Quickie Questions

The mantle, around the core, is theorised to be metallic hydrogen, but it has not been confirmed.

edited 22nd Apr '16 6:45:50 PM by war877

To find out, we have to go deeper. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I am so sorry.

Is moral nihilism the appropiate real-life term for what we know as the trope Blue-and-Orange Morality?

Nihilism: There is no morality.

Blue and orange: Bananas are good for you and apples are bad. Burn all the orchards and replace them with plantations.

Ah, no, moral nihilism is "there is no intrinsic truth (universal or relative) to any moral system, because they're all just artificial constructs designed to benefit their creators". Saying that it's "there is no morality" is an oversimplification.

I am not going to argue with you.

Because this is not the philosophy thread. And this has a 100% chance of going off topic.

edited 25th Apr '16 8:44:37 AM by war877

To give a simple answer though: No, they are not the same. Using one term for both would be incorrect.

OK, so... what would be an appropiate real-life term for Blue-and-Orange Morality? Or is the answer "Nobody has thought of one yet"?

More like it's very unpopular in academic circles. The idea of alien morality is entertained with far greater frequency in fiction than in academia.

Or to put it another way, Blue and Orange morality is what the other guy believes if you are a moral relativist and they are aliens with no common history between you.

edited 25th Apr '16 9:06:23 PM by war877

Blue-and-Orange Morality is not really something that exists in humans (pretty much by definition), so it makes sense that there wouldn't be a corresponding philosophical concept.

Yeah. Beliefs like that would probably exist within completely fictional circumstances/enviroments, based on a standpoint that would be beyond foreign to human comprehension. It would probably not have much relevance in real life application to ethical/philosophical studies.

How would I be able to upload recordings to this site if I don't want to use a youtube account?

More specifically, what's a good website I can upload soundbites to anonymously?

edited 4th May '16 11:08:49 AM by cake1

Is there a medical basis for people getting shot in the shoulder and turning up later with their arm in a sling?

Vocaroo is popular here.

edited 4th May '16 10:50:27 PM by TParadox

In a sling as in "limp"? Well, if the shot did sever some major arm nerves.

I think a sling would also be appropriate, alongside a cast, if a bone got damaged. Don't take my word for that.

Also, destroying a tendon can cause limpness without nerve damage.

What is an idiomatically correct polite refusal of an offer in Spanish? "No, gracias" seems wrong, but it feels rude to just say "no".

According to this thread "No, gracias" is correct, though there are alternatives given there.

"no, no muchas gracias" seems like a strong candidate. The Spanish-speaking people I talk to around here seem to use "thank you very much" or "thanks so much" more than I think an intensifier should be used.

First, spoilers for The Chronicles of Prydain and Lord Of The Rings, so be warned.

Both these series end with all, well most anyway, of the heroes going on these magical ships and sailing to a land off in the west where people live forever in perfect harmony. Now a cynical person would say that Prydain just copies Lord of the Rings here, but I get the impression that they are both channeling the same story, a story much older than either body of work. Is there some old tale about people sailing off to a deathless land in the west that I should be aware of?

What Tolkien was probably doing there is some sort of ending trope. Since he was such a master at the epic, and was inspired by older myths, he can easily make parts of his story seem like something greater. When I look at folk tales, however, most of them are small in scope. They are either origin stories, or a morality tale of some sort. Riding into the Sunset is more of a recent invention, made doable with the invention of motion pictures.

edited 11th May '16 4:56:33 PM by war877

A "deathless land in the West" (where there is always summer, no need for work, people live forever and never go sick) is a central idea of Celtic Mythology.

The deathless land is called Tír na nÓg (Land of the Young), Tír na mBeo (Land of the Living), Tír Tairrngire (Land of Promise), Mag Mell (Happy Plain), Emain, Manannan's Country (... and probably other names) in Irish mythology, and Annwn or Avalon/Afallach in Welsh mythology.

There are plenty of tales involving voyages to the deathless land: The Voyage of Bran mac Febail (Bran sails to Emain, tries to return after some time but finds out that hundreds of years have passed and setting foot on Ireland would kill him, so he turns back to the West), The Voyage of St. Brendan (Brendan sails to the Land of Promise, eventually returns), The Voyage of Máel Dúin (Mael Duin gets sight of the "Isle of the Blessed", but does not go ashore). King Arthur is taken to Avalon to be cured of his wounds, where he is presumably still reconvalescing (and may some time return).

I am not aware of any direct template for the ending of Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Prydain, but regarding Aman/Valinor Tolkien is drawing a lot from Irish mythology. Tolkien's description of Aman and surroundings takes some obvious clues from the 'Land of Promise' as described in The Voyage of St. Brendan, for example.

edited 12th May '16 10:01:14 AM by LordGro

As an addendum, I wonder if the Greek Elysium myth and the Fortunate Islands (—->the archipelagoes of Azores, Madeira, Canaries and Cape Verde are named after that Macaronesia) of Roman mythology are part of a common (Indo-European?) strand of mythology with these Irish myths.

Bills can be obtained by anyone at an ATM, but how are coins put in circulation?

After my critical research failure on the last question, I just know I'm messing up somehow.

But I do know that merchants buy coin rolls from banks to put in their cash registers. I also know that banks in most countries have a symbiotic relationship with the central money authority. Banks pull out old bills and counterfeits, and are given new bills by the central authority. Same with coins.

As the amount of currency in circulation is increased over time, the money that the central authority gives banks must exceed the amount of money pulled out. I am not sure how that happens.

That sounds likely. At any rate, the "paradise beyond in the Western Sea" does not start with and is not limited to Celtic mythology.

Apart from the Fortunate Isles and Elysium, there is also the island of Ogygia, which is ruled by the nymph Calypso and where Ulysses washes up as a castaway in The Odyssey. Calypso offers Ulysses immortality and ever-lasting youthfulness, if he will stay with her. I think Homer is not clear on Ogygia's location, but according to Strabo it is in the Atlantic.

But I suspect that the direction of where people place "deathless lands" has something to do with where, in their minds, is „the great unknown“. For people in Europe, especially the Western parts, the "great unknown sea", the apparent end of the world, is the Atlantic, so that's where these magical lands are (it is almost the only geographic place where they can be). It would be interesting to know whether East Asia has legends about paradise-islands in the Pacific.

In the more fantastical Icelandic sagas, there is a place called Odainsaker ("Field of the Undying") which makes people immortal, and which is situated within Glaesisvellir ("Glittering Plain"), a realm inhabited by civilized and beautiful giants. Which is rather evocative of Tir na nOg or the Fortunate Islands; but Glaesisvellir is in the North-East, beyond the White Sea (which would technically place it in Siberia or the Arctic, although it is an amenable place where orchards grow). Maybe it is relevant that Iceland is itself an island in the Atlantic; I suppose from their perspective the White Sea was a more mysterious and magical location than the Atlantic.

edited 13th May '16 3:49:43 PM by LordGro

What is the difference between The Grinch and The Scrooge?