The dumb questions thread

[Loren Pechtel]

... assuming perfect mixing the odds are effectively 100% that you'll see one of those molecules in your very next shower. (In practice the mixing won't be anything like perfect so you'll probably have to wait a bit to encounter one.)

The imperfect mixing only makes the chance of encountering one in his next shower even more likely. The 2.171E+27 water molecules he used last time aren't randomly chosen molecules; they're molecules selected for being very close to his shower. Which is to say, the water molecules from his last shower didn't all go down the drain. Some of them were adsorbed into the surface layer of his bar of soap; some of those are coming out in the next shower.

I was thinking of the time it would take before water down the drain got recycled into the water system. You're right if he has a bar of soap to do that absorbing but he might not.

 

[Elixir]

after taking a shower, [will] I ever encounter one of those water molecules again?

Begs a question: what percentage of the water molecules coming out of a shower head do you actually "encounter" - meaning actually contacts your skin or hair? I bet it's a tiny fraction, though using a surfactant (soap) might multiply it considerably. Maybe this belongs in the math sub-forum, if anyone there has a pointy enough head to want to figure it out.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The imperfect mixing only makes the chance of encountering one in his next shower even more likely. The 2.171E+27 water molecules he used last time aren't randomly chosen molecules; they're molecules selected for being very close to his shower. Which is to say, the water molecules from his last shower didn't all go down the drain. Some of them were adsorbed into the surface layer of his bar of soap; some of those are coming out in the next shower.

I was thinking of the time it would take before water down the drain got recycled into the water system. You're right if he has a bar of soap to do that absorbing but he might not.

Oh for fuck sakes! Will I see the molecule again after it is reintroduced into the fucking ecosystem. Why the fuck would I care about a molecule that just hung around the bathroom?

 

[bilby]

I was thinking of the time it would take before water down the drain got recycled into the water system. You're right if he has a bar of soap to do that absorbing but he might not.

Oh for fuck sakes! Will I see the molecule again after it is reintroduced into the fucking ecosystem. Why the fuck would I care about a molecule that just hung around the bathroom?

Why would you care about a molecule that entered the ecosystem and then returned?

 

[thebeave]

Man you people are crazy! Aren't you worried about accidentally ingesting some Dihydrogen Monoxide while you're showering? Its no wonder cancer rates have been soaring in recent years.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Man you people are crazy! Aren't you worried about accidentally ingesting some Dihydrogen Monoxide while you're showering? Its no wonder cancer rates have been soaring in recent years.

Trump is going to free America from its dependence of Dihydrogen Monoxide!

 

[Shadowy Man]

Man you people are crazy! Aren't you worried about accidentally ingesting some Dihydrogen Monoxide while you're showering? Its no wonder cancer rates have been soaring in recent years.

Everyone who has ever had cancer has at some point ingested dihydrogen monoxide. In fact, it is fair bet to say that they were habitual users of this chemical.

 

[DBT]

Idly wondering if a quantum fluctuation can cause a new 'universe' to bud from an existing universe, ours for instance, could not the formation of a singularity not blow our universe asunder rather than budding off into its own space/time?

 

[fast]

I'm thinking that not every instance where point of reference is at issue, one default choice is not just as reasonable as the next, kind of like how not every opinion is just as good as someone else's. For instance, which side of a vehicle is the left side of a vehicle? The answer might very well depend on point of reference (whether it's in reference from whether it's viewed from the front or back), but it's more reasonable to say the drivers side than the passenger side just as a persons left is where it is regardless of the fact one could argue that it too could depend.

 

[Bomb#20]

I'm thinking that not every instance where point of reference is at issue, one default choice is not just as reasonable as the next, kind of like how not every opinion is just as good as someone else's. For instance, which side of a vehicle is the left side of a vehicle? The answer might very well depend on point of reference (whether it's in reference from whether it's viewed from the front or back), but it's more reasonable to say the drivers side than the passenger side just as a persons left is where it is regardless of the fact one could argue that it too could depend.

While we're at it, can anyone explain why when air moves east it's called a "west wind"?

 

[bigfield]

While we're at it, can anyone explain why when air moves east it's called a "west wind"?

Likely a vestigial custom we've inherited from the Ancient Greeks, who named the winds based on the direction they came from rather than the direction in which they blew, and believed that each of the winds had a discrete source that lived in distant lands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemoi

 

[James Brown]

Lately, in my gym, I see lots of guys wearing dark socks in their workout shorts and shoes.



When I was young, wearing dark socks with shorts was seen as a major fashion faux-pas. What changed?

 

[bigfield]

Lately, in my gym, I see lots of guys wearing dark socks in their workout shorts and shoes.

When I was young, wearing dark socks with shorts was seen as a major fashion faux-pas. What changed?

Young men wear black socks with shorts precisely because it was considered a fashion faux-pas by previous generations. Fashion is mostly a matter of doing things differently than the previous generation, for its own sake.

 

[fromderinside]

Young men wear black socks with shorts precisely because it was considered a fashion faux-pas by previous generations. Fashion is mostly a matter of doing things differently than the previous generation, for its own sake.

As one speaking from a previous generation my response to your assertion is, uh, NO! Fashion being distinctive from existing fashion does not translate to fashion ....fashion .... previous generations. Otherwise why have "... what goes around comes around"?

 

[Shadowy Man]

Lately, in my gym, I see lots of guys wearing dark socks in their workout shorts and shoes.

When I was young, wearing dark socks with shorts was seen as a major fashion faux-pas. What changed?

Young men wear black socks with shorts precisely because it was considered a fashion faux-pas by previous generations. Fashion is mostly a matter of doing things differently than the previous generation, for its own sake.

It has become very clear to me that the fashion industry survives on change, even if the change is for the worse.

 

[bigfield]

Young men wear black socks with shorts precisely because it was considered a fashion faux-pas by previous generations. Fashion is mostly a matter of doing things differently than the previous generation, for its own sake.

As one speaking from a previous generation my response to your assertion is, uh, NO! Fashion being distinctive from existing fashion does not translate to fashion ....fashion .... previous generations. Otherwise why have "... what goes around comes around"?

Fashion is motivated mostly by a the desire of young people to differentiate themselves from the previous generation. Gen-Y men are currently in the habit of wearing things such as tight, buttoned up shirts, pointy shoes, full beards and those fucking retarded jeans because they are things that Gen-X and Boomer men do not wear.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Hey, look at the moon or look at the sun. How about the Earth?

Look into the telescope and look at the Mercury or look at the Mars or the Polaris.

 

[skepticalbip]

Lately, in my gym, I see lots of guys wearing dark socks in their workout shorts and shoes.

View attachment 8165

When I was young, wearing dark socks with shorts was seen as a major fashion faux-pas. What changed?

That photo looks like it could be a young Amish guy (or even a young orthodox Jew) trying to rebel by wearing shorts and no coat but otherwise remaining fairly true to the Amish (or orthodox Jew) "dress code" - beard, black hat, white shirt, black pants, black shoes, black socks.

 

[James Brown]

As one speaking from a previous generation my response to your assertion is, uh, NO! Fashion being distinctive from existing fashion does not translate to fashion ....fashion .... previous generations. Otherwise why have "... what goes around comes around"?

Fashion is motivated mostly by a the desire of young people to differentiate themselves from the previous generation. Gen-Y men are currently in the habit of wearing things such as tight, buttoned up shirts, pointy shoes, full beards and those fucking retarded jeans because they are things that Gen-X and Boomer men do not wear.

My new plan for wealth:

1. Think of something that I wouldn't have been caught dead wearing when I was young.
2. Market it to twenty-somethings under the tag, "Old people won't believe you're actually wearing this."
3. Profit.


Lotsa possibilities. Socks and sandles. Highwater pants. Fanny packs. Black pants with white socks.

 

[fast]

If you were traveling in the dark in your spaceship just shy the speed of light and cut your headlights on, you should be able to see, but my question is, if you were traveling at the speed of light and did the same, does light illuminate ahead?

If you cannot overlook the apparent impossibility of traveling near or at the speed of light, then let me ask this instead: if our planet within our solar system is orbiting the center of our galaxy at speed S, then is the speed of the particular light being shined from my super duper lantern essentially traveling at an increased speed of C minus S? I mean, if light can only go C and the first light wave automatically starts out traveling S, then it can't exceed the additional difference without it exceeding its maximum.