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Interesting Stuff Thread

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  • Options
    #3062
    Sulla Felix
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,442 ✭✭✭Sulla Felix


    Gbear wrote: »
    I'm really disappointed with the performance of a few of the western European countries.

    Austria seriously need to get their **** together.
    He made a bunch of others. I'm disappointed to see he actually stopped making them back in early '12. I only just stumbled across it! :mad:


  • Options
    #3063
    pauldla
    Registered Users Posts: 2,247 ✭✭✭pauldla


    muppeteer wrote: »
    http://www.technologyreview.com/view/429561/the-measurement-that-would-reveal-the-universe-as/



    Kinda cool. In a certain scenario we could determine if we are in a simulated universe. If so I hope the simulation isn't turned off too soon, I still have to finish Game of Thrones.

    I'll second that. Not into Game of Thrones myself, but I hope I can get through all of Patrick O'Brian's novels before they throw the switch. :)


  • Options
    #3064
    mikhail
    Registered Users Posts: 3,863 ✭✭✭mikhail


    pauldla wrote: »
    I'll second that. Not into Game of Thrones myself, but I hope I can get through all of Patrick O'Brian's novels before they throw the switch. :)
    I'm three from the end (well, 3 and a bit, if you count this), so I'm reasonably sure I'll be okay.

    Also, relevant xkcd:
    morning.png


  • Options
    #3065
    joseph brand
    Registered Users Posts: 4,537 ✭✭✭joseph brand


    Chichester Diocese jobs warning as 'finances deteriorate'.

    Yesssss!

    In his letter, he wrote: "It seems the finances of the diocese have deteriorated far faster than feared."

    He added the bishop had "placed a temporary moratorium on all new posts throughout the diocese until at least November".

    It hasn't yet got to the point where we have to justify each and every post - although that may well be not far off”

    The Rev Stan Tomalin
    He said: "It hasn't yet got to the point where we have to justify each and every post - although that may well be not far off."

    The flock have started to wander.


  • Options
    #3066
    Aenaes
    Registered Users Posts: 1,677 ✭✭✭Aenaes


    joseph brand wrote: »
    Chichester Diocese jobs warning as 'finances deteriorate'.

    Yesssss!




    The flock have started to wander.

    I've wondered for a long time what will happen once the money starts running out. Yes, it's been slowing down for years but once they see it's about to stop completely? How desperate will they be?
    Will they go back to fire and brimstone scaremongering, urging people to donate so they aren't cast into hell/purgatory/heaven's waiting room?
    I can't wait to find out.


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  • Options
    #3067
    Sarky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    I could see the pope reinstating purgatory.


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    #3068
    Bannasidhe
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 19,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    Sarky wrote: »
    I could see the pope reinstating purgatory.

    Is that gone? I thought only Limbo was gone but purgatory was still there.

    Wow - those people who bought those time off purgatory shares indulgences must be p*ssed.
    Imagine paying top Thaler to get 1000 years off purgatory then they abolish it after 400 years. RIP OFF!


  • Options
    #3069
    Sarky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,967 ✭✭✭✭Sarky


    Purgatory, Limbo, I dunno. It doesn't really matter, the point is that they got rid of a whole plane of existence to make the religion seem a little more friendly.


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    #3070
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    Sarky wrote: »
    Purgatory, Limbo, I dunno. It doesn't really matter, the point is that they got rid of a whole plane of existence to make the religion seem a little more friendly.
    And so as not to lose out to the Muslims competing for the souls of babies who die in Africa - and the mother wants to be told they're in heaven, and not sitting in limbo.


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    #3071
    Bannasidhe
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 19,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    Sarky wrote: »
    Purgatory, Limbo, I dunno. It doesn't really matter, the point is that they got rid of a whole plane of existence to make the religion seem a little more friendly.

