Today I Learned

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greg Bernhardt
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Today I learned that cleaning a white hat can be done with bleach cleaner, but it’s important to rinse it before wearing it again. I also discovered that "oyster veneering," a woodworking technique from the late 1600s, is experiencing a minor revival despite its labor-intensive nature. Additionally, I learned that the factorial of 23 (23!) equals 25,852,016,738,884,976,640,000, which interestingly has 23 digits, a unique coincidence among factorials. I found out that medical specialists often spend less than 10 minutes with patients, and that watching TV can contribute to weight gain. Other insights included the fact that a kiss can transfer around 80 million microbes, and that bureaucracy can sometimes hinder employment opportunities. The discussion also touched on various trivia, such as the emotional sensitivity of barn owls and the complexities of gravitational lensing around black holes.
  • #701
Today I learned that the accent in the word "electrophorus" is on the third syllable: elecTROphorus. Hitherto, I thought it would be on the fourth syllable, but I watched a youtube that made me question that notion and look it up.
 
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  • #702
I just learned from my daughters boyfriend that he's into parkour. Here's a video him and some of his friends in Denver.
 
  • #703
nsaspook said:
I will omit the details of the Snipe initiation rite of passage called greasing as it's not something you want to learn today.

shhhhh! What happens below decks, stays below decks. :biggrin:
 
  • #704
OmCheeto said:
shhhhh! What happens below decks, stays below decks. :biggrin:

As it should be, we will not speak of this again.
Sometimes I had to descent to the depths of Snipedom to check the pit-sword or fathometer transducer at the bottom of the ship. It's was always done covertly while wearing a oily never washed set of ripped overalls. Once I was almost discovered but I had a big chaw of chewing tobacco that I spit on the greasy floor in the dim light causing the snipe to smile and walk away after thinking I was a fellow dweller of the dark.

This (the tobacco part) didn't really happen but I did carry a big knife in the tool bag.

I was on good terms with most of the snipes as I liked what they liked, fast girls, faster motorcycles, guns and booze so we usually partied together off the boat. There were some that did scare me, like the guy in the middle of my photo under the dip-sticks. His nickname was Elmo and he rarely came out of the hole even in port.
 
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  • #705
What I learned today is that society wants to compartmentalize you. So speak only within your compartment, or face the consequences...
 
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  • #706
When the media gets it really wrong, . . . . Oxytots - Instead of learning from the unfounded hysteria of the crack baby era, we're repeating it.
https://screen.yahoo.com/viewfinder/crack-babies-oxytots-lessons-not-120000652.html
 
  • #707
Astronuc said:
When the media gets it really wrong, . . . . Oxytots - Instead of learning from the unfounded hysteria of the crack baby era, we're repeating it.

Is oxycontin still being abused? I think they worked out a fix (no pun intended) where they "disabused" the pills from being broken down in order to be injected or snorted. Junkies are clever at overcoming these prophylactic measures, but I thought we had a handle on this. As far as the Oxytots, it's a grim prospect. I recommend the book "Three dog nightmare" by Chuck Negron, lead singer of Three dog night. There's a chapter in there where his wife gave birth to his kid and she was hooked on about 200 mg of methadone a day during the whole pregnancy. The birth was a difficult one and Chuck talks about how the hospital staff looked at them like they were scum, and that's exactly the way he felt.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1580630405/?tag=pfamazon01-20
 
  • #708
DiracPool said:
Is oxycontin still being abused?
The article on crack babies lead to another article on addiction to Opana and other drugs in small rural communities and a resurgence of AIDS from the sharing of contaminated needles. Apparently abuse/addiction to prescription drugs is a significant problem in the country.
https://screen.yahoo.com/viewfinder/hiv-heartland-174014869.html
 
  • #709
DIY Tractor Repair Runs Afoul Of Copyright Law
http://www.npr.org/sections/alltech...iy-tractor-repair-runs-afoul-of-copyright-law

The iconic image of the American farmer is the man or woman who works the land, milks cows and is self-reliant enough to fix the tractor. But like a lot of mechanical items, tractors are increasingly run by computer software. Now, farmers are hitting up against an obscure provision of copyright law that makes it illegal to repair machinery run by software.
There is something wrong with this.
 
  • #710
Astronuc said:
There is something wrong with this.
:oldconfused:

From the article:

... He waited a day for the John Deere rep.

"The tech came out and it took him a couple hours to diagnose that there was one small sensor out. And that one small sensor, I think it was a $120 part."

The problem with this setup is that in farming timing is everything. When the soil is soft enough to till you have to go; when the crop is ripe you have to pick it.

"So if you have a small problem that does not allow your tractor to operate and you have downtime it's costing you money and a lot of stress," he says.

Sounds like this is a good reason for court order compensation?
 
  • #712
I actually learned the following on Monday, when I went on a two hour, lunchtime river cruise with my sister.
They had infotainment loudspeakers around the ship, which spewed out interesting facts and figures, half of which I was not aware of, even being a local.
Anyways, the funniest thing I learned, was regarding one of our bridges that is now being replaced.
Bridges have what is called a "sufficiency rating", which goes from 0 to 100. 100 being the best.
The bridge in question, had a sufficiency rating of 2.

I see I've mentioned the bridge at least couple of times in the past:

Cracks in Sellwood Bridge fixed … with glue
[ref PF, May 2013]

It also came up in another thread regarding taxes. Probably the most horrible thread I've ever been a part of. I shall not link to it.

Here was one person's solution as to how to properly fund bridge repairs:
Sell it to someone who will make it a toll road.

On the aforementioned river cruise, they said that all of the bridges used to be privately owned. That was in the olden days, when bridges were made of wood. So we had bridge owners, all wanting to make money, by having people going over their bridge.
According to the river cruise infotainment loudspeakers, bridges were mysteriously catching fire, around 3 am. hmmmm... (they may have embellished this, for entertainment value, but I didn't care, and laughed, quite heartily. :smile: )
 
  • #713
In addition to the $127 million from Multnomah County, the City of Portland has agreed to provide $100 million...

OmCheeto said:
Cracks in Sellwood Bridge fixed … with glue
I'll bet that 'glue" has some " Portland cement " in it too ... lol
 
  • #714
Today I learned about the difference between a PS2 to USB adapter and a PS2 to USB converter.
Note: having electrical connections is not sufficient sometimes.

Unrelated: A Grumman F-11 Tiger shot down itself.
 
  • #716
TIL how to teach my computer(mac) how to filter junk emails.
Shift + Command + J

I think I was supposed to have been doing this since I bought it.
 
  • #717
Some Indonesian Muslim and local old men I met yesterday advised me to get married claiming that wives will keep their spouses from being less or completely zero homosexual.
psss...some of them are CEOs and scientists too.
 
  • #718
"Rescued" one of these from local metal recycler 's crusher.

TIL the brushes in end of motor can get stuck after years of grimy buildup and lose contact so it won't run anymore.
But the brush holders come out by gently tapping from the inside.

Cleaned them up and it runs fine.

DW872_1_500X500.jpg
I couldn't afford one new, but it was sure worth gambling the $5 scrap price and an afternoon !
 
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  • #719
jim hardy said:
"Rescued" one of these from local metal recycler 's crusher.

TIL the brushes in end of motor can get stuck after years of grimy buildup and lose contact so it won't run anymore.
But the brush holders come out by gently tapping from the inside.

Cleaned them up and it runs fine.

DW872_1_500X500.jpg
I couldn't afford one new, but it was sure worth gambling the $5 scrap price and an afternoon !
What is that used to cut ?
 
  • #720
Steel.
 
  • #721
Bystander said:
Steel.
Nah. The teeth are spaced too far apart. That's a radial arm saw for cutting flooring or crown molding accurately.
 
