Revision as of 19:24, 20 February 2006

Reference Desk

February 13

Weber's Law

I have been searching for some everyday examples that illustrate Weber's law, can you help?

Have you seen Weber–Fechner law already? --AySz88^-^ 02:55, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

yes I have seen that but I still have not come up with some everyday illustrations of Weber's law.

The example given on the page seems 'everyday' enough to me: "Weber gradually increased the weight that a blindfolded man was holding and asked him to respond when he first felt the increase."  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  15:42, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Internet

when was the internet established?

History of the Internet may answer your question. —Charles P._(Mirv) 03:14, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Isn't History of the Internet just a redirect to Al Gore? --Kainaw 03:47, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Isn't Al Gore enough to explain the misconception regarding many people's inaccurate beliefs about his claims of involvement in the History of the Internet? --Jmeden2000 21:20, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Computer Problem Question

I am only able to have dial-up service here in the country - but my laptop is wireless capable. When I stay in hotels my laptop connects to the wireless services but I still can’t get on the internet or get my email through MSOutlook. I believe the problem is that my laptop is some how configured to connect only through the dial-up but I don’t know how to change that. I need to be able to switch back and forth between dial-up and home and wireless when traveling. I hope this was understandable. Thanks for any help you can offer. --63.24.88.70 07:31, 13 February 2006 (UTC)MarCia

One option would be to just use dialup when in hotels. StuRat 09:05, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

The wireless network might have some security on it, such as WEP or WPA. As far as I know, however, most wireless networks in hotels don't have inherent security in the packets being transmitted, but implement other measures to prevent you connecting to the internet, even though you are connected to the hotspot. Windows is pretty good at configuring wireless networks automatically when it can. When your laptop says it's "connected" to the hotspot as you say, try these steps:

1. Right-click on the wireless icon in the taskbar, and click "Repair" to disable and enable the adapter and renew another IP using DHCP (unless you haven't configured it for DHCP, in which case there's a clear reason why it's not working). Keep in mind that this "wireless manager" with the "repair" option is only in SP2.
2. Now, try a ping test. To do this, open the command prompt (Start -> Run -> type in cmd and hit enter) and do a ping command by typing ping wikipedia.org and hitting enter. If you see messages like "Reply from ......" you're connected. If you see messages like "Request timed out" or "Destination host unavailable" then you're not connected.

But, as always with Wi-Fi, there are many possible problems here. Try speaking to the hotel managers to ask them how to connect. -- Daverocks (talk) 09:19, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Chances are, this is a Windows machine. If so, in your dial-up configuration (likely hidden in the "advanced" area) is the option: "Dial up only if network is not available." --Kainaw 03:45, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh, right, I forgot about that. That option should be under Tools -> Internet Options in Internet Explorer. Mind you, if you used Firefox, that problem would be already solved. :D -- Daverocks (talk) 11:01, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Donating to cancer research

I was just thinking about this today: Why do people donate to cancer research? We have so many online donation centers, sponsored runs, cancer research-supporting thrift stores and so on. Surely cancer research is a multi-billion dollar industry, with chemo raking in millions and other drugs raking in who knows how much. More specifically, any pharma company that succeeds in creating a magic bullet cancer drug, or even just any drug that's better than the current standard, will dominate the market and be sitting on a billion-dollar pill. Aren't big-pharma and the investment bankers pouring in more than enough of their own money for what could be an extremely profitable investment? — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 16:02, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Sort of like how people pay energy companies more money inorder to use power from renewable energy plants (wind turbines, solar power, etc).. The power companies are also extremely profitable. People pay to get the companies to do work in areas that are not extremly profitable, like cancer research to a type of cancer that only 12 people have.--Rayc 21:51, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

As much as we'd like to be optimistic, I think cancer research might be considered a pretty risky "investment" by most. We've been working at curing cancer for quite a while now and, while I'm certainly optimistic, I also don't think it's going to be an immediate thing one day where we suddenly have a cure for cancer. Even if there is a magic bullet out there, I would think investing in cancer research could be like the lottery- obviously very high payoffs, but what are the odds that it will be your pharmaceutical company that hits the jackpot?

As for your typical, middle-class person, many make donations for moral, religious, or tax reasons. Why not donate to something you feel might help thousands of people, including your friend Jack who you saw fight testicular cancer, or your Aunt Betty who passed away from colon cancer? (P.S.- Not real people, just making an example) EWS23 | (Leave me a message!) 02:21, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I was just looking at the cancer article, and it's quite good. --Zeizmic 22:25, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I was too, though it didn't answer my question in any way. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 02:06, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

• Cancer charities do not give money to pharma companies, if that's what you're implying. Nor does most of the money go towards chemo and existing drugs. Why would it? It goes towards all areas. Basic research on cancer (pharma companies do not do basic research), developing new treatments, etc. Before reaching these hasty conclusions, why not check out in more detail what cancer-research money is being used for and what the Pharma companies are using their money for? --BluePlatypus 11:37, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

As someone who works with charities in this rough kind of area, you don't get much funding outside of personal donations and business sponsership (at least in the UK). We deal with about 20 projects a year with about 5-15 people on each. 4-8 of these are business sponsered. The other's come from public donations. Something of interest is that the big amounts come from will donations. Still give my money to cancer charities each month as people I know have died from it and I want to think I'm helping find an answer. If you look at where we were 50 years ago a lot has been done. More could be done in another 50 years.

Note that it really wouldn't be profitable for drug companies to invent a drug that cured cancer with one pill. In order to break even on the trillions of dollars it would cost, they would need to charge a million dollars a pill. But, since consumers couldn't pay that price, the pill would be copied by others in violation of their copyright. A pill that will only somewhat reduce the symptoms of cancer, instead, could be developed at a much lower cost and sold to patients for years, rather than just once. StuRat 21:31, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Pills can't be copyrighted. They can be patented, but luckily (for the people who need cheap pills) patents expire much faster than copyrights. Superm401 - Talk 07:22, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Myopia and evolution

In the context of evolution, how is it possible the incidence of myopia and other vision related disorders is so high? I would expect a strong evolutionary selection against them, especially with early people living as hunters etc. --84.41.227.226 16:11, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Some thoughts. 1. It may be that there is no genetic basis for myopia; in that case evolution doesn't apply. 2. If it is genetic, eyesight generally worsens as you get older. But any worsening after the children or born isn't relevant to evolution. 3. I'd think you could still be an effective hunter in many modes of hunting with myopia. Digging a pit for trapping doesn't require good eyesight. Even in aiming an arrow at a mammoth, it doesn't matter whether it is fuzzy or clear, it's a target in any case. Notinasnaid 16:36, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

• By the same argument: How can there be any genetic diseases? The answer is that it's not that simple. Genes don't necessarily code for one single thing only. Heterozygote advantage tells you more about this. A text-book example is Sickle-cell disease, a genetic disease common in West Africans. A person can carry the gene without developing the disease. Such a carrier has increased resistance to malaria. This advantage explains how the gene can survive, despite the great disadvantage it puts on the people who develop the lethal disease. It also explains why the gene is uncommon in places like Europe. As for myopia, the article here points to some evidence of higher IQ. So that may be a possible explanation. --BluePlatypus 22:03, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I'll have to brush up on this, but as I recall, the incidence of myopia has increased over time and is higher in industrialized societies. Many factors have been blamed, including increased amounts of reading, television watching, and now computer work. I also recall a study showing a link between nighttime illumination (for example, night lights) and myopia, though I don't remember the details. — Knowledge Seeker দ 22:29, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Myopia should be higher in societies where it is easily corrected with eyeglasses. But, that is a very narrow view of it. Evolution gets rid of traits that inhibit reproduction. How does poor eyesight inhibit reproduction? Someone who is nearly blind may be left out, but someone who is still able to chuck a spear at an elephant from 40 yards would have no problem finding a mate. In fact, it may be easier since all the blurry women tend to look alike. --Kainaw 03:44, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Poor eyesight inhibits reproduction, if it would increase the chance that you are eaten by something that you didn't see before you have much of a chance to reproduce. In most species, most of the animals die whilst they are still young - before they have reproduced. Any trait that is likely to get you killed in infancy is clearly going to inhibit reproduction. That's not to say that some serious genetic diseases won't survive in the gene pool. Some people may carry recessive genes with no ill or detrimental effects - then reproduce and pass on these genes. With eyesight, well perhaps in human societies it didn't matter that much if you were mildly short sighted. Richard B 13:21, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I think you guys might be going back a bit too far. First of all, we (those of us in industrialized nations) haven't depended on hunters for our food for a few centuries at least. Farms and domestication replaced the absolute need for hunting long ago. Having markets where people buy food has also helped decrease the number of people who actually hunt for their own food. Then if we accept that large amounts of reading increase the chances of myopia showing up, it would stand to reason that men who made their living by being bankers, lawyers, doctors, etc. would be more prone to myopia than laborers. With these occupations come the ability to afford better health care for their young so that if myopia is genetic, it would be carried on into the next generation with greater ease than by those laborers who may not be able to afford good health care and thus lose children in their infancy. These learned occupations would also lend the workers to be able to attract mates more readily since they could show that they could provide for a wife and children more easily. Combine all this with the idea that glasses haven't ever really been that much of a turn off, and it's no wonder that bad eyes are so common. Dismas| 10:01, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Notinasnaid, your argument that the children that are born before the onset of myopia will not be affected does not hold up because a parent without myopya will be better at keeping them, and their genes alive, so there will be an evolutionary effect. Dismas, are you suggesting myopia may have appeared only in the last few centuries? That seems a bit too short a timespan for that to develop. But the first point of Notinasnaid was that maybe it's not genetic at all. And it may very well be that myopia is a consequence of lifestyle - too much reading and too little use of the eyes for what they are designed for, namely distances of well over a metre. Also, myopya often appears at ages that are common only now, not during most of the human evolution when people rarely grew older than 40 (I think). DirkvdM 14:24, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

No, I didn't mean to say that myopia developed in the last few centuries. Only that those who had it were better able to carry on the gene for it. Dismas| 18:46, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Note that myopia not only makes long range vision worse, but also makes short range vision better. This might have had advantages in tribal societies, where having a few individuals with good short range vision for tool making, sewing furs together, picking insects out of food stores, etc., could aid the survival of the tribe and hence increase the possibility of those genes being passed on. StuRat 21:18, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Eye colour in the UK

Are there more people in the United Kingdom with blue eyes or with brown eyes? --OpenToppedBus - Talk to the driver 16:46, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes. Grutness...wha? 05:48, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Looking around the room (I'm in a computer centre at a university), brown eyes seem to be predominant. Hardly conclusive, of course :) GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 08:58, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Blue eye colour is a result of recessive genes. It is therefore usually less common. - Cybergoth 18:54, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Except that, as the article states, they are relitively common in Norther Europe. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 03:30, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

And with the UK having such a mix of populations, it's dificult to know for sure, which is why I'm asking! Several people I know who are all pretty good at finding information online have failed with this one - but surely, surely, there must be figures somewhere on relative frequency of different eye colours in the UK. --OpenToppedBus - Talk to the driver 10:49, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Relatively common is the key word. I would bet that brown eyes are more common than blue in the UK due to the genetic probability. - Cybergoth 05:39, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

"Don't it turn my brown eyes blue." - A song about the effects of excessive blueberry consumption. StuRat 21:10, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Which tablet PC

Will a 10" tablet PC be good enough for web browsing? I use the PC only for web browsing. Since I am buying a tablet pc, I am confused whether to go for a 10 or 12 or 14 inch tablet? Which one should I go?

Will a 10" tablet (used in same mode as a computer screen portrait or landscape I mean) be good enough for browsing the web or would it be too small or will be a little small or too small?

• What resolution does it support (e.g. 640 x 480)? Many web designers expect you to have at least 600 x 800. The size in inches doesn't matter, except that it may mean things get too small to read. But if the resolution is too small the page just won't fit. Notinasnaid 22:36, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

• Nah, most tablets have a decent resolution, even if they're 10" in size. That's because ink strokes look crap if you've got low resolution. enochlau (talk) 00:02, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

10 inches is really small. Unless you have exceptional eyesight to make out the tiny characters, I suggest a larger screen. StuRat 21:07, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

It depends on what you're using it for. I've looked at 10.4" tablets, and I think provided the resolution is good enough, they're far more portable than my 14.1" tablet. However, for web browsing, yes, a bigger screen is good. One question you might consider is whether you really need a tablet PC, if all you're going to do is browse the web? They cost a lot more than your average laptop... enochlau (talk) 03:24, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Natural/Resonant frequency

I am having trouble finding out whether or not the natural frequency of an object is the same as it's resonant frequency. Logically, they should be the same, but I'm working in complex numbers, and some of the equation's I'm working with show that the natural frequency is not the same as the resonant frequency. My question is, under what condidtions can an object's natural frequency be different than it's resonant frequency?--Rayc 21:45, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

First mode is called it's natural frequency, and primary resonance. If you calculate the eigenvalues, you will find the other higher-order modes. An object can resonate with many modes, this is a classic issue with earthquakes. --Zeizmic 22:25, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

February 14

Baked beans

what beans are baked beans?

I think they are common beans, Phaseolus vulgaris. —Keenan Pepper 01:32, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Usually they are dried white beans - here is my favorite recipe for baked beans 63.24.1.78 01:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)MarCia The beans can be made ahead. After cooking, cool them to room temperature and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Serves 4 to 6 4 ounces salt pork , trimmed of rind and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 ounces bacon (2 slices), cut into 1/4-inch pieces 1 medium onion , chopped fine 1/2 cup mild molasses 1 tablespoon mild molasses 1 1/2 tablespoons brown mustard 1 pound dried small white beans (about 2 cups), rinsed and picked over Table salt 1 teaspoon cider vinegar Ground black pepper

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 300 degrees. Add salt pork and bacon to 8-quart Dutch oven; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and most fat is rendered, about 7 minutes. Add onion and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 8 minutes. Add 1/2 cup molasses, mustard, beans, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and 9 cups water; increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil. Cover pot and set in oven. Bake until beans are tender, about 4 hours, stirring once after 2 hours. Remove lid and continue to bake until liquid has thickened to syrupy consistency, 1 to 1 1/2 hours longer. Remove beans from oven; stir in remaining tablespoon of molasses, vinegar, and additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

• Going back to the original question baked beans are the end product of cooking small white navy beans (also called pea beans) or red kidney beans in a recipe similar to the one above. There are hundreds (or thousands) of variations of the recipe so you can spend a lifetime trying to find the perfect baked bean.  ;-) --hydnjo talk 03:23, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Well I just looked up baked beans on Misplaced Pages and they seem to think they are haricot beans, so who to believe? --Shantavira 18:39, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

The common bean article says "white navy bean, also called pea bean or haricot" so there is less conflict here. Rmhermen 20:09, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

CNN news

I saw a CNN report about a sufi ritual where people pierced their bodies and ate glass ( of a fluorecent light bulb) and they didn't experience any pain ( I don't know about that), and they didn't bleed! ( I saw that) how can someone not bleed at will? this I guess goes against scientific knowledge...what does this mean? I also saw that budhist monks can literally DRY wet sheets just with the heat of their bodies in a cold environment... how many weird things are out there that we don't know about! :S... and just so noone tells me where is the question, the question is, if there is any theory that explains this, or is it just as weird as it seems to me.--Cosmic girl 04:10, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Not an answer to your question, but these guys collected ways to say "I can eat glass; it does not hurt me." in different languages. Might come in handy. =P —Keenan Pepper 04:45, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually, there've been studies alright. They can't "not-bleed at will", they just know, usually, where and how to pierce. I've seen people on TV trying and accidentally piercing the wrong place, and they do bleed, as much as anyone else. Now, the drying wet sheets is not a mystery either. We know today that with proper training, you can control your methabolic rate, induce yourself a fever, change your pulse, blood pressure, everything. There's still a lot we don't know, but it's a fascinating area, since we're finding out our brain has more control of our bodies than we thought. Of course, there's nothing magical in any of this, but we're still just beginning to understand. Additionally, you can train your mind to not feel pain, but there are thresholds where this won't work. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 04:57, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

The Shaloin monks do all kinds of crazy things similar to what you described. - Akamad 06:58, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

so... what does this mean? I mean according to Kieff there are studies that show that the brain can control things like blood pressure, and stuff, I already knew that, and also I have heard of cases of people with a multiple personality dissorder changing their neuroelectrical patterns, heart rate facial expresion,and even eye color...but I'm not claiming this is so, I just read it somewhere. but, what does this all mean? this doesn't make sense in a rational world to me, if all this is for real, then our world is...I don't wanna say a curse word...but yeah, if things like this happen, this is not a world that is meant to sustain rational life...since it can and will eventually, drive it crazy...because even if there are experiments that confirm how yoga helps or how monks can do weird things or how the mind can influence the body, we still don't know HOW this happens and that's the important thing...the universe can't be so random...well it can, but I don't like it.--Cosmic girl 14:02, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

There are lots of things we don't understand, yet they won't "drive rational life crazy" because "rational life" has developed in spite of our strange world and (previous) lack of understanding thereof. It's a lot more robust than you believe. (And what's wrong with a bit of randomness?) Tzarius 21:10, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

yeah, u are right, randomness is kinda cool, but not when u want something to hold on to...luckily I never wanted such a thing and the previous coment of mine was a burst of stupidity like the ones I use to have sometimes...--Cosmic girl 21:39, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

It all depends on what you consider natural life to be. Controlling your inner workings doesn't really shock me that much, though impressive. You can interpret it as a crazy manipulation of life itself, but I'd rather think of it as just a plain extension of some other natural functions, like "holding it in", burping on command, making your face red, or dislocating your shoulder. None of these would be considered "the mind influencing the body", but rather as control of the body that we don't usually excercise.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  05:39, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes , you are probably right, but then I should be able to cure myself of a feber by will and I don't think I would have any reason to not wanna, since a feber is annoying...so my guess is there's something else here...though I wouldn't like it to be that way, but I'm not the kind of person that seeks to confirm what she wants to believe, but seeks the truth, no matter how pretty or ugly it is.--Cosmic girl 22:30, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I do believe you should be able to cure your fever. Just think very hard for a good three or four days and you'll be cured. Good luck!  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  15:35, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

hahaa! =P, luckily I've never had a fever that lasted for more than 2 or 3 days.--Cosmic girl 19:07, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Pain, like color is an interpretation of data. It does not exist in the raw data (uninterpreted reality). It really is all in your head. WAS 4.250 19:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Wet sheets ALWAYS dry just with the heat of your body in a cold environment. Try it yourself. your body will dry the sheets too. WAS 4.250 19:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

"How many weird things are out there that we don't know about! Is any theory that explains this, or is it just as weird as it seems to me." Most weird things that it seems "we don't know about" are things some human somewhere (usually a poorly paid scientist) has intimate detailed knowledge of, has written a detailed account of, and conforms to known laws of physics exactly. WAS 4.250 19:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

"the brain can control things like blood pressure" Why shouldn't it? WAS 4.250 19:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

"People with a multiple personality disorder changing their neuroelectrical patterns, heart rate, & facial expresion." yes, the same brain wetware can run different programs producing different results just like computer hardware can run different programs producing different computer behaviors. WAS 4.250 19:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Some eye colors change based on how dialated they are (mine do). WAS 4.250 19:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

"this doesn't make sense in a rational world to me" The world is rational. All humans are nonrational, delusional, and nondesigned. What do you want for an evolved throwaway product? Enjoy life; that's all it's good for. WAS 4.250 19:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

You may be wrong but you may be right I heard this in a song... and maybe the world isn't rational, how are we to know? since you said it yourelf, we humans are deluded. and if all humans are subjective, how can psychiatrists and psychologists have any claim to know sanity from insanity?! the world is just crazy and subjective as hell...--Cosmic girl 21:06, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Stress and nightmares

According to the article on nightmares: "In common current usage, the term nightmare refers to dreams of particular intensity, with content that the sleeper finds disturbing, related either to physiological causes, such as a high fever, or to psychological ones, such as unusual trauma or stress in the sleeper's life."

I had an extremely stressful (as well as depressing) day today, so what are the chances that I will have a nightmare tonight? I'm assuming that this nightmare, if I have it, will be related to today's stressful events, correct? --Bowlhover 04:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

We can't tell. You might not have a nightmare at all. Sometimes I have a great day and have terrible nightmares, so I don't see it as a definite connection, but evidently there are cases. I say just do something relaxing before you go sleep, try to distract your attention with something pleasant, and you might drop the chances of having bad dreams. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 05:08, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I didn't remember any of yesterday night's dreams, so that's a good thing. I couldn't do anything relaxing before going to sleep because I was in a panic attack (and didn't want to do anything other than sitting still). I got another panic attack after waking up this morning, and am now afraid of having nightmares tonight. --Bowlhover 17:01, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Theory of Relativity

I would like to know what is the Theory of Relativity, how to use it and how does it work

Did you look here before you asked your question? JackofOz 07:48, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

How does one use the Theory of Relativity? Sum0 22:35, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

With great difficulty, trust me. ;-) In seriousness, it depends what you want to use it for. If you're making the global positioning system work, you use it to calculate the time dilation due to earth's gravity, without which the measured distances to satellites (and therefore the measured position of the user) would be off by several meters. If you're investigating any number of problems in modern physics, relativity is built into your theories. The bending of light in relativity is seen in gravitational lensing, and can be used to make measurements of dark matter. I could go on and on, but I should stop and ask if I'm answering your question. If you want to know how to personally make calculations in the theory, you'll need a solid background in calculus and introductory classical physics, plus a good textbook. -- SCZenz 23:34, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Video

What is the tiling artefact in video compression? explain with example. Thanks

I've reformatted your question to make it easier to read. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 08:15, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Compression artifact? I'd like to know if we have a detailed article on this particular topic. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 09:56, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

First human to appear on TV

Our article on John Logie Baird doesn't name him, but there are plenty of sites that say the first human to appear on TV was a 15-year-old office boy named William Taynton, whose image Baird successfully transmitted on 30 October 1925.

But this suggests there were other claimants, namely:

• a Mr John Hart
• an unnamed doorman at a London club, and
• a Mr J E Hamelford, who in 1951 apparently produced a letter from Baird himself that supports this claim. This website is the one and only hit for "Hamelford" on Google. Where might I find any more information about J E Hamelford?

And what ever happened to William Taynton? He would be about 96 now if he were still alive. Does anybody know how his life went after his 15 minutes of fame? JackofOz 08:16, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

• Firs to appear on television in what country? Your options seem to be limited to the UK. - Mgm| 19:18, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm talking about the first human to appear on TV ever, anywhere, in the history of the world. JackofOz 19:48, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I take it you're including that British contraption with the spinning wheels that predated the cathode ray tube invented by American Philo Farnsworth ? 21:01, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

There is another clarification... The first person to appear broadcast on television or the first person to have their image shown on a cathode-ray tube? I would expect that the inventor would have stepped in front of the camera a few times while inventing the whole process. --Kainaw 20:55, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

(revised response after allowing myself to be led astray).

None of these clarifications are necesssary because they are not relevant to my questions. I wasn't asking "who was the first person to appear on television". I was asking "who was J E Hamelford", and "what ever became of William Taynton". JackofOz 23:32, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Nothing much became of William Taynton. He appeared on "I've Got a Secret" on Jan 24, 1966. He was not involved in the television invention. He was just an assistant for someone else who happened to be walking by when a human was required to sit in front of the camera. --Kainaw 00:02, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. (I knew about him being an office boy who became an unwitting footnote to history.)

Is he still alive?

Bruce Gyngell was the first person to appear on TV in Australia (this is something that most Australians seem to know; it crops up in quizzes all the time). Do other countries remember their TV first-faces? Is there a list of such persons by country? JackofOz 00:21, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Electrical and computer engineering

hello! I am a first year student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the University of Patras, Greece. I fell a little bit uncertain about my studies... Can you please tell me if possidle, with what can i occupy myself relatively to my studying subject after ihave finished my studies?? Thank you in advance very much

Are you asking what jobs might be available after you've finished your course, or what you can do to occupy yourself while you're not studying? GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 09:54, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

glucose and invert sugar

Hi there! I work in the pastry industry and would like to know more about two products that are very commonly used in the pastry kitchen: glucose and invert sugar. They are considered products derived from chemically-treated or chemically-altered products, and therefore, unnatural. The concern of these products being unnatural is that they might pose a hazard to long-term health. Is this correct?

Neither glucose or invert sugar (a mixture of glucose and fructose) are the least bit 'unnatural'. Glucose is produced by breaking down starch (long glucose chains) into single glucose molecules. The same thing happens in your stomach when you eat starch-containing food like potatoes. It doesn't matter where the sugar comes from though, becuase it is a single chemical compound. Sugar is sugar and it isn't different depending on where it comes from; Unlike everyday objects, molecules don't have any qualities, either it's a molecule of one substance or it isn't. You can't tell two identical molecules apart (even in theory) or tell where they came from. Neither can your body. The term "unnatural" has no actual meaning whatsoever. It's a marketing term, playing on people's aversion to highly-processed food. All the most lethal toxins in the world are 'natural'. --BluePlatypus 11:24, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

One possible way to differentiate does exist as isotope ratios may differ among differently sourced sugars. But this does not affect biological usability. Practically different minute impurities may be present a sample even if the component is the same. Rmhermen 20:03, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your answers. So, is it correct to call these produts "chemically-treated" or "chemically-altered" forms of sugar or some type of sugar?? And, more specifically, what are, if there are any, the health hazards related to the use of these products? --70.111.72.88 20:30, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

The point is, it doesn't matter whether something is "natural". Some "natural" things, like arsenic and uranium, are quite deadly, while some "artificial" things, like water formed in a laboratory from the burning of hydrogen in oxygen, are entirely safe. The only way glucose or invert sugar could be dangerous (other than to diabetics) is if they contained dangerous levels of impurities. I have no reason to think that's the case. StuRat 20:48, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

The term "refined" is more accurate that "chemically-treated", since it is no more "chemically-treated" than ordinary refined table sugar. Grutness...wha? 21:43, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

• No, it would be very incorrect to call glucose a treated or altered form of sugar. It is sugar. Glucose is the primary form of fuel in your body. Every single cell in your body has lots of glucose in it. Your blood has glucose in it. Your brain can only use glucose as fuel (unlike muscle which can use fat). What you are saying is that, if you take starch and break it down into glucose, the same process done inside your stomach, and do it outside the body, and then eat it, then that is somehow unhealthy? As opposed to eating the glucose contained directly in foods? Every single red muscle cell in your body stores glucose in a form of starch (glycogen), to break down when needed. Typically, you'll have upwards of a pound of glucose stored in your muscles in that form at any given moment. You'll also have about 5 grams of glucose in your blood. The only way not to have massive amounts of glucose in your body is to starve, at which point you'll start burning your own muscle tissue to survive, because your brain can't burn fat. (You'll notice when this happens from an acetone-smelling breath). Have I convinced you that glucose is safe? Ok. So here are the bad points: 1) Glucose, in large quantities, like any food, will make you fat. That is a health risk. 2) Glucose, like all simple sugars, is rapidly absorbed by the body. This is good for quick energy, but bad for appetite. 3) Glucose gives you energy (calories) and nothing else. No vitamins, no fiber. It's what dietists call 'empty calories'. None of this means glucose is a health risk in itself, only that it's not something that you should substitute real food for. --BluePlatypus 21:42, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank you all very much, you have been very helpful! --70.111.72.88 22:23, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Plane wave (Onde plane)

This is a discusstion of a French man and I did. There has been still some questions below:--HydrogenSu 18:54, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

      *Une onde plane est une chimère ! Ca n'existe pas, sauf a la 
       considerer localement : en effet, une telle onde occupe tout 
       l'espace, ce qui pose des problemes ;-)
         — pem 12 février 2006 à 20:08 (CET) 

Exuse-me. Do you mean:Any plan waves exist "locationally" only ? For considering of this question, that's showed us which plan waves occupy all space? But I still don't understand while reading what you said above. I'm sorry for my poor French. I would be speaking English above/below. In fields of physics only,just I'm extremly interested in this question,originally. It has been for several days already and been kept it in mind. I hope someone else can tell more about it.(French or English,either one of them is OK. :) ) J'en suis intéreseé qui la question.--HydrogenSu 13 février 2006 à 19:09 (CET)

I've been waiting a answer for the quetion for 2 days and got no reply almost. I don't know why has no reply in it,maybe he's been busy. But I still care this question. --HydrogenSu 12:42, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

There were some Wiki problems, and I can't read French or understand your "English" very well, so that's why I haven't answered. I can't speak for anyone else. StuRat 20:36, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I have a feeling that you mean plane wave not plan wave, but I don't quite know what you're asking. enochlau (talk) 03:22, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

<The user:BluePlatypus's comments were nearly off Topic and involved person attacks. Thus it is deleted here.--HydrogenSu 15:49, 15 February 2006 (UTC)>--BluePlatypus 13:00, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Try this: let's say you have a wave, continuous in time, x=cos(ωt). Then it has a well defined frequency, but it makes no sense to "localize" the wave in time. Consider then the composite function y={0 for t<0, cos(ωt) for 0<t<π, 0 for t>0}. Now the wave has a definite position, but the frequency content is widely distributed. You can see this by doing Fourier transforms. Incidentally, Griffiths uses this as an analogy to the uncertainty principle (uncertainty principles seem to appear whenever Fourier transforms are involved). - mako 04:42, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The reason is that there is something called the "time-frequency uncertainty principle" - and in a very loose sense, this uncertainty holds intrinsically for any signal. In fact, in this sense, the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics is not that strange at all! --HappyCamper 13:00, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

BTY practicing my French----Je ceci te quoi me mercis et je cela lui(user:Mako098765) quoi me mercis.--HydrogenSu 18:54, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The French statement above means that a plane wave cannot exist except as a localised approximation, since otherwise it would occupy all of space. This is true: a plane wave is really a spherical wave of infinite radius. When we talk of a plane wave in real situations, what we mean is a small section of a spherical wave; a section that is small enough to have no noticeable curvature. --Heron 20:23, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

K-40 in body

I once read a science fiction novel that stated that if all the K-40 in your body, by some incredible coincidence, decayed at once, the radiation would kill you. Is this true? -- Pakaran 15:59, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Let's find out! According to this, you've got about 140g of potassium in your body. If the abundance is 0.012%, that means 16.8 mg and 420 micromoles. The energy of decay is at most 1.505 MeV, which means the total energy is going to be that times 420*10 times Avogadro's number. Turns out that's 61 MJ. For 70 kg of body weight (which was used estimating the amount of K was based on), that means 870 kGy of radiation exposure (assuming it's all absorbed). That's a huge number, and far more than is needed to kill you. (which is on the order of 10s of Grays) So I'd say: Yes, it seems quite plausible. Of course, what's not plausible is that all the potassium would decay at once. (Calculating the probability of that is left as an excersize for the reader :) )--BluePlatypus 16:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

You could also make this assertion for all the Bismuth in a bottle of Pepto Bismol.

