaryMary]

@MaryMary, go! Fetch!

Nope, (sorry...) my "mad research skills" will be used on other things. It has to be a subject I have an interest in, and then I will search the net all day!!

::looks sheepishly at new home owner::

Chemistry never really held much interest for me. I'm actually hard put to describe the taste of anything as bitter, rather than sour. Black coffee is the best I can come up with, but it's acidic, too.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to learn about butterflies and "diapause."

 

[MaryMary]

suits the purpose of a robot check

Jumped back in to add - What a world we live in!!

Thirty years ago, if you had told me we'd be using robots to check if people were human, I'd have thought you'd gone mad!

And what an attractive, shiny tinfoil hat!

 

[Becky]

Thirty years ago, if you had told me we'd be using robots to check if people were human, I'd have thought you'd gone mad!

Nearly but not quite - it's software designed to catch out robots (other software)

 

[Beverly]

I wonder what the robot check would do if someone said "loquat" instead of "lemon"? Probably ask another question?

 

[Becky]

Off the top of my head, I think lemon is the only answer it will recognise.

 

[MaryMary]

Nearly but not quite - it's software designed to catch out robots (other software)

That's just semantics!!


I think I want a shiny hat.