I bet you didn't know that this thread would have a part 2

New Home · 23-02-2019 11:34pm

I remember seeing a picture of one such eye many years ago in Reader's Digest. It was odd-looking alright!

Some level of eyesight can be restored to people by installing a special sensor onto their tongue; this gets then connected to their optical nerve, I think, and people would see (shapes/light/shadows) by sucking in air through something similar to a straw.

More here.

mzungu · 24-02-2019 1:39am

Alcatraz was one of the only federal prisons at the time that allowed hot showers to deter prisoners from acclimating to cold water and escaping through the San Francisco Bay.

[Deleted User] · 24-02-2019 9:50pm

The lack of restrictions on what exotic pets can be traded and owned in the State of Florida has led to some scary consequences, as when some pets get a bit too difficult to manage the unscrupulous owners simply let them out into the wild. Orang-utans, bears, panthers and snakes have all been discovered roaming around, not a great addition to a State with it's own interesting wildlife, including Florida panthers, bobcats and alligators.

The most serious situation has been caused by the Burmese python. Tiny little snakes are bought by people with no knowledge of how to care for them, and in less than a year they reach at least six feet and become more risky or troublesome than the owners anticipated, meaning large numbers are disposed of in the Everglades National Park. One pregnant python can produce up to 90 babies at a time, and in record time they populated the area and disposed of most of the native small mammals. It had been hoped that the alligators would keep the numbers down but even the alligators have fallen prey to the pythons. Freelance snake hunters have been brought in to cull the numbers, and are paid bonus sums for each foot of snake on top of their base income, but the long term outlook is very uncertain as the invasion of the pythons outpaces all human attempts to keep them in check and they obliterate already threatened species of native wildlife.

Burmese pythons have been known to reach 5.5mts/60kg, and the Florida swamps provide ideal breeding conditions so if you get lost in the Everglades and the alligators don't get you and you avoid the panthers, you might still get squashed by a peckish python.

bogwalrus · 24-02-2019 11:44pm

mzungu wrote: »

The 1925 serum run to Nome, a.k.a. the Great Race of Mercy, was a transport of diphtheria antitoxin by dog sled relay across the Alaska by 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs. They covered about 674 miles in five and a half days and saved Nome and the surrounding communities from an incipient epidemic.

Today, most huskies in the US are descended from the sled dog team that completed the 1925 Great Race of Mercy. They saved many children's lives by transporting diphtheria antitoxin when no one else could. Afterwards, the team was sold to a kennel in Poland Spring, Maine.

Would make a good film. Possibly even win an oscar.

New Home · 24-02-2019 11:45pm

Not sure if it won an Oscar, but there's definitely a movie about it already.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 24-02-2019 11:48pm

bogwalrus wrote: »

Would make a good film. Possibly even win an oscar.

The animated Balto is loosely based on it..

mzungu · 25-02-2019 1:38am

Continuum was a magazine published by an activist group of the same name who denied the existence of HIV/AIDS. The content, as you can imagine, was barmy pseudoscientific waffle.

Continuum claimed to be a scientific journal for those who had alternative theories about HIV/AIDS, even though it had no peer review and promoted and advertised alternative therapies such as urinotherapy. AIDS denialists of the time often cited the articles published in this journal as a source of scientific information.

The magazine ran from 1992 - 2001. The reason for its cessation was that all three of its editors died from AIDS.

Rented Mule · 25-02-2019 1:49am

Candie wrote: »

The lack of restrictions on what exotic pets can be traded and owned in the State of Florida has led to some scary consequences, as when some pets get a bit too difficult to manage the unscrupulous owners simply let them out into the wild. Orang-utans, bears, panthers and snakes have all been discovered roaming around, not a great addition to a State with it's own interesting wildlife, including Florida panthers, bobcats and alligators.

The most serious situation has been caused by the Burmese python. Tiny little snakes are bought by people with no knowledge of how to care for them, and in less than a year they reach at least six feet and become more risky or troublesome than the owners anticipated, meaning large numbers are disposed of in the Everglades National Park. One pregnant python can produce up to 90 babies at a time, and in record time they populated the area and disposed of most of the native small mammals. It had been hoped that the alligators would keep the numbers down but even the alligators have fallen prey to the pythons. Freelance snake hunters have been brought in to cull the numbers, and are paid bonus sums for each foot of snake on top of their base income, but the long term outlook is very uncertain as the invasion of the pythons outpaces all human attempts to keep them in check and they obliterate already threatened species of native wildlife.

Burmese pythons have been known to reach 5.5mts/60kg, and the Florida swamps provide ideal breeding conditions so if you get lost in the Everglades and the alligators don't get you and you avoid the panthers, you might still get squashed by a peckish python.

