The Lounge

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.

I guess the first questions I have are to those who are actively working in the sciences, such as post-docs, government research scientists, industry research scientists, general Industry, and Law. What are your degrees in? What are your interests? What are your job responsibilities? Your location? Your career plans? What is the typical pay scale for what you do? If you'd rather PM private information, I'd accept that. I know on the internet people love to "fluffen their numbers" However, this post is not about comparing two individuals. It is about knowing what to expect in a certain field. The reason behind this post is I've seen numerous…

Okay, so there's a lot of pornography online now. Impossible to protect all our children, family and others from exposure. You WILL be affected by it somehow, either directly or indirectly. Husbands are cheating on their wives and wives are cheating on their husbands and now it's becoming more socially acceptable and the norm in some places particularly the US/Europe. Also, many teachers/lawyers/pastors/doctors/atheists/scientists are watching pornography right now. My question, what are some of the negative consequences of living in a society where pornography is so readily available with the click of a button? What would happen to society if pornograph…

What does everyone here think is the ideal age to get married? How young is too young and how old is too old? There are also people who decide early in life that they never ever want to get married. What are some reasons that make people not want to marry? What is the rough proportions of people who do end up getting married in the US/Europe/your country? Overall, is it a bad thing to get married? Do you prefer to get married one day or not get married at all?

Is it truly beneficial for society to have humble citizens? What are the negative effects of the humble way of thinking on people and society? Do you want to be infinitely humble? Would society improve for the better if people became more humble? How would this mindset affect scientific progress?

Hi. Would you please let me know what dyes that you know are commonly used in households and industry ? (Not pigment particles in suspension) I can think of clothes dyes, hair dyes, fountain pen inks, food dyes. Others please ?

I've had quite a bit of spare time recently, plus the weather has been pretty awful the last couple of weeks, so I've been watching a few TV series, back to back (i.e not waiting a week for the next episode). At the moment, I'm glued to Breaking Bad. I think Bryan Cranston is brilliant in this series, (he plays Nobel laureate Walter White). There's been some very original consequences, that he has directly and indirectly caused, due to his change in ummm lifestyle. I've just started season 4, where the first few episodes have been a little dissapointing, but I've been told it gets a lot more interesting. I've also been watching Game of Thrones, which is ludicrousl…

If there were an Anthem for science and science lovers,What would it be?

Hi folks! We're doing an official scientific experiment about writing style and media use and we're looking for participants. I don't know exactly where to advertise for my research, but since we all love science here, I decided to give my link here! Among all the participants, two 25$ gift tokens for amazon.com will be raffled. http://dosurvey.eu/index.php?sid=62272〈=en PLEASE do not discuss any details of the study, since this may distort the answers of other participants.. If you have any questions, complaints, troubles or anything, please send me a private message or send us an email: writing_media@hotmail.com Thank you very very much for your par…

It has been suggested to me that my technical knowledge is no longer at a standard where I can sustain a debate or argument. It was suggested that I retrain. However, I retired almost 20 years ago so that really isn't an option. It got me wondering what I might do with very little training and fading knowledge. I am looking for suggestions. The best that I can come up with myself would be "pole dancer costume adjuster". However the remuneration would have to be very small otherwise I could not afford to take the job! So any ideas? All offers and suggestions considered!

What does everyone here think? What are the pros and cons of allowing your kids to watch hours upon hours of television? Does it help with their listening/writing/social skills in any way? Has there been any research on this? If so, what are they suggesting?

Does anyone know any documentary that deals with jews in america?