Interesting Stuff Thread

gaynorvader · 11-04-2014 11:48am

robindch wrote: »

Interesting idea, but unlikely. Of all the forms of human expression contained with the bible, the one that's most prominent by its almost complete absence, is humor. It's gag/word ratio is almost as bad as Tolkien.

The only joke I can think of -- I'm sure there must be more -- is that line "You are Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church". Which is kind of punny when one bears in mind that the Greek and Latin words for "Peter" and "rock" are the same. Or almost the same, since "Rock" is feminine in both Latin (petra) and Greek (πέτρα) and Peter was a guy, so perhaps Jesus was trying to tell us something about St Peter.

Except Jesus would have more likely being speaking Hebrew

Brian Shanahan · 11-04-2014 4:28pm

gaynorvader wrote: »

Except Jesus would have more likely being speaking Hebrew

Yeah, like with so much in the bible, this pun was inserted well after the fact, to ensure that the bible reflected then current church teachings.

recedite · 11-04-2014 7:20pm

gaynorvader wrote: »

Except Jesus would have more likely being speaking Hebrew

Aramaic, but Greek was in use as an international language, pretty much like English is today.

Turtwig · 11-04-2014 11:10pm

Tamiful a good idea for flu pandemics?
Very interesting read on clinical trial data.

if a million people take Tamiflu in a pandemic, 45,000 will experience vomiting, 31,000 will experience headache and 11,000 will have psychiatric side-effects. Remember, though, that those figures all assume we are only giving Tamiflu to a million people: if things kick off, we have stockpiled enough for 80% of the population. That's quite a lot of vomit.

Think the Cochrane group are fairly class. You can check up loads of drugs on their site.
As for the comments underneath the article. Despair for humanity!:(

Brian Shanahan · 12-04-2014 2:37pm

Jernal wrote: »

Tamiful a good idea for flu pandemics?
Very interesting read on clinical trial data.

Think the Cochrane group are fairly class. You can check up loads of drugs on their site.
As for the comments underneath the article. Despair for humanity!:(

The Cochrane Collaboration are IMO probably the best single thing done in science over the last fifty years. By systematically retesting data, and grouping studies into metadata studies, they have done more for the advancement of medical science than all the pharmaceutical companies put together.

Turtwig · 14-04-2014 2:25am

I like how they don't shy from looking at the complementary and alt stuff.:)

robindch · 15-04-2014 7:17pm

From the IFLS/OMG corner, comes this video of what happens when a drop of snake venom hits a cupful of blood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WvnjCkLbvY

Sulla Felix · 15-04-2014 8:43pm

Interesting paper that popped up on my reddit.
It has it's problems but makes a good case for America properly being considered an oligarchy rather than a democracy.

http://www.princeton.edu/~mgilens/Gilens%20homepage%20materials/Gilens%20and%20Page/Gilens%20and%20Page%202014-Testing%20Theories%203-7-14.pdf

Brian Shanahan · 15-04-2014 9:40pm

Sulla Felix wrote: »

America properly being considered an oligarchy rather than a democracy.

That's why the founding fathers wrote the constitution (especially the electoral bits) the way they did.

Hotblack Desiato · 18-04-2014 9:05pm

wtf???

http://www.onlinecinematickets.com/index.php?s=M-DUNDRUM&p=details&eventCode=12983

canonisation_banner_002%20(3).jpg

FouxDaFaFa · 18-04-2014 9:25pm

^^^

At least it's free.

recedite · 19-04-2014 12:33am

Is that the trick where the guy shoots himself out of a canon?
I've seen it before.

Hotblack Desiato · 19-04-2014 1:57am

Well it better not be the one where a canon shoots into a guy.

Cabaal · 22-04-2014 2:29pm

whoooop!

Its not sold out yet!

pauldla · 22-04-2014 4:02pm

ninja900 wrote: »

Well it better not be the one where a canon shoots into a guy.

'Football into crotch' remains a firm favourite, though.

Overheal · 23-04-2014 3:34am

This will send Creationists into a fit

but probably not

Chimp learns how to implement fire

http://thechive.com/2014/04/21/a-chimpanzee-learns-how-to-start-a-fire-and-it-kinda-blows-me-away-video/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=chivetrafficfacebook#.

recedite · 23-04-2014 10:36pm

Overheal wrote: »

http://thechive.com/2014/04/21/a-chimpanzee-learns-how-to-start-a-fire-and-it-kinda-blows-me-away-video/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=chivetrafficfacebook#.

