• What Are You Watching Right Now?
    Not going to comment on it though. Just watch the first episode and decide for yourself.
  • What Are You Watching Right Now?
    Just finished watching "La casa de papel" "Money heist"
  • Some Similarities Between Farsi, English and Spanish
    The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins

    Professor Anne Curzan

    The Great Courses

    If you cannot find it let me know in a PM and I will try to get you the files. It is good to read or listen to if you have the audio.
  • The 1 minute Paradox
    The situation I described is not exactly an issue of how interesting the content of the message is. Even a very dull 50 second long message becomes tolerable if fragmented into smaller, shorter, chunks.TheMadFool


    So option B, people need to acquire listening skills. As others have pointed out as well, attention span seems to be shrinking for a lot of younger people in today's instant communication world.

    I wonder how the kids of today are going to do when the have to sit through a 90 minute university lecture.
  • Age of Annihilation
    Read Clade by James Bradly. :wink:
  • The 1 minute Paradox
    It is a relativity problem.

    If you have to listen to your wife nagging at you for 10 seconds, it is way too long.
    If you want to listen to all of the wonderful things your new girl is trying to say, 10 seconds is way too little.

    As jgill says, it might be what you are saying.

    Or maybe you need to change your friends for people with a higher attention span.

    Everything is relative.
  • I don't know what to do?
    With all of these problems what should I do?Sai

    Seriously, you really should talk to a school councilor or your doctor to get help.
    What you are suffering from is probably somewhat worse than what most kids go through but everyone goes through these phases at about the same time during their life.

    There is no one here that can really give you advice about what to do. We can discuss things with you if you want, you seem to be a smart kid. But you should be smart enough to know that this is not the place to get adequate advice from people you do not know and are not professionals in the field of advice you need.

    :up:
  • Some Similarities Between Farsi, English and Spanish
    https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=Better

    This is the place to go to when you want to know about a word and where it came from.

    English is the bastard language of the world. It has adopted words from almost everywhere from Germanic to origins to the roman and Saxon conquests and on through the enlightenment right up until today. Many words came into English through the French and Italian that got their language from the Etruscan as well the Greeks as Europe awoke during the renaissance and started reading the ancient works again.
  • The Secret Of The Universe Has Been Revealed
    Where is the snarky emoticon? I think we need one around here.

    Just saying mind you, not really referring to anything in particular. :wink:
  • The Secret Of The Universe Has Been Revealed
    It was one of his books I started reading many years ago and failed to get beyond page 6. It was 1 of 3 books that I have never finished in my life. Now I remember why.
  • My Life sucks.
    It is a shame that I am not able to go to my office until maybe January so that I could send a picture of something. I have a small mural that some of my students made for me a few years ago. It is made up of about 12 of the things I said over the 5 years I gave them classes. They are aligned in order of what they considered to be of importance.

    Number 1 is "I do not know if you CAN go to the bathroom"
    Number 2 is "Life is a bitch, then you die. Get an education and learn to suck it up"

    I asked why they decided that the first was more important than the others, they explained that it was because they it had taught them to use the correct words all of the time.
    And the second, because I was the first person to make them see that it was really necessary to get an education. They had been told before, but apparently I was the only one to succeed in making them believe it. One of them graduated from Harvard last month, and a few others from good universities around the world including Japan.

    There is no other purpose to life except to live it and make it the best possible life you can.
    If you really think that your life sucks, I invite you to come visit the third world for a while, sort of get an attitude adjustment by seeing those whose lives really do suck.
  • Does hereditary punishment have a place in society
    Does inherited punishment have a place in society?Lav87

    In the catholic church they are still paying for the original sin, and god only knows how many generations have been doing it. Or maybe she doesn't know either. :smirk:
  • The Secret Of The Universe Has Been Revealed
    Would love to read a novel written by 180 Proof in ordinary language.Nils Loc

    Why would he want to do something like that? :wink:
  • The Secret Of The Universe Has Been Revealed
    someone really seriousGus Lamarch
    Does not write in that style.
  • The Run-on. If you can make sense of this you win a prize.
    Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
    Perfectly good sentence, no punctuation needed. Can you make sense of it?
    tim wood



    Everyone can make sense of it. Just don't anyone report me for spamming. The original kind of spam that is, excessive and bloody useless.
  • The Last Word
    Are you talking about me or the post?
    :wink:
  • Chinese Finger Trap or Gladitorial Combat or Quicksand?
    You hit the camel's balls(?) between two bricks as it is drinking to turn a 7 day camel into a 10 day camel. But no one told the guy in the first place.Nils Loc

    The funny part is when the guy asks if it hurts, and the herder says "only if you get your fingers between the bricks"

    I want a Zen master to give me the easy way out of life.Nils Loc

    Confucius, or was it Murphy, said that there is no such thing as an easy way out of life. You just have to learn to go with the flow.
  • The Secret Of The Universe Has Been Revealed
    Anubis was depicted as a jackal, canine, and was the protect of the dead.

    Bastet was the god that had the head of a cat, and therefore cats were honored. Not all cats were counted as gods, but a god was a cat.
  • Life, the Universe and Everything.
    I intend to, while the booze lasts.
  • Chinese Finger Trap or Gladitorial Combat or Quicksand?
    I'm not ready because my fingers are in a little trick.Nils Loc

    If your fingers are stuck in one of those tube things don't pull, you have to push to open them.

    Use the mallet now! Hit me into NOTHING!Nils Loc

    Human whack a mole, sounds interesting. But what or where is nothing?

