The Lounge

In society today suicide is generally seen as abnormal human behavior, and is considered the result of a "mental illness". But it seems that a large percentage of human beings experience depression and suicidal ideation at some point in their lives, and many have persistent trouble with these thoughts. In many instances it is taboo, and people who have these thoughts keep them to themselves. In ages past, suicide was not entirely frowned upon, especially as a result of some dishonor in war (the Japanese Samurai considered suicide as a respectable form of self sacrifice if they were dishonored). Some countries such as Switzerland allow people with terminal illnesse…

Voynich Manuscript a Cipher for the Ages The enigma which surrounds the Voynich Manuscript for all who try to unlock its vault of coded text is intriguing to say the least. A man named Wilfrid Voynich found the Manuscript in 1912 at Villa Mondragone, Frascati, Italy. The book contains 200 pages of an unknown script with pictures of herbs, nymphs, plants and astrology. I have studied this code for seven years now and I believe I have made a breakthrough for the Mt. Everest of Ciphers. What I propose is a numerology cipher in Welsh for the main labels and astrology wheel (i.e. folio 68r) in the Voynich Manuscript. Here are some images, a video and link to my …

I'm reading the book Underboss by Sammy Gravano. If you don't know who he is he was John Gotti's underboss and the guy who gave Gotti up. There's a passage in the book that happens when both of them are in jail awaiting trial: This got me a bit puzzled. Is it that showing affection and mush like that is seen as weak? And if so, why? I guess I'm curious as to what the answer to this question is from two perspectives, 1) a kind of intuitive/folksy wisdom answer and 2) an evo psyh answer. Why is mush or affection not good? Anyone got any ideas on either (or some third type of explanation)?

Hello everyone With this message heralding my 500th message on this forum, and 20 reputation points further, I'd like to thank the mods, and members of this forum for being such a great help. Not only in answering my own questions, but also in helping me helping others and in having very interesting, valuable discussions. Off to 1,000 Function

I have a body of work currently located on a website which is a cipher for the Voynich Manuscript. The cipher has uncovered many proper names in the voynich manuscript. I believe it merits a Nobel prize in cryptography. Yet my problem is I'm not involved with academia as I am a amateur. So how do amateurs submit work for a Nobel prize?

The following is a facebook dialogue I had earlier today with a typical Southern gentleman from my area of the Bible Belt. I'm posting this to show the people here the scope and scale of the issues we face with critical thinking and reasoned discourse down here in the American South. Whether or not you agree with what I had to say, you'll still see just what I'm referring to about the typical thought process that goes on in the South. In this post I was responding with a comment on this gentleman's status. I know you'll think by reading this that I should have aborted the conversation much earlier, but I often try to hang in there with them and be patient just to see if I…

How do you feel about this year's recipient of the prize, Bob Dylan? Deserved and appropriate...or not?

Simple, just post what movie you are watching at the moment or the film your planning on watching today. I'm about to watch Trainspotting for the first time.

I've seen people respond with a rule-of-thumb to a big claim that would turn well established theories on their head. Can't remember it though. Something like: incredible/exceptional/unusual claims need incredible/exceptional/unusual proof.

Figured I'd ask the smart people here this question. I eat meat, but I'm still concerned with the ethical questions of meat eating. I don't see me ever giving up meat, so I'm thinking about trying to go about obtaining meat the most ethical way I can, which would undoubtedly be via hunting. I grew up hunting, and have always been told that venison is much healthier than any beef you'll find. I'm sure this is the case, but is venison a healthy food in general? We can also discuss the ethics of hunting/meat eating if you guys would like to, though this is not the ethics forum.

In fact, i am not a native speaker of English.I come form Hong Kong. For my English level, the skills of reading and writting are better than listening and speaking . I got horrible marks in the IELTS which was posted on youtube ,especially listening.(actually, I never do practice of IELTS of speaking ,reading ,and writting)In addition ,i failed an exam on a HongKong public examination,yes,the subject is English. How could I solve that problem?

