Ask Ms.Fris Vol. 1

Highlights of reference questions from first thread:

Marik:

Posted: 09 Feb 2004 14:54
What's a good way to cook meatloaf?

MsFrisby
Posted: 09 Feb 2004 15:56

Well I like the recipe I use. It tastes good, and smells good, but looks like dog food.

Here it is:

1 lb. raw ground beef.
2 eggs
1 - 2 stalks of celery, chopped fine
3 tbl. chopped dried onion (fresh onion use to taste)
3 tbl. brown sugar
1/2 cup barbeque sauce

Mix all ingredients well in a mixing bowl, put in a square pan lined with tin foil. Brush a dollop of barbeque sauce over the top. Put into oven preheated to 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

If you want a firmer meatloaf, then add about half of one of the long white packages of saltine crackers to the mix before cooking, crushed finely.

(I'd now recommend adding 2 tbls of low-fat ricotta cheese to the meatloaf too. I'd also say to have the meatloaf covered in foil while baking that first 45 minutes and then removing the foil and turning the oven to broil for about 10 more minutes. Yum)

Oroborous wrote:
Here's another slightly more answerable question. Has anyone anywhere ever succeeded in the creation/discovery of a monopole? That is, a magnet with only one pole.

MsFrisby wrote:
If your local library has access to articlefirst database, you can search this topic. There were over 800 hits on the keyword of monopole, unfortunately, none were published full-text online.

World Scientific Publishing Company
Author(s): Cavalcanti de Oliveira, A. L. ; Bezerra de Mello, E. R.
Affiliation: Departamento de Física-CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 58.059-970, J. Pessoa, PB, C. Postal 5.008 Brazil
Title: Nonrelativistic Charged Particle-Magnetic Monopole Scattering in the Global Monopole Background
Source: International Journal of Modern Physics A [Particles and Fields; Gravitation] 18, no. 18 (2003): 3175-3187
Additional Info: World Scientific Publishing Company; 20030101
Standard No: ISSN: 0217-751X
Language: English
Database: ArticleFirst

Mr. Meddler wrote:
Has anyone found the answer to the Mad Hatter's riddle?

MsFrisby wrote:
Yes. Sort of.

PeteMoss wrote:

How many cookies come in a normal size package if Oreo's

MsFrisby wrote:
In the normal 14oz size package of regular Oreo's, there are 36 cookies.

PeteMoss wrote:
Where did you find the answer to the Oreo question?
I thought there were 42....hmmmm. Must go buy Oreos to find out.

MsFrisby wrote:
I found the answer on the nabisco oreo website. Under product information. It does not give the exact number of cookies per package on the regular package of oreos, but does say serving size and number of servings.

biqueerchris wrote:
Who put the benzadrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine??

MsFrisby wrote:
I'm afraid you would have to ask Harry "The Hipster" Gibson for the answer to that one...
The writer of the song lyrics that were referred to.

terra nova wrote:
what was hitler's first love?

MsFrisby wrote:

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, the fourth child of Alois Schickelgruber and Klara Hitler in the Austrian town of Braunau. Two of his siblings died from diphtheria when they were children, and one died shortly after birth. Alois was a customs official, illegitimate by birth, who was described by his housemaid as a "very strict but comfortable" man. Young Adolf was showered with love and affection by his mother.
When Adolf was three years old, the family moved to Passau, along the Inn River on the German side of the border. A brother, Edmond, was born two years later. The family moved once more in 1895 to the farm community of Hafeld, 30 miles southwest of Linz. Another sister, Paula, was born in 1896, the sixth of the union, supplemented by a half brother and half sister from one of his father's two previous marriages.

Following another family move, Adolf lived for six months across from a large Benedictine monastery. The monastery's coat of arms' most salient feature was a swastika. As a youngster, Adolf's dream was to enter the priesthood. While there is anecdotal evidence that Adolf's father regularly beat him during his childhood, it was not unusual for discipline to be enforced in that way during that period.

By 1900, Hitler's talents as an artist surfaced. He did well enough in school to be eligible for either the university preparatory "gymnasium" or the technical/scientific Realschule. Because the latter had a course in drawing, Adolf accepted his father's decision to enroll him in the Realschule. He did not do well there.

