Phi for All

FACT: Thomas Edison was so adamant that the US should use direct current, supplied by smaller generators rather than rival Westinghouse's alternating current, that he endorsed the use of the electric chair for executions in order to prove how lethal AC current was, even though he was not in favor of capital punishment. http://www.snopes.com/science/edison.asp

I used to sell a radiant barrier for home attic insulation, and it was nothing more than reflective foil sandwiching a mylar center (the plastic kept the two sheets of foil from touching and conducting heat). We were told that (back then) this was how spacesuits were designed (but with several more layers). I wonder how the results of the experiment would be if you simply wrapped a plastic bottle with aluminum foil (try not to wrinkle it too much), then did a layer of clear plastic wrap (Glad wrap), then another of tinfoil, more clear wrap and so on, until you have 7-10 layers? This would probably be the easiest and cheapest method if it worked well. You'd need to pay close attention to the mouth and lid, making sure they had just as much insulation.

You're welcome, rockhead. The real reason, of course, is that there haven't been enough pure geology threads started in the General Sciences forum to warrant splitting Geology off into it's own sub-forum. Perhaps you can start enough interesting Geology threads to correct that?

Because geologists write in goofy fonts and formats.

You replied to this thread so you did that well. It would be great if you would type whole words, since text speak is not the easiest for our global membership to read. Just pick a sub-forum for the topic you want to discuss and there is a New Thread button at the top left that will start... well, a New Thread. Tell us what your doubts are about, perhaps in a New Thread, and we'll address them there. Welcome and have a good time.

Winner, Best Introduction of the Month Award! Welcome, Olivia, and all you new folks. Thanks for using your brains.

jsaldea12 has continued to post the same pet theory after having it debunked, against the requests of Staff, and so has been permanently banned due to repeated inconsistencies with the purpose of this forum.

We've missed you, welcome back! There'll be no leaving for you THIS TIME, squealy meat-sack! If you don't have 1000 posts before the year is up, Earth will be destroyed! But hey, no pressure....

Unless you have a PayPal account, right? You should write a story about a starship captain who wants to become a patent attorney. Do you have a PayPal account? Oooh, she's way past the glazed look in her eyes. Call some of her GFs, arrange for them to go to a chick flick, and then log on and geek out, dude! You crazy. Most high school freshmen's main aspirations are bongs and senior cheerleader's tonsils. Everyone says that *before* we start pouring the water. Welcome to the forum, have fun, get dirty, make mistakes.

Peron has been auto-suspended for a combination of plagiarism and trolling infractions. Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedtsolkas has been suspended for 1 year for repeatedly posting extraordinary claims and then not responding when asked to back them up. This type of drive-by trolling is not conducive to healthy discussion, which is really what we're all about.

We should split this section into two parts. Section 1 is for Jokes, and Section 8 is for Not Funny, Not Even Unfunny

Making fun is kind of the point. Being funny is even better. Jokes, of course, are the crowning achievement of this "page", since it's not called The Official Jokes Section for nothing. I think I get it now, Norman Albers. It's a variation on Jon Stewart's joke about Bush getting re-elected, and at the inauguration Bush says, "I do solemnly swear..." and then so does 49% of the rest of the country. I didn't think the "sumbuck" part was racist or anything, I just didn't think it was a joke, but now I get it. It's back now. My bad. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ A young man is stumbling down a back road with a key in his hand. A cop sees him and pulls over. "Can I help you, fella?", asks the cop. "Yesssh, shombody stole my car!" the man replies. The cop asks, "Okay, where was your car the last time you saw it?". "It was at the end of this key", Edward replies. At this point the cop looks down to see that the guy's pants are open. The cop says, "Hey buddy, are you aware that you're exposing yourself?" The young man looks down and moans, "OHHH GOD...they got Julie too!!!"

PlayStationX has been permanently banned for persistent trolling and ignoring explanations while continually asking for them.

Welcome newcomers all! Ooooh! The big kind or the small kind? You know those big bubble bags they put like 3 or 4 in a box to pack it? I want a whole roll of those! Here, try this when your Christmas present runs out.

Oh, I get it! You + maths = NOT! Welcome.

I'd find it hard to sleep with one of those police things around my ankle. How do you manage?

Agreed. But I'm more concerned that someone we don't know very well might be getting the email addresses of our other members. Let's just discuss this idea here because hey, it's what we do.

Hi Greg, I merged your thread with out Introduce Yourself thread. Welcome and enjoy.

We prefer to discuss, actually. Unless you're connecting from a smart phone, "chat" in textspeak is too difficult to understand for our global membership. I hope you don't mind typing all the words to make yourself better understood. Welcome everyone, have fun and enjoy the forum.

Take some more math next year, you went over the 15-letter limit (which we somehow warned you about somewhere when you joined somewhat). You'll fit right in with yourdadonapogos and lolromeoandjuli. Welcome. Have fun posting and thanks for your participation. We appreciate that you could be about a trillion other places but you chose here. Thanks. Well well well, for a guy who knows the answer to everything, you put your fate in my hands pretty quickly. I don't usually touch someone's fate until the third or fourth post, so let's see what you got. Welcome to SFN.

New Science has been permanently banned, after repeated failed attempts to get him to answer questions regarding his Speculations. Attempts to explain where his information was in error were ignored. He proved to be inconsistent with our purposes and unwilling to adopt even the basic rigor science requires.

I read your excellent posts about TAM6 over at Skeptic Friends. It sounds like a fantastic venue for great minds. Welcome to this SFN, to Kil and the others who are joining. I plan on starting an account at Skeptic Friends in the very near future (but I'm a little skeptical....)

Welcome to all the new folks. It is extremely logical that you chose to become members and reflects very well on your intellects. Bienvenue! Please help me out with this thread in General Discussion about sarcasm in many languages. *You* can give us the Russian perspective.

Esta bueno. Bienvenidos!

We are extremely glad to have you all here. Welcome to the community. We hope you find everything you need, and might be able to help us find what we've been looking for. Browse at will, enjoy yourself and assume the position (mind open, but not so wide your brains fall out). Bathroom's down the hall, let's keep it civil, and you there, with the gum, I hope you brought enough for everyone.