Random Thoughts Part 5: Time to Split Again

[collinsmark]

If you were moved in time to the middle ages, would you know how to recreate current technology? I wouldn't. Theoretically I know how some things work more or less, but how on Earth do I build a transistor in the nano meter scale in the middle age?!

As a matter of fact: "How do I even build one now in this time in the nano meter scale?" Is the question.

Makes you think.

Maybe I'm weird, but I think about that stuff all the time.

I think I would be mostly lost. I would probably give up on the transistor because I would be lost on making the more simpler things first. (I have a slight bit of knowledge regarding transistor fabrication, but not nearly enough to recreate one in the back shed.)

I'd start with something a bit simpler like an electric generator. I could make one, maybe, if I had some appropriate wire laying around, but that's not going to happen in the middle ages. How do I make the wire? I would need to get some copper first and cold roll it into something very thin. (Maybe I could get a blacksmith to help me make the tools for that.) Then I would have to apply a thin coat of enamel insulation on it. Where in the world do I get enamel? How do I apply that to the wire ?! And what about magnets? The ones I could make would be crude and weak at best.

 

[zoobyshoe]

How do I make the wire?

Luckily for you, they knew how to make drawn wire in the middle ages:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire

Then I would have to apply a thin coat of enamel insulation on it. Where in the world do I get enamel? How do I apply that to the wire ?!

Maybe you aren't old enough to remember cloth insulated wire. My grandmother's house was wired with this. You also see it on very old appliances. You would need to find some very thin cloth and tediously wrap strips of it around the wire, perhaps with pine pitch to keep it in place.

And what about magnets? The ones I could make would be crude and weak at best.

Study up on the series-wound generator before you go back in time. All it needs is a small bit of residual magnetism to get started.

You would surely need a blacksmith's help to make your rotor and stator, but it would be an easy job for him.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Also, you couldn't make a transistor, but they had everything needed in the middle ages to make a vacuum tube. They just didn't know it. You would have to fashion a vacuum pump, but they had everything you'd need for that.

 

[Pepper Mint]

Thoughts and achievements by school kids these days really stimulate my mind on robotics. I'd like to make a drone controlled remotely via my home network that can fly around to take snapshots of my neighbor's house roofs. Darn it's so cool!
In my area there is also a business on robotic stuff by some Chinese American entrepreneurs I know of but they only hire newly graduated kids as it's easier to extract their brain juices with an extremely low payment.

 

[Psinter]

Absolutely not. I don't have the slightest idea how a telephone works, or worse a radio or a TV! How can a picture turn to digital info than travel by air or cable and than materialise again? That's a total mystery and I'm 100% convinced that it's magic.

Me neither. About radios I've got only the theory and superficial, not complete. About TVs I know only how Liquid Crystal Displays work, but not how to build one.

I'm doomed if I go to that era. At least I hope they have Shampoo and Soap because I'm a very clean person and would hate not being able to take a shower everyday.

Maybe I'm weird, but I think about that stuff all the time.

I think I would be mostly lost. I would probably give up on the transistor because I would be lost on making the more simpler things first. (I have a slight bit of knowledge regarding transistor fabrication, but not nearly enough to recreate one in the back shed.)

I'd start with something a bit simpler like an electric generator. I could make one, maybe, if I had some appropriate wire laying around, but that's not going to happen in the middle ages. How do I make the wire? I would need to get some copper first and cold roll it into something very thin. (Maybe I could get a blacksmith to help me make the tools for that.) Then I would have to apply a thin coat of enamel insulation on it. Where in the world do I get enamel? How do I apply that to the wire ?! And what about magnets? The ones I could make would be crude and weak at best.

You are not weird, I think about it too. There are many things I don't know and want to know.

 

[Sophia]

Me neither. About radios I've got only the theory and superficial, not complete. About TVs I know only how Liquid Crystal Displays work, but not how to build one.

I'm doomed if I go to that era. At least I hope they have Shampoo and Soap because I'm a very clean person and would hate not being able to take a shower everyday.

You are not weird, I think about it too. There are many things I don't know and want to know.

