The Lounge

I've been a two-finger 'sight-typer' for years and I want to learn touchtyping. What worked for you? Links would be good.

First time this fish has been seen alive!

I have accepted a position as a research associate at the University of Luxembourg within the 'Unité de Recherche en Mathématiques'. The position comes with more responsability such as some teaching duties and supervision of students - undergraduate, masters and hopefully I can jointly supervise a PhD student. Exciting times ahead.

I am afraid that behind all this news of Brexit and Boris the very sad news that Gordon Murray creator of the Trumpton Series of Children's Television has died. For those of a certain age he provided the TV and songs of our youth Pew Pew Barney...Riding along in an army truck...Windy Miller...Raggy Dan. Off home to get out my box set of Trumpton, Chigley, and Camberwick Green (This is not a joke - it was probably the best present my mum ever got me)

Now that yet another alien invasion movie is opening and the idea is yet again being milked can we reasonably speculate what would really happen if aliens arrived? I'm not sure if the aggressive stance of this movie is the most likely but what would you do? What do you think your government would do? What do you think religious leaders would do? If the aliens were not aggressive would the long term results still be destructive?

Since this is the day for jokes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36638929

I'm completely lost with what the truth is surrounding the meaning of art.

hi everyone, currently I do not have a facebook account but sometimes I contemplate the idea of making one. only problem is sometimes the thought of meticulously taking pictures, filtering/editing/photoshoping them and uploading them makes me feel guilty as if I am deceiving the world and making others feel bad about their looks etc. or things they don't have. do you use facebook? if so, do you use filters? how do you use facebook properly so as to cause less frictions between your "friends"? do you only add people you know really well or acquaintances as well? is it best to add many friends or not so many? do you post your political views? what sort of things d…

I think there will be alot of other ENTP's here, considering the attraction of scientists who love theory's and ideas. ~EE

Hear a violin 3D-printed of polymer: http://3dprintedinstruments.wikidot.com ... nstruments hosted on it could have sounded worse. But it's very far from a decent violin. Printing a violin or a woodwind's reed is the most difficult challenge and I don't imagine plastic to succeed in that task, especially if the shape is just copied from the wooden parts, which is meant for very different material properties. But for instrument parts that don't essentially vibrate, like the body of a recorder or the mouthpiece of a woodwind, we're on the verge of home-printing them. Which I feel ironic, because chip-making manufacturing processes are obviously cheaper than 3D prin…

Here is a YouTube MTV Decoded video that describes "The Surprisingly Racist History of Caucasian." This video illuminates details on the origin of this racial term to its use in America. Is it racist? Given its origin, I still somehow find its current use in America less offensive than white but Negro more offensive than black or Afro-American, which continues to be used by government in certain areas of the country. What are your thoughts?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3171283/Could-Self-reality-Scientists-say-humans-someday-IMMORTAL-wealthy.html They say we may be able to become immortal humans soon. Would you guys choose to be immortal? If yes/no, please explain.

What are the latest scientific evidence suggesting? Is it better to read quietly in your head or read everything out loud? If the latter, does this help increase retention a lot or only a little bit and by how much?

A lovely photo tweeted by Daniel Dennett

The night my heart stopped and I flat-lined Hello everyone please read this updated, edited version, which better describes what happened to me night my heart stopped beating in 2011 On the night of 18th, August 2011 at approximately 9.30 pm, my heart stopped beating numerous times, both at home and later at Sunninghill Hospital. On resuscitation table due to third stage or total, AV heart block. I went through the whole drama of my heart stopping, flat- lining over and over again, adrenaline, atropine were injected directly into my heart and the shock paddles and chest depressions used over and over again in a desperate effort to get my heart to beat again on it…

My mom has some crazy beliefs. I just don't understand how a person well educated in science and engineering would believe these things. my dad is also an engineer and he has very scientific beliefs, grounded in reality. my mom thinks that cheating is ok people are not supposed to be monogamous, she beliefs in magic and is friends with people who she calls wizards. She thinks they are real magicians. I'm serious.she believe in karma, which not that bad, I do not believe in karma but its better then magicians. There are some things she does that worry me about her beliefs, like she dose not go to doctors because she thinks they are all bad, she had a tooth fall out because…

https://www.quora.com/ Article below for you comments (Edited by me expletive removed) Guys please stop posting that you have a 160+ IQ. Its really embarrassing for you. The chances of that being true are extremely unlikely. To be frank, I've noticed that only moderately gifted folks, with fairly mediocre achievement, seem to be interested in IQ. Also who cares? "I've got a 140 IQ"?. (Confirmed by a two day battery of tests by a neuropsychologist) and that didn't keep me from being scum bag and screw up for my entire 20s. I'm more interested in being a good person, than in how supposedly "gifted" I am. You should be too. If you're truly interested in measu…

Is it healthy to wear hair gel all the time? Is it good or bad for the hair? Does it have any harmful affects if applied everyday? How many times should one use hair gel on their hair per week, month etc.? Do you use hair gel? Why/why not?

As a professor, I reluctantly agree.

why is plastic surgery frowned upon in america? I dont get it, I see nothing wrong with getting plastic surgery. if I wanted to get it and I'm happier from it shouldn't people be happy for me? I see the risks in the actual surgery, the risk of death is 1 in 250,000 from cosmetic procedures and the risk of complications is also pretty low. https://www.sharecare.com/health/cosmetic-surgery/what-risk-death-cosmetic-surgery but even with that usually people know you got the surgery after it so therefore you didn't die. Do you find plastic surgery to be wrong? and if yes then why?

I just wanted to know your thoughts on the story about the gorilla that got shot because a four year old boy climbed in the cage with it and the zoo did not want the boy to get injured. who do you think should be responsible? I agree with their decision about shooting the gorilla, a tranquilizer would take too long to kick in and something might happen to the boy by then. I think its both the parents and the zoos fault, they would not have cages that people can get in. but I think its more the zoos then the parents, it just surprises me that the zoo has such cages that you can climb in for such wild animals. zoos should be prepared for kids trying to get close to the anim…

If I would have $100k... I would buy 50 lathe devices. I have seen Metal Lathe for $1200 with VAT in our local Leroy Merlin shop this week (not the cheapest one available. The cheapest one was for $620). Wholesale and export to 3rd world country (Africa,South America,Asia) would be cheaper. Pay local homeless persons to build hall (after learning them how to work with concrete, bricks, if needed). The rest of money spend on bricks,concrete,and buying land for hall. And learn them how to use lathe devices, sheet bending, pipe bending, furnace, drill. etc. They would bring beer Aluminium cans or other metal to hall, from the whole city, melt them in induction furnace, creat…

Hawking gave two possible outcomes, redistribution or wealth chasm. This struggle is not new, and proceeds in different places around the world in different ways and different rates and different directions. The US is a country where people strive for great wealth, and globalization has spread that doctrine, and there are weaker forces within that oppose it. Is there a country today, or at any time in the past, that has actually tried to spread the wealth. And, how will this movement progress throughout this century.