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dont eat while doing this == Gasoline and Fire ==#REDIRECT remember dont eat
As a kid, my friend's dad owned a gas station. He used to work there pumping gas after school and during the summer. Like me, he's a really curious guy.
One day when the gasoline tankers came to refill the station's wells, he asked the trucker who was driving the tanker if he could climb up and see how it was done. It's basic physics, that if you want the hose attached to the bottom of the tanker to release gas into the well, you've got to provide a means for air to replace the gas that's flowing out. Otherwise you'll have a vacuum and the gas just won't flow out of the hose into the wells. So at the top of the tanker there's a "cap" that has to be opened to allow air in to replace the gasoline that's leaving the tank, and basically to allow the gasoline to flow. It's simple physics (I hope I'm describing the whole thing well enough).
Anyway, the hose to the well was clamped shut. My friend climbed up with the trucker to open the cap on top. But he noticed that as the trucker was opening the cap, he had a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth. "Isn't that REALLY dangerous? To have a lit cigarette dangling from your mouth that could easily just slip out and fall into this enormous tank of gasoline?" he asked. "Nah" said the trucker. "It's not dangerous at all". "Watch", he said. He lit a wooden match, and actually threw it into the tanker filled with gasoline. My friend freaked out watching his life race before his eyes. Yet, the match fell into the tanker filled with gasoline, and as it hit the gasoline, it simply went out and just floated there.
My friend had his whole theory of why the gasoline didn't immediately catch fire and create an enormous explosion. But his theory made absolutely no sense to me. My theory was simple: Oxygen. There just wasn't enough oxygen in the tank allow any fire to develop. I'm just wondering how the rest of you would explain how a tanker filled with gasoline wouldn't catch fire and explode even if one were to throw a lit match into it. Thanks! Loomis 00:27, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Yea, that driver is way too careless. Whether you get ignition probably depends on many factors like how full the tank is, the wind, humidity and temperature, etc. I would fire a gasoline truck driver who did anything as foolish as that. Also, somebody is going to get a burnt match in their gas tank, aren't they ? StuRat 09:31, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
In movies, of course, any car full of bad guys that gets into even a minor accident explodes into a giant fireball (cars full of good guys can fall down a huge cliff without any serious injuries resulting). In reality, most accidents, even serious ones, don't result in a fire. In those that do, it's typically a small fire, but can still be deadly, if the people inside the car can't get out. StuRat 09:31, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
It's possible the whole story could be BS, the guy's not really a close friend, but I don't see why even a pathological liar would come up with such a bizarre lie for absolutely no reason. Liars generally have some sort of incentive to make things up...anyway, that's all beside the point. The reason the whole thing came up is because I told him a story of my own. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm an on and off smoker...I've quit many times for rather considerable amounts of time, but during stressful times I tend to go back. But I know I'll be able to quit for good one day...but that's also beside the point.
I had two reasons for bringing up the whole issue with this friend: One is that our neighbourhood mechanic happens to be a chain-smoker. At his garage (which is also a gas station) he doesn't even use an ashtray, but simply tosses his lit cigarette butts wherever he wants. The whole thing seems rather dangerous to me. In fact, it's actually a law here where I live that while you can buy cigarettes at a gas station, they're not allowed to provide matches...they're only allowed to sell you lighters. The reason seems pretty obvious to me. For safety reasons, they just don't want people lighting matches at gas stations and tossing them on the ground.
The other reason is the fact that whenever I'm smoking outdoors, I have the habit of tossing my lit cigarette butt into a sewer rather than on the street. However on at least a couple of occasions I happened to be walking near a gas station, and seeing a bunch of sewer-like holes in the ground I almost actually threw a butt into one. Of course I managed to come to my senses and realize that it was no sewer I was about to throw the butt into, but rather a gasoline well! Thankfully I never actually did anything as (what I thought) would be so extremely dangerous as to throw a lit cigarette butt into a gasoline well. So I told this to the friend and that's when he told me the whole story about the tanker at his dad's gas station.
But I'm still wondering, surely I'm not the only person in the world that could mistakenly throw a cigarette butt into a gasoline well. Yet the caps on the wells aren't completely sealed. They tend to have these little holes in them. How is it possible that there seem to be all these explosions just waiting to happen? You'd think the wells would at least be adequately sealed, and if the reason they're not is because of the old physics necessity of requiring air to replace the gasoline as in the gasoline tanker, you'd think that they'd at least have some sort of piping that would allow the required air to come in from somewhere less dangerous such as, perhaps, the roof of the gas station. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks again. Loomis 00:53, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
Kids! Don't try this at home! Mattopaedia 11:55, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
As we know, serotonin bombardment may cause its receptors to hide for a while out of reach of the monoamines- is there any way to prevent this? Thanks. - R.
OK Ive just been told by a doctor that my heart palpitations (missing beats) are nothing to worry about. But i am worried. How many people get heart palpitations and whats the typical ratio of missed beats?-- Light current 02:34, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Im ok today (no palps). But Im going to try to get an appointment to see the doctor (ratther than just talk with one)-- Light current 03:53, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Since my last statement, I got to see one of the GPs in my practice this morning. She checked BP, heart rate only and, as they seemed fairly normal, said she would like to run some tests:
I think the doctor did say that if the ECG proved ok, I might be required to undergo a 24 hr ECG monitoring.
Got blood sample taken (almost) immediately at GP surgery. Now this nurse is an excellent specialist phlebotomist - a real artist- just one small prick and its in! Hardly hurts at all! (Mind you she's been doing it for years). Then I proceeded down to the local hospital for ECG (EKG). No waiting time! ECG suite nurse wired me up and finally got a print out but the nurse was not happy and said she would have to get an ER doctor to look at it (they didnt have any doctors in the ECG Dept!!). When she returned, she said I would have to go to A&E (ER) as it looked suspicious and they wanted to check me again.
This time I got a real pro 'ER' Sister (Team leader) wiring me up to a more sophisticated machine that also took BP, ECG and respiration rate (and probably measured my inside leg at the same time for all I know!) etc while she asked a lot of questions about name, address, next of kin, pain, coffee, unusual activity etc. It got me a bit worried!
She then left me to stew for a while. The machine beeped a lot. It started to get on my nerves. I tried to relax. The BP cuff inflated at intervals of around 10 mins. I tried to crane my neck around withoud moving my body to much and saw that the BP was OK and pulse rate about 75. I thought 'It cant be too serious with figures like that can it?'
When she came back one time she slipped an identity bracelet onto my wrist. I thought 'oh no: I'm staying here'. Then someone eles came round and asked if I wanted any lunch. I said 'no, I wont be staying that long! She said ' Youll be here for quite a while, epecially if they have drawn blood!' Shit! I thought-- I got to go to work and I'm parked in a 'limited time' parking bay. 'No, its ok' I said , I'll have a lemon squash. About 30 mins later a youngish woman dressed in a blue top and trouser outfit came and said 'Hello, My name's Lola, I'm the doctor what is your trouble?' I expalined for the umpteenth time then she said 'I think youre ok but Ill just have listen to your chest and then weel take some blood!. I said 'Is this going to take long? i really could do with a c***. 'Well is it urgent?' she retorted. 'Not if youre quick' I replied. She seemed satisfied with what she heard through the listening gear and said 'OK when you return, we'll get some blood'. I asked ' Why do they always have trouble taking my ECG?' She said I was one of the group of people to have an 'inverted P wave'? which can indicate a heart attack in people with normal P waves. So how do they know who normanny has a n inverted P wave and who has had a heart attack? Anyway, finally, she said that the trace was the same as I'd had done about 6 months ago when I went for ODing on my prescribed medication.
When I returned from the toilet, there was a strange looking young male in my cubicle sort of grinning at me. I said 'No its OK Ive just seen the Doctor!' 'No', he said 'Mr Current'? I have to take some blood from you'. 'Ok' said I as I climbed back onto the couch. He looked at both my arms and seemed to expressed a preference for my right (my left having already been puncured once). He spent quite some time prodding and poking the barely visible veins on the inside elbow. He rubbed and fingered and rubbed again alternating between two spots about an inch apart. Finally, he pronounced 'I think we'll have a try at this one first (indicating a vein near to the indide of the elbow), then, if it doesnt work, well try the other place'. If it doesnt work??? What the hell did he mean by that? 'Here we go' he said 'Small scratch'.
