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City Officials Almost Ban Foam Cups
localhost00 writes "The city of Aliso Viejo, CA nearly banned foam cups when they learned they are produced from a substance known as 'dihydrogen monoxide.' A paralegal working for the city apparantly found a professionally designed web site put up to describe the dangerous properties of this chemical.
Apparantly, the report about Dihydrogen Monoxide was written by a then 14-year-old Nathan Zohner who was researching the gullibility of fifty ninth graders."
Tricked by a 14 year old, what is the government in CA comming too.
Let me be the first to say
:D
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
But seriously, they shouldn't name that stuff so dangerously. I can understand the confusion.
Some research should have been done.
Fun though, this made my day
This is the sig that says NI (again)
this is simply amazing.
You know they forgot to put the word gullible in the dictionary right?
This was our favorite topic at dinner last night. It's amazing what people will believe without looking up facts on their own.
My
Thousands of people die on beaches every year from DHM inhalation.
Everything seemed to be going so nice
'till the end of all beings punched right through the ice
Yeah, next they'll be installing dark suckers on all the street light posts.
I hope no one tells them about the Pacific. We could be in serious trouble.
Dihydrogen Monoxide is nothing. It's not very dangerous. The real kill is the Hydrogen Hydroxide. Closely related but much more dangerous. We should ban it first.
Remember, 50% of people are below average...
I bet they could put together some scary numbers from statistics about drowning.
Everytime megaman walks, does it count as another "Million Man March"?
In my experience they dont allow things on the internet that are not true. Case in point I will be getting a check from Bill Gates real soon as I have done my part and forwarded his email.
What become laws has everything to do with who's ear you got and nothing to do with facts. Ahhh the beauty of American democracy.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
Come on people. This is the state that wanted to make oreo cookies an age restrictred item, and the state that required electronic equipment not to use the master/slave nomenclature because it offended only one person. Obviously they did zero research on this before they had their knee-jerk reaction. I bet we will soon see warnings on bottled water like we do some other items... "This product is known to the state of California to cause an unknown disease.." Remind me never to live there.
Latest news: the 14-year old has just been hired by SCO as their new "information minister"
I need to sue my employer now. I've been exposed to DHM for many years now, and I fear that it may be taking its toll on me. I've noticed many more wrinkles after particularly long sessions, not to mention a slickness to my skin.
Ah, the perils of lifeguarding.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
Maybe this is why people shouldn't take any document on the Web at face value unless they check the sources or credentials. Not only can there be research study oriented "fake web pages", but there also can be pranks and out of date information (many pages do not have timestamps). I know many professors at my university view Web references as something that you use at last resort, when all other reference sources fail. However, another problem is that there IS a lot of good content on the web, and sometimes they disappear and can never be located again, unless they were lucky enough to have been crawled over by archive.org
Correction, fifty ninth graders and one gullable paralegal.
Not more than you need, just more than you want
I imagine we'll soon see warning labels posted on every bottle of spring water.
Did anyone else see this on the bottom of the dhmo website?
I almost fell off my chair...
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
People react here just the same as ninth graders, it would seem.
i like the banner ad for klein bottles at the bottom of the page
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Maybe I'll put up a site about the disadvantages of outsourcing, then maybe the US Gov will try to ban it?!
Just a wild idea!
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)... oops
I find it worrying that any kind of person in government (even local government) could be so
pig ignorant of basic science that they'd fall for
this hoax. Didn't they listen AT ALL at school? But this seems to be a general problem in the population as a whole , even amongst suppposed intellectuals (read: arts & MBA
graduates) and yet amazingly they're not even usually embarrsed about it. The only reason they are in this story is because it was made public. If their ignorance was revealed in private
they probably wouldn't give a damn , yet if they'd found to be wanting in knowledge of business or the humanities they'd probably go red faced.
this was funny when i saw it the first time 10 years ago. still cracks me up. good to know the research is continuing =)
"...if you don't like your job, you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed..." -Homer
It is half acid and half base!
Can you imagine? It is like drinking battery acid and then eating lye soap!
--
Google News is fun
Damn kids.
It's pretty cool when you can get modded up for posting a link that was in the article write-up. ;)
Wait until you learn the problems of driving on surfaces coated with the stuff.
Wait until you also investigate the dangers of Silicon Dioxide! Most terrorists get their start throwing the stuff.
Quite seriously, I always started the year of teaching chemistry with something much like this. My goal was to help the students become better informed.
"City Officials Almost Ban Foam Cups"
And this is almost news...
That stuff is nasty. Not only is it made from petroleum (America's crack), but it doesn't biodegrade and may leach toxins into the food it holds. Also, if it burns, it releases toxic particulates into the air.
The term "outside the box" is squarely within the box at this point.
Am I only one that finds ironic that California is not one of the states trying to ban teaching evolution in schools?
Jumping on DHM was certainly silly, but the last time I checked the important ingredient in foam cups is ... styrofoam and not water. We drink a sip out of the foam cup and then toss it into the next landfill, they should have banned the foam cup but for the right reasons.
More like "Living in California is known to cause an unknown disease." A disease of the mind.
occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
This confirms what I have always suspected...
It's no wonder CA is such a welcoming environment to idiots like Larry Ellison or Arnold.
Donesn't any of the /. crowd recognize a rip-off of the Penn and Teller "bullshit" sketch? As I recall, they did a petition to ban the substance at a rally of "environmentalists" to show the same effect.
This is what I love about Slashdot. It's like reading the unfunny links on Fark all over again posted 2 days later.
Little Johnny was a chemist.
Little Johnny is no more.
'Cause what he thought was H2O.
Was really H2SO4
This product is known to the state of California to cause an unknown disease.
The state of California is an unknown disease.
The city wants to save you from yourself because if you drink enough of this "Dihydrogen Monoxide", it can kill you.
1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
And I say too right! Anything with the word "monoxide" in it *should* be banned!
Yeah, that's been in my usenet sig for ages.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
Wouldn't it be oxygen dihydride, since the oxygen atom is central? Analogous to carbon dioxide?
This bugs me every time I see the joke. I am such a dork.
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
Wow a 14 year old in the 59th grade.
Ok I'm just entertaining myself here...
I mean, making assumptions on vague wording and overblown generalizations... BTW, Windows is the tool of the devil and Linux is Jesus!
Not only was that posted in the article above, but if you actually read the Snopes writeup you'll see that it's true.
So... urban fact.
MM nice, RTFA headline? The link is in there - nicely relinked sir! You must not be new here ;)
I don't read your sig, why do you read mine?
Di-Hydrogen Monoxide isn't the proper name for water. That would imply a H2 ion bonded to a O ion. IIRC, this is not correcct. It's been ten years since I took chemistry, but shouldn't it really be Hydrogen Hydroxide? (H bonded to OH)
SirWired
So before you start lambasting Kawhlefornia (Terminator speak for California), remember these shows prove it happens everywhere.
Oh look a puppy!
For more info on the horrors of this highly dangerous substance, which is undoubtedly in your neighborhood, nay Your very house, read: this expose' website!
Stuff that matters: circuitbreakers, vacuum-cleaners coffee makers, calculators generators, matching salt+pepper shakers
I hope this shows up some of the actual "research" that goes on before some of our duly-elected officials vote to restrict things "for the children".
C'mon people, when you restrict car's emissions but allow barges to come in unchecked, you aren't really helping me breath easier. (FYI, each barge that comes into port at Long Beach and Los Angeles puts more pollution in the air than just over a million cars.)
Funny, as a teenager I always thought of myself as being a lot more intelligent than the average adult (much to their chagrin) - and up until now (as I approach 30) I haven't seen much evidence showing I was wrong. I'm constantly running into cashiers who cannot make change without their cash register, salespeople who have no clue about the products they are selling, people who can barely spell (a visit to nearly any chat board is enough to turn my stomach). Seems like despite all the progress we seem to be making, the bottom half (two-thirds?) of our population seems to be regressing further and further. My Grandfather (who had to quit school in grade two to help his Dad on the farm) has writing and math skills that make him look like a scholar relative to the average McDonald's cashier with a high school diploma.
I think our approach to designing products aimed at the lowest common denominator might actually be responsible for all of this. Think about it the next time you pick up a cup of coffee with a warning on it stating that coffee is hot. If a paralegal (a "research expert" if you will) can be fooled by a smart 14-year old, what does that say about our society?
I believe so - prefixes on leading elemental names are usually missing. Take H3PO4, phosphoric acid - it's elemental name is hydrogen phosphate, not trihydrogen phosphate.
Either way though I think it's hairsplitting, really.
SCREW THE ADS! http://adblock.mozdev.org/ Proud user of teh Fox of Fire - Registered Linux User #289618
The DHMO site is at least 6 years old. I used to have it linked on my science education web site. I was smart enough to put it under the category of "weird science" or "science humor". Can't remember which as it is no longer active. Thought it was funny and didn't think anyone would ever buy into it... well anyone who actually graduated the 7th grade, at least.
This world's worst defect is its inability to think. Soooo many urban legends, and so many folks warning you of stupid stuff.
When was the last time a cousin or an in-law sent you an email warning you of that "super-strong" computer virus that McAfee doesn't yet know about, or about Microsoft deleting every user account that does not forward this email.
If somebody wrote it, then it must be true!!!
BTW, I wrote this comment, so you better believe it to be true.
After 3 days without programming, life becomes meaningless
- The Tao of Programming
Don't these guys watch Penn and Teller?
The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank.
-- Scotty.
You'd think when they'd been in school THAT long, they wouldn't be so gullible!
I think the first thing they should ban is that paralegal, from ever having access to politicians enough to convince them of crap like that.
But, Seriouslly, they really should ban styrofoam cups, those things take forever to degrade, and are nasty pollutants. USe paper cups instead!
You shouldn't take ANY document at face value... it doesn't matter if it's on the web or not.
this isn't an Internet thing... get a grip.
Why don't you embrace your slashbotness instead of living in a dreamworld?
>> who was researching the gullibility of fifty ninth graders
And clever you, you were probably sucking down a dangerous quantities of Hydrogen Hydroxide at the time!
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The funny bit is, if I saw a site designed like that, regardless of its content, I'd immediately be suspicious. Either it's a prank, or a tinfoil hat brigade affiliate, or something backed by an army of ambulance chasers...
This reminds me of a MP in the UK - David Amess - asking questions in the House of Commons about a fictious drug called 'cake', a bright yellow pill about one foot across that featured on the News spoof show "The Day Today".
