The Lounge

The other day I found my car covered in bird shit, which was annoying. Then I thought, there must be something positive I can take from this, and there is. Birds are dinosaurs, so I have dinosaur droppings on my car. Dinosaur droppincs! How cool is that? What different perspectives have you taken on a negative situation in an attempt to change it into a positive one?

Wilting of technology. Just to share.

Things that I remember being on the internet, stuff like that, being expunged from it, even things like entire words and their meanings (like fascismile from before), along with some stuff changing from how it was and it making me look... Really outrageous and hateable I guess The second has happened to me several times I wanted to ask if anyone else was having similar things happening to them or thought they were

I suffer from chronic pain and I want to use Red Light Therapy for sleep (so not directly aimed at eyes) but I have also inflammation and RSI! I can't find a definitive answer (because I have insane headaches and I can't even read currently) whether or not it is safe! I read NIR should be safe, because it is low energy radiation and it doesn't increase heat of an eye to the opposite from a laser! Also an ophthalmologist said the same thing, that it should be safe of this reason! But I also read it shouldn't be aimed direct even at closed eyes!!! But like on a wall, so it hits you indirectly! So what would be problem in this case, if it doesn't increase heat?! My que…

Last night on our regional news there was a member of the local air ambulance crew asking some (unknown) sad individuals to desist from shining laser lights at the air ambulance as it tries to land to pick up an emergency patient. He further said that a week earlier someone had tried to similarly stop a police helicopter landing. That individual had been caught and was now facing prosecution. But he also said that the aircrew has suffered real eye damage in the incident. So my question is how could joe average get hold of a laser capable of such damage?

I watched this over the weekend. Overall I thought it was a humorous, provocative, and scarily accurate depiction of what happens when human beings are confronted with a dire threat (in this case an extinction level event arising from a direct hit by a 5-10 km wide comet). Meryl Streep's character, President Orlean, was very well written. She's basically the female Trump, governing an administration infested with nepotism, corruption, and private donors. Interestingly this film was panned by critics - perhaps because it's message about the superficiality of the media hit a little too close to home. Synopsis from IMDB: "Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrenc…

Are there any badges here for members?

Over the last few years I have watched some momentous documentaries, that have brought tears to my eyes, and had me in awe with the beauty of nature and the environment.... The first one certainly did bring a tear to my eye, so keep a box of tissues handy... "Love and Bananas: An Elephant Story" "Chasing Ice" has breath taking scenary and much food for thought [as they all are] https://watchdocumentaries.com/chasing-ice/ Chasing Ice tells the story of nature photographer James Balog and the findings of his Extreme Ice Survey, a project that set out to study and expose the impact of global warming. The third is equally thought …

I am enjoying "The Expanse" and I am excited for "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" but it was a alternate history soap opera on Apple TV that has ignited my interest in real life space exploration and space science. Before COVID hit I watched the trailer and dismissed it as another astronaut wives club style soap opera but during the quarantine I decided to check it out due to curiosity and boredom. It turned out better than I expected. First 3 episodes were slow but after the story managed to grab my attention. Good selection of music too. Thanks to this sho…

Hi everyone, On the page http://www.askabiologist.org.uk/answers/viewtopic.php?id=6389 of the website http://www.askabiologist.org.uk, someone who claims to be Christopher LaRock asserts that the rabies virus be a poxvirus; he writes: "Poxviruses such as the one that causes rabies". Now, Poxviridae are DNA viruses while the rabies virus is an RNA virus, and the two viruses belong to two different realms (Varidnaviria and Riboviria, respectively), so they are about as far apart from each other as viruses can be if I understand it right. Therefore, the assertion of the answerer on http://www.askabiologist.org.uk who claims to be Christopher LaRock is fully false. This …

Just curious.

I was curious about how many and how often post in the forums. Here are the numbers for the week from Saturday, January 29 to Friday, February 4. Including only the members with more than 3 posts in the week.

