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Interesting Stuff Thread

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    #362
    Flamed Diving
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,609 ✭✭✭Flamed Diving


    robindch wrote: »
    Are you saying it wasn't intelligently designed?

    Don't flatter yourself, Robin.

    ;)


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    #363
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Flamed Diving wrote: »
    Don't flatter yourself, Robin.;)
    Well, if not ID, then I'm one of an infinite number of monkeys... :)

    .


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    #364
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Here's a summary of a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which shows, at the neurological level, that religious people simply take their own pre-existing beliefs, and repackage them to make it appear (to themselves) that they originated with their deity instead:

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18216-dear-god-please-confirm-what-i-already-believe.html


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    #365
    Dave!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    This is a great and rather extensive interview with Michael Shermer (Skeptic magazine) about all sorts of paranormal and supernatural issues



    It's in 12 parts, each 10 mins long... so rather extensive :D

    I'm only on part 2 but they've covered out of body experiences, angels, god, evolution...

    Give it a listen :)

    <3 Michael Shermer


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    #366
    Dave!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    Gave me a chuckle

    091207usatC.slideshow_main.prod_affiliate.91.jpg


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    #367
    Turtwig
    Registered Users Posts: 26,578 ✭✭✭✭Turtwig


    Malty_T wrote: »
    The internetz is now abuzz with the rumour that physicists have discovered dark matter particles. Needless to say if it is true, it would be groundbreaking.

    However, this could all be an elaborate hoax started by some sly blogger.
    Dec 18th awaits.

    Hat's off to the bloggers.
    They were sorta right.
    Newscientist wrote:
    When the CDMS-II team looked at the analysis of their latest run – after accounting for all possible background particles and any faulty detectors in their stacks – they were in for a surprise. Their statistical models predicted that they would see 0.8 events during a run between 2007 and 2008, but instead they saw two.

    The team is not claiming discovery of dark matter, because the result is not statistically significant. There is a 1-in-4 chance that it is merely due to fluctuations in the background noise. Had the experiment seen five events above the expected background, the claim for having detected dark matter would have been a lot stronger.

    Nonetheless, the team cannot dismiss the possibility that the two events are because of dark matter. The two events have characteristics consistent with those expected from WIMPs (PDF).

    The CDMS-II team is planning to refine the analysis of their data in the next few months. In addition, they have begun building new detectors in the mine, which will be three times as sensitive as the existing setup. These "SuperCDMS" detectors are expected be in place by middle of next year.


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    #368
    Turtwig
    Registered Users Posts: 26,578 ✭✭✭✭Turtwig


    Interesting article on the politics at Copenhagen.
    Scary too, if it's true.
    Basically China intentionally bulldozed the conference into a rubbish deal as the West pleaded with them to do better.


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    #369
    Tyler MacDurden
    Registered Users Posts: 351 ✭✭Tyler MacDurden


    gravity_wells.png



    Bigger version for your perusal.

    Apparently one could escape Deimos' gravity with a bike and a ramp. Someday...


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    #370
    pts
    Registered Users Posts: 576 ✭✭✭pts


    Science has already ruined Santa, now they're disproving Angles, is nothing sacred?? :D

    Angels can't fly: Official


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    #371
    Genghiz Cohen
    Registered Users Posts: 7,182 ✭✭✭Genghiz Cohen


    pts wrote: »
    Science has already ruined Santa, now they're disproving Angles, is nothing sacred?? :D

    Angels can't fly: Official

    In before someone gets all obtuse about this spelling error.


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    #372
    pts
    Registered Users Posts: 576 ✭✭✭pts


    Genghiz Cohen wrote: »
    In before someone gets all obtuse about this spelling error.

    homer-doh.jpg


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    #373
    PDN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,686 ✭✭✭✭PDN


    pts wrote: »
    Science has already ruined Santa, now they're disproving Angles, is nothing sacred?? :D

    Angels can't fly: Official
    Genghiz Cohen wrote:
    In before someone gets all obtuse about this spelling error.
    That was acute pun, Genghiz.

    Of course if you think the Bible has redefined pi, then angles would probably be next on the geometrical hitlist. :)


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    #374
    Genghiz Cohen
    Registered Users Posts: 7,182 ✭✭✭Genghiz Cohen


    PDN wrote: »
    That was acute pun, Genghiz.

    Of course if you think the Bible has redefined pi, then angles would probably be next on the geometrical hitlist. :)

    Had a glance at the funny side of religion thread just there, backed out slooooowly


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    #375
    PDN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,686 ✭✭✭✭PDN


    Genghiz Cohen wrote: »
    Had a glance at the funny side of religion thread just there, backed out slooooowly

    The links between angels and geometry go further. When I was at school we memorised trigonometric functions by using the acronym TOA SOH CAH - "Two old angels, skipping over heaven, carrying a harp."