Actually, the biggest problem with in Florida is the feral cat population. The low estimate od feral cats is 6.3 million. They are completely wiping out populations of birds and small mammals . There was talk about quelling the population with "cat hunts" but the Animal Rights Activists lost their minds.

lbc2019 · 25-02-2019 9:10am

The sea slug Chromodoris reticulata not only can break off its penis, it has two backup penises stored in its body for immediate use after it loses one.

Chancer3001 · 25-02-2019 9:16am

A candidate for most horrifyingly ugly fish is the angler fish.

They have an unusual mating style.

The smaller male attaches itself to the female and basically becomes a parasite, living off her bloodstream. The male wastes away eventually, leavimg only his testicles and penis behind which live on , shooting sperm at the female forever more.

Females can have a few males buried in them

Ahorseofaman · 25-02-2019 4:52pm

Females can have a few males buried in them[/QUOTE]
I've met a few like that in my time. :pac:

blastman · 25-02-2019 6:18pm

Five of the last six Oscars for Best Director have been won by Mexican directors. Alfonso Cuarón won for Gravity and Roma, Alejandro G. Iñárritu won for Birdman and The Revenant and Guillermo Del Toro took the prize for The Shape Of Water. Damien Chazelle (for La La Land) is the outlier.

Trump is right, build the damn wall!!

worded · 25-02-2019 8:54pm

pavb2 wrote: »

Following the film theme, in Alfred Hitchcock's film Suspicion, Cary Grant is seen carrying a 'poisoned' glass of milk upstairs to his wife

Sir Alfred Hitchcock wanted the glass to stand out so by placing a lightbulb in the milk the contents appear to glow as the glass is carried upstairs by C.G. further enhancing the audience's fears that the milk is poisoned.

I had to look that up ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j43DaFDhggM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j43DaFDhggM

BaZmO* · 25-02-2019 10:03pm

While on the subject of Hitchcock, and with reference to the earlier post on Singing in Rain being shot in one take/sequence. In his 1948 film Rope, starring James Stewart. Hitchcock used a technique to give the illusion of the film being done in one continuous take.

Hitchcock shot for periods lasting up to 10 minutes (the length of a film camera magazine), continuously panning from actor to actor, though most shots in the film wound up being shorter. Every other segment ends by panning against or tracking into an object—a man's jacket blocking the entire screen, or the back of a piece of furniture, for example. In this way, Hitchcock effectively masked half the cuts in the film.

However, at the end of 20 minutes (two magazines of film make one reel of film on the projector in the movie theater), the projectionist—when the film was shown in theaters—had to change reels. On these changeovers, Hitchcock cuts to a new camera setup, deliberately not disguising the cut. A description of the beginning and end of each segment follows.

It’s a great film too. It has the feeling of walking ching a stage play live. Partly I suppose due to the nature of the filming. It was also based on a 1929 stage play of the same name.

mzungu · 25-02-2019 10:48pm

The country with the most amount of pyramids is Sudan with 255 which is nearly double the amount in Egypt.

The most extensive Nubian pyramid site is at Meroë, which is located between the fifth and sixth cataracts of the Nile, which is about 250km north of Khartoum. During the Meroitic period, over forty queens and kings were buried there.

Size wise, the pyramids of Sudan are somewhat dwarfed by their Egyptian counterparts. They were built of stepped courses of horizontally positioned stone blocks and range approximately 6–30 metres (20–98 ft) in height, but rise from small foundation footprints that rarely exceed 8 metres (26 ft) in width, resulting in tall, narrow structures inclined at approximately 70°. Most also have offering temple structures abutting their base with unique K.u.s.h.i.t.e* characteristics. By comparison, Egyptian pyramids of similar height generally had foundation footprints that were at least five times larger and were inclined at angles between 40–50°.

The tombs in the pyramids were plundered back in ancient times. However, well preserved wall reliefs show that royal occupants were mummified and covered in jewellery. During exploration by archaeologists in the 19th and 20th centuries they found the remains of bows, quivers of arrows, archers' thumb rings, horse harnesses, wooden boxes, furniture, pottery, colored glass, metal vessels, and many other artefacts attesting to extensive Meroitic trade with Egypt and the Hellenistic world.

The pyramids of Meroë were further damaged in the 1830s as the Italian doctor-turned-explorer and treasure hunter Giuseppe Ferlini blew the tops off about 40 tombs during his quest for treasure. Hence, from a visual standpoint at least, the pyramids of Sudan do not compare to those in Egypt. From a historical standpoint, though, they are every bit as fascinating.

Pyramids at Meroë (sans tops) blown up by Giuseppe Ferlini. Note there are three (in shot) restored in the foreground.

Different angle of the above picture.

Closer image of Meroë.

Pyramids at Jebel Barkal, Karmia.

* I had to use the full stops otherwise the swear filter would have blocked it out!

Capt'n Midnight · 26-02-2019 1:11am

If you like long scenes then watch Russian Ark.

It's a dreamlike journey through 300 years of history set in 33 different rooms in the beautiful Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg with a cast of 2,000 and three live orchestras.

