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Interesting Stuff Thread

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    #5822
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,403 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Total coincidence I'm sure, but the menu is mysteriously free of pineapples.

    Me and mini-me are here.

    I think I'm the only person reading The Selfish Gene.


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    #5823
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,283 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    That was an enjoyable evening, sorry we couldn't stay for a drink after.
    silverharp wrote: »
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C3ynKaferg

    Oddly enough I'd just been reading about Julian Jaynes' book yesterday. He's not necessarily right but the idea of having 'two brains' under stress is intriguing. Isn't it interesting how often religious visions correlate with going up a mountain or off fasting in the desert. A biochemical explanation for religion would really torpedo the rotting hulk under the waterline once and for all :pac:

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #5824
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,209 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Hotblack Desiato wrote: »
    That was an enjoyable evening, sorry we couldn't stay for a drink after.



    Oddly enough I'd just been reading about Julian Jaynes' book yesterday. He's not necessarily right but the idea of having 'two brains' under stress is intriguing. Isn't it interesting how often religious visions correlate with going up a mountain or off fasting in the desert. A biochemical explanation for religion would really torpedo the rotting hulk under the waterline once and for all :pac:

    It really wouldn't! People who want to believe will do so. Think of the creationist arguments.


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    #5825
    legspin
    Registered Users Posts: 1,018 ✭✭✭legspin


    For Rob

    As recommended by Richard Dawkins.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI


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    #5826
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,283 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    looksee wrote: »
    It really wouldn't! People who want to believe will do so. Think of the creationist arguments.

    Of course they will - but any pretence of a rational basis for religion would be gone when it's made obvious it's a construct of the human brain.

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #5827
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 17,849 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

    Oddly enough I'd just been reading about Julian Jaynes' book yesterday. He's not necessarily right but the idea of having 'two brains' under stress is intriguing. Isn't it interesting how often religious visions correlate with going up a mountain or off fasting in the desert. A biochemical explanation for religion would really torpedo the rotting hulk under the waterline once and for all :pac:

    its another nail in the coffin , but these guys will keep going beyond the point it turns into a lead lined one :pac:

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #5828
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Yes, an enjoyable evening with Dawkins and the A&A contingent. And of course supping the Devils Backbone afterwards. It was a bit surreal recalling past conversations with people I'd never met, but all very enjoyable. Apart from the bit where Rob attempted to convince me that his warped pronunciation of recedite was the authentic Roman one.
    Who was the compere guy "in conversation" with Dawkins? He was quite good I thought, a lot better than Gay Byrne would be anyway.


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    #5829
    Kivaro
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,105 ✭✭✭Kivaro


    Interesting to see Netanyahu backtracking on his remarks when he stated a Palestinian cleric persuaded Adolf Hitler to exterminate the Jews.

    Wonder how he got it so wrong?
    Curious that he made the statement blaming the cleric during a time of heightened tension in the region. Stoking tensions I wonder ...............


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    #5830
    legspin
    Registered Users Posts: 1,018 ✭✭✭legspin


    recedite wrote: »
    Who was the compere guy "in conversation" with Dawkins? He was quite good I thought, a lot better than Gay Byrne would be anyway.

    That was Donald Clarke, film critic with the Irish Times.


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    #5831
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,283 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    I thought it was Hugh Linehan - also of the Irish Times and also baldy :)

    I didn't detect a Norn Iron accent - Clarke is a presbyterian atheist I believe :pac:

    He did say he was a former film critic - Clarke is the current film critic

    Edit: Yep it was Linehan
    https://mobile.twitter.com/hlinehan/status/660164140976185344?p=v

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #5832
    legspin
    Registered Users Posts: 1,018 ✭✭✭legspin


    Hotblack Desiato wrote: »
    I thought it was Hugh Linehan - also of the Irish Times and also baldy :)

    I didn't detect a Norn Iron accent - Clarke is a presbyterian atheist I believe :pac:

    He did say he was a former film critic - Clarke is the current film critic

    Edit: Yep it was Linehan
    https://mobile.twitter.com/hlinehan/status/660164140976185344?p=v

    My bad, apologies.


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    #5833
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 34,283 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    legspin wrote: »
    My bad, apologies.

    It was our own fault for being a couple of minutes late due to the yummy pizza :pac:

    Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.



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    #5834
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,403 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Hotblack Desiato wrote: »
    [...] a couple of minutes late due to the yummy pizza :pac:
    And not a pineapple in sight.

    Honor was served!


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    #5835
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,403 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Larry Zottarelli, the last guy in NASA who's been with the Voyager probe since day one and the only guy fully familiar with how to develop software for it - has retired after 56 years at NASA at the age of 80.

    http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/27/technology/voyager-nasa/index.html?sr=twmoney110115voyager-nasa0401AMStoryLink&linkId=18360381
    http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a17991/voyager-1-voyager-2-retiring-engineer/
    http://www.wired.com/2014/10/voyager-mission/


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    #5836
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,403 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Break out your theremins folks, CBS is planning to boldly split a few new infinitives!

    http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34704082


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    #5837
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    About time we had a new series :)


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    #5838
    Kivaro
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,105 ✭✭✭Kivaro


    robindch wrote: »
    Break out your theremins folks, CBS is planning to boldly split a few new infinitives!

    http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34704082

    I can't wait until 2017.

