Wikijo

Cocaine possession for Carrying too much money

2007-08-09T16:49:00.001-07:00

It is a known fact that most US dollar bill contain cocaine. According to the Argonne National Laboratory study "the average contamination was 16 micrograms (or 0.000016 grams.)" carrying more than 5 grams of cocaine will land you in jail.

Therefore you would have to carry 312,500 bills in order to be charged for possession of coke. Or 312.5 kg or 688.94 pounds of bills!

The math:

1 Bill = 0.000016 grams
x Bills = 5.00000 grams

1. Set up as two fractions (the bills and the grams)
1/x and 0.000016/5.00000
2. Cross multiply
5 = 0.000016x
3. Solve for x

x = 312,500 one dollar bills

For the weight. 1 bill = 1 gram. So 312,500 bills would weigh 312.5 kg or 688.94 pounds

10 Ways to Stay Awake

2007-08-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

Whether it is because you have a project you need to get done, or you just want to stay up all night to party, or maybe you just fall asleep in class or at work. For whatever reason, this guide will help you get through your day and/or night.

1. Coffee
The most common method of staying awake is with a high dose of caffeine from coffee. In order to get the most caffeine per cup use finely gained coffee (more surface area = more caffeine) in a drip coffee maker.
If you desire even more caffeine, instead of using water in your coffee machine use coffee, for a double caffeine punch! (Note, this may ruin your coffee machine)
Also, for long lasting results, drink small amounts of coffee throughout the day.

2. Energy Drinks
Energy drinks commonly contain caffeine, guarana, taurine, various forms of ginseng, maltodextrin, inositol, carnitine, creatine, glucuronolactone and ginkgo biloba. All designed to increase energy and stamina. I find that Bawls, works best for staying up late. If you want to workout, then i would recommend Red Bull. However, statistically, Cocaine contains the most caffeine per ounce.

3. Water
Dehydration, can often times cause fatigue. In order to combat this, drink plenty of water. Also, large amounts of water will result in many bathroom breaks, which should also keep you awake.

4. Pain
Nothing will keep you awake like pain. Try pulling your hair a little, or lightly poking yourself with a paper clip.
5. Head Stand
A head stand will force blood to your head. Resulting in increased alertness
6. Flex
Flex your butt muscles or leg muscles. This will result in a faster heart rate and increased alertness.
7. Keep the room cold.
8. Excite yourself
Watch some porn. Go streaking. Anything to cause excitement.
9. Make a bet
Make a bet that you can stay awake for "X" amount of time. Money influences people, so i bet will influence you to stay awake.
10. Turn everything into a Sexual Innuendo
Mainly works for meetings and lectures, listen carefully to see what you can make "Dirty." "In order to solve the equation we must multiply..."

Random Article - What Enginerds do when they are bored

2007-08-08T02:05:00.000-07:00

Its Friday night, no date (ever,) and nothing to do. But wait! There is always Wikipedia. Whenever I am bored I love clicking on Random Article until i see something interesting. Not only is it fun, but you also learn a lot too! YAY! New Zealand in the 2000 summer Olympics, interesting...

Random Article

Don't live in the United States? No Internet for you!

2007-08-06T05:45:00.001-07:00

Think everyone has access to the same internet? Well, maybe if you live in the US. For the rest of us, the internet is limited. Many websites (particularly the ones offering free television shows) are only available to ISPs located in the US. Why is this? Advertising? I don't think so, because it would be easy to find advertising based on location, which many websites already do.

Me being an American who has lived in the US most of his life, was completely unaware of this discrimination. It was not until I went to visit my parents in the Netherlands did I become aware of the limits of the internet for countries outside the US.

While surfing the net I came across a website that has links to free online education. I browse the site and click on a link to view a podcast to learn French, It opens itunes and I get this pop up.

Sorry, free French podcasts are only available for people who live in the US. I can't think of a reason why this is. Because last time I checked podcasts usually don't have advertisements. Oh well, I guess I will watch Lost then.

Nope, full-length episodes are only available to viewers within the United States. I don't get to see my Lost episode AND I still had to view their advertisements. ABC profited from my visit, and did not have to use their bandwidth to send me their show.

No Education, no TV, hmmmm what about Music? I then decided to go to Slacker Radio after hearing from PC Magazine: "It's the most exciting thing in digital music to happen in a long time."

