The Lounge

http://www.pocketissue.com/Default.asp?Page_ID=40 71% of Americans think global warming is a "natural occurrence", and 65% believe that scientists predictions are "far fetched" Contrast with the IPCC's assertions that they are more than 90% certain anthropogenic forcings dominate climate change. This reminds me a lot of the American public's view of the "evolution debate"

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail%3bjsessionid=66434CA6FE6500D6A04B9F946D779145?contentId=3641729&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Not sure how many of you are familiar with LOLcats but I found this one to be funny:

Do you think it’s possible to design a mechanical heart? Well, a pumps that is powered by heat that can eventually replace our heart’s function pumping blood around the body! The human body is really a process plant, so surely we can replace functions of our organs! The brain is the control unit so it will take time to reproduce something of that scale! Even internal organs such as kidney, liver and lungs are very complex in design! BUT, the heart is a very simple organ. So don’t you think a simple mechanical pump can do its job? What do you think? Say goodbye to heart disease?

Can Freewill be understood through logical deduction? If answers limit the possibilities, And questions are the divisions of answers, Then is understanding, The product of knowing the questions, That form the whole answer? So where would one begin, With a question like, What is Freewill? If the root prefers to express itself, Through it's branches? And the self prefers to express itself, Through it’s language? Then it seems that communication, Probably starts from a whole thing, And branches out through division. If perception is comparison of divisions, And the perspective of the self, Is a whole thing separate of the selves. Then …

It's very strange to witness so many people ranting and raving about how much they hate Paris Hilton, yet at the same time so many people are eager to know what she is up to. I am sure there are many people who both admit hating her and are curious about her at the same time. When I first heard about Paris Hilton it was from the sex tape scandal. I have seen the sex tapes myself. It's nothing special. I never watched the first episode of The Simple Life when it came out on TV. I went to watch with my brother the movie House of Wax, which had a Paris Hilton death scene. I am a car enthusiast. I first became interested in Paris after learning that she drove a Bentle…

I was listening to a radio show a few weeks ago, and they had a guest by the name of Sydney Ross Singer, who is a "medical anthropologist." He discussed many things about humanities current culture that could be making people sick. He mostly discussed how women's braziers have been linked to breast cancer, which I found interesting. But he mentioned something in passing about bottled water, which is that plastic bottles contribute hazardous materials ("carcinogens" was the word he used I believe). He said that he called the FDA, and they told him that the plastic is actually consdiered a food additive. This is his site: selfstudycenter.org. Then a few days ago, the sa…

Probably the majority of social animal species have no sexual inhibitions ( they do not wear cloths to start with ) at all since they make sex whenever they are ready for it and in any opportunity regardless if they are alone or surrounded by other members of the same species. So regarding to this matter, I have two questions ( Please try to support your argument with at least some scientific evidence ) : 1 ) Is there any current human culture whose members are totally un-inhibited in relation to sex so they do it indifferent if they are in public or not ? 2 ) Does sexual inhibition originate from religious and cultural indoctrination –or- is there some differ…

Reasons to join the this scientific are fairly obvious, you lose nothing and gain everything. This site needs as many possible member to make our knowledge as great as possible. By joining our collective you learn and share ideas and knowledge. SFN would be honored to have as many possible members so all you guest should just join in an advance your knowledge of the world in the greatest way possible.

http://www.break.com/index/tesla-electric-current-plays-music.html is this really some part of the tesla coil doing it, or is it more likely just set in time to some music?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3132857754400064872 Notice the collapse sequence. The same collapse sequence laid out in the NIST report: 1) North penthouse collapses 2) Seconds pass 3) South penthouse begins to collapse 4) The rest of the building collapses Have you ever seen a controlled demolition occur in such a fashion? Or is this video more consistent with an internal structural failure?

So, was riding along a sidestreet today... one that's particularly narrow without any bike lanes, and a car came up behind me, hoking its horn as it came up right behind me. I was riding particularly fast and swerved to the right side of the road... clipped the edge of the pavement and lost control. I now have some pretty nasty scars on my right leg and arm, some on the side of my face, and I broke my glasses. And they didn't even have the courtesy to stop and ask if I was alright. Guess they were in a hurry. Hope you're happy! Asshole

why do people get so upset about a baby being murdered but most people don't really care about abortion?

Amusing Microsoft Surface parody:

http://www.moillusions.com/2007/06/spinning-sihouette-optical-illusion.html it works, but how???

Jesus Christ, how does this happen!!! I am the king of gayness

I'm going to make some beer, I haven't done this before so does anyone have any advice or some websites they could point me to or amusing anecdotes about what maybe should be avoided?

I think there are some pessimism who always feel everything so pessimistic. Why don't we have some institutions that people could just pay and sign agreements so that they will be injected with a tube that is filled with chemicals--ethuanasia--that they will die eventrually and happily. Seriously, we don't need pessimisms in this world, letting them live on, it would only regress our progress of researching "how to extend life-span."

Ok, so I've been laughing for years at white kids holding their pants with one hand, sporting a cleverly original crooked ball cap and talking ebonics with rapper sign language. Now my son is doing it... Is this some kind of cruel joke? There really is a god isn't there...and he's paying me back huh? So, I'm wondering about other's experiences with this phenomenon. I have a strong aversion to it. It looks so stupid to me. I know, I know...I was stupid too as a teenager, growing long hair (which I still have to this day), cutting up my concert shirts and putting holes in my jeans. I've always said I wouldn't care what kind of freaky hair thing my …

This is not a religion bashing thread. This is more like a religion reconciling thread. I see a lot of anti-religious sentiments on this forum from time to time. This is expected, of course, being a science forum and all, and its not always unjustified. After all, religions, particularly pre-modern western religions, have a bad track record for making life miserable for people. But what I wonder is what makes a religion "bad"? A lot of people hold the view that religion itself is bad - plain and simple. One must defining "religion" first before making such a bold claim, of course, but I guess what the view boils down to is that any kind of ideology that is meant t…

http://scienceblogs.com/catdynamics/2007/06/ipod_iching_hab_plan_by_2010.php Steinn is an astrophysicist He does auguries with his iPod, using an ancient Chinese method taken from the iChing book. he asks a question and sets his iPod to randomize and listens to the next 10 songs. This time he asks: will we have robust detection of candiates for genuinely habitable extrasolar planets around nearby main sequence stars by 2010? And, if so, can you tell us more... Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh. * The Covering: Never-Played Symphonies - Morrissey * The Crossing: Sexuality - Billy Bragg * The Crown: Barnið Sefur - Uta…

I've been wanting to read the book "A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME", but I've never known how good and knowledgeble this book is.

I had to share this with you guys (sorry if you've already seen it), I'm in disturbed bewilderment...this will certainly give the 'star wars kid' a run for his money. Prepare to be erm, well just watch it, and you'll see what I mean... (by the way, there's swearing in the comments below the video)

I don't think this belongs in the pseudoscience section, because everything I am describing is simple, accepted science and activities, but applied in a way to make us think about infinity. Let's say that you were driving in a Volkswagen Beetle and your MPG is, say, 20. You add 300 pounds of bricks to the back seat, and your MPG decreases to, say, 15. The accuracy of these numbers isn't very relevant. Now, you keep removing bricks, and your MPG creeps further and further back toward 20, but doesn't reach it. Finally, you remove everything from the car that wasn't there previously, except one electron, or 1/1840th of a Dalton. Will your MPG be affected by 1 e…