And the Winner Is...DadTheDude

Congratulations to DadeTheDude for winning the PlancksPost "You Pick It" contest...even if it was by default. Enjoy your 500ec credits, hope you are able to advertise on some awesome blog now!!! So, here are the answers to your questions:

#3 Why can’t you recycle pizza boxes?

I have to admit, I have never heard of this before. I have always recycled pizza boxes but apparently you’re not supposed to.
The same thing that is bad for us is also bad for the environment, …the grease! You can’t recycle cardboard soaked in grease!
When cardboard is recycled its mixed with water and turned into a slurry. If some asshole, like me, puts a grease soaked pizza box into the mix then a layer of oil forms at the top of the slurry like gas on water. Well, once you’ve got oil in the slurry the whole recycling process needs to be stopped and the machine needs to be cleaned. You end up wasting all off the recycled material and slowing up the next batch…thanks Mr. Planck…ASSHOLE!!!
From what I understand though you can feel free to rip the top of the box off and recycle that.

#2 Why are roof tiles rough and bumpy? Wouldn’t it make more sense if they were slick so the rain/snow would slide off?

What a strange question…but I wouldn’t expect anything else from the dude. I guess to try and attempt to answer this question we need to look at what shingles do and why they are made the way they are.
Shingles protect the structure of the roof. They keep the rain and sun off the wood and protect it. Most shingles are asphalt which is either use a fiberglass mat or an organic mat made of mostly cellulose-fiber and then have a thick tar applied to them and are then topped with rough asphalt granules that reflect and dissipate heat as well as provide protection for the shingle from the things like wind and fire. These shingles are so prevalent because they are cheap to make, easy to work with, and provide great protection while having good durability.
There are smooth roofs out there like metal roofs that are made from aluminum and steel that are quickly gaining popularity due to their resistance to fire, speed and ease of installation, and expected longevity. As far as I could tell the idea of using these metal roofs to keep snow from building up is not an important feature as compared to cost, resilience, and ease of installation. If you have a chance to build a house I would recommend a high pitched roof as the most effective way to prevent snow build up!

#1 If I toss a ball high enough into the air and waited 24 hours … would I be able to catch it?

Ok, so this one I'll be happy to admit gave me a headache...thank god for scotch! The simple answer to this question is yes it is possible but no, it's not likely. As a former Marine sniper you understand the complexities of projectile motion...now multiply that by a million! First you can't throw it straight up because the speed you would have to throw it at for it to stay up 24 hours far exceeds Earth's escape velocity. With that being said your best bet is some kind of shallow elliptical orbit that will decay just in time to fall back to the original starting position.
Now think about this for a minute...when talking about orbits you have to bring into account the rotation of the Earth which spins at different speeds at different latitudes because of the different circumferences...at the poles the spin is almost non-existent, and the equator you have the max spin at about 1000mph. Around the DFW area you are looking at about 800mph. Then, what direction are you going to throw it? That will determine if the Earth is spinning with the motion of the ball or against it. What are the winds doing at different altitudes and because its a shallow orbit the ball will probably dip into the atmosphere a few times before it hits your glove and incinerates your hand.

Hate to say it but the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon will probably even come into effect on this one, hell, even the solar wind. With the Apollo missions and the shuttle missions they have thrust they can use to make course corrections to make up for these but the angle and the velocity you launch the ball with will have to be perfect...so like I said...if you were able to nail down every variable it would be possible, but highly unlikely!

Thanks for the questions Dude!



Bella,...not sure about Emeril...those crazy Italians are so unpredictable!

YOU PICK IT..!!!

I got home tonight and had a conference call with Japan for work. I don't have to talk much so I was getting sloshed on a nice 12 year old scotch. I just realized that I have not had any dinner so I slammed down some sun flower seeds and deer jerky and washed it down with...you guessed it...MORE SCOTCH!!!!

I have been thinking of things to write about for the past two weeks. I'm sure you can tell due to the poop post and the one before it...admittedly not my best work!

So I need your help...give me some worthless piece of knowledge you'd like me to write about! You pick the topic and post it in the comment section below and I'll do the research and tell you what you want to know.

I'll do the judging Saturday night (because, yes, I'm a looser) and post the winner Sunday. If you are using EntreCard, the winner will get 500ec credits!

So, go think of something...I'm going to get shit faced and play XBox...HAPPY THURSDAY!!!!

Worthless Knowledge of the Week...Check This Shit Out...!

Your sitting there reading your favorite blog when all of a sudden it hits...that pressure in your lower belly. First it's just uncomfortable but almost before you can get to the end of the next sentence it's painful. Nope, can't wait, you have to go shit!
You sit there for minutes and grunt, push, and sweat your way to a satisfying, comfortable calm. When its all done you have to check out what your hard work was all about. WTF!!! I don't remember eating that, why is it that color, why did it sink straight to the bottom, and WTF is that smell...? My friends, read on, all your questions will be answered as we explore what this shit's all about!

So, you're poop is made up of almost equal parts water, dead bacteria, and non-digestible foods like fiber. Of course the proportions are widely variable, diarrhea obviously has much more water.

The digestive process is done by bacteria and produces gases like sulfur and other nitrogen rich compounds that cause it to stink.

The color has a lot to do with what you eat...or don't eat. The normal brown color comes from iron in the form of bilirubin, which is a by product from the breakdown of red blood cells. If you don't eat as much (such as in a diet) you don't break down as many red blood cells so your stuff can be more yellow. If you are eating a lot of leafy greens then,...you guessed it, it will be green. If your poop is black, you probably need to see a doctor because that can be from partially digested blood. It could also be from some constipation, the longer you wait between shits, the darker and dryer it gets.