Adolf's father died in 1903 after suffering a pleural hemorrhage. Adolf himself suffered from lung infections, and he quit school at the age of 16, partially the result of ill health and partially the result of poor school work.

In 1906, Adolf was permitted to visit Vienna, but he was unable to gain admission to a prestigious art school. His mother developed terminal breast cancer and was treated by Dr. Edward Bloch, a Jewish doctor who served the poor. After an operation and excruciatingly painful and expensive treatments with a dangerous drug, she died on December 21, 1907.

Hitler spent six years in Vienna, living on a small legacy from his father and an orphan's pension. Virtually penniless by 1909, he wandered Vienna as a transient, sleeping in bars, flophouses, and shelters for the homeless, including, ironically, those financed by Jewish philanthropists. It was during this period that he developed his prejudices about Jews, his interest in politics, and debating skills. According to John Toland's biography, Adolf Hitler, two of his closest friends at this time were Jewish, and he admired Jewish art dealers and Jewish operatic performers and producers. However, Vienna was a center of anti-Semitism, and the media's portrayal of Jews as scapegoats with stereotyped attributes did not escape Hitler's fascination.

http://www.remember.org/guide/Facts.root.hitler.html

One of the two bolded statements would be a "WHAT" that was likely his first love. But the first person he quite likely loved was his mother.[/quote]

Skarab wrote:

And here are some questions I always wanted to know:

1. How many hairs (head) does the average human have?
2. How many atoms are there in the universe?
3. (This is more of an opinion one) If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?

MsFrisby wrote:
1. There are roughly 100,000 hairs on the human head.

2. A lot.

3. Since a tree disturbs the air currents to make the patterns of waves that we call sound, and factoring in chaos theory which states that very small actions can greatly influence large complex systems, if there is a living thing in the universe capable of percieving sound when the tree falls, in some way, that being would "hear" it fall in one way or another.

Amethyst Shadow wrote:
Just what the hell is a "cootie". I've never seen a reference to it in any entemological resource.

MsFrisby wrote:
Ah, but you've known cooties by another name and just didn't know it.

Oroborous wrote:

Back on topic, MsFris, how many books are in your local library?

MsFrisby wrote:
Haltom City residents may borrow materials from Haltom City Public Library and any library in the Fort Worth Public Library System, Benbrook Public Library, Burleson Public Library, Keller Public Library, Richland Hills Public Library and Watauga Public Library. The collections include 90 thousand items at the Haltom City Public Library and almost 2 million items in the Fort Worth Public Library system.

(If you want, I can also get numbers on Benbrook, Burleson, Keller, Richland Hills and Watauga, since all the above libraries are part of the North Texas Regional Library system and all online catalogs list the items for all libraries in the system and free and swift access to any item in any branch or affiliated library. )

Sçhwåh XP wrote:
What causes magnetic poles?

MsFrisby wrote:
I will refer you to this site as it has lots of cool graphs and charts and stuff.[/quote]

Samsally wrote:
Why do babies poo odd colors sometimes when they are first born?...

MsFrisby wrote:
When they're first born, Hell! You should see some of the stuff that ends up in diapers when they start on solid foods, or eat some crayons.

Anyway, infants and early toddler's digestive systems are still not as developed as children and adults, and will sometimes not process the food very well. So the natural colorings of the food will still come through. As to why what comes out is bright yellow when all that has gone in is white, bacteria are introduced into the digestive system almost immediately upon birth, and they add their own special coloring to whatever passes through.

terra nova wrote:
what is frank lebowitz's favorite animal?

MsFrisby wrote:
My favorite animal is steak.
—Frank Lebowitz

pismofilmdude wrote:
What is the main export of Luxembourg?

MsFrisby wrote:
Booze and money.

(Wines, beer, and is the banking capital of Europe, not Switzerland, like I thought.. hmm.. )

Lukipela wrote:
Why does your body feel warm when you have hypothermia? And do you then feel cold when you have hyperthermia?

