Random and useless thoughts and facts

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by big soft moose, Sep 24, 2021.

  1. GeoffFromBykerGrove

    GeoffFromBykerGrove Active Member

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    I think the same goes for philosophers, except maybe writers don’t also have an innate need to be unpleasant to people.
     
  2. OurJud

    OurJud Contributor Contributor

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    Well I’m here to tell you it’s very.
     
  3. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    The median net worth of citizens of Venezuela is zero.
     
  4. OurJud

    OurJud Contributor Contributor

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    I’ve had the COVID for the last 4 days and let me tell you that as a foodie the very worst aspect is the total loss of taste! Death comes a close second, but I’ve never experienced this before. I’ve had a muted sense of taste during colds etc, but this is complete loss… I mean this is a ‘blindfold me and you could feed me pig shit’ level of taste loss!
     
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  5. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Talk about the epitome of zero-sum economics, huh?
     
  6. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    Debt ratio? I got through college on Econ Lite.
     
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  7. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    I tried to get into the special Econ class (the one for "student-athletes") but they wouldn't let me :)

    There was a trick question on the entrance exam that I failed by counting past ten without undoing any of my clothing.
     
  8. Louanne Learning

    Louanne Learning Happy Wonderer Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Contest Winner 2022

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    Philosophers and writers ask the same sorts of questions about life and humanity, but writers give their answers in stories.
     
  9. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    I was required to take Agricultural Economics. If I ever took a more completely stupefying course than AgEcon I must've slept through it, because I surely do not recall it.
     
  10. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    My Econ 101 was for people studying engineering, and teacher credentialing.
     
  11. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    I took a Ukrainian Culture course in college. 15 week diatribe against the Russians by an elderly Ukrainian expat who had fled the Soviet Union. The only thing I remember is that Jack Palance was Ukrainian.
     
  12. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    Most mammals get around 1 billion heartbeats in their lifetimes. Animals with faster heart rates live short, bright lives, while the slower ones hang around longer, but the number of beats is largely the same.

    [​IMG]

    Modern humans are the outlier, with around 3 billion lub-dubs.

    We may already be about as immortal as we're likely to get.
     
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  13. Louanne Learning

    Louanne Learning Happy Wonderer Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Contest Winner 2022

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    Very interesting, We are the outlier. But isn't the average lifespan more around 80 rather than 120?
     
  14. Set2Stun

    Set2Stun Rejection Collector Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Contest Winner 2022

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    I think it's looking at the greatest recorded age. But there is indeed a flaw there - human lifespans are very easily recorded, us being humans. How many century+ old whales have died at sea over the eons, right?

    I know this was about mammals, but I wonder how the heartrate stats work for fish, or maybe reptiles like old Jonathan here:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_(tortoise)
     
  15. Louanne Learning

    Louanne Learning Happy Wonderer Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Contest Winner 2022

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    Jonathan was hatched before Queen Victoria was crowned!

    Thinking about the human heart.....why is strong emotion felt in it?
     
  16. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    Ayn Rand's soulmate.
     
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  17. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    Emotion is actually felt in the brain. European culture attributed it to the heart. Some native American cultures attributed it to the liver.
     
  18. GeoffFromBykerGrove

    GeoffFromBykerGrove Active Member

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    Oddly, European cultures (Ancient Greeks especially) thought that thinking also took place in the heart. It makes sense, in as much as it’s the organ you can see/hear/feel actually living.
     
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  19. GeoffFromBykerGrove

    GeoffFromBykerGrove Active Member

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    So do some philosophers (Sartre, Camus, Rousseau, Voltaire, even Plato if you want to count the dramatic bits of the dialogues).

    There’s a crossover in questions but they’re not identical. I’m sure writers will ask some questions that philosophers wouldn’t ask. I know philosophers ask ones writers wouldn’t. A novel on whether synthetic a priori knowledge is possible, or on whether there are such things as speech acts, would be reeeeeeeeeally dull. As dull as the philosophy papers on it. Maybe that’s what they were missing - a good arc.
     
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  20. ruskaya

    ruskaya Contributor Contributor

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    maybe this is not such a useless thought, but as I am watching Mr Beast's videos on youtube, which I only click because I see millions of views and wonder why, I become inevitably disappointed with humanity. His videos are just the replay of the same content in different dressings and salsas, over and over and over. One of his great successes has been realizing that giving away free money in a variety of extremely-low-skilled human challenges--like how much money can you grab? or can you guess what happens next in the video? or do you choose this crate or the other one (one filled with money and the other empty)?--really gets you a humongous audience.
     
  21. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    According to some sources, the name of the British new wave group Spandau Ballet could point to two possible meanings: one refers to the jerky movements of Nazi war prisoners as they were hanged at Spandau prison, or according to others, it refers to enemy soldiers being shot down by a German World War II machine gun MG42 Spandau.
     
  22. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    There's the old Germanic fairy tale of some faerie folk (called Wichtelmänner "watch-men" in German) rewarding the hardworking shoemaker by finishing off his unmade shoes. This was collected in a book of Grimm's Fairy Tales with two other similar stories.

    Does that mean it's an elf-help book?
     
  23. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    I'm fairy certain it isn't.
     
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  24. Vince Higgins

    Vince Higgins Curmudgeon. Contributor

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    I did learn another British group of that era, UB40, was named after the form you must fill out in the UK to collect Unemployment Benefits.
     
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  25. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    Mmm. Speaking of economics, I took beginning micro-economics at university. I attended 1 lecture, and got something like 60% on the exam, since I had already got an A in A-level (high school) economics.

    I wanted to take the more advanced course, but since that was scheduled for 9AM, there was no chance. The beginning lecture was scheduled for 5PM, and I still bunked most of them.
     
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