Interesting Stuff Thread

legspin

Bad news for us Iain Banks fans.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22015175

Dades

That just made me very sad.

Turtwig

Dades wrote: »

That just made me very sad.

The widow comment brought a little smile to my face though.

robindch

No More Mr Nice Guy.

legspin

... I said I have a big stick....

Obliq

legspin wrote: »

... I said I have a big stick....

Oh here we go. We'll have GCU Jaundiced Outlook up here any minute....

Obliq

Jernal wrote: »

Ahem.

Getting this thread back on topic, it's time for another installment Jernal's super awesome desktop background fodder. Only this time if any of yez have a monitor capable of producing this resolution!:eek:

Apparently I do. WOW! Quite super cool, really. Ta!

Turtwig

Obliq wrote: »

Apparently I do. WOW! Quite super cool, really. Ta!

No you don't. You're welcome though.

If you think of computer images as developed photographs. Display resolution is the maximum size the photo can be developed without becoming pixelated or blurry and losing detail. For a billion pixel resolution your TV screen or photograph would be quite quite big! It'd be able to display that entire image in a massive rectangular area without you panning around it and not one iota of detail would be lost!

Obliq

Jernal wrote: »

No you don't. You're welcome though.

If you think of computer images as developed photographs. Display resolution is the maximum size the photo can be developed without becoming pixelated or blurry and losing detail. For a billion pixel resolution your TV screen or photograph would be quite quite big! It'd be able to display that entire image in a massive rectangular area without you panning around it and not one iota of detail would be lost!

oOOOooh! Yeah......thanks. The details were a little lost on me. No, then .....I don't, but my screen DID SHOW ME THE PICTURE! And that doesn't always happen.

(Hmmm. Must stop reading numbers as "blahhh" and moving on without trying to make sense of them )

robindch

Richard Wiseman is doing a show in the Science Gallery on April 16th:

http://sciencegallery.com/events/2013/04/richard-wiseman-illusion-coming-soon-science-gallery

Tickets are still available at a fiver a pop!

The Black Oil

A US federal judge has ordered the government to make the "morning after" pill available over the counter to girls of all ages within 30 days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22044790

And now we wait for the inevitable outrage.

Turtwig

The Black Oil wrote: »

A US federal judge has ordered the government to make the "morning after" pill available over the counter to girls of all ages within 30 days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22044790

And now we wait for the inevitable outrage.

Tweet this to David Quinn and John Waters?

PopePalpatine

Jernal wrote: »

Tweet this to David Quinn and John Waters?

Don't you know? Twitter are part of the big gay polygamist liberal-"meeja" militant secularist conspiracy.

The Black Oil

Just caught a rep from Students from Life reacting to this story (interview on BBC World Service)...the MAP is a carcinogen? Got the no condoms, no sex before marriage stuff in there, too.

Turtwig

Explained some stuff to my little cousin today about slinky's. He spent the rest of the day experimenting because he didn't believe me.
So yeah one for the kids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGIZKETKKdw

Answer.

Answer to next question.

Obliq

Cool! Patting myself smugly on the back for getting the answer right without watching.

18AD

Want!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Difficult-Atheism-Post-theological-Meillassoux-Crosscurrents/dp/0748640576

Galvasean

The Black Oil wrote: »

the MAP is a carcinogen?

I hear it also clubs babby seals for fun.

Turtwig

Doctors use an imprint from a 3D printer to replace 75% of a man's skull.:eek:

Cork boy 55

BBC HARDtalk - Professor Daniel Dennett
Stephen Sackur speaks to Daniel Dennett, a philosopher who applies Darwinian evolutionary theory not just to species, but to ideas and religious beliefs. He believes religion has outlived its usefulness, hampers rational thought and damages our species. Along with Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens, Dennett is seen as a founding father of the new atheism. But do humans want to live in a world where atheism rules and religion is dead

25 minutes pretty robust good interview
worth a watch
He says the awakening will occur in his lifetime as a result of the information revolution
e.g. the end of religion
Also talks about Atheist using nasty language

:cool:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_h-Gkx83PM

robindch

Woo, hoo! Blake's 7: Classic BBC sci-fi to return!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22079232

BBC wrote:

Cult classic sci-fi series Blake's 7 is to be remade for the Syfy network, it has been announced. FremantleMedia International said 13 hour-long episodes will be written by Heroes writer Joe Pokaski. It added, in a statement, that Casino Royale and Goldeneye director Martin Campbell was also on board.

