IMI

http://slate.msn.com/id/2087207/

Area 51 is nothing more than a hoax site to keep idiots occupied while the real testing goes on elsewhere. As for why we ponder silly things, there is no law, either natural or man-made, that states that we should only think on relevant and important subjects. It's called "entertainment"!

We are not talking genetics at all! We are talking about a congenital defect caused by a deviance of normal hormonal levels in the mother during gestation.

If you check SETI's web page you will see that quite a lot of rich bastards, one of the co-founders of Microsoft for instance, donate to keep SETI alive...not that it is of good use though.

What a great racket that would be! Take stuff back in time, sell it, and get the heck out of there before it disappears and people come looking for you

It would seem that a thermobaric device creates a rather large temporary vacuum but it's searing heat would probably be counter-productive to putting out fires I would imagine that possibilities such as these have already been examined for this application. They do use explosives, at times, to extinguish such fires as oil rigs/pipelines.

I heard, just this morning on CNN, that winds can carry ambers from forest fires, that can themselves start more fires, up to a mile away. You would have to blow too much up to prevent that with explosives alone.

I'm fairly certain that I have read about a bomb that somehow removes the oxygen from an area for at least a couple minutes. I'm sure it would be some type of dispersal device. I'll try find some info on it.

Maybe it's a Halon bomb or something. Not entirely sure.

I am not sure but I want to say I've heard of a bomb that removes the oxygen from an area for up to 3 or 4 minutes.

Wow, I've actually pondered the thought that homosexuality might be a form of natural population control. Glider is right (as usual). All indications are that hormonal levels during gestation effect, among other things, the development of the vomeronasal organ. This leads me to believe, which I had not before this thread, that someone can indeed be born gay. That said, that would make it a congenital defect. It also doesn't mean that there aren't people out there who are gay because of trauma. I knew a guy who was gay because his mother abused him terribly, both sexually and phyically, to the point where he was terrified of women. Still needing all the things that "love" gives us, he turned to men. Of course, I don't know that he wouldn't have turned out gay had the abuse not happened so I guess it is just theory

Dogs exhibit homosexual behavior as do, I've heard, some species of birds. I am not so sure that animal homosexuality can be considered to be as deliberate as in humans. Crowded mice in elevated temperatures may just stick it where ever it fits. Animals lack the complexity of thought and reasoning that we do.

I find it shocking that we didn't even discover that humans have a vomeronasal organ until 1991. Here is another link: (Don't worry, I'm not clowing you) http://home.epix.net/~tcannon1/Physioweek9.htm

Check this out. It doesn't give a definitive answer by any means but it may shed some insight. http://www.nel.edu/23_4/NEL230402L01_Oliva.htm

I have known quite a few gay people and each of them has suffered some type of trauma that I believe lead them to be gay. I am interested if homosexuals would react physiologically to the pheromones of those of the same sex. This would substantiate the claim that they are born as such because a heterosexual shows no response to pheromones from someone of the same sex.

Not all people who are shot in the head die. I read one story of a woman who had been shot in the head during an airliner hijacking. She felt no pain. I knew a Vietnam Veteran who had been shot in the back of the head by an AK-47. No pain. Neither of these individuals suffered any long term effects from having been shot in the head either. It obviously matters what parts of the brain are damaged, but the brain is sometimes able to re-route certain functions that become disabled due to trauma.

If you want to feel your brain simply remove your skull-cap and wa-la! But seriously, as Glider already said, "...no sensory nerve endings..." This is why people who suffer gunshot wounds to the brain feel no pain.

Why?

Mob mentality is a somewhat curious thing.

What do you mean politicians are stupid? Haven't you heard George W. Bush speak?

It's all moot! Time is not something that can be travelled to or from.

As has been stated, software firewalls suck! Thing about it. If your software firewall detects an attempted break-in then someone is already at the outer boundaries of your machine. Go buy a Linksys or SMC firewall router (assuming you have cable/dsl) for like $100. It's cheap and offers much better protection. Also, should you ever decide to add more computers to your househould you can do so without having to add another cable/dsl line. Should you ever want to run your own mail or web server you can also do port redirection which is a security plus.

Why can't we find a way where we don't have to brush our teeth! Maybe nano-bots that constantly roam each tooth removing plague, etc. All this science and we still need to care for our own teeth!

Media portrayal of violence is realistic enough. It desensitizes us to the effects of violence. It glamorizes violence and criminal lifestyles. Nudity, while always "real", is not harmful by itself. In fact, it may not always be real. They might be fake Thus far in this thread we have only focused on the negative effects of our acceptance of media portrayed violence. We haven't even discussed negative effects of stigmatizing sex and nudity.

I have to agree with you there. Organized religion has always been a major cause of most the worlds problems.