The silly question thread

[GreyWolf]

Originally Posted by Jetée

What's the basis for the law and coined adage of "possession is 9/10ths of the law", and how is it applied in daily life situations?

This is a very ancient saying, likely referring to the fact that the person who had physical control of something has a tremendous advantage in any dispute over its ownership, in that he can utilise, move, or even destroy the item to prevent losing control (ownership).

How does a thermos bottle know whether to keep something hot or keep it cold?

[Xerxys]

^^ Well, it simply is that a thermos bottle has no air in between the contents inside it and the casing. There is a vacuum in the bottles walls. This way, without any air, no heat can be conducted. In general, items that are cold "draw" heat (usurp) away from surfaces warmer than themselves.

Warm items loose this heat to the atmosphere. With no conductive material in between them, this reaction/action is slowed.

GreyWolf, could you kindly expand further on the adage explained above because I view destruction of an item would render it's possession useless?

[GreyWolf]

Xerys, ownership conveys certain rights to the owner. Among them is control of the item. Destruction is conceivably the ultimate proof of ownership in that you have absolute control over its existence (or life, in the case of livestock, which was often the subject of the "nine/tenths" saying - a live sheep is worth much more than a dead one).

As to the thermos bottle, you do know the joke about the dumb guy, who upon learning a thermos would keep hot things hot and cold things cold, bought one to use for his lunch & put some soup and popsicle in it?

Silly question:
Why does a mirror reflect up and down properly, but reverse left and right?

[YellowBird]

Originally Posted by Xerxys

I saw an overhead(aerial) photo of a rescue helicopter in action over the sea. The picture was such high density that the helicopter literally looked frozen in mid air with no blurrs from it's rotors. So my question is, how fast do helicopter rotors spin and what are the chances of shooting a bullet through one of them?

Helicopter blades can go at up to 500 rotations per minute which is 8.3 per second. which compared to camera shutter speed is nothing. Fastest shutter speed on my cheap SLR is 1/ 4000th of a second and i'm sure you can get lens with faster shutter speeds then that. I also know that to get an image of a moving bullet frozen in space you have to use flash rather then shutter speed because shutter speeds just arnt fast enough. you can get flashes that give you an epic burst of light for a tiny tiny fraction of a second. While that doesnt answer the questions someone good at maths can probably make some deductions.

[Xerxys]

^^ Thanks Yellowbird.

What is the law on finding valuable stuff? What If I picked up a dollar? Something worth a dollar? What if I picked up $20,000 on the sidewalk or something worth 20k? Like say casiono chips or something unlike a car that someone can easily claim ownership of.

Also, what is the law on lost things?

[Salem]

Why do I get a headache everyday?

And..

If you take X amount of painkillers in one sitting, it fucks up your liver, but what about if you slowly build up a tollerance to that instead of taking 2, you have to take 4, or 6 to get the same relief as you used to with 2, does that still fuck you up?

[Zeraph]

Originally Posted by Salem

Why do I get a headache everyday?

And..

If you take X amount of painkillers in one sitting, it fucks up your liver, but what about if you slowly build up a tollerance to that instead of taking 2, you have to take 4, or 6 to get the same relief as you used to with 2, does that still fuck you up?

could be b/c migraine, eye strain, sinuses, neck, stress, or very unlikely tumor or partial seizures

depends on the meds you mean, but generally building up a tolerance means it doesn't work as well because your body has learned to compensate or expects a certain amount of it in your system; not because it "toughens" up. So yeah, its still bad after tolerance, otherwise meth addicts and the like wouldn't have nearly the same problem with ODs than they do.

[Jetée]

Thank you everyone (including but not limited to MSD, Zeraph, Xeryxs, and most recently, GreyWolf, et al., too).

I had a few inane questions in mind over the time this thread laid dormant, but I forgot most of them.

Also, what is the law on lost things?

As I heard, from another ancient saying, it's universally known as "finders, keepers".

[Jetée]

Is this Ashley Greene?

