this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025
138 points (96.0% liked)

Atheism

4592 readers
1 users here now

Community Guide


Archive Today will help you look at paywalled content the way search engines see it.


Statement of Purpose

Acceptable

Unacceptable

Depending on severity, you might be warned before adverse action is taken.

Inadvisable


Application of warnings or bans will be subject to moderator discretion. Feel free to appeal. If changes to the guidelines are necessary, they will be adjusted.


If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathizer or a resemblant of a group that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of any other group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you you will be banned on sight.

Provable means able to provide proof to the moderation, and, if necessary, to the community.

 ~ /c/nostupidquestions

If you want your space listed in this sidebar and it is especially relevant to the atheist or skeptic communities, PM DancingPickle and we'll have a look!


Connect with Atheists

Help and Support Links

Streaming Media

This is mostly YouTube at the moment. Podcasts and similar media - especially on federated platforms - may also feature here.

Orgs, Blogs, Zines

Mainstream

Bibliography

Start here...

...proceed here.

Proselytize Religion

From Reddit

As a community with an interest in providing the best resources to its members, the following wiki links are provided as historical reference until we can establish our own.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

What does it mean that religion, not porn use, predicts porn-related problems?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 81 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I mean people still spout the easily researchable lie that nasa spent millions developing a space pen and the Russian just used a pencil.

Once a lie has reached critical mass it's incredibly difficult to correct.

For anyone just finding out the NASA space pen thing was a lie we did use a pen, but so did Russia and we everyone else. The pen did not cost millions for us to make or develop. You can buy one right now for like 20 bucks. They simply pressurize the ink cartridges with a little bit of nitrogen so the ink is forced out no matter the orientation. You just cannot have graphite dust floating around a bunch of sensitive electronics from the 70s.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

You just cannot have graphite dust floating around a bunch of sensitive electronics from the 70

in a 100% oxygen atmosphere, too.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Is this the one you can hammer through a baseball and still write with?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I have no idea. That sounds like a very specific stress test... Not sure when I would need a pen to be able to survive getting hammered through a baseball lol.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

if it can go through a baseball, it can go through... well I won't say. Just know that if it can go thorugh a baseball, that there pen is a self defense pen, and you can take it on a plane with you. "Welcome to Murica."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Truthfully I don't even know what to say. What is this from? Haha

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

It doesn't matter Bob. We'll be dead in 5 years.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

It's a terrible movie called Real Men. Just awful, don't bother watching it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Development costs in that era vs. availability now don't equate. I don't remember the exact number, but the actual research & development of the zero-g pen did have a significant price tag.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen#%3A%7E%3Atext=However%2C+the+claim+that+NASA%2Cto+%2410+million+in+2024).

NASA didn't develop the pen at all. Fisher did. They just bought the pens from. Wiki says they bought the pens for less than 3 bucks a pop back then. Adjusted for inflation the pens are actually a couple bucks cheaper today than they were back then lol.

While a million bucks in the 60s wasn't exactly cheap it certainly wasn't some astronomical amount by any means. Certainly not when compared to what we actually spent getting the ISS built and sent up to space.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

The space pen is great. They sell a small one that I used to carry in my pocket.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago

The point of the story is that Russia also used the same pen. It's nothing to do with the cost.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

lie that nasa spent millions developing a space pen and the Russian just used a pencil.

I'm like 99% sure that "lie" is in reality not a "lie," but rather what is known in some circles as a "joke." Like, "A horse walks into a bar, the bartender asks 'why the long face?'" Isn't a "common lie" just because it's oft repeated and not factual, it's a joke.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Every single time I have heard someone repeat it, it was in a "fun fact" way and not in a joking way.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago

Everytime I've heard it, it was told as a joke. Company you keep I guess?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Perhaps it's started that way, but I have had countless people bring it up over the years in a "here's this cool fact I learned that shows Americans are stupid and Russians are smarter" kind of way.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago

Everytime I've heard it, the "pencil" line is in punchline cadence and they pause for laughter with a big smile like "haha isn't this the best joke ever?" Guess we just know different folks.