Yep! Looks pretty fucking exciting. No Radio, no TV, no Education. And the RIAA and MPAA wonder why people are pirating? For us outside the United States, it is the only way to have access to these free services.

Chemistry - Methylene Blue Prank: Make your friends Pee Blue/Green

2007-08-04T02:19:00.001-07:00

Methylene Blue is a common Indicator used in Chemistry. Methylene blue is highly stable in the human body, and if ingested, it resists the acidic environment of the stomach as well as the many hydrolytic enzymes present. It is not significantly metabolized by the liver, and is instead quickly filtered out by the kidneys. Meaning that you wee it out instead of pooing it out. In order to make someone pee blue you would have to add small amounts of methylene blue (generally a few drops of a stain solution sufficed) to coffee, cola, or another dark beverage. The stain's color was masked by the beverage, and its taste is fairly faint. Within a few hours, the methylene blue was removed by the prank victim's kidneys, which caused his or her urine to change color. The urine may become green if little methylene blue was added; larger amounts create a deep blue color. The prank is fairly harmless if small amounts of methylene blue are used, although allergies are possible.

WARNING: Make sure you know the risks and read all relevant MSDS sheets before trying this on yourself or others! Some people may be allergic to Methylene Blue dye.

Allergies with Methylene Blue are very rare. And the indicator is harmless in small doses (It is often used in medicine.) The only real danger is that other harmful chemicals could have contaminated the indicator (Mainly from High School chemistry kids not using the chemical properly.) But if you order your own online, or "borrow" some that has not been contaminated, there is no need to worry.

Have fun!

Pi - An Interesting Representation

2007-08-04T02:09:00.001-07:00

While on Wikipedia I saw an interesting Representation of the value of Pi. Basically if a circle's diameter is 1 (Radius = 0.5) The circumference will be Pi according to the circumference equation (c = 2Pi*R). Or in other words, if you take a circle with a diameter of 1 and roll it, it will travel Pi units per rotation.

Calculus - Product Rule

2007-08-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

Equation

The equation is read: The derivative of (f * g) is equal to: the (derivative of f times g) + (f times the derivate of g).

Proof

Suppose

and that f and g are each differentiable at the fixed number x. Then

Now the difference

is the area of the big rectangle minus the area of the small rectangle in the illustration.

That L-shaped region can be split into two rectangles, the sum of whose areas is readily seen to be:

(The illustration disagrees with some special cases, since f(w) need not actually be bigger than f(x) and g(w) need not actually be bigger than g(x). Nonetheless, the equality of (2) and (3) is easily checked by algebra.)

Therefore the expression in (1) is equal to

If all four of the limits in (5) below exist, then the expression in (4) is equal to

Now

because f(x) remains constant as w → x;

because g is differentiable at x;

because f is differentiable at x;

and now the "hard" one:

because g is continuous at x. How do we know g is continuous at x? Because another theorem says differentiable functions are continuous.

We conclude that the expression in (5) is equal to

Example

y = sin(x) * x

1. First, derive sin(x) and x separately. sin(x) represents f in the equation for the product rule and x represents g.

You should get cos(x) and 1 ( f' and g' respectively)

2. Now we have:
f = sin(x)
g = x
f' = cos(x)
g' = 1
3. Now plug in the variables into the Product Rule equation.

You should get: y' = cos(x)*x + sin(x)

Going Further

If you know the product rule you never have to use the quotient rule.
For example:

y = sin(x)/x

1. First, rewrite the equation into the Product rule form.

y = sin(x) * (1/x)
Tip: 1/x is equal to x^-1

2. Now derive sin(x) and 1/x separately. sin(x) represents f in the equation for the product rule and 1/x represents g.

You should get cos(x) and -x^-2 ( f' and g' respectively)

3. Now we have:
f = sin(x)
g = x^-1
f' = cos(x)
g' = -x^-2

4. Now plug in the variables into the Product Rule equation.

You should get: y' = cos(x)*(x^-1) + sin(x)*(-x^-2)
When simplified you should get: y' = 0

Chemisty - Aerogel

2007-08-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

Aerogel is a low-density solid-state material derived from gel in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with gas. The result is an extremely low density solid with several remarkable properties, most notably its effectiveness as an insulator. It is nicknamed frozen smoke, solid smoke or blue smoke due to its semi-transparent nature and the way light scatters in the material; however, it feels like expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) to the touch.