    I think it was just Limbo which is where the unbaptised babies went (oh the fun I used to have teasing unbaptised teenage son that if he died due to one of his stupid 'I watch Jackass' high jinks he's end up in Limbo with a gazillion babbies a crying and a ****ting :D).

    I suppose they had to get rid of it - 'saving' the unborn child and all that.


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    #3072
    pauldla
    Registered Users Posts: 2,247 ✭✭✭pauldla


    Bannasidhe wrote: »
    I think it was just Limbo which is where the unbaptised babies went (oh the fun I used to have teasing unbaptised teenage son that if he died due to one of his stupid 'I watch Jackass' high jinks he's end up in Limbo with a gazillion babbies a crying and a ****ting :D).

    I suppose they had to get rid of it - 'saving' the unborn child and all that.

    You know, I had wondered about that. Why did they abolish Limbo? And doesn't it take huevos of steel to turn around to the Faithful and say "You know that place where the unbaptised babies go? Well, we're wrong, it's all bs. Sorry."

    I imagine the angels who tended Limbo were non too pleased. Out of a job, just like that, all on the say-so of some fleshbag with genitalia. How crass!


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    #3073
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    pauldla wrote: »
    Why did they abolish Limbo?
    It turns out Limbo dancing is bad for your back.
    joseph brand wrote: »
    Chichester Diocese jobs warning as 'finances deteriorate'.
    Yesssss!
    They have a little quote there at the end of the article;
    He said the church had estimated numbers of people attending weekly would fall from the current 1.2 million to 125,000 by 2057.
    That seems to be an amazingly pessimistic view (even if realistic) for anyone to take of their own religion. A 90% drop approx. over the next 45 odd years!
    They must be tempted to just sell up and move to a nice property in the south of France, like an order of geriatric nuns :pac:


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    #3074
    Kivaro
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,105 ✭✭✭Kivaro


    Move over, Hope Diamond. The most famous gems on Earth have new competition in the form of a planet made largely of diamond, astronomers say.

    At least a third of the planet's mass is likely pure diamond.
    Holy Mackerel!

    More here.

    How can they tell? By the way it sparkles (I'll get my own coat).


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    #3075
    shizz
    Registered Users Posts: 1,506 ✭✭✭shizz


    Kivaro wrote: »
    Move over, Hope Diamond. The most famous gems on Earth have new competition in the form of a planet made largely of diamond, astronomers say.

    At least a third of the planet's mass is likely pure diamond.
    Holy Mackerel!

    More here.

    How can they tell? By the way it sparkles (I'll get my own coat).

    Mass density and possible make up using the wavelengths of light received?


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    #3076
    Gbear
    Registered Users Posts: 12,775 ✭✭✭✭Gbear


    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9598148/Italian-church-to-be-stripped-of-tax-exemption-from-2013.html

    Italy of all places seems to be taking the lead in breaking down the privileged position that the church enjoys in society, at least with regards to tax exemption.
    Italian church to be stripped of tax exemption from 2013
    The Italian Catholic Church will be stripped of an historic tax exemption from 2013 after the government upheld a divisive decree under close scrutiny from EU watchdogs.


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    #3077
    muppeteer
    Registered Users Posts: 445 ✭✭muppeteer


    http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-10/09/assisted-suicide-study
    It's only a small study but it helps put to bed some of the arguments against assisted suicide based on increasing premature deaths.
    A team of psychology and ethics researchers has published a study revealing that liberal legal attitudes to assisted suicide do not increase the desire for death in patients with incurable diseases.


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    #3078
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 25,611 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    muppeteer wrote: »
    http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-10/09/assisted-suicide-study
    It's only a small study but it helps put to bed some of the arguments against assisted suicide based on increasing premature deaths.

    TBH it's one of those things that purists get annoyed about funding being supplied for it. This should be a self-evident truth but then that study came out last week that "free" contraception meant no increase or fewer abortions. Imagine trying and wanting to do something worthwhile and having to spend a few months on one of these things instead.