I don't need a compass to tell me which way the wind shines.
Hydroxylic acid...
It makes dihydrogen monoxide look like water in comparison...
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
Many years ago, in my communications class in high school, somebody presented this article (or a similiar one) as fact. Nobody else in the class, including the teacher and the person presenting the article, caught on to what dihydrogen monoxide was. This is the sad state of public education in Conway, Arkansas.
This was the first web page I ever read and fell off my chair. The "pro" web site is just as funny.
Come the revolution, the Bourgeois, Capitalistic, "A PARKING STICKER HOLDERS", will be first against the wall!
yes I am Californian :( Astala Vista... Baby
California attempts ban on Dihydrogen Monoxide - Monday March 15, @08:47AM, rejected.
Posted some time ago.
What was it P.T. Barnum said? oh yeah... ...ok, so it was Hannum that actually said it, but...
I learned a lot from the recent election in California. I learned that you can get a job even when you have no qualifications. So, I've decided to be a supermodel.
... how far the Left in the US will go to control the lives of everyone they can.
cats instinctively fear getting doused in it.
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
tp
...who, of course, did not RTFA...
Unluckily enough, the paralegal then found the one reason that made everybody laugh...
Ok, maybe I'm missing something here... but IMHO:
a) Styrofoam cups should be banned anyway because they don't decompose (as opposed to cardboard cups)
and b) Styrofoam isn't made from H2O, but from polystyrene...
The latest performance enhancer...Used by even 1st grade athletes.. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/w.html
*puts geek hat on*
But didn't they refer to it as Dilithium or trilithium crystals?
Star Trek wouldn't be wrong on something so obvious, right?
*takes geek hat off, and takes a shower, NOT CLEAN!!!*
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
And in an even stranger twist, metadata appearing in documents published by DMHO.org seem to have been written or reviewed by the Paper Cup Political Action Committee (PCPAC).
What can you say. So much head knowledge, so little common sense. Apparently, some colleges don't require even basic Chemistry for Law School. I think this scares the hell out of me. Great experiement on how to fool paralegals.
SPAM solution made easy: 1 spammer, 5 cords of rope, 5 hourses, and fireworks. Be creative.
Back in college, we always wondered why the Jello cubes sat on a lettuce leaf instead of just being served on a bare plate. The lettuce was obviously preventing a reaction between the plate and the Jello, which emitted dihydrogen monoxide, aka Jello gas. Colorless, odorless, and you feel fine until dropping dead within 120 years. Sounds like "brain cloud" to me.
Theeese are the same sorts of people that said "OK" at the DMCA and the patriot act. Mabey politicians aren't evil and corrupt, they're just plain stupid.
It would probably be wise for them to avoid dihydrogen monoxide altogether and Buy dehydrated water instead.
Putting aside all the nose-upturning and jokes from the oh-so-savvy-and-intelligent Slashdot readers, has there ever been any research into whether plastic and styrophone disposable cups could have a coating of chemicals that could potentially mix with the fluids they held?
I imageine these cups are made in large plants from various chemicals and can't imagine they would do a thorough job cleaning them.
And if they did, what would they clean the cups with? Another chemical no doubt.
Hydrogen Hydroxide is correct. I had assumed that he made up that name for water to throw off anyone who had actually heard the correct chemical name for the compound. I could be mistaken but he seems like a pretty smart kid.
I like his notice at the bottom
URL: http://www.dhmo.org/
Last Updated: March 16, 2004
Note: content veracity not implied
Copyright (C) by Tom Way
As an example, I went to Montivideo Elementary, Del Lago Elementary, and Los Alisos Intermediate School. The major roads are Margurite, Los Aliso, La Paz, Alicia, and Oso Parkway (which apparently means 'bear' in Spanish).
Anyway, apparently, "Oso Pkwy" was not entirely 'snooty' enough for the residents of Aliso Viejo, as they renamed the street "Pacific Park" where it crosses into their city.
"It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance." - Thomas Sowell
They list a 1986 MSDS on the site, and a search confirms the entry. However, a search for the manufacturer points back to the hoax website. I think maybe msdsonline has falled for it, probably through lack of due diligence.
"I forgot my mantra."
We must protect our precious bodily fluids from communist plots to poison us and warp the minds of our children. DHMO is the chemical most commonly used to deliver Flourine in our public water supply!
Duh, it's a hoax.
/.'ers would look into something this much, i'm proud to be one of them :-p
Since when have hoaxes needed accurate info?
Only geeks or
Error 407 - No creative sig found
Ethyl alcohol is a clear, colorless liquid with a characteristic, agreeable odor. In dilute aqueous solution, it has a somewhat sweet flavor, but in more concentrated solutions it has a burning taste.
This would also mean that "H20" is incorrect as well, should be "HOH". That's what my high school chem teacher said anyway.
Since 1988, Berkeley has an ordinance banning Styrofoam aka polystyrene foam.
As recently as June 2000 they restated that The City will continue to enforce its Styrofoam ban ordinance.
Go Berkeley!
I always place it on the head of an unsuspecting river otter and pour acetone on it. It instantly disintegrates and the otter whisks the remains away to a recycling center.
Right at the bottom of the home page are these words:
Now, how can anybody with any brains put in motion a legislature without first double-checking the veracity of the content?!
It's a disgrace!
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
Penn and Teller, on thier Showtime show 'Bullshit' did a similair trick to expose the ridiculous ignorance of the liberals at this earth-day type event. They went around and got a tons of signatures from people for thier support in the ban of 'dihydrogen-monoxide'. it was pretty damn funny and it did well in exposing the lack of credibility on the part of these groups.
Last week, I bought five anti-DHMO T-shirts off that site.
If it's not Consolidated Lint, it's just fuzz!
That's right. Marathon runners are vulnerable to hyponatremia. Massive sweat + intake of unsalted water leads to sodium ion imbalance inside the body. It's one of those nasty conditions where the brain gets disoriented so the victim doesn't realize that they are headed for death.
Hyponatremia a Concern for Marathon Runners
I know the Slashdot stereotype is that nobody *here* has to worry about such things, but actually, I bet there are people in the Slashdot community who run this far and this hard.
I'm pretty sure they had this conversation on FARK.com yesterday. The kids webpage was basically copied from another webpage, he did an ALMOST ok job of rearranging it so it's not totally obvious, but just changing the order doesn't help if you still quote word for word. The gag is pretty old, my physics teacher in high school pulled it on us and he said it was pulled on him in college. This was in 99 and he was at in his 50's then, so it must be at least 40 years old. Here is the FARK posting for those too lazy to find it.
/showing my age, but still proud to see DHMO go this far
2004-03-15 01:17:28 AM JurorNumber42
I've had a Ban DMHO web site up for a decade. Heck, before that I had the text up on a Gopher page for several years.
http://www.zippynet.com/pages/bandhmo.htm
BTW, the science fair kid that Snopes talks about copied my stuff word for word. Eh, that's whats the interweb's all about, right?
Even more embarrassing, this is Orange County, not the Bay Area where I would expect this to happen. And I looked at the city council web-site and one of the city council members has a PhD, from Stanford, in Educational Psychology. It only shows how useless a PhD has become.
Uh is that why we revere English teachers more than doctors, ad writers more than physicists?
They almost changed Pi by lawl
http://www.math.utah.edu/~cherk/Pi-story.htm
Those who can't do - teach
Those who are too dumb to teach - legistate.
So it must be true...
sigh
--
Martin
Actually, I think both naming conventions are "correct".
I suck in Chemistry though, so perhaps someone would correct me.
Thing get way more out of whack than this. Like the time Santa Cruz spent 85k on a large road sign only to tear it down the next day because it was ugly. I could go on and on about these people for hours, everything from the traffic to the small town elitists. Ths is possibly one of the most entertaining states in the union.
Keep in mind however that last year was the first year in this states history that more people left than entered. Obviously these retards have pushed it to far.
Here lies Willy on the floor
From unknown flasks he'll drink no more
For what he thought was H2O
Was really H2SO4
mmm monooxide
ooh they have hidrogen on computers now
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
The point is, everything else in the hoax is accurate. That's part of the joke. Inhalation of H2O can lead to death--it's called drowning. The rest of the facts presented are also accurate, just worded cleverly to catch people.
This side up.
Some days ago I created an Orkut community named Coalition Against DHMO.
You're all invited to join it and discuss this amazing topic.
-
Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
You missed the entire point. A town was going to ban an item because of a creatively written web page on water. Now if that doesn't alert you to there being a slight issue, at least with that town's operation, I don't know what would....
Personally, I found the story quite funny, it truly brings to light how absolutely gullible some people are. Then again, the lottery would be another example.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
You're probably correct, but Dihydrogen Monoxide carries the all important "two hydrogens, one oxygen", which should be decodable to anyone with high school language skills. Hydrogen hydroxide could fool people who don't know what hydroxide means, and therefore isn't quite as damning.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
No, it is actually technically correct. (The best kind of correct!) In chemistry naming conventions you usually use this sort of naming convention for binary nonmetal-nonmetal chemicals.
For example:
NO2 - nitrogen dioxide
N2O - dinitrogen monoxide
N2O5 - dinitrogen pentoxide
CO2 - carbon dioxide
So it does make sense to say:
H2O - dihydrogen monoxide
However the name hydrogen hydroxide is incorrect since that would indicate that the OH part of HOH (H2O ) is an ion and that the extra hydrogen is ionically bonded to it. This is not the case, in H2O both hydrogens are covalently bonded to the central oxygen atom.
You can see more about chemical naming conventions here.
Sapere aude!
The link I had to Street Smarts finally loaded after I'd already posted. Seems they do film around the country.
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
This is not some fake information web page. Everything they say about DHMO is factual. Although most people call it water, all the properties that are listed are true.
> Either way though I think it's hairsplitting, really.
nah, that would be H2O2 - hydrogen peroxide
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
I quit laughing when I thought of the fact that we already dump plenty of stuff into the ground that has, at some point, caused much more problems than those mentioned in the fictional research paper.
Oh well, gotta go to buy a new cell phone because the little piece of plastic on the side broke.
Sigh...
This is also the state that wanted to make Feng Shui a requirement in every CA office.
Josh
There are ample amounts of not only Dihydrogen Monoxide, But Silicon Dioxide as well in both places. Some say nerds are at more risk, especially from the latter. Further research indicates that Slashdotters are expecially vulnerable to a very nasty compound from the methylxanthine family
You haven't looked at the city's web site then. :-)
City of Aliso Viejo
dihydrogen monoxide is nasty thing, which can harbor bacteria and other nasty things to you.