Production

Silica aerogel is made by drying a hydrogel composed of colloidal silica in an extreme environment. Specifically, the process starts with a liquid alcohol like ethanol which is mixed with a silicon alkoxide precursor to form a silicon dioxide sol gel (silica gel). Then, through a process called supercritical drying, the alcohol is removed from the gel. This is typically done by exchanging the ethanol for liquid acetone, allowing a better miscibility gradient, and then onto liquid carbon dioxide and then bringing the carbon dioxide above its critical point. A variant on this process involves the direct injection of supercritical carbon dioxide into the pressure vessel containing the aerogel. The end result removes all liquid from the gel and replaces it with gas, without allowing the gel structure to collapse or lose volume.

Aerogel composites have been made using a variety of continuous and discontinuous reinforcements. The high aspect ratio of fibers such as fiberglass have been used to reinforce aerogel composites with significantly improved mechanical properties.

Resorcinol-formaldehyde aerogel (RF aerogel) is made in a way similar to production of silica aerogel.

Carbon aerogel is made from a resorcinol-formaldehyde aerogel by its pyrolysis in inert gas atmosphere, leaving a matrix of carbon. It is commercially available as solid shapes, powders, or composite paper.

Uses

There are a variety of tasks for which aerogels are used. Commercially, aerogels have been used in granular form to add insulation to skylights. After several trips on the Vomit Comet, one research team has shown that producing aerogel in a weightless environment can produce particles with a more uniform size and reduce the Rayleigh scattering effect in silica aerogel, thus making the aerogel less blue and more transparent. Transparent silica aerogel would be very suitable as a thermal insulation material for windows, significantly limiting thermal losses of buildings.

Its high surface area leads to many applications, such as a chemical absorber for cleaning up spills (see adsorption). This feature also gives it great potential as a catalyst or a catalyst carrier. Aerogel particles are also used as thickening agents in some paints and cosmetics.

Aerogels are being tested for use in targets for the National Ignition Facility.

Aerogel performance may be augmented for a specific application by the addition of dopants, reinforcing structures, and hybridizing compounds. Using this approach, the breadth of applications for the material class may be greatly increased.

Commercial manufacture of aerogel 'blankets' began around the year 2000. An aerogel blanket is a composite of silica aerogel and fibrous reinforcement that turns the brittle aerogel into a durable, flexible material. The mechanical and thermal properties of the product may be varied based upon the choice of reinforcing fibers, the aerogel matrix, and opacification additives included in the composite. NASA used aerogel to trap space dust particles aboard the Stardust spacecraft. The particles vaporize on impact with solids and pass through gases, but can be trapped in aerogels. NASA also used aerogel for thermal insulation of the Mars Rover and space suits.

Aerogels are also used in particle physics as radiators in Cherenkov effect detectors. ACC system of the Belle detector, used in the Belle Experiment at KEKB, is a recent example of such use. The suitability of aerogels is determined by their low index of refraction, filling the gap between gases and liquids, and their transparency and solid state, making them easier to use than cryogenic liquids or compressed gases. Their low mass is also advantageous for space missions.

Resorcinol-formaldehyde aerogels (polymers chemically similar to phenol formaldehyde resins) are mostly used as precursors for manufacture of carbon aerogels, or when an organic insulator with large surface is desired. They come as high-density material, with surface area about 600 m²/g.

Metal-aerogel nanocomposites can be prepared by impregnating the hydrogel with solution containing ions of the suitable noble or transition metals. The impregnated hydrogel is then irradiated with gamma rays, leading to precipitation of nanoparticles of the metal. Such composites can be used as eg. catalysts, sensors, electromagnetic shielding, and in waste disposal. A prospective use of platinum-on-carbon catalysts is in fuel cells.

Aerogel can be used as drug delivery system due to its biocompatibility. Due to its high surface area and porous structure, drugs can be adsorbed from supercritical CO2. The release rate of the drugs can be tailored based on the properties of aerogel.

Carbon aerogels are used in the construction of small electrochemical double layer supercapacitors. Due to the high surface area of the aerogel, these capacitors can be 2000 to 5000 times smaller than similarly rated electrolytic capacitors.

Dunlop tennis has recently incorporated Aerogel into the mold of its new series of racquets. Dunlop have also used it in squash racquets

Birthday Calculator

2007-01-27T19:06:00.000-08:00

Birthday Calculator
I found this really cool website where you can find random information about your birthday. Try it!