Not much point in shooting for the stars
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Q. What attempts are being made to rocket to the stars (beyond our dear Sun)?
A. None whatsoever to date, due to the almost unimaginable vastness of space, says UCLA astronomer Luca Bertello. Consider that Voyager 2, launched in August 1977, has traveled outward from Earth about five billion miles. Yet this distance corresponds only to about eight hours light time when it takes light four years to reach the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, 25 trillion miles away.
The fastest rocket today plugs along at a snail’s pace compared to the speed of light (186,000 miles/second), adds Stanford astrophysicist John Beck.
“It would take 50,000 years to get to Centauri. Until we invent something like warp drive (if it is possible), any rocket we can imagine building would still take thousands of years to get there.”
Obviously, we won’t be sending a couple of astronauts starward soon. It would be a trip of many generations.
So it is likely that if humans visit other stars it will not be as explorers or tourists but as colonists. “However, by the time these colonists get there, they will be as different from Earthlings as the Navajo are from the Chinese.”
Q. Is it true there are more germs in the human mouth than around a dog’s anus?
A. The usual comparison is between the human mouth and dog’s mouth, not the dog’s other end, says Dr. Joseph Zambon of the University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine.
Some 200-300 different bacterial species may hang out in the human oral cavity, plus viruses and other microorganisms. Certainly, people with diseased gums have more bacteria and more types of bacteria than dogs with healthy mouths.
“But you can make the other, more colourful comparison as well. There are higher concentrations of bacteria in human dental plaque than in a dog’s feces.” So you might extend this to include the dog’s alimentary exit point as well.
Q. “Suffix it to say” we live in a world where almost everyone is addicted to something, becoming maybe an alcoholic, chocaholic, foodaholic, or workaholic. What suffixes are best known by the techaholics among us?
A. Call them also webaholics (the Web), Twitterholics (Twitter), gameaholics (computer games in general), says Paul McFedries in “IEEE Spectrum” magazine.
The suffix workhorse in these circles is “-ware,” short for software and spawning such classics as freeware (free software), shareware (software you can use before purchasing) and vapourware (announced but not delivered).
Beerware you can get for the price of buying the developer a beer, terrorware is software used by terrorists, and wearware goes back a few years to an article about wearable computers.
Reading this, you are likely part of the literati (literary intelligentsia or educated class). At your computer you join the digerati (digital literati), or the geekerati (the elite of this group), maybe even the jitterati with a cup of caffeinated coffee on the side, or the blogerati (big-time bloggers), or the Twitterati (those with the most Twitter followers).
The universe is certainly big enough to encompass the Googleverse, the Twitterverse, the gamerverse (gamers or gaming), plus the chatosphere (chat rooms and instant messaging), the spamosphere (junk e- mail messages), the blogosphere, the Webosphere.
Q. “Top gun” pilots have long worried about taking a turn too tightly and experiencing what is called g-LOC. What is this and what are its warning signs?
A. “Gravity-induced loss of consciousness” can occur when a pilot takes a turn with the head toward the centre of a circle, as is normally done, causing blood pressure in the brain to drop, says Jearl Walker in “The Flying Circus of Physics.”
Today’s powerful and highly maneuverable jets make taking a turn too sharply all too likely, especially in a dogfight. When the plane’s centripetal acceleration is two or three Gs, the pilot feels heavy. At about four Gs, the pilot’s vision switches to black and white and narrows to “tunnel vision,” where peripheral viewing disappears and only straight-ahead sight remains.
If acceleration is maintained at four Gs or increased, vision ceases and soon the pilot becomes unconscious. G-LOC can strike without warning. “If the pilot does not regain consciousness in time, the plane will either stall or fly into the ground.”
Send STRANGE questions to brothers Bill and Rich at Strangetrue@cs.com
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