It is best to dilute it slightly with ethanol, as this kills the bugs.
Adding hops, barley, yeast, and letting it mix for a while is a very good way of adding the ethanol.
H + H + O is always H2O.
H2O is water.
After reading the article, it sounds less like the government was fooled by the dangers of "dihydrogen monoxide" and more like they were looking for a reason to ban foam cups...
not really. the empirical formula for a molecule doesn't necessarily reflect the bond structure imposed by the component atoms/molecules. for example, consider most hydrocarbons - CxHyOz. to use a similar example, alcohols contain a standard hydrocarbon chain bonded to an OH molecule. you'd still write that using the CxHyOz notation. (damn /. for not allowing the <sub> tag.)
Xfce: Lighter than some, heavier than others. Just right.
For compounds made up of nonmetals, the first element named is the one with lower electronegativity, with the second having the higher electronegativity. If more than one binary compound is formed by a pair of nonmetals, the Greek prefixes di (two), tri (three), tetra (four), penta (five), hexa (six), etc. are used to designate the number of atoms present. The mono- prefix is rarely used.
l
Since H and O can form h2o or h2o2, I think dihydrogen oxide would be strictly correct, as it is a covalent binary nonmetal compound.
http://www.cofc.edu/~deavorj/101/nomenclature.htm
Ashland, OR has a ban on styrafoam..
uhm... if they were ions, then wouldn't it be a "hydrate", or "hydride", or something (or both)? ... uhm... Hydrogen?- Hydride?
I believe that you could follow IUPAC to come up with many other names, however -- how about:
(alpha)-Hydroxy
Hydrogen-Hydroxide?
nillan-ol? (zero-length alkane base)
(alpha)-Hydrogen-Hydrate?
(alpha)-Hydroxy
Hydronium-de-hydrogen-ate? (throw-back-to-bio-chem)...
I think that di-hydrogen-mon-oxide has an easier (and slightly more "sinister" ring to it.
IAAC...
o gen+oxide&Units=SI
The correct name is "dihydrogen oxide". Theres no need to put the "mono" on the oxygen. If you dont believe me, you can look at NIST's chemistry webbook...
http://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?Name=Dihydr
the byproduct of years of oppression by the white man
wow, the bottom of the page even says, "Note: content veracity not implied" ... :-/
Anyway the inspectors came around to check them out; and insisted on knowing what their cleanup method would be if they spilled the stuff.
"We don't need one."
At this point the inspector went into rant mode, threatening extensive punitive penalties if a cleanup methodology wasn't produced immediately.
(Indeed so effective was the desert at catalysing the peroxide, the team were jokingly considering abandoning their expensive silver catalysts, and using desert instead... but I digress.)
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"The way the naming works with covalently bonded molecules is that you put di/tri/tetra/penta/etc. in front of the first element if there is more than one. Then you put mono/di/tri/etc. on the second element. (e.g. carbon dioxide)
Hydrogen Hydroxide would imply an ionic bond. The way naming works with ionic bonds is that you put the name of the first element and then the second element as an -ide. (e.g. sodium chloride)
The difference between covalent and ionic bonds is that in a covalent bond, the two atoms are kept together because they are sharing electrons, while in an ionic bond the two atoms are kept together because of the opposite charges they gained when they exchanged electrons.
at least on some of the other articles had additional quotes that showed the officials were quite scared of water... not foam...
If you follow the link on the ad banner on the http://www.dhmo.org/ website, it takes you to http://www.kleinbottle.com/ These people have all been smoking crack from giant pipes made by klienbottle!! Check out that doper holding the huge pipe.
This is referring to water (yes, thats Dihydrogen Monoxide). Not offtopic.
Conway, eh? 2 questions: WHO ARE YOU, MAN? and do i know you? currently attending UCA
And be sure to check out the Material Safety Data Sheet.
More seriously, from the article I get the idea that the city wants to ban styrofoam cups anyway and had a paralegal investigating "dirt" on styrofoam. This probably won't help their cause
> I think our approach to designing products aimed at the lowest common denominator
This is a consequence, not the cause. The problem is our education system and the way it encourages stupidity. Read about that and the solution to it in th
Montessori Method. It's old and, sadly, is the sort of stuff nobody teaches children any more.
Well, you have it ALMOST right, but its the other hydrogen first, so it should be...
hydrogen Hydroxide, not
Hydrogen hydroxide.
lighten up people!
Score:2, Funny .. Wow, it sure doesn't take much to be funny around here these days :->
> I think our approach to designing products aimed at the lowest common denominator
> might actually be responsible for all of this
This is a consequence, not the cause. The problem is our education system and the way it encourages stupidity. Read about that and the solution to it in the Montessori Method. It's old and, sadly, is the sort of stuff nobody teaches children any more.
The moderators are asleep. Quick, post something that is older that most people on the forum...wait, here's an article on DHMO...
The humor operates on more than one level -- or in the case of the Klein Bottle, more than one surface.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I don't mean to be pedantic, but your point does expose a rift between different sorts of environmentalists. A true "tree hugger" would far prefer the use of styrofoam to that of paper which comes from - dare I say - trees!
Another great battle is over wind power. You'd think all the environmentalists would be on top of that one. Not so - it disrupts migratory patterns and splatters a lot of birds, so many conservationists are against it. Same with things like tidal power (similar effect on fish).
Again, pedanticism aside, the environmental "faction" is far more fractured than you might think. Frequently the anti-global-warming, conservation, and wilderness camps take diametrically opposing views.
Dear Aliso Viejo City Officials,
Today is only march, 16th, you're almost two weeks too early for an april's a fool joke.
I think you are wasting some good material for april 1st.
Don't be too impatient, the day will come
Regards,
--AC
We live in a society where the lack of social skills has a much greater impact than the lack of technical skills. When we all were still farmers we had to plan, count, learn how to do things in order to survive. But now it are the managers, the advisors, the marketeers and the sales people who earn more than people with technical skills. Furthermore, we live in a highly individualized society where an individual without the proper social skills is easily going to lose from those that do have these.
...granted the people associated with this were already mental giants, but just think of what we'll be reading on /. 10-15 years down the line when the education by-products are current money starved education systems (not just CA) are released into the general public.
No child left behind --> No child gets ahead
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
You really should check your electronegativies before saying bonds are covalent. This is pretty basic chemistry and explains amongst other things why water is liquid at livable temperatures for we humans and many other phenomenon.
You can find more about naming of chemical structures via IUPAC the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemists
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
> Live on the West Coast for a while, but be
> prepared to leave, because for every year you live
> out there, you lose an IQ point.
Just because California is a communist state that lowers your IQ, doesn't mean it takes up the entire West Coast. There are perfectly fine places to live in Washington state and Canada.
How about dihydryl ether? An ether is an oxygen with (usually!) a carbon chain on both sides. Dihydryl ether would then be the simplest of ethers.
The dihydryl ether name is really pushing it, but I would say that calling water hydranol is a little less incorrect than calling it dihydrogen monoxide. Water behaves more like a simple alcohol than an oxide salt.
Here's two more names: "Look out for that dangerous hydroxic acid!" (OH- acid = OH- + H+)
"Don't worry, I'll neutralize it with this hydronium base." (H3O+ with OH-, actually makes 2H2O)
In reality, water behaves a little like each of these chemical groups. It really is an alcohol, an acid, a base, and even ionic (when dissociated). This is what makes water have so many useful properties.
Interestingly, it turns out that water molecules bond with eachother somewhat covalently, not just with hydrogen bonds as previously thought.
yo.
She was the posterchild of the UK anti-ecstacy lobby for over a year, *ECSTACY KILLED LEAH BETTS"*, no actually, government propaganda about dehydration killed Leah Betts...
Not that dehydration isn't a risk for ecstacy users, but it's not the massive risk it's made out to be.
This is simply an indication that 95% of the population is scientifically illiterate.
Unfortunately science education is not mandatory like english and basic math are. Nor is it taught in a manner that supports curiousity and interest.
Given that we live in an increasingly technical dependent society it's scary to find pseudoscience and scientific ignorance so rapidly on the rise. For those struggling to separate science and pseudoscience, a good book putting science's role into a clearer perspective is Carl Sagan's book: "The Demon Haunted World, Science as a Candle in the Dark." I have a few copies and lend it to people when they need it. (Note: there are other good books too this is just one that comes to mind).
The underlying skills of critical thought and a healthy dose of skepticism are the basis of good science. Even basic concepts like Occam's razor are not widely understood or accepted. People need to be made to understand that science is not just ugly formulas in physics class, but that it forms the basis for all things that define our modern high standard of living.
If less than 1% of congress men ever elected have any scientific background how do you expect them to put forth a meaningful policy on scientific education or even understand basic issues.
Rather than sitting here in self congratulatory bliss about other people ignorance, we should take our responsibility as the scientifically literate (to some degree anyway) seriously and do what we can to educate people around us. Take an active role in science outreach programs, or at the very least lobby your elected representatives.
Yes, it is a slow difficult up hill battle, but 300 years ago 95% of the population was illiterate, today most can read and write. This is mostly due to a number of dedicated individuals that convinced their government of the need for literacy.
Ignorance is bliss... Unfortunately for me its to late...
----- "Profanity is the one language that all programmers understand."
We should give him some kind of medal - no web site out there does a better job of exposing poor critical thinking than his. [Email forwards are, however, another story!
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
They are the only ones that would are do such a thing
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
Actually Chemistry nomenclature is a fun game, as a number of different systems are valid. The catch all rule with things like water is it goes by a "common" name, like ammonia or methane or salt.
For your amusement some other ways of naming water:
Hydrogen oxide (the isotope of hydrogen, duetrium has duetrium oxide)
dihydrogen monoxide (it is valid by one sytem which is used to name binary compounds of nonmetals. ex:
N2O5 = dinitrogen pentoxide)
Hydrohydroxic acid (in the acid system, like HCl)
hydrogen hydroxide (base nomenclature, like Sodium hydroxide)
hydroxic acid (like H2S is hydrosulfuric acid)
Hydronium hydroxide (like ammonium hydroxide)
anyhows, I think you get the point. From a practical stand point this exact problem makes it a pain to order chemicals from a catalog often times!
Organicsculpture.com
Well if you guys were smart Diebold won't be allowed to make voting machines for your elections, Bush would have had a lot more difficulty "linking" Saddam to the Al Qaeda, lying the US into war etc etc.
