Things You Always Wanted to Ask

[Tiger]

Okay, this isn't a game or anything, hence the Q & A forum. Basically this is a thread where you can ask questions that have more concrete answers. The first question is one I have an idea about, but I still want to know a lot more.

 

Why are Arabs and people from certain parts of southern Asia and Northern Africa considered Caucasian?

 

Obviously I do not know the full answer. I have read somewhere that it has something to do with bone structure. However, I suspect that there is more to it than that. Can someone provide a more in depth explanation and perhaps some good research sources on the subject?

[shadowgod]

I don't know Tim, but here is a semi-related question. Why do we still refer to something as inane as race? After all there is more of a genetic difference amongst members of the same race than there is amongst members of opposite races.

[Skyline]

I don't know Tim, but here is a semi-related question. Why do we still refer to something as inane as race? After all there is more of a genetic difference amongst members of the same race than there is amongst members of opposite races.

 

I think to answer that question requires us to delve into much more complicated questions like, Why do people still fight and kill each other, why is there any kind of conflict at all? Why do people horde resources from each other, when if divided properly, there would be more than enough for everyone? Why do we still use social institutions and structures developed hundreds of years ago? Why do we even still follow a social hierarchy? Etc. Etc.

 

In short I dont feel there is any simple answer. You'd think that a species as advanced as our own, would have moved on to a system of living more appropriate than, "I'm more powerful than you, do what I say or else."

 

For the interest of keeping this topic going, I often find myself wondering about quantum mechanics. I've read a few articles here and there, but for the most part it just goes over my head. Entanglement and quantum computing are of particular interest to me I'd say. Anyone care to shed some light on this topic?

[Arpeggio]

In quantum mechanics, I don't remember much, except that my teacher told me that it breaks special relativity and is a theory that contradicts a bunch of OTHER theories, but I'm not too sure it does and is.... I'd like to know more about that if it does or not. XD

 

-brain dead-

Edited March 2, 2010 by Arpeggio

[Nephylim]

Being essentially a magical creature I am fascinated with the idea of conservation of mass which has been discussed in many stories about magic. Eseentially it has been used to explain why it is impossible to change a man into a frog.

 

Essentially conservation of mass means that if you change one thing into another thing it has to have the same essential mass as the first thing.

 

HOWEVER there is a 'but' the theory of conservation of mass only applies to 'closed systems' ie where there is nowhere else for the spare molecules to go. It does not apply to 'open systems' so... does that mean that you can change a man into a frog because to me the human body is an open system because we are losing molecules to our surroundings all the time and constantly renewing ourselves.

 

 

 

ALSO

 

We get old because we renew ourselves constantly and every time a cell renews it changes a little for the worse. Does that mean that if we stop renewing ourselves we would wear out sooner or later (assuming we don't just gradually fly apart which in actual fact we probably would

 

Yeah... I know.. but is there anyone out there who doesn't know I'm weird.

[Cia]

Why do we even still follow a social hierarchy? Etc. Etc.

 

In short I dont feel there is any simple answer. You'd think that a species as advanced as our own, would have moved on to a system of living more appropriate than, "I'm more powerful than you, do what I say or else."

 

 

Too true, you would like to think that people are more enlightened than that, but it's just not the way we are hardwired. There is a fascination in the human race that simply will feels the need to rank themselves, by physicality, brain power, money, influence...even children do it. Look at the way they pick each other for teams, it's a clear social ranking that begins from a young age.

 

And Nephy...we lubbs ya anyhow. The concept of a closed system seems quite impossible, not with the way all life is interconnected, even if you disregard the 'magical' bit.

 

 

Oh, and I think that honestly skin color to determine race is not entirely accurate. There are well proven anatomical differences in the way different 'races' have a different bone structure and even are prone to contract diseases differently and have them progress differently. Perhaps that is why people who are in a region of the world that in one way would not be considered 'caucasian' are classified that way.

