If you could learn more about something, what would it be?

[Melinda]

I watch alot of TV on the weekends and I always seem to get hooked on some new topic that I just wanna rush out and learn everything I can about it. However, there are a few common topics that have surfaced over and over again throughout the years. Now, I have a list of things I really want to learn more about in the future.

If you could pick 5 topics to learn more about, what would they be and why?



I think mine would be (In no particular order)

1. History of the world: And not just any one country or culture, I seem to be developing a taste for all of it lately

2. How the body works: I did alot of biology and sports med in high school and loved it, but I chose another career path instead of trying med school like I originally wanted to, but I still love learning about the body

3. How the mind works: Psychology is another interesting topic to me

4. Goverment: Haha I hated it in school, but now that I'm old enough to know what it all means, I've lost alot of good learning time and teachers to teach it all to me :)

5. Diseases: I know it sounds super morbid, but I am fascinated at the different things that can affect our bodies and minds the way they do and what makes them better/worse or what causes/cured them

So there are my 5, what are yours?

[Ben]

How the mind of a woman works, cuz right when you think you got it figured out, they pull a fast one on ya and totally negate any possibility of understanding. :thumbsup: :tongue:

[Kamen]

Don't you think your choices are abit broad Mel? Well, actually I guess not really.

It's not 5, but the choices I can think of now would be languages because it really is useful to know more, animation because it's so damn interesting, and space because I really want to know if there is life elsewhere and what is beyond the limits of our universe.

[Kirbs17]

1. The Japanese language - I already know a decent deal of it, but I would like to be as close to fluent as possible.

2. Vehicle motors - I know the basics, but I would like to know more about individual parts.

I cant think of any more at this moment.

[GTS Jeff]

hm i dunno...everything that matters/is important i guess.

[7thgenvic]

1. Understand women better! hahah
2. The effects of Computers on society
3. It would be nice to have a better understanding of chemistry
and biology
4. Be a math brain!
5. I'll invent the new Devil Stick or pet rock! (those things drive the kiddies crazY)

[Kamen]

Oh, I thought of another. Be skilled with a sword. Nothing beats being elite with a sword. A Katana or Chinese Sword I mean.

[InfiniteJoy]

Automotive mechanics, definately. I'd love to be able to do any mod/adjustment/repair that my car will ever need.

[Super_Geo]

What I'd really like to know...

How "peak oil" will affect the world. Which projections are the most probable (the most pessimistic believe that peak oil will hit in 2007... and if that's the case, then it has unfathombly dire consequences for every 2nd and 3rd world country. The generally accepted range for projected peak oil is 2007-2020).

Will we witness countless million deaths in our lifetime as the 2nd and 3rd world countries are hit by peak oil?

Will we find something to replace oil with, and more importantly, will be find it before "die off"* occurs?

What is peak oil?

Oil extraction is quite predictable: if you find a reserve and begin to drill, your rate of extraction follows a bell-curve shape. The bell curve nature is true for global oil production.

Here's the kicker: What do we do when we hit the peak of the bell curve? Global demand for oil is rising exponentially, with roughtly a 1.8% increase per year in consumption. That's a staggering number.

EVERY PART OF OUR LIVES DEPEND ON OIL. There's no way around that. You like electricity? Virtually all of it is generated with oil. What about our distribution/transportation infrastructure (roads, trains, ships, etc)... all oil. And food production? Needs oil too (our modern crops with high yields will only grow in soil that has plentiful fertilizer... which requires ammonia to make, and ammonia production comes from methane). All these fancy polymers that have become an integral part of our lives (plastics, synthetics, etc) all come from hydrocarbons (oil).

So a country without oil means a country without: the means to produce food at its previous rate, or not at all depending on natural soil conditions. It also means there isn't a distribution network, or electricity... the combination of the two which naturally ties in everything that you can think of in every facet of life.

Oil running out in 2007? You're crazy, you left-wing tree hugging nut!

Well, it's not exactly that oil will run out when peak oil hits. It's the amount of oil produced versus the amount of oil needed. The year after peak oil hits, there won't be enough oil for everyone in the world. That's a truism that isn't really open to any debate. Accordingly, a global recession MUST occur (read above: virtually every aspect of our economic growth is contingent on the fact that we have readily available oil) unless an energy source can replace the deficit oil that we have... a deficit which increases at a very quick pace. The hardest and first hit hit will, without question, be the 3rd world countries. The countries with power will certainly not give up their slice of the global energy markets to help out the 3rd world.

So what will these industrializing countries, barely afloat as it is, do after peak oil hits and their access to oil is cut off or severly restricted? That's what we're about to witness. I really hope that it's not as soon as 2007, but even 2020 would have doomsday like results for much of the world.