The original series, which ran on the BBC between 1978 and 1981, followed the exploits of a group of renegades and convicted criminals. Roj Blake, played by Welsh actor Gareth Thomas, was a political dissident arrested, tried and convicted on false charges by a brutal totalitarian government, and then deported from Earth to a prison planet. Stealing a spaceship, Blake and his team conducted a campaign against the ruling Terran Federation.

Comparing Blake's 7 with the hit US sci-fi series Star Trek, The Independent said in 1998: "No 'boldly going' here: instead, we got the boot stamping on a human face which George Orwell offered as a vision of humanity's future in Nineteen Eighty-Four." At its peak, the series was watched by 10 million viewers and was sold to 40 countries. A range of Blake's 7 merchandise including books, magazines, annuals and toys were also released. A radio adaptation, featuring This Life's Daniela Nardini as villain Servalan, was made in 2006.

According to FremantleMedia, the new series will be set in 2136 and will "tell the story of seven criminals - six guilty and one innocent - on their way to life on a prison colony in space, who together wrestle freedom from imprisonment". It continued: "They acquire an alien ship which gives them a second chance at life and become the most unlikely heroes of their time". Chief executive officer David Ellender said: "Blake's 7 was such a forward-thinking concept that the show continues to have resonance with audiences today."

The latest announcement is not the first time a remake of Blake's 7 has been attempted. In 2003, a miniseries was shelved after actor Paul Darrow - who played Kerr Avon in the original show - left the project. Later in 2008, Sky One announced it had commissioned two 60-minute scripts for a potential series but two years later said it had decided not to proceed.

Dades

Great news!

Hopefully more Battlestar Galactica than Star Trek: Enterprise

Obliq

I suddenly feel entitled to post an informative cartoon.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

This is an awesome shrimp but it's not for the funny side thread, so jernal can sort it if tis in the wrong spot.

Sulla Felix

Dades wrote: »

Great news!

Hopefully more Battlestar Galactica than Star Trek: Enterprise

Obliq wrote: »

I suddenly feel entitled to post an informative cartoon.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

This is an awesome shrimp but it's not for the funny side thread, so jernal can sort it if tis in the wrong spot.

And seeing as that I'm now jealous of a freaking shrimp, to tie the two together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM3CptVZDYU

Turtwig

Obliq wrote: »

I suddenly feel entitled to post an informative cartoon.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

This is an awesome shrimp but it's not for the funny side thread, so jernal can sort it if tis in the wrong spot.

Shrimps are awesome! There's another little bugger that can fire intense IR laser pulses hotter than the sun instantly frying their meal. I'm going to issue a challenge here. Folks, find another creature that's just as amazing or more amazing than the one Obliq posted above.

Obliq

Jernal wrote: »

Shrimps are awesome! There's another little bugger that can fire intense IR laser pulses hotter than the sun instantly frying their meal. I'm going to issue a challenge here. Folks, find another creature that's just as amazing or more amazing than the one Obliq posted above.

LINK!!

Turtwig

Obliq wrote: »

LINK!!

I'm trying! I'm trying!:o




*wanders off muttering about demanding pernickety users*

Obliq

Jernal wrote: »

I'm trying! I'm trying!:o




*wanders off muttering about demanding pernickety users*

Yeah yeah....no hurry Am off to bed now anyhow. Don't wear yerself out on yer first full day - there's much more fun moderating to come ! :-)

Turtwig

Obliq wrote: »

LINK!!