I'd say a helluva lot of editing went into making that video.

sea_monkey · 24-04-2014 4:21pm

Need to use chrome to open this

http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/stars/

Sulla Felix · 24-04-2014 5:35pm

sea_monkey wrote: »

Need to use chrome to open this

http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/stars/

Working fine in Firefox

Edit: also, awesome!

pauldla · 28-04-2014 8:27am

sea_monkey wrote: »

Need to use chrome to open this

http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/stars/

I only just saw this. Beautiful, it brought a tear to my eye. Thank you, Oh Sea Monkey!

robindch · 28-04-2014 5:59pm

Obliq · 28-04-2014 7:49pm

I love that Aboriginal "Dreamtime" is out on it's own in terms of being uninfluenced by any other religion, and also not influencing.......

Hotblack Desiato · 28-04-2014 11:34pm

That'd be down to geography.

Obliq · 28-04-2014 11:41pm

ninja900 wrote: »

That'd be down to geography.

Yes. Australia appeals to me - so much expanse, so few people :cool:

Sulla Felix · 28-04-2014 11:57pm

Obliq wrote: »

Yes. Australia appeals to me - so much expanse, so few people :cool:

There's a reason there's so few people though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNCYNlx4iso

darjeeling · 29-04-2014 12:15am

robindch wrote: »

<religious evolutionary tree>

If this is true then where are all the transitional religions? :eek:

:D:pac:

robindch · 29-04-2014 10:35am

darjeeling wrote: »

If this is true then where are all the transitional religions? :eek::D:pac:

If god had wanted transitional religions, He would have Created them!

nagirrac · 30-04-2014 5:47am

Pantheism, right there at the beginning and still going strong 20,000 years later. First and best, everything else is a transitional religion between old and new Pan(en)theism..

pauldla · 30-04-2014 6:29am

nagirrac wrote: »

Pantheism, right there at the beginning and still going strong 20,000 years later. First and best, everything else is a transitional religion between old and new Pan(en)theism..

That's all well and good, but you have no funky headgear! Pantheism cannot compete with any of the established religions in that regard. Even the Mormons have their underpants.

recedite · 30-04-2014 8:52am

What if you turn your underpants inside out, and then wear them for another few days. Is that old or new pantheism?

kylith · 30-04-2014 10:36am

I'm believe that my wok can cook anything. Is that Frying-pantheism?

Bellatori · 30-04-2014 1:44pm

I really liked the diagram above. It made me think of another diagram I saw which I particularly liked and related to religion.

Today, most Christian theologians will say that the Bible should not be interpreted literally as many fundamentalists do, but allegorically, with emphasis on morals and parables. That’s fine for the enlightened scholar, but this is certainly not how the Bible is taught. Throughout my first 8 years of Catholic school, the Bible was indeed taught very literally, and what I noticed very early on was the copious contractions to be found.

I can affirm that these many inconsistencies, coupled with the fact that they were ridiculous and taught as fact, led me headlong towards atheism and science, where I now firmly reside. Atheists such as myself may be quick to point out to the literal believer these inconsistencies, but because most of us don’t carry around Bibles or memorize enough of it as to make our points absolutely clear, I think it is more useful as a visual.

sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/a-visual-representation-of-biblical-contradictions/

It is an amazing visualisation of the contradictions in the bible.

endacl · 30-04-2014 3:16pm

kylith wrote: »

I'm believe that my wok can cook anything. Is that Frying-pantheism?

Fundamental error. 'You' can cook anything. The wok is simply a totem.

Brian Shanahan · 30-04-2014 3:30pm

Bellatori wrote: »

I really liked the diagram above. It made me think of another diagram I saw which I particularly liked and related to religion.

sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/a-visual-representation-of-biblical-contradictions/

It is an amazing visualisation of the contradictions in the bible.

Wow.

That's... big. I'd try and describe it better but I don't there are words. Definitely would make a load-bearing poster if you were remodelling a house.

Turtwig · 30-04-2014 6:56pm

Cracked dot com readers address forty myths that get perpetrated on the interwebs.

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_883_40-myths-we-believe-now-due-to-tiny-mistakes-years-ago/?fb_action_ids=778912025461358&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=like

kylith · 30-04-2014 8:07pm

endacl wrote: »

Fundamental error. 'You' can cook anything. The wok is simply a totem.

