The Lounge

I don't believe our universe will last forever in its present state or any other state for that matter. But since I believe it to be ever evolving, we might call that Perpetual. Other than that, to me perpetual motion is a no no. But what if a man made contraption could be created that might operate for say, a thousand years continuously of its own volition? No wind, no nuke, no water falls or rivers to assist in the process? At least we could call it un-interrupted for that short period of time! I've seen a few experiments done with capacitive inductance that look a bit promising, but nothing that would even power a small motor for any length of time. Yet, at the atomic…

Okay, I've been having a bit of phone trouble lately. No dial tone. As the handset was old and rented from Telstra I went to the Telstra shop to get a replacement. Seems simple, doesn't it? So I'm standing in the Telstra shop this morning with my phone in my hand and say "My phone doesn't work, I need a replacement". Simple request, one would think. The charming young lady looks at me and replies "What you need to do is phone Telstra and we will give you a reference number, then you come in here and we will give you a new phone." Still with my broken phone in hand I look at her and say "Phone them about my broken telephone?" "Yes." I looked at her…

I just stumbled onto this, I can be naive, can be a Hollywood production, perhaps not. ---> I have no cell phones to try myself There is a related recent thread, but in Politics; I prefer to post it here. Please delete if improper.

My city recently introduced a bicycle sharing program: http://denver.bcycle.com/ The community maintains a fleet of bicycles. In order to use them, you have to sign up on the web site, pay a flat membership fee ($70/yr, iirc), and then insert your credit card at any stand to obtain a bicycle. Information about what bicycles are available where is available through the web site (also mobile apps). The first 30 minutes of usage are free. After that, you are charged a sliding scale depending on how long you keep the bike. A host of other features are offered, including GPS-based routed tracking (you can look up where you went on the web site after the fact) …

First the colonies, now that goal. Is there anything that won't slip through your fingers, England?

It's probably going to happen. Sometime in the future, peope will likely use advances in genetics and biochemistry to enhance the intelligence of animals. These can form a new kind of intelligent species for us to communicate with. But also the overly fanatic might claim we've been granted rightful dominion over those animals to do as we please, triggering debates on enslavement. We often make the final progress in such debates, but the real kicker is when people begin using the advances to place their own consciousness directly into animals -- whether it's a brain transplant and/or some kind of digitally-enabled transfer. Will the person still have rights in an…

Hey, I just wanted to know everyones opinion on this serious conspiricy theory, I'm full aware that some of you probably think it's rubbish, and some might not know. It's explained in this video. I thought it would be nice discussion, more on the sciences of everyday life, than chemical; so yeah, what do you think of it?

Email are not secret. These documents can be register both wrong and exterior of your orderliness. For representation, your group administrator can translate the last text of your strategic acquisition agreement or medical diligent collection. Our mailboxes are material with junk collection, and the situation is exploit worsened every month. Due to the implicit pandemic delivery organization of email, this difficulty cannot be prevented, level with the optimum fashioned netmail filters. Telecommunicate can be parlous. Computer viruses are most commonly delivered through telecommunicate because there is no authorisation execution for t…

Hi all Many companies or organizations do risk assessments to figure out what could go wrong. They then assess the likelihood of things going wrong, the impact they would have on the organization, and then they take preventative action, devoting more resources to those risks that are expected to have the worst impact. If it is a good idea for companies or organizations to perform risk assessments, it follows that individuals should also apply risk management to themselves. I intend to do this. I have begun brainstorming a list of threats to my survival. It is below. I am worried because maybe there are some risks that I have missed out that are not on the …

How fast is our universal speed? From where are we coming, and to where are we going? I've heard everything from, it isn't moving at all; to light speed, or greater, then to slow down and freeze over??? Since I'm not well enough equipped to even begin answering such a question, maybe someone can help.

I'm taking a poll, http://www.snappoll.com/poll/332977.php (Do you know what fire is?) It will help me in my study. Thanks

British petroleum sucks... except when they have to ! Where is the mystery in installing a sucking pump at the surface to suck the petroleum from the leaking pipe joint so it sucks seawater in instead of leaking petroleum out ?

Since I'm a little more Agnostic than religious, I thought such a snippet best go here. An English comedian narrates this little gem reminding Americans that America should not be a proving ground for Middle East Networking. Most memorable line in this: "America is being crippled by political correctness..." Wow! ..Google up, "Pat Condell on Ground Zero mosque": "Is it possible to be astonished, but not surprised?"