Negro

doesn't this mean BLACK in spannish, as in the COLOR blac, so why do black people act all offended at being called negros, when it's no more or less offense than calling them black?Oto von Boise

That isn't a science question. But first: Most of the time, rest assured that they're not 'acting' offended. They are offended. Secondly, you are confusing the meaning of the word with the connotations associated with it. Third, 'Negro', being a term used during the slavery period in the USA has more racist connotations than the word 'black' and is therefore more offensive. It's as simple as that. Whether the literal meaning is offensive or not is irrelevant to the connotations associated with the word, and is no excuse to offend people by using it. --BluePlatypus 16:59, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

(via edit conflict) First of all, offense at the term in and of itself is not universal, else the United Negro College Fund and the Universal Negro Improvement Association would have changed their names by now. Secondly, the literal meaning of this kind of term is less important than its connotation (as BluePlatypus notes); the word nigger is highly offensive despite its similar derivation from a word meaning black.

One might as well ask why white and Chinese people should take offense at the terms "whitey" and "Chinaman"—which, after all, mean the same thing as "white" and "Chinese", both terms to which few would take exception. —Charles P._(Mirv) 17:24, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Or why anyone would be offended at being ordered to have sex!  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  05:29, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Doensn't this depend on where you are? I believe once hearing that 'negro' is the accepted term in the US and 'black' in the UK. Or was that the other way around? DirkvdM 13:07, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Don't try that in the U.S. See the Negro and Nigger articles. Rmhermen 19:45, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Between "negro" and "black", "black" is the preferred term here in the US, and that's what I generally use. African American is the politically correct, vague, and sometimes incorrect alternative. Superm401 - Talk 07:53, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

US cable lastmile- fibre or copper?

What do cable operators in USA have in the last mile? Do they have copper or do they have fibre opticals?

If they have copper, then how would it be possible for them to have speedier connections than the same copper which telecom cos have?

If they have fibre, why did they lay fibre even before telecom cos?

We have Comcast. They use copper for the last connection to the house. I believe that all cable companies do the same. As for speed, it is by design, not by limitation on the signal carrying element. For me, I can have a limit set on transfers (upload/download) with cable or a DSL with 3/4 designated for download and 1/4 designated for upload. I prefer to use cable because I download as much as I upload. This is also an issue for online gamers who need bandwidth in both directions. --Kainaw 20:45, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Wive's Tales Question

I would like to know where the statement "the rabbit is dead" came from. Usually this statement is used when someone is testing for pregnancy. If they are pregnant they say "the rabbit is dead", when they are not pregnant they say "nope the rabbit is not dead yet." Some speculate that a long time ago the woman's blood was injected into the rabbit and if it died they were pregnant and if the rabbit lived they were not. Any help on this subject would be great as it is being debated at my office. Thanks a bunch!!!

There is a good write-up on this topic at Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/rabbit.htm --LarryMac 18:48, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

See this article. I simply Googled "the rabbit is dead" + "pregnancy" - Cybergoth 18:50, 14 February 2006 (UTC) (post edit conflict)

See rabbit test!!! - Cybergoth 18:58, 14 February 2006 (UTC) Doh!

Um, yeah, no kidding, doesn't everyone know that?--205.188.116.74 22:37, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Um, no, evidently not. - Cybergoth 04:20, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

See also The Straight Dope - http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a970704.html

and About.com - http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/pregnancytests/a/rabbittest.htm --LarryMac 18:52, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your help!! I will now end the debate at the office and educate others, Thanks again. (First time user from Missouri)

Teflon Tubing

Why is Teflon tubing required when keeping a volatile substance under an inert gas like argon?

To make a good seal and prevent leaks? —Keenan Pepper 05:53, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

If the substance has to be kept under argon, it's likely to be very chemically reactive. So I think this is to ensure that materials in contact with the substance are as chemically non-reactive as possible: both to prevent wastage of the expensive reactive chemical,and avoid losses and leaks from degraded tubing. Teflon tubing fits that specification nicely Malcolm Farmer 12:53, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

PAL vs NTSC

If I put a PAL VHS tape into a cheap NTSC VCR and hit play, what will I see on the screen? Why? Black Carrot 20:10, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

In an attempt to show video, the VCR will attempt to sync with the tape. It will do an average job of doing so if it is worth anything. The signal sent to the television will have a sync bar at the wrong frequency, but a worthwhile television will try to sync up with it. Then, it will display the PAL signal as a fuzzy, off-center, gray image. I do not think it will pick up any chroma info to add color. If it did, it wouldn't be correct color and it would not be in the correct location. Please see PAL and NTSC for descriptions of the signals in detail. --Kainaw 20:40, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Really...? When I moved from Europe to the US and tried playing my PAL tapes in our new NTSC VCR, we got a grayscale image with sync bars running up the image about twice a second, making it effectively unviewable. You could get an idea of what was happening on screen, but that's about it. Our TV couldn't automatically compensate for the wrong signal, it had to be manually set to receive either NTSC or PAL signals.

Having said that, this was over ten years ago. Maybe signal encoding detection has gotten better over the years, and TVs now auto-recognise signal encoding as a standard feature...? — QuantumEleven | (talk) 08:44, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know what you read in my statement above, but I felt that I clearly stated you would see a "fuzzy, off-center, gray image". I also mentioned that the VCR and television would trouble syncing - causing the scrolling effect of the sync bars. That apparently is what you saw.

Now, I have worked with VCRs and monitors that are capable of showing NTSC, PAL, and SECAM. They have a separate circuit for each. They did not auto-switch. You had to manually select the format. I liked the VCR. It had a map of the world and you pressed the country the tape originated from. Then, it switched to the format for that country. --Kainaw 18:21, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I really should read comments more carefully - confusion arises from skim reading! Thanks for the poke, Kainaw, as it turns out we were describing exactly the same thing, down to the manual switching between PAL, NTSC (both versions) and SECAM. Doh! — QuantumEleven | (talk) 13:57, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

You got grayscale because PAL encodes the color differently (that's what the "A" stands for -- it "alternates" to reduce the effects of noise, so an NTSC set sets it averaging out to gray). The sync failure would be because European TV has 25 frames/second while US TV has 30 (Europe has more lines per frame, so the overall quality is similar). There is no technical problem making a multisystem TV or VCR, there just isn't any significant market for them in North America, so normal consumer products are NTSC-only. --Anonymous, 10:22 UTC, February 15.

Help with Measurement

I have more than 50 such photos from my experiment. I want to measure the slope (angle with horizontal/vertical) of the end plate on the left for each of these photos. I also want to measure the length of each of these tubes. How can i do this in a convenient way (or how can I do this at all)? I have at my disposal softwares like Photoshop, Illustrator, Matlab, GIMP, Paint, Photo Editor, etc. Thanks! deeptrivia (talk) 20:37, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

If you want to measure them manually:

• Use a protractor to measure the angles relative to the picture edge. However, if the photos are randomly oriented, then this only gives you the relative angles of the two ends, not the absolute angles of each.

• Use a string to measure the length of each tube by placing it on the centerline then measuring the string with a ruler. StuRat 21:44, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I think ol' triv-man wants something lazier. I looked it up, and commercial GIS software all has this functionality. However, I can't find out much about the state of open source GIS, just this link ] Some drawing packages might have a poly-line length measurement. In that case, you would lay on a spline curve, and have it calculate length. --Zeizmic 23:36, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

On Adobe Photoshop there is the Measure Tool. This is in the same box as the Eye Dropper tool on any fairly modern version. On my version (Photoshop CS2) when I draw with the Measure Tool up at the top of the screen it lists the x and y positions of each point, the relative heighth and width change, and the angle, listed under 'A'. If you don't see this on an earlier version, you should still find the angle by drawing with the Measure Tool and selectiong Image>Rotate Canvas>Arbitrary, and the angle will appear in the box that comes up. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 12:49, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

If you try it, you should find that the angled plate is about 33 deg from horizontal/ — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 12:51, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Herbert W. Boyer

Hi, My nephew, a freshman in high school who plans to be a doctor is doing a paper on Dr. Herbert Boyer (Genentech founder Herbert Boyer, former professor of biochemistry at UCSF) and needs to know his date of birth. Dr. Boyer was born in 1936. We know that from a number of WEB sites. However, I cannot find the exact date and would appreciate it if you knew the month and day. Thank you very much. His paper is due 2/21/06 so the sooner I get that information the better. Thank you. Pat Hersom

Our article on Boyer doesn't say anything more than the year... have you considered actually contacting Genentech, or at one of his alma maters (erm...almae materis?)? Grutness...wha? 00:51, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

February 15

Important person in medicine

Who proved that fever was not a disease but a sympton of disease?

Thanks for taking your time to try and answer my quesion.

~Anna

Perhaps Foreigner (band) ?  :-) StuRat 00:49, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure, but if someone finds out it would be great if they could add the information to our article about fever. Perhaps a 'history' section, or just a note in the article intro. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 05:45, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

What are storage devices?

No Question

Try looking at storage device. --Kainaw 01:02, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Viewing Venus (Morning Star) with Binoculars

I was looking at the planet Venus February 12 with my 8 power birding binoculars. I thought I was seeing the cresent shape of it, with the bright part directed at the sun. Question: is it possible to resolve, i.e., see the round shape of Venus with such low power optics?

Rogelio2

Yes, it is. According to the article on phases of Venus, some people have even seen the phases with their naked eyes. Human eyes have a resolution limit of around 1 arc-minute, while the angular diameter of Venus is slightly larger. If you multiply Venus's angular diameter by 8, you'll get approximately 482 arc-minutes, which is about one fourth the Sun's angular diameter. --Bowlhover 03:35, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm confused...you multiply a number slightly larger than 1 by 8 and get 482 ? And isn't 482 arc-minutes equivalent to over 8 degrees ? That's huge. StuRat 05:51, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, if you multiply 1 arc-minute times 8, you get 8 arc-minutes, which is approximately one-fourth of 30 arc-minutes, the angular diameter of the sun. Perhaps that is what Bowlhover meant? — Knowledge Seeker দ 07:48, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

8 arc-minutes is around 480 arc-seconds, so I assume this is what Bowlhover meant. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 16:40, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Yea, that must be it. StuRat 20:50, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know why I'm so careless. Yes, I meant 482 arc-seconds, not 482 arc-minutes. --Bowlhover 23:16, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for the answer. I went to the reference on the Phases of Venus as well. Rogelio

Echo In My Head

Within the last 3 months I have noticed that when I click my teeth together I sense an echo in my head. When I tap a finger on my head I also hear the same thing. I can tap all over the front, right side and rear of my head and hear it. It is not noticeable on the left side of my head. I asked my dentist about it and was told it was probably my sinuses. I asked my doctor about it and he had no idea. I am 68 years old and in good health. I am very active and have not noticed any other changes in my body. Any ideas?

Perhaps a CAT scan or MRI would be in order ? Based on your age, you might have lost some bone mass and have an enlarged sinus for that reason. If so, you should know about it, as your skull might be more fragile than it once was, and perhaps some diet changes and/or nutritional supplements might be in order. Do you having any other signs of bone loss, like a decrease in height ? StuRat 05:30, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

What you describe sounds like the phenomenon known as "autophonia", where there is a perceived increase in resonance from one's own voice and other body sounds. This is often the result of some middle-ear condition. Too bad your physician was too quickly dismissive; you might ask him whether a referral to an otolaryngologist might be appropriate...--Mark Bornfeld DDS 13:55, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Article abstract on autophonia - Cybergoth 04:36, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

It's happened to me when I have water in my ear, but it goes away within a day, and I am not your age, so i dunno M@$+@ Ju ~ ♠ 23:55, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Who invented the IV?

Who invented the IV?

I heard somewhere that a black man invented the IV? Is this true? What was his name? I want to get this confirmed for Black History Month and Google is not helpful at all. Nick 04:13, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Good question. This seems like an easy enough question, but the obvious google searches don't turn up anything right away.

I've got two sources (, ) saying that the hypodermic syringe (at least in a form we'd recognize today) was invented in the mid-1800's, probably by Pravaz in Lyon in 1853. Still looking for references for the longer-duration implanted IV. Steve Summit (talk) 05:17, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I thought he was asking if a black man invented IV. Sigh.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  05:26, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Har. (Don't you know you can get in trouble four being too cute?) Nick: a google search for "intravenous therapy" and "history" is somewhat more promising, and turns up a 1996 article by D. Millam called "The history of intravenous therapy", but so far I've found only this citation; finding the actual article text might require a trip to a medical library. Dunno why there's so little information on this. I think I remember reading it was a black man, too. Steve Summit (talk) 05:47, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

No one can glean the name of the inventor? Nick NickDupree 08:30, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Ok we've got it down to 'intravenous', not the Roman '4', Current-Voltage, a Led Zeppelin album or any other of the other meaning given in IV. Now for the obvious question 'Intravenous What'? Drug use? Assuming that must have been a black guy sounds pretty discriminating to me (could as well have been a woman). Or just 'sticking a needle in your arm' in general? This site gives various options. DirkvdM 14:00, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

This is probably a mangled reference to Charles Richard Drew and the history of blood banks. Rmhermen 19:40, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

YES! That's it! Thank you!! Nick NickDupree 22:40, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Intentionally getting viruses

I've been wondering for quite a while, if someone for some reason wanted to have their computer severely messed up, are there sites out there that a person can go to to intentionally get viruses? What is the easiest way for a person to screw their computer up via the internet? (exluding physically smashing it or other direct physical ways)

Let me remote control your computer and I'll delete as many important system files as I can. I'm serious--deleting important files is what many viruses do, and if you want to screw up your computer without smashing it, delete all the files you can. I find that deleting critical files is easier with Linux systems than with Windows systems, but that may only be because I know more about how Linux works than I do about how Windows works. --Bowlhover 05:11, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Go to as many pron sites as possible. - Akamad 07:04, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

In the time it takes to search the Internet for viruses, you could have just written one yourself. In fact, take this line of destructive Windows command prompt code completely free of charge from me:

rem DO NOT RUN THE FOLLOWING LINE
del /f %systemroot%

There you go! You've practically destroyed your Windows computer now! Disclaimer: DO NOT RUN THAT LINE OF CODE. It is irreversible, and you should only run it if you want to screw up your computer for good. But that was the question, I suppose. -- Daverocks (talk) 09:04, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Can't the computer be 'fixed' (after running that code) just by formatting the hard drive and then installing windows again? Flea110 03:19, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, it is screwed up from an informational point of view -- all that was there would no longer ber. From a physical point of view, it is still technically fine, though that fact wouldn't be of much help to most people. --Fastfission 19:18, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

System files aren't really that important. You can bugger things up, but it can be fixed. If you really want to emulate the nastiest viruses delete your work files. Actually deleting won't do the trick. Get yourself one of those erasing programs that overwrites the disk space several times with junk, then let it loose on that novel you've been working on for the last six months. Obviously for maximum dispair you should physically destroy any backups you have, but this is beyond the capability of a virus so it's cheating. Unless of course you don't backup your important files in the first place. Lots of people don't. In fact I reckon most people don't until they learn the hard way that they have too. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 09:13, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I always thought del can't delete recursively, and that's what the deltree command was for. But I might just be stuck in the DOS-world. – b_jonas 12:13, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually, you're completely correct, I forgot about that. I wasn't planning to test my code out though, hehe :D -- Daverocks (talk) 08:31, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Google however says that deltree is now obsolate and del has a /s switch to operate recursively. – b_jonas 17:44, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Just turn off the firewall and leave the computer on. According to some recent statistics, you should have a virus (a worm, actually) in half an hour or so on average. A fresh install of an old version of Windows, with no security patches applied, works best for this.

If that's not enough, go online with an old version of IE and look for porn sites. Turn the security level for the Internet zone to minimum. Also post your e-mail address all over the net and read all the mail you receive with an old version of Outlook Express. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 09:31, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The viruses you get from the Internet (because you don't have a firewall or anti-virus software) really aren't that destructive. One of my Windows computers, for example, didn't even have a firewall or anti-virus software installed. After a few years, I scanned it using Stop-sign and Stop-sign found more than 600 threats, with 100+ being viruses/trojans. I just continued using the computer until it fell on the ground and its hard disk cracked--I didn't notice any difference in its speed while it was working. --Bowlhover 21:21, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The viruses you get from the Internet really aren't that destructive

That depends on how you define 'destructive'. Over the past few years, viruses are being written more to steal than to destroy. Your virus destroys someone's computer, worst case, they reformat and lose all their photos and music. No particular benefit to the virus writer, other than a twisted sense of pride in causing destruction, and a possibly pissed-off user coming after them with a pitchfork. Now, if you write a virus to steal credit card numbers, passwords and the like... you can actually make money! Plus, in this case, it's not in your interest to disable the computer, you want to keep it running for as long as possible to maximise the 'take'. Or, you write a virus to turn the computer into a zombie under your control, so you can use it to spam to your heart's content, or launch DoS attacks against a casino's website, hold them to ransom and make even more money!

The point I'm trying to make is that just because your computer wasn't really slowing down doesn't mean that the viruses on it weren't causing damage. The nature of viruses is changing, but they are just as destructive as ever and should be fought just as diligently. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 13:52, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I define "destructive" as the ability to destroy, not the ability to steal information. I'm not saying that spyware should be ignored, because they shouldn't. I'm just saying that turning off your firewall/anti-virus is likely not going to screw up your computer. It's a bad idea though. --Bowlhover 04:14, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Whatever happened to real viruses, written in assembly language? For example, terminate and stay resident boot sector viruses could make a disk unusable and unformattable. ‣ᓛᖁᑐ 03:49, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

They're not profitable, and they don't last that long. Analogies between ebola and aids - one is deadly but rare, the other takes years to kill (indirectly) but it much more prevalent. Tzarius 04:42, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I think there's a lot of confusion here about what is just malicious code and what is a virus. A virus is code which self-propagates; it may or may not tamper with system files or delete files or anything like that. Most of the really impressive ones as of late did not too much more than turn ones computer into a virus-sending machine. So simply deleting files from another computer is not really replicating virus behavior -- if there's no transmission, it's not a virus (in terms of medical analogies, it would be something like a cancer). --Fastfission 19:18, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Though cancer might be a better term, I believe non-transmitted computer viri are called bacteria. Superm401 - Talk 08:06, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Ghosts and haunted places

What is the criteria for considering a place "haunted"? The article about ghosts says: 'They may wander around places they frequented when alive or where they died. Such places are known as "haunted";' However, nobody considers my house to be haunted, yet I'm sure that at least one person died here. I mean, humans have been living on this land for...a long time (each country has its own "earliest human habitation date", and I don't want to reveal where I live). What are the chances that nobody, in all these years, has died where my house is now? What are the chances that nobody (who is now dead), in all these years, has spent their entire life here? Why is my house not considered haunted, and why isn't every house in the world considered haunted? --Bowlhover 05:01, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I think the people who believe in that type of thing say that only a small portion of the dead actually haunt a place, and usually only for a few centuries. Apparently they get bored and move on. StuRat 05:11, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

That's a problem that a lot of fortune tellers (aura readers) need to answer up to as well. They always end up saying stuff like "you were a squire in a previous life" or even more rediculously "you were Joan of Arc in a previous life" when in reality, somewhere close to 99.9999% of all humans that ever lived were complete bums, and totally not interesting. If you were somebody in your previous life, you probably have less than a 1:10000 chance of having been richer than you are now. The Hindu faith explains this better, with people being reincarnated as snakes and flies (hopefully, their aura readers are as honest). As an answer to your question, I always assumed that the reason my house wasn't haunted, is because all the people that died in it were good people and went to heaven. Mind you, I don't believe that anymore : ).  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  05:58, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

You know, I can't help noticing that there are more people now than there used to be. A lot more. In fact, we're fast approaching the day when there will be more people alive than ever lived before in all history, if we can expand outwards into space and keep our birth rates up. So, how do reincarnation advocates explain this curious influx of new souls? Are all the grasshoppers living better lives and moving up in the hierarchy? Black Carrot 13:16, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually the number of dead people increases at about the same rate as the number of live people, so the ratio remains at about 7% of all the people who have ever lived being currently alive at any given time. StuRat 20:42, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that's right. The theory is that every life form is reincarnated into a higher life form. Plankton become grasshoppers, grasshoppers become dogs, dogs become humans, and humans become money. JackofOz 13:22, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, if I really was a squire (or Joan of Arc) in my previous life, I certainly don't remember anything about it. I do experience a lot of Déja vecu's, but they're usually about things that I wouldn't have seen in my "previous life". --Bowlhover 20:28, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Also, according to wiki the average rate of population increase has been decreasing (a negative jerk, if you may) so I don't think we'll have to worry about outnumbering the dead by that much. Deja vus are cool though.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  15:28, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Are Microsoft products intelligent design or just evolution ?

I would be glad to find a definitive answer. Ta.

Neither. Evolution is a process by which organisms develop, and Intelligent design is an attempt to offer an alternative interpretation of that process. Microsoft products are not organisms, so using the terms ID or evolution for the development of those products will be only a metaphor. David Sneek 08:54, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Blatantly intelligently designed - they have about as many faults as the 'intelligently designed' human body, which has an appendix, retinas that are inside out, and a non-functional tail. Obviously, only an 'intelligent designer' could hash things up so badly. ;-) — QuantumEleven | (talk) 09:27, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The inside-out retinas however have the advantage that they can be supplied with blood easily, so I wouldn't count it as a design bug. – b_jonas 12:10, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know about you, but my retinas crash just about everytime I update my optic drivers--64.12.116.74 23:24, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Image program question

Is there a command-line program for Linux that will take a JPG image, and instead of actually showing it, output information about its properties, such as width and height? JIP | Talk 08:31, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes. jpeginfo. Notinasnaid 08:43, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Some Google searching also turned up this website , which mentioned $ identify <image_filename> will probably spit out what you're looking for. And if it doesn't, then $ identify -verbose <image_filename> almost certainly will. --PeruvianLlama 08:50, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

"identify", incidentally, is part of ImageMagick, which lets you do all kinds of things to images from the command line. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:48, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Question Regarding Radio source SHGb02+14a (SETI@home finding)

From the article Radio source SHGb02+14a: In the three times it has been detected, it has doppler shifted quite rapidly. This is presumably due to the motion of the source itself relative to us. A shift of 37 hertz per second (the maximum observed) would mean that the source was accelerating at around 8 m/s². If the civilization was sending out a signal from a home planet in orbit around the Sun, this would imply a pretty rapid rate of rotation. The Earth's acceleration about the Sun is much less.

With the understanding that I know very little about science and have an active imagination - has anyone given any consideration at all to the idea that the signal may come from an artificial body - a spaceship or a probe, basically? 8 m/s², unless I'm mistaken, is pretty close to acceleration due to Earth's gravity, the equivalent of 1 g; pretty reasonable for an artificial body containing human-style organic life. Does anyone know anything else about this signal, or if the possibility has even occured to anyone? Thanks for your time. --Brasswatchman 09:06, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm sure someone has thought about that, yes. However, IMO this is a good occasion to invoke Occam's Razor - what is the simpler explanation for what we're seeing? We're seeing a radio source that's accelerating. It could be natural or artificial. Your argument that 8 m/s² is pretty close to Earth's gravitational acceleration is not bad, but don't forget that while Earth has a gravity of 9.81 m/s², that doesn't say squat about the necessary gravitation for extraterrestrial life, in other words, just because we evolved in 1g doesn't mean that it's necessary for life. As a converse example, Mars, a place where we could well imagine life may have evolved (the jury is still out on whether it has or not), has a gravity of 3.7 m/s². Plus, let's assume that this is some kind of artificial probe or spaceship - why would it be accelerating at 8 m/s²? I'm sure you were thinking of some form of artificial gravity on board, but there are other ways of generating artificial gravity (such as spinning the ship). Also, the source has a maximum observed acceleration of about 8 m/s², it's not constant. If it was some kind of probe or ship, that would mean it was constantly speeding up and slowing down. Sounds a bit wasteful to me.

But all this is just speculation, the result is: just because this source is accelerating at 8 m/s² doesn't say anything about whether it's artificial or natural. Plus, the article is somewhat misleading - there are plenty of natural sources of radio waves, radio signals do not automatically imply that someone is sitting on a planet with a big transmitter. There could well be an object in a close orbit around a star (such as those super-Jupiter planets we've been finding in other solar systems, see Extrasolar planet) which orbit so quickly to account for the perceived acceleration (we would perceive it as such if the object's orbit were about edge-on to our line of sight), and we know that our Jupiter dumps out enormous amounts of radio waves, so these super-Jupiters could do so as well.