Maybe you could make washing liquid out of certain herbs that create mild foam and have disinfectant properties. Like the lavender, sage or calendula. I don't know the English name for the one that is foamy.
I don't know how much people washed in other parts of the world but in Europe conditions used to be terrible indeed. In some periods they bathed a couple times a year, in other periods once a week (whole family in one water!). In fact, my grandparents remember bathing only on Saturdays (30's-40's of the 20th century). And they worked hard every day without antiperspirant! I think they washed their faces and feet every day though.
I think that we would probably die of an infection or parasites because our immune system is so poor nowadays :-)
So we wouldn't have time to think of ingeneering

 

[JorisL]

I only shower at Easter and Christmas. Easter also means new boxers while I just turn them inside out around Christmas. :P

 

[Psinter]

Maybe you could make washing liquid out of certain herbs that create mild foam and have disinfectant properties. Like the lavender, sage or calendula. I don't know the English name for the one that is foamy.
I don't know how much people washed in other parts of the world but in Europe conditions used to be terrible indeed. In some periods they bathed a couple times a year, in other periods once a week (whole family in one water!). In fact, my grandparents remember bathing only on Saturdays (30's-40's of the 20th century). And they worked hard every day without antiperspirant! I think they washed their faces and feet every day though.
I think that we would probably die of an infection or parasites because our immune system is so poor nowadays :-)
So we wouldn't have time to think of ingeneering

You seem to know a lot about plants. I don't know much about plants even though I'm almost inside a forest.

I think the most I can go without a bath is a little more than one day. Then I begin to feel dirty and I don't like how it feels.

Yeah, there would really be little time to engineer stuff if I'm looking to keep myself clean. I also lost the count of how many times I've ended in ER because of some virus or bacteria that makes me puke the hell out of my body, inflammation of organs, and stuff. The last time, after some time in ER, I was dispatched home and I was so tired that I could barely move. I slept for like 18 hours straight after being sent home and it took me 1 week to recover normal strength. The most I would keep awake was like 2 hours and then tiredness would send me back to sleep 12 or so hours. I was alone and I was so tired I couldn't even get up to cook me some food. I only bathed and then back to bed. Every movement was painful and walking was really really hard. What saved me was some fruits and juice a friend gave me as a gift. That was my food for 1 week until the pain and tiredness resided enough for me to cook me food again.

So yeah, an infection or virus would probably kill me in the middle age before I can replicate modern technology.

I only shower at Easter and Christmas. Easter also means new boxers while I just turn them inside out around Christmas. :P

Hahaha!

 

[Sophia]

You seem to know a lot about plants. I don't know much about plants even though I'm almost inside a forest.

I am interested in complementary medicine and using of plants. The effectiveness of one tea that I recommended to someone was proven by improved lab tests made in hospital. It didn't require any special knowledge, it was enough to look in one old book about herbal remedies. I am also interested in accupressure and yoga.
(adding a disclaimer in order not to be against forum rules. I do not suggest using these methods instead of treatment by a medical doctor. It is very important to consult a doctor before trying anything alternative or complementary. If I find some advice for using certain herbs, I ALWAYS google the safety of the particular remedy and read multiple sources before trying anything new)

Yeah, there would really be little time to engineer stuff if I'm looking to keep myself clean. I also lost the count of how many times I've ended in ER because of some virus or bacteria that makes me puke the hell out of my body, inflammation of organs, and stuff. The last time, after some time in ER, I was dispatched home and I was so tired that I could barely move. I slept for like 18 hours straight after being sent home and it took me 1 week to recover normal strength. The most I would keep awake was like 2 hours and then tiredness would send me back to sleep 12 or so hours. I was alone and I was so tired I couldn't even get up to cook me some food. I only bathed and then back to bed. Every movement was painful and walking was really really hard. What saved me was some fruits and juice a friend gave me as a gift. That was my food for 1 week until the pain and tiredness resided enough for me to cook me food again.

So yeah, an infection or virus would probably kill me in the middle age before I can replicate modern technology.

That looks like an ugly case of stomach flu . You would definitely have a problem in middle ages if you were forced to eat without washing your hands. And even if YOU washed them, the cook probably wouldn't
And imagine wiping your butt with leaves or straw or a cloth. After corn was introduced to Europe, unused dry part of corn (no idea about the English name) was used for this purpose. Multiple times.
And what about us, girls? Being on a period in the Middle Ages sounds so fun! But at least that would be something I could make. Rolling a small piece of cloth and tying a thread on it. Forget about the Toxic Shock syndrome! :)
And I guess that I could teach the farmers about better ways of fertilizing and farming which were not so widely known in that period.

 

[Psinter]

I am interested in complementary medicine and using of plants.

That's cool.

That looks like an ugly case of stomach flu .

Never in my life had I heard of stomach flu.

You would definitely have a problem in middle ages if you were forced to eat without washing your hands. And even if YOU washed them, the cook probably wouldn't

Definitely. I'm very picky with always cleaning my hands. When I cook I clean my hands a lot of times while I handle the food because in between I have to touch objects and I clean them (my hands) before and after I touch the objects.