Waaaahhhh!!!! Nearly jumped about 3 ft off the bed! WTF (loud expleteives deleted). 'WTF are you doing? Take it easy! Stop bending the damn needle!' Attachment of vial produces no blood. 'Ah that one didnt work' he says casually. 'Now we try the other place!' I said 'yeah well this one better not hurt as much as the last one .. He said 'Oh yeah, it hurt ther because there is a tendon just there! I really was thinking of telling him to piss off and get someone who knew what (s)he was doing but in the end I decided to let him have one more try. Luckily, this didnt hurt much and was sucessfull in bleeding out.
He took three vials I believe. I said 'Look mate/buddy, dont lose those whatever you do! He was about to go with the vials with no markings as to their producer, when he halted and said 'Oh BTW, what is your name again please?'. I said 'Current'. 'Oh', he said 'we have a river boat company by that name where I come from!' 'Where?' I asked.. 'Bolivia!' was the reply. Yeah, and I always thought it was safer over here than in Bolivia! At least two long boring hours wait for path lab results. Then finally, Sister says casually: 'We've got the results. They're OK. You can go home now'. I exit premises at high velocity! 8-) TFFT! NB All names have been changed to protect the innocent/guity -- Light current 22:43, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
In immunology we were taught that a vaccine is essentially an attenuated version of the virus that the body can fight off and create virus specific antibodies for. I am under the impression that the Flu vaccine is updated every summer with last seasons mutation of the Flu virus. So every vaccine will consist of a collection of viruses from many seasons that your body will fight off and you gain immunity to the past versions of the Flu virus. My questions are
1) The Flu virus mutates very easily, so does that means we aren’t necessarily immune to the present season’s mutation of the flu virus. Does that mean we can still catch the Flu virus even after taking a vaccine?
2) Flu season is only in the winter months. Is there a reason why the Flu virus isn’t active during the warmer summer months? Does this have to do with the stress that cold weather places on our bodies or is the Flu virus temperature sensitive? If the latter is true, does that mean that warm tropical environments are Flu –free regions?
Normally a skeletal muscle gets fatigue after a forceful contaction but why does the heart muscle do not get fatigue though it works continually?Is there any special reason or structural variance from skeletal muscle that causes heart muscle not to fatigue?
Iron oxidation runs many hand warmers. The iron is mixed with water, activated charcoal, a salt, vermiculite, and cellulose. However, this reaction is quite slow. It will heat up the packet to a comfortable temperature and run for several hours.
I was wondering if it is possible to speed up the reaction so that it will heat up quickly to high temperatures(400-500 degrees celsius) for a short period of time(5-10 minutes). What controls the temperature of the reaction? Finally, does this reaction give off any fumes that are harmful to breath?
Also, are there any other chemical combinations that would do what I am looking for?
thank you -- Crazy Wolf 05:19, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Yeah! Let's sell the 'Porti-Bong' for Wikipedia! Could make lots of money, and serves as a hand-warmer as well!.... -- Zeizmic 11:55, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Alright guys. A follow up and some more questions before I email experts at the end of the week. Well. It is going better. I managed to skillfully manipulate her (that was a hard one) into considering rationally a liver transplant. Only liver transplantation offers an effective cure for the condition by both correcting the recipient phenotype and normalizing the circulating levels of A1AT so the neutrophil elastase can be regulated. She said the option had already been given, and "while it has been presented to me as an option, no acceptable donor will donate." I already thought about it. In a few years, when it is most optimal for both of us, if she doesn't get a donor, I want to. I want it more than anything in the world. If I can't find anybody else that will do the living donor liver transplantation, I will. This is the thing I have most wanted in my life, not only because it is her, but because she is my best friend and fellow human. I hate that people do not expect anything of me because I am 15. My ability and time is not as well spent as it could be, because no body needs anything of me, no body expects anything of me. Although she doesn't want me to think about it, I have been for the last week, and it gives me something more to expect of myself, that she needs. It is my first chance to actually do something big. Of course she was very flattered, but turned me down because "Even the mere hint of someone being hurt by my illness is deplorable, selfish, and I refuse. Curtiously." I replied that it is "Completely absurd to compare me losing something for three months that I can live without, to you losing something forever." To that which: "You're right. It is absurd. And you can't understand right now, but bear with me long enough to let me make you understand, because I want to share that with you horribly. I want you to see that I am happy by the mere thought of your willingness, nay, excitement, to do this. But I don't want you to, I don't want to. Without doubt." Although I will keep into consideration of course, there are other things to do, this is the only option that she would do, possibly. She has given up looking for donors. She's on the lists. Her parents are on the lookout, but no donors, she noted no possibilities. I believe I have given her hope, it is not stressing our relationship very much anymore, and I made her want to tell her parents about it. She said she would, and I think she will. Whatever she says her parents should be interested. Nay? Of course I should wait, because I am not biologically strong enough yet. But the longer we wait the worse her lungs get, which will not go back (without even more medication which may not exist already). I am thinking 17-19. But there are some ifs, and I need your help with a few things. I have forgetten where or if I read it, but I would have to have compatability with her. If I am correct all that has to be is the compatiable ABO blood types, and MHC proteins, but it is better for the patient if she has more alike antibodies. Help here? Research is going on at Northwestern University that looks promising regarding new immunosurpresive drugs that do not have as many of the side effects as the glucocorticoids do.
We are on a lighter tone now, and for both of us it is unacceptable to do what the other wants, however I do sense some budging and hope being produced. I need to crack her. It has been very tough, but with a combination of luck, determination, skill, and courage, I have taken down most of her walls. She has formed walls to make her ok with the ailment, and accept it. However the walls compeletly block the sure light of hope to her, and I am destroying them easily. I have to, before she will have hope, which is necessary for her cure, present and/or future. However there are two that I haven't tried yet, because I couldn't not be for sure.
She says that she does not want to live more than her lifespan. She asked me: "If you had a paper to write with a time limit of one week, how much harder would you work to write that paper than you if you had a year to do it?" I almost agree with her. However I don't. I don't know what to say. Maybe I am wrong and she is right. What do you think? I don't know how to elequently persuade her for this one.
The last one she hasn't told me yet. Help me anyway you can.