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    #3079
    Sulla Felix
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,442 ✭✭✭Sulla Felix


    Seeing as we were talking about 3d printing recently.

    Long story short, a patent has been filed that would remotely bar a printer from producing copyrighted designs. Haven't read the actual abstact yet but the description in the article makes it sound like they've licensed some Ubisoft software so really, we should have a workaround within days of their service going live. :D

    http://torrentfreak.com/3d-printer-drm-patent-to-stop-people-downloading-a-car-121012


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    #3080
    fitz0
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,753 ✭✭✭fitz0


    Sulla Felix wrote: »
    Seeing as we were talking about 3d printing recently.

    Long story short, a patent has been filed that would remotely bar a printer from producing copyrighted designs. Haven't read the actual abstact yet but the description in the article makes it sound like they've licensed some Ubisoft software so really, we should have a workaround within days of their service going live. :D

    http://torrentfreak.com/3d-printer-drm-patent-to-stop-people-downloading-a-car-121012
    This is actually a good thing. the software is completely unfeasible in that it would have to be ridiculously general to avoid simple alterations fooling it which in turn would cause huge problems. The company applying for the patent are notorious patent trolls so anyone else trying to patent it in a serious way will run into lawsuits with them, delaying any placement of effective drm in 3d printers.

    Bring on the 3d printer revolution.


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    #3081
    Sulla Felix
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,442 ✭✭✭Sulla Felix


    For anyone kicking their heels waiting for Felix Baumgartners jump, here's the previous record holders jump from a few years back.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MkB6NkQscI


    Link to the countdown here and AH thread here.


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    #3082
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Here he goes........
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT1DhcQg0Os


    Amazing shot of him looking down on Planet Earth, just before he jumps.


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    #3083
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    6034073


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    #3084
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    And a lego meme:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFU774q6eVM


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    #3085
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,399 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    And finally, here's the Mr Bumgardner's helmetcam:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KrhbiFylCo


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    #3086
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Crazy height. One of the only times in your life you'd be standing there thinking, "I really, really hope I fall from here".


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    #3087
    muppeteer
    Registered Users Posts: 445 ✭✭muppeteer


    Some of Europe's most prominent scientists have opened a debate with philosophers and theologians over the origins of everything.

    The event, in Geneva, Switzerland, is described as a search for "common ground" between religion and science over how the Universe began.

    It will focus on the Big Bang theory.

    The conference was called by Cern, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in the wake of its Higgs boson discovery.
    I'm sure everything will be settled after this conference.:rolleyes:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19870036


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    #3088
    Turtwig
    Registered Users Posts: 26,578 ✭✭✭✭Turtwig


    Those things are full of vacuous horseh*t in attempt to appease religious crowds. "Ohh looksee here this bit is mysterious."
    "God. Definitely God."


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    #3089
    Gbear
    Registered Users Posts: 12,775 ✭✭✭✭Gbear


    Jernal wrote: »
    Those things are full of vacuous horseh*t in attempt to appease religious crowds. "Ohh looksee here this bit is mysterious."
    "God. Definitely God."

    "Now please can I have that Templeton grant?"


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    #3090
    Gbear
    Registered Users Posts: 12,775 ✭✭✭✭Gbear


    I must've had my head buried under a rock for the last while because I had no idea that private space travel had developed to the point where they're sending cargo to the ISS.

    Holy ****ing ****!


    http://www.zmescience.com/space/spacex-dragon-capsule-iss-1010201/
    In the almost 500 kg cargo, astronauts also got a rare, last-minute delight: chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream. The ISS crew was of course really thrilled to see the ship (not only because of the ice cream).


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    #3091
    pauldla
    Registered Users Posts: 2,247 ✭✭✭pauldla


    Cardboard bicycle 'could change world'


    299660_1.jpg?ts=1350369323


    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1015/breaking20.html?via=mr


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