The Lounge

These guys are apparently getting closer to production with a $40,000 variant that does 0-60 in a still-speedy 5-6 second range and seats 4-5 adults. It probably won't look like the picture, but may still be pretty sexy. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/01/tesla_motors_california_governator_grab/ As the article suggests, that may not mean a lot to Europeans, but to Americans it means a great deal. Our typical home environment for a $40,000 car buyer (the most common car buyer) is a house in the 'burbs with a full-blown garage, so overnight recharge is really no problem, and a 165-mile range is quite acceptable for the daily commute. And we sure like …

Interesting article in Slate today analyzing some numbers generated by comparing movie reviews compiled by Rotten Tomatoes with the box office receipts. http://www.slate.com/id/2194532/ Rotten Tomatoes aggregates reviews of hundreds (sometimes thousands) or reviewers, compiling a cumulative score for the movie. Anything 60% or higher is considered "fresh" and anything below that is "rotten" -- the idea being to help viewers decide if they should go see a movie or not (instead of having to decide based on a single review). But does it work? And are movie critics actually valuable, or are they just film snobs with no connection to the average popcorn buyer…

What national anthem(s) do you find the most melodious and inspiring? My ranking, without extensive review: 1. Czech Republic 2. Hungary 3. United Kingdom 4. Israel 5. Germany I'd have to add Chechnya's to that list too if it was actually an independent country. They have a really good anthem. It almost makes me support Chechen separatism. Let's see if anyone else is as bizarre as I am and actually responds to this.

As anyone who has seen an episode of Firefly can tell you. Firefly is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant television series ever created. How else could a television show which only aired for nine episodes, in the wrong order, aired on Friday night, was prempted by baseball, was given little to no marketing, and was pulled from the air so quickly, managed to draw in such a dedicated fan base that the dvds sales numbered among the highest of all time, a major feature film was produced, and the series is still, to this day, the highest rated television series on tv.com three years after the last episode was aired. There's a reason why the feature film based on the franchi…

Turtles and Humans Have Much in Common I had once concluded it to be natural that when confronted by a new idea humans tended to do a turtle; withdraw into their shell until the coast was clear. After some time posting in cyberspace I have modified my view somewhat. I think that we tend to display two types of turtle responses to our encounter with new ideas. The terrapin withdraws quickly into its shell and the snapping turtle hisses, spits, and snaps when such an encounter happens. I suspect that cyberspace has allowed many people to display a more vulgar attitude than they would in face-to-face encounters. I think that age is a factor in this equa…

which all pets do you own???

I've always wanted to get married. However, a week ago while I was in the library I overheard some women talking about marriage. One woman wanted to divorce her husband and her female friends were telling her things like, "Stay with him a little longer and wait for him to make more money before you divorce. Then you can get more out of him." I was horrified by the women talking about marriage as if it were a business or a scam. Then I heard one woman saying something that really scared me. She said, "Christian men are easy targets. Their religion forbids prenups and forces them to provide for their wives." The reason why this was scary was because I am a Christian man…

I can't imagine anyone in the US not aware of George Carlin's passing. I remember listening to his albums, yes actual vinyl records, growing up. I caught every single HBO special and I even watched his sit-com, if anyone remembers that. I adored him and his humor from my early teens to the present. The same stupid shit that pissed him off, pisses me off too. It felt like he was vocalizing all of my complaints, and doing it humorously. I don't know why I started this thread. I guess I just wanted to know if anyone else had any particular appreciation for the fella. I was quite fond of the old dude.

Yeah, I'm bored and it's just another one of those threads...... Anyways, if you ruled the world, what would you do? Or rather, what do you wish would happen, as opposed to what would probably happen.... I could say that if I ruled the world, there would be world peace, no poverty, no pollution, etc.... but, meh, I know that's a bunch of baloney. I will be honest, if I ruled the world I would probably establish a military dictatorship.

here's a starter...