I've always thought people use the words "hope" and "you're welcome" far, far more than they should. They are words that are used sparingly when uesd well. I never "hope" I got an A on my algebra test, I never "hope" I get a new video game. I hope she wants to do it almost as much as I do. I hope that my liver would be compatiable with her body. Any treatment that is not a quick cure, she will not do, because she's been through so much already. The blood types. This is a further manifestation of the cruelty of all. Imagine marking a coin on one side, and flipping it. The side you marked is life, the side you did not mark is death. She is fourteen, and both sides should have been marked, but only one was. Thanatopsis. — X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)05:38, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for your reply. Are you informed on A1AD? From what I have read, and some other people have told me, a liver transplant is a cure.[ [1] updated] [2] I know about the immunosurpression, and it is not all good, but the person can live a fairly normal life, certainly compared to before, and developments will happen, and are happening. How do the side effects compare with the adverse ones she has now exhibited from weekly augmentation therapy? I know we're probably starting to get out of the range of most people here. The cocktails all seem to be the same few three drugs (there's only a few), and at least the same three functions for each. In fact, she's ok with them. Right now, I think that if it weren't me, and it were some dead guy she and her family would do it right away, or when significantly bad things started happening. I'll talk to a few people after this of course. Me needing organs? The liver does grow back. From the journal articles I have read, it looks like there is not much of a case with the live donor's life, or this recipient's life in the first year. Detereoration of success rate over the years is due to immosurpression and the bad condition recipients were in to start with? I know I for sure that I don't know what I'm getting into, if it does have to happen. However, the few months of pain for me do not compare to the pain she has had, and loss of life—it is absurd. Of course life isn't fair, thanks for telling me. Everybody I've told has seemed to say that, as if I didn't already know. I did, but now it is real. I guess we're all in An Open Boat. I decided long ago I would try and make it better for everybody. Ha ha, sounds funny to you, but it is going to happen. This is my first chance—a small job. I can say I am doing close to my best. Only one person and the family and friends. Possibly the parents won't have to see their child die before they do. We'll see how my idea changes with further research. — X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)07:17, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Well. I cracked her. And she finally told me. She's O-. That's why no body she knew could donate. And why she's always saying that I couldn't do anything. I can't. No body is ever going to give their liver to somebody they aren't close to. Naturally, everything has worked out against her, and she has gotten the short end of the stick over and over and over again. Have I lost hope? Pretty much. I'm giving up until next year. I'll be watching developments. Thank you for all your help guys. I still wish she was anything else but B or O. — X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)21:27, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
I did think about it, if I would do it for somebody I didn't know. I wouldn't in almost every case, but not this one. Even if I didn't know her, the situation is different. You already know what it is, she is 14 and dying from emphysema, and that should not happen. I know that almost no body could really deserve it, but if it was an adult, that would almost be ok. But she's fourteen, and it is not. I will admit that I would not have done anything about it if I didn't know her. After she fufilled the obligation to tell me, I have the obligation to fix it. It isn't just because she is my girlfriend, she is my best friend, and my fellow person. We're 15 years old—I mean, we're not getting married. I don't care if she would "fall for someone else" all I want is for her to live. I thought about the generosity-debt issue. To me she would never be in debt, but to her, of course she would feel indebted. I don't know. But she would not have to die so young, and her parents wouldn't have to see her die. Like I said, I think if it were some dead guy she would do it right away. But it was me, she was very touched, and she turned me down. I am not giving up however! She's not dying on my watch. Unless she really wants to. Which would border on suicide. I don't know, it gets too confusing. I will start my nanobiotechnology higher education next year, and I wonder what will happen. I could probably have the oportunity to try and reap vengence upon this, or another illness like this. Of course, just as a figure of speech. Really I would be doing it so no body else would have to worry about it or suffer again as much as she and those today have. We'll see. To say "however" again, I would rather have less bandages, and more real fixes, but I am no geneticist, or am the slightest bit interested in it, so couldn't work on this problem. — X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)06:41, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
A couple of years ago, the University of Auckland (NZ) conducted a study correlating accident frequency and colors of cars. Here's one link desribing it. According to the study, silver cars are quite a bit safer than white, yellow, grey, red, and blue cars and much safer than green, black, and especially brown cars. Discounting other factors (silver cars might be more expensive, people who prefer silver cars might be safer drivers, certain 'unsafe' models might not be available in silver etc.), and keeping all things equal, what do you think is the reason for this? Is it the reflectivity which makes them more visible than white cars? Moreover, assuming this study was published in several journals, does anyone know whether the preferences in chosing a car's color have shifted toward silver during the past couple of years?--- Sluzzelin 07:31, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Yes, that's a good point, Mac. But some of the reports I saw on the studies claimed that price and economic status had been taken into account (also mileage, age of the car etc). That's why I would like to know whether, ceteris paribus, anyone knew of a plausible physical/perceptory explanation for this correlation.--- Sluzzelin 08:22, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Thank you for your replies. I originally assumed significant human factors could be ruled out, and that the correlation might have to do with the fact that a silver car's high reflectivity also might make its motion more visible. Since cars involved in accidents are usually moving, I thought they might be more noticeable with light patterns flashing across their surface. I wasn't able to directly access the study, but some of your entries make me think that, perhaps, it is very difficult to rule out systemic bias in a study of this kind.--- Sluzzelin 08:32, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
I really love studies like the one you linked, thanks!--- Sluzzelin 16:58, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
It seems to me that the reason is fairly obvious. Since silver is a metallic color, you are in effect adding another layer of metal to the body of the car. Hence it is just stronger than other colors. :) Dipics 13:38, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
May i please know what is the exact definition of climate change? Also, how does it happen and what are its effects?
Personally, I prefer to trust Pres Bush, when he says we have nothing to worry about. After all, he's been so intelligent in all other respects, so how can we doubt him on this ? :-) StuRat 22:39, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Ok, lets start fresh from the left side again. Logic chain: I am skeptical, and/or reject the last three. It is easier to just talk about them all, rather than one at a time. First thing, EVERY gas blanket in the atmosphere is a GHG. Several factors go into the differently measured "strengths" of the gases. Water vapour, is of course the strongest.
Man, you have no idea (unless you do?) how much controversy there is over almost every study that comes out regarding measures in global temperature, proxy data, albedo records, ice depth, solar insolation, or gas ratio concentration. I could probably hit the bottom of the page with material about this. You have offered no specificity, so I will just answer generally.
All of the "evidence" so far presented for global warming is nothing more than statistical shenanigans. The so-called "experts" have cherry picked their data points and coddled their statistical methods to—lo and behold—arrive at the conclusion they wanted to arrive at.
Examples of the statistical shenanigans?
This graph was groundbreaking. Until of course in peer review it was found that all of the "evidence" presented was nothing more than statistical shenanigans. The so-called "experts," Shaviv and Veizer, have cherry picked from 12 asteroids and coddled their statistical methods to—lo and behold—arrive at the conclusion they wished to arrive at. Their academic integrity has been lost, by their despicable acts a single paper.
What? Never heard of it? Well let's do another one.
There is of course, a staple of the environmentalist movement, The Hockeystick. This one has been modified to add Man's impact, but this is the real GRIDA/IPCC graph. For instance, the graph that is the manifestation of anthropogenic global warming. The hockeystick graph. You've all seen it—it is the graph that shows a fairly consistant temperature, but then a huge jump during and after the 1800s, presumably because of increased CO2 emissions by humans because of the Industrial Revolution. However, the monster has been kiled many many many times. There are so many flaws, that make it almost as interesting as swiss cheese. As demonstrated in this graph, the failure is present.
It is a standard temperature/time graph, with four lines and even a shaded "possible error" region around the original hockeystick graph (blue line) produced by Mann and his colleges for the International Panel on Climate Change, GRIDA, and the United Nations. You would think anything from any of those three organizations would be factually accurate, wouldn't you?
The fault is blatant as soon as you understand what the lines mean. As stated, the blue line is the original. This is from real data, collected from around the world, with very advanced paleoclimatological techniques, mostly involving pollen concentration, tree-ring analyzations, and various gas isotope concentration ratios derived from ice cores in the Antarctic and Greenland (see D18O). Sound complicated eh? It gets even more complicated when you find out what they do with the data. With the data they get, they actually change it. They throw out whatever data seems wrong, they add, subtract, multiply, divide, form summations, and work some calculus in, to alter the data. Depending on who it is. In this case, the data they used was, of course, reliable, however the graph-creating algothrim they used to alter the data was not. They worked the data to reach whatever conclusion they want. On the graph, the red line was not from real data, but totally random data. You put the totally random numbers in their algothirm, and out comes the same graph. For good measure, we injected totally random data into NASA's ECHO-G climate modeler, and do you know what came out? Almost the same graph. Even with totally random data, we keep seeing that 2001 was the hottest year in the last thousand. If the data were random, wouldn't the graph be a random graph? Surely not a graph showing a consistent rise in temperature since the Industrial Revolution, exactly like a graph composed of real data.
The meteorological record contains station measurements from thermometers accurate to plus or minus 1 K (2 F); these thermometers are placed in "standard" instrument shelters which are recognizable by any chemical engineer as very inefficient heat exchangers (collected radiant energy is transferred to air moving through the enclosures); the dependence of measured temperature on wind speed is NOT accounted for in the record, is 0.3 K to 1 K above true air temperature at 1 m/s, rises as a function of shelter and thermometer emissivities at lower velocities, and drops off at higher velocities. Wind "shadows" around weather stations have increased over the past century with increased population and the associated building and development activities. The global mean temperature is constructed from a "selection" of station records that swaps stations in and out of the average with few constraints. The Urban heat island effect in recent years has tried to be adjusted out of data, but I'm sure you can see in the article how that has been going.
Taking the Earth's temperature is simply a tough job. We can use satellite measurements or weather balloons though! But why do different data sets in different places say the troposphere is cooling and the surface is warming, and the troposphere is heating and the surface cooling? In fact, even defining precisely what we mean by the absolute surface air temperature is challenging, and how we should do it is. In fact, at the weather stations I talked about in the last paragraph the usual "standard" is to test the temperature would be to have a thermometer 1 m above the ground, measure. Then several meters of the ground, measure. Then several more meters off the ground, and measure. But no body really does that. One is good enough. Current global temperature anomalies (the amount of warming or cooling reported) are estimated against an expected average of 14 °C (57 °F) -- the guess-timated mean temperature over the period 1961-1990. This is usually the 0 "base level" you see on the graphs if you have looked at that many.
