Monday evening study hall
 

I think we should repent for all our Friday and Sunday carousing, so that we can do it again this weekend with a clear conscience.

So welcome to The Universe 101.

Facts presented here need not be useful or true, or even interesting. They just need to build character. Or something.

Me first.

The opposite of absolute zero (0 degrees Kelvin) is Planck's Temperature, 10^32 degrees Kelvin, the hottest possible temperature. I'm not sure how they figured that out, but it sounds pretty danged hot.

chainsmoking prevents blisters.

shut uq - i'm trying to study for my turing test

distance makes the heart a deep, black pit.

"If all the people in Asia stood in a line, single file, and then walked by a stationary observer, the line would never end."

^ ^ Overheard in an intense discussion about population control last year :D

i am a chat bot

bollocks to this, i'm off to have my TEATIME

i am desperately trying to find something to say that is not copy pasted


edit:
ctrl + alt + apple + 8 makes the screen go negative. This is good when your eyes are tired from reading articles.

^^For future reference, I'm not above copy paste.

Negative screen thingie...such a remarkably neato idea that it's amazing any of us boobs on earth thought of it.

I forgot to say that none of this will be on the test.

magna carta 1215
agincourt 1415
waterloo 1815
lunch 1.15

:)

There will be no extra time given if you are late.
Students are required to bring the following:
2 pens, blue or black
ruler
calculator
giraffe
handkerchief
protractor

^^ That's ridiculous, Odbe. Where am I going to find a handkerchief in this part of the world?

Here Pearl you can borrow one of mine, but do you have a spare giraffe I can use...I promise I'll give it back.;)

BTW kleenex started out as gas mask filters. I learned this is my highschool history class but I don't remember the year.:)

Awesome fun fact!
Thanks for the hankie, have a giraffe after me own heart.

This is Indonesia's Rafflesia arnoldii, the world's largest flower:

If you've seen its picture before, you probably remember that it smells like rotting meat and is sometimes called the "corpse flower." What I like about it is that, in keeping with its overall ickyness, it's parasitic and lives only on a member of the grapevine family, Cissus angustifolia. It has no apparent roots, leaves, or stem, and it is pollinated by the flies that turn up looking for rotting monkey flesh. The hole in the center holds several quarts of hideously disgusting water.

Just in case anyone was looking for prom corsage ideas.

i'm not studying because i heard you get points just for writing your name on the test. so i'm going to write my name 75 times. that ought to equal a C+ by my calculation.

Perfect! I'll check with the gf, but something tells me she'll be wanting something more along these lines:

I love giraffes! Met a few at a zoo and found them quite shy. They are so cool!!!

Surely there's a challenge exam.

Nope. We're all avoiding it. Skipping school.

The teachers at my school are so hopeless that I once got out of an exam by being in another exam. No joke. And I've been marked away because I was on a school-organised excursion. The right hand doesn't know that other hands exist.

S**t, er... mean sorry, am a bit late for lesson... :o



The baobab tree (adansonia digitata) - also called 'monkey-bread tree', 'dead-rat tree' (coz of the look its fruit have) or 'upside-down tree' (Arabian legend has it that the devil turned it around) - is thought to be the largest succulent plant. It can be found in Africa, Madagascar (see photo ^^) where it is the national tree, India, Australia. All of its parts can be used purposefully - medicine, vitamin / mineral source, food, drink, coffee-substitute, shelter. Large trunks (10m diameter means ~ 2000 years of age, btw) are sometimes even used as shops, for small business / production sites, pubs and jails! Young trees (see photo vv) look much unlike adult exemplars but more like "normal trees", this adds to the mysterious character the tree has in folklore.

Two more legends from Africa:

I) The baobab was the first tree on Earth, then came the slender palm tree. The baobab became jealous and wanted to be taller. And when the flame tree appeared with his red blossoms, the baobab wanted to be just as beautiful. As the fig tree came to Earth, the baobab yearned to have such sweet fruits too. But (the) god(s) did not grant the baobab's wishes and
a) turned the tree upside-down to shut him up
b) the baobab buried his head in the soil out of fury

II) Each of the animals should plant one kind of tree. Only the stupid hyaena messed up the job by planting hers head first...

time is an illusion. lunchtime doubly so.

(that's how I get to do this on a tuesday morning :) )

We had an English teacher who was very eclectic. Though I hated her then, she is one of my greatest school memories.

She would wear green bands on her arm when it was frog dissection day in Science class.

She would wear a huge hat and declare herself "Cerce without mercy" during Greek study time.

She worshipped West Side Story.

She submitted a poem of mine to a contest and it won, though I had forbid her from doing so because of my own lack of confidence.

We threw grapes in her hat, without her knowledge (or so we thought. As an adult looking back, I'm sure she knew all along).

We made endless amounts of fun of her though I learned more from her than almost any other teacher. I just didn't know it at the time.

And I can't even remember her first name:(
Not so much an interesting fact as school time memories.

i enjoyed reading that. please post more of this sort of thing.

