The Lounge

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.

I surf youtube constantly it seems like and well here is to really neat videos I found with little critters in them.

Rightho, so I've created this ubernice guide for you all to follow to get onto IRC, attached at the bottom. You'll need Acrobat Reader to view it. Now there's really no excuse!! Get connected Server: irc.blackcobalt.net:6667 Channel: #sfn

How many PhD's and MDs and likesuch are really insistent on being addressed "Doctor so and so"? Personally, I wonder how I would feel about it. I suppose I'd want to be addressed properly; you spent a decade of your life getting that degree after all. It seems a tad self-important, though.

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, the Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and..... Prof: So you believe in God? Student: Absolutely, sir. Prof: Is God good? Student: Sure. Prof: Is God all-powerful? Student: Yes. Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm? (Student is silent.) Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fellow. Is God good? Student: Yes. Prof: Is Satan good? Student: No. Prof: Where does Satan c…

This is kinda of hard to explain, but where does cold,hot,warm, and cool states come from? Was it created at the beginning of the universe? Also it can't be created by our minds because "hot" had to be at the beginning of the universe to create new chemicals through fusion or fission. If I have made any mistakes please tell me (future reference).

Methane spotted in a planetary atmosphere in a system in Vulpecula. It's not an Earth-like planet but it's a promising development in the search for life outside our own ecosphere. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/science/space/20planetw.html

After three weeks of failings I finally got them... Two tickets for radiohead in london yay!!! :D I hope there are other radiohead fans here who appreciate how manically happy I am at the moment.

Greetings, Does anyone know if it is possible to patent the concept/structure behind a software package, before the software has been produced? Thanks

Hi all, I am trying to find out which University is the most desired university to enter! Unbaised choice will be most appreciated: Oxford university Cambridge Univeristy Imperial College London Harvard University Massachusetts Institute of Technology Princeton University Yale University and Stanford University. Good day!

Hi all... just a quick question... does anyone know where I can buy mosquitoes? I work for a video production company and we need to shoot mosquitoes. Thanks.

Hey everyone, I found this petition to stop animal testing. Why? Well I really think that its important that we not use animals for our own benefit, especially seeing as most of the time, it has no benefit. Its cruel to subject them such torture, as the most intelligent species it is up to us to take responsible care of the world and its inhabitants. THe link to the petition is here, if you could take some time to sign it and maybe pass it on, we can make a difference, http://petitionearth.com/viewpetition.php?id=80. Thanks for your time.

does luck and karma act as an actuall ouside force upon our world, or is it just us looking for something so hard, and then making it true??

Should one insist on finding wisdom if everything that he finds out is bad? and should he seek truth knowing that the truth is usually overwelmed by evil? Is it our best intention to simply stay an ordane, confined organism, who understands nothing but what he is told, and who oporates mostly on mean of survival and human nature??????

I usually don't do this sort of thing, but it's been in my head for quite a while... I don't know, was there ever a time in your life when you realized that you know so pathetically little about this world we live in, and that before that time, you were so hopelessly naive and stupid? I think I am now beginning to realize that for myself.... I think I mentioned this before, but this site has certainly showed me just how little I truly knew about everything in general. But, now having been at college and experienced "real life" for once, I now realized just how naive I have truly been too. After taking a couple of humanities classes, reading about things in the…