The temperature record is so thoroughly shot through with errors in method and conservation of method as to be TOTALLY USELESS, therefore, INCONCLUSIVE for any purposes.
Inquire away. I tried not to answer everything, as I don't want to take up too much space. I've done my research on this one. ;) Don't be afraid to fix any code errors for me, as I have got to go. — X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)22:19, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
Mac, all those stats seemed to just be you admitting that mountain glaciers are thinning dramatically, on average, around the world. If you don't think this is due to global warming, what is causing it, exactly ? As for Greenland, it seems to be losing glaciers in some places and growing them in others. I attribute this to the weakening of the Gulf Stream, one predicted consequence of global warming. Also, if you need to write this much material, you should put it on your talk page and refer us there. These Ref Desk pages are already too big. StuRat 12:34, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
I "suffer" from myopia, or shortsightedness, and I've always noticed that without my glasses on, bright lights appear as kinda cross-hatched, hazy circles against the background, larger than the actual light and dimmer. I always wondered about this, and I just now read in the article on bokeh (artistically blurring a photograph): "When a lens is stopped down to something other than its maximum aperture, out-of-focus points are blurred into the polygonal shape of the aperture rather than perfect circles" Is this an explanation of why lights appear that way to my out-of-focus eyes? Does anyone else with glasses experience this? Sum0 11:58, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps we should ask the Bush administration...they all seem to be rather shortsighted. :-) StuRat 17:22, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
I'm trying to learn more about a syndrome I once heard mentioned but which I'm not sure how to spell, and therefore can't find more about. It sounds something like "DeClarenbeau" syndrome and had to do with one sufferer travelling to Buckingham Palace in belief that a royal was secretly communicating with them via the window shutters or something. Sorry to be so vague, but this is really bothering me. -- 65.92.51.239 13:27, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
If a human being could withstand travelling at light speed and had a) a device that would propel him at that speed and b) an area without obstacles of infinite length and width... what would he be able to see? In a car travelling at (say) 70mph, objects nearby seem blurred, but you can easily focus on distant features, such as mountains. Would this be possible if the objects were suitably far away (say, a star)? Or would the fact that the light that makes vision possible is being exceeded create problems for the eyes/brain? -- Dweller 13:47, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
That would mean you're not travelling at the speed of light, the light has to get past you, reflect in the mirror, to your eyes, if you would keep the mirror behind you, yes. Mion 15:47, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
It's impossible for a massive being (massive = "having mass") to travel at the speed of light. If you were traveling at 99% the speed of light, however, (a) you would still observe that the speed of the light you measure is travelling at c (don't ask why - it's extraordinarily complicated) and (b) I think the light you observe would be shifted very much towards the red or blue ( depend on the direction it is travelling). Raul654 15:50, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Not with light coming from your back, you can have sidelight, which included with the mirror angle is shorter than from the back. Mion 16:09, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
eh? -- Dweller 17:19, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Would that mean that in a vacuum state, if you look backwarts you see nothing, including te range to the left and right. until the angle is reached ? whereas the color range is in the real state, created by the wavelenghts of light, which travel at the same speed, but have different influences (by gravity or electromagnetic force). Mion 16:30, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
and, erm, eh? -- Dweller 17:19, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
At all speeds slower than the speed of light, you would see perfectly normally (though your brain might have trouble processing it). At the speed of light, you would only be able to see a narrow angle in front of you unless you stuck your head out the window and moved it slightly in the direction you want to see, then you might pick up a few photons. Some other interesting effects of lightspeed travel: if someone in the back seat had a flashlight you wouldn't be able to see it (since addition of velocities doesn't apply to light)- in fact, you wouldn't see the back seat at all. Also if you dropped a ball bearing out the window at that speed it could probably destroy a city :D -- froth T C 19:20, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Gosh. I didn't realise I'd asked such an apparently difficult question! I think what you're saying is:
Does that sum it up? -- Dweller 09:19, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
Luxons, Tachyons, and ... something yons may be of interest.— X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)08:04, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
I was wondering what would happen IF(negating any scientific/physic arguments) someone could move at the speed of light and beyond.
from what I managed to think of(without much knowledge about this specific topic) It would be something like this:
Required knowledge:
In the view of the humans the quickest and most common way to perceive movement is to use your eyes to see. what we see are actual broken rays of light that diffused upon contact with the obstacle. if someone moves then the light will be broken in another way and we will be able to see the difference because we see in "frames" just like on a computer displays images and movies. but here comes the tricky part. If someone moves at the speed of light then his light will be broken at the spot he moved upon and ?every? spot between the previous spot and the new spot. question: or is it only broken on the original and the ending spot? and therefore the movement will seem instantanious for us with the person/object on both the spots at the same time (at least in that frame which will vanish too quick for us to actually be aware of it but still).
_______ in this frame the |1) | o (=object/person) | | is still standing | 0 | still and this | | is our | | starting point
This discussion prompted me to find this link, which answers a question about humans-seeing-in-frames that I had. I thought I'd post it in case others hadn't seen it. -- Allen 02:33, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
Im sorry I didnt have the chance to finish this question before but I'll finish this now.
_______ in this frame the |1) | o (=object/person) | | is still standing | 0 | still and this | | is our | | starting point
_______ in this frame the |2) | o (=object/person) | | is moving at a "normal" rate | 0 | and his light is | | broken at the | | new location. so far so good and clear.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______ in this frame the |1) | o (=object/person) | | is still standing | 0 | still and this | | is our | | starting point
_______ in this frame the |2) | o (=object/person) | | is moving at the speed of | 0 0 | light and therefore has his | | light broken on both locations | | but is not physcially present on the original spot
_________________________________________________________________________________
_______ in this frame the |1) | o (=object/person) | | is still standing | 0 | still and this | | is our | | starting point
________ in this frame the |0) | o (=object/person) | | has moven faster than | 0 | the speed of light and | | therefore went back in | | time as we perceive it? andthus he added another object in our frame that was added later on. manipulating our memory as well?
_______ in this frame the |1) | o (=object/person) | | is still standing | 0 0 | still but because he | | went faster than the speed | | of light he will be there twice. this time physical on both locations?
_______ in this frame the |2) | o (=object/person) | | has arrived on the location | 0 | *** | | *** | | ***
_____________________________________________________________
although greatly simplified and ignoring the normal restraints this raises a lot of questions and contra-arguments. which I would be thrilled to hear.
Hi There :
I was recently told that a "moment" is actually 90 seconds, it being an old English term, is this true ? I cannot find a reference to it any where. Thanks
From the OED: In mediæval reckoning, the tenth part of a ‘point’, [thus] the fortieth or the fiftieth part of an hour.-- Shantavira 18:47, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Nursing management of brain injury Sansonala@sify·com 18:39, 26 September 2006 (UTC)soniya
OK so lets say some friends and I drive out towards some empty region of space for this little experiment. One of my friends, she has a beam or orb or whatever, is emitting light. If she shines the light at me, then, on the count of three, we start moving away from each other at more than 50% c, what do I see? Nothing, right? Our combined speed is greater than c even though we are both traveling significantly slower. But I asked because light is a fickle dame and she never behaves as I expect her to. Hyenaste (tell) 19:20, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
If a seagull is flying at .99 c while emitting considerable amounts of CO2 does it have more or less effect on the environment than a magpie flying at exactly 1.0 c?
I think that the answer can be summed up by the radical expression Deltacom1515 21:14, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
-- Russoc4 20:42, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
I wonder if there's a correlation between this question and laying down one's sandwiches backwards... Melchoir 22:25, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
But what about
If, for example, a swallow was just flying around through the heliosphere at nearly the speed of light, would the density of the solar wind be high enough to cause enough friction to appreciably heat up the bird (similar to the effect of atmospheric gasses on much-slower-moving spacecraft during reentry)? Assuming the poor fellow somehow powers through the bow shock, how about the interstellar medium? The intergalactic medium? -- froth T C 20:54, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
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dont eat while doing this == Gasoline and Fire ==#REDIRECT remember dont eat
As a kid, my friend's dad owned a gas station. He used to work there pumping gas after school and during the summer. Like me, he's a really curious guy.
