The Lounge

Way cool. http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=15374&window_height=822&window_width=1664 +10 if you spot Carmen Sandiego.

mathematics , Gift from God or work of man? what do you think?

What would aliens do if they were to visit earth? A nice, open-ended question that makes no unreasonable assumptions. I opened this thread mostly because CHAOS seems to want to discuss aliens but is having trouble phrasing the question in a way acceptable on this forum. PS: Maybe we can add a poll, when we have some suggestions of what the aliens would do.

In other thread, Phi said Said topic is a bit of a sidebar (not quite off-topic, but close) to the discussion in that thread. Rather than discuss said topic there, how about a new thread? My take: Science also entails a belief system (otherwise, why not solipsism?) In a word, that belief system is realism or naturalism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a fairly good entry on realism, naturalism, and scientific realism: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism/, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturalism/, and http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-realism/. One key difference between the scientist's belief that reality is real and the rel…

Miles O'Brien was canned from CNN a month ago, along with the entire science and technology staff. The lastest Jennifer Aniston rumor takes precedence over science and technology at CNN. O'Brien recently wrote this op-ed for space.com: http://www.space.com/spacenews/archive09/obrienoped_0119.html Truth is, we have done nothing to equal (much less top) the accomplishments of Apollo. And even worse, we haven't tried. We did something truly great, but then walked away from it. We had lightning in a bottle — and we opened the lid. Not that I'm biased or anything, but ... nice piece, Miles, and best of luck.

Found this and I have to say it's very distracting and kinda interesting to get into time as an element of solving puzzles: http://www.weebls-stuff.com/peepls/files/85.swf Basically, you are a time traveler and you have to get parts to fix your ship, but each level can only be solved if you work "with yourself" by doing certain actions, then going back to the time machine and going to the start, where you can get farther as you watch the previous versions of yourself go about their various actions that you did before. And, if you change the environment in a manner that kills off or strands a previous version of yourself - you get a paradox and have to restar…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mCD2rw_HV0 Enjoy . And yes, I made that video. ============================ On a more serious note, I've read somewhere that playing tetris actually does improve your spatial abilities and has a noticeable effect on how you use your brain. How many studies have their been on the game and it's effect on cognition? And, how good are you at the game?

Alcohol has been a part of my entire adult life. As a teenager working on my father's farm, harvesting hay, a cold beer was the reward after a hard and hot day's work. Pure pleasure! There is no doubt that we drink alcoholic drinks for the drug high. Whisky without the kick would be a revolting drink, but we soon learn to enjoy the taste, since it is associated with pleasurable feelings. Yet alcohol is harmful. It leads to social ills, such as alcoholism, and nasty drunks beating up their wives. It causes drivers to crash and kill people. It leads to cirrhosis of the liver, brain damage, and an increase in cancer rates. It causes immense harm to society. …

I am interested in others ideas on this question. Here is a little background speculation. Our species, Homo sapiens, has been in existence for about 200,000 years, give or take a reasonable error factor. A quick calculation. Three assumptions. 1. Definition of a genius is the smartest 0.1% of the population. 2. Average number of humans per generation is about 1 million, globally, over 200,000 years. 3. A generation is 20 years. Thus, in the period before the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago, a total of about ten million human geniuses were born, lived and died. You can dispute my assumptions and conclusion, but it in inevitable to conclude that …

My 13-year-old is fascinated by space. He keeps talking about being an astronaut and walking on moon . Is there any way I can groom him in this aspect?

does anyone know were I can download pro desktop for free i desperately need it for a school project

Hey look what I found: Basically, a guy who is rapping about astrobiology, and the methods employed in the practice. Enjoy!

I found this computer algorithms robot video interesting Link: http://videosmate.com/indexvfrm.php?k=V2MXHHE2wJ74jffSggDS746GeYWs&video=Learningalgorithms

Mythbusters is not to be confused with a credible scientific source.

Prove me wrong people, prove me wrong.....

does anyone have any true, amazing stories of science gone wrong? I want any crazy, unbelievable true stories you have heard or read about that would interest the general public! Thanks!

I'd like an admin/mod to move my thread named "Addendum to..." (it's about 10 more threads down from here). I need it to go into the It's official: US tortured Gitmo prisoner discussion. Also, how many posts before I can just simply post there directly? My official post count says "6" but I have a feeling it's not counting them all either, for some reason. Regardless, I'm going to begin posting around so I don't have to keep asking for a "transfer". Once again, I give thanks to whicher admin/mod does it.

A man in Ohio may have given away his real plans to rob a bank when he stood in line wearing a ski mask. I kid you not. Apparently, robbing a bank was okay by his standards, but cutting in line... now THAT goes too far. http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20090109/UPDATES01/90109024 A man may have tipped his intentions when he stood in line at an Ohio bank wearing a ski mask before staging a holdup. Police in Stow near Akron say a 24-year-old man was arrested minutes later on Thursday following a brief car chase. Maybe we should send our kids to mandatory ninja classes, wha'dya think? Although, that could lead to additional problems when the more hefty…

Did anyone watch the 'Derren Brown mind reader' it was very interesting. Well some parts are hard to explain where he made the table float with no strings. He is very interesting person.

If you thought the attack on evolution was bad, look at this! Where will it end?

What is the relationship between language, thought, and science ?

can anyone explain what 'primal theory' is. I know theres was a book on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRdpNSqygc4 That's my youtube video Enjoy :-)

Amusing video about grammar and punctuation in YouTube video comments. Thought you all might get a kick out of it.

This is a very interesting article from the BBC news: The 'first true scientist' By Professor Jim Al-Khalili University of Surrey An artist's impression of al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham Isaac Newton is, as most will agree, the greatest physicist of all time. At the very least, he is the undisputed father of modern optics,* or so we are told at school where our textbooks abound with his famous experiments with lenses and prisms, his study of the nature of light and its reflection, and the refraction and decomposition of light into the colours of the rainbow. Yet, the truth is rather greyer; and I feel it important to point out that, certai…