While I've never been a "conspiracy" nut case, this oil spill thing in the gulf has me wondering? Of all the areas that could have been drilled on land or in much more shallow water, why was B.P. demanded to drill so deep? With the Anwar in Alaska as an example, and many other areas on the high and dry, again, why so deep? And trying to cap, plug or control a well @ a 5,000ft. depth, and after the fact, is like trying to cram a wet noodle up a "Wild Cats" behind. And to lose a full crew in the process doesn't make any sense either. But then, we are trying to get away from oil and go with wind, solar and probably more atomic power. What a waste of resource. To think, a dri…

A potato is a starchy. comestible tuber quarter to South America and soign‚e all all involving the world. Potatoes compel ought to been domesticated in countenance of at an limit 10,000 years, and over and beyond an characteristic thousand varieties are known, although even-handed a fraction of this bevy are perfect commercially. Potatoes leeway an imposing commission in the teaching and bust of multitudinous South American countries, and were adopted into European cuisine and urbanity when they were introduced in the 1600s.

Hey guys, My name is Mark and I am from Stirling in the United Kingdom. I have recently discovered this forum and I like it very much. I am a little bit shy so I wont talk much about me but maybe when I will get confortable, you guys will get to know me better! My main hobbies are dance and watching movies. I also love outdoor activites but the temperature has been very bad for the last weeks or so here in Stirling in the city|. I was wondering if anyone else here is from the united Kingdom too? I am glad to have joined this forum! Cheers! Mark PS: I apologize if this was posted in the wrong topic. I could not find the good one!

The idea of selling some science-related shirts has been floating around here off and on for a long time now. I'd like to do this, but I don't have the creativity that some of you have. What do you think would make good shirts? Personally, I like shirts that are clearly geeky, but in a retro-illustration style. Here's what I mean by "retro-illustration sytle." I also like a bit of wit or sarcasm, or play on words, or anything really. I saw a shirt yesterday that said, "What's so hard about rocket science?". It had some cheesy 70s illustration that was quite humorous. Anyhow, I know many of you are very creative . I don't know how many of you are good…

Was questioning Google on the possibility of permanently magnetizing a "ball bearing"? Since this question isn't new, I searched through four or five pages of answers and never come across anything substantive, but did see some gimmicks. Can it be done? Never tried it, but I don't think so. Yet, with five hundred miles of molten iron at the core of our planet and it's polarized, "How"?

Hi all im new to the forum and im in no way claiming to be all that knowledgeable about science, i do have a interest though and i thought i would share a college project i finished recently (a graphic design project - typography class) my brief was to design a booklet labelled 10 things about.... i chose science and the book in the series would be about our world. i based the booklet around the teachings of - in my opinion the great carl sagan from the big bang, the sun, evolution....all the way to the planet x theory. im posting it up here in hope you'll enjoy it and if you would like i'd be more than happy to post whoever's interested a digital co…

Well, the odds finally caught up with me and my family. We just got back from vacation early Saturday morning to discover we were robbed. They emptied my entire studio, every bit of it except for a couple of microphones still in the box that they apparently didn't realize were there. Turns out it happened the night we left. As we were enjoying the mountainous view of Colorado via Highway 160, our house was being invaded and my life's mission and purpose stolen. They got my precious Ibanez SC420 Classic electric guitar, a rare model that isn't manufactured anymore. I took immaculate care of it. God it's almost like losing a child. I've had this pit in my stoma…

I thought you all might enjoy getting angry at this dweeb. Some of the comments in response are great. http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2010/06/01/opinion/doc4c04756303926753836832.txt

Hello everybody. I am a rep for a supercomputer company and I don't trust what they are saying about the climate. I believe this is a natural cycle and I don't think they have the evidence. I think they are just trying to get money. I know how this works because I take that money. They need the money to get paid then they take the money and pay me. It's a scam and while I don't want to lose my money I think these scientists are not telling the truth.

so I cam here and tried to post in politics and it's NOT WORKING. do you have some liberal elite who can post in politics? that is WRONG just tonight I found out obama has not even met the CEO of BP and THE LAW says he is responsible for cleaning up the oil spill, not BP and there is a $75 mil limit on the money BP should spend at which point it's OBAMA whould should clean up the oil and OBAMA is not doing anything and this is a huge problem. but I guess there are a bunch of liberal elites here who do not want to talk about these topics

With modern technology to safeguard privacy and protect against identity theft, there is no reason why we couldn’t put an end to illegal drug trafficking, whether it be international, interstate, or on school campuses. Why we haven’t seen this proposed before is beyond me. All we have to do is institute a worldwide cashless society by eliminating cash flow facilitated by paper bills or coin as the means for monetary transactions. Again, with modern technology it should be a snap! Secure servers are already available, and if all commerce was only facilitated by means of monetary transference through electronic personal debit or deposit transactions, there would be no …

The wish list of Robert Boyle was recently found outlining what he predicted science would achieve. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/03/robert-boyle-royal-society-wishlist Several of his predictions seem to be rather good; development of ures for infections, traveling underwater, hair dye! With that, what are peoples new wish lists that you predict will occur in the next 100 years or so. I'd like to see medicine that is personally taloired (i.e. not general for a certain disease), humans living on another planet/moon/asteroid, a clean form of energy to serve the whole world.