Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 October 5

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October 5

socks

Can socks protect agains spider and centipede bites/stings?Accdude92 (talk) (sign) 13:24, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Thick heavy ones, probably. But bugs can climb!Froggie34 (talk) 15:32, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

The usual advice for deterring ticks is to tuck the bottoms of your slacks/trousers into your socks and then frequently check your clothed legs for the little pests so that you can remove any before they climb to exposed skin. You could try the same technique for spiders and centipedes. Marco polo (talk) 16:17, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Froggie34 is right there. Thicker socks definitely can, but thin socks (and shirts and pants) won't do very much. Mosquitoes can easily get through a pair of dress socks or an athletic shirt, but I've been bitten through thick, wool socks. You do need to take precaution to protect more than just your ankles, though, since the two above me say bugs will climb to other, exposed parts of your body. ~ Amory (u • t • c) 17:15, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Centipedes and spiders can't usually fly though (they can climb)... Of course you may run into spider webs hanging from trees etc but I'm not particularly sure whether mosquitoes are a great comparison for spiders/centipedes Nil Einne (talk) 18:44, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Socks are very good against spiders if you put a billiard ball in them and get a good swing. DJ Clayworth (talk) 18:16, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Rijeka Crnojevica

Hello! Is it anyone who knows the real name of this peninsula close to Rijeka Crnojevica, Montenegro?

Thanks!

Perolinka (talk) 15:46, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Would it have a different name from the hill? That appears to be named "Pavlova Strana", although sources seem to vary on whether that refers to the hill, the viewpoint or the entire view. Warofdreams talk 22:56, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

It's the name of the hill itself that i am after. Which source did you use? Perolinka (talk) 09:49, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

I searched for the phrase and found the Swedish language Wikipedia article. That has an image of the view which is captioned as including the east side of Pavlova Strana. I then searched for the term "Pavlova Strana", and the resulting Google hits suggested that this was indeed the name of the hill. Warofdreams talk 10:35, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

I've also seen the few google hits that maybe confirms it. I have written the article on swedish wikipedia;) Perolinka (talk) 10:38, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Iphone touchscreen

Why will it pick up your finger, but not a pencil or other stylus?Accdude92 (talk) (sign) 16:16, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

The screen uses electrical conductivity (http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10152_102-0.html?threadID=274261), which your finger has, but pencils lack. Marco polo (talk) 16:20, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

How about when you just blow on the screen like with the Nintendo DS?Popcorn II (talk) 14:14, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Do you blow on the screen? I thought there was a microphone that picked up the blowing rather than the touch screen. --Tango (talk) 14:44, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, you can blow it in different directions. There's a game where a puppy chases bubbles that you blow.Popcorn II (talk) 21:26, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

I fail to see how a touchscreen can detect air blowing in different directions. There's a microphone below the touchscreen, and as Tango did I thought the mike recorded the noise your blowing makes, which causes something to happen in-game. Mario Kart DS comes to mind (you inflate balloons). Xenon54 / talk / 21:30, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

I can't see it either. Sure, it's possible to do it if you really want to, but it would make the touch screen so sensitive as to be impossible to use (a slight breeze and everything goes wrong). --Tango (talk) 05:08, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

You're thinking of Nintendogs. You can't control the direction of the bubbles. They just come out. It's absolutely the microphone that detects the blowing. APL (talk) 13:32, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

It might also be associated with capacitance: Touch_screen#Technologies —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hacky (talk • contribs) 04:17, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

lubricant

does the usage of oils,creams or other lubricants over penis shaft cause any damage in long/short run or any other health risk? which is the safest lubricant to use?

We are not able to give medical advice on the Reference Desk. Please check with a professional, such as a pharmacist or physician. Marco polo (talk) 18:38, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Also, keep in mind most lubricants (the good ones, anyway) are water-based. ~ Amory (u • t • c) 18:41, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Without offering medical advice, I will also point out that oils and creams are incompatible with the use of a condom, because oils and creams can dissolve condoms and cause them to leak. Water-based lubricants are recommended for use with condoms. Marco polo (talk) 19:47, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

See personal lubricant. While Marco Polo is correct insofar as the majority of condoms are made of latex (i.e. rubber), some are made of polyurethane and can safely be used with oils. BrainyBabe (talk) 11:54, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Most lubricants should say if they are compatible with latex condoms. Many condoms will also say what sort of lubricants you shouldn't use with them Nil Einne (talk) 18:40, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Check Premature ejaculation. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 19:12, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

