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Interesting Stuff Thread

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    #2702
    coffee_cake
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Politics Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    ShooterSF wrote: »
    Western Union will probably be easiest...

    but only when it's in orbit to the west :pac::pac:


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    #2703
    joseph brand
    Registered Users Posts: 4,537 ✭✭✭joseph brand


    The Science of Decay.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNAxrpzc6ws


    There was a time around 300 million years ago when trees did not decay once they died and toppled over. The Earth was littered with dead trees. That was until fungi developed a way to break down the wood and release the carbon. All the carbon locked up in the trees meant that oxygen levels rose, resulting in insects growing to massive proportions.

    WARNING: Video contains maggots and rotting flesh and food. Do NOT watch while eating food.


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    #2704
    Gbear
    Registered Users Posts: 12,775 ✭✭✭✭Gbear


    The real question is what would you rather?

    a) A slice of that two week old pig carcass
    or
    b) Attending a lecture on why Religion is so great delivered by John Waters.



    I can't decide which option would leave you with the more lasting effect of revulsion.


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    #2705
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    joseph brand wrote: »
    All the carbon locked up in the trees meant that oxygen levels rose, resulting in insects growing to massive proportions.
    Awesome.

    starshiptroopers_l.jpg


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    #2706
    Gbear
    Registered Users Posts: 12,775 ✭✭✭✭Gbear


    Or more realistic and no less terrifying (well, it can't melt people with it's head laser so a little less terrifying)

    arthropleura.JPG
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropleura
    Apparently they could grow to 8.5ft! :eek:


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    #2707
    joseph brand
    Registered Users Posts: 4,537 ✭✭✭joseph brand


    Superfast evolution revealed.
    He [Rick Grosberg] and his colleagues studied two closely related 'cushion stars', Cryptasperina pentagona and C. hystera, living on the Australian coast. They're identical in appearance but live in different regions, with Hystera occuring on a few beaches and islands at the far southern end of the range of pentagona.

    And their sex lives are very, very different. Pentagona has male and female individuals that release sperm and eggs into the water where they fertilize, grow into larvae and float around for a few months before settling down and developing into adult sea stars.

    Hystera, by contrast, are hermaphrodites that brood their young internally and give birth to miniature sea stars ready to grow to adulthood.

    "It's as dramatic a difference in life history as in any group of organisms," says Grosberg.

    These guys are the stars of evolution. :pac:


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    #2708
    joseph brand
    Registered Users Posts: 4,537 ✭✭✭joseph brand


    Gbear wrote: »
    Or more realistic and no less terrifying (well, it can't melt people with it's head laser so a little less terrifying)

    arthropleura.JPG
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropleura
    Apparently they could grow to 8.5ft! :eek:

    Loved to have it's neck scratched. :D


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    #2709
    Sonics2k
    Registered Users Posts: 8,237 ✭✭✭Sonics2k


    Gbear wrote: »
    Or more realistic and no less terrifying (well, it can't melt people with it's head laser so a little less terrifying)

    arthropleura.JPG
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropleura
    Apparently they could grow to 8.5ft! :eek:

    Kill it! Kill it with fire and napalm!


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    #2710
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 25,611 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I really wish people would stop quoting that :pac:


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    #2711
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,047 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    ShooterSF wrote: »
    Ha and people called me stupid for buying land on Mars. Well who's stupid now? Huh?

    I was in a b&b recently and the owner had a framed picture/certificate on the wall. It purported to show a section of sky (a black image with lots of white dots on it) and one dot was circled. She told me proudly - and quite sincerely - that she had bought that star and it had been named after her (deceased) husband. There was a certificate on the bottom of the image confirming this fact. She had another one at the other end of the hall in memory of her partner (different person). I intended to see was it a pic of the same bit of sky but didn't get round to it.

    It was obviously a comfort to her, and I charitably forbore to point out all the obvious flaws in this arrangement and nodded agreement with a straight face.

    Fair play to the person who had the brilliant idea of selling stars though!

    Edit: http://www.starregistry.co.uk/ see the FAQs! -
    The stars we currently have available in the Northern Hemisphere


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    #2712
    The Mad Hatter
    Registered Users Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    looksee wrote: »
    I was in a b&b recently and the owner had a framed picture/certificate on the wall. It purported to show a section of sky (a black image with lots of white dots on it) and one dot was circled. She told me proudly - and quite sincerely - that she had bought that star and it had been named after her (deceased) husband. There was a certificate on the bottom of the image confirming this fact. She had another one at the other end of the hall in memory of her partner (different person). I intended to see was it a pic of the same bit of sky but didn't get round to it.

    It was obviously a comfort to her, and I charitably forbore to point out all the obvious flaws in this arrangement and nodded agreement with a straight face.

    Fair play to the person who had the brilliant idea of selling stars though!

    Edit: http://www.starregistry.co.uk/ see the FAQs! -

    I think it's pretty marvelous. My sister bought one as a birthday present for her (now ex-)boyfriend a few years ago. So what if it has no relevance to anyone other than the gift-giver and receiver? As thoughts go, it's one of the nicest ones out there.

    I also believe it's possible to buy lakes in Canada or something like that in the same way.


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    #2713
    dmw07
    Registered Users Posts: 238 ✭✭dmw07


    The Mad Hatter wrote: »
    I think it's pretty marvelous. My sister bought one as a birthday present for her (now ex-)boyfriend a few years ago. So what if it has no relevance to anyone other than the gift-giver and receiver? As thoughts go, it's one of the nicest ones out there.

    I also believe it's possible to buy lakes in Canada or something like that in the same way.

