wilde_space

Most of Tolkien's paintings and drawings can be found on the Internet, but "The Land of Pohja", made in 1914, is strangely abscent. The painting depicts the Moon and the Sun which are resting in the trees.

Thanks.

What good does a professional, full-time philosopher do to the society? What do philosophers do, actually? Do they just ponder about the logic and reasons and meaning of various things? Hmmm...

This over-the-counter, non-prescription drug comes with a warning of possible addiction, and a 3-day use only direction. Are these just precautionary warnings, just to be safe? Can you really get addicted to these pills if you take them for more than 3 days? Thanks

If all the sudents in a school agree to "suspend" a teacher, what do you think would happen?

A few years ago, I saw this cool animation of the internal mechanism of various guns in action. There was an assault rifle that fired a burst of three rounds before the recoil to the whole gun. Can anyone hlep me identify this model (or models, if there are several)? I'm aware that there are many guns with a 3-round burst mode, but I'm talking specifically about the "3 rounds before the recoil" guns. Thanks

Never heard of this expression before, or that there was any increase in fireballs (very bright meteors) in spring. Here's NASA link: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011200/a0112...

Yep, what does it mean?

There is the adjective and the verb "desolate", but no noun for something that has been made (or left) desolate. The word "Desolace" is found in a computer game World of Warcraft, where it's the name for a desolate region. Someone also mistakenly wrote "desolace of Smaug", referring to Desolation of Smaug in The Hobbit. I think "desolace" makes for a good word, a kind of antonym to "solace".

I live in the UK, but I also see reports from Russia and USA too that there is still snow and freezing temperatures. Is there any scientific reason for this colder-than-usual climate?

Why?

I have seborrheic dermatitis, and a friend gave me Nile Crocodile Oil Soap (produced in South Africa). I have never heard of crocodile oil before, so an Internet search shows it to be a folk/alternative remedy for skin problems, touted by some websites. Haven't found any credible medical infromation. Does it help at all, or is it just a scam?

I came across the term "eeing tivacity", describing a woman. What is "eeing" and what is "tivacity"? Google doesn't really help.

Thanks.

It's in this image, a shiny / pearly object in the lower left portion of the image: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/00132...

The image is taken on Mars by the Curiosity rover. Could it be quartz?

Source of the image: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=132...

I know that transuranic elements up to the number 118 have been synthesised in the lab, but do any of them appear naturally (if only briefly)?

As in "isochrome film", that was used by the Soviet space probes to photograph the far side of the Moon. How is this different from a regular film? Does it include infrared and/or ultraviolet spectrum?

Thanks

I'm playing a Facebook game Robot Rising and this made me wonder, is there any science fiction written from the point of view of robots? Perhaps they have cities, factions, conflicts, and they would of course have some human traits. If you know of any such books or movies (or even games), please share!

I'm playing a Facebook game Robot Rising and this made me wonder, is there any science fiction written from the point of view of robots? Perhaps they could have cities, factions, conflicts, and they would of course have some human traits. If you know of any such books or movies (or even games), please share!

Everywhere I look, socialism is denounced as the devil, the root of all evil, etc. What's wrong with the state being in the hands of population instead of bankers and corporations?

Something that puzzled me for a long time. I've read some articles about this type of games, but still can't find out exactly how do you play them. Do the players roll the dice, like in D&D games? What determines whether the unit wins or loses?

In the UK, if you own a TV set you have to pay a licence. You have to pay even if you don't watch BBC, or don't watch TV at all. Unless I'm mistaken, you have to pay even if you only have an electronic device (mobile or computer) that can receive TV broadcast. How is that fair? Doesn't it go against the basic right of all humans to access information?