Long answer, short summary: unless we get more information indicating that this source is not natural, it looks like this is probably a seriously funky piece of astronomy, but most likely natural. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 09:22, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

In future, remind me to read the article before I answer! :) It appears the signal is highly erratic, seeming to accelerate at different rates, and emanating from a region of space without any known star systems. It sounds like a glitch - don't forget that radio telescopes are fantastically sensitive instruments and pick up all sorts of things which can be difficult to interpret. I can see why this could look like a signal from ET, but read the Planetary Society's entry on this - for many reasons, it doesn't match what a signal generated by an artificial source should look like. Keep your ears open about further developments on this, but it strongly looks like a glitch of some sort. — QuantumEleven || (talk) 09:41, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Regarding the use of such acceleration, I was less thinking of artificial gravity as I was of the fact that 1 g acceleration is considered pretty comfortable for humans / Earth-style organic creatures. I can't seem to find this information on Misplaced Pages, but if I remember correctly, I believe that humans can take about 10 g before passing out. Long and short of it, 8 m/s² sounds to me like relatively reasonable acceleration for a spacecraft. I was also thinking of the Fermi Paradox, which takes as part of its basis the assumed relative simplicity of alien civilizations colonizing or exploring space.

You're right, though, that the lack of consistant acceleration suggests a glitch of some sort. And I did read the Planetary Society article; it just seemed sort of vague to me on the specifics of the signal, and why it was being discounted. Why does the frequency drift suggest a natural source or a glitch? Also, why does the project assume that a real transmission would stay within a narrow band of frequencies? Lastly, does anyone know what the approximate range of the transmission from Earth was, in light-years? I haven't been able to find that information. But, in any case, thank you for your time. --Brasswatchman 21:34, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Not to mention, 1g = 9.81 m/s² only applies when you're relatively close to the surface of Earth, an altitude which is fairly poor for an orbiting body. Actually, 8 m/s² for a body orbiting a star as massive as the sun is looking something like an orbit radius of ${\displaystyle 4*10^{9}}$m, about three times the radius of the Sun. But then, there are a lot of different sizes of star, so you can't really compare that much. Confusing Manifestation 10:51, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I was primarily talking about the possibility of an artificial body transmitting this signal. One of the reasons the article says the signal was discounted was its relative distance from any known active stars. So a planetary transmission has already been discounted. Thank you for your time. --Brasswatchman 21:34, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

If it is something artificial, it seems like it would have to be fairly complex to explain the Doppler shifts. Out in the middle of nowhere, it should be tumbling rather than moving in some way that would require huge amounts of fuel. On the other hand, it could have had some kind of accident that's causing it to waste fuel uncontrollably. If it is using fuel, it will run out at some point and its signal should become very predictable or disappear forever. I'd think if it was out there transmitting for a specific purpose, we should be able to find similar sources in the same area, or at least one in the opposite direction.

It's also at least possible the Doppler shifts are themselves artificial. The object needn't move at all. Perhaps, for some reason, its targets are traveling in precisely predictable ways and it's more economic to put all the variable-frequency equipment in one place. ‣ᓛᖁᑐ 02:37, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Sail boat

I am in year five and i have to build a small boat which cannot be longer than 40cm, no wider than 30 cm and no taller than 80 cm. this boat must aslo be able to "sail" across a swimming pool. We can use a motor from a toy boat to use in my boat but i am still looking for more ideas on the motor and what materials and design i should use for my boat.

Please help. Thank you

I did this in school. I used a couple of balloons to power my boat. Drag is your biggest enemy. Is it who goes the fastest or who goes the furthest who wins? Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 11:21, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh dear, I didn't know women could be this competitive too. :) There's no reference to any competition in the question. Of course there will be probably be some grading involved (although even that isn't necessarily the case), in which case, if I were the teacher, I'd give good grades for a clever design (irrespective of what the other kids did - note I'm not from the US). But if you're ok with a fair grade you could go for the tried and tested method of a propeller attached to a rubber band, which you can wind up. That would require a sufficiently strong and rigid structure. The material doesn't have to be light. Boats can also be made of concrete. Just a matter of displacing enough water by having a hollow hull. So you could deliberately go for a heavy material and tell the teach you were inspired by Archimedes. Oh, and if the boat has to have a sail, without being powered by it (why? - that would be a really nice test), I suggest lowering it or making it very small to minimise drag. DirkvdM 14:24, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't sound like it needs to have a sail. They only said it has to be able to "sail", meaning to travel over water by any propulsion method. While a heavier-than-water boat could work, on the small end you would want it to be as light at possible, to minimize the water displacement and thus the drag. It would also be a real pain if the boat sank, and making it entirely out of lighter than water materials will prevent that. Balsa wood would work, but if you're on a budget, perhaps popsickle sticks would be cheaper. Just don't use white glue, as it dissolves in water. Get a specific water-proof glue, like a silicone based one. I suggest a raft design, maybe covered with aluminum foil on the bottom to reduce drag. Any even easier design would be if you carve it out of a block of Styrofoam. I like the rubber band and propeller design, but be sure to test it first, as it might just go in a circle. StuRat 20:10, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Well I am a teacher and i can tell you all kids are competative. Even if the teacher isn't looking for a winner - the rest of the class will be. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 17:59, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I think all kids like to win, however, some aren't willing to risk being called a loser, so prefer to avoid competition altogether. StuRat 20:10, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

But I think that although some kinds aren't going to compete just because they may lose, most of them would compete. Just as Theresa knott said, if it isn't a race, the children will try to make it into one. --Bowlhover 22:44, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

While the rubber band idea will almost certainly work, if you're trying to get there in a hurry, and are prepared to spend money to achieve it, more conventional power sources can provide more power and thus speed. Electric motors are one possibility, but if you're looking for something really spectacular (warning: and potentially dangerous and polluting to the pool) model rockets could theoretically be adapted for the purpose. Talk to a) your parents and b) your teacher before even considering this kind of approach. --Robert Merkel 23:58, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

For a safer version of a rocket follow the water rocket link at the bottom. I've seen that idea at work on a few occasions and it can be (!) quite impressive. Or if you still want to use a spectacular 'real' rocket you could just take a ribbon of firecrackers cut the back ends off and mount that on the boat. I've done this with single firecrackers and if you're carefull it's a probably a lot safer than letting the firecracker explode (normal usage). The ribbon will let them go off in succession, giving a longer sustained propulsion. Still, indeed, check with the teacher first if this is ok. DirkvdM 10:12, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

The trouble with most water rockets are that they have an enormous amount of power initially then nothing once all the water has gone. Plus they are heavy. That's why I asked is it the fastest or the furthest? If you only have a short way to go then a water rocket may well work. If you are trying to go a long way then you want a power source that can keep on going for as long as possible. I very much doubt that any teacher would allow firecrakers, but you never know.

Also bear in mind that the more complicated the design the more likelyhood of something going wrong, KISS (Keep it simple stupid) Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 10:52, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I suggest a large aluminum tube which has been made out to resemble a Submarine. Fitted with deep-cycle batteries running an electric motor.

I would use a "candle powered jet boat" (see http://www.rotteneggs.com/se/384255.html). Relatively easy to make, powerful and long running. The hardest bit will be steering the boat to make it go starightacross the pool. (PS I couldn't find this as a wikipedia article - should it be one? I'm not offering to write it. -- SGBailey 23:45, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Is $100 laptop a scam?

Is the $100 laptop a scam?

I think when the laptop as it is called finally arrives, will be nothing more than a PDA with a slightly larger screen. Yes, only a slightly larger screen.

Or should we say it as a enhanced ebook reader in the shape of laptop?

Which 100$ laptop? Are you thinking of a specific one? Is it second hand? Sold by an individual or a shop? Can't you see it (and why then)? And are those Kiwi, Aussie or Signapore dollars? DirkvdM 14:29, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

It's good to read a little before making bold statements $100 laptop --Zeizmic 16:05, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Ah, it's a specific term. I hadn't heard of that name, although I know of the project. A bit confusing, referring to the price in stead of the principle (which is....?), especially since it uses a specific currency (although there are several dollars in the world - extra confusing). Also, when the price drops (as LCD screens get cheaper) the name will no longer be accurate. How about '3rd world computer' or 'wind-up computer'? Or OLPC? That would make clear it's about something specific. Or 'green machine', although is again a more general term that could mean loads of things. DirkvdM 10:34, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

That would be severly stretching the definition of a "scam". The only problem with the $100 laptops is that no company wants to make them since they won't generate any profit. If they're only making a couple of bucks profit on each laptop, then it would be extremely difficult to recoup their losses. I think you're misunderstanding the point: the laptops were designed so that children in developing countries who could never otherwise have a computer will get something for extremely cheap with some functionality, access to the web and ability to work without electrical outlets. The purpose isn't for IBM or anyone to make money in countries like the US. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 16:50, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Of course, if it's not going to be profitable, you're going to have trouble convincing anybody to make them. Also note that the $100 full function laptop will be available, and profitable, some day, it's just a question of when. However, even at $100, many in developing countries still couldn't afford them. StuRat 19:41, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

you realize it's about as much of a computer as your average graphing calculator, and half a functional, at twice the cost, of course they could still make a profit--64.12.116.74 23:22, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I read an interview with a Nigerian politician recently and his opinion was: 1) They don't have a dire need for computers. 2) The money spent on these computers would be better spent on medication and schooling. 3) The charity organizations that have pledged to purchase thousands of these computers are wasting their money. 4) The people behind the computers are doing it just to get rich off the charity organizations that will buy the computers. --Kainaw 21:26, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Stating an argument more than once doesn't make it more true. That's all just one argument - the money would be better spent in a different way. Except for the fourth argument, but then I don't see what's principally wrong with that. DirkvdM 10:34, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

It would all depend on how poor the country is. In a society so poor they can't afford pencils and paper, buying a computer for every student is a bit silly, they should spend the money on the basics first. In a slightly better off country, like China, perhaps the computers could be put to good use. StuRat 22:21, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think its exactly a scam but iirc it relies on essentially getting parts at far below thier normal market value and/or highly comprimising the machine until (as the op stated) its little more than a PDA. Plugwash 16:56, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

tincture

Does tincture iodine help to stop bleeding?If so,how?

thank you 59.92.45.242 14:09, 15 February 2006 (UTC)emili59.92.45.242 14:09, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

it does not. It is, however, a fairly effective antiseptic. —Charles P._(Mirv) 18:27, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

ISO/IEC 15288

Dear reader,

I'm trying to locate and collect more information about the following subjects: - ISO/IEC 15288 standard, System Life Cycle Processes

- Service Aarchitecture Organisation (SOA). I've seen quite some information which is presented by companies that try to sell their solution / implementation. However that is colored information. I'm trying to collect objective information (shortfalls, problem encountered with the implementation, access control, authentication / authorization, etc) on this subject SOA.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Regards

Wim Hanssen

Phone: 0049-2451-63-3036 (work)

How much HD space does Misplaced Pages's servers have?

No one answered on the Village Pump's technical section, so I had to ask here.

• How much HD space do ALL of Misplaced Pages's servers have in total?

• How much HD space has the English Misplaced Pages consumed so far?

• How much HD space has all of the Wikipedias consumed so far?

--Shultz 18:55, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Thats a tricky question... are you counting all copies of the standard Misplaced Pages? Much of the space is dedicated to holding duplicates of the articles so that servers can act in parallel. Perhaps this tidbit on hardware is a good place to start?

Misplaced Pages:Reference_desk_archive/Miscellaneous/January_2006#How_much_hard_disk_space_does_Wikipedia_use. Basically it's a trivial amount. Mark 19:08, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

From both the answers there and the size of the image dumps at http://static.wikimedia.org/, I wouldn't say it's a trivial amount. --cesarb 20:11, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

From what I've heard the history is the kicker. There's thousands of times more space needed to store the history of Wiki than each page's current revision. I had a source, I'll try to find it again, that quoted the Misplaced Pages's servers having a hard-disk capacity third in the world, behind google and the Internet archive.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  00:35, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Well I would really doubt that but we do have a fair amount. The question appeared to be asking how much space do the servers have, everyone else was trying to answer how much space does the information take up. For the first question you could actually just go to m:Wikimedia_servers and add up the capacity listed. A quick off the cuff estimate would say most of the 171 servers have more than 80GB of HD space in them, for almost 14TB, but it's probably a bit more since some of them have 200-400GB or more. Now we don't own all those, some are just donated hosting service like the Yahoo servers. And no we don't use anywhere near all that space, but since it's not cheaper to buy a new server with a drive smaller than 80GB, they just get them anyway. If you feel like crunching the numbers let us know what you come up with. - Taxman 20:40, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Having set up my own local copy of the English Misplaced Pages, the space used by the current versions of all pages, but without images or "what links here" tables, is around 8.3 GB. Based on the expansion factors and the size of the compressed "all versions" download, a full mirror of the English Misplaced Pages, not including images will check in at around 120-130 GB. Images add another 76 GB or so. --Carnildo 19:24, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Cane toads

What ingredient in hemorrhoid cream explains why the RSPCA would recommend spreading it on Australian cane toads? ‣ᓛᖁᑐ 19:42, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Benzocaine (the ingredient in question) is an anaesthetic. It numbs the toad. Then, it can be frozen or boiled for a humane death. The issue is that people are worried that clubbing the toads causes an inhumane slow and painful death. I would like to say this is a joke, but everything I've seen shows it is a real issue. --Kainaw 21:39, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Interesting idea. I'm not entirely sure that if I were to apply hemorrhoid cream all over that I wouldn't find boiling painful and freezing unpleasant. What about my eyes? The cream would sting if I put it in my eyes, but boiling my unprotected eyes doesn't sound cruelty free. Clubbing would hurt too, but at least sounds quicker. And decapitation sounds quicker still. Notinasnaid 23:49, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Histones 1-2A-2B-3-4

Hallo! I am searching webpages wich gives the entire sequences of amino acids in these histones (for some representative species). Could you possibly help me find such links - if there are any? I have only found a couple of "fragments" out of global domains of the H1-histone. (Perhaps something to add to your pages about histones?) With kind regards

Åsa 81.216.221.216 19:51, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Searching the NCBI protein database for "histone" gives over 24000 protein sequences. I don't think adding protein sequences to Misplaced Pages is really within its scope: it's an encyclopedia, not a biosequence database. Chuck 15:22, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

(No title given)

For an ideal gas with constant specific heats, derive the relationship between pressure and density for an isentropic process, beginning from the TdS equation(s).

Do your own homework: if you need help with a specific part or concept of your homework, feel free to ask, but please do not post entire homework questions and expect us to give you the answers. Letting someone else do your homework makes you learn nothing in the process, nor does it allow us Wikipedians to fulfill our mission of ensuring that every person on Earth, such as you, has access to the total sum of human knowledge. —Keenan Pepper 05:57, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Anthropology Question

1)What kind of saw cuts best through human bones?

2)Where on the internet can I find plans for a small bomb that can kill 10-20 people?

3)Where is the best place to dispose of human bodies so that the police won't find them?

Thanks --ericder

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 172.172.164.85 (talk • contribs) 23:27, February 15, 2006 (UTC).

1) A bone saw, of course.

2) Read pipe bomb.

3) The bottom of the ocean.

4) Let us know when you are accessing Misplaced Pages from prison so we can laugh at you.

--Kainaw 00:00, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

This leaves us with the question, what does this have to do with anthropology? and does this make Kainaw an accomplice? ‣ᓛᖁᑐ 01:28, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Helping out a terrorist? Oh yes, it's straight to Guantanamo Bay for Kainaw. Which would give us an insider for that article (let's not forget the bright side of things). Just two problems (no reason for blind optimism): 1) It would be original research 2) How does he get the info out? I don't suppose the prisoners get internet-access. DirkvdM 10:42, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

1. A circular saw would be quite handy.
2. Various home-made explosive sites exist on the internet, including Megalomania and The Big Book of Mischief.
3. I'd say a better idea to dispose of the bodies would be a nice big barrel of sulfuric acid, as per the Acid bath killer, and then dump the remains into the ocean. Just make sure to remove any dentures first. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 10:59, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

question about bitTorrent

Does anyone else keep getting DivX files that are badly screwed up, and crash every 2 or 3 minutes into a giant green blur then fail completly? is it that people are idiots and don't know how to encode DivX files correctly? or is some kind of "copy of a copy of a copy" scenario somehow related to the way multiple sources are stitched together into one file? Or something else complety? also, anyone know a way to fix it? or avoid it?--DivOX 23:33, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The way BitTorrent works, the copy is completely identical to the original, so it's not a "copy of a copy" scenario. You probably have a broken codec installed. --cesarb 23:40, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, actually, no I don't, the only files that don't work are from BT, and they always die at the same spots, whatever the cause the compression fails at certian points, and the file dies, non-BT files encoded with divX work just fine, so..--DivOX 23:56, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Which BT client are you using? Did you try with another client (for instance, the official one)? Did you check the CRC of the file (some people put it in the filename), or run a md5 or sha1 on the file and compare with someone else who has the same file? --cesarb 00:18, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I hear that copyright holders have been "polluting" various P2P pools with deliberately broken files. I don't know if bitTorrent has been affected, but that might be what you're up against. Steve Summit (talk) 00:24, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

• Ok, new approach: BT will ocassionally terminate files at about 98 to 99% True; These files will be playable but degraded True; BT will occasionally declare these files "complete enough" True, so why isn't it possible that if someone were to seed a file that's been capped off at 98% could have some sort of glitch? or seam if you will? especially if there was more than one source? both slightly different? Wouldn't this also explain why older files that have been passed around more tend to be more degraded than more recent files?--DivOX 00:11, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

• also, yes I know what a codec is, very funny--DivOX 00:11, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

If you are using the original torrent file, even if someone tries to seed with an incomplete file, BT will detect it and seed only the completed pieces. They are also checked on download, so even if someone is sending corrupted pieces, they will be rejected. It is possible that the creator of the torrent file had a corrupted file; if that's the case, you should get your torrent files from more reliable places. BitTorrent will never say the file has completed downloading before it really has completed downloading (100% downloaded), so that's not the issue. --cesarb 00:18, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

And though I know you have claimed to know what a codec is, you might also just check that they are all up to date or just try reinstalling them, i.e. by downloading the latest DefilerPak or whatever codec pack you prefer. I find codecs to be mercilessly annoying and often the source of things like this, and I say this even as someone who is pretty computer savvy. --Fastfission 23:08, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

February 16

Vitamin C Crystals

I would like to know the source of the bulk vitamin C crystals one buys in health food stores please. --Marvern 00:16, 16 February 2006 (UTC)Marvern

Those are almost certainly synthetic ascorbic acid. --James S. 00:59, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Especially if they don't list some drivel on the package about how they are harvested from Tahitian noni berries or some such thing. Silence = chemicals from some labratory. StuRat 05:01, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I wouldn't say that. Organic synthesis can be quite expensive. It's a case-to-case thing. And in some cases, people would perhaps prefer it was synthetic; hyaluronic acid is usually produced from rooster combs. --BluePlatypus 16:32, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

People who buy nutritional supplements have a very strong preference for "natural" and "organic" sources, so the manufacturer would be sure to put such labels on the bottle if they could. StuRat 08:12, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Who discovered calcium and magnesium are essential nutrients?

Nutrition is the Misplaced Pages:Science collaboration of the week, and I've been doing the history section. I've got all the history of the vitamins and essential amino acids and most of the misc. details, but the Dietary minerals are driving me up the wall -- I've been googling for half an hour and I still don't know when calcium was recognized as an essential nutrient and by whom. I've decided that all I want to add is calcium and magnesium, because finding historical info on other minerals is too hard. --James S. 00:59, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

The three criteria of an essential nutrient are that it be found in all healthy individuals, that complete elimination of it from the diet leads to harm, and that it cannot be synthesized from other substances in the body. No animal can transmute elements like Ca and Mg, so if we need to have it in our bodies it is an "essential nutrient". They have been known to be part of animal and human bones and bodies for at least 2 centuries, but it may be hard to identify who first found them in animals. alteripse 19:07, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Mollies and Swordtails

I'm doing a science project on hybridizing livebearing fish and I was wondering if it is at all posible that Mollies and Swordtails will hybrid?

Please contact me at Saving your inbox from flooding

They never have before in normal tanks. --Zeizmic 02:44, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Gatorade

Is Gatorade really that much more effective at hydrating people than regular water? Isn't it just water with sugar, salt, and food coloring? --JianLi 05:43, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

It's important for athletes to replace the salts that are lost by sweating, so yes, it is better than water. David Sneek 08:09, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

It is more important for athletes that have been working hard for over ~25 minutes, that need rehydration. It rehydrates better because of the electrolytes in it that help fluid balance within the body's cells, and the extra sodium in it aids absorption. -- Mac Davis ☢ ญƛ. 09:41, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Don't know from Gatorade, but it sounds like plain old ORS (a stub alas). Well, a bit more than that. ORS uses an isotonic solution to make sure the water gets absorbed faster. When used for sports in stead of diarrhoea you'll also need the salts (as said) and sugar (for energy). But those are also present in, say, Orisel - handy sachets for travelling (which is what I have them for), one for 300 ml. You just need to add the water (so it's much easier to carry around). But that has to be precisely measured. Especiially a hypertonic solution (too little water) would only make things worse (rather like drinking sea water). The Gatorade aritcle says it contains "127 mg/l of potassium and 464 mg/l of sodium, and 59 g/l of carbohydrates (in the form of sugars)". That's a total of 60 g/l, almost only sugar (so it's basically sugar water - you might as well drink Coke). An Orisel sachet has 8,4 g for 300 ml, so that's less than 30 g/l. Which makes me wonder if Gatorade isn't hypertonic. What causes the discrepancy? Maybe Orisel stays on the safe side in case people make mistakes? The isotonic article even says an isotonic solution is only 9 g/l. So why can these solutions have such a high osmotic value? DirkvdM 11:02, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I think you may be confusing mg with mosm or mEq. Osmolality is determined by moles, not by wt. Isotonic fluids have about 300 mosm/kg, typically about 140-150 mEq/L of Na. Glucose is heavy but there is only 1 mosm per 18 mg. Gatorade is hypotonic, not hypertonic. alteripse 18:37, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

OK, here are details of Gatorade composition per L: 20 meq Na, 3 meq K, 50 g glu. In terms of salt content, this is very hypotonic. The site claims an osmolality of 330 mosm/L, which is nearly all derived from the 50g of glucose. However, this is gut osmolality, and most of the glucose will not be available to contribute to ECF osmolality as the Gatorade is digested and absorbed. alteripse 19:00, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I suspect that more sugar (and possibly sodium) is added to Gatorade than is ideal, since more sugar makes a product taste and sell better. StuRat 22:14, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Very plausible, because Orisel tastes rather salty (though not unpleasantly so, I find). That's also a commercial product, but it has a specific medical purpose, so people will easily accept the taste. So if you want to rehydrate and keep your salts up to scratch drink an ORS solution. If you like lemonade, drink Gatorade. DirkvdM 08:33, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Nutrients

This question may sound silly but still its a doubt. Iron, calcium etc are essential nutriens for our body. So can we eat raw iron etc? why?

Yes, you can eat raw iron (like iron filings). Most of it would pass through you undigested but you dont need much and I suspect you might digest enough to meet your iron needs. Trace elements need to be in a digestible or absorbable chemical state, and usually in a palatable state as well. Few trace elements (except some of the metals) exist in a pure state. alteripse 12:08, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

It's quite tricky to absorb these nutrients with any supplements. For example, calcium and magnesium are useless without Vitamin D. I find that the only way to absorb iron is by using ferrous gluconate with a Vitamin C pill. --Zeizmic 12:25, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

It is not absolutely necessary to take ferrous gluconate with vitamin C. - Cybergoth 22:31, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Calcium and magnesium are not "useless without Vitamin D" -- most people don't get as much of either mineral as they need, but most people who are outdoors for an hour or two a day generate sufficient vitamin D to fully metabolize the proper amount of calcium and magnesium. Sadly, a lot of the popular wisdom concerning nutrition is inaccurate advertising from supplement manufacturers. --James S. 17:17, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Some breakfast cereals actually contain metallic iron filings. They're called "reduced iron" in the ingredients. If you crush the cereal you can use a magnet to collect the iron. —Keenan Pepper 18:52, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Not absolutely necessary ? You can use a magnet ? No personal research please. Cite your sources. --DLL 21:57, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

This isn't a Misplaced Pages article. You ask a question, we try to answer it. You can debate it. Take it or leave it, but I'm not going to look up primary sources. (See human iron metabolism - Cybergoth 01:43, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I forgot the smiley. --DLL 20:43, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Chromosomes

Almost both sexes of all animals have the same number of chromosomes. Then why is it different for cockroches

That's an interesting–and excellent!–question. There are actually a number of different genetic sex-determination systems that crop up in organisms; there's a description of them in that article, but unfortunately it doesn't (yet) address cockroaches.

Human sex is determined by the familiar XY system. Women have two X chromosomes (XX) and men have one of each (XY). There's no particular reason why we couldn't have evolved differently. Birds and some insects have the so-called WZ selection system, where males have two Z chromosomes (ZZ) and females have the unmatched pair (WZ).

Some other insects, including those from the orders Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, and others) and Blattodea (cockroaches) have what is often called XO selection. Females have two X chromosomes (XX), whereas males have only one (XO, where the O denotes the absence of the chromosome). Our current understanding is that it is a sort of dose-response effect&nmdash;getting hit with two 'female' chromosomes is enough to trigger the mechanisms that turn the organism into a female.

There are variations on the the theme, too. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, XO animals are male, whereas XX animals are hermaphrodites.

It's also possible to have an XO human. Occasionally, the Y chromosome will be lost or damaged, resulting in a fertilized embryo with a single functional X chromosome. While most such embryos will spontaneously abort, occasionally one will grow to full term. An XO human will always be female; the genetic condition is called Turner syndrome and is associated with an increased predisposition towards certain health problems. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:34, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

• Hey, the platypus has 10 sex chromosomes. Obivously it's 5x better than people then. --BluePlatypus 16:17, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Doesnt any one have an answer for my Question?

I thought TenOfAllrades answered it. Female cockroaches have an even number of chromosomes and males a uneven number. Or wasn't that the point he made? DirkvdM 17:56, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

It does seem odd that so many different methods seem to have evolved to do the same thing. Can anyone explain the relative advantages of each method ? StuRat 08:08, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

The question was why. RD people love to say how and what and how many.

Sexes in cockroaches have a different number of chromosomes Because There is an Intellignet Desgin, that's why. --DLL 21:53, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

With a designer who can't count. DirkvdM 09:32, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Saying it's intelligent design is just a cop-out. There is no particular reason to think that a god would want to create a different gender determination mechanism for different species, so it just amounts to "I don't know why it's that way, let's just say God did it and we have no idea why God does anything". By this argument there is no point in asking why anything is the way it is, so let's just close down all scientific study and say "because God wants it that way" whenever any question is asked. StuRat 21:26, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

work at Google

Do employees of Google play & have fun all day and never work at Google?

Um, no. They play, have a lot of fun, and do a lot of hard work for Google. --Ashenai 13:07, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

See Google, googleplex, and try not to be too swayed by the lava lamps and excercise balls.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  06:14, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

"mullet" finger

My little finger pulls back toward my wrist and it has been called a "mullet or Mulett finger. What is this condition?

• It's mallet finger. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 16:42, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

DNA testing and Cotton swabs

We always see DNA samples taken by swabbing a person's cheek with a cotton-swab device-- a sort of elongated q-tip. The DNA collected can then be used for testing. My question is: why doesn't the DNA from the cotton plant contaminate the sample? Is the cotton-like fiber some synthetic that never came from a living creature? Is the fiber really devoid of cotton dna, just as human hair lacks DNA? Does some sterilization or cleaning process remove cotton-cells from the fiber? Or is plant DNA just so dramatically different from human that it's easy to screen out in the testing process? Or something else I haven't considered? -Alecmconroy 14:24, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes!