Is there a fallacy that states that someone is committing a fallacy by exiting a argument, mid-discussion because the other person is too immoral in their beliefs in the conversation. However, in reality they cannot substantiate any position and essentially "cop-out"? I had a heated talk with someone regarding abortion, and they played this card..and it was kind of obvious that they couldn't make a counter-argument. ~EE

I presume this must have been posted here before as it is just too hilarious not to but I've just found today and thought the users who registered after March 2015 have the right to know the truth: http://7seals.yuku.com/topic/916/ScienceForumsnet-Moderator-receives-Judgment-Day-31015 This has officialy made my day Edit: I just realised I might have posted this in the jokes thread instead of making a seperate thread. Mod please feel free to move it there.

Hello everyone, I'm still in PhD, electrical engineering, and have been thinking. How could someone acquire expertise and become skillful in more than three different areas at the same time ?!. I mean how can i be very good with electronics and circuits, .. science/maths/physics, ... scientific writing(to publish papers) , and having good teaching skills. Each one of these fields require lot of effort and time to be mastered, and i wonder how researchers are managed to do that. What are your opinions ?

How often does science prove something entirely, conclusively without any direct evidence? (if at all) Can you list any examples? And somewhat related... In the legal world, can a case can be proved entirely with circumstantial evidence? (Also examples if ya got it)

I want to know when Pokemon Go is coming to Asia and what do people think about this game?

Do most people who use instagram also have an iphone? Is it worth having if you don't have an iphone? Do you have instagram? If so, why? If not, why not? Should I get instagram? Is it worth it or is it largely a waste of time?

Restaurant owner installs fridge outside to feed the homeless http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/restaurant-owner-installs-fridge-outside-to-feed-the-homeless-a6963861.html "Minu Pauline, owner of the Pappadavada restaurant, in Kochi, southern India, was moved to combat both food waste and hunger after seeing people scavanging waste food from bins."

Anyone have any experiences they would like to share? I went to a really under-performing highschool which increased my confidence and motivation but going to university demotivated me due to the higher performing cohort and greater expectations. If you had to choose which pond to go into, which would you go into and what is your reasoning?

There is this girl who has sent me some 4 to 5 kissing smiley , and soon after, she says "it was by mistake"(2 times of which, it was in a whatspp group). Also, she is the only one who cares about my health. Further, she always has some questions regarding my statuses. But, since a month, she has stopped talking to me. Will it be okay if i propose now?

Hey guys, I'm 25 years old and a virgin. I've also never dated and my contact with women has been little to none all my life. I recently started thinking about this, and from an evolutionary standpoint, this does not seem good to me. I figured I would try to figure out what the reason for this is, but I wanted to approach it 100% scientifically. What are some scientific reasons a guy may have gone his first 25 years without female interaction? Or without any interest from females at all? I thought the people here could help me figure it out. Thanks.

I want to donate some money to help out with the damage caused by Matthew. Does anyone have any recommendations for good secular charities I should donate to that will go to helping the cause? I can't physically go volunteer to help, but I'd like to contribute some way. Thanks.

E.g. Protein, vitamins and essential minerals had your body not ejaculated could have still been inside the body and used for other purposes etc (e.g. repairing muscles , growing hair etc.).

Hello everyone, I'm doing PhD in electrical engineering, and i just want to know if there are any good scientific journals (indexed in scopus or Thomson Reuters) with short reviewing time, other than Elsevier journals. I would be very thankful for your answers. PS: I'm just looking for journals in electrical engineering.

Where are some areas where one can work as a scientist as their profession that is outside of the typical tenured professorship at a research university? One thing I've been interested in is working for something like a matural history museum or something of that nature. What would a scientist do there if one were to he employed there? What are some other options for scientists who want to do science for a living that is outside of being a professor at a university?