And imagine wiping your butt with leaves or straw or a cloth. After corn was introduced to Europe, unused dry part of corn (no idea about the English name) was used for this purpose. Multiple times.

This. I was oblivious of this fact, but now that has become my primary reason to not go to the middle ages.

And what about us, girls? Being on a period in the Middle Ages sounds so fun! But at least that would be something I could make. Rolling a small piece of cloth and tying a thread on it. Forget about the Toxic Shock syndrome! :)

I have no idea of what you are talking about and I don't think I want to know. Thank you.

 

[WWGD]

I am interested in complementary medicine and using of plants. The effectiveness of one tea that I recommended to someone was proven by improved lab tests made in hospital. It didn't require any special knowledge, it was enough to look in one old book about herbal remedies. I am also interested in accupressure and yoga.
(adding a disclaimer in order not to be against forum rules. I do not suggest using these methods instead of treatment by a medical doctor. It is very important to consult a doctor before trying anything alternative or complementary. If I find some advice for using certain herbs, I ALWAYS google the safety of the particular remedy and read multiple sources before trying anything new)


That looks like an ugly case of stomach flu . You would definitely have a problem in middle ages if you were forced to eat without washing your hands. And even if YOU washed them, the cook probably wouldn't
And imagine wiping your butt with leaves or straw or a cloth. After corn was introduced to Europe, unused dry part of corn (no idea about the English name) was used for this purpose. Multiple times.
And what about us, girls? Being on a period in the Middle Ages sounds so fun! But at least that would be something I could make. Rolling a small piece of cloth and tying a thread on it. Forget about the Toxic Shock syndrome! :)
And I guess that I could teach the farmers about better ways of fertilizing and farming which were not so widely known in that period.

I think they have had natural ways of dealing with periods for many thousands of years, but maybe in other parts of
the world. The only problem I have is that with the new toilets in public bathrooms I have to fondle the toilet for half an hour
to find the flush button

 

[1oldman2]

I think they have had natural ways of dealing with periods for many thousands of years, but maybe in other parts of
the world. The only problem I have is that with the new toilets in public bathrooms I have to fondle the toilet for half an hour
to find the flush button

I'm pretty sure one of the greatest inventions of the last century is the motion sensing toilet flush.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I'm doomed if I go to that era. At least I hope they have Shampoo and Soap because I'm a very clean person and would hate not being able to take a shower everyday.

My grandmother used to make her own soap. I watched her do it a couple times, in the 1960s. She had the benefit of store bought sodium hydroxide, lye, but it's possible to make it from scratch with potassium hydroxide made from wood ashes. The latter makes a soft soap, but it could be used as both soap and shampoo.

The other main ingredient in soap is animal fat, and that raises the issue of how expensive soap used to be and how it probably lost in the competition between using the animal fat they saved for making either tallow candles or soap. Candles probably usually won in the middle ages.

 

[WWGD]

My grandmother used to make her own soap. I watched her do it a couple times, in the 1960s. She had the benefit of store bought sodium hydroxide, lye, but it's possible to make it from scratch with potassium hydroxide made from wood ashes. The latter makes a soft soap, but it could be used as both soap and shampoo.

The other main ingredient in soap is animal fat, and that raises the issue of how expensive soap used to be and how it probably lost in the competition between using the animal fat they saved for making either tallow candles or soap. Candles probably usually won in the middle ages.

Good news for @Psinter
I have read about a new trend of washing just with water and a scrubbing sponge, called for some reason the " no poo" movement when it comes to washing hair:
https://www.google.com/webhp?source...2&ie=UTF-8#q=washing without soap and shampoo

 

[Psinter]

I'm pretty sure one of the greatest inventions of the last century is the motion sensing toilet flush.

I hate those things for one reason. They flush before you open the door and some of them splash. I think that have trained my ninja skills trying to open the door and swiftly escape the place before it splashes all over me.

My grandmother used to make her own soap. I watched her do it a couple times, in the 1960s. She had the benefit of store bought sodium hydroxide, lye, but it's possible to make it from scratch with potassium hydroxide made from wood ashes. The latter makes a soft soap, but it could be used as both soap and shampoo.

The other main ingredient in soap is animal fat, and that raises the issue of how expensive soap used to be and how it probably lost in the competition between using the animal fat they saved for making either tallow candles or soap. Candles probably usually won in the middle ages.

Ohhhh, that's cool to know.

One day I had no water (don't ask me why, in the city the water leaves sometimes, that rarely ever happens in the forest) so I bathed with Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol and a lot of paper. It was only once. The papers came out dirty as I expected. Although when I cleaned my face with it my eyes felt like a burning sensation.