• Some swabs are made from entirely synthetic materials like Dacron (polyester). (Cotton's cheaper, though.)
• Cotton fibers, like hair or fingernails, contain no DNA—they're a nonliving product cranked out by the cotton plant.
• Swabs for analytical use are typically sterilized using gamma irradiation. This kills of any nasty things that you wouldn't want to swab someone's mouth with, and also tends to shred any DNA that might be present.
• Forensic DNA testing typically looks for a set of markers that are unique to human DNA; al small amount of plant DNA shouldn't present a problem.

Congratulations on your excellent guesswork. :D TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:48, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

SPK

I just went to an ophthalmologist and he said I have little dots on my eyes, because of dryness, called SPK. He said what it stood for, but I don't remember. I wanted to do some reading about it, but I didn't see anything right off the bat for SPK. If anyone knows what it stands for it would help a lot. Thanks!! --Dimblethum 17:24, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I found it. It is superficial punctate keratitis. --Dimblethum 19:24, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

There's an article here, Thygeson's superficial punctate keratopathy, in case you haven't seen it yet. --Trovatore 19:30, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

AIDS naming

why is aids not called a disease but a syndrome

Because when it first appeared it was not known how the different symptoms of aids (the "syndrome") were connected. See Syndrome. David Sneek 20:01, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Plus, HIV is usually considered the actual disease, and AIDS is generally the symptoms of HIV manifesting. smurrayinchester 09:07, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

toxicity of nicotine

I need help for research on the toxicity of nicotine

Here is the official Material Safetly Sheet. that would seem like a good place to start. David D. (Talk) 18:02, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

One interesting fact: nicotine is so toxic that farm workers must wear gloves. That's because evaporating dew or raindrops on the leaves can concentrate nicotine to such an extent that the amount absorbed through the skin can cause a heart attack. StuRat 22:04, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

And then they gotta find more farmers!  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  06:11, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

• And then, it's all sent to cigarette manufacturers... and people who smoke (without gloves). - Mgm| 09:45, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Bacteria

How does Bacteria doble? Aidan age:8

Check out this wikipedia page: Binary_fission. David D. (Talk) 18:04, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Here is an answer more suitable for an 8 year old:

• First, a small bacterium absorbs food all around it.

• Then it gets fat.

• Then it splits into two smaller bacteria. This is called mitosis.

• Then each of the two small bacteria absorb food, get fat, then split into two each (for a total of four).

• They keep on doing this, doubling with each new generation, until they run out of food or something kills them.

StuRat 21:53, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Right, StuRat, except it's not called mitosis; it's called binary fission (which basically means "splitting in two", Aidan). Bacteria do not undergo mitosis. — Knowledge Seeker দ 01:06, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

OK, I see now that mitosis refers to a cell with a nucleus and binary fission to a cell without a nucleus, but both processes result in one cell ending up divided into two identical daughter cells. I think the difference is pretty minor, especially as far as an 8 year old is concerned. StuRat 01:44, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

It's still important to be informed of the difference, though, just as it's important to know that the speed of light in vacuum is not exactly 300 000 km/s. Also, when we normally talk about getting fat, we talk about gaining adipose tissue. Bacteria don't have adipose tissue, so let's just say they grow. --Bowlhover 03:46, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I believe he was trying to personify the bacteria, to make the explanation enjoyable!  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  06:08, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, and make it accessible to an 8 year old. Also, growth doesn't imply "exceeding the ideal size for the organism" as the phrase "getting fat" does. StuRat 08:01, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

And I do believe you've exceeded the size of your organism!  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  14:41, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Hey, there's an 8 year old reading this! Go wash your organ with soap. And very cold water. Anyway, StuRat said ideal size and what that is is open to a lot of discussion. DirkvdM 18:08, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Crying

Are there any evolutionary biologists that have theories about why humans developed the ability to cry? Does it have something to do with triggering feelings of empathy in others? -Quasipalm 21:17, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Here's one for baby screaming, if that's what you mean. --Zeizmic 21:42, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

The original purpose was definitely to wash irritants from the eyes. How this became used as a method of conveying one's current emotional state to others is a bit of a mystery to me, however. StuRat 21:48, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Now I just scanned for emotional tears and evolution. There is a general consensus that crying must be rewarding (against sadness), and some talk about male/female comparisons. In general, it seems very iffy to me. --Zeizmic 22:58, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

• None other than Charles Darwin wrote an entire chapter on the evolution of "suffering and weeping" in his 1872 The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. See chapter 6. He also discusses crying for joy in chapter 8.--Fastfission 23:04, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

What's more than a bit of a mystery to me is how a baby's parent or carer can just let the baby cry and cry and cry before finally getting around to responding to their needs. To me and a lot of people I know, a baby's crying is distressing, which suggests it is the baby's way of getting the parent's attention. They don't have language skills yet, so this is how they get to survive. The baby does not have the ability to recognise that some feeling they're having is not a life-threatening emergency but a temporary minor discomfort. The theory that "if you give into a baby's every cry, you'll only spoil it" is, in my opinion, one of the most misguided philosophies so-called civilisation has ever dreamt up. (That's it for my rant for today). JackofOz 05:43, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm guessing you haven't had a baby to care for. After you are seriously sleep deprived from their incessant crying, you might change your attitude a bit. StuRat 07:57, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, StuRat, but I have very personal experience of sleep deprivation. My sons are 28 and 21 (almost, it's his birthday tomorrow), so it has admittedly been some time, but my memories of years (literally) of No.2's night terrors is still very vivid. Study of transpersonal psychology has given me some insights into stages of consciousness. Most parents don't have that knowledge; but all parents are humans and they have to "switch off" in order not to be affected by a baby's cry. Some people are better at switching off than others; but for those who can, the question is "whose needs are being served by me switching off?". It's usually the parent's needs. Fair enough, parents need time out, but the time for that is not while they're doing the shopping at the supermarket and the kid is crying incessantly, getting no response from the parent, and causing distress to dozens and perhaps hundreds of people. As bad as that is, it's nowhere near as bad as the kid's inner state of turmoil and terror. But somehow it's not PC for anybody else to say or do anything about this. I've just mixed up a few ideas, but the common thread is that the very best thing a parent can do for a child is to let them know from Day 1 that their needs will always be met, and that they will always be loved unconditionally. That will instill such a core belief system into them, and they will find that, surprise surprise, life tends to turn out that way for them. So far from spoiling the child, this will in fact liberate the child and enable them to achieve more of their potential. (Thus endeth today's lesson. Go in peace.) JackofOz 08:52, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree that babies should not be allowed to cry in those places, but think keeping children home until they are old enough to behave in public is the answer. For those parents who ignore this rule, surely they wouldn't object if someone goes out in public who is similarly unable to control themselves ? So, I just pretend I have Turret's Syndrome and swear at them constantly, until they leave and take their brats with them, LOL. StuRat 18:15, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

That's Tourette syndrome.  :) JackofOz 22:46, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

If everyone thought logically about their actions as they were doing them, the world would be a much, much better place than it is now.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  06:00, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but as Anatole France put it: It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion. JackofOz 07:53, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I like to think it's more along the lines of It is human nature to listen to people using big words, think about the stuff they say for a minute and then say "I don't get it, must be right!" and then go back to creating stupid babies.. But then again, I'm one of those people acting in absurd fashions.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  14:39, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Me too. JackofOz 22:46, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

are DVDs going comleatly

I just read about them doing blu ray movies and other types of new kinds of dvds does this mean that they are going to stop makig things as DVD because i realy wouldn't like that i speant years building up the ultimate colection

The new formats are coming but the players that play the new DVDs should also play older DVDs. So your collection should still be playable. The disc size is the same. Dismas| 22:29, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

That said, it's probably just a matter of time before DVDs are replaced with some entirely different format, say one that supports full virtual reality movies. Then DVDs will go the way of 8-tracks, record albums, and cassette tapes (on their way out now). StuRat 01:24, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

• I don't know about you, but I still use video casettes, and I doubt DVDs will phase out before the majority of the world population has started to use Bluray (or before video cassettes are no longer used). Otherwise, they're going to lose a lot of customers. - Mgm| 09:50, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

DVDs will go as soon as possible, if the people in chart of the entertainment business can only find a convincing replacement. They just love having the opportunity to sell us our existing favourites all over again, and to sell for a while a premium product at a premium price. Of course not all attempts at medium upgrades have succeeded in the marketplace. Notinasnaid 11:03, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

What are the functions of the nose?

Yeah, I can go back to being rude, and telling people to type 'upyournose' in the magic answer box at the left. (That's a joke, to all you 'easily offended' types. I don't want my embassy stormed.) --Zeizmic 00:00, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Too late, the imam has called for a jihad against you, your country, your continent, your race, and pretty much everyone on Earth except the imam who issued it, by now. StuRat 01:11, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I think your comment is going to offend a lot more people, StuRat. As for the question. Try Nose. - Mgm| 09:53, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I disagree. Imams have been known to chuckle. Hell while we're all wasting our time typing here we might as well answer his question and direct him to smell.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  14:32, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Noses are used for breathing, smelling, as a resonance cavity for speech, and, of course, to hold your glasses up. Nose hairs and snot are used to try to filter out many of the nasties you would otherwise inhale thru the nose. StuRat 17:57, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Noses can also be used for bleeding, counting (or, rather, being counted), pointing in a direction (the same one as all the other noses, except for mine), sticking into things (preferably other people's affairs), following, looking down, turning up, paying through, hitting against the legs of chairs and such (in the case of shoes) and consequently diving. Noses are, however, not used for breathing. The lungs do that. Noses are just considerate enough to have two holes in them so they don't get in the way. DirkvdM 18:28, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I can play simple songs on the piano with my nose.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  18:40, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Maybe if you start now, you can learn to play Shostakovich's opera The Nose, in time for his 100th birthday celebrations on 25 September 2006. JackofOz 03:20, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Is there also a version for the left nose? DirkvdM 09:33, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Not that I've heard. I'll do a bit of sniffing around to see if I can find one. :-) JackofOz 23:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

February 17

sources of error in satellite image rectification

hi, i would like a list of the sources of error in theory and practice in satellite image rectification using image-to-image and image to ground control points approaches. thanks

Miniature Golf- Obstacle at an Angle

I originally asked this question in Mathematics, but can a scientist/physicist help me??? Plaese and Thank you!!!

I have to design a hole-in-one using a bank shot at several angles. I know that angle of incidence = angle of reflection, but is that true when the obstacle is at an angle besides 90 degrees to the horizontal, such as 60, 45,30, 50,etc. Here's a simple diagram:

                                                \   ( Angle of Reflection) 
                                                  \
                                                    \                                   /
                                                       \                             /   (Obstacle- 45 degrees to parallel wall)
                                                          \                      /
                                                            \                /
                                                              \          /
                                                                \    /

/----------------------------------------------------(Imaginary Horizontal Parallel to Wall)

                                                              /  
                                                           /

(Angle of Incidence) /

                                                     /    
                                                  /
                                               / 
                                              (Start)

Thank you for your help! Please answer if possible as soon as possible?! Go Misplaced Pages!!!!!!! You may have to use physics, geometry,etc. For the purposes of a middle/ high school project for now I'm assuming under my teacher's directions that there isn't friction and no energy is lost. Signed, Sarepr91

Math was the right place, and we already answered it there, please don't double post. StuRat 01:01, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Waxed fruit

Does anyone know anything about the wax-like substance that fruit is often coated with in grocery stores? --Smack (talk) 03:59, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

From a Google search for the terms "wax-like fruits" (the quotes are not included), I found these two webpages:

http://www.toronto.ca/health/vf/vf_faq_c_q2.htm

http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/safefood/NEWSLTR/v1n4s02.html

Hope that helps. --Bowlhover 04:46, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

From this site, the most common coatings are carnauba wax and shellac ('lac wax'), though there are some others. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 05:25, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

That would kind of cause problems for vegetarians, wouldn't it? I would have thought that stores would make it known what they are coating their fruit (and other produce) with so that consumers could make an informed choice! User:Zoe| 18:15, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

If you live in the United States, there's nothing to worry about. According to http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/safefood/NEWSLTR/v1n4s02.html, FDA regulations that took effect in 1994 require produce packers or grocers to provide information on the type of wax coating they're using. This information will say if the food item is coated with animal-based wax, or if it's coated with vegetable-, petroleum-, beeswax- and/or shellac- based wax or resin. --Bowlhover 02:30, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I do live in the US, and I've never seen this information displayed. Does one have to seek out a manager and ask? User:Zoe| 23:49, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

How much power are we really using?

My question is, how much power is being used when one 100watt bulb is on, compared to two 40watt bulbs

I'm not sure I know what you're asking. The watt is a unit of power, so a 100-watt incandescent light bulb uses 100 joules of power per second, while two 40-watt bulbs use 80 joules of power per second (each one uses 40). If you're asking for efficiency, according to the article on incandescent light bulbs, the 100-watt bulb is 2.6% efficient, while the 40-watt bulb is 1.9% efficient. --Bowlhover 04:34, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

The unit of power is Watt but the commercial unit is KiloWatthour(commonly known as unit). The answer for your question:- If you use both bulbs for an hour the 100W bulb consumes 100/1000 * 1 KiloWatthour i.e. 0.1 KiloWatthour. In case of the 60W buld it consumes 60/1000*1.
So the formula for calculating the power consumed is:
Power of the devise (in Kilowatt's)*time (in hours).

Technically, that's the amount of energy being used, not the amount of power. Power is the rate of energy used per time, and is commonly measured in joules / second, or watts. Therefore, energy is equal to the power (or rate of energy use) multiplied by time. It can be measured in watt-seconds = joules (SI), or in kilowatt-hours (1 kilowatt-hour = 1000 watts × 3600 seconds, or 3,600,000 joules). — Knowledge Seeker দ 05:27, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Knowledge Seeker, I dont think you read the question. The question was how much power is being used............................ So the second anwer was right. I wrote kilowatt-hours you wrote watt-seconds. I think kilowatt-hours is the commercial and more widly used unit than watt-seconds.61.17.240.135 05:57, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I did read the question. The questioner wanted to know how much power was being used. Your answer gave the amount of energy being used, not the amount of power being used. The kilowatt-hour and the watt-second (or joule) are measures of energy, not power. Power is the rate at which energy is used, and is measured in watts or kilowatts. The most widely used unit of energy is debatable: kilowatt-hours, joules (watt-seconds), and calories are all used in different contexts. — Knowledge Seeker দ 06:22, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Those efficiencies are horrible. I knew lamps were inefficient, but just a few % is really bad. Even the modern fluorescent lamps don't reach 10%. But I see my old friend the arc lamp is the most efficient at up to an impressive 22%. Funny how the the very first electric lamp design turns out to still be the best. Being a Dutchman I shouldn't be to happy about this because it's an Osram invention, not a Philips one (the bloody Germans got us beat again). But the article says efficiency is very low for the short-arc type. So are the long-arc ones the efficient ones? And where can I get one? Oh, hold on, aren't those the ones used in LCD projectors or something? The ones that cost a small fortune and last just a few thousand hours? DirkvdM 18:59, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

"Being a Dutchman I shouldn't be to happy about this because it's an Osram invention, not a Philips one (the bloody Germans got us beat again)."

In my opinion (and this is only an opinion), the people who do the most benefit to mankind should be respected, regardless of their nationality. --Bowlhover 02:05, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Crystal habit identification

I've recently been uploading photos of various minerals I took at the Natural History Museum (see User:Aramgutang/Gallery), and while I took care to always note what it was that I was taking a picture of, there is one photo for which I can't find my notes (shown on the right). While identifying the mineral just from the photo is probably not possible, I'd appreciate it if someone could identify the crystal habit pictured, so that the photo can be used to illustrate something. The only thing I remember is that the crystals were artificially grown, if that helps. If not, I guess I could always put the picture in the crystal habit article, with a caption among the lines of "artificial growing of crystals can produce quite unique crystal habits". Thanks. --Aramգուտանգ 07:32, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

That looks like a bismuth "hopper crystal" to me. Hope this helps. — TheKMan 16:51, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Pollution in the ocean

My question is when the ocean is polluted, does the toxic "sink" to the bottom of the ocean or does is "float" on the surface like oil does? Also what are the abiotic factors affecting cells that live in trenches and how does it affect them.

Thank you

Depending on the type, water pollution may sink, float, or dissolve. The floating pollutants, like oil, are the most immediate threat. Sinking pollutants, like mercury, could be a threat to bottom dwelling life, and to us, if we eat them. Pollutants that dissolve, like bleach, could cause locally high concentrations near the source of pollution, but are probably not significant once dissolved evenly among all the world's oceans. StuRat 07:46, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

quantum physics

i would like to know how the "particle in a squre well" concept can be used to understand the energy of electron in an atom.

Thank you. mani.

It's a model. The particle in a box is easier to solve than a particle in a central potential. Solving produces some of the features of an electron in an atom. Namely energy levels. These are caused by requiring a whole number of half wavelengths fit the space. These are standing waves. Since the energy is related to the wavelength then as the wavelength is quantised then so is the energy. Although the potential of an atom isn't box like, never the less the electron is confined. This confinement also causes standing waves, and therefore quantised energy levels. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 11:34, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

inducing dipoles in non-polar molecules!?!

Stumped by this !: How can a non-polar molecule induce a dipole in a nearby non-polar molecule? I need explanation, not answers!!!

Perhaps our article on London force may be what you ar looking for. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 11:27, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Basically, a non-polar molecule is only non-polar on average: at any given instant, the distribution of electrons might not be symmetrical (due to Heisenberg's principle) and this asymmetry can induce an asymmetry in the electron distribution of the molecules around it. Believe me, it works! Physchim62 (talk) 21:44, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

How long can Earth survive!?!

Just curious:- How long can our Earth survive? I mean with all the ice-ages, global warming, pollution and lots of other goodies, i see no reson that human race would last forever. A quick answer would be nice. Please explain all the consequences. A good estimation of how long we are gonna survive would be wonderful! Thank you.

The Misplaced Pages has two articles (which should be merged) on this topic human extinction and end of civilization. Forever is a long time, and ultimately, we're doomed: see the ultimate fate of the universe (unless we can figure out a way to transfer ourselves into another universe entirely). As to how long we've got, who knows? A supernova's deadly radiation could arrive tomorrow, and we have no way of predicting this. --Robert Merkel 10:34, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

There's no reason why Earth shouldn't go on for billions of years. A bit of climate change is all part of the deal. Whether the human race will survive is an entirely different question, and you need to be sure you know which one you are asking. Notinasnaid 10:43, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

To answer your question literally, how long will there be a planet Earth?, the answer is approximately another five billion years, which is when our sun, having exhausted its nuclear fuel, expands to become a red giant and will probably swallow the planets up to about Mars. That is, unless it is hit by a really mammoth object (about the size of Venus ought to do it), which could shatter the Earth prematurely. However, this is very unlikely, as the only thing in the solar system big enough is another planet, and they're all sitting happily in their stable orbits, nowhere near the Earth.

If you're asking how long will the human race survive?, that is open to speculation. If, tomorrow, a large asteroid (say, about thirty km in diameter) is heading for Earth, there is nothing we can do to stop it, and it will, in all likelihood, wipe out human civilization, as well as a large proportion of the life on Earth (see impact event). However, life is damn tough, and will spring back eventually, although maybe not in its present form (see evolution). Maybe even some humans may survive, but civilization will have to be rebuilt nearly from scratch.

If the Earth does not get hit by any civilization-killing asteroids in the near future, humanity could still almost wipe itself out through a global nuclear war (see nuclear winter). Similar sorts of effects, pockets of humans may survive, but the radiation will make large tracts of the planet uninhabitable, and civilization will be set back several thousand years.

You can see a trend here, can't you? Humans as organism are pretty tough, it would take a lot to wipe out every human on the planet, global warming, pollution and ice ages won't cut it. However, civilization is a bit more fragile, and mass global warming or pollution would put a serious dent in our development, maybe even start setting us back.

If we don't wipe ourselves out with nukes, and manage to set up bases or settlements on other planets, then humanity has a better fighting chance. Statistically speaking, we are about overdue for a civilization-killing asteroid - an impact like the one which killed the dinosaurs happens, on average, about ever 60 million years, and it's been 65 million since the last one. No need to get worried, just noting. If we manage to viably settle (by that I mean self-sufficient settlements, not just bases that need to be resupplied from Earth) other planets, such as Mars, then we would have a sort of 'insurance policy' against an impact. However, we are still a ways away from this - estimates vary, but I would count at least another 30 years, probably more like 50, or even longer.

Once humanity has spread into the solar systems, you can take a breather - the next thing which can wipe humanity out will be the sun dying, which, as I said at the beginning, will likely happen in about five billion years. Plenty of time - by that point, it can be assumed that humanity will have developed interstellar spaceflight, and has expanded to other planetary systems.... beyond that, it's getting hard to predict anything, but, of course, the ultimate limit is the end of the universe. Current theory says that the universe will likely keep on expanding forever, ending in a heat death, a really depressing mishmashed soup of lukewarm gases. However, this theory is still hotly debated, and in any case, the timescales involved are so enormous (possibly on the order of trillions of years) that you don't need to start worrying about that just yet. :) — QuantumEleven | (talk) 11:12, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Note that having not had a major meteor hit in 65 million years doesn't make it any more, or less, likely than if one had just hit, assuming they are independent events. Some other natural disasters, like earthquakes and volcano eruptions, are not independent events (as one eruption relieves pressure), however. StuRat 17:43, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Then again, note also that we've no way of knowing whether major asteroid hits are independent events. They do seem vaguely cyclical, which is one of the reasons behind some theories such as "The Nemesis star". Grutness...wha? 02:47, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I think any series of random events will "seem vaguely cyclical" when viewed in retrospect. That is, if something happens on average every 60 million years, there will be very few instances where it happens twice in the same year (about one in every 60 million pairs of adjacent events). On the other hand, it would be just as rare for the two events to happen exactly 60 million years apart. Given a wide range, though, of say from 6-600 million years between events, most will "fit the pattern", even though this is just the behavior of a random distribution. StuRat 22:30, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

At the risk of being a bit POV - Earth will survive until the sun nears the end of its life, unless we do something to kill it first. The inhabitants of the Earth, though, are on much shakier grounds. I'm an optomist - I think the human race will somehow muddle through. But I doubt our overall level of well-being, technology, or even civilisation as a whole will be as high in 2106 as it is in 2006, given how thoroughly we've stuffed up this planet's ecosystem and how badly we';ve wasted its resources. I also doubt that there will be anywhere near as many humans alive then as there are now. As I said, though - I'm an optomist. A pessimist would not rate our chances of any form of advanced human civilisation getting through the next century very high at all. But no-one can know for certain, and no-one can foresee what advances may be made. In the 1960s the population was preparing for WWIII. In the 1970s, the warning was of ice ages. The general message, though, remains the same: do what you can to help, and hang on for a very bumpy ride. Grutness...wha? 11:23, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

"An optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist fears this is true". JackofOz 11:24, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

All my answers have already been given except for one. Considering how far we've progressed in the last, say, 1000 years, we might just find a way to prevent the Sun from destroying Earth in the next billion years or so. That sounds a bit out-of-this-world now, but so did travelling out into space 1000 years ago. Hell, we didn't even know that there was a space to go out into then. Actually, in a billion years we could develop into a species so intelligent that the solution is obvious to a newly born child. If we even bother with getting born that is. Maybe we will all live immortal lives in some information network. But then I'm basing this thought on the Internet and that concept might be considered horribly out of date in just a few hundred years. So I'd say come back to us in a billion years. Maybe we'll know then. Or maybe there will be another DirkvdM telling you something exactly like this, meaning we're still muddling along. DirkvdM 19:15, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

My partner (who got her degree in astrophysics), has said before that with the knowledge we have now and some relatively small advances in technology it would be possible to move the Earth out to the orbit of Jupiter. It involves slingshotting using both the Moon and Mars in some way (don't ask me - she's the physicist, and hey, it is rocket science). Trouble is, of course, it's a 'do it right the first time' thing - and it would only buy time, since once the sun's at that stage, it won't have long left anyway. Grutness...wha? 02:39, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Ants

I keep getting ants in my kitchen. I've tried some commercial repellants but the little buggers keep on coming back.

The article suggests chalk can help. How would I use it? They're coming up from under the house, through a couple of small openings. Do I just smear chalk around the openings?

Are there any other natural remedies that send ants back to their nest and keep them away for a long time?

I should mention that my duties as a committed Wikipedian preclude me from having a spotlessly clean kitchen 100% of the time, which may be part of the problem. JackofOz 10:58, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I recall one solution being to liberally pour boiling water over the kitchen floor on a regular basis, which is 100% natural but about as effective as a nuke... Shimgray | talk | 11:14, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Dirt isn't the problem sugar is. Try to clean up all sources of food for the little blighters. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 11:22, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I concur, removing the food is the answer. A few years back, one of my roommates spilled a very large amount of gunpowder tea all over the kitchen floor. Being that all of us living there were lazy/busy college students, no one had any intention of cleaning it up. Within days, we had ants crawling all over the place. In about a week or two, they managed to take away all the pieces of tea (basically, did the cleaning for us), and as soon as the tea was gone, the ants were gone. Unlike cockroaches, ants don't eat everything, so try to figure out what they're after, and clean/seal it up. --Aramգուտանգ 13:39, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Food is not always the problem. In dry climates, ants come into the house looking for water. You could have an immaculate house, but if they find a dripping faucet or some other water source, they could be coming in for that. Bay leaves and cucumber peels work, too. User:Zoe| 19:00, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I have the same thing at the cottage in the summer (Canada). The natural ant stuff with boric acid works great. With a filthy kitchen, you can throw this nice white powder all over the place and practice your soft-shoe. --Zeizmic 12:53, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, folks, I'll try those ideas out. But hey, I didn't say it was filthy. (Not that you care, you're never going to see it anyway). JackofOz 14:19, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I suggest POISON. Specifically, poison they will take back to the nest and kill off the entire colony. While having a spotless kitchen would keep the ant population down, it's impossible to avoid leaving a few food particles that would make a nice meal for an ant. Also, even if it was absolutely clean, ants would still occasionally sweep through the kitchen to check for food. I consider any ants to be unacceptable, so prefer "better living through toxic chemistry". Specifically, I recommend the MAXFORCE ANT GEL brand poison: StuRat 17:22, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Poison is the best way - but only if you have the right one. So before you waste your money on the wrong type, get your ant variety indentified. I live in Perth (so probably have similiar resources to you). I captured some ants (trying not the crush them, so they are easier to indentify). I then put them in an envelope and went to the Departement of Agriculture (it's a State govt dept, I'm not sure what your equiv. is). After asking at the front desk a scientist came out and identifed the ant variety, wrote down the correct poisons to use (brand names etc) and drilled me on how to set up some traps - to get the result StuRat discussed.--Commander Keane 18:42, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Assuming you don't have a problem with ants perse but just want them out of your kitchen, you might provide a better source of food (or whatever they come in for) nearby, but outside the kitchen. I'm also assuming the nest is not inside the kitchen because that would make it unlikely this could work. Then again, if the nest is in the kitchen, poison sounds like a very bad idea. Actually, if they come inside the kitchen it wuuld also be. Although that dpends on the kind of poison - what is poisonous to an ant might not be poisonous to a human. Also, I'm just guessing, not speaking frokm experience. DirkvdM 19:28, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I think this "appeasement" strategy is a very bad idea. With such a good food supply, they would increase population and spread to many nests right outside the kitchen. Then, once the food ran out, you would have many more ants foraging in your kitchen. If you intend to keep feeding them forever, how many doublings of the population do you think you can afford to feed ? As for poison, airborne poisons do worry me, but this form must be eaten to take effect. Just avoid using it as a topping on your hamburger, and you should be OK. StuRat 21:59, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

But one experience I do have is one time, when travelling, I saw a bunch of migrating ants migrate into my backpack to set up a nest there (some carrying eggs gave that away). I knew that if I'd start brushing them off I'd be finding lost ants in my backpack for weeks. So I gently rocked the backpack a few times, after which they were convinced that was a bad place for a nest and moved on. Now it depends very much on the nest if you can do something similar in your situation. Also, these ants are already settled and might need some more convincing. DirkvdM 19:28, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

When I said "repellants" in my question, I actually meant poison (it's supposed to get rid of them, so to me it is equivalent to repelling them - sorry, I wasn't thinking scientifically). The product I've used is Ant-Rid, which contains boron, and has all kinds of warnings about toxicity etc. It's described as a poison they will take back to the nest and kill off the entire colony, just like StuRat said. It seems to work for a little while, but then they just come back. Maybe it's a question of identifying them and getting a very specific poison (thanks Commander Keane). And I can see a lot of sense in removing all possible forms of temptation (but that means some form of discipline ... shudder.) Philosophically I have no issue with ants per se, but I just don't want them as my personal friends. I'm still curious about the chalk solution mentioned in the ants article. Any ideas? JackofOz 22:30, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Getting rid of a colony once and for all by killing the queen is an attractive possibility, but it doesn't always work. Argentine ants, for instance, have many queens. Those are the ones we have here in California. --Smack (talk) 00:15, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Broken Compact Disc

I broke one of my CD's with a LOT of valuable documents and pictures in it.Can I somehow retrieve the data?

