What have you learned today?
- Thread starter hanselthecaretaker
- Start date
The Antikythera mechanism is over 2000 years old and is the oldest known example of an analog computer. It is believed to have been used to follow the movements of the sun and moon in order to predict eclipses and model the orbit of the moon. It is currently located in the Athens National Archeological Museum where it is secured for further study and protection from damage.
And to prevent nerds from trying to run Doom on it.
And to prevent nerds from trying to run Doom on it.
Pfft. We already know it can run Doom. The question is, how many FPS can it get?
I learned that Kevin Conroy, THE voice of Batman (IMO), is gay.
Cats are apparently solitary and introverted by nature so it’s not surprising. We’ve had two orangish tabbies. First was a stray that was kind of a momma’s boy, always wanting attention and meowed whenever we didn’t give it to him until he got whatever he wanted. Liked being wrapped up in blankets, loved catnip toys and licking the spoon he was fed with. Was also declawed in front.
Second (current) is a shelter car that is largely the opposite. Very polite and quiet. Waits by his food bowl for us to notice that yeah, he wants to eat. Does not like being wrapped in blankets, but will readily lay on one if spread out. Also loves catnip toys, but will not lick the spoon he’s fed with. All claws intact.
Never thought I’d tolerate a cat for a pet after growing up with a golden retriever, but they’ve both won me over for the most part. Pretty self-sufficient compared to a dog and perhaps not coincidentally affectionate on their own terms. They say a cat’s brain is significantly similar to a human’s, which might explain why they can be such an odd bunch.
It is wierd how even though cats and humans are really different in some ways, in other ways we're strangely similar. Particularly how cats can, raised in the company of humans, basically adopt some of our lifestyle, as opposed to ferals which are significantly more like wild animals.
And even weirder considering this symbiotic relationship apparently formed because rats were attracted to our ancestors food stores, which then attracted cats to come feast on the rats and since keeping the rats out of the food stores worked out well for both parties, everyone was cool with it. Except for the rats but those little jerks can fuck off. If they're not getting into the food they're leaving nasty little turds everywhere and you want to bleach the area after cleaning that up.
Our new kitten is adjusting well to our home though the big issue is our older cat(who is about 10 and lived with us since she was also a kitten). It's actually not a problem of the older cat picking on the kitten as we feared, but the kitten picking on the older cat. We give them supervised time to mingle(though otherwise they're keep separated in different parts of the house) but inevitably the kitten tries to play with the adult cat and the adult cat isn't into it, so kitten with pounce and chase the adult and the adult cat will just run and growl a little. And then kitten will get banished back to the other part of the house for a while. Interestingly enough, adult smacked the kitten maybe once in response when this happens. So weird.
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It's kind of funny, because my cat basically adopted me, rather than the other way around. She apparently just likes a nice, quiet area a lot of the time, where the dogs don't bother her. At our house at the time, that became my room, so she just basically started living out of my room and spending the majority of her time with me, and that led to her bonding with me to the point where I'll be able to walk up and pet her and give her scritches without any problem, but as soon as my stepfather approaches, she's all the sudden shy again.
Way to make death sound monumentally scarier -
hyperallergic.com
Science Confirms That Life Flashes Before the Eyes Upon Death
It’s been an age-old trope in literature and film but now brain scans suggest it’s true.
hyperallergic.com
Not sure if I'm happy or terrified to read this. Mostly that they recorded brain activity AFTER clinical death, well, after the heart stopped. The idea that your brain is still going after the heart stops; is there any level of appreciable consciousness? Like, can you still feel as you've lost control of your own body? What if your brain decided to relieve traumatic memories while you're dying?? And then you wake up in Hell!Way to make death sound monumentally scarier -
Science Confirms That Life Flashes Before the Eyes Upon Death
It’s been an age-old trope in literature and film but now brain scans suggest it’s true.
Mostly, I want to die in an explosion that literally obliterates my body making any communication between my brain and the rest of my fleshy bits a moot point. I don't fear death, when my consciousness is separated from this mortal coil, be that to an afterlife of oblivion, but the dying part is what keeps me up at night; if my final moments are spent in excruciating pain and fear that lasts beyond what science would have us believe is "death," I want no part of it.