What are you watching right now? I watched Downfall: The Case Against Boeing on Netflix. Great documentary about how Boeing abandoned their robust safety culture after a takeover from McDonnell Douglas, in which the main pursuit became short term profits over all else. Tragically, this infestation of greed and corruption at Boeing lead to the two tragic Lion Air and Ethiopian Air crashes due to the deeply flawed MCAS system. A good documentary for those who perhaps followed the story intermittently as it broke, but want a comprehensive summary of the extent to which Boeing defrauded the FAA and misled the public, with some direct accounts from Boeing em…

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer BY WALT WHITMAN When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars. Perhaps Walt Whitman came to the…

I am studying artificial intelligence for exam and came to a point where I need to revise everything I stuided. It ofc takes more effort in brain than learning the concept watching tutorials and reading blog posts as you need to memorize it(for exam). Any guidance, on how to crack this position and start revising in such a way everything enters my head? Will yoga and meditation help? How do you guys do yoga and mditation at night? My room is filled with dirt so It is not possible to do yoga here. I feel lazy to do yoga in morning outside. Should I go outside(top of my house) to do yoga and meditation? Will that help? Please guide? Sorry for off topic. Really bothering …

Case study In 1986 the Space Challenger crashed. Seven people died. As far back as 1977 Engineers knew the O rings were potentially fatal. Managers would not listen. The maker of the seal would not listen. Budgets and deadlines were just too tight. Professor Feynman was appointed to investigate. NASA smiled helpfully but knew his findings could prove embarrassing. Staff were scared to tell him publicly what they really knew. The solution eluded Feynman. It was only resolved when Feynman was invited to dinner. The chief engineer remarked on his car engine. The seal at low temperature failed so the pipe joints leaked. Bingo. All that was left was to schedule next day’…

I feel this women deserves a husband who is much better looking than her current husband.

Just as a thought experiment lets say that on June 25th the Pentagon confirms that UAPs or UFOs are indeed crafts of some sort from another place driven by the little grey guys so often described as being their pilots. I am going to add a poll for the four possibilities that cover what is being reported by people who see and or interact with the crafts.

20cm Stanley London brass Marine sextant. Antique 10 inch brass & wooden gimbal compass.

I recently had my first sexual experience and was surprised by how painful I found penetration. Once my penis was inside, there was no pain, but the entry was quite painful, to the point I was wary of it and I'm wondering, is this normal? I would say I am of average size, certainly not large, my partner was wet, so dryness was not a problem (and the problem was narrowness, not chaffing), my partner has given birth to two children (to the extent that says anything about her narrowness, not to be crude). Is entry supposed to hurt? Is this just me not being used to the experience? Could my partner be particularly narrow?

Novak Djokovic is a Serbian tennis player who some regard as the greatest of all time. He has won all of the "Grand Slam"titles, the US, Wimbledon, French and Australian Open, 20 titles in all. He is rightly and understandably seen as a cult hero in his home country of Serbia. He also in recent times, during this pandemic, expressed his opposition to vaccinations in many arenas, contracted covid19 and disregarded isolation and travel in the days following his positive reading, and most recently applied to Australian Immigration for a visa for the Australian Open next week, and put forward some manufactured dispensation with regards to vaccinations. While th…

Is there a book, or a few, that not many people know, but blew your mind? The rules: 1) Scientific books: Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Linguistics, Mathematics, Paleontology, Physics,... The lot! But mainstream science. 2) Not "bibles" of the scientific literature, but can be relatively unknown books from famous author. For example: Dirac's Principles of Quantum Mechanics is not allowed, but Dirac's Lectures on Quantum Mechanics, could be OK. Not best sellers. 3) They can be either technical, or popular science Here's mine: The Quantum Theory of Atoms, molecules, and Photons by John Avery It's a book by a quantum chemi…

Frequently I encounter situations I cannot discern. Example: Touching the volume knob on a "smart" phone device, the screen shows an interactive icon among other things... Is that telling me that the bell is off or is it a button to turn the bell off ? How to know what these "intuitive" icons mean ? There is nothing that helps identify it as a button nor a signal. Do I need a second brain transplant ? Does it happen to you too ? How do you resolve the doubt ? What is crooked in my thinking ? Is implementing these things a product of intelligent or idiots designing operational interfaces ? Are these meant for intelligent operators or for idiots …