    I do not want to walk in the desert.Nils Loc

    I remember that song, that is why you need camel. Or was it a horse? Did you ever hear the joke about the ten day camel?
  • The Secret Of The Universe Has Been Revealed
    The "Sphinx" Is Said To Be The Defaced Image Of A "Lion" Or "Lioness".The Grandfather Of Philosophy

    It is the body of a dog, ask any sane zoologist about it.
  • Observations on the cult of personality in politics
    I don't think so.Pantagruel

    So why did so many people vote for Trump?

    To be great, you must first be good.Pantagruel

    Where is this a law. Genghis Khan was great, one one can say he was good. But the battle call that Trump adopted hit straight to the heart of many, because that was what they wanted. He never stated what would make America great in any concrete promises but played on the ideas of the people as to what would do so. It is not his fault that there are 60 million different views on what would make America great, but that was what the people wanted and he offered it to them.
    And most importantly they accepted it. People from every conceivably part of the geographical domain of America voted for him.

    No, there is no "America" any more to make great again,Pantagruel

    No need to tell me, just go a head and tell the American people that are getting ready to vote Trump into office again.

    The problem with your idea is that you are not all of the American people. I am reasonably sure that 99% of those people do not really understand or maybe they just do not believe that their lives are so controlled as you seem to imply. And because they do not believe they still think that it is possible to make the country great again, even if not with Trump.
  • Uproar
    Well then, I can't interface nor understand the site.MortalsWrath

    Profanity is allowed.jamalrob

    So can I have permission to tell this twat to fuck off and bitch somewhere else? Please.
  • Word of the day - Not to be mistaken for "Word de jour."
    I've no impressive family pedigree.Nils Loc

    This should not impede your advancement in life.
    Just to keep on about feet for a while.
  • Observations on the cult of personality in politics
    Unfortunately the idea that one country can be great all on its own is now archaic (isolationism).Pantagruel

    That would depend on the definition of great that you use.

    Then again, I wonder if the great mass of people are even moved by rationality any more?Pantagruel

    The great mass of any population is moved by what it wants to hear. If people are pissed of about something and then someone comes along offering a solution, even if it is bullshit, they will still listen and be moved into responding to it.

    Perhaps what the world wants now is...neo-rationalism?Pantagruel

    Others think that what the world needs now is another major war to put things right.
  • Life, the Universe and Everything.
    Do tell, with what perspective have you gained the scope to create such an assertion?MortalsWrath

    Half a pint of Johnny Walker maybe.
  • The Run-on. If you can make sense of this you win a prize.
    I'll bet you Happiness turned to sorrow after you wrote that. After thinking about it for a while anyway.
  • Observations on the cult of personality in politics
    Interesting stuff, I think. So what is required, I guess, is a charismatic movement based upon a rational message.Pantagruel

    Stage left, enter Trump shout make the USA great again.
  • The Last Word
    No your not, you just said something.
  • Word of the day - Not to be mistaken for "Word de jour."
    Anyone ever had problems opening a jar or screw cap of some sort might wish that they were pedimanous
  • We have people here who are fairly certain...
    Personally, I would have to agree with anyone that states that there are many gods.

    The christians say that there is a god, even if they don't know his real name.
    The muslims say that there is a god.
    the hindus believe that there is a god, even if they are not sure about all of its forms.

    So why should there not be lots of gods? If one is possible so then are more. I bet that if someone opened a temple to worship Thor there would be plenty of people there. I might even be tempted to go if Zeus opened shop around here.

    I just watched a press conference where one particular god was invoked in supplication. I watched the Democratic Party National Convention...and at least one god was called upon often...and from what I've read about the Republican Party National Convention...they were doing the same.Frank Apisa

    Desperate people do desperate things in desperate times.
  • What constitutes Philosophy?
    What makes one a philosopher?Pantagruel

    The same thing that makes two a philosopher. Or you could try thinking about things.
  • Thought is a Power Far Superior to Any God
    The real question is why does one need God when one has thought?JerseyFlight

    Because technology had not, mainly because it did not really exist, provide answers to certain questions that arose as humans developed into civilized beings. And it has still not provided all of the answers man wants.
    When science can say "The purpose of life is............" and provide adequate proof things might change.
  • Need for everyday philosophy
    But now everything seems too easy.Eugene

    The truth.

    Every need can be satisfied without any hesitation and trouble.Eugene

    Not quite every need, I still have to work to eat.

    Who are they, the thinkers of the XXI cent?Eugene

    Google, farcebook, twatter, tik-tik, you name it.
  • Why banana?
    Sounds very similar to a Thai curry, minus the manioc and plantain.

    Never have tried a plantain
    Nils Loc

    The way they make it here it is not hot like curry, you put your own chili on top if you want to.

    Plantains are very similar to bananas in the variety of ways you can cook them. Both when green get used in soups and stew and can be fired to crispy chips. Bananas are mostly eaten raw when ripe, for some reason they do not fry or bake well as do plantains. Bananas usually have a sweeter taste to them that plantains when green but there is nothing nicer than a fried very ripe plantain.
  • Deep Songs
    Damn, now you have made it all start again.

    About 8 years ago i woke up one morning with that song running through my head. I had not heard it in a very long time and it surprised me that I still knew the words. I could not get it out of my head all day i kept finding myself singing it to my self.
    After a 2 hour meeting that numbed the senses I must have forgotten it, until I am leaving the building and I find a workmate with a book under her arm. Called "Puff the magic dragon". I could not sleep that night with that bloody song repeating itself over and over.

    And you reminded me of it. AAaahhhhhhh.:cry: