Tavern on the Meta

Journeyman Geek

12:01 AM

I use it to defrost our fridge quickly

Catija

Your fridge needs to be defrosted?

Journeyman Geek

Our old one had a good half inch of ice at the bottom

I think I was having a bad day and decided to do something about it....

Catija

Freezer?

May be a pedantic American thing, my tendency is to call the part we keep between 32 and 40 F the "fridge" and the part kept below 20F "freezer" specifically... so a fridge having ice in it would be odd.

Journeyman Geek

Ya. Freezer part of the fridge :p

I was referring to the machine as a whole

Catija

Ah.

Shog9

12:39 AM

defrosting my ancient deepfreeze was my project yesterday.

Got smart about it for once and picked up 10lbs of dry ice to pack on top of the coolers full of food

...then had to resist the urge to make bottle bombs with the leftovers

Journeyman Geek

That sounds impossible

Shog9

Dry ice bomb

A dry ice bomb is a simple explosive device. While its simplicity, ease of construction, high bursting pressure and sound make it appealing for recreational purposes, it can be unpredictable and dangerous, and it has led to many injuries. Dry ice bombs are illegal in many jurisdictions. == Overview == Dry ice bombs are commonly made from a container such as a plastic bottle, water and dry ice. The bottle is filled about one quarter full of water. Chunks of dry ice are added and the container is shut tightly. As the solid carbon dioxide warms, it sublimates to gas. With limited room for the gas...

As cool as that looks (har) I do have some respect for the neighbors, particularly the ones trying to sell their house right now

Sterling Archer

1:38 AM

@Shog9 for what it's worth for you and the mods, I'm sorry you had to deal with Tobiq, and @AaronHall thank for you the 24 hour reprieve.

Shog9

not a problem for me, looks like quite a bit for the SO mods

HDE 226868

@Shog9 . . . That's horrifying.

Sterling Archer

dry ice bombs were fun experiments in high school chemistry until the country started using them maliciously

now they're jail worthy

Catija

@Shog9 Oh, see... that's what @Undo needs today.

Shog9

...wow

Catija

1:53 AM

He was the one complaining about not having any explosions.

Robert Columbia

/me 's head asplode.

Sterling Archer

If you do experiment be safe, they can literally take fingers/hands off if the plastic bottle or container is more solid

Shog9

not to mention fast frostbite

Robert Columbia

Warning: Do not look into laser with remaining eye.

Sterling Archer

also yes

I think in my hometown kids would put them in mailboxes before people opened them and a lot of people got hurt. It was pretty bad

Catija

1:56 AM

... Eeesh, that sounds dangerous.

Sterling Archer

Extremely :(

Shog9

yeah... kids used to do that with foil & bleach

Catija

People who need their fingers probably shouldn't play with explosives.

Sterling Archer

I never heard that one -- I assume bleach reacts with aluminum?

Robert Columbia

Bleach does react with ammonia. Don't do that. Seriously, don't.

Sterling Archer

1:57 AM

That one was commonly taught in our schools

Catija

Foil and bleach? Maybe I should be glad I'm not coloring my hair any more.

Shog9

@SterlingArcher yeah. Kids are dumb.

Sterling Archer

I was horrible at chemistry. I set off the emergency shower 3 times, once by accident

Robert Columbia

lol

Shog9

@Catija only if you colored your hair in a ... wait, bleach?

Catija

1:58 AM

How do you think you make dark brown hair blonde?

Shog9

oh, right, h2o2

Sterling Archer

The worst was when I ripped my glove, and my hand touched this compound that just sucked moisture out of anything

Shog9

well, shoot, you can have a lot more fun with that

Robert Columbia

I remember the delightfully demented safety video we would have to watch every so often. Don't snap someone else's goggles (demo)!

HDE 226868

Isn't hydrogen peroxide used as rocket fuel sometimes?

Sterling Archer

1:59 AM

panicked, spilled the rest all over my shirt. teacher threw me under the chemical shower

Catija

@HDE226868 The first result Google gives me is from Quora, so I guess we'll never know. :P

Shog9

it's an oxidizer, but used at much higher concentrations

Robert Columbia

Well hydrogen peroxide is also an over-the-counter antiseptic.

Catija

Apparently it's this stuff: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-test_peroxide

HDE 226868

@Catija That was such a harsh burn it could have come from . . . at least one of these explosives.

Shog9

2:02 AM

17

A: Cleaning a round-bottom flask, especially after distillation

@Permeakra suggests some good cleaning solutions. I have rearranged them (adding a few) in a suggested order from mildest to most evil. The specific thing you want to use will vary based on what you want to clean. If an initial rinse isn't good enough, you may want to let it soak for a few hours....

More good fun

HDE 226868

@Catija Ooh, monopropellants are interesting.

Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog

2:49 AM

@Catija I can see you're participating in the internal chat rooms...

