The Lounge

I found this while looking for other things. Does the idea of Global Warming worry you? Would these ads change your mind? http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/thepitch.htm Previous efforts are here. I like the one about invading New Zealand.

This is probably quite an odd topic, but I was wondering if any of you have any utterly useless information stored away in your memory banks, where you can't fathom why you remember it, e.g an advert, or song lyrics or anything at all, where you can't pin down why on earth you have that information stashed away...but you can remember that information implicitly. I'll give you an example, and I promise you I havn't looked this up... For some reason, and I didn't even like the advert, or find the jingle particulary catchy, but I know all the lyrics for the Alphabites ad, that was out in the 80's... A is for Alpha, B is for bites, C for yourself, 'cause they taste ju…

This is a question mainly for the physicists here... do you feel that laymen's perceptions of physics are overwhelmingly shaped by personality cults? There's three I'm thinking of in particular: Einstein, the granddaddy of Physics personality cults, but more recently there's Brian Greene and Lee Smolin. Brian Greene evangelizes string theory to interested laymen, and Smolin, well, generally evangelizes the idea that string theory is "not even wrong." (actually that's Woit, but who's counting...) Most of what I know about physics comes directly out of these three individuals and their work towards evangelizing physics to laymen, but at the same time this brings wi…

It's that time of the year again! They're the same basic format as the last two years (just a little later again!), with nominations (this thread) for all the awards and then threads for the final votes. Please read the below carefully, and re-read your post before posting it. In this thread, you are allowed to nominate one member for each of the following six categories: Most Helpful Member: who gives the best answers in the nicest way? Most Knowledgeable Member: who displays the most consistent knowledge in any (or many) fields? Most Interesting Member: who's posts are a must read for their diverse content? Best Debater: the member who you think us…

some (or none) of you may have been wondering where i've been well here's some photos

I just traced my mathematical genealogy. That is I looked up my PhD supervisors' supervisor and so on... This can be done using the Mathematics genealogy Project. It turns out that I am a direct descendant of Carl Gauss (9th generation). Of course it posed the question if just about all mathematicians are "related" to Gauss. Those who are not, are probably "related" to Euler. Anyway, it was something I did not realise.

Many times I have used the flip of a coin to end an argument, and in respect how fair in chance really is such events. Say you wanted to make some random engine that would generate some outcome entirely of chance? With the lottery I do not think its hard to see the pattern, as I think most of its probability is based primarily on population density really of say each ticket. Plus its related to say such a thing staying alive, obviously as if each ticket out of two purchased was worth say 100,000 dollars greenback the system would fail. So probability is controlled really. So back to my coin flip, that is more or less somewhat different physical phenomena related to probab…

Hello. I spent the last year of my life testing the Gran Turismo/Polyphony Digital physics engine. The game in which the testing began was Gran Turismo HD. This was the first online version of Gran Turismo and was used as a test game so they could improve their physics engine using players, input and intellectual property. I was the highest ranked player at this game because I have a lot of practical ability with physics, and the steering wheel, which is used for these games. From the beginning I was creating circumstances their physics engine couldn’t account for and my reactions were too fast for their code to keep up with. They realised this and that’s how this testing…

Assuming we don't blow ourselves up first, how long do you think it will take for our civilization to reach a Type I, Type II, or Type III civilization (on the Kardashev Scale)? What type of technological capabilities would you expect such a civ to have, or have solved? What type of issues/problems do you think these civs will run into (anything ranging from technical to political ones...)? And, how do you think we will get our civilization to those milestones? This is intended to be a very open-ended discussion, so don't worry about details. I just want to hear your honest opinions.

what's the best thing that you like about your country?

Just wondering, which are your favorite sources for science news? I've been reading New Scientist, but they are getting a bit disappointing what with being oversimplified and having subscription-only articles.

When will we have the technology to alter our faces in ways modern day cosmetic surgery cant? The technology in question would likely be (but does not have to be) nanobots that can "break down" the face (flesh and bone) and re-build it atom by atom exactly how the person wants. Although if you can think of other alternatives (that could come sooner) thats fine too.

Hi, I read this sentence but don't understand the meaning of the word "lineup", do you know what is it ? "Olympus stereo zoom microscopes: higher performance in a wider lineup"

iam studying for LSAT exam . iam planning to sit for the exam this year . Does anyone know how good is lsatpass.com study materials for preparing for LSAT . iam leaning towards buying it off . plz let me know asap

Physical pain, not emotional.

I noticed there's been discussion in this area, and I've just read this passage from my text book. I guess it made me chuckle, because I've always attributed the term 'crackpot', as slang, and not a term I'd expect to see in a text book. More to the point, it summarizes the same requirements we're used to reading, time and time again in response to a new 'theory.' It just seemed very apt, with all the recent discussion I didn't post this to provoke crackpot bashing et.c It just seemed a rather freaky (or not) coincidence that I read this passage, just an hour after reading some of the discussion in speculations.

My wife and I were talking the other day about sarcasm and she made a comment about a roommate she once had who spoke Swedish and explained how crucial the lilting cadence was. We realized that sarcasm in English is normally expressed with exaggerated tones using innocuous words ("No, he *NEVER* gets angry..."). It got us to thinking about how it works in other countries. Is sarcasm expressed the same way in other languages? Especially in languages that often use cadence and emphasis to change the meanings of words? How does your language express sarcasm?

... that you can RSS-subscribe to new posts at SFN? >:eek:

I'm putting off writing a scholarship essay, and this one was something that I've long (as in for the last 30 seconds) wondered about. So, poll ho!

Anybody else checkin' this puppy out? I'm pretty impressed with it so far. One of the things I really liked that I haven't seen much discussion about was a really cool installer feature that imported not only the bookmarks from IE but also the browser history, cookies, passwords, and so forth. Very handy. Seems like they've really raised the bar.

One of the many fantastic inventions from http://www.galonja.co.uk/galonja_shop/catalog.asp?g_s_n=crlshop Although according to most of the descriptions the normal laws of physics need to be suspended for them to work...

I ... have one thing to say about this one: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! AAAAAA!!!

Just wondered if there's a scientific term or maybe convention, that has really niggled anybody, and are sometimes unnecessary, but have been used regardless, because it's more hassle to start rewriting the terminolgy in text books, because they're now widely recognised. I guess demoting Pluto from planet status, is an example when this has been (arguably) rectified. Here's a couple of examples, off the top of my head... The direction of current, which is opposite to electron flow. EMF, electromotive force, which isn't a force. Anybody care to add to the list, and perhaps clear up some misnomers on the way ?

Extinction and the Dread of Insignificance Becker compares three great thinkers Otto Rank, Wilhelm Reich, and Carl Jung to conclude that the three provide us nothing with which to connect their conclusions except that they dissented from Freud. However, there is agreement on the answer to the fundamental question, “What causes evil in human affairs?” This agreement is also the agreement in all of the human sciences; “man wants above all to endure and prosper, to achieve immortality in some way”. Wo/man wants, above all, to reject the knowledge of mortality; s/he does so by seeking to assure immortality in some way. Mortality is connected to our animal nature…

Hi. Some supermarket gymnastics... That $16 per pound fancy 'deli' cheese, or the plain $3 per pound simple Monterey jack ? The $9.99 NY steak or the rump something meat at $ 1.25 per pound... The $0.99 catfish or the fancy $ 8.99 yellowtail... The plain 99cent bread against the same size $3.50 weird-named loaf ? Are we selecting nutritional value or pleasures? What is the nutritional difference among similar foods, is it worth the absurd $ ? Miguel