The Lounge

It's kinda weird that I have still not "met" any female here at SFN. All are males! Is there a policy about that (just joking:D) or no interest in the kind of science it is discussed here?

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1041/1041_01.asp?wpc=1041_01.asp&wpp=a Jack Chick obviously has a few bones to pick with things like secular humanism and post-modernism. But, of course, he drags evolutionary biology into it and declares it equivalent to the two. That's not to mention eugenics! Oh, did I mention that science proved there is no heaven?

How do I make a blog?

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=70de402de83dc11609bd It's every creationist argument compressed down to a few minutes. You can't create "new genetic information" (oh wait, polyploidy). Radiometric dating is so inaccurate that scientists don't use it anymore, and they use circular reasoning to date the ages of fossils! Dinosaurs were so too mentioned in the Bible! The missing link between man and ape has never been discovered! REPENT!

On my way to PCU George H W Bush, I drove by the Creation Museum. I seriously contemplated checking it out. I even had my digital camera(with video capabilities, so YouTube possibilities) in my pocket. Gah, I even had legitimate questions about their particular cdesign proponentsist model( such as "After the Flood, how did animals get to all of the continents?") in case I saw someone I recognized like Ken Ham. Unfortunately, I decided to just drive past it.

I'm not sure if this belongs here. If not, it'd be cool if a mod could move it. There is kind of a spectrum of scientific disciplines. On one end you have the hard sciences and on the other the soft. Physics and mathematics are definitely hard sciences. Political science is so soft that it resembles black magic more than anything...free verse poetry is arguably closer to the scientific method. In between you have archaeology, anthropology, biology, psychology, chemistry and so on. Obviously, some are harder sciences than others. All are useful though. Some, especially those with increasingly vague subsets (er, archaeology and Egyptology, for instance) range…

I thought you folks might be interested in reading An Atheist's Creed, by physicist Mano Singham. It's a remarkable piece.

Hey... Is there someone who lives in any country which does not speak English? I'm thinking of applying for a scholarship in U.S. or UK. I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil o/\o I'm wanting to be an undergraduate student in some good university abroad to expand my knowledge and life experience

The ‘I have a dream foundation’ was formed in Dallas to ensure education opportunities to children coming from low income areas. The foundation empowers children in low-income communities to achieve higher education by providing them with tuition support and equipping them with the skills and knowledge to gain entry to college. The foundation has a long-term, comprehensive approach which is driven by the goal of college matriculation. In Dallas, the ‘I have a Dream’ foundation was started by Bill and Late Elaine Farrell with the help of the foundation’s founder, Eugene Lang. Ever since, the foundation has enabled millions of students to graduate with top honors from …

I've found a video on youtube! I guess you all will like it! Check it out.

everyone has one mine is: If the grass is greener on the other side, then why dont you go over there! or i used to do drugs i still do drugs but i used to too dont hold back and have at it!!!

I was driving to work today right after browing the forum, and it occured to me to wonder about this: Do local laws permit you guys to proceed with a left turn on a red light? When I was growing up in Georgia right-on-red turns were illegal (though I think that's changed since I moved to Florida) -- in Florida they're legal, though you have to come to a full stop first (though most people don't bother). I guess the idea is that since you're turning into the lane that's right there and don't have to cross any other traffic, either oncoming or tangential, it's relatively safe, so long as the cross-road traffic coming from our left (your right) is clear at the moment. …

I received the marks and feedback for my second assignment yesterday, and it was very dissapointing, a drop of 15% from my first, and after an hour of sulking, and beating myself up over the result (something I'm really good at) I took it as an opportunity to make a concerted effort to do better. It's very easy when you compare yourself with other students, and people on here, who seem to reel out equations, and counter intuitive principles almost with no effort, to think that they never struggled with certain concepts. Despite getting high marks, you never see the points where somebody is tearing their hair out till 3 in the morning with frustration, and I'm sure ma…

New Scientist article http://ufos.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope launched today. It's downloadable, as opposed to Google Sky's effort to do it entirely in Javascript. Both have their pros and cons, I suppose. I'm just glad to see these companies taking an interest in astronomy. Both of them are the best planetarium apps ever made. http://www.worldwidetelescope.org Here's a link to Google's Sky: http://www.google.com/sky/

Hey guys, miss me much? I'm back after over a month! I have to say, I miss scienceforums.net already. Had to take a break from this and keep up with my studies at school and finish the year. Needless to say, my summer vacation has started, so I'll be around more often, and I'll certainly be posting more too. I have to say, not much has changed on this forum (especially all the global warming related threads going around here...). As always, I will be there to clamp down on pseudoscience and other sorts of nonsense . After this year, I now feel so much more knowledgeable and have so much more confidence in life in general .

What is the best ad you’ve seen, and why did you like them??? I like the Honda ad where they made a domino effect from parts of the car!! Apparently it took around 600 takes to get it right! I also like the Adidas ad when 2 Spanish kids pick teams to play a game of footy!! Class!!!

Long long ago, in the days of Kurt Cobain, the intarwebs were invented by Al Gore... err... Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, that science place where they collide particles and stuff. So it's little surprise that one of the first images to end up on tha intarwebs was this early design of LHC's ATLAS detector: http://info.cern.ch/NextBrowser1.html Yes, unfortunately it's covered with crap, but compare with this rendering of the final version: Pretty cool, eh? Also: YAY NeXT!

I'm posting this in General Discussion instead of Pseudoscience because as far as I can tell it's a hilarious parody of the techniques nutters use to make outrageous claims. If it's not facetious, then this guy is one of the most truly deluded people on earth: http://www.revisionism.nl/Moon/The-Mad-Revisionist.htm Here's a taste:

The seven-member STS-124 crew participated Friday in a launch dress rehearsal at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Part of the three-day terminal countdown demonstration test, the rehearsal called for the astronauts to be fully suited for liftoff as they simulated the final hours of the countdown. They concluded the event by practicing an emergency escape from Launch Pad 39A.

This morning I read an article by Dr. Patrick Frank. http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/featured_articles/v14n01_climate_of_belief.html He presents a sceptical argument in relation to global warming. He does not deny global warming as such, but throws real doubts on the reliability and accuracy of the computer models used by such organisations as the IPCC. Before I go any further, let me make this clear. I am not trying to deny anthropogenic global warming. This argument is purely about the reliability and accuracy of climate computer models. Dr. Franks suggests, with considerable evidence to support this, that these models are not to be relied upon. …

Anyone play DotA? a mod in War III =D if so, pm me =D

the whole forum reputation thing is a bad idea imo.

I know my result is correct over 99% possibility! http://www.truthmost.com Therefore, I am Galileo in the 21st century. The calculation of the possibility is simple: 1. There is the result proved over 80-years: galaxy disk brightness decreases exponentially in radial direction. 2. What is the curve on the disk so that the directional derivative of light density in the perpendicular direction to the curve is constant along the curve (i.e., the ratio of star density (light density) on one side of the curve to the one on the other side is constant along the curve)?? 3. The answer is the logarithmatic curves!! 4. Normal-spiral-galaxy arms are logarithmatic curves!! …

... in the Ulyanovsk region of Russia. It's a measure to try to curb the population spiral. This just struck me as interesting. It's a novel idea. The euphemisms they use are rather amusing too. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6990802.stm