MsFrisby wrote:
Symptoms of Hypothermia:
Mild symptoms include shivering, blue extremities, numbness, tingling, and blotchy skin.
Severe symptoms include decreased coordination (core temperatures below 33.5°C/92°F), muscle rigidity, slow breathing, and slow or irregular pulse (the heart can be irregular below 32°C/90°F, and below 28°C/82°F, heart rate decreases by 50%). This can progress to dilated and fixed pupils, absent reflexes, and cardiac arrest and death below 25°C/77°F.

This effect only tends to occur close to death and is anecdotal. But it is quite likely because the nerve endings indicating cold get overused and the brain, which is not functioning so well in severe hypothermia, switches to another nerve receptor and also because after a certain amount of pain, the body starts kicking out endorphins to kill it, giving a warm relaxed feeling.

Hyperthermia Symptoms

The two most common forms of hyperthermia are heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Of the two, heat stroke is especially dangerous and requires immediate medical attention. Heat stress occurs when a strain is placed on the body as a result of hot weather. Heat fatigue is a feeling of weakness brought on by high outdoor temperature. Symptoms include cool, moist skin and a weakened pulse. The person many feel faint. Heat syncope is a sudden dizziness experienced after exercising in the heat. The skin appears pale and sweaty but is generally moist and cool. The pulse is weakened and the heart rate is usually rapid. Body temperature is normal. Heat cramps are painful muscle spasms in the abdomen, arms or legs following strenuous activity. Heat cramps are caused by a lack of salt in the body. Heat exhaustion is a warning that the body is getting too hot. The person may be thirsty, giddy, weak, uncoordinated, nauseated and sweating profusely. The body temperature is normal and the pulse is normal or raised. The skin is cold and clammy. Heat stroke can be life-threatening and victims can die. A person with heat stroke usually has a body temperature above 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Other symptoms include confusion, combativeness, bizarre behavior, faintness, staggering, strong and rapid pulse, and possible delirium or coma. High body temperature is capable of producing irreversible brain damage.

So in both cases, temperature extremes can do funny things to the brain, making someone who is too cold feel warm, and someone who is too warm feel cold.

Mr. Meddler wrote:
Also, how many roses are there? Cultivated, I mean.

MsFrisby wrote:
Roses.. There are more than 100 species of roses and more than 20,000 hybrids from a few species.

DeltaVee wrote:
Okay, serious question.

I want to design my own oddball furniture. I am no carpenter, so what I'll have to do is sketch my ideas initially, then finalize them digitally.

It would be ideal if I could make 3D pics of this furniture as it would appear to someone who might buy it. That way I can post the pics to a webpage, or even to Ebay if I wanted to go that route. Then I will need to somehow turn this concept into a blueprint that I can give to a master carpenter so they can make the furniture as needed.

My question, then, is what do I need to do this? What proggies and whatnot?

I'm having difficulty finding the info myself because the damn keywords (3D modeling, blueprints, furniture, etc.) are too broad.

It might require/be worth some schooling to get this skill, as well, but I have no clue what courses I would even need to take. A hint here might rock.

So that's the question. I'll take straight answers, redirects, and suggestions from anybody else who has a clue, cuz I don't.

Thankyew, InfoGoddess. (Maybe you could get that on a namplate for when you get your own library. I envision something like *The InfoGoddess is [IN]* or suchlike.)

MsFrisby wrote:
Here's a possible program for you..
http://www.cadoutpost.com/catalog.html

And if you google search "Furniture design software" you will probably see what you are looking for. And autocad classes seem to be a likely thing you would also want to look into.

The Digital Dragon wrote:
How long will it take for the moon's orbit to decay?

Is there any anti-matter left in the universe?

Can the number of people using the internet increase indefinitely?

MsFrisby wrote:
Currently the Moon orbit is increasing at a rate of approximately 1.4 inch per year and consequently the Earth rotation is slowing by 1.5 seconds per every 100,000 years, this will continue until a time in the future when the Earth's rotational period has slowed enough to equal the Moon's orbital period. At that time the Moon will appear stationary over a single location on Earth. Thus just as the Moon keeps one side toward Earth, so will Earth keep one side toward the Moon. This will occur approximately 15 billion years from now, Earth's day will be 55 days in duration and the Moon's orbit will be approximately 160% greater (308,000 miles) it is currently.

http://www.firstscience.com/site/articles/antimatter.asp

The upward limit only depends on the power and number of host computers.

