Interesting Stuff Thread

Sarky

Bannasidhe wrote: »

He's a very cute dog.

Do you have a link to back that up?

(I wanna see the cute doggy!)

Bannasidhe

Sarky wrote: »

Do you have a link to back that up?

(I wanna see the cute doggy!)

Turtwig

He's adorable!

smacl

Jernal wrote: »

He's adorable!

+1, and I don't even like dogs!

FouxDaFaFa

He's the dog version of Ridiculously Photogenic Guy.

recedite

Holy $hit €1200 for that?
You realise you could have saved 1000 people from necrotizing fasciitis or something in Somalia for that money?

Bannasidhe

recedite wrote: »

Holy $hit €1200 for that?
You realise you could have saved 1000 people from necrotizing fasciitis or something in Somalia for that money?

or funded 5 minutes wages for the CEO of an NGO that is claiming to be saving people from necrotizing fasciitis or something in Somalia.

'that' happens to be my dog :mad:

recedite

I thought you said you were only "fostering" the little mongrel.
You could also have sent 100 copies of Dawkin's latest book to a charity that would distribute it free to needy people in Haiti.
Or funded a grenade launcher and 6 RPG grenades for your preferred side in the Syrian civil war.

Dave!

recedite wrote: »

I thought you said you were only "fostering" the little mongrel.
You could also have sent 100 copies of Dawkin's latest book to a charity that would distribute it free to needy people in Haiti.
Or funded a grenade launcher and 6 RPG grenades for your preferred side in the Syrian civil war.

I hope you don't have any extravagant indulgences if you feel comfortable chastising someone else for spending money to save their dog's life. Got a smartphone? What kind of car do you drive? Do you buy your clothes in Dunnes Stores or do you buy fancy labels?

Get a f*cking grip. Or a heart, whichever.

Sulla Felix

recedite wrote: »

I thought you said you were only "fostering" the little mongrel.
You could also have sent 100 copies of Dawkin's latest book to a charity that would distribute it free to needy people in Haiti.
Or funded a grenade launcher and 6 RPG grenades for your preferred side in the Syrian civil war.

Fsck that noise. There's an opportunity cost to everything. A happy, live dog, probably has more personal utility than an rpg for most people. Well. Unless you're saying I can keep the RPG, if it has to be sent to Syria I'm not all that interested.

KyussBishop

Just came across this amazing interview with Richard Feynman, "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out"; he does a really great job nailing his philosophy/approach to knowledge/learning/science, in a pretty inspiring way, which I'm sure most scientifically-minded folk can relate to deeply:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgaw9qe7DEE

Sulla Felix

KyussBishop wrote: »

Just came across this amazing interview with Richard Feynman, "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out"; he does a really great job nailing his philosophy/approach to knowledge/learning/science, in a pretty inspiring way, which I'm sure most scientifically-minded folk can relate to deeply:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgaw9qe7DEE

Have the audiobook and it's absolutely entrancing.

swampgas

Speaking of Feynman, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I" are available for free on-line:

http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_toc.html

PopePalpatine

smacl wrote: »

Was best man at a traditional Chinese wedding in Hong Kong a few years ago and it took three days. Christian, with much traditional Chinese ceremony tacked on here and there, proper banqueting and a rocking party. The best bit was the groom, myself, and the other groomsmen carrying a glazed pig across Hong Kong on our shoulders to present to the brides mother, and then being set all sorts of quests by the brides sisters to prove that the groom was worthy to pass through the gates of the apartment. Nothing as straightforward as slaying a dragon either; among other things, we had to sing a top ten single in cantonese to the future mother in law and eat a bucket of pickled duck eggs.

I wonder how you'd explain that to the bus/taxi driver. :pac:

smacl

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I wonder how you'd explain that to the bus/taxi driver. :pac:

We took it on the metro, walked the streets a fair bit of the way, and in a crowded lift up to the flat of the multi-storey block the mother in law lived in. Funny thing is everyone knew exactly what was going on as its a common enough spectacle, and were cheering us on. A really fun piece of tradition that I was totally chuffed to be part of.

joseph brand

Zumba classes in Dublin run by the cult of Scientology?

Just read about this on my FB. Anyone else heard about this?

Found a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSOd1MtDGiI

Nodin

Sulla Felix wrote: »

Fsck that noise. There's an opportunity cost to everything. A happy, live dog, probably has more personal utility than an rpg for most people. Well. Unless you're saying I can keep the RPG, if it has to be sent to Syria I'm not all that interested.