The whole film is one single continuous shot.

Pints? · 26-02-2019 1:13am

"You know Bart, a dolphin is actually a mammal like you and me"

Carry · 26-02-2019 2:20am

Some time ago Candie (I think) wrote a comment about unborn babies feeling pain. I remember it was about surgery of newborns or such like. It stuck in my mind (as did her eyelash mites

) and I tried to find out what science says.

Note, this is no argument about abortion. It’s just really an interest how pain works and when it starts.

So that is what I found out:

To feel pain as a human (and I guess all mammals) you need three structures in your body:

- a receptor that recognises the pain und transforms it into neural stimuli
- neural pathways that conduct the signal via spinal cord to the brain
- structures in the brain that translate the stimulus into a sense of pain

If one of these components is missing or a connection is interrupted the whole system breaks down, as in the case of paraplegia.

Foeti only develop in the last third of pregnancy all requirements to feel pain, as studies showed (I can link if you wish).

Though pain receptors develop already in the 7th to 15th week of pregnancy, the nerves in the spinal cord are only ready to transmit the signals of the receptors at about the 19th week.

But only from the 23rd to 24th week of pregnancy the signals reach the critical parts of the brain to translate it into pain. According to studies it lasts until the 30th week until the then baby can recognise brain signals.

However, a foetus can develop reflexes earlier. In prenatal surgeries for example a foetus can retract when touched. But such reflexes are literally unconscious because the brain is not involved. A reflex is hence no sign for feeling pain.

Cookie_Monster · 26-02-2019 4:36am

mzungu wrote: »

K.u.s.h.i.t.e*
* I had to use the full stops otherwise the swear filter would have blocked it out!

The swear filter is easy to get around: Kushite

Realt Dearg Sec · 26-02-2019 4:49am

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

mzungu wrote: »

K.u.s.h.i.t.e*
* I had to use the full stops otherwise the swear filter would have blocked it out!

The swear filter is easy to get around: Kushite

What kind of ****ing sorcery is this?

Cookie_Monster · 26-02-2019 5:05am

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

What kind of fucking sorcery is this?

change the colour of a single letter in the word, but just set it to black

mzungu · 26-02-2019 11:41am

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

change the colour of a single letter in the word, but just set it to black

Every day is a school day!

wildlifeboy · 26-02-2019 12:25pm

mzungu wrote: »

Every day is a school day!

Shite bag

Quazzie · 26-02-2019 2:53pm

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

change the colour of a single letter in the word, but just set it to black

Or change one letter to a size2 and it shows up normal no matter what the skin.

Your method doesn't show up so well on the dark skins

Fucking 'ell

Grayson · 26-02-2019 3:59pm

mzungu wrote: »

The country with the most amount of pyramids is Sudan with 255 which is nearly double the amount in Egypt.

Ethiopia has more than egypt too if I remember correctly.

LostinBlanch · 26-02-2019 4:54pm

Have you ever wondered about the green code that scrolls down the screen in the Matrix? Well it turns out it's based on a bunch of sushi recipes.

Simon Whiteley, creator of The Matrix code, attributes the design to his wife, who's from Japan.

"I like to tell everybody that The Matrix's code is made out of Japanese sushi recipes," says Whiteley, a production designer from England who's now based at the Animal Logic animation and visual-effects studio in Sydney. He scanned the characters from his wife's Japanese cookbooks. "Without that code, there is no Matrix."

Ipso · 26-02-2019 5:13pm

LostinBlanch wrote: »

Have you ever wondered about the green code that scrolls down the screen in the Matrix? Well it turns out it's based on a bunch of sushi recipes.

In case you want to do it on your own computer.
http://www.engineers-excel.com/Apps/Digital_Rain/Description.htm

Conchir · 26-02-2019 7:40pm

Yesterday, two weather records were broken in Britain according to the Met Office. It was 20.6°C near Aberystwyth in Wales; this was both the hottest ever recorded February day, and the first ever recorded Winter temperature over 20°C.

When I saw this I had a quick check of the Met Eireann records. The hottest February day in Ireland was in 1891, when it was 18.1°C in the Phoenix Park on the 23rd. I imagine that won't last too much longer; we came close(ish) yesterday at 17.3°C in Dublin.

Chancer3001 · 26-02-2019 10:28pm

Always makes me womder when they use these figures to show global warming.

Hottest day for over 100 years etc...

Fuk me. What happened 100 years ago that made it so hot

Conchir · 26-02-2019 11:02pm

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Always makes me womder when they use these figures to show global warming.

Hottest day for over 100 years etc...

Fuk me. What happened 100 years ago that made it so hot

Most likely just a quirk of the weather on that particular day to be honest.

It's when these extremes become more common and long term average temperatures begin to change that we're seeing global warming, or climate change.

I bet you didn't know that this thread would have a part 2

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