Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 March 21

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March 21

Is it bad to run too long?

For example running for more than an hour? I heard somewhere that it is bad to run for more than 45 minutes because your body will burn your muscles for energy.--75.187.113.105 (talk) 00:13, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Ask a doctor or personal trainer. It almost certainly varies from person to person and also on the exact nature of the running you are doing. I can tell you that the body will use muscles for energy if it needs to, but only if it runs out of other sources (from food, primarily). As long as you eat enough, your body being forced to metabolise your muscles won't be a problem, but there are other ways too much exercise can harm you. A personal trainer will be able to prepare a training routine for you that will help you achieve whatever your goals are without harming you. We can't do that for you here, though. --Tango (talk) 00:23, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

See Aerobic exercise, in particular the diagram File:Exercise zones.png. A runner within the "weight control" zone will burn primarily fat. A runner within the "aerobic" zone will get calories from wherever possible as quick as possible, including by cannibalizing muscle, which is why marathon runners, who are already stick thin, eat carbohydrate "goo" as they run in competitions. Fitness levels, as measured by VO2 max, vary wildly from person to person, and someone who doesn't exercise may be at their VO2 max and collapsing at a pace that a trained runner considers to be a warm-up and can easily maintain over an hour. Like Tango says above, nobody on this board is qualified to give you medical advice so you should talk to a fitness or health care professional before starting an exercise regime. - BanyanTree 05:57, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

To answer the title, the answer is yes. No matter what sort of runner you are and what sort of fitness level you have, I think most people would agree that you can run for so long that you will eventually bring harm to yourself (persuming you have the will power to force yourself to run for so long). But for some people this could be more then an hour. As the posters above have said, if you are planning to do this yourself, you need to consult a professional to find out what the best and safest regime for you is. Nil Einne (talk) 08:25, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

• The title says it all, pretty much anything is bad when it's not done in moderation. So running for too long is bad. Whether 45 minutes is bad for you personally, is something I can't possibly know, but with the right diet and training, it would be quite easy to stop your muscles from being burned. First to go is sugar and other carbohydrates (hence marathon runners eating candy bars and drinking sugary drinks), then comes your fat. Only after the fat is burned off will your body continue to burn muscles. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:28, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm still confused. Banyan says that whenever you are in the "weight control" zone you will burn mostly fat and whenever you are in the "aerobic" zone, you are also burning muscle. Whereas mgm says only after the fat is completely gone will your body start to eat the muscle. I have a little bit of fat on me, does that mean I don't need to eat very much before I run? Since even if I do get hungry all my body is doing is getting rid of fat? And another question, what other risks are there for running too long? I can understand doing anything is bad when it's done too much but like more specifically what risks are there?--75.187.113.105 (talk) 23:02, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

You don't want to completely run out of fat, that is very bad - it serves more purposes than just an energy reserve. I don't think there is a simple cutoff where your body stops using fat and starts using muscle. Other harm running can cause includes pulling muscles and injuring joints (particularly ankles and knees). You really need to see a professional to get a good training regime put together for you, there is very little we can do for help. --Tango (talk) 23:58, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

mumbling

what does it mean when one falls asleep, yet awakes immediately due to his mumbling, resulting in him no falling asleep?--Shacky1 (talk) 05:27, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

It generally means that one has lived chastely until one´s nuptional night and belatedly discovers important details of the partner´s idiosyncracies. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 16:30, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Unless one has married oneself, I don't think you're on the right track. – 74  14:46, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

It is possible for one to snore loudly enough to wake oneself; presumably mumbling might work with a particularly light sleep. I would expect, however, that a lack of sleep would eventually lead to a deep sleep no mumble could interrupt. – 74  14:46, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Writing done on acid

Are any samples available online of unedited writing that was done entirely under the influence of LSD, particularly about the trip? (There doesn't seem to be such a category in the Erowid LSD vault.) NeonMerlin 06:26, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

