The Lounge

Put another way: Have there been any clear advances or benefits to science as a direct result of this forum? Scienceforums.net has been around for many years now, and I love it. I know it has helped me, and it is an invaluable resource for a layman to be able to ask professional scientists questions. Or for scientists to ask themselves questions. Think about the state of communication 30 years ago compared to today. You would think that a forum (like this one) that offers virtually instant communication between scientists around the world, giving them the ability to share and compare ideas, theories, and thoughts, would be a huge boost to technological/scie…

Every few years or so, there is a coming End of The World that colorfully deranged quacks widely believe will come to pass. As anyone reading this is no doubt already aware, in the past few years there has been a lot of noise about the year 2012, apparently due to the date of the end of a cycle in the Mayan calendar, though practically every apocolypse has now become associated with it as well. They even made a mainstream disaster movie about it! There has been so much noise, in fact, that it seems on the verge of a Quack Consensus. In fact, I haven't heard any End of the World predictions about any later dates. So, my question is, once 2012 is in the past, when will …

Any takers?

Let me start with my own response: 1) Values--what is good, what is beautiful. Science will never be able to tell us that the Brandenburg Concerto #3 is better than the Symphony Fantastique, or to go to the ridiculuous, dirty rap songs; 2) Science can not answer why questions, particularly why science works, or in the words of Eugene Wigner, explain "the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences"; 3) There are other mysteries within the scientific project--to mention just one, quantum non-locality, which the French physicist/philosopher, Bernard D'Espagnat, is a manifestation of the veiled face of reality; 4) science cannot prov…

which of these get payed more? physicist a chemist a programmer and a computers/signals security tech

So I have been wondering what the average SFN user is like. So I created a short, (7 multiple choice), survey to see what most SFN members are like on certain subjects. The survey will ask for no personal information, and is meant only for the purpose of my own curiosity. If you wish to take the survey here is the link: Survey to Determine Average SFN Member If you guys would be willing to take the minute or two to take the survey it would be greatly appreciated. I will post the findings of the survey, once it is over. I know that surveys are often posted on here, but please realize this is in no way spam, and that I am only doing this because I am curio…

Hello. Would like to find out some details/colaboration/information about Crooke's radiometers, from any SFN member residing in Paris. Thanks

I went to turn on my computer the other day and i ended up getting a blue screen after windows was loaded and after i logged into my account. Now being a slightly better than your average computer user i tried to track down the cause of the bluescreen to get around it. i found that if i enter safe mode i don't get a blue screen, atleast until i tried to open either of my AV programs. also it seemed that if i tried to open firefox it would freeze, though i only tried to do it once, and all 3 of these happenings i did at once. ( i know, when troubleshooting computer issues your supposed to do it singularly, but i tried to multitask.) The bluescreen flashes and my compu…

So its getting to be that time of year again were many SFN'ers are going back to school. So what are your guy's schedules, or if you are teaching what are you teaching? My schedule is: -ENGLISH 125: College Writing (4 Credit Hours): This is just the standard required freshman writing course. According to what I have heard the focus of this course is on learning and refining the revising process. To do this my section will look at material, both fiction and non-fiction, pertaining to mental illness. -MATH 295: Honors Mathematics I (4 Credit Hours): This is the beginning of the advanced calculus sequence. This course focuses heavily on the theory rather than the a…

So i was walking to midnight snack the other day, and i happend to look up at a brilliant full moon. I wondered to myself, just how much energy the moon is giving off to illuminate the world around me by exciting the individual atoms within each structure to give off the frequencies of light that i precieve. Then my mind traveled to the amount of energy it even takes to excite an atom enough to give off light and the amount of energy within the light to travel distance. So just how much energy is required for that?

I like black sand in my aquariums, it is not only expensive but it has about 1/2 the volume by weight than white sand. the black sand cannot contain metals because it's safe to use with marine invertebrates which are very sensitive to metal poisoning. White sand is primarily SiO2, what is black sand made of? I may have found the answer to this.... Slica sand "SiO2" specific gravity 1.6 Ilmenite Sand "TiO2, Fe2O3, Cr2O3, MnO" specific gravity 4.6 Works for me....

I am in operation of a number predicting competition and need the "time stamp" to prove numbers were not altered several of the competitors have shown an uncanny ability to predict numbers with extraordinary accuracy. I Imagine as science buffs the majority of you would shrug off such as nonsense and coincidence and nothing extraordinary Where as I personally believe there is more about the human mind and body we don't understand than there is that we know. So please allow me to see if these competitors can consistently anticipate a mechanical (or true) RNG thank you. 30 26 14 17 19 24 3 2 4 15 30 18 23 28 34 1 33 25 16 22 28 35 15 25 3 1 31 17 26 33 5 15 15 15 4 3 30 10…

I'm not sure if there is such a thing, I'm looking for internet radio that is all constant science news 24/7. Likely via the internet. I'm not sure how many of you watch NASAtv http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/in… ..or even Chris Pirillo's channel but I'm looking for something like that for ALL of science though, not just space or tech. I don't care if it is video or audio either! I have a few podcasts already, this is not what I am looking for. I want science RADIO!! Anyone know of anything close to this?

