1

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Memory Loss...it freaks me out !!

« on: 22/03/2006 03:12:59 »

WOW - I'm blown away!  Is it abnormal to forget things?  I often lose entire segments of my day.  Sometimes I get to a place and have no memory at all of the trip getting there.  Often I find things on my desk and have no memory of how they got there.  Usually when my wife tells me something I have no memory of what she said, even that she said anything (at least that's her story).  

And, who is this Neil character anyway.....



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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

2

Physiology & Medicine / Have you ever had a Thunderclap Headache During Orgasm?

« on: 22/03/2006 03:02:30 »

Hey Carolyn, I'm 42 (for another month!) and if you would like to test your hypothesis about both parties being over 40 without waiting for your hubby, I'd be glad to help.  [}:)]  That way you will have some advance knowledge for him when his big day comes along!

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

3

Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: land vs. sea survival

« on: 22/03/2006 02:57:31 »

quote:Originally posted by JDG8R



...

Also, contributing to my interest here is the fact that I am now 41, and havent seen much change  (haha, a joke).  "Catastrophism", ie rapid transformation in the land forms and life seems a pretty plausible thing.  I.E. Grand Canyon happened quickly...And my gut feeling that global warming is geologically a pimple on the ass of time that we are foolish to try to control it or lose a minute of sleep over.

P.S.  Only did the geology thing for 4 years after school.  Missing it.....

Jim D.

Geologically speaking humans are a pimple on the ass of time, and I'm sure global warming is as well.  However, I would personally rate the human species and the environment upon which it depends worth worrying about.  I'm also sure that I'm not an impartial observer, being a member of said species.  I'm sure the universe as a whole doesn't lose a moment's sleep over the fate of homo sapiens.


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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

4

General Science / Re: batteries

« on: 22/03/2006 02:43:26 »

a better thing to do is take the batteries out and rub the terminals with a pencil eraser.  Make sure you don't leave any crumbs in the machine.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

5

Just Chat! / Re: I will kill Cansouth

« on: 19/03/2006 16:54:46 »

I'm doing well, thanks.  Its nice to be back here Chris!

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

6

Complementary Medicine / Re: Have you tried Ice for curing cold sores?

« on: 19/03/2006 16:26:07 »

I still say the ice method works, is permanent, and is cheap and easy.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

7

Physiology & Medicine / Have you ever had a Thunderclap Headache During Orgasm?

« on: 19/03/2006 16:22:02 »

John O'Riley was a member of an Irish Toast Masters' Club.  
One evening at the local Irish Toast Masters meeting, a contest was held to
see who could deliver the best toast.  Well, John O'Riley won the contest
with the following verse:
            "Here's to the best years o' me life, spent between the legs o'
me wife."
            When John O'Riley arrived home, his beautiful wife asked him how
the Toast Masters' meeting went and he said, "I won the contest for the best
toast of the evening."
            His wife then asked him what his toast was, and he said "Here's
to the best years o' me life, spent in Church wi' me wife."
            His wife then said, "Why John, that's so nice of you to include
me in your toast."
            The next morning, Mrs. O'Riley was downtown shopping and ran
into the local policeman on the beat who had also been at the Toast Masters
meeting with her husband. He said, "Hello Mrs. O'Riley, that was some great
toast that your husband John gave at the Toast Masters meeting last evening.
  He won first prize."
            "Yes, that's what he told me," said Mrs. O'Riley, "but he wasn't
quite honest with the facts:  he's only been there twice, the first time he
fell asleep, and the second time I had to pull him by the ears to make him
come!"

Tom Ryan



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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

8

Chemistry / Re: Things that go boom in a bottle

« on: 19/03/2006 16:05:17 »

baking soda and vinegar (and a lot safer than what you have listed).

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

9

General Science / Re: Is a Space elevator feasible?

« on: 19/03/2006 15:56:37 »

I know that NASA engineers have been studying the feasability of a space elevator for some time now.  Their conclusion is that it can't be done right now, but the engineering and materials challenges are not insurmountable.  The primary hurdle is developing a material strong enough yet light enough for the main cable.  There are such materials in the labratory now in the form of carbon nanotubes.  The challenge now is developing the technology for the size needed for this project.  Here is a link to a popular NASA article

 http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm

And here is one with lots of info and links:

http://www.spaceelevator.com

And here is an organization that sounds fun:

http://www.elevator2010.org/site/index.html

This is exciting work!  To me this is much more promising than the "cheap rockets" that are being touted by the X-prize and such.  The space elevator would be a permanent structure dedicated to the utilitarian aspects of getting off this planet's surface.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

10

Just Chat! / Re: I will kill Cansouth

« on: 15/03/2006 05:02:40 »

Ummmm - If you're upset about it, why are you posting a link to his site, here, where it will be one of the first hits on Google?  And, after scanning the first few lines, I just tagged the whole thing as crap.  Which I think is what most will do - with all the bad grammar and spelling, its obviously not anything serious.  And who takes anything on geocities as serious anyway?