And here you go. Recognise the thread?:D
It would appear it's not a laser shrimp at all but that's how I remembered it so kudos to Gbear for the sensationalism.

Bannasidhe

Jernal wrote: »

Shrimps are awesome! There's another little bugger that can fire intense IR laser pulses hotter than the sun instantly frying their meal. I'm going to issue a challenge here. Folks, find another creature that's just as amazing or more amazing than the one Obliq posted above.

May I present turritopsis nutricula aka the Immortal Jellyfish.

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/photos/10-animals-with-the-longest-life-spans/turritopsis

Obliq

Jernal wrote: »

And here you go. Recognise the thread?:D
It would appear it's not a laser shrimp at all but that's how I remembered it so kudos to Gbear for the sensationalism.

Bannasidhe wrote: »

May I present turritopsis nutricula aka the Immortal Jellyfish.

Yeah that jellyfish is fairly f1ckin cool. Just spent the last few mins typing a response (which I accidentally deleted due to unworkable fingers, grrr.) to the shrimp problem. ie. that they both have numbers measured in kelvin in their wikipedia entries and are called "similar". How do we know which is best? :eek: Calling on mathematicians everywhere.........??

Turtwig

Bannasidhe wrote: »

May I present turritopsis nutricula aka the Immortal Jellyfish.

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/photos/10-animals-with-the-longest-life-spans/turritopsis

And that was my one.:p
Another fantastic user here pointed out that it's not immortal though

recedite wrote: »

More neoteny than immortality.

Sarky

I'll see your shrimp and raise you any encysting bacteria. They literally freeze-dry themselves until growth conditions are favourable again, and they're near impossible to kill until then. Seriously the amount of radiation you need to reliably kill them is more than enough to wipe out a country or two.

Turtwig

Sarky wrote: »

I'll see your shrimp and raise you any encysting bacteria. They literally freeze-dry themselves until growth conditions are favourable again, and they're near impossible to kill until then. Seriously the amount of radiation you need to reliably kill them is more than enough to wipe out a country or two.

Linky!:p

Hotblack Desiato

Pah, encysting bacteria. Here's an animal that can survive in spaaaaaaace

Water bears

Tardigrades can withstand temperatures from just above absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water. They can survive pressures greater than any found in the deepest ocean trenches and have lived through the vacuum of outer space. They can survive solar radiation, gamma radiation, ionic radiation— at doses hundreds of times higher than would kill a person. They can go without food or water for nearly 10 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce.

Aaah aren't they cute.

Sarky

Jernal wrote: »

Linky!:p

GOD WHY CAN'T YOU JUST HAVE AN OPEN MIND ABOUT IT

Turtwig

Sarky wrote: »

GOD WHY CAN'T YOU JUST HAVE AN OPEN MIND ABOUT IT

i) I'm not God, that'd be Rob.
ii) Because a wise man once told us that keeping an open mind is a good thing as long as you don't let your brain fall out in the process.

Sarky

Fine, be that way. But happy are those who have not seen, and yet believe. :pac:

To be fully accurate, I meant endospore-forming bacteria. Although bacterial cysts are tough, endospores are the daddies of badass survival. You can kill them with bleach, but you need to drown them for over 5 minutes, and if the bleach is too strong you'll actually help them survive, too weak and they won't feel it. They can be boiled for hours without dying*. Researchers have found spores that are about 40 million years old, still ready to bounce back, and really, really resistant to radiation.

*This is why autoclaves were invented. A combination of heat and high pressure is surprisingly effective. Still not 100% though. Even the most sterile equipment is really just highly unlikely to have any surviving cells/spores on it. And even then bits of dead cell can cause an immune response and kill someone.

Turtwig

Sarky wrote: »

Fine, be that way. But happy are those who have not seen, and yet believe. :pac:

"Get in the f*cking sack!:pac:"
From the same source :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poxt-D8d0zg

Sarky wrote: »

To be fully accurate, I meant endospore-forming bacteria. Although bacterial cysts are tough, endospores are the daddies of badass survival. You can kill them with bleach, but you need to drown them for over 5 minutes, and if the bleach is too strong you'll actually help them survive, too weak and they won't feel it. They can be boiled for hours without dying*. Researchers have found spores that are about 40 million years old, still ready to bounce back, and really, really resistant to radiation.