If your poop has a high gas or fat content it may float, otherwise, it sinks.

Now for the coup de grace...THE CORN PHENOMENON!
So why does corn always show up in your shit like it just came out of the can? The best answer to this that I've seen is that the outer coating is made almost entirely of cellulose which is fiber and hence indigestible.

Alright, I'm about sick of this shit...I'm out of here!

American Glutony

It's been a pretty busy week and I'm about to go on vacation so I'll make this a quick little anecdotal quip about my recent surge into what I like to call...American Gluttony!

So, as we are all totally aware, gas prices hit an all time high this summer. Many people went screaming to the dealerships trying to give away their pick-ups and SUV's in favor of some hybrid smart car that runs on left over bean burritos...and what was I doing as gas jumped over $4 a gallon. I traded in my 2002 Trans Am WS6. I felt the pinch to...I needed something that got better gas mileage so I bought a new Vette!

Last night, with the thought of Obama taking office, I realized that another American icon may be at risk...the assault rifle, so I went and bought an AR-15 (civilian version of the M16). Now I'm not some right wing Neo-Nazi, or backwoods hillbilly that goes home to my compound every night. This is something that I'll probably take to the range 3 or 4 times a year and put $50 worth of rounds through it for fun.

This I will tell you people, as I walked out of that gun shop carrying an AR-15 with two 30 round magazines and got into my 400hp Corvette a single tear of American pride rolled down my cheek and I could swear I heard the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background! America is Beautiful!

Worthless knowledge of the Week!

Hopefully you all know that the sun is a star. Other than the fact that its our star there is really nothing special about it...it's an average star. That's not really trivia you can throw out at parties to amaze and wow people so let's look at VY Canis Majoris (you'll have to excuse scientists...there is so much shit to name they don't get very original).


This star is located about 5000 light years away from Earth meaning that even traveling at the speed of light it would take 5000 years to get there. It is the largest and brightest star we know of. It's so big that if you placed it where the sun is then it's surface would be at the orbit of Saturn. It takes about 8 minutes for light from the sun to reach Earth...it would take up to 8 hours for light to travel the width of this beast!

There, now go forward and spread this worthless knowledge and enlighten the world!

It's a long shot...

The Military Sniper is often associated with a certain reverence and awe, most likely due to the pure skill it takes to accomplish their mission. While most fighting units face the enemy in force these elite soldiers go out to face the enemy with only 2 men…and only one of them shoots. One shot, One kill is their motto. From over a mile away they aim for what is known as the apricot, which is actually the part of the brain where it connects to the brain stem in the back of the head. One shot here will immediately disable your target, meaning they will instantly collapse without any type of reflex.

All of this sounds great but, I’m sure to the dismay of many snipers, their job is much more mundane than going out and taking down entire army’s single handedly. Snipers are often used as scouts for reconnaissance because of their excellent attention to detail and also their skills in being close to the enemy while remaining undetected. But that part is not near as fun to blog about…so let’s talk about the skill it takes to pull of a great shot.

The longest range shot recorded for a sniper kill is currently held by Corporal Rob Furlong. Corporal Furlong used a McMillan TAC-50 bolt-action rifle to make a kill at 1.51 miles! Not bad for a Canadian...thought they just had a bunch of guys with hockey sticks as their army...just kidding Rob...Hold your fire. So let's look at the pure skill Corporal Furlong had to employ to make this shot before my office fills with a pink mist from my head.


First is the gravity. A bullet in flight has the same pull from gravity as a bullet you just drop from your hand meaning that if you dropped a bullet from your hand at the exact moment one was fired from a gun (parallel to the ground of course) they would both hit the ground at the same time assuming your hand and the gun were at the same height off the ground. So for the Tac-50, which has a muzzle velocity of 2,700 ft/s, the bullet that Corporal Furlong fired would have been airborne for almost 3 seconds before it hit its target. That means the bullet would have dropped 144ft due to gravity in that time which basically accounts for lifting the barrel of the gun up 1 degree. If 1 degree could mean 144ft one way or the other you start to get an idea of the precision that it takes to pull off a shot like this...!!!

I am neglecting air resistance too! Now imagine that calculation with the wind blowing towards you or away from you if you're lucky but try and calculate it if it's a cross wind or even worse blowing at some angle (both towards you and to the right for instance). If you had a 3mph wind blowing from left to right then it would cause the bullet to move almost 4.5ft to the right in 3 seconds.

Curvature of the Earth is also something to consider. Unless you're still using leeches to bleed out the demons when you get a headache you know the Earth is not flat but is a sphere. For the distance Corporal Furlong shot the Earth curved 1.5 feet...when your aiming for something the size of, well, of an apricot, from 1.5 miles away...that's a BIG deal!

Spin of the Earth can also come into the equation but I'm not going to F with it...I've reached (and probably surpassed) the limits of my mathamatical abilities for the day. But the Earth spins about about 1500ft/s. The Atmosphere is not rigidly attached to the planet so it rotates at a different speed...you get the idea...hope so...my Mountain Dew has worn off and I really need to get some work done today.

Bad Mushrooms

I'm sure that we've all seen the videos of atomic and nuclear weapons tests and we're all familiar with that distinct mushroom cloud associated with them. Ever wonder what causes the mushroom cloud? I did.

A mushroom cloud can be created by any large explosion, not just nuclear ones. In fact volcanoes often form these clouds. What happens is a large explosion causes a great amount of heat. The heated air from the explosion is less dense than the surrounding air so it rises just like a hot air balloon would. This forms the shaft of the cloud.

Once the heated air reaches an altitude where the surrounding air is as thin as it is then it begins to expand and dissipate, this is the mushroom part.