  • #722
Borg said:
spaced too far apart
Oops --- need new glasses.
Borg said:
radial arm chop
... and, so do you. I just looked at the configuration and "saw" an abrasive cut-off blade.
 
  • #723
Borg said:
Nah. The teeth are spaced too far apart. That's a radial arm saw for cutting flooring or crown molding accurately.
It's a chop saw, not a radial arm saw. In a chop saw the blade/motor pivots up and down. In a radial arm saw the blade/motor runs forward and back in a track

The blades are interchangable. The blade shown would not be good for steel, but they make abrasive disks that work on steel. The blade shown actually looks very much like one I once used to cut aluminum tubing.
 
  • #724
My bad. Yes, there is no arm to it. I have one like it and always refer to it (incorrectly) that way.
 
  • #725
... and today we all learned that people throw tools away rather than take the two minutes to clean brushes on a motor. Thanks, Jim.
 
  • #726
Yes it's a chop saw. Was sans blade but the residue on it was metal not wood. With a new abrasive cutoff blade for metal It throws a stream of sparks about 12 feet behind but the deflector directs them slightly downward. Looks like Buck Rogers' rocket engine.
It labors a bit on 1/4 inch steel plate but with the toothed blade shown in that picture (from their catalog) it would cut wood like a woodchuck.

I think it's part of my autism i can't stand to see good machinery wasted . A lot of aluminum boats go through the scrap yard, and I've rescued several antique outboards.
I'm learning how to wire washing machine motors for workshop applications, how else can you get a 1/2 hp electric motor for under 5 bucks ? Whirlpools are easy now.

Does PF need a "handyman's corner " ? I'm sensitive about PF's image, don't want to lower the academic standards with my play.
 
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  • #727
I find the rescue things are repeated quite a lot too, which makes me think like things being rescued are dumb or disrespectful or without any sincere gratitude.
What a practical "rescue" it does sound!
 
  • #728
jim hardy said:
Does PF need a "handyman's corner " ?
Sounds like a great idea --- post it in Feedback, and I'll second it.
 
  • #729
zoobyshoe said:
The blade shown would not be good for steel...
That's probably true, however, a company named Scotchman Industries makes a http://www.scotchman.com/cold-saws/ that does have metal cutting teeth...

My wife is from Philip, South Dakota, so while there visiting in-laws ... I went through the plant.....:oldcool:

The company is primarily known for a product called the Scotchman Ironworker, which we used way back in welding school... that be, waaaay back.... lol

Here's the 350 cold saw in operation...

Their YouTube channel...

They very definitely make good products... although, a tad on the $$$ side.
 
  • #730
Silicon Waffle said:
What is that used to cut ?

Red tape.
 
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  • #731
OCR said:
That's probably true, however, a company named Scotchman Industries makes a http://www.scotchman.com/cold-saws/ that does have metal cutting teeth...

My wife is from Philip, South Dakota, so while there visiting in-laws ... I went through the plant.....:oldcool:

The company is primarily known for a product called the Scotchman Ironworker, which we used way back in welding school... that be, waaaay back.... lol

Here's the 350 cold saw in operation...

Their YouTube channel...

They very definitely make good products... although, a tad on the $$$ side.
If you notice that saw can cut steel because it can do very low RPMs. Any blade with carbide teeth can cut steel in principle, but the average chop saw is set at a fixed RPM that is just too high: the teeth would burn up very quickly.

Any material harder than steel can be fashioned into a blade that will cut soft(unhardened) steel. In fact, hardened steel will cut soft steel, which is the situation with your average hack saw. The other variable besides relative hardness is heat removal. When a blade heats up too much it loses its hardness and will become dull. You have to either saw slowly to let the heat dissipate, or use a coolant.
 
  • #732
zoobyshoe said:
If you notice that saw can cut steel because it can do very low RPMs.
Well yes, I did notice, in fact I noticed when I went through the plant and saw one they used as a demo...