    If you want I'll give you a certificate saying you own the galaxy, once you pay me €1500.


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    #2714
    Bannasidhe
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 19,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    The Mad Hatter wrote: »
    I think it's pretty marvelous. My sister bought one as a birthday present for her (now ex-)boyfriend a few years ago. So what if it has no relevance to anyone other than the gift-giver and receiver? As thoughts go, it's one of the nicest ones out there.

    I also believe it's possible to buy lakes in Canada or something like that in the same way.

    I got my OH one of those 'name a star' doobries - she enjoyed months of dithering trying to decide what to call 'her' star. Also, for her 40th, I got a close friend one square metre of a Scottish estate which apparently allows her to legally use the title 'laird' (or 'lady' but as she is a bit of a butch that was never going to happen). She grew up in the Highlands and it meant a huge amount to her. It was worth it to hear her scream 'You made made a Laird!!!!' across a crowded room. :D I also 'bought' my mother Yorkminister for a minute.


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    #2715
    joseph brand
    Registered Users Posts: 4,537 ✭✭✭joseph brand


    Enceladus: home of alien lifeforms?
    "It just about ticks every box you have when it comes to looking for life on another world," says Nasa astrobiologist Chris McKay. "It has got liquid water, organic material and a source of heat. It is hard to think of anything more enticing short of receiving a radio signal from aliens on Enceladus telling us to come and get them."

    Cassini's observations suggest Enceladus possesses a subterranean ocean that is kept liquid by the moon's internal heat. "We are not sure where that energy is coming from," McKay admits. "The source is producing around 16 gigawatts of power and looks very like the geothermal energy sources we have on Earth – like the deep vents we see in our ocean beds and which bubble up hot gases."

    Cassini swept over Enceladus at a height of 173km and showed that it did indeed possess an atmosphere, albeit a thin one consisting of water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen. "It was wonderful," says Dougherty. "I just thought: wow!"

    :eek:


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    #2716
    Kivaro
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,105 ✭✭✭Kivaro


    joseph brand wrote: »
    Enceladus: home of alien lifeforms?



    :eek:

    Don't forget that it was all part of god's plan.
    Even though alien lifeforms were not mentioned in the bible, they were implied.

    Alien lifeforms are also god's creatures ............................. I think.


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    #2717
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Fifty academics talk about god/atheism to the backing of some desperately irritating elevator music:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s47ArcQL-XQ


    and another fifty:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gt4WSK_NlQ


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    #2718
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    looksee wrote: »
    Fair play to the person who had the brilliant idea of selling stars though!

    Edit: http://www.starregistry.co.uk/ see the FAQs! -
    I own an acre of land on the moon.

    That is all.


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    #2719
    Bannasidhe
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 19,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    Dades wrote: »
    I own an acre of land on the moon.

    That is all.

    Moon Laird - now that is cool.


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    #2720
    Genghiz Cohen
    Registered Users Posts: 7,182 ✭✭✭Genghiz Cohen


    Bannasidhe wrote: »
    Moon Laird - now that is cool.

    Lunar Laird


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    #2721
    Bannasidhe
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 19,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    Genghiz Cohen wrote: »
    Lunar Laird

    I for one welcome our new Lunar Laird Overlord.


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    #2722
    Genghiz Cohen
    Registered Users Posts: 7,182 ✭✭✭Genghiz Cohen


    215260.jpg


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    #2723
    Turtwig
    Registered Users Posts: 26,578 ✭✭✭✭Turtwig


    Still think Robin is the cooler and more hip mod. :cool:


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    #2724
    ShooterSF
    Registered Users Posts: 8,824 ✭✭✭ShooterSF


    Jernal wrote: »
    Still think Robin is the cooler and more hip mod. :cool:

    Sorry but The Dude > Yogi Bear

    (sorry Robin)


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    #2725
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Jernal wrote: »
    Still think Robin is the cooler and more hip mod. :cool:
    First John Waters tells me I'm a "trendy parent" and now, I'm "hip" as well. I'm impressed as hell, but my friends would never recognize me :)


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    #2726
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Meanwhile, back on boards, here's an interesting idea...:

    http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/30/3204734/actors-read-yelp-reviews

    ...would be nice to see it done to a few good posts:

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79991000&postcount=1

    any more?


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    #2727
    Bannasidhe
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 19,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    robindch wrote: »
    Meanwhile, back on boards, here's an interesting idea...:

    http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/30/3204734/actors-read-yelp-reviews

    ...would be nice to see it done to a few good posts:

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79991000&postcount=1

    any more?

    Hee hee - he really got up my nose. That post was mild in comparison to the rant I was loudly verbalising.


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    #2728
    Gbear
    Registered Users Posts: 12,775 ✭✭✭✭Gbear


    Bannasidhe wrote: »
    Hee hee - he really got up my nose.

    I've heard your sort are into that kind of thing.:rolleyes:

    :pac:


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    #2729
    Turtwig
    Registered Users Posts: 26,578 ✭✭✭✭Turtwig


    robindch wrote: »
    Meanwhile, back on boards, here's an interesting idea...:

    http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/30/3204734/actors-read-yelp-reviews

    ...would be nice to see it done to a few good posts:

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79991000&postcount=1

    any more?

    Pretty much most of Zillah's.


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    #2730
    Bannasidhe
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 19,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    Gbear wrote: »
    I've heard your sort are into that kind of thing.:rolleyes:

    :pac:

    Nose. Bum. Any ol' orifice at all long as we can stick a micky in it. It's all the same to us homosexualists. ;)


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    #2731
    Sarky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    Wouldn't a nostril be a bit, um, tight?


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