One day when the gasoline tankers came to refill the station's wells, he asked the trucker who was driving the tanker if he could climb up and see how it was done. It's basic physics, that if you want the hose attached to the bottom of the tanker to release gas into the well, you've got to provide a means for air to replace the gas that's flowing out. Otherwise you'll have a vacuum and the gas just won't flow out of the hose into the wells. So at the top of the tanker there's a "cap" that has to be opened to allow air in to replace the gasoline that's leaving the tank, and basically to allow the gasoline to flow. It's simple physics (I hope I'm describing the whole thing well enough).
Anyway, the hose to the well was clamped shut. My friend climbed up with the trucker to open the cap on top. But he noticed that as the trucker was opening the cap, he had a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth. "Isn't that REALLY dangerous? To have a lit cigarette dangling from your mouth that could easily just slip out and fall into this enormous tank of gasoline?" he asked. "Nah" said the trucker. "It's not dangerous at all". "Watch", he said. He lit a wooden match, and actually threw it into the tanker filled with gasoline. My friend freaked out watching his life race before his eyes. Yet, the match fell into the tanker filled with gasoline, and as it hit the gasoline, it simply went out and just floated there.
My friend had his whole theory of why the gasoline didn't immediately catch fire and create an enormous explosion. But his theory made absolutely no sense to me. My theory was simple: Oxygen. There just wasn't enough oxygen in the tank allow any fire to develop. I'm just wondering how the rest of you would explain how a tanker filled with gasoline wouldn't catch fire and explode even if one were to throw a lit match into it. Thanks! Loomis 00:27, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Yea, that driver is way too careless. Whether you get ignition probably depends on many factors like how full the tank is, the wind, humidity and temperature, etc. I would fire a gasoline truck driver who did anything as foolish as that. Also, somebody is going to get a burnt match in their gas tank, aren't they ? StuRat 09:31, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
In movies, of course, any car full of bad guys that gets into even a minor accident explodes into a giant fireball (cars full of good guys can fall down a huge cliff without any serious injuries resulting). In reality, most accidents, even serious ones, don't result in a fire. In those that do, it's typically a small fire, but can still be deadly, if the people inside the car can't get out. StuRat 09:31, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
It's possible the whole story could be BS, the guy's not really a close friend, but I don't see why even a pathological liar would come up with such a bizarre lie for absolutely no reason. Liars generally have some sort of incentive to make things up...anyway, that's all beside the point. The reason the whole thing came up is because I told him a story of my own. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm an on and off smoker...I've quit many times for rather considerable amounts of time, but during stressful times I tend to go back. But I know I'll be able to quit for good one day...but that's also beside the point.
I had two reasons for bringing up the whole issue with this friend: One is that our neighbourhood mechanic happens to be a chain-smoker. At his garage (which is also a gas station) he doesn't even use an ashtray, but simply tosses his lit cigarette butts wherever he wants. The whole thing seems rather dangerous to me. In fact, it's actually a law here where I live that while you can buy cigarettes at a gas station, they're not allowed to provide matches...they're only allowed to sell you lighters. The reason seems pretty obvious to me. For safety reasons, they just don't want people lighting matches at gas stations and tossing them on the ground.
The other reason is the fact that whenever I'm smoking outdoors, I have the habit of tossing my lit cigarette butt into a sewer rather than on the street. However on at least a couple of occasions I happened to be walking near a gas station, and seeing a bunch of sewer-like holes in the ground I almost actually threw a butt into one. Of course I managed to come to my senses and realize that it was no sewer I was about to throw the butt into, but rather a gasoline well! Thankfully I never actually did anything as (what I thought) would be so extremely dangerous as to throw a lit cigarette butt into a gasoline well. So I told this to the friend and that's when he told me the whole story about the tanker at his dad's gas station.
But I'm still wondering, surely I'm not the only person in the world that could mistakenly throw a cigarette butt into a gasoline well. Yet the caps on the wells aren't completely sealed. They tend to have these little holes in them. How is it possible that there seem to be all these explosions just waiting to happen? You'd think the wells would at least be adequately sealed, and if the reason they're not is because of the old physics necessity of requiring air to replace the gasoline as in the gasoline tanker, you'd think that they'd at least have some sort of piping that would allow the required air to come in from somewhere less dangerous such as, perhaps, the roof of the gas station. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks again. Loomis 00:53, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
Kids! Don't try this at home! Mattopaedia 11:55, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
As we know, serotonin bombardment may cause its receptors to hide for a while out of reach of the monoamines- is there any way to prevent this? Thanks. - R.
OK Ive just been told by a doctor that my heart palpitations (missing beats) are nothing to worry about. But i am worried. How many people get heart palpitations and whats the typical ratio of missed beats?-- Light current 02:34, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Im ok today (no palps). But Im going to try to get an appointment to see the doctor (ratther than just talk with one)-- Light current 03:53, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Since my last statement, I got to see one of the GPs in my practice this morning. She checked BP, heart rate only and, as they seemed fairly normal, said she would like to run some tests:
I think the doctor did say that if the ECG proved ok, I might be required to undergo a 24 hr ECG monitoring.
Got blood sample taken (almost) immediately at GP surgery. Now this nurse is an excellent specialist phlebotomist - a real artist- just one small prick and its in! Hardly hurts at all! (Mind you she's been doing it for years). Then I proceeded down to the local hospital for ECG (EKG). No waiting time! ECG suite nurse wired me up and finally got a print out but the nurse was not happy and said she would have to get an ER doctor to look at it (they didnt have any doctors in the ECG Dept!!). When she returned, she said I would have to go to A&E (ER) as it looked suspicious and they wanted to check me again.
This time I got a real pro 'ER' Sister (Team leader) wiring me up to a more sophisticated machine that also took BP, ECG and respiration rate (and probably measured my inside leg at the same time for all I know!) etc while she asked a lot of questions about name, address, next of kin, pain, coffee, unusual activity etc. It got me a bit worried!
She then left me to stew for a while. The machine beeped a lot. It started to get on my nerves. I tried to relax. The BP cuff inflated at intervals of around 10 mins. I tried to crane my neck around withoud moving my body to much and saw that the BP was OK and pulse rate about 75. I thought 'It cant be too serious with figures like that can it?'
When she came back one time she slipped an identity bracelet onto my wrist. I thought 'oh no: I'm staying here'. Then someone eles came round and asked if I wanted any lunch. I said 'no, I wont be staying that long! She said ' Youll be here for quite a while, epecially if they have drawn blood!' Shit! I thought-- I got to go to work and I'm parked in a 'limited time' parking bay. 'No, its ok' I said , I'll have a lemon squash. About 30 mins later a youngish woman dressed in a blue top and trouser outfit came and said 'Hello, My name's Lola, I'm the doctor what is your trouble?' I expalined for the umpteenth time then she said 'I think youre ok but Ill just have listen to your chest and then weel take some blood!. I said 'Is this going to take long? i really could do with a c***. 'Well is it urgent?' she retorted. 'Not if youre quick' I replied. She seemed satisfied with what she heard through the listening gear and said 'OK when you return, we'll get some blood'. I asked ' Why do they always have trouble taking my ECG?' She said I was one of the group of people to have an 'inverted P wave'? which can indicate a heart attack in people with normal P waves. So how do they know who normanny has a n inverted P wave and who has had a heart attack? Anyway, finally, she said that the trace was the same as I'd had done about 6 months ago when I went for ODing on my prescribed medication.
When I returned from the toilet, there was a strange looking young male in my cubicle sort of grinning at me. I said 'No its OK Ive just seen the Doctor!' 'No', he said 'Mr Current'? I have to take some blood from you'. 'Ok' said I as I climbed back onto the couch. He looked at both my arms and seemed to expressed a preference for my right (my left having already been puncured once). He spent quite some time prodding and poking the barely visible veins on the inside elbow. He rubbed and fingered and rubbed again alternating between two spots about an inch apart. Finally, he pronounced 'I think we'll have a try at this one first (indicating a vein near to the indide of the elbow), then, if it doesnt work, well try the other place'. If it doesnt work??? What the hell did he mean by that? 'Here we go' he said 'Small scratch'.