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    #376
    Galvasean
    Registered Users Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭Galvasean


    Interesting Stuff?

    Has Dades been screwin' with the thread again? :(


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    #377
    Funglegunk
    Registered Users Posts: 1,566 ✭✭✭Funglegunk


    Nice wee video of what the earth would look like it if had a ring system like Saturn:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoz5Q2rGQtQ


    I for one think it would've been savage, if I'd had the good fortune to evolve into a sentient being of course...


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    #378
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    Galvasean wrote: »
    Interesting Stuff?

    Has Dades been screwin' with the thread again? :(
    *cough* Robin *cough*


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    #379
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Galvasean wrote: »
    Interesting Stuff?
    Yep, this is the A+A sticky for stuff which is kinda unrelated to A+A but sufficiently interesting that most inhabitants should find it fun. Or interesting. Hence the thread title.


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    #380
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    This one was a new one on me the other day.

    In Siberia's Novosibirsk, a group has been selectively breeding silver foxes for over fifty years to see if they can be tamed (Wiki article, New Scientist article). Seems that they can be:

    http://www.hum.utah.edu/~bbenham/2510%20Spring%2009/Behavior%20Genetics/Farm-Fox%20Experiment.pdf

    ...and very quickly too. They also ran a similar experiment with rats to produce two divergent populations -- one tame, and the other violent -- and managed that within a few years too.


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    #381
    Turtwig
    Registered Users Posts: 26,578 ✭✭✭✭Turtwig


    Fran de Waal has listed his top ten animals of the decade in the huffingtonpost.
    Oh and what a list it is too.

    Winner : Ayumu.
    He did something Japanese college students fail at -- even after extensive training. Ayumu can in one brief glance of 210 milliseconds (faster than you can blink!) memorize a series of numbers on a screen and then tap them in the right order even though the numbers themselves have been replaced by white squares


    Edit : The webpage of the "list" seems to be down at the moment...:(


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    #382
    Dave!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    Hey do any of ye subscribe to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast?

    I just discovered it last week, and now constantly have an iPod in my ear listening to old episodes :D 1 episode a week since 2005, so lots to catch up on !

    They interview tonnes of people, Phil Plait, James Randi, Michael Shermer, Simon Singh, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Wiseman, Adam Savage, Matt Stone, Joe Nichell......

    I really can't recommend it enough, it's very informative, funny, clever, intelligent, up-to-date, and eh.... skeptical !

    Brilliant stuff, get that into ya right now !

    http://www.theskepticsguide.org/


    /goes back to listening to it :D


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    #383
    5uspect
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 10,515 Mod ✭✭✭✭5uspect


    Dave! wrote: »
    Hey do any of ye subscribe to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast?

    Yes, it's great!


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    #384
    Dave!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    Lads would it make sense to turn this thread into an off-topic thread? I know I've just been using it to post all sorts of random sh*t :D

    There's an OT thread in pretty much every substantial forum, they're usually good craic.

    Just an idea !


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    #385
    PDN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,686 ✭✭✭✭PDN


    Dave! wrote: »
    Lads would it make sense to turn this thread into an off-topic thread? I know I've just been using it to post all sorts of random sh*t :D

    There's an OT thread in pretty much every substantial forum, they're usually good craic.

    Just an idea !

    I find most threads in which I participate in this forum end up as being off-topic threads.


  • Options
    #386
    Flamed Diving
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,609 ✭✭✭Flamed Diving


    PDN wrote: »
    I find most threads in which I participate in this forum end up as being off-topic threads.

    That's because we don't have over-protective mods who are so very afraid of having the dogma of their flock criticised.


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    #387
    PDN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,686 ✭✭✭✭PDN


    Flamed Diving wrote: »
    That's because we don't have over-protective mods who are so very afraid of having the dogma of their flock criticised.

    Be careful your tongue doesn't get stuck up there.


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    #388
    Dave!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    Yeah Dades and robin are lovely


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    #389
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Dave! wrote: »
    Lads would it make sense to turn this thread into an off-topic thread? I know I've just been using it to post all sorts of random sh*t
    Hey, that's why it's called the interesting stuff thread.
    PDN wrote: »
    I find most threads in which I participate in this forum end up as being off-topic threads.
    We're a liberal lot around these parts and view threads not as single-issue protest marches, but as conversations which move naturally from topic to topic over time, pretty much as they do outside the forum.


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    #390
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Flamed Diving wrote: »
    That's because we don't have over-protective mods who are so very afraid of having the dogma of their flock criticised.
    PDN wrote: »
    Be careful your tongue doesn't get stuck up there.
    Now, now, ladies -- handbags on the ground, and please give each other a manly handshake. No point in starting the year with a clatter of red cards.


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    #391
    Dave!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    New Sam Harris article in FP

    I haven't read it yet, but it's bound to be good :)

    http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/12/18/the_god_fraud

    Sam Harris

    robocop-fap.gif


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