[MikeL]

Why are Arabs and people from certain parts of southern Asia and Northern Africa considered Caucasian?

The term "Caucasian" seems to be defined in different ways in different places and, in all its definitions in total, includes a wide variety of races. In the US, "Caucasian" is synonymous with "white Americans" as the Census Bureau defines it.

 

Wikipedia.org has an interesting article on Caucasian race. I would urge you to read the entire article to get a feel for the complexity involved.

[Skyline]

Too true, you would like to think that people are more enlightened than that, but it's just not the way we are hardwired. There is a fascination in the human race that simply will feels the need to rank themselves, by physicality, brain power, money, influence...even children do it. Look at the way they pick each other for teams, it's a clear social ranking that begins from a young age.

 

I know I've been learning about all this in psych. I simply mentioned it in the interest of maintaining this topic haha.

[MalicSign]

In quantum mechanics, I don't remember much, except that my teacher told me that it breaks special relativity and is a theory that contradicts a bunch of OTHER theories, but I'm not too sure it does and is.... I'd like to know more about that if it does or not. XD

 

-brain dead-

 

 

 

Quantum Mechanics isn't a singular theory but an entire field of study in physics like classical mechanics, focused on atomic and subatomic systems. It does contradict much of prior physics, and thus forms a large rift in the scientific community. Honestly, it's all very complicated and I don't want to get into it now : P.

[NaperVic]

Okay, this isn't a game or anything, hence the Q & A forum. Basically this is a thread where you can ask questions that have more concrete answers. The first question is one I have an idea about, but I still want to know a lot more.

 

I'm curious Tim, isn't this the purpose of the Q&A Forum? Wouldn't it be better to just ask questions as individual threads? Having multiple questions and multiple answers in one big thread sounds difficult to read or to keep track of...

 

Just my thoughts .

[MalicSign]

Being essentially a magical creature I am fascinated with the idea of conservation of mass which has been discussed in many stories about magic. Eseentially it has been used to explain why it is impossible to change a man into a frog.

 

Essentially conservation of mass means that if you change one thing into another thing it has to have the same essential mass as the first thing.

 

HOWEVER there is a 'but' the theory of conservation of mass only applies to 'closed systems' ie where there is nowhere else for the spare molecules to go. It does not apply to 'open systems' so... does that mean that you can change a man into a frog because to me the human body is an open system because we are losing molecules to our surroundings all the time and constantly renewing ourselves.

 

 

 

ALSO

 

We get old because we renew ourselves constantly and every time a cell renews it changes a little for the worse. Does that mean that if we stop renewing ourselves we would wear out sooner or later (assuming we don't just gradually fly apart which in actual fact we probably would

 

Yeah... I know.. but is there anyone out there who doesn't know I'm weird.

 

 

 

Conservation of mass only works in a perfectly closed system, meaning absolutely no outside interference. This leaves only the universe as a whole or some theoretical perfect vacuum as possibilities. Conservation of mass and energy breaks down when studied anyway, they just use it as a baseline because it works outside of theoretical physics. For your purposes, however, I'd say that the conservation of mass is probably the least of the issues you face when turning a man into a frog, but I'll go along --> If you're to turn a man into a frog, you're right in that the whole of the person could not go into it, so the rest of him would have to do -something else-.

 

When we renew ourselves, the cells do not come back a little worse, the individual cells are the exact same. Your cells replace themselves by division, and can divide only a given number of times, after which they stop. New cells are constantly being made, while old cells are constantly being destroyed. As one gets older, however, the rate at which new cells are made decreases as more and more cells stop dividing. Thus, you have 'less' 'healthy cells;, as opposed to 'less healthy' 'cells'. : P

If we completely stopped renewing ourselves we would wear out extremely quickly. If you somehow managed to avoid any kind of injury, which would cause you to bleed out, or sickness, where you would run out of T cells faster than an aids victim, your skin wouldn't last very long and you'd die of chafing.

