The Lounge

Hi. This is a an attempt to generate discussion on the prospects for the settlement of the planet Mercury. As of this writing I have been on SFN for only a few days, but I am very pleased that the response to the idea is high quality. I have yet to experience the hostility found on 'other' forum sites. Rules for SFN are that postings should stick to the subject of the original post. I have been posting on a thread about the (extremely important) discovery of water ice on Mercury, but my comments were along the lines of transportation to Mercury. Arguably related to the original post, but not really fair to the poster. So, for further discussion, I submit the follow…

The Iast coupIe of years I have been working on a project containing 10 mannequin doIIs. I dress and equip them to resembIe four deitys from norse mythoIogy. The catch is that I do so with the technoIogy of our time. Thors hammer MjoInir is a demolition-hammer in my project for instance. The idea stems from the theory that ancient texts on mythoIogy are interpretations of a highIy advanced extinct/aIien/atIantean race that once Iived on or visited earth. The purpose of this enquiry is to invoIve peopIe who has a greater knowIedge of technoIogy, than I do. I have no education besides primary school. Thors hair and beard - red as the planet Jupiter Thor, the body o…

Hi there, im new to the forum just like to say hi first before asking questions Im not in the medical profession. I have been doing my own research on a particular microorganism which is airborne, this research is me and my partner spouse funded by ourself. I believe i have come across a organism which has never been discovered before, i have been studying this for years now. Im 100% sure this has not been discovered. My question is how does one present a new discovery, i can captivate the organism anytime i need, i know what it does meaning as behaviour and habits, it plays a distructive part in the human body. How do i go about, and who approves that th…

A few years ago I wrote a poem on this topic and I called it "Eternal Now" . Some may like it. ETERNAL NOW All energy is the Eternal Now The forms of energy move and mutate The motion continuum cannot stop The Eternal Now is always in flux The Eternal Now is reality There is no Time in the Eternal Now Humans are part of the Eternal Now Mind is the patterns that swirl in the brain Our senses and nerves submit to delay Knowing the Now, motion does not allow Minds always lag the Eternal Now Our minds only feed on what is past Delay in mind makes thought past, you see If your mind knows it, it's history Records are states o…

Karl R Popper, The Myth of the Framework. 'Is my train ticket to London a historical document? Yes and no. If I am accused of murder, the ticket may possibly serve to support an alibi, and so become an important historical document (as in Dorothy Sayers' Five Red Herrings). Nevertheless, I should not advise a historian to start his work by collecting used railway tickets.' I get the mental image of a historian trying to cram all of the world's contents into his home so that he may have available to himself all of the objects that have had any bearing on history. 'I remember an occasion when I was chairman of a meeting in which a distinguished scientist presen…

At a quarter till, the 11:00 news promoted two stories tonight. They said to stay tuned for a story of a young woman who traveled to the Arctic Wildlife Refuge to kayak the same route that her parents had been traveling when they were attacked and killed by a grizzly. The second story was said to be about bacon scented deodorant. You don't suppose . . . . .

The Iast coupIe of years I have been working on a project containing 10 mannequin doIIs. I dress and equip them to resembIe four deitys from norse mythoIogy. The catch is that I do so with the technoIogy of our time. Thors hammer MjoInir is a demolition-hammer in my project for instance. The idea stems from the theory that ancient texts on mythoIogy are interpretations of a highIy advanced extinct/aIien/atIantean race that once Iived on or visited earth. The purpose of this enquiry is to invoIve peopIe who has a greater knowIedge of technoIogy, than I do. I have no education besides primary school. Here is a Iist of Odins magick speIIs from YngIinga saga. I onIy just d…

I saw this paper today and the abstract alone hurts my head. I have no idea what is happening in it, and I have to ask myself "how the hell did the reviewers and editors let this through. Sage isn't exactly a great journal publisher, but wow. http://qix.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/07/11/1077800413489534.abstract If you can't get through the paywall here's a blog that covers the paper: http://bigthink.com/neurobonkers/is-this-the-most-bizarre-paper-ever-published-in-a-peer-reviewed-journal

I recently noticed that people have different kind of feelings towards their crush compared to other girls. Towards a boy's crush, he has less feelings of sex and more about caring, loving etc. while for other attractive girls he doesn't have feelings of caring but more of sex, kissing etc. I mean there is a considerable difference of emotions towards a girl you like and other attractive girls. Am I right? If yes, why is this?

All my life since I was 5 years old (my earliest childhood memories that I know are real) I wanted to be a scientist. I loved bugs and discovering new insects and facts about nature. At some point along the line, I got lost and forgot about my dream. I am 34 now, and all my adult life I never felt smart enough to be a scientist or even if I did become one I would achieve nothing in life, all despite the fact that I come from a pretty smart family. My mother is in MENSA and my father is a successful business man. My brother is a neurosurgeon and my sister... well she is my sister. They always encouraged me to go to college, saying I was even smarter than they were!…

Cartoons, games and stuff like these are mainly directed for kids and not for adults. Why is that? For me, sometimes they are interesting. They are interesting piece of art. Few cartoons have clever humour. Games also have nice references and ingenious plots. But still I here people saying - "You are grown up now! Stop with cartoons and games". Mind you, these are not said to me. I'm still young. But I was wondering why adults don't enjoy such things. Does the humour become too childish? If yes, then what exactly is childish humour? I'm looking for an elaborate answer. Thank You!

