The Straight Dope 08/22/2003

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The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 08/22/2003

Dear Cecil:

Is nymphomania a recognized medical condition, 
and, if so, what is its definition? 
--J., via the Internet  

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Cecil replies:

Much of this column's male readership is now thinking: 
Gosh, Unca Cecil, can I help with the research? Down,
boys. The nymphomaniac of legend was probably best
defined by sex research pioneer Alfred Kinsey:
"someone who has more sex than you do." 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030822.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

I was lying awake the other night and started reading some
old science fiction by Heinlein, where he talks about
rotating space stations. The theory is that the station
spins and the centrifugal force creates pseudo-gravity.
Now I can see this working when you are in physical contact
with a surface but what happens if you are floating and they
impress a spin in the ship you are in, does everything else
experience "gravity" except you? What happens if you jump,
do you go back down or do you head up to the ceiling?
Questions like these do not help in a restless night.
--Steven, London, England 

SDSTAFF Chronos replies:

Spinning your space station will work (but of course!
Would Heinlein lie to you?), but it's not quite perfect.
To understand why, we need to go into the physics of
the matter.

The first thing to remember when you're doing a problem
like this is to remember what coordinate system you're
in. You can approach this from an inertial (non-rotating)
frame, or from a non- inertial frame that's rotating with
the space station. In the non-rotating frame you're not
experiencing acceleration; in the rotating frame you are.
The significance of this will become apparent in a moment. 

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

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 11/24/1978

Dear Cecil: 

How did they mass-produce those old-fashioned cylinder
records? A conventional molding press, like they use
for discs, would leave some sort of line where the two
halves met, which would show up as a click or thump
when the cylinder was played. How did they make 3-D
moldings of such accuracy in the 1890s? Or did the
artistes just make the same recording over and over
again? --Winfield S., Chicago 

Dear Winfield: 

They sure did, at least at the beginning. This is why
you didn't see a lot of albums selling 18 million
copies in 1887. The need for a cheap and easy method
of reproduction was one of the first problems the early
recording industry faced, and the problem you describe
was one of the reasons why cylinders lost out to discs
as the principal recording medium.  In the very
beginning, of course, a little thing like a seam on the
recording surface didn't matter too much. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_256b.html

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