881

General Science / Re: Can we completely clean wooden chopsticks (for reuse)?

« on: 07/06/2016 04:50:35 »

How do you deal with a philistine roommate? Take a harder look at him/her. You might end up rethinking your roommate, realizing they actually do appreciate some things cultural or artistic. Or you could move out. Just don't murder them.

882

General Science / Can a wolf actually blow down a house made of straw or sticks?

« on: 07/06/2016 04:33:24 »

Is it possible for a wolf (any kind of extant wolf on our planet) to blow down a house made of straw or wood? Let's say the house is a little smaller than a log cabin.

883

General Science / Can we completely clean wooden chopsticks (for reuse)?

« on: 03/06/2016 02:34:21 »

Chopsticks are of course cheap. Like plastic cutlery, they're offered for free at any place that sells Asian food; so that, perhaps, makes reusing them pointless. I use them a lot. To me, eating noodles with sticks is more enjoyable than with a fork (not to come off as pretentious). So, when we clean our sticks (whether it be in the
dishwasher or sink) are we able to sterilize for reuse? Does washing them weaken them, as they are made out of thin wood?

884

General Science / Do dogs really need walks all the time?

« on: 27/04/2016 07:16:42 »

I am a stay at home husband here at Syracuse University, who spends 70% of his life in archive preservation. Reading, writing up grants, ect.  I do not allow my doggy to go out on brisk walks. I restrain him with a long leach. Doggy abuse?

885

General Science / Re: Is there a way to block laser beams to prevent blindness?

« on: 27/04/2016 00:25:34 »

Personally I think that laser pointers should be made illegal in the UK; there's easier ways to entertain cats.

Our perhaps heavily restricted, like guns.

886

Physiology & Medicine / Why do humans feel guilt?

« on: 27/04/2016 00:21:35 »

Humans are the only known specie to feel guilt. Why is this? It is not necessary for our survival at all. It is good in that it keeps most of us from purposely doing bad to others, BUT it gives us bad feelings and causes many of us to drink, use drugs and other things bad for us.

887

Physiology & Medicine / Why are dogs prescribed carprofen?

« on: 22/04/2016 09:29:06 »

Why do veterinarians frequently prescribe dogs carprofen for pain relief, rather than simply telling their owners to give them regular analgesics that we humans use?

888

Just Chat! / Was America's New Horizons worth it's salt?

« on: 26/03/2016 23:47:14 »

What great amazing things has the immensely expensive interplanetary space probe given us?

889

Technology / Can we a build sound proof "booth" in our home?

« on: 22/03/2016 03:17:22 »

Are there ways to build sound proof "booths" in our home without spending hundreds or thousands of bucks? It's an issue of narrating videos for me.

Best

890

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Can a moon of a Gas Giant be habitable?

« on: 18/03/2016 08:45:30 »

Why not? The Earth orbits an - albeit gigantic - gas giant!

This is true, but we orbit our "gas giant" at a relatively far distance. Orbiting a gas giant would obviously put the world in extremely close proximity, within the radiation zone of which no natural ozone layer would be able to propel, I think. For this, I cannot see life naturally evolving there. But I am an historian, not a scientist.

891

Physiology & Medicine / Are reflexes impaired by alcohol?

« on: 17/03/2016 08:47:46 »

I saw a newspaper clipping from 1912 on the Facebook page "Nostalgic Syracuse", which, as the name implies, is a celebration of all things old from my hometown in upstate New York...

The story is about a dead body of a young man who was discovered in the cellerway of the saloon his father owned. I have a personal interest in the story because it hits close to home. Johnny O'Day, the dead person everyone is crowding around in the photo op is my great-great uncle. To this day people say he was murdered, but the most likely culprit, I think, was alcohol. Usually one survives a short fall like that due to one's reflexes, but he was probably so inebriated that the reflexes that would have saved his life were disabled. Any thoughts and/or inference? Are reflexes almost wholly disabled when one is inebriated??