Edited March 3, 2010 by MalicSign

[Nephylim]

Conservation of mass only works in a perfectly closed system, meaning absolutely no outside interference. This leaves only the universe as a whole or some theoretical perfect vacuum as possibilities. Conservation of mass and energy breaks down when studied anyway, they just use it as a baseline because it works outside of theoretical physics. For your purposes, however, I'd say that the conservation of mass is probably the least of the issues you face when turning a man into a frog, but I'll go along --> If you're to turn a man into a frog, you're right in that the whole of the person could not go into it, so the rest of him would have to do -something else-.

 

When we renew ourselves, the cells do not come back a little worse, the individual cells are the exact same. Your cells replace themselves by division, and can divide only a given number of times, after which they stop. New cells are constantly being made, while old cells are constantly being destroyed. As one gets older, however, the rate at which new cells are made decreases as more and more cells stop dividing. Thus, you have 'less' 'healthy cells;, as opposed to 'less healthy' 'cells'. : P

If we completely stopped renewing ourselves we would wear out extremely quickly. If you somehow managed to avoid any kind of injury, which would cause you to bleed out, or sickness, where you would run out of T cells faster than an aids victim, your skin wouldn't last very long and you'd die of chafing.

 

 

Absolutely awesome. I never knew that. I mean I kind of knew about the conservation of mass thing and have ideas about the frog, involving vapour and alternate realities

 

But as far as the cells were concerned I had no idea and that was a totally awesome description. It's true you learn something new every day and this was mine for today

[Tiger]

I have yet another question.

 

Is there a website that allows you to get directions from US cities to cities in Mexico? Keep in mind that Mapquest does not do this and that Google Maps does not. Google maps can give you directions into Canada but not into Mexico.

[D_of_Hazzard]

Why do people go or stay in the chatroom only to go idle and be looking at another page the entire time?

[Tiger]

Why do people go or stay in the chatroom only to go idle and be looking at another page the entire time?

I cannot answer for others, but I can answer for myself. I sometimes am in chat, but I may be doing other things as well. I may be looking stuff up. I'm a real research whore. Also, I may be using Windows Live Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger at the same time. Also, if a new chapter to a story I like is out, I'm likely reading it. There's also a chance that I might be writing.

[writeincode]

When we renew ourselves, the cells do not come back a little worse, the individual cells are the exact same. Your cells replace themselves by division, and can divide only a given number of times, after which they stop. New cells are constantly being made, while old cells are constantly being destroyed. As one gets older, however, the rate at which new cells are made decreases as more and more cells stop dividing. Thus, you have 'less' 'healthy cells;, as opposed to 'less healthy' 'cells'. : P

If we completely stopped renewing ourselves we would wear out extremely quickly. If you somehow managed to avoid any kind of injury, which would cause you to bleed out, or sickness, where you would run out of T cells faster than an aids victim, your skin wouldn't last very long and you'd die of chafing.

Well explained

 

Just to add a little piece of interesting info to this and correct just a teensy bit; the reason why it is hypothesized that cells can only replicate a limited number of times is because every time a cell replicates the telomeres get shorter. Telomeres are the little bits of repetitive DNA at the end of chromosomes that 'protect' the useful DNA in between. Cells become both 'less' and 'less healthy' as a result. Dolly, the famous cloned sheep didn't live very long- possibly because the cells she was cloned from already had shortened telomeres.

 

My question: How do prions reproduce? Could never get my head around that one...[EDIT: Now understood]

Edited March 7, 2010 by writeincode

[rknapp]

I think to answer that question requires us to delve into much more complicated questions like, Why do people still fight and kill each other, why is there any kind of conflict at all? Why do people horde resources from each other, when if divided properly, there would be more than enough for everyone? Why do we still use social institutions and structures developed hundreds of years ago? Why do we even still follow a social hierarchy? Etc. Etc.

 

In short I dont feel there is any simple answer. You'd think that a species as advanced as our own, would have moved on to a system of living more appropriate than, "I'm more powerful than you, do what I say or else."

