The Lounge

I was always wondering... is there a term for a Hand doctor, or Hand surgeon?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21154137/wid/11915829/page/2/ This seems to have some promise?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/oct/06/genetics.climatechange So far it's just an "artificial chromosome", but he apparently stands poised to announce the creation of the first artificial lifeform. Insane.

I often think that people think that the mear action of moving money around makes the world a better place. Here is a theoretical and rather simplified economy to show my point. The only requirement in my economy is food Trawlers take little wooden spoons and sift though soil preparing it for planting seeds that will grow into plants. trawlers 50% (half of all people) other farming 50% (half of all people) employed 100% (everyone) output from farming relative to the population 80% (so 20% go hungry but 80% get enough food) hungry people 20% The plough is invented[edit], ploughing is more efficient than trawling so less …

im sort of retarded when it comes to music. its sung by a female artist, i think it falls into techno or trance or something like that. the only lyric i remember is in the chorus it says "baby look at me" i heard it on 94.9 (the bay areas party station!) if that helps at all.

I would say the Midwest includes the entire states of: Ohio Michigan Indiana Illinois Wisconsin Minnesota Iowa Kansas Nebraska North Dakota South Dakota and parts of: Missouri (northern and central) Montana (eastern 2/3) Wyoming (eastern 1/4) Colorado (east of Denver) Kentucky (far north)

I was thinking the other day when I was reading another thread about macs. So I decided to start this thread. I felt I needed to get a new music/audio player because I have one of those bulky handheld radios from the 90's. So I wanted to know which is better out of these: MP3 player (i'll be getting the 2 or 3 gb ones if I'm goona get a MP3 player) MP4 player (they're so cool, it's got a tv screen like-thing. an Ipod which type would be the best. like a ipod nano or a shuffle or one of those 80gb video ones. they cost a fortune though! or just a new plain old radio player that can't fit in your pocket! Or should I not even get one at all and listen on…

was a long one....and the rest will be as well. For those that don't know, I started work at the Modifications and Additions to Reactor Facilities plant at Knoll's Atomic Power Laboratory. It's twelve hour days and I start rotating shiftwork in seven weeks so it will get worse.

I was reading the "news" from one of my favorite website, CreationWiki. I learned that 15 christian families established in Quebec will get out of the province so they won't have to teach they children about evolution and, even worst, the "acceptance of alternative lifestyles". http://www.wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57199

I don't know if this will be considered spam, but I'd thought I would just tell you guys of my new blog. The reason I'm posting about it is because the blog I just set up is largely about science and devoted to debunking pseudoscience and other forms of quackery or misconceptions, and rant about philosophy and life in general... And no, its not intended to compete with dbunked, its just a place where I can post my random thoughts about life. You are free to look onto my blog and either critique my views or give me praise . here is the link: http://radiantaspie.blogspot.com/ And for future reference, my link is on my signature. There is not much on it, since I ju…

I have decided to get a new computer soon, and I'm thinking of switching to Mac. What I have now is a 4.5 year old Dell Inspiron 5100 which I have come to loathe for all it's various hardware and software problems, and that's part of the reason I'm considering switching. Any advice? Particularly from those with experience with both PCs and Macs?

Random science facts wanted. Any you can think of. Just post and maybe give a source. I like random facts so hopefully this will be interesting.

Here's a fun forum game - reply to the topic of the poster above - make your replies in a Johnny Carson style Top 10 List. Your replies should be funny or suffer the consequences - after you finish, suggest a new topic I'll start: First topic: Things You Wouldn't Want on Your Tombstone: 10) Didnt eat his lima beans 9) This week's winning lotto numbers: 7 14 5 21 15 9 8) Be right back... 7) Its Clobberin' Time! 6) LOL 5) This Space for Rent 4) Last Words: "Hey guys, watch this!..." 3) Hated by all, befriended by none 2) He entered this world the way he left it: screaming and naked 1) Unmourned, Unloved Next topic: Unconventional uses of a knife

Which board games do you think are best for children to play if you want them to develop their minds? Deterministic, perfect-information board games like chess or Go can be good for developing reasoning and creativity skills but these games do not teach about randomness or imperfect information. In the real world we adults have to deal with randomness and imperfect information a lot, so maybe games like monopoly are better?

