Burnwinter wrote:Amazing. Like that video above. I've heard that killer whale pods each have their own distinct culture, vocabulary and hunting methods. Let's hope they never develop opposable thumbs.
Bit like football fora eh.......
QI (the quite interesting thread.)
Dunno Biggs, you do a decent Ahab impersonation but I haven't seen too many whales around.
Arrr tis the modern fashion- not to hunt primitive out of date beasts.
Burnwinter wrote:Hmm, they're really not that badass. I've swum with dolphins a few times and they're placid and anything but scary—probably because they're smart.
That case about the woman who got assaulted (in Sydney was it?) was damn creepy though.
The most sinister cetacean is the killer whale, just check this shit out:
That's part of the documentary on National Geographic I mentioned in the TV thread. I very much doubt humans could work that well as a team. You should check the whole documentary out, and I guarantee you that you will be even more impressed! Orcas even hunt and eat great whites...
EDIT: Not part of the documentary actually. The instance portrayed in the documentary has another element to it. 
This is the particular documentary I am talking about.
7 days later
Goes to show that when everyone gets to have guns - accidents happen. Most people don't feel the need to shoot an animal they happen to see on their property.
Shooting an armadillo seems incredibly callous, but I suppose they may actually be pests in some parts of the world? Nah, this guy's just a jerk.
Did you read the article below about another armadillo shooting? That one is actually even more incredible.
No … can't see the link?
No link. It's just a continuation of the same article about another armadillo involved shooting incident that left a woman shot in the back.
24 days later
Anti wrinkle cream makers HATE this one trick that completely stops you from ageing.
I'm off to the hadron collider in Switzerland.
a month later
Ah luv, theres yer problem.
Rex wrote:Goes to show that when everyone gets to have guns - accidents happen. Most people don't feel the need to shoot an animal they happen to see on their property.
I feel the need but I just don't have a gun.
All well then.
8 months later
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Just saw that too. My mates were discussing this. Most think the Chinese govt has been looking at this sort of stuff for a long time anyway.
The scientist in the article says - "Society will decide what to do next". And that's really troubling. The science is nearly always ahead of the ethics. We were talking about this the other day. My kids would happily have been modified so as not to suffer eczema, anxiety and whatever else we suffer from - hayfever for me. That seems to be "benign", but what do we know about this and where does it stop? A guy at work has just announced his wife is pregnant with their second child and they will have 2 daughters. He said if they have another one he is definitely going to America to have a boy. Again, largely benign, but it removes a lot of the element of the fittest sperm reaching the egg.
It's quite a troubling area. There are probably dozens of ethical papers on this - would be interesting if the press reported some of them alongside the stories of the science.
Going to America to have a boy? ?
I don't know if it's true but he's under the impression he can access places that will let them choose the sex of the baby through artificial selection.
Through Ivf I suppose. Never knew people visited other countries for sex selection. First world continues to stump me.
Yea, that CRISPR thing. Can't even wrap my head around it. It has endless possibilities in either direction.
2 months later
That is quite interesting.
6 days later
Thanks for that!
14 days later
"The Event" 
Sounds like rich folks listen to Joe Rogan type of podcasts too
Thats what happens when billionaires binge on Black Mirror.
That's about three quarters of the US population.
a month later
We can finally start to understand if Interstellar got it right...
Distinctly underwhelming photo.
It was wasn't it. I suppose it's tricky to photograph something that traps light.
Tough crowd. I thought it was cool.
looks like a.. black.. hole.
The awe shouldn't be in the picture, but the accomplishment.....if you want something more beautiful go look at (fake) illustrations of black holes. This picture is a testament to new thinking, capabilities, and further support of our understanding of physics.
Still. ..just a black hole.
MistaT wrote:The awe shouldn't be in the picture, but the accomplishment.....
Yep. It's cool to see a black hole and all but the achievement lies in getting a picture of something that is not only by definition pretty much undetectable through principles of photography but also surrounded by the brightest regions in the whole universe.
arsedoc md wrote:Still. ..just a black hole.
Can't you put "just" in front of everything and say that?