MadScientist

I have a problem with my MS Excel. When I press the tab button, the cell selection doesn't move one cell to the right, like it is supposed to, but instead it moves one page to the right, which is very annoying, and usually messes up my train of thought. Does anyone know of this problem, and how to solve it? Thanks,

Some scientists think that CO2 levels are higher now than they have ever been. If that's true, then were did all the carbon come from? The law of conservation of mass says that it was all on Earth from the beginning. It was CO2 to start with, then was converted by plants into sugars and fats, then animals ate it, died, and became fossil fuels. So, when humans burn fossil fuels, they are not making 'new' CO2, they are just releasing old CO2. If that's the case, then it is impossible to go above the original CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

On a side note, if CO2 levels were very high to begin with, it would have made rain too acidic for plants to grow, and life would never have started (assuming you believe in evolution).So, as I see it, if you believe in the big bang and global warming, you can't believe in evolution. If you believe in evolution, you can't believe in either global warming from CO2 or the big bang.

That only leaves devine creation.

I have seen a company ( http://www.musicalfurnishings.com/ ) that makes xylophones into various pieces of furniture (like swings, small tables, toyboxes, etc). How do you make a xylophone with all of the bars the same length? I would think it would be hard to get the pitch adjusted. Thanks.

I am looking for a simple spot test that will give a positive result for BHT down to, say 400 ppm in a polymer, but a negative result for Irganox 565.

Here are the structures:

BHT - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:2%2C6-bis%281%2...

Irganox 565 - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MiamiCapt...

Most of the products we make use BHT as the antioxidant, but one uses the irganox, and it cannot have more than 40 ppm BHT. I am looking for a way to differentiate the two products when they are in unlabeled boxes (without having to send them to the lab for their quantitative BHT analysis).

I have a set of French doors installed by the previous owners of my house. It is over a converted patio, so the floor slopes slightly (down towards the doors). The problem is that the doors will only open about 70° before they hit the floor. Are there hinges that are available that would lift the door up as it's opened? Or is there some other solution? I don't want the doors to open outside, and I don't want to have to pull out the door frame. Thanks!

I work in a chemical plant (one of 4 chemical plants and dozens of manufacturing plants owned by the same corporation). All of the manufacturing plants have a safety rule of removing jewelry (watches, rings, etc) before entering the plant, which I understand, because there is a lot of moving equipment.

Plant management for this plant is considering making a rule that we will also have to remove jewelry. We do have more moving equipment than chemical plants that make liquids; our final finishing area drys the product and has thousands of feet of conveyors, plus expanders, etc., but it is nowhere near as dangerous as the manufacturing plants. Even if this rule goes into effect, I will not be removing my wedding band. Ever. In the words of Charleton Heston, they'll have to pry it off of my cold, dead finger. Does anyone else work in a chemical plant, and do you have similar rules? If so, are they enforced? Has anyone been fired for refusing to follow them? Thanks,

I have a dish network HD receiver, a Sony VPL-CS7 projector, a Sony DAV-S550 home theater receiver, and will be buying an electronic projector, to be named later. Is there a product that can control everything (my ideal would be to have everything turn on/off with the press of one button). I know that most screens will take a 12V signal, but I don't think that the projector has that output, and I want the projector to turn on automatically, also. I also would like to keep the UHF functionality for my dish network receiver, so a universal remote is out.

What are the approximate concentrations of the compounds in cement acid stains?

I want to make a neutral/tan/brown color.

So far, I know that I'll need:

water

hydrochloric acid

and a mixture that'll probably include:

Iron (II) sulfate or copper (II) chloride for the green

Copper (II) Sulfate for the blue

Manganese (II) chloride or Sodium dichromate or potassium dichromate for the red

Iron (III) chloride for the yellow

Can anyone tell me the approximate concentrations that are needed?