Also, is it possible to replace oil? I thought so at first... but now I'm not so sure. If you're one of those people waiting for the hydrogen economy to save the world from this impending energy crisis, then you're outta luck, buddy.

I took a pretty in depth fuel cell design course this semester, and fuel cells (as it is presented to the public) is basically a farce. A fuel cell can potientially be more efficent than burning hydrocarbons, but not by much. Suffice to say: fuel cells arn't going to save anything. If any of you guys are actually intersted in it, I'll list the reasons.

*die off: Will we see "die off" in our lifetime? I hope not, and here's what it is: When any organism finds a new energy source that is seemingly unbounded (like when we found oil), its consumption rate and population grows geometrically. There is a point called peak consumption, and after that point is a phase caled "die off," a biological term. Think of it this way:

You put a bacteria sample into a petri dish, and it grows in the typical exponential fashion UNTIL the bacteria has reaced a maximum rate of agar consumption. After this point, the bacteria die off until either all of them are dead or they reach a new equalibrium with another energy source. If that is to happen with humans (which I think is the most probably scenario), then the population of the world will continually die off as oil production decreases until it reaches an eqaulibrium with whatever energy source we had previous + whatever new energy source we find.

Whatever that number is, it will not be anywhere near 6 billion.


GOOGLE: PEAK OIL

[Super_Geo]

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

A very comprehensive overview of peak oil that takes into account both the optimists and pessimists' veiws.

[Skyline_Addict]

1. speak more fluent mandarin
2. learn cantonese
3. find and undertake as many methods as possible to improve as an individual
4. undestand cars better
5. understand people better
6. how to travel back in time :D.
7. how we were really created and/if by who
8. our purpose for 7., if there is one
9. the truth about religion
10. learn and apply the type of kung fu seen in movies such as crouching tiger, house of flying daggers. etc. to my everyday life

[statick]

learn extremely good music theory, and learn to play classical guitar at a grade 10 level. also some philosophy would be quite interesting.

[ex1z7]

(1) - I'd like to learn Violin like Ashleigh Mcizick (sp?) Cus it's pimp..
(2) - I'd like to learn, fluently, the Japanese language because the country is hot ;) I'd like to live there someday..
(3) - I'd like to learn to be more patient with people and not take stupidity and impatience of others too seriously.
(4) - I'd like to learn to forgive and forget ...
(5) - I'd like to learn about the mind of a woman, how they tick and such..
(6) - I'd like to learn to do engine swaps and custom fabrication ;)
(7) - I'd like to learn about history on the past 100 years, so I can impress the parents of girls I'm dating :D
(8) - I'd like to learn how to carb-freeze fruit, like those starberries in Kellogs Special K Red Berries... oohhhhhh so good..
(9) - I'd like to learn to cook better, make some sweet meals that people watch me cook and wonder how I'm doin' it :D
(10) - I'd like to learn to speak other languages, too, Spanish and such...

[rage2]

1. Philosophy. I never thought I'd be so interested or facinated by one subject. The learning available is never ending.

2. Aerodynamics and Fluid Dynamics. Something I've always been interested in, but never quite able to completely comprehend (but would like to).

3. Human Behavior. Sort of ties in with #1, personality typing, religion, mind control, etc.

[Wildcat]

id like to learn (/improve on):

1) how to speak more than one language (spec. portugese, japanese, arabic).
2) mixed martial arts
3) bodybuilding
4) women psychology
5) management (damn school)

[Newk]

i though this post was about what we wanted to learn more about not a soap box for someone to rant about something they seem to think they know everthing about (read "peak oil")

that bein said how bout

why do people join cults

[ex1z7]

^ Yeah, why DO people join cults ?

[abyss]

1. Finish CAPPA program so I can learn more about oil production.
(BTW for the poster above about peak oil, I think that due to the fact lots of oil is left in resevoirs because it just isn't profitable to retrive it will extend production for a bit. IE/ people will pay more for oil and then it will be worth it to employ enhanced recovery techniques to retrieve what is left. Also this will open up a huge opportunity for upgrades to the enhanced recovery techniques that are currently being employed already)

2. Learn Vietnamese (I'm trying honey, it's just so hard!)

3. Actually become fluent in Japanese so that I can stop saying I kindof know it.

4. Learn more about human biology and genetic diseases (always been fascinated with what one little error in code can do to a person)

5. Learn more about cars and computers so that when I hang out with Minh's friends I can actually partake in the discussions. :D

[max_boost]

Poker, all the games, all the limits

[finboy]

Originally posted by Ben
How the mind of a woman works, cuz right when you think you got it figured out, they pull a fast one on ya and totally negate any possibility of understanding. :thumbsup: :tongue:

to understand women, you must do one thing, and one thing only...

forget anything logical :rofl:

i want to know more about pretty much everything :dunno:

[Barking_Spidre]

1) More about cars, I know very little about them.
2) A New Language, Like german or Russian.
3) Martial Arts, That'd be awesome.