I have a book by Hunter S. Thompson called Screw-Jack (1991) which seems to come pretty darn close to your description, though, in this case, it's entirely possible that it was deliberately written in that "style", as opposed to while actually under the influence. --Ericdn (talk) 22:44, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Lots of Hunter S. Thompson's books were influenced by his use of drugs; including the fantastic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, though again this was largely fictionalized and probably written at least part-ways sober. The problem with finding "unedited" writing while on acid is that published books tend not to go unedited; and books only tend to get published if the story is somewhat interesting, not merely out of the novelty (hey, buy this book, it was written on ACID, and no one changed a WORD!) of their composition. Still, if you want a few fragments of things written on acid, there's I Am the Walrus; parts of the lyrics were written by John Lennon of the course of several different "trips". --Jayron32.talk.contribs 01:57, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

And, of course, it wasn't acid but opium, but the poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge was written about tripping balls as well... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 01:59, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm not talking about entire books. I'm talking about what can be done in one session. And I don't mean that it necessarily has to be put onto the medium by the user; something that was dictated but not read would also do. NeonMerlin 05:11, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

William Burroughs' use of drugs heavily influenced his writing, Naked Lunch in particular. Astronaut (talk) 15:34, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

'help" done thank you

to: DJ CLAYWORTH/TAGISHIMON. THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH.I don't know you and you don't know me as well but people like you is worth to be thank for, i appreciate it very much,esp this wikipedia, this is a great organization i can say.... "help" is done already. Thank you so much. -aim philippines.- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.87.198.94 (talk) 08:21, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Mystery Object

This object was photographed in a cemetery in Paris. Any idea what its function might be? One suggestion was that it is used to push cobblestones (like the ones it's standing on) into the ground. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 10:55, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

It's for picking up large slabs of stone-- see the pincers at the base? Rhinoracer (talk) 12:54, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

As RR states above, these are tools to lift / put curbstones (they are used in a cemetery as edging for the grave proper / seen in the background of the image) into place. You sometimes see them used in normal road maintenance work by the council. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 16:34, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

It's used to clamp onto the heads of zombies, as they rise out of their graves to feast on the brains of the living, to keep their mouths from being able to bite our heads. :-) StuRat (talk) 05:44, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich question

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich are not a common thing here in Sweden, and the articles didn't specify so I thought I'd ask here. What kind of jam is the usual used in the USA, Canada or other places where this spread is common. I just tried strawberry jam and I thought it mixed pretty well, and the pictures in the article seems to be with a red jam, so which are the common flavours? chandler · 21:33, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Grape, I think, it the main. Strawberry and raspberry are also common. In the US, though, we usually use jelly instead of jam. --Moni3 (talk) 21:38, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, grape, I don't even know if they sell that here (can't remember ever seeing it) :D, on jelly/jam as the term Jelly seems to translate into Swedish "gelé", and those are less sweet and more in flavours like blackcurrant and usually used as a side to meat dishes. So I don't think I even would be able to find sweet fruit jelly. Here for sandwiches it's more common with marmalade or jam. But thanks for the answer, might see some grape jelly/jam in the store sometime and try it out. chandler · 21:49, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Blackcurrant jelly isn't sweet? That's -- a bit surprising.

Anyway I don't really agree with Moni3 that "in the US we usually use jelly instead of jam"; that's a matter of taste. I always preferred my PB&J's with a thick jam with lots of pulp. Also the peanut butter must be "natural-style"; this is 100% non-negotiable. All peanut butters other than natural-style are abominations. --Trovatore (talk) 21:53, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Well sweet and sweet, I mean, I'd say strawberry is sweeter. :) chandler · 21:56, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

No way. First of all, thick jam kicks jelly's ass. Second of all grape jelly is a characterless gimmick for little children. Strawberry is a close second and people use every other flavor of fruit under the sun with peanut butter in all their forms—jams, jellies, preserves, conserves, reserves, and spreads—such that probably even if grape is most common in a trailer park sort of way, it's used way less than half the time. Peanut butter and jelly is the most goddamn delicious substance in the universe and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise, let me at 'em. The only thing that pisses me off more than someone who dares to criticize peanut butter is the bastards who sell "unsalted" peanut butter. They might as well just spit directly on us and skip the innocent subterfuge.--70.19.64.161 (talk) 21:59, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Unsalted peanut butter takes getting used to, but once you do you'll realize it's actually very tasty, and of course it's much healthier.