I have faith in my wok.

robindch · 01-05-2014 10:37am

Stephen Fry discusses the evolution of language. Also pwns Jonathon Woss.

http://www.wimp.com/modernlanguage/

pauldla · 02-05-2014 3:26am

Turtwig wrote: »

Cracked dot com readers address forty myths that get perpetrated on the interwebs.

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_883_40-myths-we-believe-now-due-to-tiny-mistakes-years-ago/?fb_action_ids=778912025461358&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=like

A lot of those I'd seen before, but nice to see them all in one place. I liked the one about the Sistine Chapel being a huge 'f.u.', and I'd never noticed that about the seat belts incident in Jurassic Park. Nature finds a way indeed!

robindch · 02-05-2014 9:46am

Top 5 Reasons Why You Sound Crazy When You Denounce GMOs

http://oldpiano.org/?p=400

Hotblack Desiato · 03-05-2014 1:27pm

America's Real Criminal Element: Lead

Gasoline lead may explain as much as 90 percent of the rise and fall of violent crime over the past half century.

KyussBishop · 03-05-2014 3:24pm

ninja900 wrote: »

America's Real Criminal Element: Lead

There is a really great/interesting story behind this too, which I posted about some time ago:

KyussBishop wrote: »

... (below)

Saw the Wiki article on Thomas Midgley Jr. just earlier today; he discovered that 'tetraethyllead' mixed with petrol (i.e. leaded petrol), improved the performance of engines, and with this invention he contributed enormously to the pollution of cities and the atmosphere around the world for decades (even, with recent discoveries, triggering a significant increase in violent criminal behaviour in countries using leaded petrol).

He also was part of the team that invented CFC's, thus also personally contributing to the massive depletion of the Ozone layer and to global warming; a good quote on the wiki page:
J. R. McNeill, an environmental historian, has remarked that Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history."

Another one of his inventions, which he developed after contracting polio, was "an elaborate system of strings and pulleys to help others lift him from bed" - which he eventually got entangled in, strangling himself to death.

Turtwig · 03-05-2014 3:29pm

Open to correction here but's my understanding that CFCs have very little to GHG contribution.

KyussBishop · 03-05-2014 3:47pm

Turtwig wrote: »

Open to correction here but's my understanding that CFCs have very little to GHG contribution.

Even though they're a very potent GHG, yes, their overall contribution is likely to be pretty small compared to CO2.

Turtwig · 05-05-2014 3:17pm

Brilliant article on science inquiry and society.

Worth a read, grab a coffee first and enjoy.

Me thinks me must get the book.

KyussBishop · 07-05-2014 1:32am

In the 1970s, Scientists Discovered a 2 Billion-Year-Old Nuclear Reactor in West Africa

sbsquarepants · 07-05-2014 10:23am

I've read about that Oklo reactor before, it's a fascinating place. Here's a line from the article that you rarely see in a scientific piece "To date, this work is consistent with these constants being constant":D

Bellatori · 07-05-2014 10:51am

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I've read about that Oklo reactor before, it's a fascinating place. Here's a line from the article that you rarely see in a scientific piece "To date, this work is consistent with these constants being constant":D

I found that very interesting to read. For a moment when I saw the post I thought it would be another alien conspiracy web site!! In that context (the proper one not the Alien Conspiracy!) the comment about constants makes perfect sense.

Brian Shanahan · 07-05-2014 12:01pm

KyussBishop wrote: »

In the 1970s, Scientists Discovered a 2 Billion-Year-Old Nuclear Reactor in West Africa

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I've read about that Oklo reactor before, it's a fascinating place. Here's a line from the article that you rarely see in a scientific piece "To date, this work is consistent with these constants being constant":D

Bellatori wrote: »

I found that very interesting to read. For a moment when I saw the post I thought it would be another alien conspiracy web site!! In that context (the proper one not the Alien Conspiracy!) the comment about constants makes perfect sense.

That's one of the many advantages of being a Terry Pratchett fan, I first read about this all the way back in 2001, where it was discussed in the first Science of Discworld book.

CramCycle · 07-05-2014 4:10pm

Brian Shanahan wrote: »

That's one of the many advantages of being a Terry Pratchett fan, I first read about this all the way back in 2001, where it was discussed in the first Science of Discworld book.

So it is or isn't ficticious?

Brian Shanahan · 07-05-2014 5:20pm

CramCycle wrote: »

So it is or isn't ficticious?

The natural nuclear reactor at Oklo is fictional, the natural thaumaturgical reactor is real. Everybody knows Roundworld is simply a fantasy, silly.

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