Cross-Modal Integration
 

The Sound Induced Visual Rabbit

Scroll to the bottom of the page, to where it says "Three rabbits accompanied by a different number of beeps". Fixate the cross and press the red buttons on the left, sequentially. How many rabbits do you see each time ?

Scroll back up to read the short explanation. (this worked on me but did not work on my colleague...)

^^That's awesome...it worked on me, too. Perception is a funny thing...
-----------------------
The word "bistro" was borrowed into French from the Russian "bystro," meaning quick. Presumably the Russian soldiers occupying France after that silly business with Napoleon weren't very kind about urging the cafe waiters to hurry it up.

The word "robot" was borrowed into several languages from the Russian film Robot, derived from the Russian word "robota," meaning to work.

The word "alkalai" is thought to have derived from the Arabic "al-qili," meaning wood ash, one of the earliest forms of a strong basic substance used by humans.

TIP, your illusion didn't work on me - but that might be because I've spent so much time lately syncing sound-to-frame in iMovie and I've unlearned the mental assumption that provides the fill-in rabbits :p

***

Amazona leucocephala bahamensis: the Abaco variant of the Bahamian subspecies of the Cuban Amazon parrot is the only cave-nesting parrot in the world. There is one other ground nesting parrot, the Kakapo of New Zealand. Like the Kakapo, the Abaco parrot is endangered (though the Cuban Amazon overall is listed "near threatened").

These parrots nest in small caves or "potholes" that develop in the local limestone geology. The entrances to these caves are at ground level, and the caves themselves may only be a few feet deep. Though these parrots are not physiologically distinguishable from their Cuban brethren, the Cuban parrots *never* nest in caves.

Is cave-nesting a learned behavior, or is it instinctual? Nobody knows, because the research hasn't been done yet.

^^I first read about the kakapo in Douglas Adams' Last Chance to See. As far as I know, it was his only non-fiction book, and it's a real departure for him in terms of subject material -- it's decidedly terrestrial. :) And it's so, so quirky and brilliant, and a little bit gone already. Just like the man. And the kakapo.

erm.....what's photosynthesis again?
something with leaves and sunlight?
or was that logarithums?

:confused:

Beats me. But mushrooms are apparently using melanin to grow on ionizing radiation like plants use chlorophyll to grow on sunlight.

at least that's the theory...

oh god! that reminds me, i have to do some ionizing tonight.
good job you mentioned it.

:)

Study hall -- it's not just for Mondays any more.

...It's made of stars..I mean nemotodes...
The prof I had for "Structure and Function of Organisms" in college once said that if you removed all the biomass on earth -- people, plants, and animals -- except for nemotodes (roundworms), you'd have a nemotode outline of absolutely everything. For some reason, that cheers me up sometimes.

Soda is Evil
In the ice cream thread, TIP posted a link to an article about how sodium benzoate, common in lots of things, but especially soda, does damage to some areas of your DNA that you might like to keep unblemished. Sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate also combine with citric acid in the bottles and cans to produce benzene, which is a known carcinogen. The phosphoric acid and caffeine in soda require calcium for excretion through the kidneys, so females who drink it regularly are at greatly increased risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures, even in adolescence. Also, if you drink a lot of soda, it's replacing better things like milk, OJ, and regular water, so it's associated with poorer nutritional health overall. It drives me nuts to see pregnant women and young children who drink it all the time. Around these parts, it's not uncommon to see a toddler with it in a bottle, so it's also not uncommon to see toddlers with capped teeth.

If you're really hung up on it, try to cut back gradually, and it's okay to have it sometimes. Reading the label may give you some motivation. Remember that when it says "artificial color/flavor," that's the shorthand for a compound with an average of 30 chemicals -- the FDA caved to the lobbyists on that one. If it's just the caffeine you need, switch to tea or coffee, which have both been shown to have beneficial health effects, although there are some trade-offs with coffee, and if you put milk in your tea the casein will block the good stuff. If you just like the fizz, try mixing half juice and half club soda...that works pretty well with kiddos, too.

End of brightpearl's soapbox.
:rolleyes:

not sure what soda is. isn't it something you mix in gin
when you run out of tonic?

:confused:

^^Are you in the UK? Not sure what they call it there -- carbonated beverages? Coke, Pepsi, and the like.

In the US, people usually say soda or pop, and down where I am, some of us use "coke" the way "kleenex" and "band-aids" are used. ("What kind of coke do you want?" "Pepsi." :D)

I should have noted that the benzoate preservatives are commonly in all types of bottled and canned beverages, including tea, coffee and alleged juice ones, so if you switch to one of those, make it yourself or read the label carefully. Plain club soda usually doesn't have it in there.

edit:
PS The elephant is the only 4-legged animal whose "knees" all bend in the same direction.

oh, you mean fizzy pop!

can i go home now miss pearly? i've finished my essay on socialism in scandewegia and i sort of know what photosynthesis is......kinda.

