The Lounge

How did your relationships blossom? Share us your stories!

What does everyone think? Will we ever achieve a 100% atheist/agnostic American population? Where does Europe stand?

An engineer suggests building a space ship like the fictional Enterprise... http://www.buildtheenterprise.org/

I wasn't sure where to put this, so much has come out of late about the dangers of various plastics and the chemicals used to produce them and the chemicals that leach out of plastics not to mention the economics of oil and the dangers of plastics once they enter the waste stream this topic seemed to fit marginally in several possible forums... Would our civilization be better served by phasing out plastic bottles and going back to glass containers? Plastics have a lot going for them, the versatility of plastics has to be a major consideration when looking at the uses of plastics but going back to the use of glass in the places where it could be used could also be an…

Comprehending reality Poe and Candid style. Poe said... If we cannot comprehend God in his visible works, how thenin his inconceivable thoughts, that call the works into being? If we cannotunderstand him in his objective creatures, how then in his substantive moodsand phases of creation? I replace Poe’s “God” with reality or nature. These views are what led to my apotheosis and I endorse themwholeheartedly. When I was a seeker, before I found this clip below. I hadconcluded that reality was in the best and only state that it could be in. Thisbest state included nature as well as man within it. When this was written, …

i will show part one of a multi part video by wildwoodclaire, a geologist, showing why creationists are wrong about the geology of the Earth. The creationist world view is often dismissed by mainstream religions as aberrant but in the US Creationism is gaining ground and actually being inserted into the science curriculum across the nation. The idea of creationism is not unique to Christianity, in fact there are more Muslim Creationists than Christian. Claire has a good grasp of what is being asserted by these people as well as a degree in real geology...

So, I've got some clothes, you know.. underwear, shirts, blue jeans... and I'm thinking about autoclaving them. There really isn't a laundromat near by, and I don't get paid for about 6 more days. They kind of of smell, but I figure that's just some organic chemical left over. I've read about it before, but I can't recall the molecule's name. I figure if I autoclave the stuff, then the clothes will be sterilized. I'm not sure what kind of result autoclaving would have on the fabric, but I'm trying to save some money. So, if I were to autoclave some black shirts and a couple of pairs of blue jeans, even some socks and underwear, do you think that there would be co…

Can anyone help fine tuning the process ? Am putting the beef steak with a couple of tablespoons of oil, salt and pepper, in a glass bowl with an upside up glass dish as a lid. Oil splatter falls back onto the steak that way, and no mess. It works nearly well at 70% power for a couple of minutes, not as good flavor as grilled of course, but perhaps some of you have perfected the task and suggest tweaks... Come on with something !

What is in the 16th century world was affected with caste system of whites? Like countries america, england, australia, south africa...etc. So in anguish they promoted racisms and aparthied. The world when it was coming towards time period of adolf hitler, world wars, nazism, english conquered lands....etc, was there a australian mahatma gandhi, an individual who had fought against foreign whites caste system prevalent in 16th century??? If yes, then are the stories and works of indian mahatma gandhiji infact works of australian mahatma gandhiji??? Australian mahatma gandhiji might had been like mr mathew slator. He had big bald head skull shape and was very ta…

Some time ago I spoke to someone on the phone who I hadn't seen for many years. We agreed to speak again and I told her of my interest in the forum and how to see what I had posted saying she would get some idea of my present day thoughts and interests. After I put the phone down I thought about this and had doubts about whether I had been wise! I think, because of the general anonymity, I am much less inhibited than I am in my everyday life. I tend to say and do things without hesitation when in contact with forum members. Anything I do or say is genuine in the sense that it is what I am thinking at the time - but often beyond what I would do or say in my everyday life …

hey guys just bumped into this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SrrKkfAx0o&feature=g-vrec at 9.24 a character says: "Are you getting enough calcium?" and followed by: "It's bad for your skin you know" at 9.26 from another character. I was just wondering wondering whether this is actually true or whether they were just teasing. well, is it true that calcium is bad for your skin? If so, how? I like eating and drinking my dairy products whether it be milk, yoghurt, ice-cream, cheese or something entirely different. Anyone know???

Why are animals cuter when they are sleeping?

I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread where people can just pop in a question about any aspect of the English language that puzzles them or just want a quick answer to. The only caveat I would add is that this is an international forum, so we should be mindful and respectful of the differences in convention; American-English and British-English in particular.

I didn't want to regurgitate an old thread, so I was wondering what pets SFN members had. What prompted this thread, is that I'm now a proud owner of a coastal carpet python. I'm giving him a few days to settle into his new environment, before I start handling and feeding him, but he seems (based on his behaviour) very relaxed. So, just wondering what pets you have, and if there's any reason why that particular animal / animals were chosen. (Hints and tips would also be a plus )

Shakespeare's works have been studied exhaustively for nearly four centuries. During this time, literary scholars have looked in them for hidden meanings. Meanings contained in cryptograms and codes, which might prove that the works were written not by Shakespeare, but by another author, such as Francis Bacon. These literary researches have not produced any convincing results. However, have the works yet been searched for possible scientific content? This might lead to a more fruitful outcome. I submit that certain Shakespearian writings, display a prescient knowledge of modern scientific theory. Specifically, of Quantum Theory. What are the characteristic…

I should probably ask this in a fashion forum (uh, where would they be?), but here goes. It's time for me to buy a new suit for the technological workplace (on the job, on interviews, etc), and I'm wondering what is considered fairly standard out there. Not being a fashion horse, I simply don't know, and I don't trust the retail people not to push me into a suit that's out of fashion. I'm average height and weight: 5-10 and 160 lbs. So, for example, I'm looking for something standard/formal (ie, "timeless"), so I'm thinking dark blue, two buttons, no vest. So far, so good -- I hope. But pleats are out of fashion, aren't they; and if so, how long ago (becaus…

Does anyone know a documentary that deals with how computers work at the most basic level, how they do computation?

Can anyone recommend a science podcast? I like NPR's Science Friday( http://www.sciencefriday.com/feeds/radio/ ) but it's 90 minutes per week, and I need more. Also, does anyone know if there's a way to find older science friday podcasts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pKaTzf7HBI

Ok, so I attend a prestigous magnet school for science, math, and applied technology. As rising juniors and seniors, each student is required to research a specific "thing" (i.e. treatment, new nanofiber, etc.) under any scientific category. The project must be able to require at least 2 years of research and must be a new research topic, never before tested. I have NO IDEA what topic i should do, but i wanted something related to electrospun nanofibers. Anyone have a suggestion?

After years of reading books,magazines and watching videos on You Tube and all the TV shows on UFOs it seems there is nothing to prove anything. The videos of UFOs seem real or are they faked ? The crash near Roswell,New Mexico -so well researched by many..seemed real and all the sightings of space ships by airline pilots and astronauts .(One was the ww2 pilot and later Astronaut GORDON COOPER,Jr. who claimed he saw a UFO land on a runway while it was filmed by a movie camera crew. He looked at the film and it showed the UFO, then turned it over to his superiors and never heard of it again !) There are lots of other stories of odd thing that Military men have told …

Let us have a collection of SFN classic threads from all the sub-forums. It would nice if you name the link you provide with the topic name itself.