| February, 2002 |
 |
| 02-16-02 Hi there, how are you? Well, I didn't like the simpler layout I used last month, so the tacky rug is back. I think something's wrong with me, I'm addicted to these winter olympics. I hope all the scandinavian countries and all the former soviet and eastern bloc countries dominate. I'm watching the replay of the Russia/USA hockey game (I was out so I missed it when they first showed it), Russia just scored, so everything is pretty. Vive Le Russie! Mort A L'Injustice! strange; very, very strange. |
|
| KayeKix is back, she writes "I'm Kayekix. Maybe you remember me, maybe you don't. Here's my questions: a)How long do you think it'll take for the world to finally end? And b)Why do guys always seem to have more fun? cheers, *kix* Oh yes - will you marry me?" I do remember you, you asked the question about why kamakazi pilots wore helmets (I gave some stupid answer, like "the same reason they wore pants", when what I should've said was "no hemlet will save you in a plance crash; they wore helmets to make sure they got where they were going, not so that they could live through the crash"). I'm really glad you asked a), since I was rambling on about something similar for most of the past two weeks. Depends on what you mean by "world". If you mean the entire universe, then probably never. If you mean the Earth, then probably in about 5 billion years, when the Sun burns out, and changes from the yellow dwarf we know and love into a red giant and engulfs the earth. If you mean humans civilization, then keep reading. If you mean your own reality, then my guess would be about 60-120 years (barring accidents and what not). Back to the human civilization part. In my opinion, the probability of us living closer to human civilizations end is higher than the probability of us living closer to its beginning. Ok, assuming human civilization has an end, and that we never experience major, long term population decay (these are my premises), then it will hold true that for any point in time, X, more people were alive after X/2 than before it. The end of human civilization is one such point in time. So, more people were alive during civilization's second half than its first. Ok, if we put all humans who have and will ever exist into a giant cosmic sac, and randomly pluck one out, the probability of his having lived closer to the end of civilization that its begining is greater than 0.5 (so, it's more likely than not). Basically, a random human is more likely to be living closer to civilization's end than its beginning. You and I are random humans (we have as much a chance of being plucked out of the sac as anyone else), so it is more likely than not that we're living closer to civilization's end than its beginning. So, if we say that civilization begun at, oh, 4000BC, then it is more likely than not that we've got, at most, another 6000 years to go. Of course, what's true for us is also true of all people to ever exist, including those who were alive at, say, 1000BC, in which case the "end time" would be right around the corner (Before any of you send me emails about how my argument is flawed, go over it again. The argument is valid, I've confirmed it with truth tables and what not; you can either attack my premises, or bring up counterpoints, like "then why are we still alive, since if this is true for us it would've been true for the people of 4000-1000BC", to which I will say "I don't know, let me think about it for a little while".) FUCK, the americans just tied the game.... b) It has been my experience that girls have more fun. However, if guys do in fact have more fun, it's probably because of the various sexist mechanisms exerting their power over the world so that they may retain said power. I won't marry you, but thanks for asking. |
|
| From Mr. Mister. "I was listening to Stranger than Fiction by Bad Religion, and there's a line that goes "and olly olly exenfrees who pick a side and hide", what the fuck does olly olly oxenfree mean? It's a variation of a phrase used, back in the neo-proverbial days, when kids played hide-and-seek. If the seeker wanted the hiders to come out, he'd yell something like "olly olly oxen free"/"olly olly all go free"/"all all enter free"/[many other variations]. Stranger than Fiction is a great song, by the way, and I really like Bad Religion (woohoo, there's my 'yeah, I'm cool' moment for the day) |
|
| I get to put some recently learned biology into action with these next two questions, the first one, from Luke, asks "why do my hands get wrinkled when I shower"? stratified squamous epithelium, baby, keratinized, oooh yeah. Your skin has three layers, the epidermis (top), dermis (middle, where hair follicles and sweat glands are), and the hypodermis (lowest, almost all fat tissue). The epidermis has a basement membrane with cells that keep dividing. As they divide, they push other cells to the top. Your skin cells are stratified (many layers) squamous (really thin) epithelial tissue, and they're programmed to self destruct. So, as they're being pushed toward the top, they begin producing a protein called keratin. By the time the cells start reaching thetop (at around the stratum corneum), they're completely dead, and they're completely filled with keratin. So, your skin cells are dead cells packed full of the keratin protein. Keratin is hydrophilic (water-loving), and when your hands get wet, keratin absorbes water and the cells swell. These swollen cells, of course, are bigger, so your skin, in effect, is bigger. Your finger, however, is the same size it was before you got in the water, so now you've got too much skin, and the skin begins to wrinkle (like if you're sitting down while wearing a shirt that's too big for you). Thanks for the question, luke. |
|
| Our last question of the day, from Caroline, "how come I sometimes feel like I'm remembering something when I smell something?" Lets break your question down and look at smell, emotion, and memory. Emotion and long-term memory are both stored and "controlled", to a very large degree, by a part of your brain called the limbic system. Smell: chemicals hit neurons in your nose, the neurons are embedded in your olfactory bulb, which travels into your brain. Here's the connection: the olfactory bulb is part of the limbic system. So the info from your smell receptor neurons (in the nose) goes directly to your limbic system, which controls emotion and long term memory. I'm not exactly sure how, but some stuff gets mixed around, and the smell triggers an emotior or memory, since all that stuff (smell, memory, emotion) is processed/controled in the same area of your brain (limbic system). Whew, talk about repeating very little information over and over, you'd think I was trying to meet some minimum word quota. I wonder if these last two questions were asked by a "disguised" Mr. Beeman..nah, he doesn't know about this site. It's 2:23AM, meesa tired, I must go do the stupid pre-sleep "ritual" to make sure nobody I care about dies. I've got some oil paints, brushes, and a canvas that I got as a gift, I think I'll pain something tomorrow, I hope I don't suck. |
| . |