The Lounge

This is the official poll. Vote for you favorite classic science post from the monthly blog carnival on Giant's Shoulders from the following list: Remember. the winner gets 20 bucks, so this is serious business. From The Renaissance Mathematicus, we have a very interesting post, A loser who was really a winner. It's a tale of Christoph Clavius, educational reformer who played a pivotal, if oft forgotten role, for the 17th century mathematics revival and astronomy. As an extra treat blogger Thony Christie is presenting a more detailed lecture version this post at the Remeis Observatory in Bamberg at 7:00 pm on 24th June (for those of you in the area... I wis…

I hope it isn't a strange topic. You know that european story of stone soup, a beggar took a stone and tricked an old lady into cooking up a pot of delicious soup with cabbage, carrots and stuff. Another version of the story, the beggar is replaced with three soldiers who return from war, who took a huge pot, cooked stone and water and tricked the villagers into adding ingredients. now, its is just a story, but the Moral of the story is odd to me. btw, I'm chinese, so there could be a slight difference in personal views. I feel the moral of the story is don't be gullible. but the moral of these story mentioned by some authors seem to praise the action of the trickers…

I guess this shouldn't be too surprising -- we see this here in Florida every time there's a hurricane warning that doesn't pan out into an actual strike (the next time there's always a larger number of folks who don't heed evacuation warnings), and I'm sure examples abound all around the planet. I guess what they're saying in this Telegraph article is that there's been some criticism (from who I'm not clear) about the tsunami alarm that was issued following the Chilean earthquake. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/chile/7342088/Chile-earthquake-scientists-defend-tsunami-false-alarm.html Well duh. I know it's an inconvenience to evacu…

Even when they need to. Fascinating op/ed piece in Washington Monthly about the failures of the modern regional accreditation system in the US and the sad story of Southeastern University, a small school in Washington, D.C. The accreditation issue has come up in the national spotlight recently following the Obama administration's Education department's demands for regional accreditation bodies to toughen up their standards. The only reservation I have about this piece is that it doesn't mention the simple fact that Federal student loans are also available to a whole body of schools with a far LOWER standard of practice -- national accreditors. These bodies repres…

Hi, Several days ago I started a new thread on six different science forums (including this one) entitled: “(the furthest we can see - the smallest we can see)/2=radius of Earth!” It made a claim based on half a dozen ‘inaccurate’ values for the most part (one or two values which would have been obviously wrong happened to be correct). The responses of each forum were very interesting. The forums involved were: http://www.physicsforums.com/ http://www.thescienceforum.com/index.php http://www.scienceforums.net/forum/index.php http://www.sciforums.com/ http://www.sciencechatforum.com/ http://www.sciencefile.org/ Without naming forums (though this is ea…

Promising clean energy, boom or bust? Major announcements tomorrow... How it works bloom energy website

Hey everyone, I am looking for a host that charges monthly. I don't want to pay in advance and get stuck with a provider. Stumbled on chime host however I can't seem to find many websites reviewing them. I see ipage on hosting review sites but they force yearly payment for the low price. so who do you recommend?

Is it a bad idea to send your paper to every journal on the planet, hoping one of them will accept it? If so, why? Also, my teachers seem strangely reluctant to discuss the subject of getting published, and yet my school actively encourages PhD students to get published. There seems to be a disconnect here and maybe a social dynamic here that I'm not being "let in" on. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. I submitted my first paper ever to a journal this week, and I'm finding the whole process a bit mystifying. I'm not even sure what happens if by some miracle the journal says "yes", or how likely that really is.

The title pretty much sums it up. Also, I wasn't sure where to post this, so apologies if it's not in the section it's supposed to be.

