Interesting Stuff Thread

Knex* · 23-01-2014 2:14pm

seamus wrote: »

"I've given you free will. But if you do anything cool with it, I'll claim it as my own. Y'know, just cos".

He's like that prick of a boss you don't see one end of the year to the next and then takes credit when your projects are delivered successfully.

And when things go tits up, its all Dave's fault. For feck sake, Dave.

Only Dave in this case is the devil.

Cabaal · 23-01-2014 2:37pm

This image shows Pangea (the supercontinent that formed roughly 300 million years ago) mapped with contemporary geopolitical borders.

robindch · 23-01-2014 4:50pm

A protestant looks into how the Vatican - aka The Holy See - got the way it is now. The last line is uncalled for in what looks like a mostly serious piece.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/how-did-the-holy-see-get-recognition-as-a-state-it-just-did-1.1664452

Irish Times wrote:

It was the post office in the Vatican that earned the Holy See its first stamp of approval as a sovereign state. This explains why Vatican stamps are so huge and colourful, possibly. For pre-teen philatelists of my era the chunky, triangular stamps decorated with gold-tinged depictions of the papal tiara were greatly prized. You could swap one for half a dozen Brazilians. I was to be long past my stamp-collecting days before I realised that the reason for the stamps’ distinctiveness had to do not only with the Catholic Church’s penchant for gaudy display but also with reasons of state.

Five years before February 1929, when Benito Mussolini and cardinal Pietro Gasparri signed the Lateran Treaty, creating Vatican City, the Vatican had joined the Universal Postal Union: its stamps were now approved and accepted. Within two years of the treaty the Vatican was admitted to the International Telecommunications Union, on the basis of its operation of Vatican Radio.

It was by dint of its membership of these two institutions that the Vatican was able to sally forth into the secular world and present itself as a sort of state and win acceptance into United Nations bodies and other global organisations. A “sort of” state, because it was not clear, and still isn’t, what entity associated with the church was involved in these manoeuvres. What is the “Holy See” with which the Republic restored full diplomatic relations on Tuesday? The phrase refers to the “the juridical personification of the church” – the pope, the curia and the various departments, institutions and congregations that organise and control church activity. Not a state, then, in any sense in which the word is commonly used.

Vatican City provides the temporal location for the Holy See but it is not a state either. Vatican City falls short of being a state not mainly because of its tiny size (smaller than Lahinch Golf Club), but because of a lack of citizens. You cannot become a Vatican citizen by inheritance from your parents or being born on the territory. Citizenship comes with having a job in the territory with the church. All deemed Vatican citizens on this basis are also citizens of their own countries. If they leave employment with the church, or move to a church position in another jurisdiction, Vatican citizenship lapses. All Vatican citizenship is temporary. On this last ground alone, the absence of a permanent citizen population, Vatican City fails to qualify as a state.

And yet this constitutional wraith, the Holy See, has managed to have itself recognised as a state by more than 172 other states and all major international organisations. How did this happen? The answer is that it just did.

In 1948 the Holy See applied for and was granted observer status by UN agency the Food and Agricultural Organisation. This was a first, quickly to be followed. In 1951 the Holy See sent observers to meetings of the World Health Organisation and the UN General Assembly. In the same year it was admitted as the first permanent observer to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. In 1956 a Holy See delegation turned up and participated in the founding conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The question of the Holy See’s credentials for assuming these roles appears not to have been raised. Nor was there any debate before the Holy See finally made it in 1964 into the VIP area of global diplomacy as a permanent observer at the UN.

In March 1964 pope Paul VI wrote to UN secretary general U Thant saying he was minded to appoint a permanent observer. In April, U Thant wrote back saying, in effect, fair enough, come ahead. There was no resolution put to the general assembly or the security council. There is no document anywhere setting out the legal basis of the Holy See’s new status.

The Holy See will have regarded its entitlement to a permanent place at the centre of things as incontestable because God-given. One New York journalist who expressed puzzlement about the arrangement to a member of the Holy See delegation in the 1970s was told that “it dates back to the 12th century”. The church is thus facilitated in presenting itself today as a religious organisation, tomorrow as a state – a handy arrangement, given some of its more sordid entanglements. The church in the US has routinely claimed sovereign immunity from compensation claims from victims of clerical abuse. In an instant thereafter, it can, as a religion, claim charitable status for the institutions in which the abuse took place.