[Shell]

Has anyone seen the Google homepage graphic of Martin Luther King with Coretta Scott King on one arm and a shorter white guy with black rimmed glasses on his other arm?
My silly question is this: Who is that guy?

[Jetée]

Researching the history, I'd be apt to tell you it is Bayard Rustin, but you are definitely right: that small cartoon graphic wants you to know that is a white man. So the chances that it is, indeed, Rustin, diminishes almost entirely.

[Zeraph]

Jetee- That is my future wife

[Jetée]

Originally Posted by Zeraph

Jetee- That is my future wife

Well, alright. Do you happen to know her name, by chance? I'll wish you two a happy engagement via postcard.

---------- Post added at 04:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:40 PM ----------

I see. Nevermind. I tineye'd the pic (I could've sworn that'd been my first action, but I guess not) and came across this resolving result: Catrinel Menghia Maxim Fhm SI | Top Fashion Swimsuit Bikini Fitness Models | Female Models HQ

[MSD]

Originally Posted by Salem

Why do I get a headache everyday?

And..

If you take X amount of painkillers in one sitting, it fucks up your liver, but what about if you slowly build up a tollerance to that instead of taking 2, you have to take 4, or 6 to get the same relief as you used to with 2, does that still fuck you up?

1: What medical conditions do you have and what medicines and supplements do you take daily?

2: Acetaminophen is the NSAID that has a tendency to cause liver damage. you cannot build a tolerance to it because its mode of toxicity is due to overloading of the glucuronide metabolic pathway by NAPQI, an extremely hepatoxic byproduct of acetaminophen metabolism. Any NAPQI in excess of what can be metabolized through the normal pathway is conjugated with glutathione. The body can produce a slight to moderate excess of both glutathione and the proteins needed for glucuronide metbolism, but not enough to produce a significant change in the liver's ability to inactivate NAPQI.

Alcohol and acetaminophen are also a deadly combination because alcohol and acetaldehyde dehydrogenation compete for the glucoronide pathway and deplete hepatic levels of glutathione, leading to a buildup of NAPQI that destroys liver tissue through oxidation.

(yes, I had to look up a few details on this one)

[Marlon's Mom]

Why doesn't Audi just give in and name a car Innie?







C'mon. You'd want one and you know it.

[Illini]

Originally Posted by Marlon's Mom

Why doesn't Audi just give in and name a car Innie?







C'mon. You'd want one and you know it.

If they could make a buck off of it, they would.

[MSD]

Originally Posted by Marlon's Mom

Why doesn't Audi just give in and name a car Innie?







C'mon. You'd want one and you know it.

Not familiar with Volkswagen Automotive Group's Tibetan and Mongolian division, are you? That's why you haven't driven an Innê I4

[Psycho Dad]

My question is... If the meat around a pig's ass is pork, is the meat around a cat's ass pussy?

[Xerxys]

^^ It's not around a cats ass man, otherwise you couldn't eat it.

[Pearl Trade]

How long does it take glass to break down? Like, if I left a 16 ounce clear glass cup outside, how long would it take to break down to non-glass form?

[Lady Bear Cub]

Originally Posted by Xerxys

Zeraph, I mean like vegetables or fruits. Besides dewbwerry and blueberry. Redmeat is originally colored silver, white meatis originally colored white, regardless of what color the animal it came from.

I googled it.

Blue food is a rare occurrence in nature. There are no leafy blue vegetables (blue lettuce?), no blue meats (blueburger, well-done please), and aside from blueberries and a few blue-purple potatoes from remote spots on the globe, blue just doesn't exist in any significant quantity as a natural food color. Consequently, we don't have an automatic appetite response to blue. Furthermore, our primal nature avoids food that are poisonous. A million years ago, when our earliest ancestors were foraging for food, blue, purple and black were "color warning signs" of potentially lethal food.

Interesting fact, red psychologically induces hunger. That's why so many restaurants use red in advertising.

---------- Post added at 08:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:21 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Pearl Trade

How long does it take glass to break down? Like, if I left a 16 ounce clear glass cup outside, how long would it take to break down to non-glass form?

