41

That CAN'T be true! / Vampire like infant born in Mauritius and talks after 1 week only

« on: 17/06/2009 10:30:26 »

if you read the bottom:

"Woooooo! This would have been a front page Digg story if it would have been true lol. I wonder why many of my own friends are believing this story is true. :S – Anyway buddies, no worry there are no vampires in Mauritius!"

even if this BLARING sign wasnt there, i cant take a 'journalist' seriously if they use "OMG", "Wooooo!" and ":S"

42

That CAN'T be true! / Vampire like infant born in Mauritius and talks after 1 week only

« on: 17/06/2009 10:23:18 »

I have two vampire like teeth. Mwhaamwhaahaahaa

They're called 'canines', everyone does.

Now you can believe this?  A kid asking his mom to give blood and talks at 1 week old only. 

I suppose he'll be turning into a bat shortly and be flying off to find a donor for his next meal.............Give me a break!

"Now you can believe this?"
No.

hehe exactly.
have you seen the picture? its ridiculous, looks like a poorly made, low budget horror film.
utterly ridiculous, some people have too much time.

have you scrolled down? i cant even put into words how.... stupid... that is. if this was a serious thing, the media would have splashed it everywhere, all lead by an aging actor in a white coat and a stethoscope.

Photoshop is simply too dangerous for stupid people

43

That CAN'T be true! / Person Using Chi Energy !! it's Impossible ?!?!

« on: 17/06/2009 10:18:30 »

In feng shui they talk about 'chi' all the time and its even flow about the house. One thing that 'kills' chi flow are 'poison arrows'. Poison arrows are caused by protrusions and sharp corners... much like the sharp corners on that bit of decorated card...

ha ha
Qi is a very important thing to several religions, and it would be imprudent to make fun of it. (not that you are, just commenting).
the problem with convection currents is that the card is symmetrical, there is nothing to push on. but then again, it does have those inverted dips.
NB im just commenting, not necessarily saying ppl can move things with Qi

44

Complementary Medicine / Vitamin C for the Big C ? Could High Doses of ascorbate be the cure for cancer?

« on: 16/06/2009 12:31:53 »

A study of healthy volunteers doesn't really tell you a lot about the effect of vitamin C on cancer. It would be interesting to see what adverse effects (if any) were observed in people dosed with about 0.1% of their body weight.

not a whole lot, its LD50 is 11.3g per kg of body weight. thats a lot!
apparently many animals can produce it themselves...
it can cause iron poisoning in people with high iron (as it helps the body to absorb iron)
might have a link to kidney stones
high megadoses during early pregnancy (in rats) can suppress progesterone production, and cause miscarriage

45

Chemistry / How is caffeine extracted from whole coffee beans?

« on: 14/06/2009 09:49:51 »

perhaps i have, i doubt you could be bothered, but...
  Doherty RE (2000). "A History of the Production and Use of Carbon Tetrachloride, Tetrachloroethylene, Trichloroethylene and 1,1,1-Trichloroethane in the United States: Part 1—Historical Background; Carbon Tetrachloride and Tetrachloroethylene". Environmental Forensics 1 (1): 69–81. doi:10.1006/enfo.2000.0010

ive just one a little research, and it seems that they used C2Cl4 for awhile, but it was replaced with C2Cl2H2, which has now, fortunately, been replaced with supercritical CO2. although methylxanthines are soluble in all three.

i do agree it is considerably better for the environment though

46

Chemistry / How is caffeine extracted from whole coffee beans?

« on: 13/06/2009 06:23:09 »

I have a feeling that supercritical CO2 can also be used for this process and, because it avoids the need for potentially nasty solvents that can also rob the bean of flavour, it's the preferred way to do it - I'll check.

Chris

interestingly, it usually uses dry cleaning fluid, called Tetrachloroethylene, or C2Cl4. it dissolves the caffeine and is then sold as a soln. or a solid to highly caffeinated drink companies.
the use of supercritical CO2 has been suggested, and is far safer, but it is not widely used as like almost everything else in our world, it is set up in a certain way, and no matter how much it screws up the environment, it makes them money, so its not going to be easy to change (it is more expensive, needs new infrastructure etc)

47

Chemistry / How can I make fake milk?

« on: 13/06/2009 06:18:05 »

i dont know if you get Dettol over there, but its an antiseptic here in Australia, it is 'activated' by water, turning it a thin, but milk-like soln.
you could try MgOH instead, i THINK it dissolves well in water, though it forms a basic oxide, turning it milky. (called milk of magnesia)

48

Science Experiments / Can you guess what this is? [???]

« on: 12/06/2009 10:27:21 »

These are plastic toys

hardly!
these are 'Blue-Bottles' as we call them in Australia, they're everywhere, and they hurt a lot! they wash up on beaches, but their nematocysts dont die immediately so you have to watch out for them, cause if you step on them,you have to wash in hot water (as hot as you can stand) to destroy the chemicals

49

Just Chat! / Cocaine

« on: 12/06/2009 10:21:06 »

I challenge the idea that it does no harm based on the analysis of the posts of someone who claims to use it.

Cocaine causes huge harm!
just because you dont feel you have noticed anything does not mean it has not had permanent, irreversible and severe damage.

benzoylmethyl ecgonine is essentially whats called a re-uptake inhibitor of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. this means in layman's terms that the body cant remove these chemicals, meaning they increase in concentration, giving the effects of 'a high'.

it causes all sorts of damage including infarction, pruritus, asthma, stroke, bronchospasms and brain damage, to name a few.

you should never use illicit drugs, they are illicit for a reason! they cause great harm and are highly addictive

50

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / What is the best way to ward off a lightning strike?

« on: 12/06/2009 10:03:57 »

an enourmous silver (Ag silver, not just painted silver) cage built around your house (a few hundred metres should do it) with a huge silver, very sharp point or spike on top, reception might be limited, and it would be constantly hit by lightning, but your aerial would be safe

51

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / why do we not have Proton stars, yet we have Neutron Stars

« on: 12/06/2009 10:00:02 »

However, if you take Protons (that have gravitional mass) and an equal number of Electrons, do you cancel the repulsion effect and create a dense star. Hence a Proton/Electon star?

If you mixed protons and electrons, i would hypothesise they would bind and form Hydrogen, one proton, one electron. i would have thought anyway, i may be wrong.

in my mind, the protons would repel each other strongly,

but also, it would essentially form a giant ion.
assuming for a moment that they could hold together, and there was only 1000 protons in this 'proton star'.
that would form something like a 1000+ ion, meaning it had an IMMENSELY powerful attraction to anything -ve, ie electrons

52

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / How does temperature determine sex in some species?

« on: 12/06/2009 09:48:53 »

But how does it actually affect it? the advantages you stated are clear, but what is the physiological effect?
Thanks