:).
Smart people can be rather inconvenient to the powers that be. The Chinese Gov has imprisoned and executed many a smart scholar.
In the USA they seem to have found alternatives...
Maybe they put something in your water...
Did you know that Osama Bin Laden is releasing a substance called "carbon dioxide" in the atmosphere every day? Did you know that only a liter of this substance can be used to suffocate the entire New York city (if you recycle it, of course)? It is also thought to be responsible for global warming and the eventual destruction of coastal cities.
Having a non-smoking section in an encosed restaurant is a lot like having a no-peeing section in the swimming pool.
I didn't realize what I was doing! My wife and I have given this to our children at night to get them to go to sleep.
California is the model "bleeding heart" liberal state. They are the same as the far right in that they break out the Thought Police at every opportunity.
URL: http://www.dhmo.org/
Last Updated: March 16, 2004
Note: content veracity not implied
Copyright (C) by Tom Way
*L* I guess they missed that...
Wood Shavings!
- Godai
had this same kind of thing on thier show, bullshit. they went to a pro earth rally with a petition to ban the use of DiHydrogen Monoxide. every person they asked to sign it did so happily.....even the event coordinator. god bless america..... i think we need it
So there's the aphorism about the guy with the hammer that only sees nails. Really, this translates very nicely into the world of lawmaking--if your job is to come up with rules and regulations, the first thing you're going to think of when coming across something like this is to draft legislation.
It stopped surprising me a long time ago, but it still bothers me. People's first reaction to something that they fear is to legislate it out of existence. Ask any random person on the street what they think about some high-profile issue (gay marriage, abortion, gun control, "taxes cuts for the rich" as the saying goes) and they're likely to tell you how the government ought to fix the problem.
These city council guys didn't make any new laws in this case because the media helped them see their error. But how many other times do they actually PASS silly legislation based on whim? My I-can't-even-find-an-envelope calculation works out to 98% of all laws are passed because the people doing the lawmaking have nothing else to do, and they see lots of nails.
Tune in next time...
Anyone else find this humorous while thinking that California is also one of the most liberal states in the US?
Norris/Palin 2012
Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
My guess was that it Oxygen Dihydride. Either way, it's darn tricky to remove once your clothes have been contaminated by the stuff.
I kid you not...on a tank of 95% 02/5% CO2, the following statement:
Antidote:
"In case of inhalation, remove to well ventilated area and administer oxygen."
Ban linux! it's like communism, and hippies.
Ban P2P! it's been known to be used by athiests and homosexual priests.
Ban Currency! It's used for bribery 'and' election campaigns.
vettemph
"DHMO is a major component of acid rain."
What if Digg added local news and a Slashdot inspired comment karma system? ---
http://houndwire.com
he said hairsplitting, not hairpainting or haircoloring or hairbleaching.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
Everyone who has ever died has been a chronic oxygen user.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
I actually had a 6th grade class where the students were asked to bring in ingredients labels from various food products.
The teacher ranted aboout how all those evil corporations were putting mysterious chemicals in our food, like niacin, riboflavin, and citric acid! Oh no!
Who's to flame here? Chemists? What are you, some ACS undercover shill?
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Since the alkanols are C_n H_2n+1 OH, H2O is the 0th alkanol. How would one extend the sequence meth-, eth-, prop-, but-, pent- back one? Is "nonanol" a suitable name?
The Coalition to Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide has been around a long time. There's even a song about it to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic (aka John Brown's Body).
The DHMO song can also be found at the author's page here, but Google is probably more resistant to the Slashdot effect.
By your own admission, this was a smart individual pulling the prank.
All people make mistakes, especially if mislead. The proper approach would be to revisit the surprising information at a later date and check a source you trust.
It's easy to be taken off guard, you just have to sleep on it sometimes.
A 14-year old troll is now reveling in a lot of attention.
This is not my sig.
Please tell me that the menu isn't bang in the centre when viewed under IE. It can't be intentional, can it?
A story was leaked off a satire website indicated a city in CA that never did its own research. This was to test the gullibility of Internet news hounds, who believe anything written is canon, and that there isn't so much bureaucracy in a given city's government that someone wouldn't've have had a chemist look at some stuff involving environmental concerns, or that local businesses wouldn't've laughingly called to report the reports as false.
-=-
Double contractions rock.
... then it would be fair to say that the test scores are normally distributed, assuming your average class is a random sample of the population (as opposed to a high or low ability grouping due to school assessments), therefore 68% will be within one standard deviation, and, more importantly, the normal curve is symmetrical about the mean, and therefore there are exactly HALF above and HALF below the mean.
QED
What will happen is that the *match* will burn faster and mabye hotter (careful with your fingers), nothing else.
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
http://www.circus.com/~nodhmo/
This nerd is going places, esp if he pursues a career as a consultant or to get an IPO:
1) He knows how to get free media exposure
2) He's drawn the attention - and scared - the government and public into panic. Perfect for introducing over-budget solutions.
From the state who wants to ban the use of "Master" and "Slave" in hard drive designations
heh :-)
I sent 'em an e-mail saying that this discriminated against those of us in S&M relationships.
Haven't had a reply yet
But our webserver was cooled with Dihydrogen Monoxide! Looks like the combination of H2O and Styrofoam made our server into a huge bomb calorimeter.
I'd like to know how they finally noticed what was going on, too. None of the articles I could find mentioned this.
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
Hyponatremia can be a problem, though rarely in a normal person (IIAD, BTW).
The most common scenario where I've seen symptomatic hyponatremia in a non-athlete is in a syndrome called SIADH (AKA: Syndrome of Inappropriate Anti-Diuretic Hormone). I've rarely seen it in psychiatric patients who compulsively drink massive quantities of fluids as part of their psychosis... Believe it or not, it's actually possible to drink enough water that you dilute out your electrolytes.
Anti-Diuretic Hormone is what determines the final concentration of your urine (ie. how much free water your kidneys scavenge from the filtrate in your kidneys)... it works in the kidney's distal tubules. Interestingly, ADH is inhibited by ethanol. Ever wonder how beer seems to go through you so quickly? Well, the answer is that it really doesn't... part of that massive urination is from the alcohol inhibiting ADH secretion, your kidneys start dumping free water, and you start peeing like a racehorse. The result? You get dehydrated; one of the major contributors to the discomfort of hangovers. Heh... a bag or two of IV fluids does wonders for a hangover.
Dilutional Hyponatremia is relatively easy to fix (obviously depending on severity)... just restrict fluid intake. In the case of SIADH, you also have to hunt for the cause... some lung cancers are notorious for secreting excess Anti-Diuretic Hormone.
Note that severe hyponatremia is life-threatening... you can have refractory seizures, coma, and profound mental status changes. Fixing it too quickly is also dangerous, and can cause a nasty (and permanent) condition called Central Pontine Myelinolysis... definitely not on the top-ten-diseases-to-have list.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Um, sorry, maybe he did the Website, but somewhere around here I've got a flyer I picked up (at a Real SF con) from maybe 20 years ago about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide.
mark "jeez, inhale enough and it'll kill you!"
Its known as "Massa and slave"
Well
Nearly
There is a legal term, and most people aren't aware of it, but the phrase is an old norse one:
urakompletfawkinidjut
It kind of sums it up and really addresses the concerns you have about these kinds of sites. I personally think the norse phrase says it all, don't you?
In a survey of 50 6th grade students, one rightly recognized that DHMO is water. Of hundreds of city officials, how many had to be told this fact?
Yes. Trust government, indeed.
(That was a quote from Bugs Bunny.)
Anyhoo, I bet the same can be applied to many of the left wing enviro-militants. Who knows, "Global Warming" may really mean "Natural Earth Cycle".
Heh, ya know?
-- Liberalism is a mental disorder.
http://www.jokewallpaper.com/elvisshotjfk
Has the word "joke" in it...I still get an e-mail about once a month from people who think it's real. People are gullible even when you tell them it's a joke.
I recently discovered, much to my delight, that the Montessori school in my district is taxpayer supported - I can send my kids there for no additional cost. I know where they're going next year...
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Most people are wholly unaware of the fact that Jimmy Carter went to Georgia Tech and became a nuclear engineer for the Navy. Sam Nunn also started out as an industrial engineer at Georgia Tech before heading off to Emory & Emory Law to eventually graduate with a law degree.
Besides, the grandparent poster short-changes those of us who do have science/math backgrounds, who are passionate about politics, and who have considered getting more involved.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Mision Vieja (Mision Vieja if you use the proper punctuation). I guess that the extra 's' made it there when the name got bastardized into English. It also should be 'Montevideo', not 'Montividieo'. Montevide is the capital of Argentina.
They should make Dunkin Doughnuts pay for the cost of picking up styrofoam cup litter. 9 times out of 10 any cup lying on the ground will say Dunkin Doughnuts on it. My other favorite is discarded lottery tickets but that is another article.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
If I remember right from my chemistry class many moon ago...
;-)
The H+ ion is Hydronium,
while OH- is hydroxide
Therefore it could just as well be called Hydronium Hydroxide.
My favorite though is still "Aqua Hydra"
I'm not a journalist, but I play one on slashdot
I see the Techdirt -> Slashdot posting gateway is up and functioning properly again! Kudos to all the hard working programmers out there making sure that Slashdot doesn't need to generate stories, or even headlines, by itself anymore!
Automation is the future!
"The Man Show" (yes, not exactly "Frontline") set up a stand somewhere and asked woman to sign a petition to end "Woman's Sufferage". Most of them gladly signed and some even made comments in disgust about the evils of it.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
In the sweepstakes for legislative stupidity, I always like to play this card. The bill House Bill No. 246, Indiana State Legislature, 1897, reportedly set the value of pi to an incorrect rational approximation (ie. "3").
The "creator" of this new value of pi listed as it advantages that it was much easier for school children to use. He even went so far as to offer the new value of pi at no charge to Indiana for use in their school books, however all others would be charged a royality!
Here is a link, but a better link is here,
However, even if consumers recycle, theres no guarantee the truck that picks it up takes it to a recycling center. In my parent's town the recycle truck and the trash truck dump their loads in the same landfill.
My mom doesn't bother sorting her aluminum cans and plastic anymore.