 

For the interest of keeping this topic going, I often find myself wondering about quantum mechanics. I've read a few articles here and there, but for the most part it just goes over my head. Entanglement and quantum computing are of particular interest to me I'd say. Anyone care to shed some light on this topic?

 

To answer those question, one need only look to Charles Darwin, and his theory of "Survival of the Fittest." This phenomenon has been progressing since the dawn of time. Who are we, as humans, to stop the natural order? Of course, the conservative base of the Republican party would totally disagree with you. [Austin Powers] Yay, capitalism![/Austin Powers]

 

In quantum mechanics, I don't remember much, except that my teacher told me that it breaks special relativity and is a theory that contradicts a bunch of OTHER theories, but I'm not too sure it does and is.... I'd like to know more about that if it does or not. XD

 

-brain dead-

 

I'd help, but my Modern Physics textbook is in storage, along with all my other Physics books.

 

Being essentially a magical creature I am fascinated with the idea of conservation of mass which has been discussed in many stories about magic. Eseentially it has been used to explain why it is impossible to change a man into a frog.

 

Essentially conservation of mass means that if you change one thing into another thing it has to have the same essential mass as the first thing.

 

HOWEVER there is a 'but' the theory of conservation of mass only applies to 'closed systems' ie where there is nowhere else for the spare molecules to go. It does not apply to 'open systems' so... does that mean that you can change a man into a frog because to me the human body is an open system because we are losing molecules to our surroundings all the time and constantly renewing ourselves.

 

 

 

ALSO

 

We get old because we renew ourselves constantly and every time a cell renews it changes a little for the worse. Does that mean that if we stop renewing ourselves we would wear out sooner or later (assuming we don't just gradually fly apart which in actual fact we probably would

 

Yeah... I know.. but is there anyone out there who doesn't know I'm weird.

 

Conservation of mass says that mass, or matter, can neither be created nor destroyed. If you were to transfigure a man into a frog, you would theoretically be left with a frog the size of a man.

 

Quantum Mechanics isn't a singular theory but an entire field of study in physics like classical mechanics, focused on atomic and subatomic systems. It does contradict much of prior physics, and thus forms a large rift in the scientific community. Honestly, it's all very complicated and I don't want to get into it now : P.

 

Indeed. When you enter Modern Physics (Physics III, including quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of relativity), the first thing you are told is to forget everything you learned in Classical Physics (I and II).

 

Conservation of mass only works in a perfectly closed system, meaning absolutely no outside interference. This leaves only the universe as a whole or some theoretical perfect vacuum as possibilities. Conservation of mass and energy breaks down when studied anyway, they just use it as a baseline because it works outside of theoretical physics. For your purposes, however, I'd say that the conservation of mass is probably the least of the issues you face when turning a man into a frog, but I'll go along --> If you're to turn a man into a frog, you're right in that the whole of the person could not go into it, so the rest of him would have to do -something else-.

 

Depends upon the manner in which the man is transfigured into the frog. If you want the resultant frog to be the size of an actual frog, then you would have to find something to do with the rest of the man that is not used. Alternatively, you could transfigure the man into a group of frogs of equal or varying frog-like sizes such that there is no mass left over, or transfigure him into one frog in the same space as that which the mass of the man originally occupied.

 

How do these conservation principles break down? Even at the atomic, or nuclear level, mass cannot be destroyed. Additionally, in studying power plants, HVAC systems, and automotive dynamics, I have found that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can be derived from materials, manipulated, converted from mechanical to electrical, dissipated as heat, but can never be created or destroyed.

[MikeL]

For your purposes, however, I'd say that the conservation of mass is probably the least of the issues you face when turning a man into a frog, but I'll go along --> If you're to turn a man into a frog, you're right in that the whole of the person could not go into it, so the rest of him would have to do -something else-.