Waaaahhhh!!!! Nearly jumped about 3 ft off the bed! WTF (loud expleteives deleted). 'WTF are you doing? Take it easy! Stop bending the damn needle!' Attachment of vial produces no blood. 'Ah that one didnt work' he says casually. 'Now we try the other place!' I said 'yeah well this one better not hurt as much as the last one .. He said 'Oh yeah, it hurt ther because there is a tendon just there! I really was thinking of telling him to piss off and get someone who knew what (s)he was doing but in the end I decided to let him have one more try. Luckily, this didnt hurt much and was sucessfull in bleeding out.
He took three vials I believe. I said 'Look mate/buddy, dont lose those whatever you do! He was about to go with the vials with no markings as to their producer, when he halted and said 'Oh BTW, what is your name again please?'. I said 'Current'. 'Oh', he said 'we have a river boat company by that name where I come from!' 'Where?' I asked.. 'Bolivia!' was the reply. Yeah, and I always thought it was safer over here than in Bolivia! At least two long boring hours wait for path lab results. Then finally, Sister says casually: 'We've got the results. They're OK. You can go home now'. I exit premises at high velocity! 8-) TFFT! NB All names have been changed to protect the innocent/guity -- Light current 22:43, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
In immunology we were taught that a vaccine is essentially an attenuated version of the virus that the body can fight off and create virus specific antibodies for. I am under the impression that the Flu vaccine is updated every summer with last seasons mutation of the Flu virus. So every vaccine will consist of a collection of viruses from many seasons that your body will fight off and you gain immunity to the past versions of the Flu virus. My questions are
1) The Flu virus mutates very easily, so does that means we aren’t necessarily immune to the present season’s mutation of the flu virus. Does that mean we can still catch the Flu virus even after taking a vaccine?
2) Flu season is only in the winter months. Is there a reason why the Flu virus isn’t active during the warmer summer months? Does this have to do with the stress that cold weather places on our bodies or is the Flu virus temperature sensitive? If the latter is true, does that mean that warm tropical environments are Flu –free regions?
Normally a skeletal muscle gets fatigue after a forceful contaction but why does the heart muscle do not get fatigue though it works continually?Is there any special reason or structural variance from skeletal muscle that causes heart muscle not to fatigue?
Iron oxidation runs many hand warmers. The iron is mixed with water, activated charcoal, a salt, vermiculite, and cellulose. However, this reaction is quite slow. It will heat up the packet to a comfortable temperature and run for several hours.
I was wondering if it is possible to speed up the reaction so that it will heat up quickly to high temperatures(400-500 degrees celsius) for a short period of time(5-10 minutes). What controls the temperature of the reaction? Finally, does this reaction give off any fumes that are harmful to breath?
Also, are there any other chemical combinations that would do what I am looking for?
thank you -- Crazy Wolf 05:19, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Yeah! Let's sell the 'Porti-Bong' for Wikipedia! Could make lots of money, and serves as a hand-warmer as well!.... -- Zeizmic 11:55, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Alright guys. A follow up and some more questions before I email experts at the end of the week. Well. It is going better. I managed to skillfully manipulate her (that was a hard one) into considering rationally a liver transplant. Only liver transplantation offers an effective cure for the condition by both correcting the recipient phenotype and normalizing the circulating levels of A1AT so the neutrophil elastase can be regulated. She said the option had already been given, and "while it has been presented to me as an option, no acceptable donor will donate." I already thought about it. In a few years, when it is most optimal for both of us, if she doesn't get a donor, I want to. I want it more than anything in the world. If I can't find anybody else that will do the living donor liver transplantation, I will. This is the thing I have most wanted in my life, not only because it is her, but because she is my best friend and fellow human. I hate that people do not expect anything of me because I am 15. My ability and time is not as well spent as it could be, because no body needs anything of me, no body expects anything of me. Although she doesn't want me to think about it, I have been for the last week, and it gives me something more to expect of myself, that she needs. It is my first chance to actually do something big. Of course she was very flattered, but turned me down because "Even the mere hint of someone being hurt by my illness is deplorable, selfish, and I refuse. Curtiously." I replied that it is "Completely absurd to compare me losing something for three months that I can live without, to you losing something forever." To that which: "You're right. It is absurd. And you can't understand right now, but bear with me long enough to let me make you understand, because I want to share that with you horribly. I want you to see that I am happy by the mere thought of your willingness, nay, excitement, to do this. But I don't want you to, I don't want to. Without doubt." Although I will keep into consideration of course, there are other things to do, this is the only option that she would do, possibly. She has given up looking for donors. She's on the lists. Her parents are on the lookout, but no donors, she noted no possibilities. I believe I have given her hope, it is not stressing our relationship very much anymore, and I made her want to tell her parents about it. She said she would, and I think she will. Whatever she says her parents should be interested. Nay? Of course I should wait, because I am not biologically strong enough yet. But the longer we wait the worse her lungs get, which will not go back (without even more medication which may not exist already). I am thinking 17-19. But there are some ifs, and I need your help with a few things. I have forgetten where or if I read it, but I would have to have compatability with her. If I am correct all that has to be is the compatiable ABO blood types, and MHC proteins, but it is better for the patient if she has more alike antibodies. Help here? Research is going on at Northwestern University that looks promising regarding new immunosurpresive drugs that do not have as many of the side effects as the glucocorticoids do.
We are on a lighter tone now, and for both of us it is unacceptable to do what the other wants, however I do sense some budging and hope being produced. I need to crack her. It has been very tough, but with a combination of luck, determination, skill, and courage, I have taken down most of her walls. She has formed walls to make her ok with the ailment, and accept it. However the walls compeletly block the sure light of hope to her, and I am destroying them easily. I have to, before she will have hope, which is necessary for her cure, present and/or future. However there are two that I haven't tried yet, because I couldn't not be for sure.
She says that she does not want to live more than her lifespan. She asked me: "If you had a paper to write with a time limit of one week, how much harder would you work to write that paper than you if you had a year to do it?" I almost agree with her. However I don't. I don't know what to say. Maybe I am wrong and she is right. What do you think? I don't know how to elequently persuade her for this one.
The last one she hasn't told me yet. Help me anyway you can.
