Interesting Stuff Thread

CramCycle · 01-04-2014 02:05PM

Jernal wrote: »

Ah redundant acronym syndrome syndrome (RASS). Acronyms in meteorology are cool. Posted this a while back on the Cool Vids & Links.

ROFLMFAO as the kids say, apparently shorter than, "that's hilarious"

wp_rathead · 02-04-2014 10:11AM

We have all prob heard about the film Gods Not Dead - well Daniel Finke writes very enjoyable blog called A Philosophy Professor analyzes Gods Not Dead case for God

Worth a read if you have time

smacl · 02-04-2014 11:06AM

CramCycle wrote: »

ROFLMFAO as the kids say, apparently shorter than, "that's hilarious"

Or the one I give back to the kids when they can't get something working on the PC; 'Looks like a case of RTFM which has since nicely evolved to LMGTFY'

Obliq · 02-04-2014 11:48AM

smacl wrote: »

Or the one I give back to the kids when they can't get something working on the PC; 'Looks like a case of RTFM which has since nicely evolved to LMGTFY'

Ha, RTFM should be tattooed on my forehead I reckon, between my kids' PC and phone disasters. I did some very unappreciated ROFL the time my eldest downloaded a cracked Android OS upgrade to his day old phone, omitting to notice that it was a Russian hack and his brand new phone was now in Cyrillic as a default. Cue MUCH studying of the manual (and various forums) to get it into English....

robindch · 03-04-2014 04:27PM

Very Strange Goings-on in Ballymore Eustace Cry Out For A Better Headline

Creationists Unavailable For Comment on Shoat or Geep.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/a-bit-of-gruff-ewe-cannot-be-serious-1.1749080

Irish Times wrote:

Is it a shoat or a geep? That’s the question being asked by publican and farmer Paddy Murphy after one of his sheep mated with a goat and gave birth to the result two weeks ago. He said the furry little creature was much more nimble on his feet than a typical lamb and the buds of his horns could already be felt. “He’s fast like a deer. You’d have to put him in a pen to catch him.”

Mr Murphy, from Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare had noticed the errant goat among his flock on the mountainside five months ago but didn’t think it was possible for goats and sheep to successfully mate. Then the offspring was born and he immediately noticed the difference between it and a nomal lamb. After the Farmers’ Journal posted a video of the creature on YouTube yesterday, it quickly went viral among customers in Murphy’s pub.

“I’m told this is most unusual,” he said. Although they look similar, goats and sheep belong to a different genus and a cross is very rare. Sheep have 54 chromososm while goats have 60. Matings do occur, but the offspring is ususally stillborn. The most famous case happeneed in Botswana in when a female goat and a ram mated. Scientists found that the offspring had 57 chromosomes and it became known as the Toast of Botswana.

However, the lamb/kid hybrid had an overactive libido and the farmer had to castrate him at ten months because he had become such a a nuisance to goats and sheep.

CramCycle · 04-04-2014 09:48AM

robindch wrote: »

However, the lamb/kid hybrid had an overactive libido and the farmer had to castrate him at ten months because he had become such a a nuisance to goats and sheep.

A bit harsh, castrating the poor lad because he's a little aroused. I am sure he was only at it to ensure the survival of his species.

robindch · 04-04-2014 10:28AM

CramCycle wrote: »

A bit harsh, castrating the poor lad because he's a little aroused. I am sure he was only at it to ensure the survival of his species.

A lonely dating scene capped off by castration?

Gotta feel for the little fella.

PopePalpatine · 04-04-2014 11:04AM

I guess he could call his shoat (Game of Thrones S3 spoiler)

Theon Geepjoy

. :pac:

Genghiz Cohen · 04-04-2014 11:21AM

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I guess he could call his shoat (Game of Thrones S3 spoiler)
Theon Geepjoy
. :pac:

Very very very tempted to put a S4 spoiler in tags here, just to see who would bite.

For science.

smacl · 04-04-2014 11:54AM

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I guess he could call his shoat (Game of Thrones S3 spoiler)
Theon Geepjoy
. :pac:

Here was I thinking Vargo

Turtwig · 04-04-2014 01:06PM

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Very very very tempted to put a S4 spoiler in tags here, just to see who would bite.

For science.

I've had most of that series spoiled for me.

Don't know why people do it either. :mad:

gaynorvader · 04-04-2014 01:09PM

Jernal wrote: »

I've had most of that series spoiled for me. Don't know why people do it either. :mad:

Gandalf dies when Eddard Stark blows up the Death Star with an iceberg and turns out to be a ghost the whole

time

.

CramCycle · 04-04-2014 01:21PM

gaynorvader wrote: »

Gandalf dies when Eddie blows up the Death Star with an iceberg and turns out to be a ghost the whole ****.

Spoiler tags FFS

Apology accepted

Genghiz Cohen · 04-04-2014 01:53PM

gaynorvader wrote: »

Gandalf dies when Eddard Stark blows up the Death Star with an iceberg and turns out to be a ghost the whole
time
.

"You win or you die, you fools!" - Gandalf, right before The Mountain pulls him from Dragonmount.

Turtwig · 04-04-2014 01:54PM

'Fly you fools' said Luke in response.

Bannasidhe · 04-04-2014 02:15PM

If people don't stop posting spoilers I will unleash my inner Catelyn Tully

(maysheeventuallyrestinpeace)

:mad:

Brian Shanahan · 04-04-2014 03:39PM

Ye're all wrong by the way with yeer spoilerish manners.