I'm not sure that it would unless somehow it was ground up and even then it would still be glass.

I had to google it though,

Glass doesnt decompose. It takes thousands of years to become a solid, but glass now will be glass in millions of years. Some types of glass can be made to decompose by adding chemicals similar to what etching does to glass. The term devitrication refers to the decompositition of glass but this is under forced chemical changes and not something thats going to happen in a natural state. Glass darkens as it ages. Lava glass or obsidian is glass found in nature and can be dated back to the beginning of the Earth, and it's still glass.

Glass never decomposes. It is made from molten sand.

Glass is Sparta.

[MSD]

Originally Posted by Pearl Trade

How long does it take glass to break down? Like, if I left a 16 ounce clear glass cup outside, how long would it take to break down to non-glass form?

Glass made in the last few hundred years is very stable and won't break down like ancient glass will, but even then consider that there are obsidian deposits billions of years old on earth. Over time, alkali ions from soda ash used in glass production will leach out and be replaced with hydrogen, but it still keeps its shape and all it means is that archaeologists of the future will have to handle and store it carefully.

[Poppinjay]

I don't care if it's hermetically sealed in shrink wrap, I never drink any beverage found outside.

What does hermetically mean?

[MSD]

Hermetic seal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.
The word hermetic comes from the syncretism of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian Thoth; this figure was also a mythological alchemist known as Hermes Trismegistus. The latter has two books attributed to him, the Emerald Tablet and the Corpus Hermeticum. He was believed to possess a magic ability to seal treasure chests so that nothing could access their contents.

[Jetée]

How come it so hard to find those select people who use, and can distinguish the difference between, DUI and DWI correctly?

First off, I don't much care how, why or what you refer to as a person who was caught 'drinking and driving', but it's just weird that so many people can get tripped up and swear that DWI is the correct way to go, no alternatives. I know this is a question that does not have a definitive right or wrong answer, so the followup:

"A DUI to me is ___ ; on the other hand, a DWI is ___."

My answer   click to show 

DUI equates to "driving under the influence (of alchohol, narcotics, heavy prescription pharmaceuticals, what have you).

A DWI is "driving without identification (concerning a vaild and correcr driver's license).

The above is just my take; I know some states refer to the two differently than I do, and sometimes coalesce or mix the two abbreviations, interchangeably, in court documents. One example of the flipside (which I consider wrong, but perhaps others do not) is "DWI = Driving While Intoxicated" and "DUI = Driving Un-Identified".

I'm actually pondering if I can recall this discussion from a years' past thread, as I'm not all too uncertain this might have already been proposed before.
What is your take?

[Jetée]

I keep forgetting that this is a really convenient thread to (possibly) obtain a quick answer for my thought of the moment, but then when I remember about it again, I lose my train of thought.

So, with how late I am to everything, I'll ask: is it futile of me to still hold onto the notion that I can still interact with members in the old shadowfire chat room, or should I just abandon hope that will be revived?

[Jetée]

Question about condensation: if a can or a glass or a bottle, whatever it may be, is "sweating" the contents of whatever very cold liquid is inside on a warm day, (or even at room temperature) are the beads always pure H2O? basically, what I'm asking is if I'm enjoying a cool glass of milk, is the condensation of what forms on the outside of the glass water, or is it actualy diluted milk?

[Walt]

Originally Posted by Jetée

Question about condensation: if a can or a glass or a bottle, whatever it may be, is "sweating" the contents of whatever very cold liquid is inside on a warm day, (or even at room temperature) are the beads always pure H2O? basically, what I'm asking is if I'm enjoying a cool glass of milk, is the condensation of what forms on the outside of the glass water, or is it actualy diluted milk?

When the milk in your glass evaporates, it is essentially being distilled. Heat breaks the hydrogen bonds, converting water from a liquid to a gaseous state. This separates the water from everything else and sends it in to the atmosphere.

Long story, short; The condensation is always water. When a glass is filled with a liquid that is cooler than the surrounding air temperature, the gaseous moisture (water) in the atmosphere condenses in to a liquid form and accumulates on the outside of the glass via an exothermic reaction.