    Better be impressively sexy intellectual chicks on this one ................
    And way more advanced technology; we're already on the fringes of cloaking, tractor beams, holodecks etc.


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    #5839
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    A fairly new Hindu temple built in Wembley England in 2010. Page two of the virtual "temple tour" has a photo of it. Stunning architecture it has to be said. The "Dieties" gallery shows the collection of resident gods.


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    #5840
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,403 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    NASA looks at the sun. In HD.

    Best enjoyed with the sound off.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tmbeLTHC_0


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    #5841
    Cabaal
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 28,470 Mod ✭✭✭✭Cabaal


    http://gizmodo.com/there-were-once-papal-cartels-moving-this-chemical-thro-1739492942
    Today, alum, as a chemical, is barely good enough to rub on your armpits as deodorant. During the 1400s, it became so crucial to the economy that the Papacy formed cartels to protect its monopoly on the trade.
    In 1462, miners at a Papal-controlled mine near Rome found large deposits of alum. Suddenly, no one had to make the choice between fighting new crusades and keeping the economy going. There was enough alum for everyone, and the Pope himself was selling it. As soon as the trade was established, cloth makers discovered that their troubles weren’t over. The Pope needed money as much as anyone else, and the 15th century Popes had not only control over alum, but a religious reason to condemn anyone who wasn’t buying what they were selling.

    Heard of the Medici family? They gained part of their wealth because, for a time, they were granted a monopoly on Italian-produced alum. Everyone involved in the trade had reason to keep the price high, so soon the Papacy formed cartels of miners, refiners, bankers, and traders who cooperated so that no one really had a choice about what price they wanted to pay for alum. If they wanted a choice, and thought about trading for Turkish alum, they could enjoy their excommunication.

    Eventually, Pope Julius II pushed the price too high. Entire economies broke down because no one could afford to pay the Pope’s price for alum. Something had to change, and soon it did. Kings, emperors, and bankers quietly came up with a scheme to import, “launder,” and sell foreign alum. At least one historian makes a case that this illegal chemical trade is partially responsible for England’s rise as a nation. King Henry VII allowed foreign ships to come in, carrying Turkish alum. This gave it an air of plausible deniability, and exported the alum to cloth-dying countries. King Henry VII took a fat cut of the profits and filled the royal treasury sufficiently to build up the nation.

    What a difference a crystal makes.


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    #5842
    kleefarr
    Registered Users Posts: 5,743 ✭✭✭kleefarr


    A%20Muslim.._zps2foatb4t.jpg~original


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    #5843
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 17,849 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    Seems like an interesting chat on Secular Talk with Kyle , I find The Amazing Atheist a bit annoying generally but he seems ok here


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNUeSKs3Tyc

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #5844
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    The Amazing Atheist looks and sounds a lot like The Annoying Orange. Coincidence?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN5PoW7_kdA


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    #5845
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 17,849 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2MaU18Lwqs

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #5846
    joseph brand
    Registered Users Posts: 4,537 ✭✭✭joseph brand


    Religious children are meaner than their secular counterparts, study finds.
    Children from religious families are less kind and more punitive than those from non-religious households, according to a new study.

    Academics from seven universities across the world studied Christian, Muslim and non-religious children to test the relationship between religion and morality.

    They found that religious belief is a negative influence on children’s altruism.

    “Overall, our findings ... contradict the commonsense and popular assumption that children from religious households are more altruistic and kind towards others,” said the authors of The Negative Association Between Religiousness and Children’s Altruism Across the World, published this week in Current Biology.

    “More generally, they call into question whether religion is vital for moral development, supporting the idea that secularisation of moral discourse will not reduce human kindness – in fact, it will do just the opposite.”

    I doubt any one else in this forum will be surprised by the findings, but it's good to see it make the news.


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    #5847
    Absolam
    Registered Users Posts: 6,913 ✭✭✭Absolam


    joseph brand wrote: »
    Religious children are meaner than their secular counterparts, study finds.
    I doubt any one else in this forum will be surprised by the findings, but it's good to see it make the news.
    We have a thread on it already :)
    An alternative conclusion could be that religious children are not so much meaner but more invested in the concept of justice.....


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    #5848
    Pherekydes
    Registered Users Posts: 16,128 ✭✭✭✭Pherekydes


    Absolam wrote: »
    We have a thread on it already :)
    An alternative conclusion could be that religious children are not so much meaner but more invested in the concept of justice.....

    Do you mean "decidedly more judgemental"?


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    #5849
    Absolam
    Registered Users Posts: 6,913 ✭✭✭Absolam


    Pherekydes wrote: »
    Do you mean "decidedly more judgemental"?
    Not going by posters on A&A :D


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    #5850
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,403 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Next year, the UK government is launching a "consultation" which could result in the practice being put onto a list of treatments which GP's are not permitted to prescribe:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34744858


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    #5851
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    I wonder whats on their blacklist already?
    Witchcraft, bloodsucking leeches....


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