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[Tack]

Here’s one for ya, is GMO organic?

[Mathel]

Yes, Geneticaly Modified Organisms are indeed organic. Pretty much all organisms are.

Edit: I find it strange that food is sometimes labeled "Bio" or "Organic". Both of these are true about pretty much everything we would want to eat anyway, salt being an exeption.
Both "organic" and "bio" just mean that the product is in some way related to life.

[Trekkin]

Both "organic" and "bio" just mean that the product is in some way related to life.

"Organic", at least in a scientific context, means that a molecule contains at least one bond between carbon and another element.

In a commercial context, it mostly means "marketed toward chemophobes."

[bloop_bleep]

"Organic", at least in a scientific context, means that a molecule contains at least one bond between carbon and another element.

Is limestone organic then? 

I find it strange that food is sometimes labeled "Bio" or "Organic". Both of these are true about pretty much everything we would want to eat anyway, salt being an exeption.

Of course, that doesn’t stop corporations from calling salt “organic” too.

[Gentlefish]

"Organic", at least in a scientific context, means that a molecule contains at least one bond between carbon and another element.

Is limestone organic then? 

I find it strange that food is sometimes labeled "Bio" or "Organic". Both of these are true about pretty much everything we would want to eat anyway, salt being an exeption.

Of course, that doesn’t stop corporations from calling salt “organic” too.

Technically? Yes! Limestone is typically the remains of shelled organisms compressed over time.

As for the food definition of organic, it typically means no lab-synthesized chemicals were used on the process of its growth. Manure instead of fertilizers and some really nasty stuff instead of synthetic pesticides.

[pisskop]

The foodstuff definition is kind of a marketed term; lifted from its original context.  it was developed as an addendum to the scientific term and has become entrenched as a household name.  The word still implies a US backed certification though.  And presumably other countries have similar standards.

[Trekkin]

Technically? Yes! Limestone is typically the remains of shelled organisms compressed over time.

Even more technically, functionally yes but formally no*, because rocks aren't chemicals. Minerals are, although there's some additional structural data there too so it's not 1:1, but petrology doesn't usefully define exact chemical compositions for rocks because they vary so widely. Calcium carbonate is organic, so calcite is, but limestone isn't that kind of thing.

So asking if limestone is organic is much like asking if eggs are levorotatory; even though there's an answer that's more correct than the alternative, it's enough of a kludge that people could spend all day arguing over whether it's right and learn nothing.

EDIT before some pedant jumps in: *also definitionally no because carbonates are among the compounds that meet the general definition of being organic but aren't considered so for historical reasons, which is a nice way to say "we realized vitalism was wrong too late to fix the taxonomy we built around it"

tl;dr:

Is limestone organic then? 

Mu.

[wierd]

So, I decided to solder on a UART header on my NAS box's mainboard last night.

The through-holes for the header were poorly wetted with solder, and were corroded/oxidized. 


Two hours later, with lots of babying and repeated application of noclean, I managed to wet TWO of the through holes. (It's a 4 pin header).  The other two? Fuck no. Solder NOT going through the holes at all.

I just freaking love technology.

[bloop_bleep]

I definitely remember seeing a definition of “organic” that excluded calcium carbonate before. I guess there are conflicting definitions, like with so many other terms.

[wierd]

carbonates can be the result of purely geological processes, and this is the thinking behind the exclusion.

It's purely a fallacy of course, carbon is carbon no matter how it got there. 

[Trekkin]

I definitely remember seeing a definition of “organic” that excluded calcium carbonate before. I guess there are conflicting definitions, like with so many other terms.

Yeah, so have I, but it's trivial to poke holes in those definitions. For example, I was taught in middle school that organic compounds have carbon-hydrogen bonds, but tetranitromethane is organic and contains no hydrogen at all.

"Has carbon" is about the closest we can come to a consensus definition, and there's no real need to define it precisely anyway since it's not a meaningful demarcation. This idea that we need separate organic and inorganic chemistries is a relic of a bygone age that has persisted because it's handy, not because it's real.

[Kagus]

The Norwegian version of the "Organic" food label is "Økologisk"... Meaning it's Ecological food.

Which is obviously a vastly superior and more specific term.

[scriver]

It's just eco-logical

[IcyTea31]

Finnish uses luonnonmukainen, shortened to luomu, meaning "nature-emulating". Essentially, organic farming is a fanfic of how the plant or animal might grow in nature (if it wasn't selectively bred to a point where it wouldn't survive without human aid).

[TamerVirus]

Can I download this ‘nature-emulator’ on my lapto? Or do I need to download more RAM first?