Which would you say are the most interesting threads you remember in these forums along the years ? Miguel

Does YT play the guitar in a power metal band? Does Phi for All compose jazz-reggae-trance fusion songs? Is Klaynos the lead singer of a boy band? Read all about it here! I think there was a "do you play any instrument" thread at some point in the past but not a thread like this (at least I couldn't find one after a painstaking 30 seconds of searching). Anyway, I thought it might be cool to have a thread like this, who knows what sort of insanely talented musicians have found their way to SFN. ...Also I wanted to shamelessly promote my spacesynth project Baryonic Collision (hey it even has a sciency name).

There has been, at various times, a lot of discussion about various methods of generating electricity. In various arguments, cost is discussed. I have just read in my local paper (NZ Herald) an article on this, and they quote the US Electric Power Research Institute on the following costs. These are all in US cents per kilowatt hour. Coal 6 cents. But this rises to 10 cents if carbon capture is required. Wind 10 cents Nuclear 7.5 cents Solar panel 25 cents. Obviously, there will be a lot of variability. For example : coal rises in cost if the generating plant is a long way from coal beds, requiring transport. It is also true that these rela…

I was watching BBC breakfast this morning, where a Dad and his daughter who suffers from Down Syndrome were in the studio. The topic, was these new 'Down Syndrome Dolls' see the official website below. I'll be perfectly honest, I can't put into words what to make of this, my first thoughts were it was some twisted joke, and although I love dark humour, the fact that the sentiment behind making these dolls is maybe sincere, it seems terribly misguided, and well, a bit wrong. The Dad and the daughter on the show, were equally bewildered, and just couldn't see the benefit. Thoughts...is this some rather bizarre joke ? For example, can you honestly imagine a ch…

Conservapedia numnut Andy Schlafly recently contacted Professor Richard Lenski about a recent experiment which demonstrated a novel mutation in e. coli bacteria, namely the ability to metabolize citrate: http://www.conservapedia.com/Conservapedia:Lenski_dialog And uhh, yeah, hilarity ensues...

What do you think about music? And what kinds of music do you like? I don't know the style of music I like, but my favorite bands are Evanescence, Good Charlotte, CSS, The Used, etc. and also some songs of Mozart. I'm really addicted to music like I can't get through a day without listening to one song at least.

Amy Winehouse They’re tryin to make me go to rehab I said no, no <cough wheeze, croak>

http://www.eigenfactor.org/map/maps.htm Calculated by randomly traversing a citation graph

what do you think is in the after life? or is there even one? jus wondering about it myself so i wana know what theories are out there!

Dharavi, Asia's Largest Slum. what is the frist thing that comes to your mind when you read some thing like this?

Hi guys! My friend showed me this really cool site where you can text people for free using the internet: http://www.txtparty.co.uk/ i found it to be too good to be true. I have doubts whether if there might be a catch and hidden bills or something as they might charge my phone bill instead. And i don't want any uneccesary bill to post at my house so can you guys tell me whether if this site is safe or just a scam?

Did you know that it is not law in the United States to file a tax return, thats because in the constitution it states that an unproportional tax on all people is illegal. The IRS is a scam! And this proposed world Carbon Tax is also a scam, Carbon dioxide is a natural part of the atmosphere, and humans only acount for something like .01 percent of all the carbon put into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide itself is only .43 percent of the greenhouse gases. The ocean is the biggest contributer and when the sun heats up the earth the ocean emits more co2 into the atmosphere. WAKE UP AMERICA, you are being controlled!

The end is near countdown has begun plan the next 4 years of life may it be an happy ending................................. ....................................... view this link http://www.greatdreams.com/2012.htm http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en/2012.html

How does one enter an article to a Science magazine? For example, if I figured out some amazing theory that describes something important or something big etc, how can I get it published to a magazine? Where do you post it for them to peer review it? This is just a hypothetical question lol

Brazilian soldiers detained over Rio gang deaths RIO DE JANEIRO, June 16 (Reuters) - Eleven Brazilian soldiers were arrested on Monday on suspicion of handing over three young men to rival Rio de Janeiro gang members, who killed them and tossed their bodies in a garbage dump, police said. Hundreds of residents of the dead youths' slum neighborhood held protests over the weekend and on Monday, some of them throwing stones at soldiers patrolling the area and shouting "murderers." The three men, aged 17, 19 and 24, were stopped and beaten by a group of soldiers as they returned from a party early on Saturday morning, witnesses told O Globo newspaper. They wer…