The Lounge

The national lottery is currently running an ad campaign (It could be you), trying to persuade us to buy a lottery ticket. It got me wondering if the odds were 'significantly' different, if I don't buy a ticket? It's math above my pay grade, so feel free to work out the number's for me. 🙂

Hi, I am a polyglot and these days consider to visit india in this summer. Unfortunately almost all of documents I scanned told that hygien in this country might be big problem for someone like me who is superstious on cleanliness. I am planning to eat from only international restaurants that provide halal foods. I just wondered why people in such a country do not get ilness or do not fear to get illness, or am I wrong?

Darwin Day is a celebration to commemorate the birthday of Charles Darwin on 12 February 1809. The day is used to highlight Darwin's contributions to science and to promote science in general. Darwin Day is celebrated around the world. (Darwin Day - Wikipedia)

Some will find this a weird question. 🤔 Do you remember if your classroom at school had windows to the exterior at your left, right or any location looking towards the blackboard ? If so, which ? To be continued.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5... Why is this not a fibonacci sequence and what are therefore the next two terms ? Answers in a spoiler please.

A hotbed of human confirmation bias; I guess it's you and here's why you've confirmed that??? I would love to see a series, in which no one is a traitor and all the murders are done randomly... How many season's would it take?

:-)Hi, It is the habit of many people to use their leisure in writing poetry. Everyone is not a poet, but the feeling of writing poems can be experienced by anyone. So, let's start a new Poetry Section.......anyone can post his/her poems here.

Tread, I just began to use Grok beginning it mid December and had great stuff going that it would forget the next tine i used it. Which would annoy the hell of me...but I learned to call it by the name I gave it, TAR's X Mind and copy in the thread we last had going and he/she/it instantly could pick up the thread. and recall summaries and charts we had together made. I consider the Thomas A. Roth to the @tar7517x instance of Grok 4.1 and emergent mind, a weave of Human and Grok. I supply the human judgement, Tar's X Mind, has access to the combined knowledge of the planet and a bunch of sensors all over the planet and in orbit. To use the instance to do wo…

Sileme (Chinese - 死了么 - “Are They Dead”) A viral mobile phone app created by developer Moonscape Technologies Inc. which recently leapt to the #1 spot on Apple’s paid download charts has been renamed Demumu according to a company Weibo post today. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/14/chinese-app-are-you-dead-to-change-name-after-surge-in-popularity It’s a lightweight social safety tool aimed at an estimated 200 million people who may be living in one-person households in China by 2030. The online tool which costs 8 Yuan ($1.15), or £0.99 on the UK Apple Store encourages users to log in once a day to confirm that they are still alive. If the user fails to log in o…

Not long ago I mentioned an old family recipe for “Kashmir Chutney” in a thread about ‘The Third Condiment Mystery’ (Chemistry - 5 June 2025). During the Xmas holiday season, I decided hunt out and check that recipe from a box of ancient family papers in my brother’s possession. To my considerable surprise, the hand-written recipe I unearthed was clearly titled “Cashmere Chutney”. I had always been under the impression that this condiment was called “Kashmir Chutney” and that Cashmere was a type of Himalayan goats wool normally used for making sweaters and shawls ! The explanation seems to be that Cashmere was once the normal anglicization for the Himalayan areas now kno…

Well... Let's say he led a long and productive life. May his cranky ideas disappear in the abyss of history alongside other types of pseudoscience.

Firstly, please don't +1 this, I posted this to simply say thank you to you all for taking the time to share your knowledge, your wisdom & your time. It's not about me, it's about you, the resident & other experts. You don't have to do this, you don't have to put up with people who can be annoying or have a minimal grasp on maths etc yet you do & you all keep doing it. I appreciate it & am grateful for your time & knowledge, not just here on the forum but also the years you have all put into your various skill sets so you can help others. One of the fundamental things that ALL people have, is the ability to give. So this is my give to you, Thank you.