Help required,desperately.

Thanks in advance.(praying for good news)

This was discussed recently, and the answer seems to be sorry, no, there is no good news. If anything good comes out of it, hopefully you will from now on be sure always to make a backup. Notinasnaid 12:55, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

• By pure chance a came to this page a few days ago:

http://www.primera.com/ds360_disc_shredder.html

On another page related to this I read that breaking the CD in two pieces is not enough to make *all* information on it unreadble. If this is not just marketing hype then you have hopes. Also take a look at this:

http://www.roxio.com/en/support/discs/destroydiscs.html

It hints at (presumably very expensive) methods used by governement agencies to extract data from a broken CD. I don't know if there are cheaper ways as well. --Gennaro Prota 13:14, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I would think the pieces could be glued back together. However, the bits at the point of the break would be lost and special reconstruction software would be needed to make the most of the fragmented data that could be read off the disk. StuRat 17:09, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

You'd have to use some pretty sophisticated glue and method for that. The way to read a cd is to spin it around at very high speeds and the glue would have to be able to withstand that. Also, I remember once seeing to my surprise that a broken cd was bent at the breaking line, which would make the glueing very difficult. Thirdly, the reading would have to be done at a very basic level (bit-by-bit without any interpretation), after which those bits would have to be 'glued' together. Actually, I think tha last bit would be easiest. And the last time this was asked someone suggested scanning the cd. You could in principle write a program that folows the grooves on that image and thus reconstructs the broken up bit sequences. It would have to be a very high resolution scan, though. And all this is just in theory. DirkvdM 19:37, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

If you don't mind my asking, how did you manage to break it? I once took a useless CD and bent it through 180 degrees, after which it released back to its original shape and seemed to work just fine. --Smack (talk) 06:01, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Questions about my latest nightmare (& where to share them online)

I wish to find out because I think I've had my worst nightmare in a while. This place to share nightmares has to also be well-visited, btw.

This last night, I dreamed I was walking up Mid-Campus Drive to Hale Library (I usually ride my bike around campus however), and when I looked at the stopwatch I usually wear, it said 10:30, but the day looked like dawn before sun-up, at 6:30 in the morning. The sidewalks were crowded, but I saw no cars on the streets. As I was approaching Hale Library, I suddenly found myself in an ill-lit classroom. There was Nicole Peck, my Psychology instructor from the waking world, and she went over what pages to read and assignments to do, and handed us copies of half-sheets going over what we're to do by the next class day.

I had trouble reading it, so I tried to use a lighting contraption (I think was a lamp, but how about a flashlight?) It didn't light brightly enough so the girl sitting behind me said, "Hey, use your cellphone. The light on that should work." Then as I was taking out my cellphone, the instructor told the class, "Class, be sure to turn your cellphones to silent mode to conserve batteries! Also, don't drink any milk because if someone has to go to the hospital in the next 40 minutes..." (and something about the hospital not being able to service their patients too well because of a widespread power outage and something else...)

AND THEN...

I heard a brief city-wide siren, and a few explosions heard 1/2 second apart from each other. I looked out the window and saw what appeared to be missiles hitting the nearby base of Fort Riley (8-10 miles away). The teacher then announced, "Class, those appear to sound like Nuclear Blasts so..." although I don't remember what she said after that, what I remembered next was praying, "Please God, ensure my survival!" before waking up.

So,

1. I don't know where on Misplaced Pages would be a good place to share nightmares, so if there are such places, would you care to tell me, please?

You could try Everything2. It is somewhat similar to Misplaced Pages, but it's not a true Wiki; only editors (roughly the equivalent of Misplaced Pages admins) can edit others' contributions. Content-wise, it's much more free-form than Misplaced Pages, and POV and personal voice is encouraged. They even have a Dream Log section, which is probably what you're looking for. --Ashenai 13:25, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

2. If nukes were to strike Fort Riley, about 8-10 miles from Manhattan, how many seconds or minutes would I have to find a basement or suitable fallout shelter?

Your first concern would be the initial detonation wave (usually incorrectly called the shockwave) which would approach you at supersonic speed... at a speed loosely described in Chapman-Jouguet condition. Assuming a very boring speed of mach-2, and a very boring speed of sound of 330m/s, you'd have about 24-30 seconds to find shelter before it hit. You might want to invest in a slide.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  14:25, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Note that this means that the detonation wave travels faster than the speed of sound. Since this is the case, you'd better hope that you can see the blast as it happens, because the blast will get to you before you ever hear about it. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 14:54, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes. Even watching the news probably won't help, because even CNN won't be on the story until at least 30 seconds after it happens.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  15:02, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Assuming it is a surprise explosion (like a terrorist sneaking one in under his coat), then we are talking a bout a very small and slow explosion. If it is a large warhead on a missile, it will be tracked within seconds of launch. So, the question isn't how long you have to get to shelter after the explosion - the question is how long you have to get to shelter after the government decides to tell people that something bad is coming. --Kainaw 19:55, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Though I've never heard of a terrorist sneaking a nuke under his coat before.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  03:36, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

3. How much would Manhattan get damaged by a nuclear strike on Fort Riley? How badly would those in Manhattan get hurt?

4. If a teacher at my university got word that a nuclear strike on Fort Riley was imminent, what would s/he say to the class???

--Shultzii 12:32, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

This is not the place for dream sharing. Anybody with nightmares should train themselves for lucid dreaming. I've done it, and being able to direct your dreams is a joy. --Zeizmic 13:06, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

You partially answered #1, and I thank you for that. Would you and/or anyone care to answer 2-4 as well, plus what sites are appropriate to share nightmares in? --Shultzii 13:14, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Short answer to 2 and 3: assuming a typical weapon used by (for example) the Russians of about 500kt, it's unlikely that you'd be killed by the blast or the prompt radiation at that distance, though you might get killed by falling glass in Manhattan, and may get some superficial but painful burns if you're out on the street. See this page if you're sufficiently curious to calculate some estimates for yourself. Fallout would depend entirely on wind direction and speed - if you were directly downwind you wouldn't have long, but you'd have some minutes at least. According to this estimate is again, not sufficient to kill you from radiation sickness in the short term. As to 4, who the hell knows? It would depend on the circumstances (whether Kansas was also at risk, who was presumed to be responsible, and so on). --Robert Merkel 13:46, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

You may find our article on Nuclear explosions answers some of your questions. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 13:16, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Creating a new ID to get around a block is really bad form, Shultzii. --LarryMac 16:49, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Part of maturing and part of life is to start fresh. No more comments about it, please. I'd like to leave my past behind. --Shultzii 17:04, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

No, I will comment about it. You were given a block for various reasons and have chosen to just ignore that. That does not indicate maturity at all; I see petulance. The reference desk is not a place for questions such as this; might I suggest LiveJournal or MySpace? --LarryMac 17:54, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Trouble with Misplaced Pages .svg images on a Mac

I having trouble with .svg images, and I don't know if it's because I'm on a mac or because of the images themselves.

For instance, if I want to copy Image:Svg.svg to my hard drive: I right click on the image and say "Save as". The filename that the mac wants to give the image is 'SVG.svg.png'. Since this is not a .png file (I assume), I erase the .png to make it save as a .svg, and change the File Type from 'PNG' to 'All formats'. However, when I try to open it, both in my image software and on my browser, I get an error with the implication that the image still has a .png tag somewhere in it and is corrupted. Specifically, if I open the image with firefox, I get the error

XML Parsing Error: not well-formed
Location: file:///Users/asbestos/Desktop/Svg.svg
Line Number 1, Column 1:
�PNG
^

Indeed, opening the image in a text editor I get a bunch of garbage with a 'PNG' tag at the top. I know, however, that the image's extension really is simply .svg, with no .png hiding anywhere.

Likewise, if I then try to upload the image to the commons, it says the image is corrupted.

Is my computer trying to turn the image into a .png, or is the image itself a .png masquerading as a .svg? I'm confused. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 14:17, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know but I tried it and have the same problem. If i save the file it saves it as a png. If I remove the extension I can't open the file. I'm using a Linux on a PC so it's not a mac thing. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 15:06, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

OK I've worked out what's going on. When you click on the above link it takes you to a rasterised version of the svg. What you see is actually a png image. On the image page (lower left of the image) is a link to the actual svg file called svg.svg. If you save that file you get the real svg. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 15:25, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I believe a similar question was asked at a ref desk here about a month ago. DirkvdM 19:39, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

What chemicals are brain cells missing that allows other cells to replenish?

I'd like to know what brain cells don't have that other cells in your body have, that allows replenishing and regeneration. In an effort to make brain cells regenerable (or regeneratable?), I'm sure medical research is in progress about it. What would it take for brain cells to replenish like other body cells? --Shultzii 16:38, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Your question is a bit, erm, naive. Allow me to help refine it a bit. Neurons (the cells that compose your brain, spine, and nerves) do not undergo Mitosis or Cytokinesis, but can be replenished by converting stem cells into replacements for lost or damaged neurons (that's why stem cell research is so promising as a treatment for degenerative diseases). The reason they do not undergo mitosis is that your brain is a very, very delicate machine. When you were a fetus, your brain went through a great "pruning" (I cannot think of the correct term off the top of my head) that carved it down into a functional unit (think of it as the human equivalent of cutting an overgrown tree into a well-shaped topiary). The cells in your brain cannot simply start reproducing willy-nilly, or it would cause serious problems with the neural pathways (with cells that aren't supposed to be there suddenly appearing). Raul654 16:45, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Lets hope the stem cell research flourishes and makes a breakthrough that I want. Only if Hwang Woo-suk's "results" were for real, and never fabricated, would this medical field have been farther along today. --Shultzii 17:12, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

DVD and software question

I am currently using Windows Media Player and Power DVD (it happens on both), and when I press the "Print Screen" button on my keyboard and paste it into MS Paint, the image I thought I would get did not appear; merely a "mirror" or paused image of the part of the film. What I would like to know is, if you don't mind, this just a way to avoid copyright violations. And are there any possible ways to avoid this? Thank you. -_LIMA 17:20, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Well there's the smart-assed answer: Avoid copywrite violations by not copying copywrited works. Or the Wikipedian answer: We don't give advice on how to perform illegal actions. Or the honest answer: Dunno.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  17:28, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, wasn't clear enough. I would like to get a photo for uploading onto Misplaced Pages. It would be under the screenshot template, and thus, qualifies as fair use. -_LIMA 18:06, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think being a screen shot is an automatic claim for fair use. That makes no sense: any copyright material could be on someone's screen, does snapping it absolve anyone from copyright? Notinasnaid 18:22, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I assume there's some kind of rule about the content of the screenshot, e.g. it has to be an in-game or screenshot of a video process. Screenshots of programs run in windows seem to be allowed but I imagine shots of your desktop aren't. Fair use requires a lot of common sense... I don't understand a lot of it myself.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  18:44, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

PowerDVD has a screenshot feature you can use that will copy the frame to the clipboard. I think you press the "T" key. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 19:41, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

And, btw, fair use often has to do with the quantity involved. Taking a screen-shot of the When Harry Met Sally orgasim scene for a Misplaced Pages article that is otherwise image-free would probably be fine. But posting several copyright images from The Phantom Menace in a plot overview would not be fine. Resolution matters too (keep them small-ish). See this template for more detail:

This image is a screenshot from a copyrighted film, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by the studio which produced the film, and possibly also by any actors appearing in the screenshot. It is believed that the use of a limited number of web-resolution screenshots

• for identification and critical commentary on the film and its contents
• on the English-language Misplaced Pages, hosted on servers in the United States by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation,

qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law. Any other uses of this image, on Misplaced Pages or elsewhere, may be copyright infringement. See Misplaced Pages:Fair use for more information.

To the uploader: please add a detailed fair use rationale for each use, as described on Misplaced Pages:Image description page, as well as the source of the work and copyright information.

Reference desk/Science You could simply try disabling the hardware acceleration. The problem is probably simply that the code which PrintScreen uses is unable to read from the overlay the hardware acceleration of video playback often uses. --cesarb 20:19, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

For Windows media player, this site tells you how to do it. - Akamad 20:54, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I've always had this little trick. If you have two media player programs on your computer, open both and get both to play the DVD. Then you can print screen all you like. enochlau (talk) 01:56, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

anodised and teflon cookwear

I would like to know the difference between the two and if teflon is normally included in anodised cookwear. thanks

According to our fine article on anodising, it involves forcibly oxidising aluminium to build up a layer of aluminium oxide on the surface. Aluminium oxide is very durable and extremely hard; it occurs naturally as corundum, and finds applications in sandpaper. The article doesn't say, but I gather that it's used on cookware to prevent scratches.

Teflon (polyethylene terephthalate), on the other hand, is deposited as a coating ("painted on", you might say). I don't think it provides any durability, but rather it resists adhesion. --Smack (talk) 17:43, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Note that Teflon can be toxic when overheated, see Teflon flu. StuRat 18:25, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

There have also been recent reports indicating that Teflon may be a carcinogen. User:Zoe| 19:02, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

And of course, there have been studies that link aluminium to the progression of Alzheimer's disease... Notinasnaid 19:37, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think there are studies linking aluminium cookware to Alzheimer's. Rather, it was when Aluminium was used in hemodialysis machines. - Cybergoth 21:46, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Does the "Teflon flu" really exist, or did User:StuRat just make it up on the spot? (I'm not disputing the toxicity of Teflon, but according to the Teflon article, it's not much of a threat, and I want to keep it from masquerading as one.) --Smack (talk) 23:43, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

No, I didn't make it up. The effect of toxic gases released from overheating Teflon was documented in the main article under Teflon#toxicity. If you do a google search on "Teflon flu", you will find 1400 matches. StuRat 01:31, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know about "TeflonFlu"... how about "TeflonStu"? :P Cybergoth 01:34, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I get 1320 hits. Looks like a dubious, ad hoc coinage, and a false analogy with influenza. Again, I'm not trying to deny the toxicity of Teflon under unusual circumstances; I'm just questioning the term. --Smack (talk) 06:05, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

using PC as a telephone and fax machine

I have a PC.It has printer and telephone lines attached.How can I use it for receiving faxes and as telephone conversation recorder.

If you have a fax-modem and are running a recent copy of Windows, you simply have to go into the Control Panel, and Add a Fax Printer. It should basically step you through the necessary configuration. I don't know what would be required for the recording of conversations. --LarryMac 17:57, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

As LarryMac stated, a fax printer is easy to add. For recording phone, every program I've seen required you to use speakers to hear the other person and a microphone to talk to them. Now that people are doing a lot of this internet phone stuff, there are some nice speaker/mic combos that look like a regular telephone handset. Just Google for "phone recording software". You are looking at $60-100 for anything reasonable. --Kainaw 19:42, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

EDTA poisoning

What would happen to you if you somehow overdosed on EDTA? —Keenan Pepper 18:57, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

• Are you just waiting for someone to say, "Your dead body would be very well preserved"? --Steve Summit (talk) 21:33, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Hypocalcemia and possibly death. See also chelation therapy and this article. - Cybergoth 21:44, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I think in an overdose situation, anemia would be more of a risk. Hypocalcemia is certainly a risk with chronic exposure. Physchim62 (talk) 21:51, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean the EDTA would steal the iron away from hemoglobin, so to speak? —Keenan Pepper 22:24, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

No. In an acute overdose, you could get low iron but you would not become anemic, at least not right away. EDTA cannot "steal" the iron from hemoglobin. I think hypocalemia is more likely to happen in an acute overdose. - Cybergoth 01:31, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

• If the dose is high enough, it would cause lysis of certain cells, especially blood cells if it got into the blood stream. - Mgm| 14:28, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

which one is first?

• does it involve:Bondary Conditions?? If Yes,Why???--HydrogenSu 19:35, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

for the in a box problem, Starts from

${\displaystyle -{\frac {\hbar ^{2}}{2m}}{\frac {d^{2}\psi }{dx^{2}}}+V(x)\psi =E\psi \quad (1)}$

,why do we solve

${\displaystyle {\mathcal {\,}}Asin{\theta }\,}$ first ,

then do

${\displaystyle {\mathcal {\,}}Bcos\theta \,}$?--HydrogenSu 19:33, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

• I'm sorry, but this sounds like the kind of homework question one might be assigned, were one taking an intro course in quantum mechanics, and it looks like you're asking one of us to do it for you--205.188.116.74 20:12, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

What kind of homework question would that be? For HydrogenSu are you serious? You appear to be asking why A + B? rather than B + A. Guess what. it's doesn't matter. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 00:29, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

As far as the A*Sin + B*Cos thing, the wavefunction can be aproximated as two terms of opposite charge aproximated by Ψ ~ e*(some const), where the absolute square of the constant represents the prob of the particle having momentum in the (+)x or (-)x direction, the constants used are A and B, making the expression A*e + B*e, and for what that has to do with your question, please see Euler for more information--64.12.116.74 18:19, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Did you know there's a limit to free questions for each person (3 in one day)? After that, it's 5 bucks a pop. --Zeizmic 23:11, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Why? Just ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {\,}}Bcos\,}$. JackofOz 03:58, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

${\displaystyle {\mathcal {\,}}Whatever!1!!!\,}$. You know what, I think I figured out HydrogenSu. If you read his questions from bottom to top, they almost make sense!  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  05:42, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

it was not a homework,but a question when I went class,I found it. The teacher said how to solve it only but seemed to miss its details ,I guess. So proposed it for study here.--HydrogenSu 19:49, 18 February 2006 (UTC)--HydrogenSu 20:59, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

• I guess my teacher wanted to solve it by technonogy. But seemed to be absent some physical meanings. ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {\,}}d(e^{x})=e^{x}dx\,}$. Its parts of expansion(by ignoring some Imaginary)part:sin* and cos* are each for:

${\displaystyle {\mathcal {\,}}d(sinx)=cosxdx\,}$ and ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {\,}}d(cosx)=-sinxdx\,}$ To Solve A．sin* first ill easily get Real part :Re{e^x}=cosx-----is exactely quite as waves' values of an observe physical property. (While writed to those,I was still some....didn't known how to discribe it...Maybe it was for fun in physics.) I suppose that when estimating some waves' functions by some real property,like group velocity(ies) and somthing like above,it might be done by taking Re{something,stuff,....}. And the other is analysing by differentiation. ?Not sure I am???Woow...?

--HydrogenSu 20:08, 18 February 2006 (UTC)--HydrogenSu 20:21, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

• I don't quite understand the question anymore, maybe you want to post the origional homework problem word for word?--205.188.116.74 20:14, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

${\displaystyle {\mathcal {\,}}Bcos\theta \,}$e sky is blue, it makes me cry ... --DLL 20:39, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I guess that kind of solution by "tachnology" involved "Re". As I know,phase velocity is waves variating up-down,up-down.... and is about that Im parts gotten after exp{something} expanding. But group velocity is not and is about Re{*}.(Thus group velocity can be differential----one of the reasons by math expressed ${\displaystyle {\mathcal {\,}}v_{g}={\frac {\partial {\omega }}{\partial {k}}}\,}$-----Maybe )--HydrogenSu 20:40, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

WiFi range and obstacles

I've got a wireless setup to share my Internet connection with some house mates. The distances aren't too big - 20 m at most, and the WiFi article mentions a range of 45 m. The furthest person didn't get any reception until I moved the transmitter less than 2 m, after which the signal jumped way up (then again, I don't know what sort of scales these things give - they're 'idiot proof' or something, meaning they simply don't quantify the info with a decent unit of measurement - bloody irritating). Now the change in distance was under 10%, so it can hardly be that. But first, there was a row of lp's in the line of the signal (actually right next to the transmitter). Does vinyl stop the radiation? Or steel reinforced walls maybe? Plastic or metal - what works as an isolator for this radiation? DirkvdM 20:08, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

• Just about anything in between the router and the target machine, other than open air, is likely to cut the range by some absurd amount--205.188.116.74 20:22, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Here's a good article. --LarryMac 20:27, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

For me, my microwave is the worst culprit. When the kitchen is between me and the router and the microwave starts up, I immediately lose the signal. When the microwave stops, it works just fine again. Similarly, I was just in NY. I leeched some guy's wireless to avoid paying $9/day for the hotel's wireless. (Thanks takahiro!) It worked best at night - signals travel better through cold dry air. Every now and then, for no reason I could see, the signal would quit for 2-3 minutes and come back at full strength. I blamed some microwave near me, but I can't say that was the true culprit. --Kainaw 20:35, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

You know, people who operate open wifi networks near hotels are almost certianly phishing for personal data, and yes, microwaves are the worst--205.188.116.74 20:41, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I know. Too bad I was just using SSH to servers I already had a shared key with. Maybe I should have checked my bank account without SSL while I was there - then it wouldn't be like I was stealing bandwidth without giving something back. Well, I was nice enough to not tunnel X. --Kainaw 03:33, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

The wireless phones are bad, too. Everything is bad. As I've said many times here, I find that a dual frequency (a+g) works best because it can work around those corners. --Zeizmic 23:09, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Obstacles are not the biggest problem for wireless communication. The big issue is something called "multipath interference." Transmitting a radio signal in an enclosed space is a bit like talking in a gymnasium - it's hard to tell the real signal from the echos. --Smack (talk) 00:05, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Ah, but that would only be a problem if used in the same room I suppose. As it happens the transmitter and receivers are in different rooms. Maybe it would help if the far wall at each receiving room was non-reflective (what kind of material would that be?). There is no microwave oven in any of the paths, so that's not it. Zeizmic, the transmitter uses both b and g (not a and g). Should the receivers also be set to receive both or do they do that automatically? And, as I asked, what kinds of materials block the signal most? Water? (I had some distilled water bottles next to the transmitter.) Plastics or metals? DirkvdM 09:46, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh, a challenge to my brain! Yes, it is a+g, with a b thrown in (slower g). Here's the link ] --Zeizmic 13:52, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I've got a linksys wrt54g, which has b and g, not a. DirkvdM 21:03, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

WARNING TO ALL REFERENCE DESK (SCIENCE) USERS

Recently, wikipedia users have answered some very stupid questions. For example, someone posted multiple questions about cuting bone, aquiring a bomb, and disposing of bodies. Why were you stupid enough to answer those questions? *Max* 22:15, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Because it feels bad to be ignored. Even a joke is better than nothing. Also, why do you not want users to answer "stupid" questions? --Bowlhover 01:21, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

because information wants to be free, and teh terrorists will know how to use google too, so there is not really any danger in answering questions here the answers to which are plastered all over the internet. dab (ᛏ) 22:18, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

WP:AGF ? User:Adrian/zap2.js 01:30, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but did we answer them well? Who knows, MUUHAAHAA! --Zeizmic 23:05, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

I answered those questions for two reasons: First, they were very stupid questions with obvious answers. Second, anyone stupid enough to not know the answers would cause more harm to themselves than anyone else. Now, if someone were to ask a intelligent questions about a crime, I wouldn't answer. An example could be: How can I hack the CIA network and make it appear to even the best computer expert that the hack is coming from someone else so they will be the one who is investigated? (No - I am not actually asking this question.) --Kainaw 03:31, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I would answer intelligent questions about crimes, like the one you gave as an example, if they're easy to answer. For your example, I'd say something like (but more detailed than) "First, find out the IP addresses of the CIA computers and port-scan them. Then, make your computer use a fake IP address to do the hacking. Finally, try a variety of computer hacking techniques, like fishing for blank passwords, to gain access to the computers." You don't have to list all the steps in detail--just a brief, generic answer would be OK. --Bowlhover 04:02, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm assuming that sample answer to the sample question is one of those "joke replies" you suggested  :) User:Adrian/zap2.js 05:19, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps you've heard the phrase "there is no such thing as a stupid question". Actually this is flawed (I think it was Dogbert who said "What sort of question do stupid people ask? Do they become smart briefly to ask the question?"). However, I saw this as a mischievous question ("trolling" to use the current jargon) rather than an inherently stupid one, and I thought the answers were suitably mischievous too, without rising to the obvious bait in the way you finally did... Notinasnaid 09:32, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Inherent in the asking of a question, any question, is an acknowledgment that you don't have as much knowledge as the other party, and you're wanting to fill that gap. That you are seeking to increase your knowledge is a positive thing. People have different levels of knowledge; those with less knowledge ask questions and those with more knowledge answer them. Any characterisation of another person or their question as "stupid" reflects only on the attitude of the person making this judgment. Sometimes you get an answer to a question and you realise you could have worked that out by yourself, but often that is only apparent in retrospect. I agree with Notinsnaid on this. JackofOz 20:13, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

February 18

Hard Drive Clicking

Hi, in August 2003 I purchased a Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop. Just lately, I've been having a problem where a clicking begins near where the hard drive is housed in the laptop. There doesn't seem to be a distinct cause as it happens both when I'm doing intensive video work and when there's only a desktop with minor background tasks running. When the clicking begins, the whole system grinds to an unusably slow pace, but a hard shut down and then booting back up fixes it at least temporarily. I've taken out the hard drive and it does sound like it could be making the clicking when I gently turn it over. The hard drive isdescribed as HARD DRIVE, 60GB, I, 9.5MM, 4.2K, FUJITSU, V40 on the dell site. I've looked there and on google but have found nothing describing this problem. I've backed up all the data I want off the drive in case its in its death throes (but this has been happening for ~1 week). I'm kind of stumped as to where to go from here. Should I bite the bullet and buy a new drive, hoping that fixes the problem? Or should I try something else first? Ideas? -Anonymous

P.S. If this is the wrong forum for this kind of question, where else should I try asking it? -Anonymous

I've had this happen to me with several hard drives. Clicking usually means there is something physically wrong with the HD. On one occasion, I was able to bring back a HD from the dead by reformatting and identifying the bad sectors, but it wasn't long before it started clicking and it died again (new bad sectors). I would recommend getting a new hard drive. Anyway, WP:RD/SCI seems like a fine place to ask a question like this. — TheKMan 03:21, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