Yell out something scary in german, then kick some ass! :D

[Ariakas]

Cancer, it took 11 days to kill my dad from the day he was diagnosed with it. He passed away a year and a bit ago but sadness still comes to me whenever I recall the doctor saying "your dad have a couple hrs left".

[Proyecto2000]

I would just like to learn another language either Japanese or Chinese.

[Melinda]

Originally posted by Ariakas
Cancer, it took 11 days to kill my dad from the day he was diagnosed with it. He passed away a year and a bit ago but sadness still comes to me whenever I recall the doctor saying "your dad have a couple hrs left".
Wow, that's really brutal. I'm really sorry to hear about your dad :(

Cancer sucks, we need to learn more about it so we can stop it from killing people...

[iceburns288]

I want to know more about aerodynamics, my dream job is aerodynamacist for an F1 team...

I want to speak Italian, German, and French (well English too) fluently

Being able to learn more about a track and my car's ability.

I also wanna do speedreading. Not exactly learning but nearly there. I want to read this series of Clancy books I'm on, then I want to read The Satanic Verses (by Salman Rushdie). I just know it will take me forever...:cry:

[DUBBED]

1) Business
2) The mechanics of the golf swing.

If I could achieve reasonable success with both of those I will be a very happy man.

[t-im]

1) Cars -> and how to work on my own car (I don't know how to do anything

2) Construction -> actually learning how to build a house (or something of that) or to do things like lay tiles, add mouldings etc...so I could renovate my own house!

[rinny]

Originally posted by rage2
1. Philosophy. I never thought I'd be so interested or facinated by one subject. The learning available is never ending.

3. Human Behavior. Sort of ties in with #1, personality typing, religion, mind control, etc.


Originally posted by Melinda

3. How the mind works: Psychology is another interesting topic to me


It would be awesome to learn about all of that because everytime I learn about that there are non-stop epiphanies that i come to realize...
and
- Fabrication of Cars, and how to build my own motor

- Learning about Cancer and how it can possibly do what it does to humans but yet not affect animals

As well as the true reasons for inclining rates of cancer in North America as compared to places like China etc

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by rinny




It would be awesome to learn about all of that because everytime I learn about that there are non-stop epiphanies that i come to realize...
and
- Fabrication of Cars, and how to build my own motor

- Learning about Cancer and how it can possibly do what it does to humans but yet not affect animals

As well as the true reasons for inclining rates of cancer in North America as compared to places like China etc i guess u have a lot of learning to do then...pretty much all life as we know it is affected by cancer.

and wtf is "inclining?"

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by GTS Jeff
and wtf is "inclining"?

Well, I'd have to assume he meant the antonym of "declining", which technically is "inclining", but it sounds strange in this context.

[civic_stylez]

id like to learn more about

- custom painting ie. airbrush,pinstriping
-custom fabrication ie. tig welding
- and i would like to learn some foreign languages, mainly japanese.

- and most importantly i would like to learn why 9 times out of ten they get your order wrong at the drive thru. that really baffles me...

[Mad$ella]

Fibreglass subwoofer enclosures

[Weapon_R]

Originally posted by GTS Jeff
i guess u have a lot of learning to do then...pretty much all life as we know it is affected by cancer.

and wtf is "inclining?"

:rofl:

Perhaps meant to be "increasing"

[davidI]

1) I know English and French but would love to know Spanish, Italian and German

2) Mechanical ins and outs as far as customizing cars/bikes and fabrication (welding, working steel, AutoCAD etc.)

3) The bible and other popular literature (I wanna be one of those guys that can quote 30 line passages all the time and look absolutely brilliant)

4) Oil/Gas Industry and trading markets (Stocks)

5) Poker and sports gambling

6) Women (jk...we all know that I'll never understand them even after a gender studies psychology class :rolleyes: )

[Newk]

Originally posted by davidI

3) The bible and other popular literature (I wanna be one of those guys that can quote 30 line passages all the time and look absolutely brilliant)


^used to be that guy (dramatic pause) never got laid

could recite almost all of hamlet
what a nerd i was

if you want to know more about literature thats cool but do it for you.
if you do it just to quote passages then youll come of as a pretentious asshole trust me

[colinderksen]

Nunchuk skills and bow hunting skills

[GTS Jeff]

i wanna learn how to talk to animals..kinda like a horse-whisperer, except elephant-trample-my-enemies-whisperer.

thatd be pretty cool.:love:

[davidI]

Originally posted by Newk


if you want to know more about literature thats cool but do it for you.
if you do it just to quote passages then youll come of as a pretentious asshole trust me