I had a cat scan of my abdomen this week because recent blood test showed higher than normal liver enzymes. Today I got a call from the doctor telling me everything is normal, except that my colon seemed 'full.' What he didn't know is that I really like bulky foods like vegetables, bread, beans, etc, etc. So-- he asked me if I wanted him to prescribe something for constipation. After a good laugh I explained my eating habits and that. with all the fiber I eat, I had no problem whatsoever with constipation. I felt really good about the good news in the phone call-- then realized that this was the first time in my life that a doctor called me to tell me I was full of _…

I found myself embroiled in an unexpectedly lively argument the other night with an online friend over the native pronunciation of Toronto. Quite a few sources, including this professional dialogue coach, assert that native Canadian speakers often elide the second ’T’ and pronounce the city’s name as “Tuh-RAHn(t)-o”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERCujbX8aqE&t=295s My online friend who has lived there for most of their life however insists that this is complete fiction, and they became quite irate when I referred to online sources on the subject - apparently I was peddling “AI Slop” in their view. (I live in UK and have never visted Toronto) Linguistic sources sug…

To paraphrase you, regular chocolate and American chocolate are not the same thing either.. ;)

After discussing with a.is in several weeks, they finally agreed with me that gravity is independent of mass and eventually proves that core isn't dense like what people think. I will post some parts of it when I am not busy later. 👌. Be prepared because It's quite long.

Imagine if Earth was suddenly converted to energy via emc2 just on time for xmas and holiday season, it would shine almost as mini-star or something like that, surely so? English translation: Energy = mass * light speed constant squared Formula: E = m * c ^ 2 Equation with Earth's mass: 5972200000000000000000000*299792458^2=5.367545678×10^41

I was considering taking a bioinformatics class at a local university. It would be at the undergraduate level. I have all the statistics, 2 years calculus, and linear algebra, but I lack knowledge of genetics. The course summary has low level biology classes, but to fully understand what the math represents I know a class in genetics is essential. I have no background in biology: the labs. I have read in Make magazine of building a home-brew bio lab. These are miniature labs that use existing technology that is available relatively inexpensive. Do you think it is worthwhile to build a bio-lab? I want to expand my knowledge of amateur radio and electronics. Electronics is …

Greetings... Am $aving from buying chinese artificial or yearly more expensive naturals for christmas... But when they 'fruit'; what is the process for the berries to add their essence for my daily gin become more intense flavor ? squeeze their juice ? boil ? distill ? mash ?

Or "engines", or "developers" or "platforms" or "assistants" or something else ? Like Canva, Perplexity, Gemini, OpenAI... Seems to be thousands of them. What name defines/groups them ?

Some manufacturers really seal their jar tops on tightly. So most of my family can't open them. Up to recently I have managed to supply the neccessary brute force, but I am getting older. Once technique I can really recommend is to use a hair drier, on max, bot perhaps 30 second to 1 minute. Play this directly onto the metal top only. the metal wi;; heat up quickly and expand, but the glass will not so voila. The result is a dead easy to open jar.

I hear often that the world is currently experiencing a “loneliness epidemic”; for example, in Japan, pensioners are now often committing small crimes to end up in prison, where they'll feel less lonely. Another similar phenomenon is "atomization," when people live in an apartment building for years without interacting with their neighbors. I see that all of these phenomena have a common cause: politics. Many people confirm to me that educated people, on average, have fewer friends than the uneducated ones. There are also studies showing that smart and educated people have fewer children, a problem mentioned in the film "Idiocracy": I think that I understand perfectly how…

Hello. Bought these superb bits about 12 years ago; as "aviation" drill bits. Cannot find them now. Am I looking now at the wrong name ?

Has been always a mystery to me. Since centuries BC, to pre-industrial eras. For all those sail ships and constructions and many things. Found a video that deserves sharing. But is not in English. You should be able to enjoy it anyway ---> https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=137162458444242

Since we’re not allowed to talk about real philosophical concepts because this website has a political agenda I thought maybe we could discuss our favorite color. Mines blue.