Moving this video to Leonards's personal queue. It failed to receive enough votes to get sifted up to the front page within 2 days.

He also states that his personal beliefs are his alone and not to be forced onto others. I am taught by professors at a state university where I have been told point blank that they have religious beliefs, yet they still teach Science. The two are not incompatible or exclusive. I suggest this article by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow about the subject. I assume you will accept Dr Hawking's conclusions. PDF


I'm voting for Obama because he is the man right now, but I'm finding it surprisingly easy to play devils advocate for Ron Paul.

I don't find Ron Paul's rhetoric or discourse frightening or crazy.

Obama says he is a Christian, which by default means he denies evolution de facto, and I am a biological sciences major.... and you know why I don't care? Because Obama believes in everyones rights, and doesn't deny science where science is the leader.

Why is it so hard to conceive that an active conspiracy to hide the newsletters from Paul was successful, when the outcome would be exactly the same as the one we're debating? The one where NO ONE has heard Ron Paul ever, EVER say anything like the things in the newsletters?

Ever. Not even HEARD him say it.

Look how the fucking GOP candidates cant go ONE DAY without saying something so incendiary... they cant possibly believe such things ... and expect more than 48% of the vote...

Bluntly put: If Ron Paul was a racist, it would probably HELP his campaign the way the world is. Consider that.

As an actual physicist... I am embarrassed to say, it is pretty accurate.

Try as hard as I did to not like this show, my wife and I watch it frequently and I find it hysterical.

>> ^Retro:

The big bang theory is a travesty. Nerd humor written by those who are clearly not nerds, and do not know how we act.

>> ^BoneRemake:

>> ^Retro:
The big bang theory is a travesty. Nerd humor written by those who are clearly not nerds, and do not know how we act.

oh shush up. The only thing one has to get past besides ones own superiority clique complex is the laugh track.


The show is mildly funny on a good day. The laugh track and line, line, laugh formula is simply covering average writing and acting. Even without the laugh track, the show is just not funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmLQaTcViOA

>> ^Retro:

The big bang theory is a travesty. Nerd humor written by those who are clearly not nerds, and do not know how we act.


oh shush up. The only thing one has to get past besides ones own superiority clique complex is the laugh track.

Thank you kindly!

In reply to this comment by geo321:
*quality

This beautiful video was sent to me by my dearest friend and I haven't stopped watching/listening to it since. I tried to sift it but found it already here, and since it's been qualitied already, I guess I can only *promote it.

The director made a different version of this film for an ad, starring the poetry and voice of Leonard Cohen, music by Clint Mansell: http://videosift.com/video/Two-Worlds-Narrated-by-Leonard-Cohen

"Nuit Blanche" means "sleepless night" in French btw.

Below, a "remake" by the same director, with a poem by Leonard Cohen and music by Clint Mansell (too bad it's a commercial):

Transcript for literate folks.

No, it's that you presume God is irrelevent. That's the natural conclusion from your fishtank example, isn't it? You see a world without God, and I see a world with God. Clearly, only one of us is correct. That is why absolutes are important. Someone is right, and someone is wrong. If you don't believe in absolutes, I would ask you, do you absolutely believe that?

>> ^vaire2ube:
God is Irrelevant, is the point. We can't debate the subject by virtue of its definition, so if you have a differing opinion just deal with it.
Reality is still real. We can interact without absolute knowledge.
Read the article from Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow September 27, 2010
"A few years ago the city council of Monza, Italy, barred pet owners from keeping goldfish in curved fishbowls. The sponsors of the measure explained that it is cruel to keep a fish in a bowl because the curved sides give the fish a distorted view of reality. Aside from the measure’s significance to the poor goldfish, the story raises an interesting philosophical question: How do we know that the reality we perceive is true? The goldfish is seeing a version of reality that is different from ours, but can we be sure it is any less real? For all we know, we, too, may spend our entire lives staring out at the world through a distorting lens."

God is Irrelevant, is the point. We can't debate the subject by virtue of its definition, so if you have a differing opinion just deal with it.

Reality is still real. We can interact without absolute knowledge.