The twin-track approach will be sadly familiar to many in Ireland. Protestants I talk to about these subjects are invariably perplexed by the “now you Holy See us, now you don’t” approach. But there’s nothing much we can do about that. It just reflects one of the fundamental differences between our two traditions. There never was a Protestant born who could have thought up a scam like the Holy See.

freyners · 23-01-2014 5:56pm

robindch wrote: »

A protestant looks into how the Vatican - aka The Holy See - got the way it is now. The last line is uncalled for in what looks like a mostly serious piece.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/how-did-the-holy-see-get-recognition-as-a-state-it-just-did-1.1664452

If he just left it at calling it a scam I would have no objection to the last line, stinks of smugness otherwise.

Also if he was to take a look at some of the actions of the bible belt protestant churches he would quickly be proved wrong

Hotblack Desiato · 23-01-2014 10:41pm

According to Wikipedia, Eamonn McCann is a 'staunch atheist' and was educated in a catholic school so [citation needed] for him being a protestant. Also, even if he had been brought up as one it's not the Hotel California Church (HCC) where you can check out but never leave.

freyners wrote: »

Also if he was to take a look at some of the actions of the bible belt protestant churches he would quickly be proved wrong

Yeah but the televangelist guys haven't figured out how to get diplomatic immunity yet.

Turtwig · 23-01-2014 11:42pm

Salman Rushdie's Satantic Verses and other audiobooks are available on the Humble Bundle.
Linky.

gaynorvader · 24-01-2014 1:19pm

Cabaal wrote: »

{...}

This image shows Pangea (the supercontinent that formed roughly 300 million years ago) mapped with contemporary geopolitical borders.

Is this accurate? Europe looks far too big to me.

The theory of life according to physics

25-01-2014 1:24am

gaynorvader wrote: »

Is this accurate? Europe looks far too big to me.

No map projection is accurate :P

Hotblack Desiato · 25-01-2014 2:51am

Deleted User wrote: »

No map projection is accurate :P

Ah well you need one of them there spherical monitors.

Just like the prescription windscreens, a wonder of the age.

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

robindch · 25-01-2014 12:49pm

Somebody's granny died almost 20 years ago, leaving a card behind covered with a string of random-seeming letters. Years of intermittent effort by her family and friends fails to decode it, then a grandchild consults the internet. Took 12 minutes for the hivemind to start cracking it:

http://ask.metafilter.com/255675/Decoding-cancer-addled-ramblings

Turtwig · 25-01-2014 2:23pm

OMG I had an idea how to crack that without opening the link!:D

Bannasidhe · 25-01-2014 2:52pm

Jernal wrote: »

OMG I had an idea how to crack that without opening the link!:D

Orla Molly Grogan?

Only Mad Grecians?

Open Many Documents????

:pac:

robindch · 26-01-2014 12:23am

Ten years old, but nobody's there to produce a cake or blow out the candles: (*)

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

(*) Assuming you could light them. And you were there. And had a cake. And candles.

Turtwig · 26-01-2014 12:25am

90 days, they said. Be home, they said. Be grand, they said.

Poor Oppy.

Sulla Felix · 26-01-2014 12:33am

robindch wrote: »

Ten years old, but nobody's there to produce a cake or blow out the candles: (*)

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

(*) Assuming you could light them. And you were there. And had a cake. And candles.

At least he's still going, I feel bad for Spirit

Hotblack Desiato · 26-01-2014 2:10am

Jernal wrote: »

90 days, they said. Be home, they said. Be grand, they said.

Poor Oppy.

There was never a return trip. That's just robot religion talk.

kylith · 26-01-2014 3:12pm

ninja900 wrote: »

There was never a return trip. That's just robot religion talk.

It's ok. They'll get their reward in silicon heaven.

PopePalpatine · 26-01-2014 3:46pm

ninja900 wrote: »

There was never a return trip. That's just robot religion talk.