Why do people go nuts when they see a snake? And why is the snake always deadly? This snake is being touted on facebook as a pygmy rattlesnake... I say more likely a neonate black racer but definitely not a rattle snake...

So I'm only aware of one other regular female on the site. Are we the only two? Is science (and this site) that male dominated? Forgive me if I'm being nosy

My 2nd thread I start in 10 years, I believe. Not sure if it's a worthwhile topic, but beating the last one should be easy. And I found it suitable for getting random input by people I've never met: In your opinion, should the boss of a small group of employees visit the employees to ask them what they are doing and how it is working out (and help solve a problem at hand if required, of course). If so, how often would you see fit? If not, what kind of interaction/feedback do you envision? In either case, what is your good or bad experiences on communication with direct superiors or, in case you are the boss, with your staff? More generally: How would a group go about …

I'm in the U.S.A.. Well, I had been up over 24 hours, but I did it. I'm trying to get back into my competitive groove and do things. It also gives a little bit of cash. It's somewhat painful, but it's not agonizing, bloody murder painful. It's more like some prick (asshole/jerk) with a short fingernail keeps pressing his finger and fingernail into the underneath of your arm for a good hour or two, as that pain transforms into a numbing pain that is annoying but tolerable. It took about 4 to 4.5 hours. Not bad for some extra cash. It's too bad these plasma centers are not more abundant in U.S. cities. What interested me, however, was that the plasma was going t…

I have noticed that some people take a lot of pride in being aware of pop culture, movies, songs etc. Why is this? If you have not seen some famous movie, there is sense of ridicule. I don't really understand this. Any explanation?

The city of Barcelona has built a humongous penis shaped skyscraper around the famous Sacred Family Cathedral. Shocking pictures here: http://third-secret.pro-forum.co.uk/h57-giant-penis-built-around-the-sacred-family-cathedral-in-barcelona

...surely this action is within my own best interests. I have had the most ridiculous enforcement of ''mod rules'' so I assume it might be best for me to lie low. The real reason why I have posted this, is that if anyone wishes to conduct a game of chess with me, I will find your message here. In the meanwhile, keep well and I will see you all in a couple of weeks. Keep well!

Why do they even exist? Do you not think it is a bit unfair that posters can be biased in their opinions of posters here and so they find themselves negging these people, just because they don't like what they have said? Surely negging posts only paints a picture in someone's profile whether they can be trusted. I think out of all the posters, I make good contributions but I never get positive reps. So what is the deal with system?

I know some of you like chess, so here is one of my best games ever, it also includes my favourite game by Susan Polgar http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/the-power-of-calculating-ahead

I happened to recently watch the movie Contact which starred Jodie Foster. I noticed what I thought was an irritating gaffe in the plot. At the end of the story the possibility is presented that the First Contact purportedly established with an alien society was a hoax perpetrated by a wealthy individual to serve his own greedy corporate purposes. The First Contact was supposedly a signal received from a source located 26 light years away in the constellation Vega. If the purported First Contact was indeed a hoax, then the implication was that the scientific community was fooled into believing that the signal establishing First Contact (which therefore was actually of lo…

My wife and i just spent two days experiencing some really weird health problems. We cannot figure out what happened, here are the symptoms... Heart palpitations extreme shakiness/weakness/agitation/inability to think clearly Waking night mares/total inability to sleep Ringing in our ears Tremors/dizziness Elevated blood pressure Extreme sweating/hot and cold flashes We were both too weak and disorientated to drive Intestinal problems The nightmares were as real as hallucinations can be and long lasting, some of them lasted an hour or more it lasted two days, the only thing we shared besides living together was eating a pizza…

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-first-game-on-chesslive This game, I used the kings indian, orthodox version. Here is a game in which I played the Gundaram Defence. Here is a game in which I play the Goring Gambit http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-analysis/goring-gambit-game Here is another kings indian, this was like the exchange variation http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/a-clean-juggle-to-a-forced-mate You'll find two miniatures of mine on this page http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/post-your-best-miniatures-here?page=164 On this page, you can find a Mar Del Plata variation of kings gambit miniatur…

I want to apologize to everyone here for my behavior in the past, and especially lab rat who had the misfortune of being the recipient of my most recent digressions. I am truly sorry to everyone who may have been impacted. Last Friday my beautiful wife of 27 years, Georgette, underwent her fourth surgery since last December for thyroid cancer. The first was to remove the thyroid and the following two for the lymph nodes on either side. We were encouraged that this is the most curable cancer and her prognosis was estimated at 90%. She had the one prescribed radiation treatment in the early spring, and still encouraged, we hoped for the best. She went for he…

A woman with a 1 yo child in a car seat was killed today in Washington, she was obviously deranged and her behavior was threatening but was her death really necessary? I've watched the tapes released so far and while i understand that a car can be a weapon her actions looked more like a panic stricken person trying to get away than a person trying to use her car as a weapon... thoughts discuss?