"I'm not afraid of dying. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody AllenWay to make death sound monumentally scarier -
Science Confirms That Life Flashes Before the Eyes Upon Death
It’s been an age-old trope in literature and film but now brain scans suggest it’s true.
I think most of us will just be like that one chicken in Chicken RunWay to make death sound monumentally scarier -
Science Confirms That Life Flashes Before the Eyes Upon Death
It’s been an age-old trope in literature and film but now brain scans suggest it’s true.
“My whole life flashed before me eyes…..It was really boring”
Well...yes. Your brain will die from lack of oxygen, but that won't happen immediately when your heart stops. You can even keep moving for a few seconds once your heat stops.
You’d still feel the pain of that, unless the explosion was hot enough to vaporize your brain stem. I was curious about this though and googled, “most instant way to die” and was met with a bunch of suicide prevention numbers and links, so it’s actually not even simple to get an answer there.
I understand as much, I'm simply talking about how long you're conscious and feeling after being declared "dead," a fear that stems from an episode of HBO's Perversions of Science (IIRC) wherein the episode ends with a man about to undergo an autopsy while still conscious and feeling though clinically dead. It ends with him screaming in his own mind that he's not dead while the doctor starts cutting. Also 2007's Awake, where a wealthy young man undergoes a heart transplant while awake and lucid despite being under general anesthesia. I almost couldn't finish the film as they very meticulously try to wrench you out of your seat with the mental commentary of a man being tortured.
Yes, I'd want my brain stem vaporized. Also, I'm curious how your search has affected the Google algorithm for you. Like, are you seeing ads for suicide prevention? If you have Facebook, is every other ad about suicide prevention? The algorithms aren't smart enough to distinguish curiosity from a cry for help. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to Google "how to vaporize a brain stem," and likely land on a government watch list or something.
It was thankfully limited to that one search from what I can tell, and I don’t use Facebook (also thankfully).
I learned that Gnomes apparently only date back to the Renaissance and are not, in fact, a part of Germanic folklore or myth as I thought they were(though apparently they may be based on dwarves and such). On a related note, apparently the work that first introduces the term was written by a Swiss theologian who apparently(I can't find a free version despite the fact that work is well in the public domain) argued that Elemental spirits(such as gnomes and nymphs and such) are part of God's plan and should be understood to better understand creation. Which sounds very.....surprising coming from a theologian, really. A couple centuries ago I suspect he would have been excommunicated as a heretic.I mean, even today, getting a theologian to say "Yeah, fairies are real and created by God for a reason" seems like it would be a bit out there, despite the fact the bible has references to giants and giant sea monsters and horrifying cosmic horrors called Angels.
On a vaguely related note, apparently Djinn are canonical in Islam(or at least wikipedia says so).
On a vaguely related note, apparently Djinn are canonical in Islam(or at least wikipedia says so).
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Well, if fairies and stuff exist (and lots of people believe they do, so you might do so as well, or at least want to go with the flow), then they have to fit in your theology somehow. Usually I'd expect them to be made the bad guys, but not if it's respectable people on your side believing in them.
I think it's the fact that mainline Christianity seems to be very strict on what's real and what's not, at least that's what it seems like. It's either god and angels or Satan and devils and there's like no middle ground at all, so the 'Other spirits exist and are somehow part of the plan" comes across as strange in that regard. Hell, at one point the official position of the Catholic Church(during the renaissance) was apparently "All real spiritual Power is that of God, all Satan can do is create illusions" thus Werewolves and Witches totally aren't real and if you accused someone of Witchcraft, you'd be committing heresy because Witches aren't real.
Relgion is super wierd sometimes.
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Dunno about that, or at least what mainline means in context. Plenty of offshoots with other things to argue about. When Darwin first got going, a lot of theologians weren't concerned, at least not from a theology standpoint. Lots of people upset that black people and white people were essentially the same, though.