The clicking sound is a result of strange movement in the "arms" of the reader, or possibly the motor spinning the disk. I have a Panasonic walkman that has something messed up with the motion of the laser (happened 10 days after the 1 year warranty ran out) and its incredibly loud when it scans the CD at first (which now can take up to 10 minutes depending on the CD). Still going strong though, 1 year later! Generally, though, this kind of problem will get worse if you don't do anything about it, and with hard-drives as cheap as they are now, I'd say you're best off buying a new one. You could always keep the old one hanging on as a slave, and use it for storing non-essential stuff.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  05:40, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I also had that with a hd that kept on crashing. You bought the thing 2 1/2 years ago. Maybe there's still a warranty on it. In the EU that has recently been made into a general law that effectively makes manufacturer's guarantees invalid, so don't be fooled if the supplied warranty states something like one year - ignore that. I believe that for computer equipment the period is 2 or 2,5 years, so you might just be in luck if you're quick enough. Make sure you follow the rules, though, such as returning the equipment to wherever you bought it, not to the manufacturer (a mistake I once made). The again, something bigger than a 60 GB hd wouldn't cost too much. DirkvdM 09:59, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately I'm in Japan, which means no-one really questions the validity of things like warranties, and they don't complain about them either. Then there's the fact that a 3 year warranty here probably costs 3 times what it would in Europe... they make good money.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  10:50, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Interesting, I also have a Fujitsu HD (40GB, model MHS2040AT) in my laptop, from around the same timeframe (bought in June 2003) and it's been doing the clicking/crashing thing for about a year and a half now, usually after 24-48 hours of uptime. I've found that if it starts happening if I leave the computer unattended for a while, I will come back to a blue screen STOP error (in Windows 2000), does that happen to you as well? I've started backing up all my data to an external drive, in case the Fujitsu finally kicks the bucket. Maybe you should install a Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology program and see if any of the values are dropping into dangerous territory. If I don't immediately pull the plug when I hear the clicking, the "Load/Unload Cycle Count" usually drops by a point or two (now at 46/100), and from one episode the "Current Pending Sector Count" fell to 90. I'm not completely sure what those values actually mean, but low values are a Bad Thing. I'm just amazed my HD still works after all that time. --pj

AFAIK, pending sector count is bad blocks, and head load/unload is what's doing the clicking — the head going to its parking place and back. With SMART, lower numbers are worse, so if the number reduced, it's not a good thing (note, however, that some of these numbers fluctuate a bit; that's normal). If your SMART tool can show the raw values, the raw value for pending sector count is the number of bad blocks. --cesarb 12:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for all the input. Unfortunately the entire computer is no longer under warranty and I live in Canada. Yeah, I also return to a bluescreen when I'm away for a while (I assume it did its clicking thing then died). Every time the clicking has happened while I'm near the computer I've shut it off manually. Mostly I just want to be 100% sure its the drive before I buy a new one. I'm 98% sure, as its not the CD/DVD drive (the sound's not coming from there) and there's no other moving parts AFAIK. The reason I have any doubt is that the computer slows to a crawl when it happens, which doesn't seem like something that should be associated with a hard drive failure to me. I'll try that diagnostic tool and see what I can see though. Thanks everyone. -Anonymous

With my most recent hard drive crash a few months ago, my laptop's hard drive started clicking, crashed, and was unable to properly start up again. I was able to remove the hard drive and hook it up to my desktop to backup my data. While I was able to get all that I needed, my desktop slowed to a crawl whenever the bad HD was accessed. I tried reformatting that HD, but to no avail. (good thing I let the salesman talk me into an extended warranty). — TheKMan 18:34, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Ok I just installed a SMART, and without the clicking happening the first thing it noticed is that after a cold boot the HD temp quickly rose to 47 deg C. The SMART tool by default sets off an alarm at anything over 42 deg C. Any processing beyond simple web browsing brought the temperature up by a couple more degrees. So, another question arises - is this a drive failing on its own or has it been baked to the point of failure by a faulty cooling system? I don't want to install a new drive only to bake that one too. To cover the simple stuff, the fan is free from clogging and the laptop is elevated ~ .5 cm off a hard surface by its feet for airflow. Where would you go from here? -Anonymous

Some kinds of hard drive problems do cause its temperature to rise. Also, slowing down the computer to a crawl if the harddisk is dying is normal and expected, because of the multiple retries required to read a single cluster (these same retries are associated with the clicking). However, it's also possible that the high temperature is normal for your system, only that you never knew; and yes, high temperatures can also be the cause of premature disk failure. --cesarb 13:55, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

House question

On watching a recent (for the UK) episode of House, I'm left with a "why didn't they catch this much earlier?" feeling. The patient, it eventually transpired, had been exposed to a radioactive source which had killed his bone marrow, devastating his immune system which in turn caused or permitted all the other complex symptoms that had vexed the team for the first three quarters of the show. But, I'm left asking, wouldn't this have caused a huge drop in the patient's white cell count, something that would be apparent from his CBC. If ER is anything by which to judge, CBCs are thrown around whenever a patient has anything wrong with them (bar a few obvious meatcleaver-to-the-brain things). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 03:07, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

(Oh, I forgot to actually ask the question...) So, would they have done a CBC, and if so why wouldn't the CBC catch the white cell problem? Medical complications or dramatic licence? -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 03:08, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm not an expert in radiation poisoning (and I don't watch this show) but... the doctors would likely have done a CBC. Yes, CBCs are "thrown around' often and yes, it would show a low white blood cell count (WBC). It is possible that the drop in WBC is a delayed effect and only appeared after a couple of days. Also, there are many causes of low WBC, radiation sickness not being the most common. - Cybergoth 03:36, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Didn't see the show, but... You can't get into a hospital without a CBC. Downright impossible. And one will likely have one repeated at least weekly while hospitalized. But the WBC count might not drop for several weeks after an acute massive radiation exposure. So I think they might have managed this OK (unless he was getting infections before the neutropenia appeared). (See here for info on acute radiation syndrome. I can see how it might be perplexing if there was no reason to suspect radiation exposure. - Nunh-huh 05:28, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

It's the sort of mistake that can easily happen if you let Bertie Wooster run your hospital. Grutness...wha? 07:31, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Lucid dreams

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning and go back to sleep again, I enter a lucid dream while being fully aware that this is a dream. I could end the dream whenever I wanted. (By the way, I wasn't trying to induce the dream--it just occured.) Two questions regarding this:

1. Can most lucid dreamers end their dreams voluntarily?
2. How did I accurately estimate the time that was passing in the real world, while still dreaming?

--Bowlhover 03:45, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

This is the most common time for people to be able to control their lucid dreams. In fact, you can be dreaming when more-or-less awake at this time. These dreams can be easily "killed" by just opening your eyes a fraction. Someone with more knowledge will be able to tell you more, but I suspect that the opening of the eyes triggers a change in brainwave rhythms. The tricky one - and still a controversial one - is lucid dreams at other times of the night. Even their very existence is questioned by many, and not a huge amount is known about them. Grutness...wha? 07:35, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I can only speak from my limited personal experience of lucid dreams. (1) I have read that you can just repeat your own name, although I have never tried this. Forcing my eyes open usually works, but more usually I jump from a high window or in front of a train. (This wakes me with a jump and is not very pleasant, but it is quick and effective.) (2) In my experience this is very difficult. Time seems to have quite different rules in dreams. --Shantavira 17:34, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Answer to question 1: In general, yes. I don't try to induce lucid dreams, nor have I had many, but the easiest thing to do in one (for me) is to wake up, by just "opening my eyes". It's a weird "opening my eyes", like I can control the eyes of me in my dream and my separate real-life eyes. I'm sure more experienced lucid dreamers can do it. Answer to question 2: I've tried to do this. It's definitely not possible for me. In one lucid dream, when I looked at my watch, the time on it was frozen, except when I looked away and looked back, then the time was completely different. So that doesn't accurately allow me to measure time. There are some very good lucid dreamers out there, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone managed to do it after a lot of practice. I've found that everything feels like it's going too fast in lucid dreams, and that I don't have much time to do whatever I want. So that might mean something. -- Daverocks (talk) 03:09, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Watertight compartments?

On the watertight compartments of a Chinese junk:

Another characteristic of junks, watertight compartments allowed to reinforce the ship structure and to preserve its integrity even in case of holing. This innovation was recognized and adopted in the West during the 18th century.

"As these vessels are not to be laden with goods, their holds may without inconvenience be divided into separate apartments, after the Chinese manner, and each of these apartments caulked tight so as to keep out water" (Benjamin Franklin, 1787).

Have any scholar ever examined these compartments? If you want to build REAL watertight compartments, you need to make them almost as thick and water-tight as the ship's hull. It takes much less money if you only build "livingroom-like compartments" but they are useless if the ship's hull breaks as thin walls might not be able to withstand the water pressure at its lower part.

A small wooden boat may benefit from thin and cheap compartment walls. However, if you build a ship as large as Zheng He's "Treasure Ships", you need really thick and sturdy walls. Otherwise, the walls may break or move under increased water pressre. The inner walls may not need to fight the crushing waves, however, they still need to withstand static water pressure. -- Toytoy 04:03, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I think you yourself just provided the answer. A localised blow is much more destructive than an evenly spread constant presure. The hull would have to withstand the latter (including icebergs, preferably), whereas the compartment wall would only need to withstand the former. And the cargo area of a sailing ship doesn't usually go deeper than a few metres. I see a bigger problem with doors, if these spaces are indeed to be used as 'apartments'. Water would likely seep through, so it would only buy people some more time (which can still be a big lifesaver, though). Of course, the doors (and fittings and such) could be made water resistant, but combining that with ease of use as a door could be costly. Don't know, just guessing. DirkvdM 10:12, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Most ships are also equipped with pumps, so can stay afloat indefinitely so long as the pumps can remove water as fast as it seeps in. StuRat 17:20, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I just wonder how could they, in the 15th century and with only wooden boards available, built so many large seaworthy ships. Personally, I don't think these compartments were watertight. To make a large ship truly seaworthy, you must make the compartment walls reasonably waterproof and be able to withstand at least static water pressure. With only human power, pumping out water could only help so much. It takes much more time, money, expertise and materials to build watertight compartments than livingroom-wall compartments.

A ship's hull can withstand pressure because it's shaped like an arch. However, compartment walls are flat and subject to a very strong shear force at their joints between the wall and the inner hull. You can always strengthen the joints but ... . I guess these ancient ships were only able to travel near land. If anything went wrong, people jumped into water and tried their best to swim or got eaten by sharks. -- Toytoy 01:24, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Indeed lots of ships were wrecked and that may be one reason they stayed close to shore. So that made the voyages to America rather dangerous, especially when they didn't even know there was a continent there. The Vikings had the advantage that they could island-hop there. DirkvdM 10:13, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Scripts

I've already asked a much more specific and well worded question on the general help desk, but I have little confidence in their answering abilities and thus I will ask a different, and very noobish question here which will probably serve much better purpose.

Why isn't wiki recognizing my .js .css etc. code as real code?  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  04:58, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

No, this doesn't seem to be the real problem actually. Ugh nevermind.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  05:25, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Economical thikness of insulation

I wont equation to how calculate economical thikness of insulation

In English, it sounds a little bit rude to say "I want blah blah". Maybe you should ask your question like this: "I was wondering how to calculate the economical thickness of insulation. Can anyone help me?"  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  13:45, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Give the guy a break. Obviously his English isn't too good and maybe he even had to work up some courage to ask this in English. And if he's Japanese there's a good chance he won't dare come back again after being told off like that. Or she, of course. :) DirkvdM 19:04, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I can't give a specific answer, but let me bring up some issues. This is an optimization problem, and the results will depend on how precisely you define the problem. If, for example, you choose to buy the amount of insulation which will pay for itself in the shortest time period, then you will want a relatively small amount of insulation, perhaps even none, if your home is already reasonably well insulated. If, on the other hand, you want to save the most amount of money total and plan to live there for many years, then more insulation might be in order. Factors that would go into the decision are the cost of insulation, the projected future cost of heating and air conditioning the home, the current level of insulation in the home, the effectiveness of the new insulation, the cost of installation, how long you expect to live in the home, projected future climate in the area, projected increase in resale value of a better insulated home, and the cost of the money used to pay for the insulation. The cost of money would be interest if you are borrowing it, or the opportunity cost, otherwise. StuRat 17:11, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Battery types

What would happen if you used an (old style, probably not very intelligent) Ni-Cd battery charger to charge NiMH batteries? Ojw 12:46, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

The really old and slow chargers are ok, since they just trickle the current. Much worse are the high-speed nicad chargers. As with all such batteries, the real damage occurs when you overcharge. Since these batteries are expensive, I would get a good charger. I found that the best are ones that monitor each battery, and are relatively fast (1 hour). --Zeizmic 13:57, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

How intelligent can a battery charger be? Now if you were talking about a smeggin' toaster, that would be different. :) DirkvdM 19:07, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

A battery charger built into a device which will remain nameless on the basis of being an imminent gift. Which explains why I have the NiCd charger, although I have have no idea whether it's more intelligent than (say) an nVidia driver... It's missing batteries, and I have loads of NiMH ones laying around, which explains the choice of battery. While I understand the most "sensible" answer is to buy a replacement for one of the items, that would presumably involve non-zero cost. Hence, my wondering if they can safely be used together. Ojw 21:04, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

If you have loads lying around, why don't you just try? Are you afraid the charger could be damaged? Also, I still don't get what you mean by 'intelligent'. I've heard some misuse of the term but this sounds ludicrous. I thought you were joking. Do you mean to ask if it could detect what type the batteries are? That's not intelligence. At most it's intelligently designed and even that is an overstatement (and no, I'm not referring to some born again creationism :) ). DirkvdM 10:20, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

L vs Lx

Since this specifies linear momentum, Ρx = -iħδ/dδ in terms of x the component, and since the wave function is also specified to the quantum number nx shouldn't L actually be Lx?--64.12.116.73 14:28, 18 February 2006 (UTC) (not really a question, just hoping someone will see this, and consider rewording the article)

HTML comment revealed. If you mean L_x, it is in the 2 and 3 dimensional cases; in the one-d case, there is no point to the subscript since there is only one L to keep track of. Please put this kind of comment on the Talk page for the article. GangofOne 20:50, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

linear momentum derivation

Why isn't linear momentum specified explicitly? Based on the derivation shown, the starting point was obviously Ρx, yet it just shows the Ĥnx = -(ħ/2m)*(δ/dδ), without even mentioning that this is derived from the linear momentum operator, Ρx = -iħδ/dδ, why is that?--64.12.116.73 14:34, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Because it was written by someone else who didn't think of it. That would be a reasonable addition. Please add it. GangofOne 20:50, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

potential energy diagram

Is this really the best diagram for the article? I mean it doesn't even show the infinite potential zones, it mentions them in the caption instead--64.12.116.74 14:42, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I mean really, 10 minutes in Windows PS... , , --64.12.116.74 15:23, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Hi there. This is a page for questions on science, not comments on science articles. If you'd like to fix something that's not so good in article, you can fix it yourself! Just click the edit tab at the top of any page. You could even upload a better image than the one we have, as long as you make sure you have the right to do so under the GFDL. Anyway, if you edited the article yourself it would actually be much easier to see what you're talking about—small errors are very hard to find in a big article when I don't know where to look, but you've already found them! :) Thanks for your help. -- SCZenz 17:24, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

• Well, the first 2 are questions, even if the 3rd is really more nitpicking than question--64.12.116.74 18:01, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Your comments are good, put them on the talk page; here they will probably not be seen by people interested in that article. Or like SCZenz said, just fix the article. Thanks for your contributions. GangofOne 20:50, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

formatting (sidebar)

You really shouldn't blame me for it. You might want to use a less specific pronoun. Perhaps they, or even better just refer to the article in the 3rd person.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  15:20, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

fixed ;)--64.12.116.74 15:26, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

And do me a favor and don't use header tags (===header===) for each individual reply. It makes the table of contents at the top much bigger than it has to be, and your question isn't that long. Simply use bold text '''bold text here''' if you want to separate the text with titles.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  16:12, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

• They're 3 seperate questions, why shouldn't they have 3 seperate headers? The only reason I even put them as sub-headers is because they all relate to the same article--205.188.116.74 17:14, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Painless suicide

User:Ashenai deleted many of the responses here, in such a way that it was impossible to restore normally, so I put them back in a new thread: Misplaced Pages:Reference_desk/Science#Painless_suicide_2. DirkvdM 10:30, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Is there any easy, painless way to suicide? How about getting unconscious--is there any easy way to do that? I'm not trying to be stupid--these questions are very serious. --Bowlhover 18:14, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Consult a doctor. -Quasipalm 18:16, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

This coincidence thing is really starting to scare me. I just finished watching the film MASH. You know, with the title song suicide is painless. And now this question. Please tell me you're from the Netherlands or thereabouts and watched it on rtl7, so there's a perfectly rational explanation and I can sleep again. Anyway, in that film the dentist commits a fake suicide with a 'black pill'. DirkvdM 19:29, 18 February 2006 (UTC) (edited: Ashenai 00:05, 19 February 2006 (UTC))

It is easy to understand painful suicides. These people are in enough emotional pain that physical pain is not a problem. Often, suicidal people cut and burn themselves. A theory is that the physical pain temporarily distracts them from the emotional pain.

--Kainaw 19:54, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Have you considered therapy? Or is this for a book or something? Black Carrot 20:20, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I once started to seriously, intellectually contemplate suicide; how to do it, effectiveness, etc. Once you start dwelling on it, it means that you are really low on serotonin, and going into a deep, black hole. Usually, at the same time, you are drinking a lot. This happens to many intellectuals of northern European descent, and gets bad after 40. Luckily, now, there are some very simple pills for this (which I take). But you have to take the first step and see a doctor about it. I think we saved the life of a friend, by convincing her to go to a doctor. However, there are so many people walking around that are self-medicating (alcohol, drugs), and are too proud to seek medical attention. --Zeizmic 20:39, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

This question is not for a book, nor have I heard the song "suicide is painless". I really do want to die. (Sigh.) It depends on how well tomorrow turns out. I've been having a lot of stress lately, but my stress level tripled today due to a huge argument with a family member and extortion from that family member. Maybe slicing apart a major artery is the best way to die, since it's so easy to do and is not very painful (right?). Anyways, I haven't thought about consulting a doctor or having therapy, since this is a family issue.

My life has been very coincidental these days, too. While I'm struggling to deal with stress, my friend is struggling to deal with sadness--one of his close relatives died yesterday. --Bowlhover 21:38, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Seriously, don't kill yourself. Try running away instead. If you have nothing to live for, you have nothing to lose, right? Pick a country you've always wanted to see and go there, make a new life for yourself. —Keenan Pepper 21:51, 18 February 2006 (UTC) (edited: Ashenai 00:05, 19 February 2006 (UTC))

I think the response to this reflects very badly on the Reference Desk. I can only recommended some kind of emotional support charity like the Samaritans (charity). Sum0 23:52, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Please note: I have heavily edited the responses to this question. I sincerely apologize for having edited other people's comments. This was a moral imperative for me. Anyone is welcome to put the responses back; I will not edit them again. But I would humbly plead that you don't.

Bowlhover: please seek professional help. The problem is probably a chemical issue in your brain; things are not as bad as they look. There is help. --Ashenai 00:05, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Of course, I'm not considering suicide just because of an argument. I've been considering it for a long time, and the argument is only another reason for wanting to do it. I don't have any problems with therapy--it's just that, in my situation, having a therapy is impossible. Also, carbon monoxide and cyanide are good ways to die if I can access them easily, but unfortunately I can't. I need a method that uses things which are easy to obtain. --Bowlhover 00:24, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I also think we have the moral obligation to assist the individual if the individual wants to, just as long as it isn't frivolous. See Right to die. Why do you want to commit suicide? Elle _{vécut heureuse} (Be eudaimonic!) 00:26, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the Right to die. I also believe that it is impossible to properly diagnose a person over the Internet, especially if the people doing the diagnosing are laymen. This isn't like someone stumbling into an article and writing well-intentioned nonsense. Anti-elitism is all well and good, but let's keep a sense of perspective, here. --Ashenai 00:30, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Bowlhover, before you decide anything, think of this. You mention your friend's sadness ofer his recent loss. If you commit suicide, what will that do to him? He needs your support at this time - the last thing he would need is for you to die as well. Ashenai is right about internet diagnosis, but I suspect that you live in a nortehrn hemisphere country, and if so, you may well be feeling some of the effects of the lack of sunlight at this time of year, which can affect your brain chemistry and does increase perceived stress considerably (it's called Seasonal affective disorder). Don't be afraid or ashamed of asking for professional help - believe me, as a S.A.D. sufferer myself, it helps a lot. Grutness...wha? 00:33, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I want to make sure I understand this... You feel morally superior to everyone else so you are tasked with the requirement to censor information available to everyone else? In my opinion, that is simple stupidity. --Kainaw 00:34, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Huh? I never censored anything! Grutness...wha? 00:42, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

My reply was separated from the "I'm deleting responses" message earlier. Deleting other's responses is censorship. --Kainaw 00:47, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I think you misunderstand. I do not feel morally superior to anyone. I'm not even sure the term "morally superior" actually means anything. I am tasked with the requirement to follow my moral imperatives, just like everyone else. And that is what I have done. --Ashenai 01:12, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I also agree with the right to die. But I profoundly disagree that it is anybody else's moral obligation to help them do so. If anything, we have a moral obligation to try to dissuade them. Proferring "helpful" suggestions about how to go about suicide in a forum like this is obscene, and could very well be illegal. JackofOz 00:40, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Bowlhover, please think of all the good reasons to stay with us. The list is far longer than your present problems. This too shall pass. JackofOz 00:40, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

It is not illegal in any way to explain the common methods of suicide. It is also a matter of opinion to consider it obscene. I find censorship obscene. Telling someone who is obviously hurting that you are superior and they are inferior (which is the primary message of censorship) is in no way helpful. Providing answers to all of their questions - even the ones you disagree with - is a way to get communication going and bring a person to talk about their feelings. As it is, this thread has become nothing but a push to tell someone they aren't worthy of answers and their feelings don't matter because they will pass. How pathetic. --Kainaw 00:46, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I fully support Ashenai's actions. For the record, it is illegal in Australia to advise people how to commit suicide. I can only suggest that Bowlover seek counselling as soon as possible. Most Yellow Pages contain numbers for urgent counselling and I suggest you give such a service a call. Capitalistroadster 01:20, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Kainaw, of course it is a matter of opinion whether something is obscene. Just as it is a matter of opinion whether someone's response to a question is censorship. If somebody posted a question saying they were thinking of destroying a building and all of its occupants, and wanting to know the best method, would you just offer a suggestion? I certainly hope not, and I would never call that censorship.

Suicide is a fairly emotional issue, particularly for those of us who've lost loved ones this way (and I speak from bitter experience here). I think it helps to keep in mind that, whatever disagreements we may with others' responses, it is not a case of anybody being "morally superior" to anybody else. JackofOz 01:59, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Deleting someone's response is, by definition, censorship. That is not a matter of opinion. That is a simple fact. The reason given for the deletion was "moral obligation". That means that the deleter felt his/her morals were superior to mine and it was his/her obligation to undo anything supported by my morals. That is, by definition, moral superiority. There is no room for argument here. It is a very simple case of censorship based on moral superiority. --Kainaw 03:40, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't understand why people are saying this question should not be answered. Misplaced Pages is "The 💕", and information should be freely provided, no matter for what purpose. If someone asks how to make a bomb, we tell them to the best of our ability how to make a bomb. If someone asks what's a painless way to commit suicide, we tell them. Of course people will urge that person not to commit suicide, but there's no reason not to tell them how. It's pointless trying to keep general information like this a secret. The answer to the question is yes, there are (physically) painless ways to kill yourself, including cyanide, carbon monoxide, and drug overdose. —Keenan Pepper 03:53, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I didn't ask a question about how to destroy buildings. Destroying inhabited buildings is illegal, while suiciding is not (at least not where I live). Of course, I strongly support "right to die", and I've supported it even before I thought about suiciding. Not allowing someone to kill himself/herself is as irrational as toturing someone to make them confess. Why can't someone suicide?

If I reveal my age, will everybody treat me differently? I know the answers to this question are going to be very biased, but I'm going to ask anyways. --Bowlhover 03:56, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Regardless of your age, my answer is the same: you can kill yourself painlessly. I also feel, as I stated originally, that someone who is contemplating suicide is in serious emotional pain. This isn't a case that can be cured with messages like "you shouldn't think about killing yourself" or "things will get better if you give it time". From my personal experience, my worst times have been followed by my best times. But, I will not tell anyone that things will get better. I will not tell them that they don't have the right to kill themselves. I will only answer their questions to my best ability and hope they ask something that will allow me to provide them with constructive help. --Kainaw 04:08, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

The great thing about suicide is that it's not one of those things you have to do now or you lose your chance. I mean, you can always do it later. —Harvey Fierstein

The man, who in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today, would have wished to live had he waited a week. —Voltaire

Which is why he shouldn't have waited another week, because doing so would mean another week of pain. Anyways, I know that it is my decision whether I want to suicide or not. I'll wait until tomorrow and see what happens. --Bowlhover 04:48, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Why wait? What is there to wait for? I know - that isn't what the moral elite want to ask. But, I've been there and that is what needs to be asked. If there is something inside that wants to wait one more day, what does it want to wait for? Is it just the anamlistic yearning to survive or is there actually something there? Only by understanding why part of you wants to die and part of you wants to live can you understand yourself. For me, I found that I was torn up by desire to change everyone around me. I was in such pain that I couldn't do anything. Then, it just hit me - if I got rid of the desire, I could get rid of the pain. Amazingly, it worked. But, I wouldn't have even thought about it if nobody ever asked me why I was sitting around so depressed and not just getting it over with. --Kainaw 05:05, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Bowlhover, I think that what Kainaw is trying to say is that if you give yourself a break and think about what's making you feel bad, and open up to people about how you feel (like youre doing here) then you can sort of figure it out, and you'll feel better. Let go of those depressing thoughts. What do you need them for? The trick is then to let yourself feel better. Letting yourself feel better means giving your brain a little rest, and let nature take over. Youre a creature of nature, and if you let yourself listen to what your nature wants to say your spirits will get bettter. For me that means keeping my mind and body busy and healthy. Getting out and walking around can help. Its not about "avoiding" the things that get you down, but treating depressing thoughts for what they are --just thoughts. Thoughts are just thoughts. Your life is much more than that. People are mostly good --thats what makes life worth living (for me anyway). Hope peoples comments and responses to you have been helpful. :) -Ste|vertigo 05:28, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I'll just mention my basic "sanity check" when I think about suicide: If there is anyone who would be upset, angry, irritated, inconvienced, alarmed, or otherwise emontionally (or even physically) harmed by me killing myself, then it is not right for me to do so. I could only kil myself if I was sure that it would harm no-one else. The reasoning for this is as follows: It is bad to cause unnecessary harm to anyone, myself or anyone else. It is not directly bad to suffer - it's unpleasent, but it may be useful, so it's not a obvious bad thing - so, my suffering should count less than anyone else's - killing myself is only an option if it would not harm anyone else. I don't know if this will be helpful. JesseW, the juggling janitor 09:56, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Here's my opinion on suicide: if I suicide and leave a note explaining why I did so, I'm sure my relatives/friends will understand me. They should be happy that I got relieved from the emotional pain I experienced. Anyways, I'm 13 years old and wanted to suicide for a long time due to depression. Stress is a relatively new and unwelcome addition to my life. First, homework really made me stressed out. Then, yesterday, my dad wanted me to attend a private school on Sundays from nine-something to two fifteen. I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but I really need 2 days to rest every week, and there's already enough homework. My dad doesn't care about this--he just threatened to take away my computer, telephone, etc if I refuse to attend the school.

Today, from 10:40 to 12:40, I had math at the school. I had english from 12:50 or so until 14:15. Both classes sucked, and I have a computer class at 17:00. So basically, this Sunday is like a regular school day.