...fond as I am of weaponry, even I'd save the doggy.

robindch

Frans de Waal has written a new book discussing the evolutionary origins of ethical behavior:

http://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/bonobo_atheist/book.shtml

Frans de Waal wrote:

In this lively discussion of his landmark research, esteemed primatologist Frans de Waal argues that our capacity for moral behavior does not begin and end with religion, but instead comes from within as a product of evolution.

One central question: “Do we need God to be good?”

For many years, de Waal has observed chimpanzees soothe distressed neighbors and bonobos share their food. Now, he delivers fresh evidence for the seeds of ethical behavior in primate societies that offers the basis for human goodness. Interweaving vivid tales from the animal kingdom with thoughtful philosophical analysis, de Waal seeks a bottom-up account of morality. In doing so, de Waal for the first time explores the implications of his work for our understanding of modern religion. Whatever the role of religious moral imperatives, he sees it as a “Johnny-come-lately” role that emerged only as an addition to our natural instincts for cooperation, fairness, and empathy.

But unlike the dogmatic neo-atheist of his book's title, de Waal does not scorn religion per se. Instead, he draws on the long tradition of humanism exemplified by the painter Hieronymus Bosch and asks reflective readers to consider these issues from a positive perspective: What role, if any, does religion play for a well-functioning society today? And where can believers and non-believers alike find the inspiration to lead a good life?

Rich with cultural references and anecdotes of primate societies, The Bonobo and the Atheist engagingly builds a unique argument grounded in evolutionary biology and moral philosophy. Ever a pioneer thinker, de Waal delivers a heartening and inclusive new perspective on human nature and our struggle to find purpose in our lives.

Bannasidhe

robindch wrote: »

Frans de Waal has written a new book discussing the evolutionary origins of ethical behavior:

http://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/bonobo_atheist/book.shtml

I caught one of my dogs with his head stuck down the front of babygro we have on operated dog (to prevent him getting at the staples holding his incision closed)- helpful dog was licking the bit operated on dog can't reach.

To me that indicates empathy and compassion -does it itch? Can't reach it? I'll help- ...and collar of shame for both if they aren't careful!

robindch

Via /., the US DOD has declassified a 2009 plan to deal with an influenza outbreak:

http://www.governmentattic.org/8docs/NORTHCON_CONPLAN_3551-09_2009.pdf

A /. contributor wrote:

Among the Plan's scary yet reasonable assumptions are that in the United States, such a pandemic will kill 2 percent of the infected population, or about 2 million people. The plan also assumes that a vaccine won't be available for at least 4 to 6 months after confirmation of sustained human transmission, and that the weekly vaccine manufacturing capability will only produce 1 percent of the total US vaccine required. State and local governments will be overwhelmed, and civilian mortuary operations will require military augmentation. Measures such as limiting public gatherings, closing schools, social distancing, protective sequestration and masking will be required to limit transmission and reduce illness and death. International and interstate transportation will be restricted to contain the spread of the virus.

Turtwig

Pfft, at the first sign of trouble just head for Madagascar and you'll be fine.

Genghiz Cohen

How will you get there is the port is closed?

Turtwig

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

How will you get there is the port is closed?

Obviously the goal is to get there before they do that!

kiffer

Jernal wrote: »

Obviously the goal is to get there before they do that!

Turns out you are Madagascar's Typhoid Mary...

robindch

Physicists discover a multi-dimensional object which massively simplifies the calculations currently done using Feynman Diagrams.

https://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20130917-a-jewel-at-the-heart-of-quantum-physics/

Simons Foundation wrote:

Physicists have discovered a jewel-like geometric object that dramatically simplifies calculations of particle interactions and challenges the notion that space and time are fundamental components of reality.

“This is completely new and very much simpler than anything that has been done before,” said Andrew Hodges, a mathematical physicist at Oxford University who has been following the work.

The revelation that particle interactions, the most basic events in nature, may be consequences of geometry significantly advances a decades-long effort to reformulate quantum field theory, the body of laws describing elementary particles and their interactions. Interactions that were previously calculated with mathematical formulas thousands of terms long can now be described by computing the volume of the corresponding jewel-like “amplituhedron,” which yields an equivalent one-term expression.

“The degree of efficiency is mind-boggling,” said Jacob Bourjaily, a theoretical physicist at Harvard University and one of the researchers who developed the new idea. “You can easily do, on paper, computations that were infeasible even with a computer before.”

The new geometric version of quantum field theory could also facilitate the search for a theory of quantum gravity that would seamlessly connect the large- and small-scale pictures of the universe. Attempts thus far to incorporate gravity into the laws of physics at the quantum scale have run up against nonsensical infinities and deep paradoxes. The amplituhedron, or a similar geometric object, could help by removing two deeply rooted principles of physics: locality and unitarity.