A funky-tasting film inside of a steel bottle

Plastic bottles are a no-go these days, amirite? So, to be a little more environmentally conscious (as well as help out some girls in my class, as this was their project), I bought a stainless steel bottle. Ah, the taste of (vitamin) water from this bottle after a hard run was majestic. However, I made the poor choice of not washing this bottle out after every single use. What was going through my head? No idea. At some point, a strange black film appeared on the inside, up to the level where I normally filled it up. This film was a little coarse to the touch, and didn't seem ready to come off any time soon. Repeated washings later, and it's still there. I could just ignore it, but this film gives everything inside a bit of a funky taste. Does anyone know the exact nature of this film, and/or how to get rid of it? Thanks!--The Ninth Bright Shiner 22:18, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Such a well written question. There should be an award for such eloquence. From the minimal browsing I've done, I conjecture it might be a combination of calcium deposits & mould (or mold, in your parlance). A remedy appears to be washing with warm water and white wine vinegar. You may by now know that stainless steel and chloride-containing detergents do not mix at all well - a chemist will be along shortly to tell us why - and so dishwashers and your more esoteric cleaning agents are to be avoided. --Tagishsimon (talk) 22:48, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Why thank you, good sir/madam! I try to make my questions more than dull demands for answers. You've quite the articulate prose yourself! Although "esoteric" caught me off guard. From what I could gather from its definitions, that would mean...specialized cleaners?

Fluency of language aside, I don't have any white wine vinegar in the arsenal, but I'll keep that in mind. My mother previously let water and...denture tablets, I believe, soak inside the bottle. I think the film was a little diminished after that, but it was only a five-minute soak. We're repeating that, but letting it soak overnight. Any other ideas?--The Ninth Bright Shiner 23:52, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

The principle would be something that dissolves calcium. Possibly Coca-Cola, since it, too, is acidic - although for all I know the sugar will feed the supposed mould. Coke seems to do well at cleaning up coins, though. Elsewhere I've found advice on the use of a toothpaste-consistency mix of baking soda and water, liberally applied to marked surfaces, but this sounds impractical for the innards of a bottle and might be useless in the face of supposed calcium. (Some) denture tablets appear to have sulfamic acid as an ingredient, so you're possibly on the right track there: but the devil may be in the concentration of the acidic solution. A longer soak seems sensible, but if it fails, put white wine vinegar on the shopping list. Your take on specialized cleaners is spot-on. Since there is a school connection, perhaps you have a sufficiently enthusiastic chemistry teacher or lab technician who might take on the cleaning as a practical science project - stainless must not be unknown to such people? Frankly taking all elements of the saga into consideration - the environmental concern, anatomical science, chemistry and possibly biology, not to mention information research, human perception etc. - the whole thing should be written up and taught as some sort of multi-syllabus course to the younger year-groups in your school. Possibly. --Tagishsimon (talk) 00:25, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

You're partially right about plastic water bottles. There has been a recent controversy over BPA in the plastic of those bottles. Common makers of plastic bottles include Nalgene. Although, once BPA was demonized for causing cancer, Nalgene and many other companies started making BPA-free bottles. Meanwhile, the market for metal bottles boomed due to everyone switching from their plastic to metal. For a while, Sigg claimed that their bottles were BPA-free. Although, recently it's come out that inside Sigg bottles, there is a thin coating of plastic and this plastic contains BPA. Sigg has now moved to a BPA-free coating for their bottles. If you do a search for "BPA water bottle" on Google News, you'll pull up plenty of articles about this, like this for one. Dismas|^(talk) 02:38, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Unless it would cause issues with the steel, I would try washing it with bleach, and then rinsing it VERY well several times. Mould does not hold up to bleach well. Falconus^{p t c} 03:48, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Bleach is exactly what you should NOT use, according to every stainless steel bottle vendor site I visited last night. No details on why, and no wandering chemist to help us yet, but I think we have to discount this as a method. --Tagishsimon (talk) 11:14, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

I prefer a mechanical rather than a chemical solution. For glass and plastic bottles, I use hard rice and shake for a long time. For stainless steel, you could always use sharp sand if the problem is severe. Bleach might kill the fungus, but it will leave a surface on which fungus can grow again, and bleach products will taste for weeks afterwards! Dbfirs 10:55, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

As a general rule, I never put bleach in anything that I intend on eating or drinking from ever again. Dismas|^(talk) 12:24, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

And if you leave the bleach in the bottle for a prolonged period, it will rust. Boiling water will kill the mould, but leave the scum most likely. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:20, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Victoly!

Thanks for the oodles of advice and idle chatter, everyone. But it turns out you were all ultimately useless. ;-) But that sounds mean, doesn't it? I'm sorry.

After the night-long soaking with denture tablets, the mold was all but gone. There was still some visible residue, but I hardly detected a difference it taste. And yet, it still felt iffy. So a wondrous analogy came upon me: if you use a household cleaner on just about anything, what do you do? Usually, you have to wipe it away afterward; few cleaners can dissolve a stain to death. I got a paper towel and folded it up, then wiped the inside surface as far as my finger could reach. Lo and behold, a gnasty black stain on the paper towel. Stabbing some long, pointy utensils through folded-up paper towels got almost everything else off. If ever I'm naggy enough to want it completely clean, I'll remember all of your advice. Thanks everyone!--The Ninth Bright Shiner 00:59, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

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