I'm assuming of course that both the salted and unsalted versions are natural-style. Any peanut butter other than natural-style is basically petroleum sludge. It has no taste of peanut. Might as well eat cat puke. --Trovatore (talk) 22:05, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

In all seriousness, there is no "getting used" to unsalted peanut butter. There are a few people with very unusual senses of taste who actually prefer certain things in (or removed) from foods that the vast majority of people do not, but they are the exception to the rule. Many people like mayonnaise and most people will not like no fat mayonnaise and there is nothing you are going to do to change that; most people will prefer a prime, aged porterhouse (oh my god I'm making myself hungry) to a chuck steak, and there is nothing you are going to do to change that... well the examples are infinite. Many foods do not taste good or are extremely debilitated in flavor by the removal of salt. Bread, for example, tastes flat and industrial without salt; believe it or not, ice cream without any salt in it (yes I make my own and have occassionally forgotten) is insipid and the same is true of many other foods. There's a reason why salt was the equivalent of money and worth more than gold at one time. Peanut butter without salt is something some very tiny percentage of people may prefer, just as there's some that love lutefisk, but you don't get used to it. If you fed most people unsalted peanut butter every day for a million years and then gave them salted peanut butter back, they'd lick your feet. You don't get used to things that do not tatse as good. And sorry, but it's absolute nonsense that "it's much healthier". If you stop eating salt you will quickly shuffle right off this mortal coil (death). We have been brainwashed and brainwashed to hear "salt=bad". Wrong. Like most things, far too much salt is very bad for you. Water also will kill you in overdoses. It's true that many people who eat lots of processed foods may get too much salt in their diet. But please never again say the no salt variety is "[superlative] healthier". Oh, and I completely agree with you on the natural, but make sure it's salted!—70.19.64.161 (talk) 22:58, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

The thing is that excessive amounts of salt in the diet isn't good - but you need SOME salt. I buy unsalted and add salt as needed. That way you get to decide how much rather than have some faceless conglomorate do it for you. But then I'm weird. I don't like PB&J but I'm rather fond of peanut butter and ketchup sandwiches. (Don't say "Yuck" until you've tried it.) SteveBaker (talk) 01:10, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

I've never cared for ketchup at all. Mostly I think it's far too sweet. Maybe if I thought of it as "tomato jam" to put on peanut butter sandwiches, as opposed to a condiment for veggie burgers, it might make more sense. --Trovatore (talk) 04:33, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Processed food contains so much salt that most people don't need to worry about not getting enough salt in their diet. If you eat nothing but salad, you might get in some trouble, but that's about it. --Tango (talk) 01:14, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Actually most greens taste pretty salty to me. I think they're grown in fairly saline soil. Like around here, most of our lettuce comes from the general area of Salinas I think, the name of which should be a clue.

I stand by my statement that unsalted peanut butter is healthier. For people who don't already get too much salt in their general diet, that might not be true. But such people are essentially nonexistent in modern industrialized countries. --Trovatore (talk) 10:53, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

OR: Our neighbor was sent to hospital last year with what the paramedics thought was a heart attack. She was found to have eaten too little salt and now has a diet plan with recommended doses. Her doc commented it's like with obesety and annorexia, you get people at both extremes of the spread. 76.97.245.5 (talk) 14:07, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Skip the jelly and use sliced, ripe bananas instead. Elvis got fat off of this, after all. StuRat (talk) 05:40, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Actually, what made him fat is the accompaniment of many slices of bacon, honey, and God-knows-what-else that I can't remember from watching on the Travel Channel. And the sandwiches were HUGE. --Whip it! ^{Now whip it good!} 06:23, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Peanut butter and butter sandwiches are clearly superior, anyway. Adam Bishop (talk) 07:57, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

If OP lives in Europe then getting "real" peanut butter may not be as easy as just grabbing the respective jar off the shelf. OR In some countries in Europe it's much harder to find to begin with and some brand's I tried only said "peanut" on the label according to our taste buds. We ended up getting a food processor thingy and making our own. You can also make your own jelly and it's not that difficult. Just get some juice. Microwave at high till it starts to boil, stir in some sv:Pektin, microwave at medium in 2 min. intervals stirring after each lag. Chill in the fridge, or put in the freezer for a couple of minutes and then in the fridge if you are really in a hurry. 76.97.245.5 (talk) 14:07, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