When it comes down to it, at the end of the day, when all's said and done and the stitch has been stitched in time, cliches are just longer, more complex pause-words, bigger versions of “um” and “ah”. Wouldn't you say?

Why is my family so obsessed with my atheism? Every time I'm town, they ask "So, are you still an atheist?" and they sometimes even joke about me burning in Hell...TO MY FACE. Now, isn't that messed up? I mean they honestly believe I will be tortured forever, and they are laughing about it! I've been confronted about it 3 times already and I've only been in town since late Wednesday night. If I were to confront them every time I see them and ask them if they were still Christians, they would be SO insulted and probably chalk it up to persecution. If I were to joke about them being Christians, they would be even more insulted. Why can't they just leave me alone about it? W…

This is the thread where you tell us about how you came up with your username. Just out of curiosity, how did you come up with the username you use for this site? What is it based on, or what influenced you to make it up. For starters, my username is based, as you can plainly see, on a major defense contractor. I like to keep up with developments in aerospace and military tech, so I chose this username. I also contemplated on using the word "Mig" (As in the Russian class of fighter jets) as my username, but I ruled it out in favor of "Lockheed".

ok. i know it is a weird question but i have a Lorain floral rectifier. model number is a12f50. It should be giving out 56ish volts dc but instead it is giving out 88V dc. Do you know of any why to reduce the voltage? it has to be able to with stand possibly 15 amps. or even better if there is just something i need to change.

Is number 47 central in any way to the basic structure of the universe? Does this number has critical importance in the basis of the universe?

I found this chart long ago then lost it, but randomly stumbled upon it again. Yay Internet! Anyway, this is a breakdown of how America uses energy: It's pretty striking how much petroleum goes straight to automobiles and how much energy is wasted in general

... How does one get into a outstanding university if they were brainwashed the first 18 years of their life? And let's not even mention that they were a natural "late-bloomer". I would appreciate it immensely if you could read most of this post and offer your advice. I feel like I have no options left unto me. You see, I was sent to a Fundamentalist Christian private high school with roughly 45 students (one that taught me Creationism as an undisputed fact I might add) and I believe the experience seriously impeded my academic and intellectual growth. I attended this school for 6 years before entering college (this "high school" began in the 7th grade). My biolo…

in responce to the miss teen carolina comedy thread. Now seriously. what would the real answer be? this movie is about a monopoly and a strong union that's the blame 20/20 Stupid in America http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA in this stand up comedy big company's are the blam that want's to keep their workers stupid so they don't know any better. George Carlin: education and the owners of America http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccYoVnBc_fk or are they both right. nobody knows or has an opinion? i find that hard to belive. don't be scared.

Dawkins has a new television program out, called "The Enemies of Reason". He attacks new agers, charlatans, and other purveyors of pseudoscience: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8669488783707640763 (note: this is a legitimate Channel 4 release on Google Video. It has been uploaded by the original content creator and is therefore not pirated)

I just thought some people might be interested to know the New York Times "will stop charging for access to parts of its Web site"... They explain why here

This time substituting the rampant speculation of the 9/11 Truth Movement with things like calculations, figures, data, and evidence. Surely these things have nothing over the immense believability of conjecture! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6987965.stm Yeah, looks like WTC1 & 2 were pretty weird buildings. There's nothing else like them in the world. Massive skyscrapers with load bearing walls, a design that hasn't been used by anyone since. Thanks to this, there was very little resistance to collapse: without an "egg crate" structure, the floors easily give way to immense force from above.