I work in a plant that produces solvent-based polyisoprene rubber. We mix the isoprene with hexane, react it to polyisoprene and then steam strip it. The crumb is then dried, baled and packaged. We test the dried rubber every 2 hours to get the mooney value. Since it takes about an hour for the lab to do the test, it is 3 hours between when we could potentially go out of spec until we even know that anything is wrong. Would in-process viscometers (I've seen several solid-state ones online) work with the rubber cement (mixed with hexane, going from the reactor to the stripper)? And, more importantly, would that viscocity (in cP, whatever) be related to the mooney of the dried water-based rubber?

I use Lotus Notes 6.5.4 at work. Is there a way for it to automatically provide different signatures depending on whether or not it is going to someone inside the company or outside? We have a corporate, worldwide phone system and department codes that don't make sense to external people, and internal people already know what company I work for.

Think about it.

There are tons of self-important, arrogant people out there - you can probably think of 2 or 3 that you know personally. However, for some reason, most celebrities think that since they can act, or they're richer than us, or more athletic, that they're also smarter than us. This leads them to delusions of grandeur where they think it's okay to insult and belittle us, but still tell us what to do. (This is especially apparant around election time).

See if you can whittle down the list and choose one 'shining star' who should have never been born (or at least discovered). The winner will actually be asked to go live on a small, deserted island in the South Pacific, never to return. (Hey, we can all dream, right?)

I'm hoping this will become a featured question!

In my plant, our wastewater tanks are called Molley Browns (specifically, the pH test from the tanks are called that). I have been wondering why, but no one seems to know. Is this a common name across the industry (or at least along the Gulf Coast), or is it just some weird thing that is only at my plant? Thanks.

One of my ongoing projects is to save electricity costs at my plant. We have several continuous-duty electric motors used to run things like conveyor belts. My question is, would shutting those motors on and off (ie: on for 20 days, off for 20 days) appreciably shorten the motor's life? I need to know if the plant would save any money by using less electricity, versus the replacement cost of the motors. Thanks.

I have a 2004 Impala SS with the 3.8L supercharged V6. It has the stock 3.8" pulley. How small of a pulley can I go down to before needing an intercooler to avoid preignition? I am planning to get a cool air intake or a hood scoop. Also, what kind of power improvement can I expect to get with the new pulley (say a 2.8" vs. the 3.8")

I know, this is completely demanding of me, but when I pick up a DVD, my intent is to watch a movie (I know; I'm a real tyrant). I don't plan on copying it, or charging admission. I don't really care to see previews for movies I already know about, or even watch the stupid little menu. I want to put the disk in and have the movie start. Is there a way to reprogram a DVD player to do this? (or if not, a way to let me skip past these?) I have a Sony dream system home theater system and also a cheapo Apex player. Thanks.

I have an Excel spreadsheet that has manufacturing data on it. It has columns for date, production line (four seperate lines) and weight for each box (this is for the year to date - about 30,000 boxes total). I need to get the weight made for each day on each line (4 totals per day). Is there a function in Excel that'll do this? Or do I need a macro? If so, where can I find a script that'll help me start? Thanks.

It bothers me to no end when those electronic construction signs say 'thru' when 'through' would fit (they're 7 characters wide). Maybe it's hard to enter words into them, in which case I might understand, but if you're going through the trouble to alert people, you should try a little harder. I think this is part of the reason why kids can't spell nowadays.

Why do I keep getting this message:

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From all the movies, the 'bwaa' part seems the most important to be considered a respectable mad scientist.

I work in a manufacturing building (we make rubber), and we have a pigeon problem. We currently use ultrasonic repellers, but they don't seem to work especially well. I'm currently trying to live-trap them and have the trap out to acclimitize them to it (it's open right now, I'll set it next week). Is there a particular type of bait that will work well? I'm using a mix of deer corn and wild bird seed, but I'm seeing other types of birds becides the pigeons.

Also, is there a company that sells spikes or netting at a low price? We have a very big warehouse, and it would cost thousands to put those up at the prices I found at bird-x.com.