Jim Henderson wrote:

> Maybe the first unis that did this figured people were Pascal-based 
> rather than C-based.  (Pascal, IIRC, starts arrays at '1', C starts at 
> '0').

As *I* remember, Pascal arrays start at whatever index you tell them to 
start at. (E.g, you can make the first index be 17 if you want...)

VAR stuff : ARRAY [17..21] OF INT;

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>> Are mushrooms poisonous on purpose, or by accident?
> 
> That implies a will behind their creation.  And not all mushrooms are 
> poisonous.  Take the ones that I had on my hamburger last night..... ;-)

No it doesn't.

Did mushrooms evolve to be poisonous because that's advantageous 
somehow? Or do they just happen to be poisonous to animals because of 
their unusual chemistry?

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>> Why do overhead cables never flap around in the wind? Come to think of 
>> it, why doesn't rain short out power cables?
> 
> Those cables are pulled rather tight, also take a close look at high 
> tension wires, they'll have some funny looking thing hanging off of them 
> that looks like some sort of paddle, This also helps with the wind. And 
> they're too far apart to short out in the rain. Fresh water is actually 
> not a great conductor, and air is even a worse conductor. Submerge them 
> in salt water, and they'll short for sure.

Rain water isn't chemically pure. (Depending on pollution levels.) Once 
the pylon gets wet, it's entire surface is covered in a continuous sheet 
of water, which also covers all of the cables. So why don't they short out?

>> Poisonous berries. Now, let's think about this for a moment. The 
>> purpose of fruit is to be eaten, thus dispercing the seeds it 
>> contains. So... WHY WOULD YOU MAKE IT POISONOUS?! That defies the 
>> object of the exercise!
> 
> They may be toxic to mammals, but birds might be immune to the toxin. 
> It's a protective measure. Many mammals can digest the seeds, Birds, on 
> the other hand pass the seeds right through. Same reason hot peppers are 
> hot.

[Actually, apparently peppers are hot due to an antifungal toxin...]

Seems plausible, I guess...

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> Did mushrooms evolve to be poisonous because that's advantageous 
> somehow? Or do they just happen to be poisonous to animals because of 
> their unusual chemistry?

Both.

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triple_r wrote:
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> Why do overhead cables never flap around in the wind?
> 
> They do, so of course they're designed to minimize that.  Tension will increase
> the natural frequency of the cable, hopefully well above the vortex shedding
> frequency.

Vortex shedding frequency?

WIN!

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Darren New wrote:

>> Come to think of it, why doesn't rain short out power cables?
> 
> Because power system engineers aren't stupid enough to put them close 
> enough together a raindrop will bridge them.

I was thinking more of when everything has been covered in a continuous 
layer of water...

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>> Why do some people like the X-Files?
> 
> Because it's cool.  The whole UFO "I want to believe" mantra as well as 
> the "Trust no one" conspiracionist theories were all around in the 90s...

I just don't see the point.

Each episode, something happens which makes absolutely no sense. It's 
not that it's "mysterious", it's just nonsensical. Molder and Scully 
investigate. A series of utterly incomprehensible events occur. It turns 
out that the conspiracy was actually a conspiracy to create a conspiracy 
that would make people think the conspiracy was actually a conspiracy 
about a conspiracy to create a conspiracy. But then that turns out to be 
wrong too. And after about an hour of abject failure to make any kind of 
weakly comprehendable sense, the show ends.

WTF?

I mean, seriously. Any moron can write a bunch of gibberish that doesn't 
make sense. But where's the entertainment in that?!

>> Are mushrooms poisonous on purpose, or by accident?
> 
> On purpose.  They know you'd eat them otherwise.

I see...

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Invisible wrote:
> 
> I was thinking more of when everything has been covered in a continuous
> layer of water...

How pure the rainwater even is? Pure water (H2O) doesn't lead
electricity (at least not very well), the usual water you get from tap
ain't pure, it has all kinds of particels within it, including metal
ones. I'd *guess* the rainwater hasn't got as much metal particels as
the water already on the ground and doesn't lead electricity as well.

Anyway, the smart people have calculated that the space between electric
wires is enough, even on hard storms. :-)

-Aero

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Eero Ahonen wrote:

> How pure the rainwater even is?

Depends on the local pollution levels. (Ever hear of acid rain?)

> Pure water (H2O) doesn't lead electricity (at least not very well)

In our lab, we measure water purity by electrical conductivity. The 
higher the resistence, the purer the water...

...which is kinda silly really, given that the impurities that affect 
resistence are the least relevant to the work we do.

> the usual water you get from tap
> ain't pure, it has all kinds of particels within it, including metal
> ones. I'd *guess* the rainwater hasn't got as much metal particels as
> the water already on the ground and doesn't lead electricity as well.

I would suggest that the ionic compounds disolved in tap water have a 
*much* more significant effect than any hypothetical "metal particles" 
it may contain...

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scott <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:
> > Come to think of it, why doesn't rain short out power cables?

> Because air with rain in it is still an insulator?

  Ok, there's definitely something here I'm seriously not understanding.

  What does rain or water have *anything* to do shorting out power cables?
I don't get it.

  Heck, there are power cables at the bottom of the sea. So what? What does
that have to do with anything?

  It feels like everybody is writing like power cables were bare metal wires
with nothing covering them. Why?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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