Shog9

slightly creepy

Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog

@Shog9 The fact that one has talked in a private chat room is publicly visible

Shog9

so's your house; still, greeting someone with "I see that you're home" might be... off-putting

just FYI

Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog

@Shog9 Just a joke

In that case, why not make the "last talked" only show the last time one has talked in a non-private chat room?

Journeyman Geek

@HDE226868 as an oxidiser IIRC

not as a fuel

Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog

2:53 AM

(public or gallery) @Shog9

Shog9

@SonictheInclusiveHedgehog I still kinda feel like you're missing the point.

Journeyman Geek

@SonictheInclusiveHedgehog cause most people are not going to go "hey, you talked in the secret room"

or even care. Or point out

and some folks may choose to spend time on public rather than private rooms.

Shog9

Again, imagine your phone is ringing. You answer it, and I exclaim in your ear, "hey Sonic, I see that you just walked into your kitchen!"

Possible solutions:
- Turn all the lights off in your house
- Buy blackout curtains
- Move to an undisclosed location
- Tell Shog to be slightly less creepy

Journeyman Geek

I am disappointed. No Foil? ;p

Shog9

fine.
- Put your phone in the microwave

Journeyman Geek

2:56 AM

Also, I totally want blackout curtains.

HDE 226868

@JourneymanGeek Mostly, but it can be used as a monopropellant - acting as fuel and oxidizer. But it's been a while since my aerospace geek phase, so I could be misremembering.

Catija

@SonictheInclusiveHedgehog There's a huge difference between the info being available and you commenting on it. And, I'll go so far as, when coupled with some of the personal questions/remarks you make in here, it makes me somewhat uncomfortable. I know that I'm not as private about my life as some people are... and I appreciate that you're interested in being friendly with me...

Journeyman Geek

@HDE226868 with a catalist.... maybe?

HDE 226868

@JourneymanGeek Dunno. Sounds like I have some reading in my future.

Shog9

Blackout curtains are great, except when they throw your sleep schedule off and you somehow sleep until 2PM

Journeyman Geek

2:57 AM

@Shog9 I have no sleep shedule. I work shifts

and tbh having my room dark as night at midday has a certain appeal...

Shog9

that's gotta suck

I did that for a short while

Catija

Also popular in extreme latitudes.

Shog9

never felt completely awake

Journeyman Geek

Its a job, and it pays money ;)

Shog9

yeah, that's why I did it too. Still, I missed feeling awake.

Journeyman Geek

2:58 AM

and hopefully puts me in a place where I can find something with saner hours or at least more interesting work.

@Shog9 and ... normal weekends.

Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog

@Catija I understand. Note that while I always prefaced such questions with "if I may ask" or "out of curiosity" to better indicate that you don't have to answer if you're not comfortable, I now understand that you chose to answer such questions because you went out of your way to be polite. I'll be sure to keep such questions down in the future. Thanks for letting me know your feelings.

Shog9

Also, there's something horribly wrong with waking up rested, turning on all the lights to give yourself a sense of morning, drinking some coffee... And then leaving your house and suddenly feeling dead tired because it's cold and black outside and your body is convinced it's time for bed again.

Journeyman Geek

lol

The worst part is.... almost dozing off at 4am...

Shog9

Falling asleep while driving just as the sun comes up is... such a weird feeling

Journeyman Geek

and suddenly all the alerts go off.

ahh

I sleep on the train

then come home and sleeep some more.

Then have lunch. Then sleep a few more hours.

HDE 226868

3:03 AM

I've never gotten the hang of sleeping on a train, sometimes because I constantly remember I'm traveling uncomfortably fast on a narrow track and have no control over my speed. I wish I could; the Northeast Corridor isn't the most scenic route to take.

Journeyman Geek

oh local metro trains

and I'm tired enough I could probably sleep on a bed of broken glass

Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog

I used to travel on Indian sleeper trains. I'd never get to sleep on them, partly due to the train's motion and partly because of jetlag

Shog9

I love sleeping on trains. And planes. And in cars, if the driver can keep a relatively constant velocity

...that last one is only an issue if I'm the driver...

Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog

Sleeping on planes in a cramped seat without bothering your fellow seatmates is a learned skill.

Journeyman Geek

oh these are metro trains

sideway seats, and its from the first station so I basically find a quiet corner

Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog

3:09 AM

@JourneymanGeek Has there ever been a time when you missed your station because you were dozed off when the train arrived?

HDE 226868

@JourneymanGeek Commuter rail or subways?

Journeyman Geek

subway

@SonictheInclusiveHedgehog oddly no

Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog

In my childhood, Air India used to operate a 747 route between Los Angeles and Mumbai, which had relatively low load factors, so my parents could easily find a row of three empty seats and put me to sleep

Journeyman Geek

@Shog9 under normal circumstances, I really prefer to sleep horizontally

So sleeping on trains sucks but, eh, if my body needs that extra hour of low quality sleep, it can have it ;)

Travis J

5:32 AM

deleted by Community♦ 27 secs ago

Journeyman Geek

ya ;p

Travis J

such a tease

:)

I was busy beating someone in chess

Transcript for