*This is why autoclaves were invented. A combination of heat and high pressure is surprisingly effective. Still not 100% though. Even the most sterile equipment is really just highly unlikely to have any surviving cells/spores on it. And even then bits of dead cell can cause an immune response and kill someone.

Aww man Microbiology looks awesome.
*Starts browsing for a free introductory course.*

Sarky

It certainly makes you think about the process of life in new and interesting ways. And causes you to feel unreasoning fury at people who try to market some as good and some as bad when they're really just in the wrong place.

Obliq

ninja900 wrote: »

Pah, encysting bacteria. Here's an animal that can survive in spaaaaaaace

Water bears



Aaah aren't they cute.

Aww, and they're called moss piglets as well! Can't get cuter than that

Bannasidhe

Obliq wrote: »

Aww, and they're called moss piglets as well! Can't get cuter than that

It has to be awesome and cute :eek:.

That blasted jellyfish is never going to get points for cuteness. :mad:

Obliq

Bannasidhe wrote: »

It has to be awesome and cute :eek:.

That blasted jellyfish is never going to get points for cuteness. :mad:

I dunno, the jellyfish is ultra awesome but it's well out-cuted by the tiny wee cratur. I'm going to have to make a sculpture out of it. A BIG waterbear moss piglet.

AWWR!

postitnote

Check this stuff out, Carbon Aerogel

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22079592

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/lightest-material-earth-carbon-aerogel_n_2980978.html

Chinese scientists have created the world’s lightest substance -- a material so insubstantial it can perch on the petals of a delicate flower without crushing them (see photo above).

A cubic centimeter of the record-setting stuff, carbon aerogel, has a mass of only 0.16 milligram, according to a new study by scientists at Zhejiang University. That’s 12 percent lighter than an equal volume of the previous record-holder, a substance known as aerographite.

Having trouble getting a handle just how light this new stuff really is? If the average human body were made entirely of carbon aerogel instead of flesh and bone, it would weigh only 1/40th of a pound!

robindch

As all of you Western Running-Dog Imperialist Lackeys know, Google Earth is a tool for our glorious spy agencies, many of which are christian.

So, Iran has announced plans to create an "Islamic Google Earth":

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/10/iran-plans-islamic-google-earth

Local media claims that Mohammad Hassan Nami, the senior politician who announced the plan, studied something called "political geography" in Iran and graduated with a PhD in "country management" from Kim Il-sung University in North Korea.

Bannasidhe

robindch wrote: »

As all of you Western Running-Dog Imperialist Lackeys know, Google Earth is a tool for our glorious spy agencies, many of which are christian.

So, Iran has announced plans to create an "Islamic Google Earth":

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/10/iran-plans-islamic-google-earth

Local media claims that Mohammad Hassan Nami, the senior politician who announced the plan, studied something called "political geography" in Iran and graduated with a PhD in "country management" from Kim Il-sung University in North Korea.

In other news Apple announce they have found a sucker buyer for Apple Maps.

Hotblack Desiato

robindch wrote: »

As all of you Western Running-Dog Imperialist Lackeys know, Google Earth is a tool for our glorious spy agencies, many of which are christian.

So, Iran has announced plans to create an "Islamic Google Earth":

So, will there be a funny looking dark Opel driving along, photographing everything in sight and slurpin' wifi, at a place near you, real soon now? :eek:

Morag

Well now look at that, babies born with 3 bio parents,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-43767/Worlds-GM-babies-born.html

Turtwig

Morag wrote: »

Well now look at that, babies born with 3 bio parents,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-43767/Worlds-GM-babies-born.html

I've got kitten blocker in effect. You wouldn't by any chance have any other links?:)

Morag

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/17/first-genetically-modified-babies-born.aspx