Depression has been with me for a while. There's nothing interesting to do. I don't share most peoples' interests and I'm bored almost every day. --Bowlhover 21:24, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I have to agree with others in that because we here are not in a position to guage your feelings very well and talk with you in person, that this isn't the best place to talk about your personal problems. Were not really prepared to deal with a crisis situation. That said, I think its good that youre talking about your problems somewhere, and it looks like you needed to get some things out, but didnt quite know who to trust. Anonymity here sometimes provides people with an outlet and thats understandable --we all need to express ourselves. I might add that you seem to compose your thoughts pretty well for a kid. At your age, people in the world start to put their pressures onto you. Its normal, and part of growing up. Your parents (in particular) might be a little bit out of hand with trying to get you to do stuff, but again, thats something we cant read into.

It doesnt seem like your folks abuse or neglect you, so maybe they wouldnt be the wrong people to talk to. Maybe if you told them how depressed you feel about whats going on, they would change direction a little bit and listen to you a bit more clearly. You should be able to find a compromise. Another close relative might be better to talk to if you feel like your being judged too hard by your folks. Just dont keep it "bottled up" too long. What I think about suicide is that all suicides are just people whove let themselves become confused by what they think and feel. Often times the only real "problem" is when people dwelling on their problems too long (called ruminative thinking). When you say "I dont share peoples interests" what do you mean? What interest are available to you or do you feel are being pushed onto you? What are you really interested in? -Ste|vertigo 21:53, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Take a look at Clinical depression and see if the symptoms match how you feel. --cesarb 21:58, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I know the reference desk isn't the best place to ask for it, but I desperately need advice from different people. I've told my mom what I feel about the classes, but my dad usually doesn't listen to anybody--he has to have it his way. For things like this, there's usually no chance of dicussion/compromise Oh well, I'll try to talk to my dad about the classes anyways. (I wish my parents were physically abusing me. At least then I would have a good excuse for being dead.)

I spent today's three classes panicking and drawing up a detailed plan for suicide. It probably wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that today is the worst day of my life.

When I said "I don't share most peoples' interests", I meant that I don't like playing with other people, listening to music, drawing, going to the movies, or any other thing that most people my age like. In fact, I don't think I'm really interested in anything. That's why my life is boring.

As for clinical depression, I fit the symptoms. A depressed mood is common for me, and I definitely have a loss in interest or pleasure. I fit 6 out of the 12 symptoms listed after "loss of interest or pleasure". --Bowlhover 04:34, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Please don't rule out getting help. It can be anonymous. For example, you can email The Samaritans (jo@samaritans.org) like someone suggested. They don't require any identifying information. Superm401 - Talk 08:51, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

While you're reading Misplaced Pages articles, also read anhedonia. My head just about exploded when someone mentioned that word to me a couple months ago -- it fit me so well.

Don't just talk to your dad about the classes -- see if you can't find a way to talk to him about the depression as well. His answers might seem useless, but if so, that doesn't mean he doesn't care, just that these are hard things to talk about and hard questions to answer.

You said, "I desperately need advice from different people". I'm sure there are people here who would be glad to do that via email as well.

On the "life is boring" front -- do you enjoy editing Misplaced Pages? Steve Summit (talk) 15:25, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Tell people you plan to kill yourself. You might think "oh, that's embarassing" or "what about the consequences" but if you are going to kill yourself, what does any of that matter. So tell people: police, teachers, anybody, everybody. Every piece of paper you turn in for homework or a test should have "I'm going to kill myself" on it. What's the worst that could happen? You're gonna kill youself anyway, right? So why not tell people? When they ask for a plan, make sure you have one or they won't believe you. Something that makes sense and doesn't sound like a joke. And be clear you absolutely have no plan or reason to take anyone with you when you leave this world. Don't be scared. Lots of people cry out for help in various ways. Saying "I'm going to kill myself" is so common a way of asking for help that it is often ignored. Moreso in the past than currently. Teachers, especially, are told to take it seriously. What NOT to do: one person put a gun to his head, blew his face off and lived, was hospitalized, months later was released, then successfuly killed himself. 4.250.138.180 17:16, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Google indexing

How often does the google bot index pages and if it finds a frame page, will it index both of the frames? --Bjwebb (talk) 19:04, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Google does not advertise the algorithms is uses. To my knowledge, none of the search engines do. From my experience, when I add a page to my company's list of links, it shows up in Google within two days. So, I assume it indexes on a 24-48 hour period. Also, Googling for current events will turn up news hits quickly. But, since there is Google News, it is reasonable to assume they index online newspapers at least hourly. --Kainaw 19:49, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

If a page with frames is indexed it is most likely a page with a content and a meny frame. Both frames will be indexed, but the content frame will appear more frequently in the results as it's more relevant. If the page containing both frames is linked frequently it might have a greater chance of appearing in the results. Once again, Google is very secretive, this is only my own experience. Obli (Talk) 22:10, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Another reason not to use frames. They're a major pain on the Internet. DirkvdM 11:11, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Battery Difference

Whats the difference between a lithium ion battery and a lithium poly battery?

See Lithium ion battery and Lithium ion polymer battery]. Sum0 23:48, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Munchausen syndrome by proxy

Munchausen syndrome by proxy seems to be something which affects parents wrt (their?) children. Does it apply to an adult wrt another adult for whom thay may have some form of responsibility (and thus they try to make themselves look good by harming the other in some way). If not, is there a name for such behaviour - especially if chronic? -- SGBailey 23:11, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know, but it is beyond doubt that insanity is genetic. Parents get it from their children. :-) JackofOz 00:28, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

The proxy can be and is most often a child, but doesn't have to be, and doesn't get a different name if the proxy is an adult. - Nunh-huh 00:43, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Some believe Beverley Allitt, a nurse convicted of murdering children in her care, had MSbP. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:58, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Forces upon the Head

How much force can a human head sustain for a short period of time? For example, can a head withstand a 1000N force from a flying object in a car crash? --AMorris (talk)●(contribs) 23:26, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

A but vague - for example, a force spread across a nice soft sponge will produce a rather different outcome than the same force on the point of a large machette ;) -Benbread 23:59, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I think the important thing is the force divided by the area to which it is applied, i.e. pressure. —Keenan Pepper 03:35, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

This can be answered (but I don't know the answer). What is the pounds/square inch that the skull can handle. I know it has thicker and thinner parts. But, that can be taken into account. I would assume it is very small - a few lbs/in - in the temple. It must be very strong - at least 200 lbs/in on the forehead. Also, age plays a role. Babies have very soft bone (and large gaps, if I remember correctly). Young adults have the hardest skulls. Bones then get brittle with age. I would assume racial differences come into play also. Since race can be determined by skull structure, some races should have thicker bones than others. --Kainaw 04:14, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think there is any consistent racial difference in skull thickness, if facial bone structure is any example. See Race#Physical variation in humans. Also, keep in mind that brain contusion can occur, without having a skull fracture. - Cybergoth 05:04, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

February 19

Physics

Why all the things in the universe keep revolving, spinning, rotating? For example, electrons spin and revolve around nucleus; moons revolove around planets, which revolve around sun, which in turn revolves around the galactic centre.

Orbital spin is a natural result of trying to find a balance between attraction and momentum. The momentum of the orbiting object is just right to keep it from slamming into the attracting object. So, why doesn't everything just slam into one big blob and get it over with? If it did, we wouldn't be here asking why everything orbits something else. --Kainaw 00:55, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanx Kainaw. I want to learn more about attraction and momentum "in this context".

For large bodies, it is just the simple laws of motion. For subatomic particles, it is logically identical, but the formulas and theory names change. In general, the Universe isn't as wildly complex as people think. Most of it is repetition. You've just hit on one of them: everything tends to be a circular object orbiting another circular object. --Kainaw 01:35, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

.. and most of these things (why objects are "circular", why they "rotate") can be explained by some kind of "minimum energy" argument. deeptrivia (talk) 01:41, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

what is minimum energy?

In general, it's much easier for a system to lose energy than gain it. Therefore, if you have a whole bunch of possible solutions for a problem, you can often trim it down by looking only at the ones that satisfy some sort of "minimum energy" condition - ie which ones are based on the system keeping only the energy it has, or losing that which it doesn't need. Confusing Manifestation 10:40, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Drop a marble onto the side of a round mixing bowl (a half sphere is optimum). What are the chances the marble will roll back and forth in a straight line versus roll in a curved semi-circle? There are far more ways for gravity to cause objects to move in curved ways than straight ways. Far more types of spin velocities than zero spin velocity. Zero spin is just one of many spin velocities, why should it be preferred in the near frictionlessness of outter space? Where friction is important, like on Earth, objects lose rotational energy and stop spinning. Just like the marble loses energy due to friction with air and the mixing bowl and ends up in a minimum energy state sitting unmoving at the botton of the mixing bowl. 4.250.138.180 17:33, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Chemistry

Can someone explain to me, why do the ears pop when a flight takes off?

Your body has a small pocket of air in the middle ear. This is used to allow the eardrum to float and be useful. If there was too little or too much pressure, sound would be muffled. When air pressure outside the ear changes (which is what happens when you change altitude quickly), your middle ear needs to find a way to change pressure quickly as well. This is done by opening the eustachian tube - which sounds like a pop - and adjusting pressure to the pressure inside the nose, which (under normal circumstances) is the same as the are pressure outside the body. --Kainaw 01:30, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

This is more a physics question, not chemistry. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 04:41, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Boyle's law is also encountered in Chem, so if a school does Chem first it seems like a Chem question. --AySz88^-^ 05:13, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

You also get a similar effect by yawning, since the yawning mechnaism also involves the eustachian tubes. In fact, if the ears do not pop to equalise pressure when there is an internal/external imbalance it can cause pain and ringing in the ears. the best way to alleviate this is often to yawn, in the hope that it will unblock any problems in the Eustachian tube. Grutness...wha? 06:35, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I hear sucking on hard candy, like a mint or jolly rancher, can help too. Black Carrot 01:56, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Getting bots for Battlefield 2 multiplayer

We are trying get Battlefield 2 multiplayer working with bots. We tried downloading and running this patch but it didn't work. So does anyone kknow how to get bots working? Thanks. 202.55.154.231 02:28, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Nevermind, we got it working, thanks to this site: http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_posts.php?forum_id=1&thread_id=32177&start=630.

Blueberries

"Blueberries can turn your eyes to blue if you eat 'em" Sounds stupid, but is this true?

I can't answer that, but I have read of people whose skin turned orange from eating excessive quantities of carrots. I don't imagine that the color of your eyes would change, but the white part might. User:Zoe| 06:51, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

No, but the Spice can. :) GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 12:54, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Regarding orange skin, see Carotenemia. - Cybergoth 22:58, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

inorganic problems!?!

Can anyone please explain what on earth is INERT PAIR EFFECT, and which group(s) shows this effect, why and how? Why should one care to learn this thing!?!

• See Inert pair effect. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 06:27, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

reduction and oxidation.

How do you know whether an element is reduced or oxidised in chemical reaction? To put it better: how can you say whether a reaction is a reduction or an oxidation process and also which element has more tendency to reduce/oxidise than other elements in a given reaction. Please don't explain based on looking at their charges or comparing their reduction potential values! Thank you.mil 05:58, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Hm. I am pretty sure that this can not be explained without consideration of the redox potential. Sadly, our article is not particularly enlighteneing. http://www.chemtutor.com/redox.htm might help. Kosebamse 07:25, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Technically, you can't have just a reduction or oxidation reaction, although you can break a redox reaction into two parts - one where the element loses the electrons and one which gains them. If you calculate the oxidation numbers (roughly equivalent to charge) on each of the elements as they appear in the reaction, you can see which direction the number moves for the reaction in one particular direction. The redox potential will then tell you which direction the reaction itself is more likely to move. You can't answer your question without mentioning those concepts, but hopefully that explains what they mean a tiny bit more than just saying "it's because of oxidation numbers and redox potentials". Maybe working through the examples on redox might help your understanding too. Confusing Manifestation 10:46, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Cartography

Is there a place where I could get the listings of un-explored areas of the Earth?

I don't know about any list, but I believe the Foja Mountains is the most recent such discovery. Obli (Talk) 11:51, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Try Google Earth. It does not clearly show some places, and plenty of names are missing. --DLL 23:29, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Due to imaginging from space, the surface of the earth is known completly to a scale of a meter or so. Knowledge of under the surface of the earth is largly lacking with mostly asumption. Some think the majority of life on Earth consists of bacteria beneath the surface. The most interesting vast expanses yet to be investigated are at the bottom of the oceans. Less vast are hundeds of square miles of equatorial jungle in Africa, South America, but especially north of Australia in mountainous areas. Under the ice in Antartica (both ice on land and over water) is currently yeilding surprises. 4.250.138.180 17:46, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

How long can it rotate?

Just curious again: How long can our Earth keep rotating on its own axis? What would happen if suddenly our "green" earth stopped rotating or moving tomorrow? Will it affect normal life? How many species will get extinct and what steps should be taken by us? PS: I am not stupid!!!

• Well, if the rotation suddenly stopped, everything not tethered down would find itself propelled at a tangent to the earth at a speed up to about 1000 mph (at the equator) in the direction of the pre-sudden-stop rotation. That would kill most everything real fast, I'd think. But there are a lot more things to worry about; someone might want to do a bit of math to figure out what force would need to be applied to the oblate spheroid to make it stop rotating, and what the side-effects of the application of such force would be. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 06:23, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

• It would take a pretty sizable force! As to "can it keep rotating", it's been doing so for a few billion years now, and has slowed down quite a bit in that time. Back in Jurassic times (100 million years or so ago), the length of the day was a couple of hours shorter than now, and in the earth's very early history the spin was as fast as every 6-8 hours. Barring any outside influence (by which I mean the unlikely event of a collision with something extremely large, for example), it would be reasonable to assume that in a few billion years time the Earth will still be revolving, albeit more slowly. At a very rough guess, I'd suspect Earth in 500 million years time would have days of about 30-35 hours. If anything, the slowing process won't be as strong, though, since by then the moon will be in a considerably larger orbit (it's getting further away), and it is a major gravitational cause of the slowdown in rotation.

(Note: these comments are from memory, so their accuracy may not be 100%. if anyone can verify...?) Grutness...wha? 06:47, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the moon would be approaching rather than receding from the Earth, as you'd need an increase in momentum to get to a higher orbit. Tzarius 06:20, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

See Moon#Orbit - it's moving away at about an inch and a half a year. Grutness...wha? 09:36, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

The moon is moving away because it is a planet and not an Earth satellite in terms of gravitational influence. The late Isaac Asimov suggested a distinction between planet-moon systems and double-planet systems based on what he called a tug-of-war (TOW) value that describes whether the presumed satellite is more firmly under the gravitational influence of the presumed planetary primary or the Sun. In the case of the Moon, the Sun "wins" the tug of war, i.e., its gravitational hold on the Moon is greater than that of Earth. The opposite is true for other presumed satellites in the Solar System (with a few exceptions), including the Pluto-Charon system. By this definition, the Earth and Moon form a double-planet system, but Pluto and Charon represent a true primary with a satellite.

• • What causes the earth's axis to flip? And does all life die out when it happens? User:Zoe| 06:53, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

The Earth's axis doesn't "flip". I'm not sure if you mean precession or the flipping of the Earth's magnetic polarity. Neither of these are likely to have caused any species to go extinct, although the magnetic reversal could cause some problems for those animals that use magnetic navigation. StuRat 10:14, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm guessing she's referring to the geomagnetic reversal, which is a "flip" of the magnetic axis. I think that it does have some effect on life on Earth simply because it has an effect on the ionosphere (see the article for a few more details). Confusing Manifestation 10:49, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Returning to the original question, the Earth will keep rotating as long as it exists, simply because there is nothing that would make it stop. As noted, the rate of rotation is slowing, but that's only due to tidal drag, whose effect is to bring different rotary motions into sync with each other. (Currently, the primary tidal drag is working to synchronize the Earth's rotation (the day) with the Moon's orbital motion around the Earth (the month).)

As noted, stopping the Earth's rotation would require a huge force, and it would also have to be directed in a way that does not occur in nature. But let us imagine that some powerful alien machine actually does this. The alien force acts equally on the different parts of the planet itself and on everything gravitationally bound to it and not in orbit: the atmosphere, the seas and rivers, the people, animals, buildings, and everything else. So everything comes to a gentle stop without being torn apart by stress just from the act of stopping. What then?

Well, the first thing is that the Earth's equatorial bulge (see Earth radius, figure of the Earth) would no longer be supported by centrifugal force. So every place in the tropics would suddenly be higher in elevation than before by at least 5 miles, and every place in the polar regions, lower by a similar amount. So the world's one ocean would divide into two, draining north and south into the polar regions and leaving all the continents joined by a wide strip of land (with lakes or seas where the deepest ocean was) along the equator. Meanwhile most or all of Antarctica, Canada, and Russia would find themselves underwater, as well as other places at similar latitudes.

There would be one particular latitude north and south where the sea level would stay the same, probably somewhere around 40 or 50 degrees; I don't know a quick way to work it out. Even at that latitude there might be massive coastal erosion as the ocean rushed by. Anywhere else, even if an entire country was not left underwater on the one hand or high and dry on the other, coastal cities still would be. My intuition says that these transformations would take something on the order of a few days' time, but I'm really just guessing there.

The conversion of the equatorial bulge into highlands would also put massive stress on the rocks underlying it. Over geological time, with no force supporting it any more, it would tend to collapse and make the Earth spherical; conversely, the polar regions would tend to rise. Which means there would be huge and numerous earthquakes throughout the tropics, and also underwater in the polar regions, perhaps causing tsunamis along on the new coasts. This process would probably begin immediately, but I have no idea how long it would go on; quite possibly for thousands of years. If it slumps a great deal more rapidly than that, then it might ameliorate the sea movements, but then the earthquakes would be even more devastating.

The third major destructive effect would be on the weather. With the Earth no longer rotating, the length of the solar day would now be a full year. So each part of the tropics in turn would now see the Sun shining down continuously for 6 months. Temperatures would climb greatly beyond the normal highs we see today. Conversely, with 6 months of night on the other side, frigid lows would be the rule. With no oceans in the tropics, there would be next to no humidity and I guess the entire band of land would become a desert. Farther away from the equator, the temperature differences would drive intense storms, perhaps permanent ones at some locations.

How many species would die? Most of them. The ones in the best position to survive would be some microorganisms, maybe some hardy plants in mid-latitudes, and any ocean-going creatures that managed to find something to live on. What steps to take? Find a way to negotiate with the aliens to get them not to do this!

--Anonymous, 00:57 UTC, February 20, 2006.

One thing you should realize too, is that the earth is not just a "ball", it would be better to think of it as a giant rotating sphere of water and sand. If a giant rotating sphere of water and sand were to suddenly stop rotating, think of the effect it would have on itself. It would probably momentarily explode only to collapse back in on itself a (relatively) short while later. It's interesting to think of the environmental effects a non-rotating earth would have, but it's not something that could logically happen "suddenly", though you could imagine it happening slowly over a period of a few million years.  freshgavinΓΛĿЌ  01:42, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Rainbow and Earth

1.What is white light made up of?

All the colors of the rainbow. StuRat 10:18, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

See white, and Colors and Colorimetry – b_jonas 12:00, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

2.Why do we first see the lightning and then hear the thunder?

This is due to the difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound. If you go to those two pages, you will find that light travels at a speed of approximately 300,000,000 meters per second, while sound only travels at a typical speed of approximately 340 meters per second. EWS23 | (Leave me a message!) 06:23, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

3.What keeps the earth in it's orbit ?Why does'nt it change it's orbit?

The sun's gravity pulls the Earth towards it, and the Earth's momentum keeps it going in another direction. The force of gravity and the momentum match a particular orbit, and it would take a change in one of the two to change the orbit - either by changing how heavy the sun is, or how heavy the Earth is, or giving the Earth a little push in some direction. Confusing Manifestation 10:52, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

(questions: — Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.2.70.63 (talk • contribs) )

1 - White is plain light - all its visible components blended. Less light seems less white. Any object absorbing some of those components is coloured by the others. There is also diffraction, e.g. by water in the air, that gives rainbows. Try with a gardening hose (personal research).

2 - When you see the lightning, begin to count, and multiply by 300 to have an idea of the distance of the impact in m. (count 3 = 1 km).

3 -Archimedes failed, so we are still waiting for a comet to give that little push. --DLL 23:14, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Aluminium chloride.

I know Aluminium chloride is used in lots of organic reactions as a catalyst. But what properties does aluminium chloride has that makes it an effective catalyst, apart from increasing the rate of reaction and being a very strong lewis acid? How does this properties affect the reaction. Please explain. Thank you.

Given the phrasing of the question, I'll answer it close to a high-school level of chemistry. If you want further clarification on any points just ask. With Friedel-Crafts reactions, the positive carbon end of the instantaneous dipole formed by halides isn't electrophilic enough to successfully attack the relatively stable and delocalised negative charge surrounding aromatic rings. When you add a "halogen carrier" such as Aluminium chloride or Iron(III) chloride, it "pulls off" the halide from the molecule you're trying to add, leaving a carbocation. This is electronegative enough to react with the aromatic ring, and displaces a hydrogen from the ring in an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 15:53, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

m4a

What is the m4a file format and is there a way to make Windows Media Player understand the files instead of RealPlayer? I am not a fan of Real.

I believe m4a is apple's slightly more effective, unprotected (no DRM) version of mp3/wma, perhaps you should try itunes... Obli (Talk) 12:05, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Windows media player in no way can understand m4a, and iTunes cannot understand wma. Its not gonna happen. But I am pretty sure you can convert wma to real. I haven't downloaded them and do not guarantee them free of spyware, adware and viruses.

.m4a and .m4p are containers for AAC, unprotected and protected respectively. AAC is a standard, but doesn't appear to have widespread support (ignoring iTunes and the PSP. Tzarius 06:34, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

So a parrot and a lemur walk into a bar...

Every now and then, here in the States on the local news, there will be a story, usually light filler, about two animals of different species hooking up and becoming best friends. Like a dog that is raising Cougar kittens for whatever reason. Or that snake that made a bond with a hamster rather than eating it. We see it with humans all the time, but it almost never happens with our animal brethren, so it is a matter of infinite fascination when this stuff comes to light.

So, my question is, what is this called, when two animals of different species that would otherwise not associate with each other inexplicably become, well, friends? Is there actual scientific study into this? What is such study called? Has any such study found out why or how they do this? Or is it just an asounding anomoly? --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 06:57, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

This isn't an answer, but did you ever hear about the Vermont moose who, in 1986 "fell in love" with a farmer's dairy cow? He never tried anything with Jessica, though. Newspaper said he stayed with her all season. Leah

It was stories like that which convinced me I'm not human. They're called "human interest stories", see, and they never interest me at all. Grutness...wha? 11:23, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure why you think different animals "would otherwise not associate with each other". Why shouldn't they? Lots of animals get together for their mutual benefit, like cattle and cattle egrets, and ants and aphids, not to speak of humans and dogs, man's best friend apparently. --Shantavira 15:36, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Symbiosis? --Sam Pointon 19:41, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that's symbiosis. Other reasons include where a baby treats the first animal it sees as it's mother. The reverse can also happen, especially if the mother just lost it's own young. I once had a cat who had lost her kittens and "adopted" a litter of socks, which she carried around with her from place to place. There is also the story of the bird who caught worms for her adopted kitten. Cross-species "romantic" liaisons have also been reported, but this is almost always one-sided, as in the small dog attempting to mate with a lioness. Young of different species will "play" together, too. This isn't always as innocent as it appears, however. A young predator may actually be practicing it's hunting skills, but just lacks the knowledge of how to kill the prey. Also, during a fire or other natural disaster, you will see predator and prey flee together. The predators are too busy trying to save their own lives to hunt, and the potential prey know this. StuRat 19:55, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

"Other reasons include where a baby treats the first animal it sees as it's mother." - this is called imprinting Raul654 20:05, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, that's the term I was looking for. StuRat 20:16, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree with Grutness :) — Ilyanep (Talk) 20:12, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

In the case of the snake and the hamster, it looks like the hamster was just too big for the snake to swallow, so it didn't even try. This is an interesting definition of a friend: "someone who finds you too large to swallow whole, so allows you to live". StuRat 19:32, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Two cases I know of personally. (1) We once got from my wife's sister two rodents, a gerbil and a chinese hamster, that had been kept in the same cage together since both were rejected by their mothers. They wer both the runts of their respective litters. We placed their all-glass cage next to the one we already had two 2-year-old female rats in. The hamster and gerbil were continuous nest-builders. They would each build their own nest, live in it far a couple of days, and then rebuild it alll over. Before this time, we had never seen the rats build a nest. Within about three weeks, the rats were building a nest as well; but they shared theirs. My wife's psychology professor refered to what had happened to the rats as "cross-specific modelling". She did not seem to notice the bonding of the hamster and gerbil. (2) On a trip to the Valles Caldera in New Mexico, just west of Los Alamos, were talked to one of the Wildlife scientists, who had just photographically recorded a similar example of cross-specific behavior. A mother elk (wapiti) and her calf were grazing near a barbed wire fence. On the other side of the fence were two mares (female horses). A small pack of wolves crept towar the two elk. The mother elk brought the calf over to the fence, and the mares came to the other side, and hung their heads over the calf to shield it. The mother elk then chased after the wolves, supposedly giving them a few good kicks (no photos of kicks). She then returned to her calf and all four animals resumed grazing.--70.22.21.232 20:23, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

A lesser version of cooperation is where one prey animal sounds an alarm when it sees a predator, originally meant to warn others of it's own species. However, other species learn the warning call, and soon also respond, by heading to their burrows, etc., when they hear the warning call. StuRat 20:37, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

See there Konrad Lorenz and his imprinted geese. I used to love his books. --DLL 23:02, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I took into consideration symbiosis, thus my qualification that the animals "would otherwise not associate with each other". Such relationships don't follow what clasifies as symbiosis, because neither organism is positively effected, nor negatively effected. The snake and hamster deal is a little obvious, yes, but we all have heard of many other weird couplings that defy classification. Does no such classification exist, or does someone need to create one (0 0 Symbiosis?)? --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 04:37, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Just like humans tend to have an anthropomorphic glance of animals, many animals have a zoopomorphic attitude about other animals. This is why your dog treats you as the alpha male of its pack, if you have him trained. This is why a baby eagle can think a human hand with a glove over it is its mother. This is probably why say, a moose would fall in love with a cow, the moose thinks the cow is another moose.

Anti competitive practise by Microsoft and Google

We have heard/read that bundling of software- especially Internet Explorer with windows is unfair for competitors of firms that do that. But why is Microsoft Office not considered as a bundle? If those software were sold seperately, Microsoft's share would be far less than what it is today. This bundling would have killed hundreds of start-ups (and the effect far more than IE-Windows bundle) but still no complaint of any such on Microsoft Office. Shouldn't Microsoft be forced to bring a'la carte pricing similar to law enforcing cable companies to sell channels individually? Whats worse, Google is also coming with something called Google Pack. If Microsoft's Office destroyed competition in PC, Google promises to do that to Internet related software. Should legal action be taken against Microsoft and Google?

I don't think I can give a satisfactory answer here, but I assume that since it's part of a larger Suite, Office is regarded as its own large product, even though you can get the components separately. Especially, since the products are related to each other (one can argue that IE or WMP are unrelated to Windows per se). — Ilyanep (Talk) 20:14, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

micro organisms

when micro organims and fungal spores are added to a liquid medium of residue of grountnutcake curd jaggary etc. and water and allowed to ferment for a few days ,will the micro organisms and fungal spores die?

