The...the...THE LINK'S BROKEN MAN!

Metafilter?! Is that really still going?!

Learning to code. I've been at university studying CS for 2 years and I have done most of my learning in this time from Stack Exchange and Codecademy. The only benefit of university is the extra time you have on your hands to dedicate to studying, but you could easily make the same amount of time by managing your schedule more efficiently and not watching 6 episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm every day before starting your studies.

Ay up chuck. What brought you round these parts?

What mods are you referring to? Let's see :)

Bloody Nintendo. Making me want to buy their consoles...

I was expecting this

A computer science lecturer from last year. They are a doctor according to their name, but they couldn't even explain jquery in a useful way. I think they were a perfect example of how difficult it can be for someone who is so deep in to a subject to discuss basic matters when they have gone so far beyond such things. In fact my second and third worst teachers were also teaching CS modules last year. It was a fucking awful year.

Yea, I'm conceding the point! I don't think I understood the full connotations and claims to the purpose of chakras. I'd agree with the point made in the thread I linked, that the most reasonable understanding of what they would be in reality is a mnemonic type device for use in meditation, and since effects of meditation are unquantifiable for the most part, it'd be unreasonable to claim that any supposed link between chakras and glands is anything more than a placebo effect.

Answer 2 (this time with smaller scope) - the existence or non existence of God is unverifiable, therefore opinion on the subject is an expression of preference. When an otherwise rational person believes in God, what they really mean is "I like to believe in God". The only evidence you need for an opinion is a knowledge of your own attitudes.

Fair does. Considering the audacity of my original comment ("read up on the science before making judgement" - whatever I wrote which I deleted in embarrassment) I think I've fallen victim to thinking I knew more about the subject than I do! I think I'm on poor form today...my apologies D:

My response got a little long and I really want to get what I'm trying to say right (which I don't think I have been doing above haha), so I'll hold off for now. Thanks for discussing this with me seriously rather than just treating me as an idiot. I think I'm going to write this as an actual philosophical essay. I'll post here or tag you in the post when I'm done. Thanks for inspiring me to put some effort in haha :D

Haha, I totally agree. Just to make a quick distinction between what Neil is discussing - that which we don't understand but conceivably could; and what I am drawing upon - that which we potentially can't understand in strict scientific terms. I'm talking about the metaphysical really, things that lie at the base of identity, linear time, subjective perception etc.

So you mean if someone believes in the affects of glands upon the mind, you think they're an idiot? Chakras are like one of the most plausible "spiritual" things out there.

Edit: urgh...sorry for that last sentence, removed now...explanation in lower comment, but still no excuse for being unnecessarily shitty.

did they not think of including the name of the studio in the game name?! i would buy anything by gamefreak!

Because the total quantity/scarcity of the "resource" is publicly verifiable, therefore each transaction reflects upon the value of the resource. After that, it just takes a somewhat arbitrary psychological leap to decide that you are happy to give things to others in exchange for the scarce resource. As long as there are a few people accepting the resource in exchange for things other than the resource, it takes on real world value due to it's representative relationship with other things. In the case of bitcoin, the main other thing is drugs. Drugs keep bitcoin valuable.

My penis.

The theme from Eastbound and Down, Going Down by Freddie King - funky as fuck! I feel weird listening to what I discovered as a theme tune as just a regular song but I don't care. It's far too awesome.

Why feminism isn't re-branded "Gender Equality". I am a man who considers himself a feminist. I completely accept that women are the gender marginalised in almost all cases, but it just seems like awful marketing for the cause as it makes men feel excluded from the movement. Many feminists will tell you that positive discrimination is just as damaging as bog-standard discrimination as it perpetuates a divide of equality - but surely that just shows why the name is flawed? I have talked about this so, so, so very many times with many feminists close to me and never been able to make the leap to endorsing the use of the term.

Edit: just to clarify, I'm not looking to argue against it, I'm just frustrated I can't come to my own resonance with the wider view on the point. I wouldn't dare as a guy to take the view that it SHOULD be changed - I just still don't understand, as per the question I'm replying to! Eek. Please don't hate me anyone...