I've always thought people use the words "hope" and "you're welcome" far, far more than they should. They are words that are used sparingly when uesd well. I never "hope" I got an A on my algebra test, I never "hope" I get a new video game. I hope she wants to do it almost as much as I do. I hope that my liver would be compatiable with her body. Any treatment that is not a quick cure, she will not do, because she's been through so much already. The blood types. This is a further manifestation of the cruelty of all. Imagine marking a coin on one side, and flipping it. The side you marked is life, the side you did not mark is death. She is fourteen, and both sides should have been marked, but only one was. Thanatopsis. — X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)05:38, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for your reply. Are you informed on A1AD? From what I have read, and some other people have told me, a liver transplant is a cure.[ [1] updated] [2] I know about the immunosurpression, and it is not all good, but the person can live a fairly normal life, certainly compared to before, and developments will happen, and are happening. How do the side effects compare with the adverse ones she has now exhibited from weekly augmentation therapy? I know we're probably starting to get out of the range of most people here. The cocktails all seem to be the same few three drugs (there's only a few), and at least the same three functions for each. In fact, she's ok with them. Right now, I think that if it weren't me, and it were some dead guy she and her family would do it right away, or when significantly bad things started happening. I'll talk to a few people after this of course. Me needing organs? The liver does grow back. From the journal articles I have read, it looks like there is not much of a case with the live donor's life, or this recipient's life in the first year. Detereoration of success rate over the years is due to immosurpression and the bad condition recipients were in to start with? I know I for sure that I don't know what I'm getting into, if it does have to happen. However, the few months of pain for me do not compare to the pain she has had, and loss of life—it is absurd. Of course life isn't fair, thanks for telling me. Everybody I've told has seemed to say that, as if I didn't already know. I did, but now it is real. I guess we're all in An Open Boat. I decided long ago I would try and make it better for everybody. Ha ha, sounds funny to you, but it is going to happen. This is my first chance—a small job. I can say I am doing close to my best. Only one person and the family and friends. Possibly the parents won't have to see their child die before they do. We'll see how my idea changes with further research. — X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)07:17, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Well. I cracked her. And she finally told me. She's O-. That's why no body she knew could donate. And why she's always saying that I couldn't do anything. I can't. No body is ever going to give their liver to somebody they aren't close to. Naturally, everything has worked out against her, and she has gotten the short end of the stick over and over and over again. Have I lost hope? Pretty much. I'm giving up until next year. I'll be watching developments. Thank you for all your help guys. I still wish she was anything else but B or O. — X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)21:27, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
I did think about it, if I would do it for somebody I didn't know. I wouldn't in almost every case, but not this one. Even if I didn't know her, the situation is different. You already know what it is, she is 14 and dying from emphysema, and that should not happen. I know that almost no body could really deserve it, but if it was an adult, that would almost be ok. But she's fourteen, and it is not. I will admit that I would not have done anything about it if I didn't know her. After she fufilled the obligation to tell me, I have the obligation to fix it. It isn't just because she is my girlfriend, she is my best friend, and my fellow person. We're 15 years old—I mean, we're not getting married. I don't care if she would "fall for someone else" all I want is for her to live. I thought about the generosity-debt issue. To me she would never be in debt, but to her, of course she would feel indebted. I don't know. But she would not have to die so young, and her parents wouldn't have to see her die. Like I said, I think if it were some dead guy she would do it right away. But it was me, she was very touched, and she turned me down. I am not giving up however! She's not dying on my watch. Unless she really wants to. Which would border on suicide. I don't know, it gets too confusing. I will start my nanobiotechnology higher education next year, and I wonder what will happen. I could probably have the oportunity to try and reap vengence upon this, or another illness like this. Of course, just as a figure of speech. Really I would be doing it so no body else would have to worry about it or suffer again as much as she and those today have. We'll see. To say "however" again, I would rather have less bandages, and more real fixes, but I am no geneticist, or am the slightest bit interested in it, so couldn't work on this problem. — X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)06:41, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
A couple of years ago, the University of Auckland (NZ) conducted a study correlating accident frequency and colors of cars. Here's one link desribing it. According to the study, silver cars are quite a bit safer than white, yellow, grey, red, and blue cars and much safer than green, black, and especially brown cars. Discounting other factors (silver cars might be more expensive, people who prefer silver cars might be safer drivers, certain 'unsafe' models might not be available in silver etc.), and keeping all things equal, what do you think is the reason for this? Is it the reflectivity which makes them more visible than white cars? Moreover, assuming this study was published in several journals, does anyone know whether the preferences in chosing a car's color have shifted toward silver during the past couple of years?--- Sluzzelin 07:31, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Yes, that's a good point, Mac. But some of the reports I saw on the studies claimed that price and economic status had been taken into account (also mileage, age of the car etc). That's why I would like to know whether, ceteris paribus, anyone knew of a plausible physical/perceptory explanation for this correlation.--- Sluzzelin 08:22, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Thank you for your replies. I originally assumed significant human factors could be ruled out, and that the correlation might have to do with the fact that a silver car's high reflectivity also might make its motion more visible. Since cars involved in accidents are usually moving, I thought they might be more noticeable with light patterns flashing across their surface. I wasn't able to directly access the study, but some of your entries make me think that, perhaps, it is very difficult to rule out systemic bias in a study of this kind.--- Sluzzelin 08:32, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
I really love studies like the one you linked, thanks!--- Sluzzelin 16:58, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
It seems to me that the reason is fairly obvious. Since silver is a metallic color, you are in effect adding another layer of metal to the body of the car. Hence it is just stronger than other colors. :) Dipics 13:38, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
May i please know what is the exact definition of climate change? Also, how does it happen and what are its effects?
Personally, I prefer to trust Pres Bush, when he says we have nothing to worry about. After all, he's been so intelligent in all other respects, so how can we doubt him on this ? :-) StuRat 22:39, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Ok, lets start fresh from the left side again. Logic chain: I am skeptical, and/or reject the last three. It is easier to just talk about them all, rather than one at a time. First thing, EVERY gas blanket in the atmosphere is a GHG. Several factors go into the differently measured "strengths" of the gases. Water vapour, is of course the strongest.
Man, you have no idea (unless you do?) how much controversy there is over almost every study that comes out regarding measures in global temperature, proxy data, albedo records, ice depth, solar insolation, or gas ratio concentration. I could probably hit the bottom of the page with material about this. You have offered no specificity, so I will just answer generally.
All of the "evidence" so far presented for global warming is nothing more than statistical shenanigans. The so-called "experts" have cherry picked their data points and coddled their statistical methods to—lo and behold—arrive at the conclusion they wanted to arrive at.
Examples of the statistical shenanigans?
This graph was groundbreaking. Until of course in peer review it was found that all of the "evidence" presented was nothing more than statistical shenanigans. The so-called "experts," Shaviv and Veizer, have cherry picked from 12 asteroids and coddled their statistical methods to—lo and behold—arrive at the conclusion they wished to arrive at. Their academic integrity has been lost, by their despicable acts a single paper.
What? Never heard of it? Well let's do another one.
There is of course, a staple of the environmentalist movement, The Hockeystick. This one has been modified to add Man's impact, but this is the real GRIDA/IPCC graph. For instance, the graph that is the manifestation of anthropogenic global warming. The hockeystick graph. You've all seen it—it is the graph that shows a fairly consistant temperature, but then a huge jump during and after the 1800s, presumably because of increased CO2 emissions by humans because of the Industrial Revolution. However, the monster has been kiled many many many times. There are so many flaws, that make it almost as interesting as swiss cheese. As demonstrated in this graph, the failure is present.
It is a standard temperature/time graph, with four lines and even a shaded "possible error" region around the original hockeystick graph (blue line) produced by Mann and his colleges for the International Panel on Climate Change, GRIDA, and the United Nations. You would think anything from any of those three organizations would be factually accurate, wouldn't you?
The fault is blatant as soon as you understand what the lines mean. As stated, the blue line is the original. This is from real data, collected from around the world, with very advanced paleoclimatological techniques, mostly involving pollen concentration, tree-ring analyzations, and various gas isotope concentration ratios derived from ice cores in the Antarctic and Greenland (see D18O). Sound complicated eh? It gets even more complicated when you find out what they do with the data. With the data they get, they actually change it. They throw out whatever data seems wrong, they add, subtract, multiply, divide, form summations, and work some calculus in, to alter the data. Depending on who it is. In this case, the data they used was, of course, reliable, however the graph-creating algothrim they used to alter the data was not. They worked the data to reach whatever conclusion they want. On the graph, the red line was not from real data, but totally random data. You put the totally random numbers in their algothirm, and out comes the same graph. For good measure, we injected totally random data into NASA's ECHO-G climate modeler, and do you know what came out? Almost the same graph. Even with totally random data, we keep seeing that 2001 was the hottest year in the last thousand. If the data were random, wouldn't the graph be a random graph? Surely not a graph showing a consistent rise in temperature since the Industrial Revolution, exactly like a graph composed of real data.
The meteorological record contains station measurements from thermometers accurate to plus or minus 1 K (2 F); these thermometers are placed in "standard" instrument shelters which are recognizable by any chemical engineer as very inefficient heat exchangers (collected radiant energy is transferred to air moving through the enclosures); the dependence of measured temperature on wind speed is NOT accounted for in the record, is 0.3 K to 1 K above true air temperature at 1 m/s, rises as a function of shelter and thermometer emissivities at lower velocities, and drops off at higher velocities. Wind "shadows" around weather stations have increased over the past century with increased population and the associated building and development activities. The global mean temperature is constructed from a "selection" of station records that swaps stations in and out of the average with few constraints. The Urban heat island effect in recent years has tried to be adjusted out of data, but I'm sure you can see in the article how that has been going.
Taking the Earth's temperature is simply a tough job. We can use satellite measurements or weather balloons though! But why do different data sets in different places say the troposphere is cooling and the surface is warming, and the troposphere is heating and the surface cooling? In fact, even defining precisely what we mean by the absolute surface air temperature is challenging, and how we should do it is. In fact, at the weather stations I talked about in the last paragraph the usual "standard" is to test the temperature would be to have a thermometer 1 m above the ground, measure. Then several meters of the ground, measure. Then several more meters off the ground, and measure. But no body really does that. One is good enough. Current global temperature anomalies (the amount of warming or cooling reported) are estimated against an expected average of 14 °C (57 °F) -- the guess-timated mean temperature over the period 1961-1990. This is usually the 0 "base level" you see on the graphs if you have looked at that many.