Read the article from Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow September 27, 2010

"A few years ago the city council of Monza, Italy, barred pet owners from keeping goldfish in curved fishbowls. The sponsors of the measure explained that it is cruel to keep a fish in a bowl because the curved sides give the fish a distorted view of reality. Aside from the measure’s significance to the poor goldfish, the story raises an interesting philosophical question: How do we know that the reality we perceive is true? The goldfish is seeing a version of reality that is different from ours, but can we be sure it is any less real? For all we know, we, too, may spend our entire lives staring out at the world through a distorting lens."

Accuracy isn't memory's primary concern. Memory is highly functional, just not in the way you think it is. I never said memory was always inaccurate, but it often is.

Your reaction is one I encounter all the time. People are perfectly willing to accept that other people's memories can be inaccurate, just not theirs. It doesn't bother me, because unless you study memory and understand how it works, it's difficult to accept.

But I'll say this again, because it is worth repeating until people really stop and think about what it means: Confidence is not related to accuracy.

You have also misinterpreted the research I linked to. Yes, they found that emotional features were remembered poorly, but so were non-emotional features. The emotional features were just remembered more poorly. If you would like to read the entire article and not just the abstract, there are even more surprising data they present.

>> ^JiggaJonson:

Like I said, I don't doubt that memory is inaccurate, but if it were always inaccurate to the degree you're describing it wouldn't be very functional at all would it?
I remember the names of all of my teachers from first through eighth grade
Mrs. Henyadas
Mrs. Summers
Mrs. Walters
Mr. Polinski
Mr. Leonard
Mrs. Bagget (which I will NEVER forget b/c my sixth grade brain always wanted to call her Mrs. Faggot)
Mr. Syzniak (sp?)
Mrs. Lessner
I highly doubt that I imagined teacher's names from entire years of my life, I will dig out my old report cards and photograph them if you like (but you'll probably just say I forged those and forgot about it while I was sleep walking through an entire week).
On the other hand, the link that you provided even says "the strong emotional reactions elicited by flashbulb events are remembered poorly, worse than nonemotional features such as where and from whom one learned of the attack"
So when you say "you will be completely wrong about where you were, who you were with, and what you were doing when the attacks happened" to me it doesn't seem to jive with the research YOU have provided. I'm sorry my memory isn't as faulty as you are doing a poor job presenting it to be.
Wait what were we talking about?
>> ^berticus:
Yes, it is precisely the time to bring them up. And yes, your memory really is that faulty. Everyone's is. I'm very sorry memory doesn't work the way you want it to.

Like I said, I don't doubt that memory is inaccurate, but if it were always inaccurate to the degree you're describing it wouldn't be very functional at all would it?

I remember the names of all of my teachers from first through eighth grade

Mrs. Henyadas
Mrs. Summers
Mrs. Walters
Mr. Polinski
Mr. Leonard
Mrs. Bagget (which I will NEVER forget b/c my sixth grade brain always wanted to call her Mrs. Faggot)
Mr. Syzniak (sp?)
Mrs. Lessner

I highly doubt that I imagined teacher's names from entire years of my life, I will dig out my old report cards and photograph them if you like (but you'll probably just say I forged those and forgot about it while I was sleep walking through an entire week).

On the other hand, the link that you provided even says "the strong emotional reactions elicited by flashbulb events are remembered poorly, worse than nonemotional features such as where and from whom one learned of the attack"

So when you say "you will be completely wrong about where you were, who you were with, and what you were doing when the attacks happened" to me it doesn't seem to jive with the research YOU have provided. I'm sorry my memory isn't as faulty as you are doing a poor job presenting it to be.

Wait what were we talking about?
>> ^berticus:

Yes, it is precisely the time to bring them up. And yes, your memory really is that faulty. Everyone's is. I'm very sorry memory doesn't work the way you want it to.

Oh no! And I'm going to post a Leonard Cohen cover next too... quick! Get thee to the happy channel!!! Stat!
>> ^Lawdeedaw:

Great music but makes me want to...

"How can we honour the memory of a man like Leonard Hanlon? Well, he was governed by the laws of physics, as are all living things. It is a scientific fact that hearts and clocks slow down as they approach the speed of light, the point at which matter is converted into energy.

"Doctor Hanlon's heart approached that speed on Friday evening, at 7:57, according to the coroner, converting his matter into energy, into pure white light. Though he is no longer with us, he is all around us."