Micro organisms will grow first - that's what fermentation means. When there is not enough food or water, most will decide to take a little nap, waiting for better condition. Some may die but it is hard to imagine how long it takes and how much is able to revive. --DLL 22:56, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Painless suicide 2

User:Ashenai edited out several postst in a previous thread; Misplaced Pages:Reference_desk/Science#Painless_suicide. When I encountered this it was beyond repair, so the only solution I could think of to revert this vandalism was to post this again. So here it is.

Is there any easy, painless way to suicide? How about getting unconscious--is there any easy way to do that? I'm not trying to be stupid--these questions are very serious. --Bowlhover 18:14, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Consult a doctor. -Quasipalm 18:16, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Well there's always cyanide.--Bjwebb (talk) 19:05, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

This coincidence thing is really starting to scare me. I just finished watching the film MASH. You know, with the title song suicide is painless. And now this question. Please tell me you're from the Netherlands or thereabouts and watched it on rtl7, so there's a perfectly rational explanation and I can sleep again. Anyway, in that film the dentist commits a fake suicide with a 'black pill'. But somewhat more seriously, I've never understood why people kill themselves in such painfull ways as shooting a bullet through the brain or even jumping in front of a train or down a cliff. Such people are so stupid they deserve to die, so I suppose there's some justice in that. A much more logical way would be to take an overdose of something pleasant like heroin. The only risk is that you'll like it so much that you decide you no longer want to die. And you'll have to find it first, meaning you might have to contact some shady characters. But they'll want your money more than anything else, so there should be little risk (provided you don't tell them you're going to kill yourself because as long as they think you'll be coming back they want you safe). Oh, and by the way, since you're going to die anyway, you might as well go with a bang, like shooting the local maffia guy if you have one. Make damn sure you got an overdose, though, because else you might still die, but in a somewhat more painful way. This means you'd have to get a gun too, though, making the whole thing a bit complicated (unless you're from the US or Costa Rica, that is). Or you could just get two overdoses - one for you and one for him. And then bump into him or something. I'll stop now before I start getting too creative. :) DirkvdM 19:29, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I like the idea of taking out some evil bastard with you, perhaps a suicide mission to infiltrate al-Queda and kill Osama bin Laden ? I think many intentionally choose painful suicides to punish themselves and atone for their own misdeeds. The Japanese hara-kiri, for example, seems designed to punish the person for their failure, as well as cause death. StuRat 23:00, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

You'd be a suicide bomber? Tzarius 23:17, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Yea, but (unlike them) I would only kill al-Queda members, not random innocent civilians. StuRat 10:58, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

How horribly complicated. You'd first have to find out in which country he is, then find him there and then find a way to get close enough with some means to kill him. Why not take ou the local bad guy? However, it would present one with a travelling opportunity, as suggested elsewhere. :) DirkvdM 11:19, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Dirk, that was almost as good as one of my rants. Just one thing, do you see any inconsistency between going along to Rainbow Gatherings and saying things like "Such people are so stupid they deserve to die"?  :-) JackofOz 21:21, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I meant that in an evolutionary sense, but even that would have to be taken with the grain of salt that it was intended with. A smiley might have been a good idea. DirkvdM 11:07, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

It is easy to understand painful suicides. These people are in enough emotional pain that physical pain is not a problem. Often, suicidal people cut and burn themselves. A theory is that the physical pain temporarily distracts them from the emotional pain.

As for a painless suicide - carbon monoxide. Blood cells will carry carbon monoxide to the brain instead of oxygen. The brain cells (with no pain receptors) will start to fail. You fall asleep and eventually the brain fails to control the heart all together. --Kainaw 19:54, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Have you considered therapy? Or is this for a book or something? Black Carrot 20:20, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I once started to seriously, intellectually contemplate suicide; how to do it, effectiveness, etc. Once you start dwelling on it, it means that you are really low on serotonin, and going into a deep, black hole. Usually, at the same time, you are drinking a lot. This happens to many intellectuals of northern European descent, and gets bad after 40. Luckily, now, there are some very simple pills for this (which I take). But you have to take the first step and see a doctor about it. I think we saved the life of a friend, by convincing her to go to a doctor. However, there are so many people walking around that are self-medicating (alcohol, drugs), and are too proud to seek medical attention. --Zeizmic 20:39, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

This question is not for a book, nor have I heard the song "suicide is painless". I really do want to die. (Sigh.) It depends on how well tomorrow turns out. I've been having a lot of stress lately, but my stress level tripled today due to a huge argument with a family member and extortion from that family member. Maybe slicing apart a major artery is the best way to die, since it's so easy to do and is not very painful (right?). Anyways, I haven't thought about consulting a doctor or having therapy, since this is a family issue.

My life has been very coincidental these days, too. While I'm struggling to deal with stress, my friend is struggling to deal with sadness--one of his close relatives died yesterday. --Bowlhover 21:38, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Someone already said carbon monoxide and cyanide, which were the two ways I was going to say. But seriously, don't kill yourself. Try running away instead. If you have nothing to live for, you have nothing to lose, right? Pick a country you've always wanted to see and go there, make a new life for yourself. —Keenan Pepper 21:51, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think cyanide is a particularly pleasant way to die. For one thing, it's extremely bitter, and those who take it are often found with a puckered face. CO could be painless, if isolated from the exhaust fumes from which it usually comes, and if you're already asleep when exposed. Being exposed while awake can cause severe headaches and being exposed to exhaust fumes causes choking. StuRat 22:47, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

I think the response to this reflects very badly on the Reference Desk. I can only recommended some kind of emotional support charity like the Samaritans (charity). Sum0 23:52, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

So far the part of the thread that was deleted.

Some good responses have been given in the original thread, like completely changing your life. If you're going to do something drastic like that you might as well try something less lethal first. Thus, having contemplated suicide can be quite liberating, like starting life all over again. I'm not in favour of professional therapy. The best help can be gotten from family and friends. Only if that fails does a therapist might make sense. We at the Ref Desk can be friends too, although communication is a bit impersonal. Still, we can try. The change in life that was suggested was to travel or move to another beautiful country. One would need money for that, though. You could also move to another city in your own country or, if you live in a city move to the coutryside (or vice versa). Or find something that you might get completely absorbed by. Maybe learn a trade. Or express your feelings in art. A classic method is to join the foreign legion or some religious cult. I certainly wouldn't recommend those, but maybe a variation on that theme? Maybe become a freemason? I don't know, any better ideas? DirkvdM 11:07, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Other than a family spat, we don't know why you feel this way. At one time I wanted more than anything to just be dead. It didn't work. I will always know that an angel intervened. Dead is forever. I know it seems like you'll never be happy again, but don't do this now. If you don't do this you will begin to feel better.-- Leah

I certainly agree that you should wait. Like Leah said, you can decide to die any time, but once dead, you never get the chance to decide again. Also, we would all miss your contributions here. StuRat 19:12, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

One of the more authoritative sources is the alt.suicide.holiday faq]. Your choices are yours, but like others I would suggest therapy or contacting something like the Samaritans. moink 22:22, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

computer

how can we hack email ids?

hacking as in getting to know the password

I believe that is usually done through social hacking or by trying obvious passwords. So make shure your passwords aren't obvious. At least the ones that matter. I use one simple password (simple to me) for a lot of less important stuff to avoid having to remember too many. DirkvdM 12:53, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

There are three commmon methods: 1) Hack the server, get the password file, hack the password file. 2) Put spyware on a person's computer and spy on them typing their password. 3) Ask the person for their password - many people are stupid enough to give it to you if you just ask. --Kainaw 18:17, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Another common scam is spoofing or phishing, where someone will send you an email that appears to be from a legitimate organization that you use and trust, such as eBay or PayPal. When you go to the website (that looks like the real thing) and enter your information into that spoof site, the scammers have your user name and password. As for email accounts, this can occur if someone does a spoofing scam that appears to be a (for example) Yahoo! log-in page of some sort. EWS23 | (Leave me a message!) 23:20, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Education in US

What it takes to be successful in SAT? How should I prepare? What are the subjects? I'm a JC1 (grade 11) student. When can I give the test?

As an American, I'd just like to point out that the title of this question is an oxymoron, when you get to a university in 2 years, you'll know why--205.188.116.74 23:33, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

See this site for a free practice test: StuRat 19:03, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

The SAT has three sections: math, verbal, and essay. The math and verbal sections are collections of tricks. You already know the answers to all of the questions; they just try to trip you up. Buy a practice book or two, read about the tricks, take a couple of practice exams, and see what gives you a hard time. For those sections, that's all you need. I can't help you with the essay section; I took the SAT before they introduced it. --Smack (talk) 06:30, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Beats Per Minute

Is there a good software program out there that, given an mp3 file (say) will help you calculate the number of beats per minute? I want something that will find the BPM in each bar or so, even if the song itself has subtle changes in speed. I don't mind if I have to tap the beat along with the spacebar or something, but I do want to finish the program with an output something along the lines of

Bar 1: 180.0 BPM
Bar 2: 180.5 BPM
Bar 3: 179.8 BPM

and so forth. Confusing Manifestation 12:38, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Hmm I'm interested in that as well...since a lot of music library programs (such as iTunes and WMP) have a (useless) BPM field (I assume it's an ID3 standard tag or something). It'd be somewhat of a fun timekiller to do that :P — Ilyanep (Talk) 20:05, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm actually interested because I'm trying to write a Dance With Intensity file with a program called xstep, that has a similar feature, but it basically assumes that the BPM is constant for most of the song so it just lets you tap the Enter key for 2 bars and works out the BPM from that. Unfortunately, if the song doesn't have an electronic back-beat and it wasn't played while keeping an eye on a metronome, that doesn't help when consecutive bars vary like I described above. Confusing Manifestation 11:53, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Audacity has a beat finding algorithm. I've never used it, but if the default one doesn't work, you should be able to find a plugin that does. You'll have to convert the mp3 to a format such as WAV that Audacity can work with. - Taxman 17:50, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

cone angle checking method

i would like to know the methods for checking the cone angle of a blind hole. please help me in this regard. i would like to know the methods to check with gauges. we can very well check in a countour or by cutting and checking in a profile projector. please let me know if you have any other methods. thank you.

with regards,

koti

Banana Oil

I searched over the internet, but couldn't find it. Who was the inventor of Banana Oil or, scientific: pentylacetate / pentylethanoate / amylacetate ? (Or the first who synthesized it by esterification of 3-methyl-1-butanol and acetic acid) effeietsanders 14:02, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Firefox

Firefox asked me to enter a new username, and I've accidentaly changed the default user and lost all my bookmarks. How can I get the old default back? 86.140.52.99 14:20, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Generally this happens because Firefox crashes and leaves your old profile locked. Assuming you're on Windows 2000/XP, here's how you can most likely resolve this:

• Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and bring up the Task Manager. Select the Processes tab, and terminate any running copies of "firefox.exe".
• Press Start->Run, and type the following into the box:

  "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -profilemanager

• A box should come up offering a list of profiles to choose from. You should now be able to open the original profile and have all your bookmarks and settings back.

Hope this helps! —David Wahler (talk) 14:53, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it worked, thanks a lot! 195.137.84.189 15:00, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

electro magnets in a security door system

how do electromagnets work in a security door system. what is their purpose and how do they work. what do they do in the circuit

See our article on magnetic lock. This should answer your questions. --Shantavira 17:13, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Other than the magnetic lock use, an electromagnet can hold a security door open until there is an emergency. Then, the electricity is stopped and the door shuts. --Kainaw 18:14, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

The purpose of the electromagnetic door lock in a lecture theatre I know is to allow the door to be unlocked remotely (which is easier to do with an electromagnetic lock versus a mechanical lock I guess) by a computer, so someone doesn't have to go around unlocking doors all morning. I don't know if the front and back door locking circuits are wired in series, but if they are then one command, say unlock, would unlock both doors simultaneously.--Commander Keane 21:43, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

I can think of a bunch of different ways they're used.

• Probably the most common is a normally-locked door that can be unlocked by energizing an electromagnet. Typically the electromagnet pulls back a piece of metal in the strike plate that the latch normally presses against. (This is probably the type that our nonexistent electric strike article would refer to.) The electromagnet might be operated by
  • a remote pushbutton, such as the ones that allow upstairs apartment dwellers to "buzz in" their visitors at the front door
  • a keypad or card-entry device or other form of Electronic lock.
• A magnetic lock is a powerful electromagnet that holds a door closed when it is energized. If there is a power failure, the door would become unlocked.
• A holdback is a device that holds a door open but that can release it to close under certain circumstances. For example, in many public buildings, there are magnetic holdbacks so that doors in corridors can be held open. But in a fire alarm condition, power to the electromagnets is automatically shut off, so that the doors close and limit the spread of fire. During a power failure, the doors also close, so this system is fail safe. (I have also seen nonelectric fire door holdbacks that incorporate a fusible metal link which melts and releases the door during a fire.) Steve Summit (talk) 15:52, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

USB Question

I'm thinking of building a new computer and I have one quick question. The mother board I am looking at has 4 onboard USB 2.0 ports (as opposed to its 6 rear panel USB 2.0s). My question is, how do I connect the 4 ports (which I assume have pins on the mobo) to the front side ports that I will have in my case? What cables do I need? Will they come with my case? Where can I buy them if they don't? Etc. This isn't the first time I have a built a PC but it is the first time I have gone out and bought the parts specificaly for the build (before I just mixed and matched or used what was lying around). BrokenSegue 18:05, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Cases that have front usb connectors come with cables that plug into the motherboard. If your case does not have front usb connectors, it will not have the cables (since there is nothing for them to connect to). --Kainaw 18:12, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

alright thanks BrokenSegue 18:26, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Here's a Google search that led me to a lot of information about this -- the pinouts on the motherboard are not necessarily the same from manufacturer to manufacturer. I liked this site particularly. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 18:38, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that was useful. Thanks. BrokenSegue 00:56, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

operating system and kernel

what is difference between operating system and kernel?and would like to know more about kernel?

The kernel is the part of the system software that does resource allocation and tracking, enforces security and permissions, and does direct interaction with physical devices using the device drivers. The definition of an operating system is a bit blurry. The OS includes the kernel, as well as many other programs. Beyond that, there's not a whole lot of agreement as to where the OS ends and user-level programs begin. Most people include the shell, the GUI, and system utilities (like data backup) as part of the OS. Others think that when you buy the OS in the store, everything that comes on that CD (such as windows media player) is part of the OS. Raul654 19:37, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

It's a fuzzy question, but that's because the definitions are fuzzy. According to some people, the operating system is the kernel, namely, the one, privileged program that runs (usually in the processor's "system mode") and supervises the behavior of all the user-mode or application programs. Services typically performed by the kernel include: process scheduling, I/O, filesystem(s), date/time, and networking. Pretty often, though, the term "operating system" is used to encompass not just the kernel per se, but also those applications which are so closely associated with the system that it's effectively impossible to use it without them. Under Unix and Unix-like systems, those "part of the OS" applications would include the shells, the system daemons, and the standard toolkit programs such as cat, rm, sed, grep, etc. Under Windows, I've heard that MS Internet Explorer (though it's nominally an app) is variously integrated with and vital to the functioning of the rest of the system. --Steve Summit (talk) 18:36, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

electronic marketplace

What is disk technology and how is it used in importance with the electronic marketplace? --207.200.116.204 23:54, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

You could do worse than to start with Disk storage. You could also do your own homework. --George 01:03, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know, there's a lot of technology associated with disks. I'm sure that disk brakes and intervertebral disks are important in the "electronic marketplace". Maybe even accretion disks. =P —Keenan Pepper 03:13, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

February 20

Forensic pathology

Any forensic pathologists here? I was reading the article race, and it cites anthropology books to make the claim that, other than a slight difference in skin color, there are no physicial racial traits. So, how do forensic pathologists identify a person's race if the anthropologists claim that there is absolutely no difference between the bones of one race or another? --Kainaw 03:24, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

That's definitely untrue. There are many physical differences, such as skull shape, that can be used to identify races. StuRat 04:29, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

I think the cause for this confusion is that the taxonomic classification 'race' applies to mankind as a whole. So there is only one human race, homo sapiens sapiens. That does not mean one cannot make a further distinctions, let's call them ethnicities (I don't know if that is technically the correct term). People have evolved in different parts of the world and acquired different traits one could distinguish between. As ethnicities mix, in time the distinctions will become less meaningful and all one will be able to say in the end is that a certain person has a certain skin colour and nose shape and hair, without being able to say that that combination is part of some ethnicity (or race). The whole 'racial' distinction thing is based on pretty shaky grounds. Take East Africans. They're black, but they have straight noses (not broad like West Africans), rather like Europeans. But they're classified as Semites, which puts them in league with the Arabs and Jews, who have different nose shapes yet. The biggest variation is between individuals. It's easier to distinguish between two individuals than between ethnicities. DirkvdM 09:33, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

We don't need to invent a term for this Dirk we have one: race. Rmhermen 18:06, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

The word ethnicity makes me giggle. Especially when someone pronounces it ethnithity. Oh, and ethnarch is the best word ever. —Keenan Pepper 18:10, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Another USB question

I have a PDA that synchronizes with my computer via a USB cable. It also trickle-charges its batteries through the same cable. However, this trickle-charing degrades battery capacity, so I can't really leave it plugged in all the time. Is there a way I can disable the USB port's power output? --Smack (talk) 06:19, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

I think the power supply is an integral part of the USB interface, so you can't disable it. But why do you say trickle-charging degrades battery capacity? I know overcharging can damage batteries, but your PDA should have circuitry to prevent that. What kind of batteries are they anyway? —Keenan Pepper 18:15, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Behavior of gas in a laser tunnel.

Hi.

I have this idea for a project that I want to try and get funding for:

I am wondering about the behaviour of the air we breath in an annular or ring laser tunnel.

Laser type: visible, green single mode.

Laser power: seventy to one hundred watts per laser.

Suppliers: Coherent or Laser Systems Europe.

Laser array: one thousand lasers in a collimated array to provide seventy thousand WATTS of visible laser energy in the green spectrum in a laser tunnel.

Laser tunnel: seventy thousand watts in a four inch (outside diameter) ring (three 14/16 inches inside diameter).

Laser tunnel length: two hundred feet.

Chamber conditions: vacume with no humans present in inmediate area of laser array.

Location: subsurface.

Question:

Since the laser tunnel is very high intensity will it serve as a pump?

In other words when I release regular air at one end of the tunnel will the inherent reflectivity of the laser tunnel serve as a tube transport for the ultra hot plasma that the normal air will become when exposed to seventy thousand watts of laser energy?

Will any of the super hot plasma reach the other end if the gas inside the tunnel is pushed by a second laser focused on the super hot gas inside the laser tunnel?

Since I notice that vaporized air or steam increases in reflectivity index as compared to regular breathable air at room temp.

Please forgive me for asking this question here since I tried other sites with science forums but users there assumed that I was of low I.Q. with questions like:

"Do you know thats a lot of power?"

"What are you using it for?"

"Do you know thats going to cost a lot of money?"

"Do you know that you are going to need lots of generators to run the lasers?"

Well I hope that some one that knows lasers or can point me to a place where I can find reflectivity indexes for breathable air and ultra high laser power tunnels reads this and helps me out?

Thank you.

R. E. Burrows.

• reflective indices of for example glass and water are measured compared to air, so air doesn't really have a reflective index (unless you want to use 1). If someone suggested this experiment to me, the first thing I would ask would be "why would the air behave any different than usual?". - Mgm| 08:23, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Laser tunnel

Don't they like fried food?

I read a strange factoid today... that scavengers and carrion-eaters like hyenas and vultures won't touch the corpse of any animal killed by lightning-strike. Is this true, and if so, why? Grutness...wha? 09:46, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm. Perhaps they don't like it cooked. Are we the only animals who eat cooked food. (What about dog/cat food is that raw).--Bjwebb (talk) 11:07, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

To my knowledge, regular packaged dog/cat food is not raw. Although, my dogs and cats, as well as those of some friends of mine, love raw chicken and turkey. And yes, it has to be raw. (That reminds me, I was going to work on the raw food diet for pets article...) Cooked poultry bones can splinter and kill the animal from internal bleeding. So to get back to the original question... Maybe it's an evolutionary thing because of the bones getting flash cooked? Just a guess... Dismas| 11:30, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh dear, another WikiMyth 'strikes' the dust. It says here that giraffes are always getting zapped (disadvantage of being tall), but evidence is difficult to find because they get gobbled up right away by scavengers. --Zeizmic 12:47, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Nose Weight

One for the physiologists. Can anyone tell me the approximate average weight of the Caucasian male human nose? Adambrowne666

I had to calculate the weight of an average human hand once. Since I didn't have one in my book bag that day, I decided to build one using materials of equivalent weights. A nose would be much easier as it is just cartilage and skin. But, it is so small and cartilage weighs so little, that I'd be amazed if you got more than 25 grams. --Kainaw 15:17, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Something related to water and color

Why does a cloth darken when it is wet?

• Good question! Let's say you have a light-coloured cloth. You see the brightness and the colour because the cloth is reflecting most of certain frequencies of the light that hits it directly to your eyes. However, when the cloth is soaked in water, the light normally reflected by the cloth is refracted by the water (that is to say, the water causes the light to change direction). In other words, the light that would normally be reflected by the cloth, or whatever is on the other side of the cloth, to your eye is being scattered in other directions. Less light from the cloth hits your eye, so it looks darker. --Canley 10:53, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

So, if it looks darker from some angles, will it always look lighter from other angles? —Keenan Pepper 18:18, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

I think the answer above needs an addendum. I would guess that reflecting off the water allows the light to strike the cloth multiple times, thus giving it more opportunities to be absorbed by the material. I would suspect that this means a darker cloth would get much darker, while a white cloth wouldn't get much darker, since no matter how many times the light touches a white fabric it is still unlikely to be absorbed. StuRat 19:12, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

DRY CLOTH:

\   / (REFLECTED LIGHT)
 \ /
==+================================================== CLOTH

DARK WET CLOTH:

\
-\---+---+---+--------------------------------------- WATER
  \ / \ / \ / \ (ABSORBED LIGHT)
===+===+===+===+===================================== CLOTH

WHITE WET CLOTH:

\                     / (REFLECTED LIGHT)
-\---+---+---+---+---/------------------------------- WATER
  \ / \ / \ / \ / \ /
===+===+===+===+===+================================= CLOTH

Are some races academically more intelligent than others? - Literature Review

What is Academic/Analytical Intelligence?

What are the genetic factors in some races being academically more intelligent?

What are the social factors in some races being academically more intelligent?

What methods are used to measure academic Intelligence?

Many Thanks ---213.121.151.130

Check out our article on Race and intelligence. Cheers! --Ashenai 13:22, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

What's the word.. I can't remember it?

Hmm... interesting question. Possibly "zarf". Grutness...wha? 12:09, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

A zarf is that sleeve of cardboard you hold a hot paper coffee cup with. alteripse 18:03, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

I Googled for the "hardest word to remember" and all the links come up with "sorry". --Kainaw 15:11, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Miracle babies

After the 1985 Mexico City earthquake there was a curious discovery in a collapsed hospital of 18 babies that had survived for 9 days in the rubble and were pulled out alive - of which 16 survived. I can find some info about them on Google - but I can't find the medical explanation, which I half remember from some TV show was something along the lines of them slowing down their metabolisms or something. Any help? Sabine's Sunbird 11:20, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Tape recorder and casette recording

when recording a casette in a tape recorder, should we keep the volume of the tape recorder at its maximum or at its minimum or exactly where should we keep? Will the sound enter the tape recorder through holes named MIC or through speaker itself?

The sound will enter through the holes near "MIC" which is generally used for the short form of microphone. The volume shouldn't matter. The microphone will just pick up what it can hear and the recorder will then record that. Dismas| 13:54, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

I presume you are asking your question about an analog rather than digital tape recorder. If so, the answer depends on how the device is designed. For example, some tape recorders do not permit adjustment of the recording volume-- the volume control only affects playback. However, some tape recorders do permit adjustment of the strength of the signal delivered to the magnetic recording tape during the recording process. In this case, it is advantageous to record at the highest volume level that can be accurately reproduced on the tape, in order to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio. However, analog recording tape has a limited capacity to record high volume levels; if this critical level is exceeded, the signal is degraded by "overmodulation," or "clipping" distortion. Some tape recorders have a VU meter that allows adjustment of the recording signal to the optimal strength. Later analog technologies such as companding and Dolby have further advanced the goals of dynamic range and improved signal-to-noise ratio to the point where adjusting the recording volume is not as important as it was in the past.--Mark Bornfeld DDS 14:33, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Aeronautics

How is it possible for a fighter jet to fly upside down if the wing is designed to generate lift in the upwards direction if the plane is flying straight?--61.1.131.133 13:47, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Lift is generated by a wing in two ways: due to the shape of the wing and due to its angle of attack. You see this when a plane is landing or taking off: its speed is low, so the lift is reduced, so the nose is pitched up in order to increase the angle of attack and provide supplementary lift that way. The lift due to angle of attack can be the larger component and can be made to overcome the other component: you see that happening when a fighter pitches its nose downward and goes into a dive, overcoming the normal lift.

Okay, now sustained inverted flight is, in effect, a dive turned upside down. The aircraft's attitude is adjusted to pitch the nose up relative to the ground (down relative to the plane), so the lift due to angle of attack is sufficient to overcome both the weight of the plane and the lift (which is downward) due to the shape of the wing. Of course, this is an inefficient way to fly: there's a good deal more drag then in normal flight. A fighter can overcome that due to its powerful engines, but its speed will be reduced.

--Anonymous, 17:00 UTC, February 20.

Is Bowlhover ok?

Does anyone know how Bowlhover is? I don't want to pry on a sensitive issue, but maybe someone could tell if Bowlhover got any help. I think many of us are concerned.

He's still posting to the original thread, most recently at 04:34 UTC today. --Steve Summit (talk) 17:51, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

How does a boat sail against the wind?

How does a sailboat sail toward the wind? I had trouble understanding the Misplaced Pages explaination. Can it sail directly into the wind, or does it need to aim at an angle? Thanx, Leah

• Which Misplaced Pages explanation? Can we fix it? (In answer to your second question, no, a sailboat can't sail directly into the wind; it must proceed at an angle, which is called tacking.) Steve Summit (talk) 19:10, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

• This is a simplified explaination. Thismight also help, though it's a more technical explaination. I myself am not a sailor, but I have read up on it before. Hope this helps. --Chris 17:30, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

name of a rare disorder

I've read of a rare disorder that causes the human body to respond to any kind of trauma by growing bone in the affected area. I believe it's congenital. Does such a condition really exist, and if so, what is it called? I've been through various lists and categories of skeletal and congenital disorders, but have turned up nothing. —Charles P._(Mirv) 18:38, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, this isn't what you asked, but bones always strengthen themselves (via calcification) in response to stress. (Our bone article mentions this briefly.) Steve Summit (talk) 19:06, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Changes in Axial Tilt of the Earth

My father recently informed me that he heard it from a government source person that the axial tilt of the earth recently increased by a couple of degrees due to the earthquake that caused the Sri Lankan Tsunami. He said the government is trying to keep this "hush, hush" so people won't panic. Is there any truth to this rumor?

Thank you in advance! Aedenbow 18:40, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

No. A couple of degrees would be (2/360)*24000 miles = 133 miles of shift. I think you would have noticed if you were suddenly shifted 133 miles. Any shift would be far less than that. StuRat 18:53, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

(via edit conflict) There might be a grain of truth to the rumor: see 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake#Power of the earthquake, which indicates that it did cause a miniscule (no more than a few inches) wobble. Rumors tend to exaggerate.

However, no government (I assume the U.S. government was meant) could hush up several degrees change in the axial tilt of the Earth, which (as StuRat notes) would not be a subtle thing. —Charles P._(Mirv) 19:02, 20 February 2006 (UTC)