Interesting Stuff Thread

magicbastarder

'don't confuse loss of advantage with an act of oppression'.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/01/christians-aren%E2%80%99t-being-driven-out-public-life-%E2%80%93-they%E2%80%99re-just-losing-their-unfair-a

Sarky

There is a striking parallel between religious people complaining that they're being oppressed by not being allowed to oppress people, and MMO gamers who complain when their chosen faction's weapons/vehicles/equipment gets revised to better balance the experience for everyone.

Nobody should really listen to either. It's petty and irritating.

Sulla Felix

Since the atheists in foxholes argument keeps popping up I was doing a bit of reading about the MAAF in the States and found this interesting tidbit. In the US military at least, atheists are actually in higher proportion than in the general populace.

http://www.prb.org/Source/ACF1396.pdf?page=27

The number of American military personnel who claimed to be atheists or to have no religion was slightly higher than the GSS estimate for civilians ages 20 to 39, the age range for about 80 percent of military personnel. About 11 percent of military personnel did not provide religious affiliation data or claimed affiliation with other religions, almost four times as high as the GSS data for the 20-to-39-year-olds. Other recent surveys also have reported greater identification with no religion or other nontraditional religions than the GSS, but results vary greatly depending on how data are collected. Recent data suggest that military personnel generally have a lower affiliation with mainstream religious groups than the general population.

Turtwig

That's only going to be used as atheists have no morals arguments. "Look at the % of atheists who are soldiers!":(

Brian Shanahan

Sulla Felix wrote: »

Since the atheists in foxholes argument keeps popping up I was doing a bit of reading about the MAAF in the States and found this interesting tidbit. In the US military at least, atheists are actually in higher proportion than in the general populace.

http://www.prb.org/Source/ACF1396.pdf?page=27

In large parts of the US it is almost impossible to function as a human being if one admits to atheism (or even the wrong kind of religion). You can see this most obviously with the Presidency, were up until recently candidates could come damned close to saying they were atheist without losing a single vote, yet since the post war christianisation of the US government (started by Eisenhower) you have to loudly and constantly proclaim your christianity to get close to a major party nomination (this despite that the only president in the last forty five years to show any significant sign of christianity was Jimmy Carter).

robindch

Here's a non-interactive "interactive" map of what the world would look like if all the planet's ice melted. Ireland doesn't come off too badly, but Holland and Denmark are in trouble.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/rising-seas/if-ice-melted-map

mikhail

robindch wrote: »

Here's a non-interactive "interactive" map of what the world would look like if all the planet's ice melted. Ireland doesn't come off too badly, but Holland and Denmark are in trouble.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/rising-seas/if-ice-melted-map

There's a reason Holland spends as much of its budget on flood defences as we do on healthcare.

Turtwig

robindch wrote: »

Here's a non-interactive "interactive" map of what the world would look like if all the planet's ice melted. Ireland doesn't come off too badly, but Holland and Denmark are in trouble.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/rising-seas/if-ice-melted-map

Just to be pedantic. It's not about all the planet's ice. It's about the planet's land ice. The distinction is very important. Sea ice is like an ice cube floating in a glass of water. The water level isn't going to rise when the ice cube melts because the ice is already floating in it. The biggest causes of sea level change in the short term will be ice shelf's anchored to land falling into the sea and thermal expansion of the oceans as the oceans continue to buffer more and more excess energy.

PopePalpatine

To be even more pedantic, the sea levels will rise very slightly because of sea ice as ice is denser than water at 15°C (Earth's average temperature)

freyners

robindch wrote: »

Here's a non-interactive "interactive" map of what the world would look like if all the planet's ice melted. Ireland doesn't come off too badly, but Holland and Denmark are in trouble.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/rising-seas/if-ice-melted-map

Its stuck on america for me, cant see anywhere else

Turtwig

PopePalpatine wrote: »

To be even more pedantic, the sea levels will rise very slightly because of sea ice as ice is denser than water at 15°C (Earth's average temperature)

Only if the 'water' is different. Fresh water ice to fresh water or salt water ice to salt water would make no difference. The tiny difference arises because the ice isn't identical when melted to the sea water. In any case, we're talking about <5 cm sea lever rise compared to approximately 100m! In most physical sciences that's 0.

(Not sure how you're getting water to be 15ºC. btw)

recedite

The part of the sea ice floating above the water level would still contribute to rising sea levels though.
On the other hand, a crappy aurora borealis and an underwhelming solar maxima this year indicate we could/would soon be on the way to a cold period, similar to that last seen in the 17th C when all of northern Europe erupted in war. If it wasn't for the global warming effect of all the extra CO2 in the atmosphere nowadays, that is.

mikhail

recedite wrote: »

The part of the sea ice floating above the water level would still contribute to rising sea levels though.

Nope. Think about it.

Turtwig

recedite wrote: »

The part of the sea ice floating above the water level would still contribute to rising sea levels though.

No it wouldn't. What determines the rise in water is the volume change of the material added to it. So the fact that ice is already floating in the water the volume change has already occurred. It doesn't matter how much ice is above the surface of the water. What the Pope pointed out is slightly different. It's related to the fact that the densities of the sea ice and the sea water aren't identical so there's a bit of volume change when the sea ice melts. In the ideal world with spherical chickens an ice mountain of 100m floating in the water wouldn't cause any sea level rise when it melts.