 

 

Depends upon the manner in which the man is transfigured into the frog. If you want the resultant frog to be the size of an actual frog, then you would have to find something to do with the rest of the man that is not used. Alternatively, you could transfigure the man into a group of frogs of equal or varying frog-like sizes such that there is no mass left over, or transfigure him into one frog in the same space as that which the mass of the man originally occupied.

 

Hey, guys. Let's leave well enough alone. I'm impressed with your knowledge, but we amphibians were doing just fine before someone with a lot of time on his hands ever figured out quantum mechanics.

 

Peace.

[Aeroplane]

Well explained

 

Just to add a little piece of interesting info to this and correct just a teensy bit; the reason why it is hypothesized that cells can only replicate a limited number of times is because every time a cell replicates the telomeres get shorter. Telomeres are the little bits of repetitive DNA at the end of chromosomes that 'protect' the useful DNA in between. Cells become both 'less' and 'less healthy' as a result. Dolly, the famous cloned sheep didn't live very long- possibly because the cells she was cloned from already had shortened telomeres.

 

My question: How do prions reproduce? Could never get my head around that one...[EDIT: Now understood]

 

I was going to add this telomere information but saw you had already done it .

 

 

Prions, even though you now understand it I want to answer for anyone else who might want to know.

 

 

The answer is: we don't know for sure.

 

Prions are abnormally folded proteins. In order to function in their intended roles within the body, proteins have to be folded in a specific way, if they arent - prions - they operate incorrectly and do all sorts of weird stuff.

Theory is that prions dont reproduce, they catalyse the refolding or wrong folding of existing or new proteins into new prions.

[zland666]

I was going to add this telomere information but saw you had already done it .

 

 

Prions, even though you now understand it I want to answer for anyone else who might want to know.

 

 

The answer is: we don't know for sure.

 

Prions are abnormally folded proteins. In order to function in their intended roles within the body, proteins have to be folded in a specific way, if they arent - prions - they operate incorrectly and do all sorts of weird stuff.

Theory is that prions dont reproduce, they catalyse the refolding or wrong folding of existing or new proteins into new prions.

 

Why can't we just all love each other and get along?

[Arpeggio]

Why can't we just all love each other and get along?

 

Well we tried but the insane amount of love opens the lair to the evil Kodak picture, brain sucking, love grubber.

 

He'll tear you alive in what television says is a Kodak picture moment.

 

This is the love grub, please look with caution

 

 

 

[Nephylim]

Well we tried but the insane amount of love opens the lair to the evil Kodak picture, brain sucking, love grubber.

 

He'll tear you alive in what television says is a Kodak picture moment.

 

This is the love grub, please look with caution

 

 

 

 

That's it. I hate you all

[Tiger]

What direction do toilets flush on the equator?

 

I know they flow clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

[Camilo]

What direction do toilets flush on the equator?

 

I know they flow clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

 

 

It flushes down,

 

Hehe, it flushes in which ever way the water jets are directed. Toilets don't flush in different directions, the Coreolis effect doesn't affect the flush of toilets :gikkles:

[AverageCollegeGuy]

umm... hard question to ask but here goes: if i feel like i'm gay, is it unfair to my wife if i want to have a wife and kids? this has been a problem that i've toiled over this but i thought since there is this thread, and that i've come to somewhat trust you guys i thought why not ask it here and see what people think. the thing is that i've never been in a relationship with a guy, and when i think about having a relationship with a guy (usually a specific guy i like but pretty sure he's straight), i get that "feeling"; like that feeling that you could be seriously happy with this person, and i, i cant use the word never because i never really know, but i rarely feel this way towards another female. BUT, if i do feel this way towards a female and end up having a life together, i'm almost certain my sexually would flip off and i would turn straight; meaning that i would still be attracted to men, while married to my wife. my question is, is it fair to her?

 

If most of you guys are going to say i'm still young, and i cant disagree, but i dont think it's wrong of me to want to look ahead and have a plan or at least a good mind set of my future relationship wise.