The only reason I ever wanted to learn it is after taking Econ with Holden. At one point in the class he pulled out a fake shotgun from his mafia style suit and quoted some huge passage in old english as he faked a mob style execution. It was classic and hilarious and didn't make him look like a pretentious asshole...just a funny genious. You've just gotta pick your moments :thumbsup:

[rinny]

Originally posted by GTS Jeff
i guess u have a lot of learning to do then...pretty much all life as we know it is affected by cancer.

and wtf is "inclining?"

haha, yeah, i actually did mean increasing, subconsciously i put inclining...funny how the mind works

and what kind of comment is "i guess u have a lot of learning to do then...pretty much all life as we know it is affected by cancer."

...everyone who stated something has a lot of learning to do...i already know pretty much all life is affected by cancer, i have it

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by rinny


haha, yeah, i actually did mean increasing, subconsciously i put inclining...funny how the mind works

and what kind of comment is "i guess u have a lot of learning to do then...pretty much all life as we know it is affected by cancer."

...everyone who stated something has a lot of learning to do...i already know pretty much all life is affected by cancer, i have it so why did u say animals dont get cancer? :dunno:

[JeremyD]

1) I would like to learn more about The metaphysical world and how it can be used in the physical world. Astral Projection, Spirit guides, Spiritual Healing, Chakras, and the like.

2)Learn more about writing (which I am doing)

3)Learn more about Theater and acting (which I am doing)

4)More about Ancient History. The time of the Romans, the Greeks, Earlier European history and their religions.

5)More about Cars would be nice too.

[Melinda]

Oh yeah, I forgot one. I'd like to learn more about religion. I know a fair bit about modern religions cause I did alot of research on it for personal reasons in high school, but moreso about the ancient ones...Greek mythology in particular. From what I know so far, they're system of gods makes a hell of a lot more sense than our modern christian god! I wanna learn more about it to make a more educated opinion :)

[three.eighteen.]

- philosophy, like rage said...i like it because it really makes you think...and helps when formulating arguments

- music, keep playing guitar until i am absolutely amazing

- more about cars

[frostyda9]

I'd like to know more about everything, but there are only so many hours in the day. Some things that interest me are:

-theoretical physics and the string theorists
-the psychology of serial killers
-world politics, history and geography
-philosophy
-space and the complexities of the universe, dimensions we are not aware of in our waking lives, and the idea that time is not linear, as related to my first listing

I also do a fair bit of reading about the psychological effects of emotional (and more specifically) sexual abuse done to women.

[Weapon_R]

It's easy.

I'd like to know everything about nuclear technology. Can you think of the bids you'd be offered if you were the one person (like the Rosenbergs and Klaus Fuchs).

[Gondi Stylez]

1. Cooking - I know quite a bit now through my own self-teaching/trial and error methods but I would love to go to culinary school to learn all the things I dont know about food and to hone my own personal skills.

2. Diseases/Genetics/Immunology/Brain - This is just absolutley fasinating stuff. How does it all work? How is AIDS just as evolutionary advanced as humans? Why do these have such a profound effect on our brains, yet we only use 2-5% in our lifetime? What is the other 95-98% used for? How does one condon error result in genetic mutations so bizaree you just ask yourself why and how? etc...

3. Space - Parallel universes, life on other planets in our own solar system, time is not linear, harnessing the energy of light (ie. K-PAX), time travel. etc...

4. Philosophy - more specifically, ethics and religion

5. Pseudo-Psychology/Sociology - What makes you who you are? Past lives? What is love? What shapes your personality besides sociological factors? etc...

I love to think to learn. You feel so good after! :nerd:

[lastskpirate]

1.women
2women
3women
4women
5and women:(

[frostyda9]

Hmmm... seems to be a lot of trouble understanding women.
Let me translate a little for you:

Fine: This is the word women use at the end of any argument that they feel they are right about

Five minutes: This is half an hour

Go Ahead (with raised eyebrows): This is a dare

Go Ahead (normal eyebrows): This means "I give up" or "do what you want because I don't care

Nothing: This means something and you should be on your toes. "Nothing" is usually used to describe the feeling a woman has of wanting to turn you inside out, upside down, and backwards. "Nothing" usually signifies an argument that will last "Five Minutes" and end with the word "Fine"

Oh: This word followed by any statement is trouble

Thanks: A woman is thanking you

Thanks A Lot: This is much different than "Thanks". A woman will say, "Thanks A Lot" when she is really pissed off at you

That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before paying you retributions for what ever it is that you have done. "That's Okay" is often used with the word "Fine" and used in conjunction with a raised eyebrow "Go Ahead". At some point in the near future when she has plotted and planned, you are going to be in some mighty big trouble.