It feels cold on the skin, the alcohol.

Good news for @Psinter
I have read about a new trend of washing just with water and a scrubbing sponge, called for some reason the " no poo" movement when it comes to washing hair:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=washing without soap and shampoo

Hmmmmmmmm. I'll have to ask those guys where they live and have them try that in my temperatures. Right now my room temperature is 90.3F(32.39C) and while I'm fine and not sweating because I'm used to this temperature, moving for a while and working will certainly make me sweat a lot in this temperature. I may try it, but I'm a little reluctant to it given the temperatures in which I live.

 

[JorisL]

Random thought OTD:

What if we teach students that struggle with parameters (like mass $m$, not the variable) when manipulating we can replace each parameter with a different prime number.
Rule 1: Don't substract the numbers. (say you only use odd primes, then the difference of two coefficients will be even which means there is at least one new constant that possibly brakes the idea, have to check)
Rule 2: You can remove common factors in a fraction
Rule 3: In the end they can put the parameters back by performing a prime factorization.

I wonder if this has some merit.

 

[Sophia]

Good news for @Psinter
I have read about a new trend of washing just with water and a scrubbing sponge, called for some reason the " no poo" movement when it comes to washing hair:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=washing without soap and shampoo

It's definitely true that the more you wash your hair the more oily it gets. I used to wash my hair 3-4x a week and then read about this "trend" (though it's not really a trend, it's what people have done for thousands of years). I use shampoo but now I wash my hair only 2x/week. At first it is terrible because the scalp is used to overproduction of oil but once it gets used to the new regime it produces less oil.
My mum went through the chemotherapy and lost her hair and before she used to wash it every other day than she had no hair to wash and her scalp went to normal function and now she washes her hair once a week. It's not oily at all, she just removes the dust.
It also works for facial skin. Since I switched from aggressive foaming cleansers to the most gentle and sensitive my skin has gotten much better.

 

[JorisL]

Rejoice people I found a great quote on facebook!

With regards to the difference between climate and weather someone used the following analogy. (To dismiss an argument to discredit study of climate change stating "they cannot even predict the weather of next week, how can they make predictions 20 years in the future")

Climate is like your personality, weather is like your daily mood.

 

[Ibix]

Better: I can tell you how long it will take your kettle to boil. I cannot tell you where the first bubble will form.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Overheard two guys talking about Abraham Lincoln:

"...and that hat he wore, that famous hat...what was it...stove... stove... stovetop! The stovetop hat!"

 

[Sophia]

Overheard two guys talking about Abraham Lincoln:

"...and that hat he wore, that famous hat...what was it...stove... stove... stovetop! The stovetop hat!"

Vocab time! What's the correct word?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Vocab time! What's the correct word?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stovepipe_hat

 

[Ibix]

The stovetop hat!"

Should always be worn with a smoking jacket and hot pants.

 

[WWGD]

Latest and most likely last part of the ( incredibly boring) saga of finding enough quarters to do the wash:
Went to the bank with a $20 and they gave me two rolls of quarters, a total of 80 quarters, enough for 4-5
wash-and-dry sessions.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Currently it's later than it was earlier.

 

[WWGD]

Two ambiguous titles for a book: "Killing Time" and "Controlling People ". Is "Killing Time" a book about someone who kills, or about people who are bored? "Controlling People" : is it a manual to learn to control people, or a book describing people who control?

 

[Pepper Mint]

How can companies today advertise jobs and ask applicants to contribute their ideas and even solve their business problems ? Could someone up here eliminate these junks out of the stack ? It is overflowing.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Two ambidextrous titles for a book: "The Left is Right" and "When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It." Should "The Left is Right" be held in the left or right hand when reading? Both? Neither? "When You Come To a Fork in the Road, Take It" : is it a manual about driving directions, or a book describing people who eat with utensils picked up off the road?

 

[Borg]

Currently it's later than it was earlier.

Someone should do a study to see if that holds true.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Someone should do a study to see if that holds true.

It doesn't. Sometimes it's currently earlier than it will be later.

 

[Borg]

It doesn't. Sometimes it's currently earlier than it will be later.

I walked right into that didn't I?

 

[zoobyshoe]

I walked right into that didn't I?

I would have posted it one way or another.

 

[zoobyshoe]

"...sporadic Strombolian lava..."

 

[Ibix]

I would have posted it one way or another.

Sooner or later, you mean.

 

[Ibix]

Someone should do a study to see if that holds true.

It would be a tense wait for the results.