Supergrunch

Don't flame him, he has a fair point. Anyway, I think these threads can drift a bit, but not too much... and this one is straying a little close to the line.

Not unacceptable as such, just narrow minded.

I would take Japanese if I could, but you can only a handful of European languages are available at the language centre. ...ah well, I'll continue self teaching it.

Well, what's the problem with Europe being Muslim and there being no monarchy? And the life of a non-influential individual, whoever they may be, is hardly relevant. N.B. I believe the bible is important - for Christians, for a document of historic interest, and for the messages it contains. (I believe the contents is intended to be a collection of parables)

A lot of people are going to university today, right? Good luck. (I'm going a week today.)

I think Jesus almost certainly existed in some way or other, given all the different sources describing him. However, it's quite possible that he was simply a conman or agitator of some sort.

It doesn't show enough cooking programs, and the ones it does show are rubbish. I wish UKTV food was on freeview.

Well, I just finished the KyoAni Kanon... that was brilliant in so many ways.

A nice list of fallacies for people to chew on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies (Not that they're necessarily being used, I thought people might find them interesting and allow them to point out the exact problem in arguments)

Go on then, throw us a clue to get things moving.

I can currently think of 3 Daves I know, there may be more.

Frankenstein?

Today I bought I case that'll hold 72 CDs (for DVD backups), and: Good so far. I've been looking forward to this, I loved Going Postal. And I got a student cook book on 3 for 2, which I can't find a picture of but should be useful, even though I'll be in catered halls.

Rokhed, once you've finished buying all this shiny stuff, we need a picture of you wearing all of it at once. And that includes the strap on.

Awesome, that's nearly as good as calling a dog Dave. EDIT: Just read the article: I find this hilarious, but I'm not entirely sure why...

Anyway, hence the whole "nothing existing before the big bang", which I did take from a lecture by Stephen Hawking. Of course, this is just one idea.

Actually, I think you'll find the big crunch isn't a feasible theory any more, the reason being that it was (relatively) recently discovered that all the galaxies flying apart from one another are speeding up, which nobody predicted. This suggests that everything will simply fizzle out. EDIT: Here we go, wikiproof. :wink:

An 18 for sure.

Stephen Hawking's explanation is that the very concept of something existing before the big bang is meaningless, like being north of the north pole. This seems a bit too much like rhetoric to me, but it makes a fair point.

In fact the name comes from Fred Hoyle, the main advocate of the steady state theory, who coined the term to lampoon.

I don't see why people keep bringing evolution into this - it has nothing to do with the origins of the universe.

First of, there is an easy way to find the inverse of a function: change the f(x) to a y, then make all ys xs and all xs ys. Now rearrange for y and replace with f^-1(x). f^-1(x) should be a reflection of f(x) in the line y = x, so if this is indeed the case then you'll know that you're right. (a) This follows y = mx + c, as I was talking about earlier, so it's a straight line with gradient 3 and y intercept 2. For the inverse: x = 3y + 2 y = x/3 - 2/3 f^-1(x) = x/3 - 2/3 So it is a straight line with gradient 1/3 and y intercept -2/3. (b) This curve is a transformation of x^3, which is a curve with a single turning point (inflection on the origin) and a gradient which is always greater than 0. The -3 translates the curve by -3 in the y direction. As for the inverse: x = y^3 - 3 y = cuberoot(x + 3) f^-1(x) = cuberoot(x + 3) So this is the curve cuberoot(x) translated by -3 in the x direction. (note this funtion only has an inverse where x > -3)

One of the stations airing higurashi has cancelled it thanks to a real girl murdering her father with an axe. They're also spreading slight misinformation about the game: "The game is about a series of murders in a mountain village. A young girl protagonist is suffering trauma from the divorce of her parents. She uses a hatchet to kill her enemies." It's the influence of America if you ask me... this is stupid.

For the lines thing: All straight lines can be rearranged into the form y = mx + c. This is a useful form because m is the gradient of the line and c is the y intersect. This stands to reason if you compare it with the line y = x: y = x is stretched in the y direction by m and translated by c in the y direction.

Merry birthday people.