General Discussion Thread

[Hrollo]

Although, I feel this argument is not as pervasive as it looks, because spending a lot of money in *any* hard science or engineering field yields unexcepted positive applications in other fields and daily life — both nuclear power and the micro-wave oven are the product of *military* research spending (this works both ways of course: military tanks developed out of technology which originally was created for agricultural tractors, dynamite was originally meant for civil engineering, and TNT started as a *dye*).

So while it's true that investing a lot of money in space exploration will have positive impact, I feel the same would be just as true if that money was invested into deep sea exploration or in energy research.

[Róisín]

Exactly that. We don't spend time, money or brainpower enough on most of the sciences.

[Tr]

TNT started as a *dye*.

Really? Huh, didn't know that.

Exactly that. We don't spend time, money or brainpower enough on most of the sciences.

True that.
Honestly, I'm a little bewildered by how people aren't interested in space exploration. Our world is miniscule when compared to the rest of the universe. Yes, our world is an amazing place, but there are so many other worlds, each with the potential to be just as amazing as our little Earth. I mean, come on, their could be alien life forms out there! Maybe we won't be able to look for them this decade, or the next, or the one after that, but one day we could be able to find them. The universe is a huge, strange, marvelous place. How can you not want to see what space has to offer?

[Hrollo]

Really? Huh, didn't know that.True that.

Basically the thing was, compared to other explosives avalaible at the time, TNT was extremely stable, to the point that it's actually hard to detonate, and in fact its explosive properties weren't discovered for almost 30 years after its discovery.

[Noodles]

Honestly, I'm a little bewildered by how people aren't interested in space exploration. Our world is miniscule when compared to the rest of the universe. Yes, our world is an amazing place, but there are so many other worlds, each with the potential to be just as amazing as our little Earth. I mean, come on, their could be alien life forms out there! Maybe we won't be able to look for them this decade, or the next, or the one after that, but one day we could be able to find them. The universe is a huge, strange, marvelous place. How can you not want to see what space has to offer?

^^^^^^^^this! As my friend said, "Down is finite. Up is infinite."

[Hrollo]

Well, on the flipside, humans have a very limited sense of scale. The horizon seems far away, but at sea level it's less than 5 km away. And when you're in a forest from your point of view there's no difference between a forest that's has an area of 10 hectares and one that has an area of 10,000 hectares. We cannot really apprehend the size of things that are smaller than half a milimeter or bigger than a hill.

So in that sense it doesn't really matter that the Earth is *comparatively* very small compared to everything else — for many people that is meaningless.

[Kelpie]

I forgot the tornado sirens were being tested today, and it scared me to death when they went off. Will I ever remember? The answer is: not likely.

[Juniper]

So apparently Finland has been putting babies in cardboard boxes and it's been lowering the infant mortality rate.

[Pupunen]

So apparently Finland has been putting babies in cardboard boxes and it's been lowering the infant mortality rate.

Yes. I don't know if I ever slept in my box (I think my parents maybe bought me an actual bed in advance) but I remember being really excited when my younger siblings' boxes arrived with all the cute baby clothes inside. It felt like being one step closer to getting a new brother or sister.

[OwlsG0]

So apparently Finland has been putting babies in cardboard boxes and it's been lowering the infant mortality rate.

That is shockingly sensible and adorable. Two birds with one box.

(I wonder if this custom might have survived into post-apocalypse Finland?)

[Athena]

That is shockingly sensible and adorable. Two birds with one box.

(I wonder if this custom might have survived into post-apocalypse Finland?)

(sounds like a new headcanon if I'd ever heard one! I'm on board.)

[Eris]

So apparently Finland has been putting babies in cardboard boxes and it's been lowering the infant mortality rate.

In Minnesota, a nonprofit group distributed the boxes to low-income families, inspiring a proposal being debated by state lawmakers.

Minnesota is (sort of) trying it, too! Maybe it'll catch on.

[viola]

Ahhhh guys I am listening to the soundtrack from The Tigger Movie and that was one of my favourite movies as a kid, I knew all the words to the songs and we listened to the sound track all the time in the car, and I had a little cassette player with the songs and I used to bring it around with me everywhere and play it over and over and over and now I'm getting really emotional and tearing up ahhhhh.

[Jethan]

I keep going to the "Who's Viewing What" page and I'm spying on all of you...MWAHAHAHAHA!
Or at least I did it a couple times.

Baby Shower in a box.  That does seem kinda fun.

[Juniper]

Ahhhh guys I am listening to the soundtrack from The Tigger Movie and that was one of my favourite movies as a kid, I knew all the words to the songs and we listened to the sound track all the time in the car, and I had a little cassette player with the songs and I used to bring it around with me everywhere and play it over and over and over and now I'm getting really emotional and tearing up ahhhhh.

That's precious. I love it when stuff like that happens Kind of reminds me when I was a kid I had a cassette with music from 101 Dalmatians that I'd listen to all the time. I wonder whatever happened to that thing . .

Okay sorry this is really loose association but thinking of that cassette tape made me think of how I have memories of it back when I was like 2 or 3 which made me start thinking about some of my earliest memories ? Like, I had to have been 2-ish because these memories are at my first house that I moved from when I was 2. One of them I had a banana, and being a toddler I smeared it on the wall. My cousin who was almost 20 at the time walks in and is like "what did you do ?!?" but I found out they actually cleaned it up for me and covered for me because my parents didn't even know about that story until I was older and told them so that's cool. I also have a lot of memories of throwing my favorite shiny red rattle down the stairs.

I also thought there was an octopus that wore a hat that lived in my closet at that house and it absolutely terrified me.