Don't pitch Ecstasy like it's a harmless medication... it is not. (Disclaimer: I'm an ER physician, and I've treated ecstasy users)
Ecstasy (MDMA) is chemically related to the amphetamine family, and has many of the same effects. One of the side-effects of Ecstasy is hyperthermia... an elevation of body temperature that can lead to rhabdomyolysis (mass breakdown of muscle tissue, often leading to kidney failure), brain damage, and death.
Ecstasy acts primarily on the serotonergic and dopaminergic neurons in the CNS, and appears to irreversably harm the former (documented pathologically in animal studies, and observationally in humans). Interestingly, Prozac and some of the SSRI drugs seem to partially antagonize the effects of Ecstasy (but if you're planning on stopping your anti-depressant so you can get a better buzz on the weekend, you need serious help).
There's another problem: you never know what you're getting when you buy street drugs. Unless you have a degree in organic chemistry and are making your own (which can be done), it pays to be cautious.
Maybe you've taken ecstasy hundreds of times and had no problem... good for you. But ecstasy is not harmless... I've seen it go wrong, and it's not pretty.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Isn't it comforting to finally get a taste of the brain power at work in our government?
And these are the people who are making the decisions for us...
world.std.com is about to go under from a Slashdotting.
Nelson: Hey Bart! - your epidermis is showing!
If you can read this sig - the bitch fell off.
This is crap. Absolute Crap. The fact that some mis-informed or ignorant people support Environmentalism, Conservation or Sustainability DOES NOT MEAN that the people trying to form policy suggestions are all wrong.
this is h20 BS is dragged out so that Environmental-Deniers can snicker at Environmentalists *AND* so that status-quo will be maintained. "See, they're all nuts! Wackos! Look at this! hahahahah".
Absolute 100% propaganda. While true, repeating it serves a very nafarious and specific purpose... Why does Slashdot propagate this meme?
Here is another one: Capitalists are all Fascists? Nazis were 100% anti-socialist, and very good friends of the IBM, Siemens and Ford's of the world. These Capitalists enabled Nazi Fasism from the start. They funded and co-operated in putting the Nazi's into power. Therefore, Capitalists are responsible for the WWII.
Works both ways.
I heard of DHMO in grade school (4th grade, I think) in the 60s. This displays how bad the education system is going. After living in the UK, Canada, and USA, I have seen how bad all these school systems are. I know a woman in England that thought treacle was mined.
The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know.[Harry Truman]
Heh, heh, Incorrect information--Informative! Correct information--Informative! I'd love to cash in on some of that.
Anyway, for all of you who roll your eyes at the ignorance of many around you who believe this kind of thing, you should prescribe snopes.com to them. It should become a household name for them. Maybe put a Post-it note on their monitor to remind them of it.
There is something to be aware of about that site, though. If you haven't really searched around there, go to the section called "Lost Legends". There are very interesting items there, such as that Mr. Ed was really played by a zebra, Kentucky Fried Chicken actually changed its name because of legal pressure from the state of Kentucky for using their name, and a few others. Those are fakes, and each of them has a link at the end for "more information about this page". They then let you know that "The Repository of Lost Legends (TROLL)" is their place to blow off a little non-factual steam and illustrate the point of never blindly trusting ANY source to be completely authoritative by itself.
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
If I remember my chemistry correctly, dihydrogen monoxide is incorrect because the molecule splits into H+ and OH- ions. It should be hydrogen hydroxide. I made the same mistake in chemistry class in 1964.
Good pick-up! This was also once claimed to be a Kurt Vonnegut speech.
I mean, what are the odds?
"The bigger the lie, the more they believe." - Det. Bunk
You're not wrong. California has the biggest idiots, the greatest geniuses, the worst criminals and the most visionary entrepeneurs. What they share is a willingness to try new things nobody has done before, and as a result most new trends in the world, good and bad, originate here.
The earthquakes help a lot. They seem very scary but are really a very small danger. So they keep out the irrationally cautious and cowardy, leaving an unusually bold and daring population.
Remind me never to live there.
I don't mean this in a bad way, but it's mutual. Stay away. We don't need your kind, and you wouldn't like it here.
I bet you the average patent claim or property deed would bamboozle many of the smart-asses in this thread. English, the richest language in the world, has a half-dozen ways of saying anything by reverting to a jargon dialect. A college educated person may need to know the multi-syllable French words plus a fair amount of Latin and Greek. An urban hipster may need to know a fair amount of Spanish. They used to say that if you can explain it to your spouse or children in plain English (heavy on the small syllale Germanic words) hen you may not really understand it yourself.
As distinct from the Religious Right, The Christian Fundamentalist and their ilk?
Help fight continental drift.
You put a little water into H2SO4
Then you hold your ears because it gives a mighty roar.
You put a little water into H2SO4
then it blows you out the door...
what kind of idiots work for this city's government everyone knows what Dihydrogen Monoxide is its um water 2HO H2O wow
All of these names are incorrect by chemical standards.
Alcohols and ethers are organic molecules by definition. If you take a look at that link you will notice that the formula for an alcohol is generally R-OH and an ether is R-O-R'. The "R" in those formulas stands for at least one carbon atom, and possibly an entire structure of carbon chains and branches. Since HOH doesn't have any carbon atoms it is almost definitely excluded from being called an alcohol or an ether.
Hydroxic acid is sort of a misnomer. While H2O would be considered an acid according to the Lewis definition and the Bronsted-Lowry definition of an acid, it is not considered an acid by the Arrhenius definition of an acid. So it all depends on how you look at it. One major thing that holds chemists back from calling water an acid is that generally something is considered to be an acid if it is in an aqueous solution. For water that's a bit of a circular definition and so it's not really used.
Sapere aude!
nhtsa's done experiments on the effects of pot on various skills such as passing ability. they got the subjects high & asked them to pass the car in front.
trouble was, the subs were quite content just to follow the car;-) so driving while stoned might be the solution to aggressive driving;-)
I like when people get caught in starting their mouth before putting the brain into gear.
This qualifies for a Darwin Award (actually what they call an honorable mentioning)
For those who [still] don't know what a Darwin Award is: It is an award given to people who have contributed to the human race by removing themselves from the gene-pool.
Ha! I remember back in 6th grade sending around a petition to ban the same thing... got more than a couple of hundred signatures. That was when I decided most people who sign petitions don't really know what they're signing for.
And in related news, the city of Aliso Viejo, CA has decided to legislate a simpler value of pi = 3.15, which is much more accurate than the value of 3 preferred by the Alabama legislature. They based this decision on the well-documented scientific research of Dr Richard Kimber.
Paul Gillingwater
MBA, CISSP, CISM
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
There actually is such a thing as latex paint thinner. It is a mixture of water & an emulsifier of the same sort used in the latex paint. It looks like milk (which is itself an emulsion). Supposed to work better than plain water.
What a junky mess.
Gullibility is a national epidemic, not just restricted to politicians or 5th graders.
When "The Man Show" was first starting out, the guys put up a booth and were trying to get women to sign a petition to help stop women's suffrage.
They got quite a few naive women of all ages stopping by and even telling them how great it was that they were doing such a wonderful thing.
Chances are our gullibility epidemic has something to do with the fact that teachers are paid like indentured servants in this country.
After long sessions of dealing with infected MS machines, I can tell you truthfully that they do cause extreme illness with symptoms including:
a) Increased heartrate, anger
b) Sweaty palms
c) Migraines
d) Vision impairment
Of course, other OS's aren't so great either... I've noticed a trend of body odour and poor social tendancies that seem to afflict Linux users, and the Mac users generally seem to suffer from some form of uncomfortable constipation issue.
Whoa, what school goes up to fiftyninth grade? High school lasts long enough already !!!
Oh wait, nevermind.
http://www.shortnews.com/shownews.cfm?id=37862
Were you making a legalization argument there?
Alcohol in moderation seems to cause no ill effects, and can even have some benefits... the same cannot be said for MDMA and the other scheduled amphetamine
I think if you want to smoke, drink to excess, shoot-up, whatever... you are pretty much free to do so... all the above are widely available (some with legal penalties, some not). What I also believe, however, is that in making that conscious, informed, adult decision to indulge in such behavior, you should then absorb the costs for your habit, including purchase, medical costs, or even eventual detox.
It's fine with me if you want to shoot up... you're only hurting yourself... but I think it is morally wrong to attempt to force an uninvolved party to pay the price for another's stupidity.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Portland (Oregon) banned foam cups, and any foam takeout containers, years ago. Not sure if it was on the advice of a 14 year old though.
the ms in msnbc stands for MicroSoft, so this is not at all surprising:-P
Actually, no. This is a naming convention used for molecular compounds. That is, the adding of the prefixes to convey atom count. Water is not an ionic compound. "Dihygrogen" does not imply that the two hydrogen atoms are connected, just like Carbon Dioxide, where the two oxygen atoms are not connected.
Also ionic compounds do not use such prefixes.
Calling atheism and agnosticism a religion is like calling bald a hair color.
I went to a Montessori school (in the UK) from age 3 to 7. Looking back I certainly credit it with a lot of my academic & professional success since then. When I have kids they will certainly get the same advantages.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
I think a few people misunderstood the joke.
Here's a hint, try a Google Search.
Get it now?
Fuck Beta. Fuck Dice
She's done so much to raise respect for paralegals. Damn.
Perhaps you've heard of it: a colorless, odorless liquid; a powerful coolant and solvent; an easily- synthesized compound which is used by industry, the military, commercial operations, and even private individuals.
Yes, we are talking about hydrogen hydroxide, also known as dihydrogen monoxide, and we are here to tell you that what you've heard about DHMO is probably not the whole truth. There are forces out there, such as the Coalition to Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide, who would seek to legislate its use and availability, placing heavy limitations on it-- and eventually, eradicating it entirely.
In the interest of fairness, we invite you to see their argument, and then we urge you to return here, to learn the truth. Their subversive agenda must not be allowed to prevail.
Hydrogen hydroxide is beneficial!