“Both are hard-wired in the usual way we think about things,” said Nima Arkani-Hamed, a professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., and the lead author of the new work, which he is presenting in talks and in a forthcoming paper. “Both are suspect.”

Locality is the notion that particles can interact only from adjoining positions in space and time. And unitarity holds that the probabilities of all possible outcomes of a quantum mechanical interaction must add up to one. The concepts are the central pillars of quantum field theory in its original form, but in certain situations involving gravity, both break down, suggesting neither is a fundamental aspect of nature.

In keeping with this idea, the new geometric approach to particle interactions removes locality and unitarity from its starting assumptions. The amplituhedron is not built out of space-time and probabilities; these properties merely arise as consequences of the jewel’s geometry. The usual picture of space and time, and particles moving around in them, is a construct.

“It’s a better formulation that makes you think about everything in a completely different way,” said David Skinner, a theoretical physicist at Cambridge University.

[...]

smacl

Serious brain melt after reading the whole article, apparently geometry has moved on some since Euclid. Will try a re-read later...

robindch

This is why I love Radio 4:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01h0lgf

KyussBishop

robindch wrote: »

Physicists discover a multi-dimensional object which massively simplifies the calculations currently done using Feynman Diagrams.

https://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20130917-a-jewel-at-the-heart-of-quantum-physics/

Interesting, if maybe a bit hyped or to-be-determined; Peter Woit's 'Not Even Wrong' blog is a good place to get informed commentary on physics-related news (most commonly bringing hype back down to earth):
http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=6260

So, hopefully there's some potential to this

Hotblack Desiato

Fetch Professor Quatermass!!!

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/british-scientists-claim-to-find-first-evidence-of-alien-life-1.1533442

British scientists claim to find ‘first evidence of alien life’

Baloon[sic] returns from Space with organisms too large to have originated from Earth


The balloon was launched near Chester and carried microscope studs which were only exposed to the atmosphere when it reached heights of between 22 and 27km from the planet.

It later landed safely and intact near Wakefield when scientists discovered they had captured a diatom fragment and some biological entities, which were unusual due to their size.

The team is hoping to extend and confirm their results by carrying out the test again next month to coincide with the Haley’s Comet-associated meteorite shower, when there will be large amounts of cosmic dust.

It is hoped that more new, or unusual, organisms will be found.

Prof Wainwright said the next step would be to carry out isotope fractionation.

He added: “If the ratio of certain isotopes gives one number then our organisms are from Earth, if it gives another, then they are from space.

“The tension will obviously be almost impossible to live with.”

This could turn out to be amazing. Or it could turn out to be bollocks...

keane2097

Is the fact that no volcanoes have erupted in three years enough to say those organisms couldn't be hanging around up there for that long? Presume a microbiologist would know the answer but life turns up/survives in some very unexpected places.

Sulla Felix

Why does their size preclude an earth origin?

Hotblack Desiato

keane2097 wrote: »

Is the fact that no volcanoes have erupted in three years enough to say those organisms couldn't be hanging around up there for that long?

Mmm yeah that was the first thing I thought. Should be easy to prove a terrestrial origin, if so, using isotopic analysis.

Hotblack Desiato

Nintendo visionary Hiroshi Yamauchi dies aged 85

GAME OVER
INSERT COIN

darjeeling

robindch wrote: »

This is why I love Radio 4:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01h0lgf

And when they don't get it right, I love Radio 4 even more:

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0t56gLnkLU

joseph brand

Someone posted a comment on thejournal about a 'dung chair', (papal chair)used in the papal ceremony of a newly elected pope.

Apparently legend, maybe not? Anyway, 'I like stories'.

Pope Joan was a legendary female pope who allegedly reigned for a few years some time during the Middle Ages.

Most versions of her story describe her as a talented and learned woman who disguises herself as a man, often at the behest of a lover. In the most common accounts, due to her abilities, she rises through the church hierarchy, eventually being elected pope; however, while riding on horseback, she gives birth, thus exposing her sex. In most versions, she dies shortly after, either being killed by an angry mob or from natural causes. Her memory is then shunned by her successors.

Some versions of the legend suggest that subsequent popes were subjected to an examination whereby, having sat on a dung chair containing a hole called sedia stercoraria, a cardinal had to reach up and establish that the new pope had testicles, before announcing "Duos habet et bene pendentes" ("He has two, and they dangle nicely"),[2] or "habet" ("he has 'em") for short.

sephir0th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUe0_4rdj0U

joseph brand

Holy Freeloading! 10 Ways Religious Groups Suck on the Public Purse.