Also, I noticed...
For ferrous material, this unique type of cutting turns the blade at a very low RPM, similar to a milling process, giving a FAST, precise, burr-free cut without heat or sparks.
http://www.scotchman.com/cold-saws/

I'm not quite following ... are you agreeing, or arguing ?

Anyway... carry on.
 
  • #733
OCR said:
I'm not quite following ... are you agreeing, or arguing ?
I'm explicating why the saw you linked to can cut steel with a toothed blade while a "normal" chop saw couldn't.
 
  • #734
  • #735
zoobyshoe said:
I'm explicating why...
I see, so... you saw a saw, saw, that could out saw any saw you ever saw, saw... so, if ever you see a saw out

saw that saw you saw, saw... I'd like to see that saw, you saw, saw, saw too, see ?......:oldbiggrin:
 
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  • #736
  • #737
obviously using dark net proxies,
 
  • #739
TIL: How to animate my stepwise (and incomplete) model of the solar system!
 
  • #741
http://news.yahoo.com/far-below-south-dakota-cave-holds-pure-promising-184902493.html
WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK, S.D. (AP) — Hundreds of feet beneath the Black Hills, a team of scientists and researchers snake through dark, narrow and silent corridors of ancient rock to reach their goal: what is thought to be some of the purest water on Earth.
 
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  • #743
Today I learned that Wy'east is the native name of our local, tallest mountain, Mt. Hood.
I always thought it was just a clever name for a Western beer YEAST producer.
Coincidentally, Wy'east yeast labs overlooks Wy'east, the mountain, from the town of Hood River, which was named after the river, Hood River, which was named after Mt. Hood.
How Mt. Hood got its name according to wiki: "Lt. Broughton named the mountain after Lord (Samuel) Hood, a British Admiral at the Battle of the Chesapeake."
Ha! Hood Canal, in Washington state, was also named after the Admiral. I was housed at the submarine base in Bangor, on the Hood canal, for 3 years, while in the Navy.
Admiral Hood served in the Royal Navy for 53 years, and lived to be 91.

ps. I looked this all up today, when I heard that yesterday, the name of Mt. McKinley had been officially changed to Denali.
Looks like that took a while.
wiki said:
...
The Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the name of the mountain to Denali in 1975 which is how it is called locally.
...
Congressman Bob Gibbs, who described Obama's action as "constitutional overreach" because he said an act of Congress is required to rename the mountain. The Alaska Dispatch News reported that the Secretary of the Interior has authority under federal law to change geographic names when the Board of Geographic Names does not act on a naming request within a "reasonable" period of time. Jewell told the ADN that "I think any of us would think that 40 years is an unreasonable amount of time."
 
  • #744
Today, I learned that it is possible to make sense by not making sense.
 
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  • #745
  • #746
It is really effective against insects, however.Edit: Today I learned how automatic subtitles work. I saw this video and didn't understand the speaker. The video has subtitles, but apparently google didn't understand the speaker either because the subtitles do not make sense at all (some of them are funny).
 
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  • #747
Astronuc said:
TIL, "The DEET within insect repellant is an oily liquid known as diethyltoluamide that mosquitos and other inspects intensely dislike. DEET has been known to destroy the varnish on wooden tables, melt plastics, and even permanently mark TV screens."
https://www.yahoo.com/autos/how-something-you-spray-on-your-kids-can-melt-your-128334848277.html

Don't spray around furniture or cars, or probably anything else of value.
I recall how a can of repellant with DEET as its active constituent carried a note to the user along the lines of, "Caution: this product may be harmful if used for prolonged periods". Yet it gave no indication of what length of exposure might fall into the category of "a prolonged period".

Hours, days, weeks, or maybe months? Clearly, their legal department wasn't about to commit themselves on this score!
 
  • #749
I learned that many imports come from other countries.
[was watching old stand ups by Robin Williams, one of my favourite jokes of his he makes about George W Bush ]
 

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