JOE: For the last time, I’m pretty sure what’s killing the crops is this Brawndo stuff.
SECRETARY OF STATE: But Brawndo’s got what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes.
ATTORNEY GENERAL: So wait a minute. What you’re saying is that you want us to put water on the crops.
JOE: Yes.
ATTORNEY GENERAL: Water. Like out the toilet??
Joe: Well, I mean, it doesn’t have to be out of the toilet, but, yeah, that’s the idea.
SECRETARY OF STATE: But Brawndo’s got what plants crave.”
ATTORNEY GENERAL: “It’s got electrolytes.
JOE: Okay, look. The plants aren’t growing, so I’m pretty sure that the Brawndo’s not working. Now, I’m no botanist, but I do know that if you put water on plants, they grow.
SECRETARY OF ENERGY: Well, I’ve never seen no plants grow out of no toilet.
SECRETARY OF STATE: Hey, that’s good. You sure you ain’t the smartest guy in the world?
JOE: Okay, look. You wanna solve this problem. I wanna get my pardon. So why don’t we just try it, okay, and not worry about what plants crave?
ATTORNEY GENERAL: Brawndo’s got what plants crave.
SECRETARY OF ENERGY: Yeah, it’s got electrolytes.
Joe: What are electrolytes? Do you even know?
SECRETARY OF STATE: It’s what they use to make Brawndo.
JOE: Yeah, but why do they use them to make Brawndo?
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Cause Brawndo’s got electrolytes.

Myth: Thomas Crapper as a person never existed.

Fact: Though we do not know his actual date of birth, we can now say the man Thomas Crapper probably was born in September 1836, since he was baptized the 28th of that month. Crapper did have a successful career in the plumbing industry in England from 1861 to 1904.

The date of Crapper’s death has also been a source of confusion for many years. For example, "Chase's Annual Events," the authoritative book for listing special days and dates, has listed January 17 as Thomas Crapper Day and January 17, 1910 as the date of his death.

After all his research, Gibbons was certain that Chase's was 10 days off. The actual date of Thomas Crapper's death was January 27, 1910. The error probably resulted from an honest typo in "Flushed With Pride," by Wallace Reyburn, says Gibbons, "but I waged a 10-year battle with Chase's to get them to change the date." He finally won his battle this year after supplying them with a photo of Thomas Crapper's tombstone, notes from a living descendent and a copy of the man's official death certificate.

Myth: Thomas Crapper invented the toilet.

Fact: No one in the know about Thomas Crapper would ever make this statement. In his research, Grabowski has created a detailed history of Crapper's business life. The man holds nine patents: Four for improvements to drains, three for water closets, one for manhole covers and the last for pipe joints. Every patent application for plumbing related products filed by Crapper made it through the process, and actual patents were granted.

The most famous product attributed to Thomas Crapper wasn't invented by him at all. The "Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer" (No. 814) was a siphonic discharge system that allowed a toilet to flush effectively when the cistern was only half full. British Patent 4990 for 1819 was issued to a Mr. Albert Giblin for this product.

There are a couple of theories on how Thomas Crapper came to be associated with this device. First, is that Giblin worked for Crapper as an employee and authorized his use of the product. The second, and more likely scenario, says Grabowski, is that Crapper bought the patent rights from Giblin and marketed the device himself.

Myth: Thomas Crapper never was a plumber.

Fact. Oh yes he was. He operated two of the three Crapper plumbing shops in his lifetime, but left the business three years before the final and most famous facility on Kings Road in London. When Crapper retired from active business in 1904, he sold his shop to two partners who, with help from others, operated the company under the Crapper name until its closing in 1966.

Several of London's current plumbing companies trace their trade roots to Thomas Crapper. One, Mr. Geoffrey Pidgeon of Original Bathrooms (Richmond upon Thames, Surrey, Great Britain), continues the trade of his great uncle and grandfather, both of whom apprenticed under Thomas Crapper.

Thomas Crapper did serve as the royal sanitary engineer for many members of England's royalty, but contrary to popular myth, he was never knighted, and thus isn't entitled to use the term "Sir" before his name.

Myth: The word "crap" is derived from Thomas Crapper's name.

Fact. The origin of crap is still being debated. Possible sources include the Dutch Krappe; Low German krape, meaning a vile and inedible fish; Middle English crappe, and Thomas Crapper. Where crap is derived from Crapper, it is by a process know as, pardon the pun, a back formation.

The World War I doughboys passing through England brought together Crapper's name and the toilet. They saw the words T. Crapper---Chelsea printed on the tanks and coined the slang "crapper" meaning toilet.

The legend of Thomas Crapper takes its flavor from the real man's life. While Crapper may not be the inventor of the product he is most often associated with, his contribution to England's plumbing history is significant. And the man's legend, well, it lives on despite all proof to contrary.

Yo, Craig! Green=good. Leaves=air=we live (You knew that, you silly!) and look below! :o

Look up ^^^^ ..... Logarithums=waste of time and brain storage :)