It has been shown that hydrogen hydroxide enhances the functionality, growth, and health of many forms of life-- including humans!-- and current research suggests that it has become an integral part of our planet's ecological balance. Hydrogen hydroxide is environmentally safe! Opponents of dihydrogen monoxide would have you believe that it is some kind of uber-toxin, that it wreaks caustic terror on anything it touches. This couldn't be farther from the truth; when handled properly, it enhances nature rather than destroys it, and even a worst-case scenario DHMO accident would be a trifle for the natural cycles of our world to handle. Hydrogen hydroxide is benign! The Coalition and others have popularized the label "dihydrogen monoxide" over the more chemically-accurate "hydrogen hydroxide" because they know how loaded the former name is. "Monoxide" has become synonymous with pollution, toxic gases, industrial waste-- and while hydrogen hydroxide is sometimes a factor in these problems facing our world today, it is rarely the dangerous element. Hydrogen hydroxide occurs in nature! To hear its naysayers' descriptions, one would think hydrogen hydroxide was solely the product of industrial technology; that it came from years of research in clandestine labs. This is not the case! Hydrogen hydroxide has been a part of nature longer than we have; what gives us the right to eliminate it? We need hydrogen hydroxide! Don't let an uneducated and terror-stricken mob of fanatics railroad you into giving up your right to choose!Support the use and distribution of hydrogen hydroxide in your neighborhood, city, state, and country!
Calling atheism and agnosticism a religion is like calling bald a hair color.
If your read the actual ordinance, it is aimed at keeping the polystyrene out of the landfills and the "chemical" issue is just an add-on to the justification. That is a laudable goal. Too bad they overplayed their hand with the H20 issue.
but exactly where did I reference the Hopkins study? That one reportedly dealt with a putative parkinsons/MDMA link. No matter, there's plenty of research for you to peruse on MDMA, much of which deals with the Neuropharmacology of the drug. The Hopkins study is hardly representative of the entire body of literature on the subject.
As a heads up, Prozac use often tags people with seratonin imbalances. Seratonin is in the MDMA equation and intensifies positive and negative effects of the drug on these people
Excuse me... what? I'm not even sure what you're trying to say here... In the animal studies currently available, Prozac has not been shown to intensify the effects of MDMA... in fact, the opposite is true. The mechanism has even been elucidated. Prozac can reportedly intensify some neurotransmitter effects of other amphetamines, but I've never seen research to suggest that effect exists with ecstasy.
Lastly, ecstacy tablets bought on the street are almost never ever pure and are often cut with speed,cocaine,heroin,DXM (this causes major overheating),drano or other nasties which are responsible for ER visits, imho.
Street drugs are often misrepresented... a point I made in my initial post. Even so, it an incredible stretch to blame the deleterious effects of ecstasy on adulterants. The adulterants you mentioned are harmful, but that hardly evidence that ecstasy is harmless.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
I was quite alarmed by your trenchant essay regarding the insidious substance: dihydrogen monoxide. I asked my physician to perform testing to determine if I might be showing signs of exposure to this chemical. Indeed, the results indicated high concentrations in nearly every cell of my body! I am attempting to reduce the concentration of this pollutant in my system via vigorous consumption of its natural nemesis, anhydrous ethanol. I fully expect this therapy to alleviate my concerns.
Not so...it..splatters a lot of birds
VERY VERY few birds run into windmills. no more or less than any other man made object. This is bunk.
Myth: Wind farms pose a serious threat to birds.
Fact: Any tall structure presents a risk to birds, but the threat from wind turbines is not only very small, it is also one of the most intensively studied of all risks to birds. To put this risk into perspective, US bird experts Curry and Kerlinger have estimated that 100 million bird deaths a year can be attributed to domestic cats, compared to an estimated 5 to 10 thousand killed by turbines - meaning cats' risk to birds is at least 10,000 times greater than that posed by wind turbines in the US. The Exxon Valdez oil spill alone is estimated to have killed up to 500,000 birds. New research at operational Australian wind farms indicates that risk to birds may be even less than first expected, and well below the predicted levels from models that were run as part of the approvals process. The research found not a single mortality for rare or significant bird species
From here
Hydronium hydroxide (like ammonium hydroxide)
Ammonium hydroxide is NH4OH.
It's not so much that "hydronium hydroxide" is "like ammonium hydroxide," as the two don't really have that much in common other than their anion.
Water does autoionize into the hydronium ion and the hydroxide ion, however, both at a concentration of about 1.0 x 10^-7 M.
that a post about a knee-jerk reaction by someone who hadn't checked the facts is replied to with mostly knee-jerk reactions. A paralegal did some poor research, and what might have been a bad bill got put on the agenda. The bill "would have banned the use of foam containers at city-sponsored events"--it would not have banned water.
Here is an excerpt from the MSDS (material data safety sheet) for water:
Primary Route of Exposure
Eye X Skin X Inhalation X Ingestion
Effects of Overexposure
Acute:
Inhalation: Vapors or mist, in excess of permissible concentrations, or in unusually high concentrations generated from spraying, heating the material or as from exposure in poorly ventilated areas or confined spaces, may cause irritation of the nose and throat, headache, nausea, and drowsiness.
Skin: May cause irritation with discomfort, and seen as local redness and possible swelling.
Prolonged contact may cause more severe irritation and discomfort.
Other than the potential skin irritation effects noted above, acute (short term) adverse effects
are not expected from brief skin contact; see other effects, below, and Section 11 for
Eyes: May cause irritation, experienced as discomfort or pain, and seen as excess redness and
swelling of the eye, and possible injury to the cornea.
Ingestion: If more than several mouthfuls are swallowed, abdominal discomfort, nausea, and diarrhea may occur. Aspiration may occur during swallowing or vomiting resulting in lung damage.
May cause irritation with discomfort, and seen as local redness and possible swelling.
Scary!
(see http://www.msdsonline.com)
It is.
I think your looking way into it. As if your trying to be offended by this article. It's merely stating a simple fact that a Californian city almost banned foam cups from being misinformed. How many times have you heard some one say, "It's a law in that ." But, then you go and look it up and it's completey wrong... It's the same deal here. If you're an environmentalist, then good for you. Your post is attacking non-environmentalists (and big business at that). I could get very offended at your post (claiming such that it's just flamebait crap, but I don't). Just accept that people think different than you.
Now, I'm all for environmentalism as long as it doesn't interfere with my everyday life in too far an extreme. If there is an environmentalist trying to get something passed to better the environment, then he needs to make sure that he has each and every last detail, down the the dotted 'i's and crossed 't's. Trying to get something like that passed without doing any kind of research of your own is just neglegence at its finest (or poorest?).
Are you telling me that you don't see the connection between government and laughing at people? - Interviewer
When you are ignorant in humanity subjects, you are at least a dork, but when you are ignorant in science, you are cool. How many times do we see that a kid gets teased for scientifically oriented and gets called names like nerds or geeks (yeah, I know, it is sorta a badge of honor here at /., but at schools, being a social outcast can be painful to some kids)? The funny thing is, without geeks and nerds there won't be any major innovation that raise the standard of living of others. Even the cool things (cell phones, iPods) are the result of geek achievements.
It is time for societies to acknowledge that science and humanities are two sides of the same coins. Ignorance in both are not cool. Is it any wonder that high tech is catching more rapidly outside the US? In places in Asia, being brainy is prestigious.
One more similar hilarious joke site:
Creationist Science Fair
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
> besides eveyone knowns the air sucks thanks to NY
...except people who actually know anything about meteorology. Prevailing winds in the area go from west to east, so the air over NJ would have to suck very, very hard to reverse that. Actually, New Yorkers could complain that NJ is fouling up their air instead.
No, the air quality in New Jersey sucks entirely due to New Jersey (except the southern part, which gets Philadelphia's grime, but who cares if a bunch of Pineys get soot-blackened anyway? 8)).
Virg
Several years back, and just for grins, I got my AP Chemistry class to do some "research" on students by posting signs by the water fountains that said "Danger! These fountains contain dihydrogen monoxide." The signs also outlined some of the dangers of dhmo. Then, we sat back at a distance and recorded reactions by various students.
The best line: "They can't make me drink this stuff! I'm telling my mom!"
Human being (n.): A genetically human, genetically distinct, functioning organism.
Toothpicks: Harmless tools useful in maintaining dental hygiene, or HORRIBLE, DEADLY WEAPONS!?
In the US, toothpicks outnumber people by a factor of more than 20 to 1.
88% of innocent children in the US have "easy access" to toothpicks.
Only 2% of these children have been taught how to use a toothpick.
Toothpicks are a direct blood relative of Sporks. Sporks are the tool of Satan.
According to the RKMPC, the AVMR of a toothpick is 926.1 -- the exact same AVMR of a canister full of deadly cyanide gas. Coincidence? Some large government agency thinks not!
No one has ever died because they DIDN'T have a toothpick.
~E2
qntm.org
> With a small amount of research I'm sure you can pull up stupid laws and occurences for just about every state in the union.
You dont even need to do the research: http://www.dumblaws.com has it all!
cd pub; more beer
Congratulations.
hehe..
ok, lets try this again. you take an oxygen tank, just some goold old 2O2, you open that sumabich up and stike a match, some flint, whatever, you touch a 9volt to some steal wool, you put it close to that escaping gas, the little fire starts. next, you remove this match, spark, or whatever. Does the fire go out? Come on, dont do a 'thought experiment', go try it.
I've done it. Really, actually done it. Held a match in a set of tongs, opened the tank valve, put the match in. The match popped like a firecracker. Guess what? There was no fire after that. The pure oxygen stream doesn't burn like a gas burner. It doesn't burn at all. Sorry, but you lose. Stuff burns faster in pure oxygen, but if there's nothing to burn, there's no fire in the oxygen flow.
Maybe you should consider actually doing what you propose that others do, since if you did more than the "thought experiment" yourself you'd have known this.
To test this yourself, get an oxyacetylene torch. Open the fuel and oxygen valves, and spark it, and you get a flame on the tip. Now, turn off the fuel feed, but not the oxygen. What happens? I did this one in real life, too, and the flame vanished. You could put your hand in the oxygen flow, and it was cool. Again, you lose.
Bye, now. See you when you get a clue.
Virg
I've been to Aliso Viejo before. It's got the worst cell reception of any place I've ever been in my life. And not just with one carrier, with ALL carriers. Why? Because these same genius' decided that cell phone towers destroy property value so getting one approved requires a congressional oversite commitee.
Also realize that the "town" just incorporated little less then 2 years ago. So these guys are fairly new at the game.
Personally I think the nastiest of all is molten ice! Don't want to fall into a vat of that stuff...
Celebrate the finer things in life
God damn H2O,
I used to pull this stuff on kids when I was in middle school, got them scrared when the chemistry teacher agreed with ervything I said
The computer industry is just one example of the industrial use of styrofoam. I can assert with confidence that there are many others. So there is an absolute shitload of it. But why use styrofoam when properly made cardboard spacers can do the job? Well obviously the foam is cheaper.