Jack Horkheimer, PBS's "The Star Gazer", passed away on Friday at the age of 72. Horkheimer was director of Miami's Space Transit Planetarium, and hosted his unique astronomy program every week for the past 31 years. The show featured current events in the sky for amateur astronomers, and was seen on PBS affiliates around the country. Any South Florida native will tell you that the planetarium is a staple of growing up here, and he no doubt inspired many children to pursue careers in all branches of science. His passing is an opportunity to recognize the tireless work of countless planetariums around the world and their undeniable influence on generation after ge…

Hi, I was thinking, could it be that existence is consciousness or at least conscious.... This would possibly explain how we ourselves as conscious beings are able to view and experience the world. As perhaps consciousness can only see and interact with consciousness itself, whereby we cannot see atoms, for arguments sake, not because they are too small but because they are not conscious. However, their system or the 'matrix of matter' as i've heard it called is conscious, therefore they can be observed. Now you might say, well, when we get down small enough to the microscopic level, atoms and their constituents can be observed. But, perhaps, we are just observin…

This Saturday August 21 is the third annual "Go Topless Day"! Will you participate? http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-will-you-take-it-all-off-on-topless-saturday/

This may be a weird topic, but I really wanted to start this discussion as I haven't seen many about it. First, I'd like you to see my dog (Rony): He is simply one of the cutest pets I've ever seen, as he acts friendly and shows some respect to his owners, he loves to be cared of and all that fawning we usually deliver to the dogs. In spite of being very friendly, we always observed he's extremely strong. He is VERY jealous. It was worse before he got 3 years old. When he came to us, he used to destroy anything that we had taken care of in front of him. Specially plants. Only those ones we had taken care of when he was looking at us. So, by the time …

Interesting story in the New York Times today looking at the auto industry's renewed shift to 4-cylinder engines. According to JD Power data cited in the article, 47% of all new cars sold in the US thus far in 2010 have 4-cylinder engines. This is up from just 30% in 2005 -- a very dramatic trend. Only 16% of new cars sold this year have had 8-cylinder engines in them. Some of this has to do with the "new normal" of gasoline -- stabilized at 2-3 bucks a gallon instead of the dollar or so many families were looking at when they made their previous car choices. But it matches a downward trend in SUV sizes (focus on "crossover" style rather than full-size) and an inc…

Terrible incident not involving Glen Beck.... http://www.theonion.com/video/victim-in-fatal-car-accident-tragically-not-glenn,14380/

I received a prescription for a drug to help with my lower back pain. The pain has since gone away but I have a lot of the drug left. The drug makes me more alert like an amphetamine, makes me feel good, is non-addicting, and costs me next to nothing. I like it. Is there any good reason I shouldn't keep taking it for recreational purposes? Is it any different than drinking coffee or scotch?

Mostly for the Brits on this forum: Has anyone received a letter from an organisation called SPUC? (Society for the protection of unborn children.) I have, and found it utterly abhorrent. I have attached a copy of the letter and my response to it below. If you have received such a letter and are a disgusted as I was, please let me know. I'm writing to the charity itself ad the Information commissioners office to get something done about this. Thanks Dear John Smeaton / SPUC Thank you for you letter Ref: PR46C / P 40773 / SARs3. Firstly I would like to know exactly how you obtained my name and address, without my consent or knowledge, moreover, with…

Just curious if any of you play. Thought maybe we could create teams or something.

I am currently working on a research project looking at perception of science and environmental issues. Could you please help me and take part in a short survey (15 minutes). Participation involves reading through two texts and then giving beliefs, attitudes, opinions or feelings about the issues raised. Here is a link to the survey: http://psy.ex.ac.uk/~pb255/rotate5 There are no trick questions and no right or wrong responses. Participation is voluntary, and anonymous. Results are only for research purposes. There are no anticipated risks or ethical issues. There will be a prize draw of 5 x £20 (US$30) Amazon Vouchers at the end of the questionnai…

there is an on-going project now here in the philippines and it involves the building of the first world class science museum in the phil. its expected to open in 2011 and i have to say that i'm really happy that us filipinos will get the opportunity to well, expand our minds. i've been dreaming of this since i was a kid.oh and the museum will call the mind museum.

a quote from www.skepdic.com, a site I recently starting using Just wanted to get everyones opinion on scientology, is it a religion worth getting into?