The Straight Dope 03/04/2005

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

You are subscribed as: [[email protected]]

To unsubscribe CLICK on the URL below this line:
mailto:[email protected]
If you can't "click" above, then send a blank email to:
[email protected]
____________________________________________
THE STRAIGHT DOPE 03/04/2005

Dear Cecil:

Last night someone mentioned that once you are inside a fridge and have
closed the door, it is impossible to open the door from the inside.
Apparently this has to do with the pressure difference or some such
nonsense. To me, it looks like one commits this impossibility every time
the fridge door is opened from the outside. So, Cecil, before I empty
the salad from my fridge and venture inside myself, can you tell me if I
will make it out alive, or if my chilled corpse will disturb those
looking for a glass of milk? --calum, via e-mail

~~~~~~
Looking for the perfect gift for that wedding, birthday,
or bar mitzvah? Straight Dope books are the very thing! See
http://www.straightdope.com/store.html
~~~~~~

Cecil replies:

Well, let's see. Here we are, Spitz and Fisher's Medicolegal
Investigation of Death (1993). On page 486 we find a photo of "three
[dead] children [who] were discovered in a discarded refrigerator in an
unused garage two days after having been reported missing by their
parents." Their corpses appear to be room temperature, not chilled, but
would definitely disturb anyone seeking a glass of milk, I'd say, and
most likely so would yours.

Although the story has obviously gotten a little garbled over the years,
refrigerators manufactured prior to 1958 were potential death traps . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050304.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

I've always been puzzled by escape velocity. It always seemed to me that
what one really needed was escape acceleration, which seems to me to be
anything greater than 9.81 meters per second squared. If an object
(rocket, meditating yogi, etc.) could maintain a constant acceleration
of 10 meters per second squared for an indefinite period of time,
wouldn't that result in something like an escape from the Earth's
atmosphere? (I'm assuming of course that I don't need to worry about
fuel for thrust or air density for lift.) Is a slow ascent into space
just impossible on some level? --Ehren Gresehover, Brooklyn, NY

SDSTAFF Chronos replies:

You're correct that you could, in principle, leave the Earth at any
speed. In fact, you don't even need any particular acceleration,
relative to the Earth: You do need to exert a force to counter gravity
equal to 9.8 m/s2 times your mass, but then, you need to do that anyway
to keep from falling through your chair. If you had a ladder into space
(hey, don't laugh--it's seriously being considered, if we can make the
materials strong enough), you could climb up it at whatever leisurely
pace you'd like.

So what is escape speed all about, then?

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mescapevelocity.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 04/05/1985

Dear Cecil: 

During the 1960s, much was made of the impact of hallucinogenic drugs,
notably LSD, on the genetic makeup of human beings. It was suggested
that these drugs would cause users to subsequently produce deformed
offspring. Now that the drug-abusing youngsters of the 60s have matured
and presumably procreated on a wholesale basis, one might conclude that
a good statistical population exists to test this horrifying theory. But
little now is heard of the genetic effects of drug use. Is there, and
was there ever, any truth to the allegations? -- Anthony B., Chicago 

Cecil replies:  

Put your drug-sodden mind at ease, Tonio--the notion that acid causes
birth defects was thoroughly discredited years ago. The controversy
started in 1967 when New York geneticist Maimon Cohen published
a paper claiming he'd found an unusually high number of broken
chromosomes in a 57-year- old man who'd been given LSD as part of a
hospital therapy. Cohen also found that human cells dosed with LSD in a
test tube showed significant chromosome damage. Not long afterward,
another study said that street acid users were found to have scrambled
genes in alarming numbers. These reports got big play in the media and
soon everybody "knew" that if you did acid your children would be born
looking like kumquats.  

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_230.html

____________________________________________
Here's how you can get your OWN FREE Subscription:
Send a blank mailto:[email protected]
____________________________________________
Copyright 1995 - 2005 Chicago Reader, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
You may forward this document by email ONLY if you
include the entire document INCLUDING the information
at the bottom of this publication
____________________________________________
Visit our good friends at Joke A Day
http://www.jokeaday.com
They're kind enough to mail THE STRAIGHT DOPE for us.
Join the World's Largest Daily Humor List and receive
daily laughs in your email by sending mailto:[email protected]