Turns out the zebra did it.

gaynorvader · 04-04-2014 03:40PM

Brian Shanahan wrote: »

Ye're all wrong by the way with yeer spoilerish manners.
Turns out the zebra did it.

What?!

I always thought it was the zygote?

Brian Shanahan · 04-04-2014 03:52PM

gaynorvader wrote: »

What?!
I always thought it was the zygote?

I've the abridged version.

endacl · 04-04-2014 04:11PM

And here I was thinking a 'game of thrones' was playing chess between adjoining cubicles!

You live and learn...

KyussBishop · 05-04-2014 12:16PM

Only mildly interesting (the topic of study itself though, is pretty interesting/amusing):
"Climate Deniers Intimidate Journal into Retracting Paper that Finds They Believe Conspiracy Theories"

Hotblack Desiato · 05-04-2014 05:42PM

endacl wrote: »

And here I was thinking a 'game of thrones' was playing chess between adjoining cubicles!

Careful, you might end up arrested like 'Mr. Wide Stance'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Craig_scandal

Turtwig · 06-04-2014 01:32AM

Those of you who follow Ben Goldacre (and if you don't know who he is you deserved to be banned

) may have been aware of the European Medicine Agency's court battle with AbbVie a giant pharmaceutical over the release of clinical trial data relating to adalimumab (Humira). Humira was the best selling drug last year. In a nutshell, Abbvie attempted to sue the EMA when they were about to release that data publicly. Abbive's argument was that trial data was confidential and harmed their competitiveness when it's released to competitors. (I may be strawmanning a bit there as there incident happened over a year ago

) It now appears that AbbVie have withdrawn their case.

Incidentally, the wonderful UKIP party voted against EU legislation to help make all clincial trials more transparent and open. Awesome chaps those. :rolleyes:

robindch · 06-04-2014 02:55PM

Religion is declining fast in the USA - around 25% of the drop is correlated with reduced religious upbringing, another 5% correlated with university education and 25% appears to be correlated with internet use. Leaving 45% unaccounted for.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/

endacl · 06-04-2014 05:07PM

robindch wrote: »

Religion is declining fast in the USA - around 25% of the drop is correlated with reduced religious upbringing, another 5% correlated with university education and 25% appears to be correlated with internet use. Leaving 45% unaccounted for.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/

45% due to civilization? A general 'growing up' and setting aside of childish things?

robindch · 07-04-2014 02:36PM

Leery, as I am of dredging up the entire Watson debacle and her derogatory comments regarding the "atheist community", I was reminded of both when reading these articles a few days back.

Summary - a TV production company decides to fund a reality-tv-style "game jam" in which a few groups of software developers compete to develop a playable, fun computer game as quickly as possible, under studio conditions. Not a bad premise for a show, I have to say - software development is an intensely creative activity and far removed from the tedious code-grinding that many people think it is. In any case, software developers tend to be meticulous, non-sexist meritocrats, as, I suspect, the vast majority of committed atheists/agnostics and skeptics are. Quite opposite, unfortunately, to the man the production company chose to front the show.

Read what happened here:

http://indiestatik.com/2014/03/31/most-expensive-game-jam/

Other reports are here, here and here.

Obliq · 07-04-2014 03:53PM

robindch wrote: »

Read what happened here:

http://indiestatik.com/2014/03/31/most-expensive-game-jam/

Other reports are here, here and here.

Very interesting. Sent it to wannabe games developer son, who noted his approval of all the devs kicking some sexist ass. It'd be good to watch a show (run properly) like that though. Hopefully they'll manage one without a corporate wind-up merchant next time.

Turtwig · 07-04-2014 05:09PM

Reality tv is unfortunately the biggest load of disgusting tripe. Just about every show has a production team of cynics behind it looking for the interesting stories. Nobody is reflected accurately. That person who comes across as a complete ditsy has most likely just had their segments edited to appear that way. All the while, the production team, makes sure circumstances conspire to push people's buttons in the desired direction. Little, if any consideration, is given towards the humans at the centre of it all.

The saddest thing is that people lap it up. Unlike hating people in the soaps they actually think the person they hate in the reality show is a reflection of the real person. It's possible, but most of the time it's never the case. Worse still though is the ridiculous notion that some people carry that performers in reality tv shows deserve everything they get. Some of them make megabucks so apparently it's ok that they're depicted to be complete assholes.

Akrasia · 09-04-2014 09:44AM

For those who are interested, the guys from the Reasonable Doubts podcast released a kind of a meta analysis of studies into the idea that religion promotes pro-social behaviour and they deliver it as a talk here

http://freethoughtblogs.com/reasonabledoubts/2014/04/07/rd-extra-does-religion-make-us-better-people-galens-bulldog-edition/

recedite · 09-04-2014 10:56PM

" Renegade" South Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk who previously exaggerated his abilities to clone human cells, then cloned some dogs, then took on a project to clone a mammoth for the Russians, has now come up with a plan to raise extra research cash.
He plans to clone dogs for rich airheads in Europe and America. And what better way to launch the marketing for this noble enterprise than with a cringeworthy Channel 4 TV competition called "the £60,000 puppy" offering the first one free. There is something undignified in a wealthy person pleading their need for a free duplicate of little Fifi, to a rather aloof Hwang resplendent in the white coat of a brainiac scientist.

Interesting Stuff Thread

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