892

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Can a moon of a Gas Giant be habitable?

« on: 17/03/2016 08:05:35 »

We see and read about it a lot in fiction: an Earth like moon orbiting a gas giant. Would the radiation of the gas giant make habitability impossible? Gas giants, because of their immense gravity, undoubtedly would produce radiation, just like the four giant planets here in Sol.

893

Just Chat! / Re: Is it irrational to fear your own death?

« on: 02/03/2016 03:21:21 »

Chris, I think there is also, if one believes in the afterlife, the fear of being punished for the "bad" things they did, such as murder or not worshiping the right god.

894

Just Chat! / Is it irrational to fear your own death?

« on: 01/03/2016 03:25:28 »

It is rational to fear other people's deaths; people you are close to, because you will experience that person's death. You might see them in their open casket or perhaps take part in that person's end of life care, funeral and burial arrangements, ext.  You will have to deal with the fact that you will never see, hear, smell or touch them again. I feel that fearing my own death is as rational as fearing the years before I was conceived in 1981 (I was born on Halloween day 1981). It is as rational as fearing a supernova that takes place in some distant galaxy.

Before my conception I was, for all intents and purposes, dead. As an atheist I argue that we will not experience our own death, just our survivors will have that honor.

Anyone see or at lest thought about death as I do?

895

Technology / Re: Is a Patriot pistol - that can intercept bullets aimed at you - possible?

« on: 29/02/2016 12:37:10 »

Thanks for the replies.

Let's admit it though, if a patriot pistol was possible, we'd all never leave the house without it!

896

Physiology & Medicine / Should I fear opiate blockers?

« on: 29/02/2016 00:59:33 »

I'm in an embarrassing, confusing and somewhat scary situation. I have a history of substance abuse- opiate based drugs are my favorite (I love the feeling they give me). But to "keep myself honest" I take naltrexone (not to be confused with naloxone, a drug used in reversing an opiate overdose), which blocks the effects of opiates and alcohol and works perfectly as long as the person takes their recommended dosage every day. So, knowing I will not receive the euphoric effects of opiate based drugs or alcohol, I obviously will not attempt to use them. I would have to wait two or three days for the drug to completely leave my system if I desired to get high or drunk.

The problem is that opiates are great at stopping pain and the protocol in hospitals and ambulances is to administer it when someone is in obvious pain. But what if the pain victim is unable to communicate, and the analgesics are not doing their job because the naltrexone in their system is blocking their effects?

897

Physiology & Medicine / Are there any really good studies on suicide mentality?

« on: 28/02/2016 08:26:10 »

Are there any really good studies on what usually goes on in a depressed person's mind when they decide that "checking out" is the right answer? I see a lot of mentally strong people, some of whom are anti-suicide activists themselves, in the end, decide suicide is a good idea.

898

Technology / Is a Patriot pistol - that can intercept bullets aimed at you - possible?

« on: 28/02/2016 08:14:43 »

As you may or may not know, Patriot missiles are SAMs that detect and intercept enemy missile attacks. They don't target fighter jets or tanks or warships or whatever. They just target and intercept missiles. My question is, is it possible to have a patriot pistol? The pistol would ONLY function to intercept bullets coming at you.

899

Physiology & Medicine / What might have caused my grandfather's death?

« on: 25/02/2016 08:37:42 »

A little over a year ago I asked a question on this forum in regards to my father's sudden cardiac death.

I now ask a question about what may have killed his father, who died in 1950 at the age of 29. I guess when they operated on his spine so many times, an infection took life, which turned into tuberculosis. They had a cure for TB at the time so I wonder why it didn't save him.

900

Physiology & Medicine / Why did women often die during child birth?

« on: 25/02/2016 08:04:27 »

Before modern medicine the mortality rate for women giving birth was high (at least by 2016 standards). What was it exactly that caused them to die? Exsanguination from hemorrhaging caused by the baby?