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

11

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: This is fowl !!..but can chickens actually fly ?

« on: 15/03/2006 03:48:34 »

Chickens are indigenous to South America - they are "wild" in the jungles of the Amazon.  But those birds don't much resemble your basic Rhode Island Red.  Bantam chickens can fly quite well - not for great distances, but up into trees and such.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

12

General Science / Re: How Cold Can Running water Get ?

« on: 15/03/2006 03:34:32 »

I'm not an expert here, but I believe that even moving water will freeze at 0 C.  Crystals will form and stick to anything they can basically causing a slush to form.  Certain conditions can result in "supercooling" - I'm not sure just how that works, but I believe it is when the water is very still and very pure and the crystals just don't have a place to start.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

13

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Communication Waves through Earth?

« on: 12/03/2006 03:17:12 »

I can answer the question on VLF/ELF radio waves.  They do not go through the earth, but are propagated between the earth's surface and the ionosphere.  Because they are such long wavelengths they will not be absorbed by the earth or the atmosphere very effectively and they will thus be detectable anywhere on the surface of the earth.  And yes, the antennas are huge as the transmitting wires need to be at least a half wavelength, longer if possible.  The data rate is very low because the available bandwidth is very narrow - you are using a carrier that is only a few hertz, so the modulation bandwidth cannot be more than a few percent of this value at the most.

And I fully agree that you need to check out the legal and licensing ramifications BEFORE you start transmitting.  ALL radio frequencies are controlled in some fashion and most are monitored fairly closely.  If you start transmitting in a protected band, you will indeed receive a "suggestion" to communicate a different way.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

14

General Science / Re: god and science

« on: 07/03/2006 03:50:05 »

quote:Originally posted by neilep

What happens if a christian scientist discovers there's no God ?

Good question Neil!

It cannot happen!  There is no way to prove the absence of anything.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

15

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Girly skin versus Boysy Skin

« on: 29/12/2005 17:20:55 »

I would guess that boy skin is inherently the same as girl skin, but the girls wash more often and use makeup and makeup remover, thus making the boys more prone to acne.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

16

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Decreasing in size at the speed of light

« on: 28/11/2005 00:36:54 »

Interesting question - I would think that the equations governing this are relative to the observer, thus you have to define where the observer is located.  If the observer is at the center of the disk (the "still" place) then the outer edges would be aging according to relativity and as you looked farther in, each point would have a different rate of aging.  So, the aging would be changing over the surface of the disk.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

17

General Science / Re: Home Made Aurora Borealis

« on: 28/11/2005 00:28:52 »

Lets see, the Aurora are caused by ionized particles (mostly protons if I remember right) from the sun spiraling down the magnetic field lines into the atmosphere.  So, how to duplicate that on a small scale?

You would need a strong magnet and a source of protons.  The magnet is fairly easy, but the protons would be a little harder.  The only source I know of would come from the decay of some radioactive materials, and that would likely get you in trouble with the various non-proliferation organizations of the world.  So, I don't know.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

18

General Science / Re: What are ghosts?

« on: 28/11/2005 00:23:54 »

I'll weigh in and say that ghosts are crap right along with astrology and religion.  And, I've noticed a lot of modern physics leaves loopholes that "could" allow for such phenomena.  This mostly leads me to say that the theroies that allow for this are flawed.  My opinion - worth what you paid for it!


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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

19

Just Chat! / Re: Google Earth Problems

« on: 05/11/2005 22:36:00 »

They are definitely crops that are irrigated by a system that has a pivot in the middle and a long pipe on wheels with sprinklers along the pipe.  Here is a picture of one from a little closer:  

And here is a link to a page with more info and another pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PivotIrrigationOnCotton.jpg

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.

20

General Science / Re: can the speed of light go twice as fast?

« on: 21/10/2005 03:53:17 »

I'll jump in here.  The light coming out from the torch would appear to recede from you at the speed of light.  Of course you would feel like you were stationary.  Now, if you were traveling close to the speed of light relative to another observer, they would see you traveling away at the speed of light, and the light bean you generated traveling at the speed of light.

Light always travels at the speed of light.  The position of the observer is always the "relative" position to which it is measured.  That's why its called the theory of relativity.

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John - The Eternal Pessimist.