[Jetée]

Many thanks for the functionally appropriate and concise definition of the chemistry at work there, Walt.

I know I could've easily looked it up, but it's better to ask someone who might know it offhand, than it is to appease one's own mania for trivial and random knowledge.

[Jetée]

There's the nagging question I have had for years, which is part urban myth, part retold layman's scientifics, but the thing is: has anyone here heard, or done, the experiment of eating an apple or an onion with your nose plugged?

There's this sort of chemical or enzyme that is said to be in both edible natural byproducts (as well as potatoes, they say) and if eaten by a person devoid of their sense of smell, they would taste exactly alike. I've tried it, to no avail, if only becuase I don't believe I can entirely shut off my working sense of smell, therefore, I would know which fruit or veggie I'm eating; so is there a trick to it? Do I have to plug my nose for, say 10, minutes, before the remants of taste/smell correlation are significantly dimished enough to embark on said experiment? Does it what matter what type of these fruits/vegetables I pick out?

If this even gets two replies, I think we should try this out with the following:
1 red apple
1 red onion
1 red potato
4 earplugs and/or giant cottonballs, carefully wedged up into thine nose
wait ten minutes
eat
optional: blindfold

Here's a quick reference point for any to indulge in:
apple onion taste same

[Redlemon]

A noseclip should do the trick.

The tongue can only taste sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and perhaps umami (MSG). The nose covers all the rest to make the flavors more complex.

[Jetée]

By noseclip, do you mean manufacturers actually produce and market such a product? I'm not surprised, but I had to re-read your statement to see if I wasn't just supplanting "laundry clip" in there for whatever reason. Still haven't gotten this experiment off the ground. Not that anyone should care, but I recently was viewer to an interesting documentary about flora and the segment about potatoes came up, and am now off-handly wondering, "is a potato safe to eat right out of the ground / out of the bag / out of the soused sink?"

- - -

my real question and reason for a return to this thread is a follow-up query on the wonderful process that is condensation. I really am in awe of its multitude of uses and functions, (I was actually daydreaming of how to use its basic function to combat global drinkable water dearth) but after years and years of seeing it in practice, I've seemed to forgotten how most of how it comes about; so I ask, when the water beads are forming on the surface of the aforementioned milk glass, is that water being extracted/evaporated/reformed from the actual contents of the container, or is the process of the condensed air around the cooling container drawing in the surrounding invisible water vapors, which then combine and mingle in an effort to cool down the receptacle?

[Redlemon]

Originally Posted by Jetée

By noseclip, do you mean manufacturers actually produce and market such a product? I'm not surprised, but I had to re-read your statement to see if I wasn't just supplanting "laundry clip" in there for whatever reason.

Amazon.com: Speedo Competition Nose Clip: Sports & Outdoors

Amazon.com: Speedo Competition Nose Clip: Sports & Outdoors

my real question and reason for a return to this thread is a follow-up query on the wonderful process that is condensation. I really am in awe of its multitude of uses and functions, (I was actually daydreaming of how to use its basic function to combat global drinkable water dearth) but after years and years of seeing it in practice, I've seemed to forgotten how most of how it comes about; so I ask, when the water beads are forming on the surface of the aforementioned milk glass, is that water being extracted/evaporated/reformed from the actual contents of the container, or is the process of the condensed air around the cooling container drawing in the surrounding invisible water vapors, which then combine and mingle in an effort to cool down the receptacle?

There is moisture in the air. Even if it isn't humid, there is still some moisture there. Colder air holds less moisture. The air just adjacent to the milk glass is cooled by the glass, and loses some of its moisture-holding capacity, and that ends up on the side of the glass as water beads.

[Jetée]

I thought that was the case, Red. Thanks.

(also, thanks for the Amazon link to a real "nose clip"; I'm not much of a swimmer at all, so that's probably the main reason in the way that word was phrased had me thinking it was odd, as I never heard of an honest to goodness nose clipper before.)