The Lounge

Hello everyone. I'm from Texas. Huge fan of science. I am heavily influenced by Carl Sagan. My personal most burning passion is the study of human evolution. I don't do it as a living because I want to keep enjoying it. hehe. Anyways, glad to be here with you guys.

http://www.abyssandapex.com/200710-wikihistory.html Pretty funny stuff.

The topic is rather self-explanatory. Post the YouTube videos you've come across that struck at your scientific soul with their wit, wisdom, or beauty. I'll start off with this scene from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, a pictorial representation of evolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYzx6C4irsI

What did you reckon about the science in that? Did you see the DVD-extra... where "Io" explains the nature of time? Pretty cool. What was wrong with it?

This was the final clue. It all makes sense now. It's so logical. Why would aliens want Doritos? Because they have a bad attack of the munchies. Why do they have the munchies? Because they've been smoking wacky weed. So why haven't they come? Because they're all sitting in their saucer looking at the wormhole going "Wow man, that's awesome." Not mine, I paraphrased the Aussie show "Good News Week" but I thought it worth sharing.

I was thinking about the Entertainment Software Rating Board the other day. It seems like the ratings are VERY inconsistent. For instance, Halo got an M when SOCOM got a T, although it's way more realistic and bloody. Who rates the games, and how? Any ideas on how accurate they are?

What OTHER degree would you seek, unrelated to your work or current area of study, if money and time were no object? Ever thought it might be cool to have a degree in "X", but it was just too far from your career to be worth chasing? I had this friend back when I was at Georgia Tech in the 1980s, and he got his Bachelor's degree in Nuclear Engineering. Then, for reasons I never quite understood, he went to LAW school. After that he went in a completely different direction and ultimately graduated MEDICAL school! He'll soon be the only MD I know with degrees in law and nuclear engineering! I've always had a hankering for politics, but what really "turns …

What field do you have a degree in? (If you don't have a degree yet but plan to get one, what field would it be in?)

I am not really sure how to go about all of this, as I am fairly new to computers & all that is involved, and I do not wish to appear stupid.So I guess I'll just say Hello for now.

For those of you who are currently or have been postdocs, how did you find the position? I am starting to hunt for postdocs myself in mathematical physics and related stuff, any advice on how to find positions welcomed. So far I have used; physics world jobs maths-jobs.co.uk jobs.ac.uk LMS jobs Tiptop Spires job search Anything obvious missing? All help welcomed.

Google is sending people to Mars to be the first Martian colonists. http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html related: more about Virgile: Take the test and submit your video to YouTube.

http://www.55a.net/firas/english/?page=show&select_page=6 other topics from the site Historical Universe Animals Insects Human Plants Medicine Numeric Greatness of Allah Diagnose Islam Questions & Answers Legislative Earth Water Embracing Islam Prophetical The Quran Miracles Encyclopedia web Site In 2004 , this huge scientific miracles website in Quran and sunna was set up with aim of establishing data base that call to God according to Islamic concept , this site contains thousands of scientific religious concepts that are authenticated and confirmed by references , we have translated these articles to eight in…

When you make a stew or a sauce, how do you make the texture of the liquid thicker without the flour clumping up and without frying the meat in flour. I have made beef stew quite often by browing the meat after battering it in flour, which results in a thicker sauce, but surely there is another way.

I reckon this is right up there with those fellas on the treadmill machines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cva_sGN_0VA I`d got the track and wondered if there was a Vid for it, if this isn`t the official one, it should be

It was brought up in this thread that boycotting is a form of blackmail. Boycotting threatens a company with tarnishing their public image if they don't give something up. Taking away business dollars in this organized method is no different than threatening to publish dirty photos if the victim doesn't pay up. I don't think it's blackmail. Boycotts are usually over some great injustice prepetrated by the company being boycotted. They call for the company to adhere to the spirit of the laws rather than the letter only. Nothing is gained personally by the boycotters and nothing was taken away that wasn't already decided by the will of the consumers in the first …

Hey, any of you bubble characters* got something you want to say to me? * You can choose from bender, bush, cartman, ermy, gir, hitler, homer, jesus, zim, zoidberg; use a size 3 font.

Walmart is on sound legal ground here, no doubt, but ethically this is wrong, period. I actually haven't been shopping there for years, with an occassional exception, but they've crossed the line here. It would be great to see them lose the $400,000 they insist on collecting from this devistated family, 10 fold, with a national boycott. I only wish I had the cunning, time and energy. Walmart's spokesman uses the good ole "that's business" excuse to abandon ethical behavior. That phrase is a copout used to cancel your moral compass. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/25/walmart.insurance.battle/index.html

Who hacked ScienceForums.Net to make it so typographically challenged? I'm pointing my finger at Cap.

Some fun stuff in honor of April 1st: Old Google Gags: http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html http://www.google.com/intl/en/mentalplex/ Slate's April Fool's Defense Kit: http://www.slate.com/id/2187681/

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfE8qUikNEG6MVWqYku2k8BD_RcgD8VG3QS80 The last of the grand masters has passed.

So... I'm writing my dissertation and the above question interests me, in your view do they or don't they?

What are people's experiences with regard to wild fruits and the specially bred fruits that are normally farmed? Which do you like better, and why? If you've eaten both wild and cultured strains of fruit, compare them. For myself: Guavas: Wild guavas taste much better; cultured ones are much larger but taste like crap Mangoes: Wild mangoes have more flavor, but are smaller and have a juicy/fibery texture (that's a bad thing, the fibers get stuck in your teeth); cultured ones are larger, have better more solid texture, and still taste pretty good. Bananas: smaller but slightly better taste, less yellow and spoil quicker Oranges: had just the one tree growing in my …

ANNOUNCING THE EXISTENCE OF THE BIBLE FIELD BY THE BIBLE FIELD HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION (APPLICATION PENDING) It was observed with the Dermatron a few years ago that the Bible intrinsically exerts a subtle energy field with potential therapeutic medical benefits. It is assumed that this energy field is generated by the composite text of the Bible and is of divine origin. Method: The Dermatron (EAV: Electroacupuncture according to Voll) is a diagnostic electroacupuncture instrument used by acupuncture clinicians to measure electrical skin resistance on acupuncture points. In the system used by Voll, many of the classical acupuncture points an…

What do you prefer? Paying a fixed cost per download, or paying a monthly, all-you-can-eat subscription fee? (Illegal downloads do not count here -- take your pirating ways elsewhere, yarr!) I've been a subscription fan for a while now, but I recently had to deal with the down side of this approach when the service I was using went out of business (Microsoft's Urge) and all my toons expired leaving my player full of unplayable songs. Still, I would have had to pay almost $4,000 for that same set of music had I bought them all individually. That's a lot of cash, and the only real inconvenience was that I had to hit the delete button. Word came yesterday along…

Please post with nuggets of good advice, I'll start. When constructing an argument that is a critical response to anything at all, never, ever use rhetorical questions. This device is for literary effect, not communicative, it does not add any weight to any argument at all. The use of rhetorical questions is often a sign of an argument to incredulity or ignorance, so don't do it.