So if you really dislike styrofoam that much (and I can understand how, the environmential impact of that crap is not pleasant to think about) you best do some lobbying and hope that Bush doesn't get reelected(assuming you live in the U.S.). I can also assert with confidence that if he is, he will do exactly dick with the issue. The precident shows industry (for the most part) will not increase overhead for the sake of the environment without some sort of push, so without legislation you're cause is screwed. Based on Bush's current environmential record, I would be concentrate on his changing of emission standards, gutting the enforcement budget of the EPA, and tendency to help set up strip mining/oil drilling contracts in national parks before I started sweating the foam.
Ignorance kills, complacency kills, hatred kills, but usually not the ones guilty of them.
What is the Montessori Method.
The main premises of Montessori education are:
* Children are to be respected as different from adults and as individuals who differ from each other.
* The child possesses an unusual sensitivity and intellectual ability to absorb and learn from his environment that are unlike those of the adult both in quality and capacity.
* The most important years of a child's growth are the first six years of life when unconscious learning is gradually brought to the conscious level.
wow, that ridiculous tuition seems reasonable now. because what value you can you put on your conscious intelligence. or alternatively, what amount would you pay to prevent your kid from being stupid?
Cocaine doesn't block dopamine receptors. It blocks dopamine reuptake, increasing the amount of dopamine in the synapses. And just because the kidneys and livers have no receptors doesn't mean it will damage them. Just because the brain does have receptors doesn't mean it won't damage them.
Ignorance kills, complacency kills, hatred kills, but usually not the ones guilty of them.
Oxygen (generated from simple plants or algae) is responsible for the single greatest extinction event known.
Apparently 95% of life on earth during the early period of plants was wiped out. They were mostly anerobic bacteria.
In fact oxygen is pretty nasty in aerobic organisms too, especially in the form of superoxides.
It is the opposite... Trust me on this one.
Histologically, there is little doubt that MDMA can be harmful to serotonergic neurons, and that Prozac can block the neurotoxic effects of ecstasy, even when given hours afterward (this is in animal studies... it's still ethically frowned upon to carve up live human brains). The reports about prozac blocking ecstasy's clinical effects are all over the neutral--->negative spectrum.
There is one study from 1993 where the researcher studied/asked eight ecstasy users their subjective opinions of E on prozac... they felt there was no difference. However, the sample size was small, and there is substantial anecdotal evidence from other users that Prozac substantially inhibits the "roll" from ecstasy.
What is totally lacking, however, is any evidence that prozac increases ecstasy's subjective or histological effects.
And there is NO substantial proof the harm to the neurons is permanent.
I guess it depends on your definition of "substantial." There's certainly a growing body of evidence regarding MDMA... almost none of it good.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
I personally agree with the smoking ban as well.. even though I'm an ex-smoker.
:)
You say that like it's a surprise, and I guess to many people it is. However, the most vocal and outspoken anti-smoking crowd is generally - you guessed it - ex-smokers. Non-smokers don't like the effects of smoking. EX-smokers don't like the effects, and also resent that others are still partaking in something they can no longer do. They have even more reason to be against other people enjoying it.
I'm not implying that this is the case for you, but it's something I've noticed becoming more prevalent over the years, as more and more people kick the old death sticks.
Personally, as an ex-smoker, I couldn't care less if other people want to kill themselves (like I almost did). But I do find it funny that people will go to a place where concentrated poison is served, music is blasted so loud that frequent patrons develop hearing problems after too long, fights between complete strangers often end up with someone in the hospital... and the big problem with these establishments is that "my clothes smell when I leave".
I dunno, I guess the concept of opening a non-smoking bar never occured to the 75% of the population that doesn't smoke.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
He said, "This is simply an indication that 95% of the population is scientifically illiterate." instead of 'are'!
And he is correct. Percent can take a singular or plural verb. Population is singular, so 95% of the population is a singular subject. Note that he also writes, "1% of congress men ever elected have any scientific background," because congressmen is plural.
Like as in the naming convention, not chemically. The naming rules say you name the cation with a -nium suffix followed by the anion ending in -ide. ammo-nium hydrox-ide same rule generates hydro-nium hydrox-ide
Get it?
Organicsculpture.com
For example, some pot will speed you up right off the bat, then drop you off and make you want to pass out once you've passed peak. Others will speed you up and then you'll just slow back down to normal. Some will just knock you out, and some will make you just feel like crap. There's been an abhorently small amount of scientific work done on Cannabis, considering it's the most complicated drug around. All of those effects have only been linked to THC. The other cannabinoids play very small roles.
The moral of the story is you have one substance with an huge range of effects. Why the hell hasn't it been studied more? I blame conservative Christians and the alcohol lobbists, but that's just me.
Ignorance kills, complacency kills, hatred kills, but usually not the ones guilty of them.
Without explaining what it stands for (i.e., DHMO = dihydrogen monoxide) an acronym can seem pretty sinister. And DHMO sounds a little like DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide), a carcinogenic agent...
...so if they were true to their cause, they'd be out there campaigning to ban windows.
:-)
birds killed annually, nationwide by:
window panes (98 million)
vehicles (60 million)
communication towers (4 million)
wind turbines (10,000 to 40,000)
household cat (unknown, probably > 40,000
Nope, it's a consequence. After all, the education system itself is one of those "products" designed for the lowest common denominator.
Hmm... the Wikipedia article on the Montissori method reads like a PR brochure. Which says nothing about the method itself, only that someone somewhere accepted it uncritically.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
oxygen at very high concentrations is actually toxic. :-)
the higher the atmospheric pressure, the more toxic it gets actually (IIRC). so the "move to a well ventilated area" part does make sense.
I've often thought that the most successful trolls are probably the ones who post a reasonable, though incorrect, argument in one account and then post through another account an equally reasonable correction to the post. That way the troll picks up karma twice.
There are a few such posts on Slashdot which make me think that there are trolls out there who use this method to inflate their karma. One wonders...
Sapere aude!
di-hydrogen-mono-(o)xide is two-hydrogen-one-oxygen in plain english! (Ok, so you also have to know that -oxide comes from oxygen, but that should be straightforward at least from chemistry classes).
But noooooo, Latin is toooo hard for young children today...
And I'm not buying that Latin is old, deprecated and unusable. It *is* in foundations of western civilisation!
-- Sig down
"Never underestimate the stupidity of the American people." --P.T. Barnum
My favorite line is the first: "95% of the population is scientifically illterate." That's almost as good as 42% of all statistics being made up on the spot.
That isn't to say that the public is a scientifically literate; but gauging the national rate of scientific literacy based on someone's ramblings is as wrong as, say, preparing to ban DHMO based on a slick website.
(I'm not trying to insult the poster, and I think Sagan's book is excellent. For another book that has some thoughts on gullibility, see Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynmann by Richard Feynman. My favorite section deals with Feynmann and his habit of unlocking safes.)
They are the ones who fell for this. They are the ones who voted for Arnold. They aren't too bright.
The scary thing about that site, is at first, and even 2nd glance, it is possible to think that the people writing it, actually believe what they are saying. The things are so crazy though, as to go beyond into satire.
eg: "2nd Place: "Women Were Designed For Homemaking"
Jonathan Goode (grade 7) applied findings from many fields of science to support his conclusion that God designed women for homemaking: physics shows that women have a lower center of gravity than men, making them more suited to carrying groceries and laundry baskets; biology shows that women were designed to carry un-born babies in their wombs and to feed born babies milk, making them the natural choice for child rearing; social sciences show that the wages for women workers are lower than for normal workers, meaning that they are unable to work as well and thus earn equal pay; and exegetics shows that God created Eve as a companion for Adam, not as a co-worker."
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Yeah, IAAC here too. I agree with you that you don't need the "mono" part, but there are a few cases where it is used, such as N2O. N2O is commonly known as nitrous oxide but the systematic name for it is dinitrogen monoxide. You can see a listing of the names of various nitrogen oxides here.
Pretty much it ends up boiling down to which usage was more popular. For most molecules the mono is dropped but there are a few molecules where it is kept. Another example is carbon monoxide. It could easily have been called carbon oxide but that form never really caught on.
Sapere aude!
It's just replaced with stupidity.
An H2O molecule exhibits a hydrogen bond (talking about intramolecular forces, not referring to an actual bond) due to the difference in electronegativity between the two. However, it is by all means covalent. I doubt any chemist would consider H2O ionic. It exhibits similar properties due to the difference in electronegativity, without a doubt. That's basically all your post says --Theres a difference in electronegativity-- In so many words. However, the bonding characteristics are much different. H2O exhibits sp3 hybridization, meaning the orbitals OVERLAP each other. The electron is not transferred from one molecule to another. THe orbitals merely overlap.
/. moderators. (Not critisizing, just observing).
No matter how big the difference in electronegativity is, a sigma bond is still covalent.
Good job getting your troll moderated up. Shows that not only is 95% of the total population scientifically illiterate, but so are 95% of the
the byproduct of years of oppression by the white man
Maybe they put something in your water... :).
Probably due to excessive levels of Dihydrogen Monoxide. That stuff's insideous.
For those of you who would like to see what the site looks like, here's a bunch of google caches.
I currently have no clever signature witicism to add here.
You have been trolled. You have lost. Have a nice day.
Did he have other areas of research? Such as how fucking stupid people at slashdot can be?
APPARANTLY NOT?
You fucking MORONS.
Warning... OFF-Topic content below: ok this reminds me of a high school english class that I had. I had this teacher, Mr. Tupper. I really liked to fuck with him. He was a good guy with a good sense of humor, so we were always joking around in class. One day we get our weekly vocab. assignment and gullable is one of the words. Monday night every week we were supposed to go home and write down dictionary definitions of all the words. (I know... stupid busy work). Then for the rest of the week we would use that page of definitions to help with other assignments. This was a 10th grade class btw. So I went home and did my homework but left the definition of gullable blank. Then the next day the teacher always looked at our homework to make sure we had it done (since we needed that page to do tuesdays work). I walked into class a couple minutes late (as usual). He took one look at my homework and asked why I didn't define gullable. I told him it was really strange. I checked in 4 different dictionaries... all the ones at my house, and it wasn't in any of them. I told him even though I kind of know what it means I couldn't think of a good wording for the definition. I said I would really appreciate it if he would check his dictionary for me before we started class, so that I would be able to keep up. He said OH sure... I can't imagine why that wouldn't be in there. Are you sure you were spelling it correctly? I said I was very careful and checked several times. Which dictionaries did you use? I looked at his bookshelf to see he had Webster's so I said Random house and one or two others. I said I thought maybe it was technically a slang word or something. So he walked to the bookshelf determined to prove me wrong. He flipped through it and said oh... well it is in this one. I said "REALLY?" wow... what does it say? "someone who is easily fooled...." at this point he gave me a dirty look and the class completely fell apart laughing. It took him several minutes to restore order in the classroom... and kids made fun of him for the rest of the year. sorry.. I just had to share this one.
