On June 08 2012 00:14 Whitley wrote:
Aleatoric music - music in which some element of the composition is left to chance

not really weird or creppy, but pretty cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleatoric_music

Yeah, I heard that ''The Dillinger Escape Plan'' rolled dice to determine their time signatures for certain songs.

Myles

United States5162 Posts

June 07 2012 16:37 GMT

#22

On June 08 2012 01:09 sharky246 wrote:
So the article posted in the OP about the wiki article max headroom and polybius, are they real? And if they aren't real, how much of the science wiki articles are real? Cause wiki is my go-to site for physics and chemistry research.

They're real. The events surrounding them are probably erroneous/exaggerated, but they both happened.

DonKey_

Liechtenstein1356 Posts

June 07 2012 16:46 GMT

#23

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_laughter_epidemic

I wish I could understand the effect as to how the laughing is contracted by others.

DarkPlasmaBall

United States46356 Posts

June 07 2012 16:55 GMT

#24

On June 08 2012 01:46 DonKey_ wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_laughter_epidemic

I wish I could understand the effect as to how the laughing is contracted by others.

What the...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_mania

Hell?

JiYan

United States3668 Posts

June 07 2012 16:59 GMT

#25

a list of list of lists. that was amazing

Snotling

Germany885 Posts

June 07 2012 17:03 GMT

#26

was looking something up about ginger in the german literotica. Made the mistake to curiously click on this link (ill post the english version):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figging

Heh_

Singapore2712 Posts

June 07 2012 17:17 GMT

#27

I found this hilarious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Pink_Unicorn

Edit: The list of list of lists was amazing. For such a massive database generated by multiple independent users, wikipedia is sure organized.

PassiveAce

United States18076 Posts

June 07 2012 17:19 GMT

#28

That polybius article is like the most poorly written thing iv ever read on wikipedia.

thurst0n

United States611 Posts

June 07 2012 17:21 GMT

#29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaphism
This is some very messed up torture. It's also a cool sounding word. This sounds is pretty messed up. Not for the weak stomach.

intrigue

Washington, D.C9935 Posts

June 07 2012 17:29 GMT

#30

i think wasting time on wikipedia is the best waste of time in many senses. like it's time-consuming AND it stimulates your thinky bits and maybe your tingly bits. and it's showing off to people behind you that you are literate and such a fact-based reasonable person! also you can tell your boss that you're doing research. wtf best thing ever. this thread will consume delightful hours of my life and i can't wait. starting on first article now!

here's one of my staples... i don't even know if there's anybody who hasn't read it by now. just in case, ok? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions

sztuczyn

Poland694 Posts

June 07 2012 17:29 GMT

#31

Whitley

United States238 Posts

June 07 2012 17:52 GMT

#32

On June 08 2012 01:30 Krowser wrote:

Show nested quote +

Yeah, I heard that ''The Dillinger Escape Plan'' rolled dice to determine their time signatures for certain songs.

Dilinger is sick. I actually discovered this whole thing from a band called "The Books" they had a song called Aleatoric with tons of random sounds and voiceovers from random stuff and it was so cool I was forced to check out it's meaning. There was another band(the name escapes me) that supposedly just had some old radios set to random AM channels and then pressed record.. I heard it a few times.. was pretty intense.

Lyndsay

United Kingdom40 Posts

June 07 2012 20:06 GMT

#33

I spent many hours reading about scram jets at collage. I don't know why but i was and still am fascinated by them. Maybe due to the general simplicity of the idea or what but i think it is cool!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet

zatic

Zurich15366 Posts

June 07 2012 20:08 GMT

#34

Procrastination by reading wikipedia articles: Embrace it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_disappeared_mysteriously

There, knock yourself out.

tianGO

Argentina591 Posts

June 07 2012 20:18 GMT

#35

On June 08 2012 02:29 intrigue wrote:
i think wasting time on wikipedia is the best waste of time in many senses. like it's time-consuming AND it stimulates your thinky bits and maybe your tingly bits. and it's showing off to people behind you that you are literate and such a fact-based reasonable person! also you can tell your boss that you're doing research. wtf best thing ever. this thread will consume delightful hours of my life and i can't wait. starting on first article now!

here's one of my staples... i don't even know if there's anybody who hasn't read it by now. just in case, ok? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions

Lol, check this quote from that article:

"In South Korea, it is commonly believed that sleeping in a closed room with an electric fan running can be fatal. According to the Korean government, "In some cases, a fan turned on too long can cause death from suffocation, hypothermia, or fire from overheating." The Korea Consumer Protection Board issued a consumer safety alert recommending that electric fans be set on timers, direction changed and doors left open. Belief in fan death is common even among knowledgeable medical professionals in Korea. According to Yeon Dong-su, dean of Kwandong University's medical school, "If it is completely sealed, then in the current of an electric fan, the temperature can drop low enough to cause a person to die of hypothermia."[205] Although an air conditioner transfers heat from the air and cools it, a fan moves air to increase the evaporation of sweat. Due to energy losses and viscous dissipation, a fan will slowly heat a room."

andReslic

216 Posts

June 07 2012 20:29 GMT

#36

Man like a year ago, i had no internet, and I was bored since i couldn't login on steam for a reason, and I realize i had polybious installed (the version that is on the website) i was about to play it when my internet come back, thanks goddddddddddddddddddddd. :D

NicolBolas

United States1388 Posts

June 07 2012 20:39 GMT

#37

In the category of shit blowing up, there's the 1883 Krakatoa eruption. Of particular interest is the diagram of the island before and after. The animated GIF of the evolution of the islands is also interesting.

Chapes

United States30 Posts

June 07 2012 20:52 GMT

#38

List of unusual deaths: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths
Kept me busy for a while, but I skipped ahead to more recent times. The more recent ones may have been recorded (public event/figure, etc.) and online if you're like me and way too curious.

pinnacle

United States86 Posts

June 07 2012 20:53 GMT

#39

Just read the whole thing. It was really interesting.

Holytornados

United States1022 Posts

June 07 2012 21:03 GMT

#40

The max headroom story actually happened. I don't know anything about the video game however.

Most of the articles are based on primary/secondary sources, so most are accurate. Wikipedia should not be your only source you cite, especially for things in the scientific community.