Religion is big business. There are lots of options (over 30,000 variants of Christianity alone), and if the scale is right it can pay really, really well. Creflo Dollar, founder of World Changers Church, has an estimated net worth of $27 million. Benny Hinn comes in at $42 million. Squeaky clean tent revival pioneer Billy Graham bankrolled around $25 million. Even Eddie Long who has been plagued by accusations of sex with underage male members of his congregation can count his bankbook in the millions.

Christianity spends an estimated $16 billion annually on the kind of marketing-service blend traditionally called “missionary work.”

Missionary work may include disaster relief or education with recruiting in the mix. An earthquake survivor might receive a solar-powered Bible to go with his rice and beans and sutures. A Hindu child might get free schooling, pencils and paper included, along with the message that the gods his parents worship are actually demons.

seamus

keane2097 wrote: »

Is the fact that no volcanoes have erupted in three years enough to say those organisms couldn't be hanging around up there for that long? Presume a microbiologist would know the answer but life turns up/survives in some very unexpected places.

I think this finding has been roundly criticised as being ridiculously premature.

I'm always curious as the frenzy that gets whipped by abiogenesis. It's a valid theory, fine, and would be a brilliant and interesting piece of the timeline puzzle to slot in, but it doesn't actually fill in any answers in the "origin of life" column, it just explains how life arrived on earth.

Whether the first biological organisms originated on earth or elsewhere is something of a side-show.

Though the abiogenesis theory does preclude that any attempt to theorise as to the conditions necessary to create life basically becomes an exercise in sticking your finger in the air. At least if we knew that abiogenesis did not occur, we can somewhat nail down the conditions which existed on earth around the time that life first appeared.

recedite

He doesn't know how the diatoms got onto his probe. Therefore he concludes that they have an extra-terrestrial origin.
Good for publicity certainly, but not very good science.

joseph brand

Lotus plants give off heat!

Dr. Roger S. Seymour and Dr. Paul Schultze-Motel, physiologists at the University of Adelaide in Australia, found that lotus flowers blooming in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens maintained a temperature of 86 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, even when the air temperature dropped to 50 degrees. They suspect the flowers may be turning up the heat for the benefit of their cold blooded insect pollinators.

The sacred lotus begins heating as its flowers start to bloom. As the night air cools the petals, the flower takes in more oxygen and gives off more carbon dioxide, converting more carbohydrates to energy just as would a shivering animal to try to stay warm. Heat production tapers off after dawn as the sun takes over, maintaining the same toasty heat around the clock.

Warmblooded animals have an elaborate nervous and hormonal system to regulate their temperatures. How the lotus manages the same trick without this apparatus is unknown.

robindch

A ruler with a 'puter:

http://www.wired.com/design/2013/08/mit-ruler-draws-straight-lines-brings-them-to-life/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abtzr8fgt3Q

Brian Shanahan

ninja900 wrote: »

Watch Out For Homosexuals.

So the moral of the story is "don't be gay with older men, be gay with your friends"?

Also doesn't Jimmy look a bit old to be in school? As if he had an ulterior motive?

robindch

The science museum in Vancouver has gotten all creative for a current ad campaign:

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/08/the-amazing-ads-of-science-world/

PopePalpatine

Farts and Canada? What is this, Terrence and Philip? :pac:

Sarky

Curiosity Rover finds a surprising amount of water bound up in Martian soil:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/26/nasa-curiosity-rover-mars-soil-water

Interesting. Very interesting. Not proof of extraterrestrial life by any means, but it would mean an expedition to Mars wouldn't have to worry about bringing along tonnes of water...

gaynorvader

Sarky wrote: »

Curiosity Rover finds a surprising amount of water bound up in Martian soil:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/26/nasa-curiosity-rover-mars-soil-water

Interesting. Very interesting. Not proof of extraterrestrial life by any means, but it would mean an expedition to Mars wouldn't have to worry about bringing along tonnes of water...

This is actually incredibly exciting!

sbsquarepants

PopePalpatine wrote: »

Farts and Canada? What is this, Terrence and Philip? :pac:

Educational nonetheless - I mean who knew the SI unit for farts was the balloon?:D

Cabaal

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24323934

Women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and producing children with clinical problems, according to a conservative Saudi cleric.

You can't make this **** up

Genghiz Cohen

Cabaal wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24323934



You can't make this **** up

Well.... they did.

robindch

Continuing a mild variation of a long tradition that stretches back into Roman times, the current High Priest of Rome has announced that two previous High Priests of Rome are to be deified.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24330204