The Lounge

I will start this off. As a young boy in Scotland I used to dream of having exceptional powers much like Billy the Cat in the comics I used to read. However, this ambition changed to being a lecturer or professor. I got close but left the scientific profession. My new ambition is to be a shepherd of some sort with full Internet access. How about you guys?

This was really cool: It's a CFL bulb shaped exactly like an incandescent. It should remedy concerns about CFLs being too large to fit in particular fixtures. Plus, the whole ship-in-a-bottle aspect to it is pretty neat.

This site claims to sell parallel universes: http://www.youruniverse.co.uk/ They say it's all based on real science. You can read about the 'science' behind it on their science page. Can anyone tell me if there is any truth to the claim that this is based on real science?

I was watching the Discovery Channel, or the Science Channel the other night and it occured to me that maybe, just maybe, scientists watch these shows and shake their heads like my dad does when he watches ER or House (he's a respiratory therapist). So, when you're watching something on Discovery / Science / National Geo and they're discussing something in your particular field of expertise, do you all throw up your proverbial hands at how they're mangling the details and facts, or do these networks do a pretty good job of getting it right?

One of our long-time members, and author of the affiliated "Smarter Than That" science blog, Mooeypoo, is looking for some help putting together a cool animation to demonstrate a specific concept in science. If you've seen Mooeypoo's work on her own site or her many posts here at SFN then you know that she has a wonderful talent for making things interesting for both scientists and the general public. It sounds like it would make a great project for a member to work on, or perhaps even multiple members! It would surely make a nice addition to any resume or CV, and you would get credit on her web site. The details can be found here: http://www.scienceforums.net/…

Hi, everyone! Long time, no see! Sorry for the nearly two-year hiatus, but as you'll soon hear, I've been quite busy. Let's see...::Checks last posting time::...March 21, 2007. Well, most of the rest of that year was consumed with the increasing workload of my MS thesis on arboreal snake locomotion, resulting in my first publication in October of that year in a top tier journal (Full pdf at http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/210/21/3862 ), describing a new mode of snake locomotion. At the same time, I was making preparations for my wedding, and applying to PhD programs. In May, I completed my MS, and in July I married Gemma (she was here very temporarily a …

i searched for insanity once. i threw a pile of sardines into a bath full of custard and hung upside down above it for a day dressed as a vicar with a violin tied to my chest. when i looked in the mirror i found it.

So i just took this online quiz to see what i should do for a living, i was originally thinking about magering in history or lierature but the quiz gave me totally different results i am suppose to be an artist or lawyer Theres a big difference between those two occupations Im deffinitly confused lol so take the quiz for yourself are you truly persueing your interests? haha please post your results and your current mager/occupation/what you want to be ect... http://www.jobdiagnosis.com/ (registration required)

In my daily web surfing, I've been looking at the Command and Conquer Canon. Command and Conquer is a real time strategy game. The basic story is that Einstein uses a device called a "Chronoshpere" [which plays an important role in the game as a superweapon] to travel back in time and assassinate . All goes well of course, the Chronosphere works flawlessly and Einstein travels back in time, meets , and assassinates him. [in the clip scene of Red Alert they shake hands, and something about the Chronosphere effect is what kills him.] And without getting into a long whinded discussion of the C&C universe, let me just get to my point... …

Thoughts?

Is anyone going to watch it? It looks kindof confusing, because I thought the old cylon models made the skinjobs.

I am looking for an option on my Laser Ruler. it an old idea that never made it.

To me and SFN... four years today and still going strong! Seriously though, I'd like to thank everyone here for the past 4 years. It's been a long, strange journey. I've changed a lot over this time, due in no small part to SFN's influence and I am certainly better off because of it. I can't even begin to point to individual members and express my appreciation for the interactions and friendships I've built with many of you. I am grateful to this community of scientists and critical thinkers who have helped me to continually challenge myself, whether that's related to scientific knowledge, political opinions or (back in the day) religious beliefs. I'm s…

I was looking for some old stuff for my mum through the mess in my storeroom when my finger was drenched in what I later found to be 2-year-old battery leakage. And my finger had an open wound. I washed it off immediately. Will it pose any hazard to my health? Because my mum's uh freaking out a bit lol.

how do you give yourself your picture on this forum? i can't figure out how. by the way no comments about literally giving yourself a picture i just don't know how to word it.

take a look at this article and see what you think of it. http://www.alchemyrevealed.com/node/22 you might want to start at paragraph 6 (which starts with 'for the last 30 years though....) if you want to skip to the alchemy bit

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/11/28/black.friday.violence/ Sometimes I just have to shake my head at the sheer idiocy of some people.

This is for Blike mainly, but I`m sure there are a few others here that will enjoy this just as much. Welcome to the Past... http://web.archive.org/web/20020807212653/http:/www.scienceforums.net/ and from Here you can pick almost any Time era of SFN you like: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.scienceforums.net Enjoy!

this is very interesting i may make you think twice before peeling tape again: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn15016-humble-sticky-tape-emits-powerful-xrays.html

Yesterday evening, my wife and I were watching an episode of CSI (crime scene investigation?) and they showed a satellite shot of a girl being kidnapped and the face was recognizable as if the picture had been taken accross the room. I explained to her that satellite photography was probably not quite that good and she said that it certainly is that good as they do it all the time on csi....... Then I got to wondering.......this sort of thing is certainly not in my bag of tricks, so who really knows? Certainly not me. Then I thought of you guys, and I figured that some of you just might know the current capability of satellite photography, so what is the stor…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/21/AR2008112103359.html Historic

... specifically in bio or a bio related (i.e. marine biology/zoology/ecology/environmental/ just anything that can give me more of a chance to be outside or more "hands-on"). i know there are, but i mainly wanted to know how many options are available for people who dont want to do research (or med). basically living in a lab for a good portion of my life doesnt sound too fun to me -

Do UFOs exist?? REAL ANSWER WILL BE REVEALED AS SOON AS TEN REPLIES

Anybody here familiar with this book? I just picked it up from the university's library after a recommendation from a friend of mine. I've only read a chapter thus far but basically what its about is, well, the laws that describe our physical universe, and in this book he also goes into theoretical physics such as string theory. However, unlike popularizations of physics and science in general, this book doesn't hold anything back. I previewed it and at many pages, there are a some symbols that I don't recgonize. This book also deeply explains the mathematics behind it as well, such as manifolds and Riemann surfaces. As I said before, I haven't really gotten to …

It comes out on Wednesday. The demo rocked pretty hardcore, but it was only a tutorial and about half of a level. Since I pre-ordered it, I was able to unlock the time trial mode, though.