Amethyst Shadow wrote:
Is it true that regularly ingesting non-lethal doses of a normally toxic subtsance can create a resistance/immunity to that substance over time?

MsFrisby wrote:
This may be true for some substances, poison ivy, bee stings, and other things that people are allergic to, it is certainly not true of things such as radioactive substances, lead or PCBs.

The taking of such poisons as arsenic and strychnine in very small doses in order to gain the ability to prevent death by poisoning is possible. But these poisons will still have a physiological effect on the body that will not be desirable. And with some poisons, like alcohol, the sudden cessation of use of the "poison" can be just as dangerous as taking too much. Long term alcoholics can convulse or die if they try to go cold turkey without medical supervision due to the replacement of aldehydes in their brain.

Straylight wrote:
Where the hell did the terms bees knees come from?

MsFrisby wrote:
One explanation is that bees carry pollen back to the hive in sacks on their legs. The allusion is to the concentrated goodness found around the bee's knee. So when someone says you are the bees knees, they are really saying you are a sack of concentrated goodness. The second, and more likely, origin is one of rhyme and animal association. If you've ever seen a bee, then you know how tiny its knees are. That's what the term first referred to - anything small or insignificant. It first appears in writing at the end of the 18th century in a letter: "It cannot be as big as a bee’s knee" (1797). It was fashionable in the 1920s to coin this type of phrase, not all of which rhymed but all of which had animal connotations. They just changed this phrase to mean excellent instead of tiny. (Like the youth of the late 80's saying something was "bad" to indicate that it was cool.) other examples are "the cat's pyjamas" and "the eel's heel". Several of the sayings have died out, but "bees knees" survives.

gstring wrote:
what the hell are spiracles on grasshoppers? i need to color

MsFrisby wrote:
spiracles - a series of holes located along both sides of the abdomen; they are used for breathing

Here's a little diagram for you too.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/insects/orthoptera/labelgrasshopper/

Phar Phumgruvin wrote:
Well this question is actually libraryish. I am reading the Dragonlance series and I have just flubbed myself. I was attempting to read these books in some type of chronological order. I've done some half assed searching but, I can't find a listing of the books / titles in relation to how they fit in the series timeline.

A little help please?

MsFrisby wrote:
http://www.dragonlance.com/products/chronological.asp

Mr. Meddler wrote:
Just what percentage of the world's population is gay/bi/lesbo?

MsFrisby wrote:
The first major scientific study of this topic, the famed Kinsey Report of 1948, stated that "at least 13 percent of the male population" has a primary homosexual orientation. Thirty-seven percent was the Kinsey estimate of the combined homo- and bisexual population.

Kinsey’s claims

a. 10% predominantly homosexual for at least 3 years of adulthood

b. 18% bisexual or homosexual for at least 3 years of adulthood

c. 4% exclusively gay throughout adulthood

d. 37% of men with some post-pubertal homosexual experience

From the heady days of Kinsey, the "10 per cent is homosexual" label has been toned down lately. Even though The Social Organization of Sex: Sexual Practices in the United States (Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, and Michaels, 1994) study cites that 7.7 percent of men and 7.5 of women have strong same-sex attractions, ony 2.8 percent of men and 1.4 of women consider themselves homosexuals.

Modern sex research is further limited by its monosexual framework; the assumption that everyone is EITHER straight, OR gay -- that attraction for one gender excludes the other. Such research ignores human diversity. It also subsumes bisexuality under a discussion of homosexuality. When bisexuality is lumped with homosexuality it both minimizes bisexuality and keeps the emphasis on the homosexual side of the equation. For instance, Kinsey found a larger percentage of bisexuals than homosexuals but this usually goes unrecognized while people focus on where the (supposedly clear) line is between gay and straight.