I don't think we are talking about preferences. We are talking about quintessentiality. That requires grape jelly paired with peanut butter -- salted or unsalted, natural or petroleum sludge. This is by the way a USA-centric answer. Bus stop (talk) 14:24, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

I really don't understand the stuff about sweet jams and not being available in Europe. I've spent plenty of time in Europe and they have jam and excellent jam at that. In fact, I have often often bought jam in the U.S. that is made in Europe and it appears to me to be made in various countries, not just one.—70.19.64.161 (talk) 15:03, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

We in the USA specialize in the traffic jam. Bus stop (talk) 15:22, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

...and toe jam. StuRat (talk) 04:15, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

There are sweet jams, but from my experience jelly here is not the version of preserved fruit we use on pancakes, sandwiches, porridge etc. The jellies (jelly's?) are in more "adult" flavours like mint, and they're used in adult meals like Sautéed reindeer. chandler · 20:35, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Sautéed reindeer isn't available at my local McDonalds. Bus stop (talk) 23:53, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Try a McD's in Lapland. If they haven't added it to the menu yet, I'm sure it's on it's way. :-) StuRat (talk) 04:18, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

I believe the Finnish part of Lapland only has a single McDonald's, in Rovaniemi, and it's not on the menu there... and I figure the locals probably get plenty of reindeer without it being mangled by McDonald's, so I can't imagine it selling very well. ;) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 08:25, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Wow, everyone's an expert on this one! Really, don't frown upon SB's PB and ketchup as he said , until you've tried it. And as for Stu's PB and banana, take it one step further - PB and jelly and banana. As for the jelly vs jam vs marmalade controversy like many things in life it comes down to personal choice after years of experimentation it's been hard to find a PB and xyz sandwich that doesn't taste good! -hydnjo (talk) 16:43, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

I've never tried peanut butter and xyz, but peanut butter and honey is edible. My pet peeve is peanut butter and jelly on bread that has a hole clear though it. Bus stop (talk) 17:35, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

I vote for cherry preserves with natural peanut butter on home-made sourdough bread. Edison (talk) 19:12, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Don't forget that Elvis's favorite was fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. My own preference is peanut butter and dill pickle spears, but I also like peanut butter and bacon. Yum. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 19:15, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

WP:OR warning here... When I worked at a summer camp, we always got the grape jelly for our lunches. From what I recall, it was cheapest. To this day, I can't stand grape jelly because of that... But when in the store, I find that grape comes in larger jars than most and has the most shelf space. Strawberry comes second with raspberry coming in third. And I can never find raspberry in large jars, so I have to buy the smaller ones if I want that flavor for my PB&Js. Dismas|^(talk) 19:22, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Grape clearly has quintessentiality on its side. Bus stop (talk) 19:28, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Psh, forget PB&Js. Grilled cheese is where it's at. Not the traditional american/cheddar cheese on two pieces of toasted white bread though. I'm talking about buttering both outsides of your choice of bread (rye, pumpernickle, white, wheat, etc). Put mayonaise on both insides, and mustard on one of the insides. Then put a nice thick slice of provalone on one of the insides, and sprinkle it with some mozzarella strips. Next, Take a piece or two of thinly sliced ham and layer it over the cheese. Lastly, stick that sucker in the George Foreman and take out when it is golden-brown. YUM. --71.98.14.96 (talk) 21:35, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Now that we're talking obscure peanut butter combos, don't forget the raw garlic! Seriously, finely chop up a clove of garlic and sprinkle it onto peanut butter toast--Amazing!! 142.132.4.45 (talk) 23:24, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Some people prefer their maple syrup with salami. Bus stop (talk) 23:38, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

I have heard of ketchup sandwhiches, which is a layer of ketchup between 2 slices of bread. I have never seen anyone eat one of those, but if I did, I would probably vomit.65.121.141.34 (talk) 14:20, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

I eat my peas with honey,
I've done so all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny
But it keeps them on the knife.

(Just a piece of doggerel I like) Sam Blacketer (talk) 23:31, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Hehehe - Sam, don't you hate it when your wine bubbles up through your nose ;-) hydnjo (talk) 03:14, 27 March 2009 (UTC)