Obama is a twitter sock puppet
I'm not an idiot, and I've never heard water called dhmo. There's nothing overt on the site that would reveal it as a joke. The whole thing is about as funny to me as if some nerd walked into a gym and the muscleheads had him doing an exercise wrong for their amusement.
Given that the joke was aimed at people who couldn't figure out what dhmo was in the first place, the correctness of the various possible forms of the name took a back seat to whatever sounded scary when it was written.
The naming rules say you name the cation with a -nium suffix
But you don't use a -nium suffix, you use the name of the cation as is, even if it doesn't end in -nium, e.g. ferric oxide, mercurous iodide. It's a coincidence that "ammonium" ends in -nium.
I would argue that the carbon atoms in simple alcohols don't actually do anything, except hold all the functional groups together. It's the backbone. In most reactions involving alcohols, all we see is bonding to the entire molecule, or at most one or more functional group substitutions. There are chain cracking reactions, of course, but in these cases we are not really looking at an "alcohol" reaction.
In that sense, water is definitely an alcohol, in that it reacts in the same way that (say) ethanol does. A similar but weaker argument could be made for ethers.
As for water being an acid, HOH most definitely "dissolves" in water, circular definitions aside. Liquid water is an equilibrium mixture of HOH, OH- and H3O+.
yo.
from the song Sunscreen (he propably stole it somewhere else)
Live in "New York City" once, but leave before it makes you hard.
Live in "Northern California" once, but leave before it makes you soft.
I also liked this part:
Accept certain inalienable truths:
Prices will rise.
Politicians will philander.
You, too, will get old.
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young,
prices were reasonable, politicians were noble,
and children respected their elders.
My other UID is 1337
... Why does Slashdot propagate this meme?
1. Because damn morons keep falling for this "meme".
2. Coddling idiots isn't as much fun.
3. Fuckwits like yourself who can't comprehend the funny side of this.
I mean seriously - this wasn't to discredit anyone. This is a general parody of knee-jerk reactionism (from left or right.) The fact that someone fell for it hook line and sinker makes it funny.
Your "example" shows how poorly you understand this. Noone in California tried to outlaw capitalists because they are trying to cause a new world war. Especially because some dimwitted paralegal swallowed a huge load of patent BS that most gradeschool kids understand. I mean, if this is such a great and widespread tactic of those out to discredit "environmentalists" or some such, you'd think they'd have caught on by now.
PS. Vote Green? I guess you're one of those idiots that fucked over Gore in 2000. Thanks for the Chimp, Nader!
I thought foam cups and packaging has been banned for a decade or more? I haven't seen fast food packaging or coffee cups or anything made of foam since about 1990...
Apparently, Penn and Teller consist a national security risk. When I try to view http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/home.do I get:
:-)
Sorry,
We at Showtime Online express our apologies; however, these pages are intended for access only from within the United States.
What's next? Should I give them an SSN to view this web page? If so, whose SSN? A hair sample? Should I start shopping RoadRunner for an Open Proxy? I only have to look at the Received lines of the Herbal Viagra offerings in my Inbox for the shopping list
Bert Driehuis -- All I asked was a friggin' rotatin' chair. Throw me a bone here, people.
I thought they were made of something else... Though I suppose they could very easily contain water. Interesting
I don't have time to comment my code, the program is late already.
There is NO scientific evidence that MDMA causes any sort of long term damage to humans. Thousands of studies have been run and nothing conclusive has ever been produced. Although there may still be risks to consider, MDMA is approximately as risky as your average prescription medication. It's certainly far safer than the common recreational drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.
If you are interested in the science of MDMA research, I highly recommend MAPS, especially
this.
For lighter reading with see MDMA.nu.
You are thinking of the naming of metal cations, these are nonmetal cations. hence hydronium, ammonium, sulfonium, oxonium, carbonium, etc...
In metal cations the suffix indicates oxidation state, ferric is Fe(II) ferrous is Fe(III) and so on, there is no good general rule, just generalites.
Organicsculpture.com
It took a moment to believe it wasn't a hoax played off a hoax. :-)
Also MS's website seems to have some sort of overload codeing that plays weird with my browser.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
... from www.kleinbottle.com
...Mono -- D'oh!
Some say the end is near. Some say we'll see armageddon soon. I certainly hope we will. I sure could use a vacation from this bullshit three ring circus sideshow of Freaks here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA The only way to fix it is to flush it all away. Any fucking time. Any fucking day. Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona bay.
I can do 5-7 miles on a good day; it will be a while before I hit marathon levels.
I like Gatorade precisely *because* it tastes like sweat. If I'm not exercising, I'm not at all tempted to drink up my stock!
"don't vote for my competitors, they fell for the H20 prank!" and for those of you who say "it's the dumb paralegal's fault" remember someone had to approve the study to schedule it for a vote.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
This guy is so trolling.
No. If I recall correctly, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
You're right, of course, but also missing the point.
The purpose of a 'Flammable' warning label is not to make a statement about chemical science, but to warn people that the content can be dangerous around fires.
And that's an entirely real danger with oxygen canisters.
If it shouldn't have a 'Flammable' label, what's the alternative? No warning at all? A minor chemical textbook printed on the canister?
Those also are the symptoms for excessive autoerotic stimulation.
I might recommend, first and foremost, a more relaxed grip. Followed by a scaling back of such activity.
Perhaps (s)he should dilute it with a little caffeine?
;-)
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
I do try to be worth reading, and I appreciate your comments.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
The correct version (or at least the version I heard, but it flows better and makes more sense, so I'm willing to call it more correct)
Little Lucy in the lab
Lying on the Floor
For what she thought was H2O
Was H2SO4
Success doesn't equal integrity. Cheaters like the idiots at Fox News and the right wing zealots in Orange County make more money precisely because they're liars and parasites.
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
But then I realised that "nearly" means "didn't", so there's no story.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
> THERE WAS A STUDY ABOUT THIS # YEARS AGO THAT PROVED IT WAS ALL NY..... OFf shore winds push it INTO NJ... you seem to forget the areas that smell are costal cities on the hudson and kill van kull.
Feel free at any time to cite the study you refer to, because I'd be interested to read it. Offshore winds in NYC come from the south, and the only coastal city on the Hudson River is NYC. Therefore it'd seem that Connecticut or lower-upstate New York would be doing the complaining. I understand that areas like Carteret have complained about pollution from Staten Island, but for the most part it's NYC and its environs (and even some Long Island communitites, which is inexplicable to me) that complain about Newark and Jersey City.
Virg
> Very small stream of O2, lit it on fire, it burned.
No, it didn't. Unless you'd care to explain what chemical reaction, exactly, is taking place when oxygen burns? Mix O2 with...what? More O2? Oxygen doesn't burn, because burning is the mixing of some fuel with oxygen, and oxygen doesn't mix with itself.
Give it another try.
Virg
nah, I'd rather have C8N4O2H10
If you lit a fine stream, and it maintained a visible flame, then there are a few things I can guess at, although I can't say for sure if any are correct.
1.) The O2 was mislabeled.
2.) The O2 was not pure. In the presence of pure oxygen, even miniscule amounts of impurity can cause visible burning, so it wouldn't take much.
3.) The valve itself was producing plasma on the edge of the flow. Did the tank have a metal valve and spout? If so, try it with a ceramic spout, since if you light a flame near the lip of a metal spout, a pure oxygen flow can actually cause the top of the valve to "burn" (usually it'll just glow, but perhaps it could produce visible flame).
I'd have to stretch to come up with others, so I'll stick by these for now. As I said, oxygen all by itself doesn't burn in the absence of other fuels, although it can cause runaway burning in stuff that doesn't normally burn in atmosphere (in pure oxygen, you can light a steel wool pad on fire, where it won't hold a flame in regular air). The reason it's considered so dangerous around flame is the runaway oxidizing properties, such that smoking a cigarette in a hospital near an oxygen supply can cause the cigarette to flare up or even pop. But without fuel, oxygen isn't flammable, it's merely an oxidizer. Take note that other chemicals like gaseous chlorine can do this too, so sometimes you'll see chlorine marked "oxidizer" in bottles, even though there's no oxygen involved. Again, not flammable by itself, but it accelerates burning fast.
Virg
Guilt by association.
Not so, as it was a Sierra employee. They can regret an employee's actions, but they are responsible for them, as they themselves admit. For what it's worth, I admitted they regretted the quote, and never implied it was a corporate position.
"Also, I'm generally skeptical of anyone who makes up names for groups of people like "Environmental-Deniers." You seem to suffer from delusion."
Ad Hominem.
That's true. But ironically, yours was too, by stating that anyone who attributes "bird killer" quotes is an "Environmental-Denier." And I still think that's a bit paranoid. In any case, there was no refutable statement made (I can't literally prove such a conspiracy doesn't exist - similar to "white crow").
"Because 1) many people, well-informed or not, do believe it, even if they're not spokespeople for major organizations."
Straw Man.
Not true. I contended that self-labelled environmentalists believe that wind power kills birds. My analysis above supports that theory. You countered by saying that intelligent people don't believe "birdkiller" theories - which is a borderline strawman itself. Address the question - do any people believe wind power kills birds? If so, it refutes your ad hominem/conspiracy theory. A straw man would be my refuting something you didn't say, but which is easier to refute. I'm not - you claimed that all instances of claimed "birdkiller" beliefs are fraudulent, and I refute that.
"2) The Sierra club put its foot in its mouth with that "Cuisinart" quote. It was catchy, and it caught on."
Begging the Question
Not even close - you'd only be correct if a representative of Sierra didn't say that. One did. And the Sierra club admits it, as was in the link I posted.
I think you just evidinced a new class of meta-logical-fallacy - using a random and misattributed string of logical-fallacy terms in a misguided attempt to refute an argument, without using any actual analysis.
wow- I just checked my e-mail, and was told to go check slashdot. Wow- just wanted to say hi, its awesome to be mentioned on /.! (and by the way, I use redhat9 and check my knewsticker every day (kinda bummed I missed that one)
-nathan