The temperature record is so thoroughly shot through with errors in method and conservation of method as to be TOTALLY USELESS, therefore, INCONCLUSIVE for any purposes.
Inquire away. I tried not to answer everything, as I don't want to take up too much space. I've done my research on this one. ;) Don't be afraid to fix any code errors for me, as I have got to go. — X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)22:19, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
Mac, all those stats seemed to just be you admitting that mountain glaciers are thinning dramatically, on average, around the world. If you don't think this is due to global warming, what is causing it, exactly ? As for Greenland, it seems to be losing glaciers in some places and growing them in others. I attribute this to the weakening of the Gulf Stream, one predicted consequence of global warming. Also, if you need to write this much material, you should put it on your talk page and refer us there. These Ref Desk pages are already too big. StuRat 12:34, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
I "suffer" from myopia, or shortsightedness, and I've always noticed that without my glasses on, bright lights appear as kinda cross-hatched, hazy circles against the background, larger than the actual light and dimmer. I always wondered about this, and I just now read in the article on bokeh (artistically blurring a photograph): "When a lens is stopped down to something other than its maximum aperture, out-of-focus points are blurred into the polygonal shape of the aperture rather than perfect circles" Is this an explanation of why lights appear that way to my out-of-focus eyes? Does anyone else with glasses experience this? Sum0 11:58, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps we should ask the Bush administration...they all seem to be rather shortsighted. :-) StuRat 17:22, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
I'm trying to learn more about a syndrome I once heard mentioned but which I'm not sure how to spell, and therefore can't find more about. It sounds something like "DeClarenbeau" syndrome and had to do with one sufferer travelling to Buckingham Palace in belief that a royal was secretly communicating with them via the window shutters or something. Sorry to be so vague, but this is really bothering me. -- 65.92.51.239 13:27, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
If a human being could withstand travelling at light speed and had a) a device that would propel him at that speed and b) an area without obstacles of infinite length and width... what would he be able to see? In a car travelling at (say) 70mph, objects nearby seem blurred, but you can easily focus on distant features, such as mountains. Would this be possible if the objects were suitably far away (say, a star)? Or would the fact that the light that makes vision possible is being exceeded create problems for the eyes/brain? -- Dweller 13:47, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
That would mean you're not travelling at the speed of light, the light has to get past you, reflect in the mirror, to your eyes, if you would keep the mirror behind you, yes. Mion 15:47, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
It's impossible for a massive being (massive = "having mass") to travel at the speed of light. If you were traveling at 99% the speed of light, however, (a) you would still observe that the speed of the light you measure is travelling at c (don't ask why - it's extraordinarily complicated) and (b) I think the light you observe would be shifted very much towards the red or blue ( depend on the direction it is travelling). Raul654 15:50, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Not with light coming from your back, you can have sidelight, which included with the mirror angle is shorter than from the back. Mion 16:09, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
eh? -- Dweller 17:19, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Would that mean that in a vacuum state, if you look backwarts you see nothing, including te range to the left and right. until the angle is reached ? whereas the color range is in the real state, created by the wavelenghts of light, which travel at the same speed, but have different influences (by gravity or electromagnetic force). Mion 16:30, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
and, erm, eh? -- Dweller 17:19, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
At all speeds slower than the speed of light, you would see perfectly normally (though your brain might have trouble processing it). At the speed of light, you would only be able to see a narrow angle in front of you unless you stuck your head out the window and moved it slightly in the direction you want to see, then you might pick up a few photons. Some other interesting effects of lightspeed travel: if someone in the back seat had a flashlight you wouldn't be able to see it (since addition of velocities doesn't apply to light)- in fact, you wouldn't see the back seat at all. Also if you dropped a ball bearing out the window at that speed it could probably destroy a city :D -- froth T C 19:20, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Gosh. I didn't realise I'd asked such an apparently difficult question! I think what you're saying is:
Does that sum it up? -- Dweller 09:19, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
Luxons, Tachyons, and ... something yons may be of interest.— X Mac Davis] ( SUPERDESK| Help me improve)08:04, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
I was wondering what would happen IF(negating any scientific/physic arguments) someone could move at the speed of light and beyond.
from what I managed to think of(without much knowledge about this specific topic) It would be something like this:
Required knowledge:
In the view of the humans the quickest and most common way to perceive movement is to use your eyes to see. what we see are actual broken rays of light that diffused upon contact with the obstacle. if someone moves then the light will be broken in another way and we will be able to see the difference because we see in "frames" just like on a computer displays images and movies. but here comes the tricky part. If someone moves at the speed of light then his light will be broken at the spot he moved upon and ?every? spot between the previous spot and the new spot. question: or is it only broken on the original and the ending spot? and therefore the movement will seem instantanious for us with the person/object on both the spots at the same time (at least in that frame which will vanish too quick for us to actually be aware of it but still).
_______ in this frame the |1) | o (=object/person) | | is still standing | 0 | still and this | | is our | | starting point
This discussion prompted me to find this link, which answers a question about humans-seeing-in-frames that I had. I thought I'd post it in case others hadn't seen it. -- Allen 02:33, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
Im sorry I didnt have the chance to finish this question before but I'll finish this now.
_______ in this frame the |1) | o (=object/person) | | is still standing | 0 | still and this | | is our | | starting point
_______ in this frame the |2) | o (=object/person) | | is moving at a "normal" rate | 0 | and his light is | | broken at the | | new location. so far so good and clear.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______ in this frame the |1) | o (=object/person) | | is still standing | 0 | still and this | | is our | | starting point
_______ in this frame the |2) | o (=object/person) | | is moving at the speed of | 0 0 | light and therefore has his | | light broken on both locations | | but is not physcially present on the original spot
_________________________________________________________________________________
_______ in this frame the |1) | o (=object/person) | | is still standing | 0 | still and this | | is our | | starting point
________ in this frame the |0) | o (=object/person) | | has moven faster than | 0 | the speed of light and | | therefore went back in | | time as we perceive it? andthus he added another object in our frame that was added later on. manipulating our memory as well?
_______ in this frame the |1) | o (=object/person) | | is still standing | 0 0 | still but because he | | went faster than the speed | | of light he will be there twice. this time physical on both locations?
_______ in this frame the |2) | o (=object/person) | | has arrived on the location | 0 | *** | | *** | | ***
_____________________________________________________________
although greatly simplified and ignoring the normal restraints this raises a lot of questions and contra-arguments. which I would be thrilled to hear.
Hi There :
I was recently told that a "moment" is actually 90 seconds, it being an old English term, is this true ? I cannot find a reference to it any where. Thanks
From the OED: In mediæval reckoning, the tenth part of a ‘point’, [thus] the fortieth or the fiftieth part of an hour.-- Shantavira 18:47, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Nursing management of brain injury Sansonala@sify·com 18:39, 26 September 2006 (UTC)soniya
OK so lets say some friends and I drive out towards some empty region of space for this little experiment. One of my friends, she has a beam or orb or whatever, is emitting light. If she shines the light at me, then, on the count of three, we start moving away from each other at more than 50% c, what do I see? Nothing, right? Our combined speed is greater than c even though we are both traveling significantly slower. But I asked because light is a fickle dame and she never behaves as I expect her to. Hyenaste (tell) 19:20, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
If a seagull is flying at .99 c while emitting considerable amounts of CO2 does it have more or less effect on the environment than a magpie flying at exactly 1.0 c?
I think that the answer can be summed up by the radical expression Deltacom1515 21:14, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
-- Russoc4 20:42, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
I wonder if there's a correlation between this question and laying down one's sandwiches backwards... Melchoir 22:25, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
But what about
If, for example, a swallow was just flying around through the heliosphere at nearly the speed of light, would the density of the solar wind be high enough to cause enough friction to appreciably heat up the bird (similar to the effect of atmospheric gasses on much-slower-moving spacecraft during reentry)? Assuming the poor fellow somehow powers through the bow shock, how about the interstellar medium? The intergalactic medium? -- froth T C 20:54, 26 September 2006 (UTC)