This story has supposedly has been on the news in the past couple of weeks: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/university_diaries/amy_bishop I wasn't aware until this week on Tuesday, I think. Or maybe it was last week Tuesday. Either way, interesting story. So far, I've read the general beliefs from people that she is crazy, etc.. etc.. I rarely believe anyone is crazy. I've studied into psychology, and few people are actually so schizophrenic that they kill people in a completely delusional state: and they live a schizophrenic live almost everyday. Those people need medication and to be brought off the streets asap. I've also been friends with some schizop…

is it true that if you swallow a 5p coin it will dissolve in your stomach?

I've been playing both awhile now.. Any of you guys or gals play around with those? If not, why kind of instrument do you play?

Hi everyone. I'm usually a lurker on this forum but I decided to make a thread to ask for some help. I'm a senior biology/chemistry student at a state university in Pennsylvania. I am geared generally toward human physiology/medical science. I will be graduating next fall, and I need to make the stressful decision of choosing a graduate school. Here is my problem in a nutshell: I don't know what I want to do. I am confident that I would be successful in a medical program. I get good grades and I am fairly sure that I would be successful as a doctor of some sort. I am being pressured (not strongly, but some) by my professors to enroll in a medical program. …

What is it and how do I acquire it?

I can only post this enquiry on this Forum, as I am pretty confused by some of the war mongering that is going on in the name of counter terrorism. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/04/the-coming-war-with-iran/ Last year, I recall hearing on BBC Radio 4, UK, that it would take Iran 10 years to enrich the Uranium that they had. Within the course of a year, it seems that Iran are preparing a nuclear warhead. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-02/19/content_9474738.htm My question is, to the members of this Forum: how much enriched Uranium would be required for Iran to build their 'Axis of Evil' warhead? And how much would be needed for …

There are several ways we can get energy to produce our electricity. Of course, a proper solution would likely be a mixture of all the options, but please pick a favorite and explain why you like it. Oh, and don't correct me on the non-option I included; it is there as a filter.

For the past some months there been alot of shows on Nostradamus on History Channel and even Newton on Nostradamus .

Why is it that no matter what faith you are,or even if you are an athiist. Why when something goes wrong ,or if a loved one is near death, Why does that person or persons say: OH MY GOD, PLEASE HELP ME OR MY LOVED ONE? I think that we, or I, search for something supernatural to come to us and save our loved one. Nobody! is exempt from this. Im just trying to understand humanity

Did anyone see the recent BIS study on potential jobs today's school kids could have in 20 years time? http://www.labnews.co.uk/laboratory_article.php/5211/2/2/science-jobs-of-the-future Some of them sound pretty interesting - avatar, memory augmentation surgeon, weather modification police I think I'd give the vertical farming a go - I know the BBC reported recently on a vertical farming trial at a British zoo (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8503498.stm) and it looks quite interesting. What would you choose?

I prepare asked this forward of on forums but I get not gotten any shapely answers. So here goes, any one know how I can make a quick $500?

Well, Apple has announced their newest unnecessary gadget for everyone to go out and buy. What do you think about it?

I was interested in buying this new fraud, i was just wondering if anyone had used it before and what your experience was with it.

anyone know where i can find a praying mantis/ mantid breeder in the mont vernon/ amherst/ nashua/ milford area in new hampshire, usa. thanx - cbs

From our friends at The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/science_channel_refuses_to_dumb "At this point, having the word 'how' in a show's title is about as close to scientific investigation as we get," Myers said. "In fact, I don't even know how we can justify airing a show like Mantracker at all. A cowboy hunts contestants down using his trailing skills? I guess you could say it makes the audience use 'observation' by watching what happens on screen." "Observation is a part of science, right?" Myers added.

I recently emailed this poem to a significant other Love is like a lump of gold, Hard to get, and hard to hold. Of all the girls I've ever met, You're the one I can't forget. I do believe that God above, Created you for me to love. He chose you from all the rest, Because he knew I would love you best. Forgetting how pragmatic, scientific and atheist both she and I are, I got this back. Thank you for the plagiarized poem it is very lovely although I detect a hint of cynicism. Not least because you said God sent me and we both know God if he exists at all is too busy playing Pac Man in another dimension. So to avoid anyone one else making the same mi…