Usually not much distinction is made between bisexuality and homosexuality, or between how people self-label (identity) versus how they act (behavior). This confuses things, when looking at percentages, particularly. In the past several years we have seen media-quoted estimates of the prevalence of homosexuality/bisexuality ranging all the way from 1% to 20%, -- depending upon how the study was done and what questions were asked.

Numbers would not be important if love for both genders was regarded as natural. Numbers will not be accurate as long as people are afraid, for reasons of social ostracism, to identify as someone who is attracted to their own sex, or to both.

The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior,(1993) startled the public with a reported incidence of same-sex attraction in the general population as at least 20%.

Sex in America: A Definitive Survey (1994) found only 2.8% of men and 1.4% of women who called themselves homosexual or bisexual. They found, however, that 4% of ALL women and 9% of ALL men reported same-gender experiences. (Still, it was behavior measured, not fantasies or desires.)

Sex in America's strength is that it is the first to question a large (3,432 Americans age 13-59) random sample of adults about many aspects of sexuality. However the authors admit they didn't have a big enough sample of gays/bis to say anything accurate about America's overall same-gender experience, much less identity. Therefore, it's hard to take their "less than 3% of Americans identify as gay or bi" conclusion, in and of itself, as "definitive."

Lukipela wrote:
How old can a cat grow?

MsFrisby wrote:
It’s official. In mid-August, the Guinness Book of World Records confirmed that Granpa, who appeared in the March 1997 Cat Fancy centerfold, was the world's longest-living cat. Granpa, who died on April 1, 1998, lived to be 34 years, two months and four hours. The previous record was 34 years and one day and had been set in 1957 by a tabby from England.

Deranged wrote:
Okay. I think it's time to test teh Ms.Fris and her MAD booksmart skillz.

1) What is the name of the missing book of the bible, and why is there so much controversy about it?

2) WITHOUT using combustible gas or electricity, what alternative energy sources are left?

3) What was the largest terrestrial predator ever?

MsFrisby wrote:

1. Supposedly, there are several missing. You can also look into the gnostic texts. And this quote might shed some light on why they are considered so controversial. "In The Gospel of Thomas, you'll discover a different kind of Christ--a wandering spiritual teacher from Galilee who performs no miracles, reveals little prophecy, announces no apocalypse, and dies for no one's sins."

2. Now.. first I must ask you.. what do you plan on doing using no ELECTRICITY? Are you asking me how to power a computer using no electricity? Wind energy turns pumps, as does geothermal energy. And as far as I know, mills used water energy to grind grain for centuries. Chemical reactions can propel, as can magnets and lasers. (But lasers use electricity...)(edit.. sorry about the submission too early.. it was an accident.. to continue on) I also wanted to mention solar energy, but that ultimately involves combusting gas.. Cheesy

3. http://flood.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/dino/detail.dsml?Genus=Giganotosaurus[/quote]

Dragonwriter wrote:
1.)What is the largest living organism ever known to exist on the planet Earth? How much mass does it have?

2.)"Earth" is actually more of a nickname for this mudball we call a home. What is it's *actual* name? What is the sun actually named?

MsFrisby wrote:

1. A fungus.

2. The sun is actually named Sol. Our moon is named Luna. But "Earth" is what I believe our planet is named. "Earth is the only planet whose English name does not derive from Greek/Roman mythology. The name derives from Old English and Germanic. There are, of course, hundreds of other names for the planet in other languages. In Roman Mythology, the goddess of the Earth was Tellus - the fertile soil (Greek: Gaia, terra mater - Mother Earth). " Or I guess you could say that it is Terra.[/quote]

Lukipela wrote:
As to my question... What is the worlds largest living

1. Mammal
2. Fish.
3. Insect
4. Bird

MsFrisby wrote:
Go here for answers to all four questions.

Mr. Meddler wrote:
What does it mean when you refer to a reletive 'twice removed'?

MsFrisby wrote:
Okay.. imagine your grandpa has a brother. That guy would be your great uncle. Now he has some kids. They would be your cousins, once removed. Now those kids are grown ups, and they have some kids about your own age. They would be cousins twice removed.