Sulla Felix

Jernal wrote: »

That's only going to be used as atheists have no morals arguments. "Look at the % of atheists who are soldiers!":(

It's still interesting. :P

Brian Shanahan wrote: »

In large parts of the US it is almost impossible to function as a human being if one admits to atheism (or even the wrong kind of religion). You can see this most obviously with the Presidency, were up until recently candidates could come damned close to saying they were atheist without losing a single vote, yet since the post war christianisation of the US government (started by Eisenhower) you have to loudly and constantly proclaim your christianity to get close to a major party nomination (this despite that the only president in the last forty five years to show any significant sign of christianity was Jimmy Carter).

Yep, I'm there about twice a year. Still very self concious about who I'd say it to.

Brian Shanahan

Sulla Felix wrote: »

Yep, I'm there about twice a year. Still very self concious about who I'd say it to.

Never been myself, but any time relatives come over it is one of the things they always mention.

Dave!

http://www.irishtimes.com/debate/letters/religious-tolerance-and-bigotry-1.1661919

Damn secularists!

Cabaal

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/preaching-back-at-you-billboard-campaign

robindch

Can't those billboards lasting too long if people are prepared to torch boards that have the much milder "Keep the Saturn in Saturnalia":

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/19/arson-attempted-at-atheist-billboard-put-up-to-protest-christmas-nj-police-say/

robindch

Understanding the Impact of Conservative Protestantism on Regional Variation in Divorce Rates

http://www.contemporaryfamilies.org/impact-of-conservative-protestantism-on-regional-divorce-rates/

Demographers Jennifer Glass at the University of Texas and Philip Levchak at the University of Iowa looked at the entire map of the United States, going county by county, to examine where divorces occurred in 2000 and what the characteristics of those counties were. Their work confirms that one of the strongest factors predicting divorce rates (per 1000 married couples) is the concentration of conservative or evangelical Protestants in that county.

Glass and Levchak believe that this comes from living in a cultural climate where most people expect to marry young and there is little support from schools or community institutions for young people to get more education and postpone marriage and children.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/01/19/new-study-finds-that-divorce-rates-are-higher-in-counties-with-a-greater-concentration-of-conservative-christians/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co

Pantheos wrote:

It’s important to note this study controlled for things like income and region. So even when you remove those elements, the higher divorce rates are “explained in large part by the earlier ages at first marriage and first birth, and the lower educational attainment and lower incomes of conservative Protestant youth.”

It makes sense, even without the mathematical evidence to back it up. If you get married young (because you can only have sex when you’re married) and throw kids (stressors) into the mix, all before you’ve had a chance to establish a career, your relationship is going to have a lot of strain on it. If you live in an area where getting married young and having kids early is commonplace, the pressure is on you to just go with the flow.

Remember that when someone says religion benefits society.

Cabaal

Utter waste of money

http://www.thejournal.ie/government-reopens-vatican-embassy-1274965-Jan2014/

Government to reopen Vatican embassy, 26 months after closing it
Eamon Gilmore said the scaled-back embassy will have a staff of just one person and will help Ireland to engage directly with the leadership of Pope Francis.

Sarky

Oh, has the Pope magically gotten all those children un-raped? Are they finally paying their share of the compensation for abuse victims?

Cabaal

Sarky wrote: »

Oh, has the Pope magically gotten all those children un-raped? Are they finally paying their share of the compensation for abuse victims?

its ok, he told all Catholics they should feel shame about the raping.,

All is good now, business can resume as normal in pope land

Bannasidhe

Cabaal wrote: »

its ok, he told all Catholics they should feel shame about the raping.,

Is that the Papal version of 'Shure we all partied'? :eek:

robindch

'Sixth Sense' Can Be Explained by Science

Live Science wrote:

The findings suggest the origin of the phenomenon in which a person seems to be intuitively aware of something that they don't believe they have seen or sensed in another way is due to the perception of differences in these visual metrics, not a sense that operates outside the normal laws of physics. For instance, in the case of Howe's student, she may have noticed tiny changes in his appearance (such as small cuts or a bandage), but not been consciously aware that she picked up on those cues.

http://www.livescience.com/42635-esp-sixth-sense-just-vision.html

Delirium

The Known Universe video by American Museum of Natural History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U

Cabaal

http://www.thejournal.ie/pope-francis-internet-1278682-Jan2014/

Pope Francis says the internet is a gift from God
However the Pope also warned internet users not to isolate themselves from society.

I think he'll find its a gift from men of science, you know science...the way of looking at the world that caused the church to kill people.

Sarky

Pope Francis has never been to 4chan.

seamus

Cabaal wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/pope-francis-internet-1278682-Jan2014/
I think he'll find its a gift from men of science, you know science...the way of looking at the world that caused the church to kill people.

"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.

Knex*

Ironic, as without the Internet, I'd probably still be Religious.

Grew up in a rural area with Religious people on both sides of the family. Internet and College helped remarkably.

So... Cheers God for making me an Atheist!