Now you have me thinking of that robot church in Futurama. :pac:

Delirium · 27-01-2014 10:50am

America's Most (and Least) Bible-Minded Cities

americas-most-bible-minded-cities-infographic-2014-american-bible-society.png

Brian Shanahan · 27-01-2014 3:21pm

SW wrote: »

America's Most (and Least) Bible-Minded Cities

<poster's a bit big to leave in a quote>

Finally a study showing the link between belief in an imaginary being and inbreeding.

And I bet "bible minded" doesn't mean "knows the contents of the bible" but "believes US law should be/is found in the bible".

PopePalpatine · 27-01-2014 4:18pm

I'm not the only one who sees the irony in Providence being the least "Bible-minded" city, am I?

recedite · 27-01-2014 8:23pm

Also the map correllates well with the cultural Mason-Dixon Line, an old demarcation line for the legality of slavery.

The Bible wrote:

Leviticus 25:44-46

As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.

Exodus 21:20-21

“When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

Ephesians 6:5

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,

Galatians 5:1

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Colossians 4:1

Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Exodus 21:16

“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

Galatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

John 3:16-17

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

1 Peter 2:18

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.

Titus 2:9-10

Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

Luke 4:18

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

Deuteronomy 23:15

“You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.

Exodus 21:1-36

“Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’

Leviticus 25:42

For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves.

Colossians 3:22

Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.

Luke 12:47

And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating.

Exodus 21:26-27

“When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.

Deuteronomy 24:7

“If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Deuteronomy 23:15-16

“You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.

Exodus 21:1-6

“Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’

Romans 6:16

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Leviticus 25:39

“If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave:

Leviticus 19:20

“If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free;

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 E

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

John 8:34

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

Leviticus 19:18

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Exodus 21:7

“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

Revelation 13:16

Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,

1 Timothy 6:1-2

Let all who are under a yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things.

Leviticus 25:55

For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 22:11

But if a priest buys a slave as his property for money, the slave may eat of it, and anyone born in his house may eat of his food.

Exodus 23:12

“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

Luke 4:18-19

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

Mark 10:42-45

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Exodus 22:3

But if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

1 Timothy 1:10

The sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,

Ecclesiastes 6:1-12

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he.

2 Kings 4:1

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”

Joel 3:8

I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”

Exodus 21:7-11

“When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.

Malachi 3:17

“They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

Isaiah 1:1-31

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Philemon 1:16

No longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 7:21

Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.)

The cruel irony is that the slaves were often even more religious than their bible thumping masters.

[-0-] · 29-01-2014 2:32pm

Not A&A releated, but you're all intelligent people so here goes: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465023827

Feynman Lectures box set Reduced by 40%.

Brian Shanahan · 29-01-2014 6:24pm

[-0-] wrote: »

Not A&A releated, but you're all intelligent people so here goes: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465023827

Feynman Lectures box set Reduced by 40%.

Going by $>€ tourist conversion, about a euro then?

robindch · 31-01-2014 2:28pm

Find your brain is slowing up as you age? Turns out you may just need better indexes:

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/the-older-mind-may-just-be-a-fuller-mind/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Source paper:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tops.12078/pdf

Hotblack Desiato · 31-01-2014 7:06pm

robindch wrote: »

Find your brain is slowing up as you age? Turns out you may just need better indexes

That's a good excuse Rob, I'll try to remember it

...

Government to consider Cern membership Yay

sea_monkey · 31-01-2014 10:32pm

sea_monkey · 01-02-2014 10:12pm

http://news.cincinnati.com/viewart/20140130/NEWS01/301300103/Bill-Nye-debate-Creation-Museum-live-Cincinnati-com

Kivaro · 02-02-2014 4:05pm

Some dramatic footage of a record-breaking plunge to Earth, via parachute (24 miles up):

http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/stomach-churning-footage-of-felix-baumgartners-record-breaking-plunge-to-earth-released/

Kivaro · 03-02-2014 12:09am

Debate between "The Science Guy" (Bill Nye) and the Creation Museum founder Ken Ham on Tuesday night.

“I say to the grown-ups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world — in your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe — that’s fine,” Nye said in a video posted online. “But don’t make your kids do it, because we need them.”

More here.

Interesting Stuff Thread

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