Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.

Posts for November 3, 2009

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

When I was little (mid-80s, in Utah and Wyoming), my sisters and I had frequent middle ear infections. Our doctor prescribed us amoxycillin, which was pink and tasted like bubble gum. My four sisters concur that the flavor was bubble gum. However, when my wife took amoxycillin (early 90s, in Texas), she insists that it tasted like strawberry. And her brother and three sisters agree. So are/were there multiple flavors? If so, why did my family get bubble gum flavor while hers got strawberry? If not, who's family remembers wrong? And for fun, what do you remember amoxycillin tasting like?

—Damasta

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ADear Damasta,

From all the searching and seeking I've done, I've concluded that everyone was most likely correct in what they remember.

Bubble gum appears to have been the most common flavor of amoxicillin (formerly spelled amoxycillin), but strawberry, banana, cherry and peppermint flavors all exist as well. There might be more, but these five are definitely the most common. The flavor you have depends on the brand and size of the dosage.

My educated guess is that your family happened to have the bubble-gum-flavored kind and your wife's family happened to have the strawberry-flavored kind. Bubble gum used to be by far the most popular flavor, so it's no surprise that's what your family used to keep on hand.

And I'm pretty sure I remember a cherry-flavored something when I was younger.

-Sky Bones

ANamaste Damasta,

I had many, many ear infections as a child, and I distinctly remember bubble gum, strawberry, and banana flavors in the liquid form. When I had to take it in pill form, I remember bubble gum and what I think was supposed to be wintergreen but tasted like Pepto-Bismol. I took a LOT of amoxicillin as a kid...

Dr. Smeed

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

Here's a Halloween kind of question for you. Forgive me if I've already asked this, because I know I have a memory of it, it's just that it was in my dream that I asked this question and in reality I am seeing when I log in that I didn't really ask it yet. (I have been reading through your new posts wondering when you would get to it, only to realize today that it was a dream.)

Anyhoo, the question is this: a few years ago, there was a scary movie that came out (it wasn't obscure, it was a blockbuster like "The Ring.") The advertising campaign to promote the film consisted in part of footage from an actual movie theater of people watching the movie, and getting really freaked out. This was supposed to make people want to see it, to see audiences freaking about about what they were watching. I think it was the Ring, but I can't find any of these commercials anywhere. Was it the Ring, or was it another movie? And were they test audiences, or was it the audiences in Japan from the japanese version?

-Didn't think Ringu was scary when he was watching it but has been seeing little girls come out of television sets every time he turns off the lights

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ADear DtRwswhwwibhbslgcootsethtotl (phew),

The only trailers I could find like what you describe were for Paranormal Activity. The only problem is that that movie just came out, so it couldn't have been a few years ago. I bet this isn't a new idea, though, and maybe one of our readers will have a better idea of the movie you mean.

- The Black Sheep

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

I. feel. dumb. I must have been tired when I was writing my question about alpha-helical structures (stairs in particular). My main question really was: what is the physical reasoning behind the awesome stability of these structures?

- Volleyball

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ADear Volleyball,

For those who are wondering, the previous question referenced was Board Question #54102.

Your question is somewhat problematic because a true alpha helix does not have a supporting central pole like most spiral staircases do. The term "alpha helix" originated in microbiology and describes a common structure found in folded proteins. In a biological context, an alpha helix is somewhat like a tightly-wound spring with periodic vertical links between "levels." The center of the helix is very crowded, but there's not actually a central core.

Comparing the stability of a biological alpha helix to that of a staircase is difficult, though. Molecular stability has more to do with how likely it is to bond with something else than it does with how well it keeps its shape. In fact, molecular alpha helices are commonly curved, and sometimes are even themselves wrapped into a higher-order helix. I think you'd agree that a spiral staircase that bent back on itself to that degree would hardly be characterized as stable.

Spiral staircases are stable because of a solid central core and an outer curved panel that distributes local pressure throughout the structure. Molecular alpha helices are stable because it takes a fair amount of energy to break one of the existing bonds in order to form a new one. However, alpha helices tend to unravel when placed in aqueous solutions due to the high reactivity of water molecules. (See Wikipedia for a more technical description of what I just tried to say.)

(Dear chemistry and biology majors: please don't hate me for that last paragraph. I'm neither a chemist nor a biologist.)

So, dearest volleyball, I guess I'm left wondering what source you have that indicates that the stability of spiral staircases is due to alpha helices.

-Yellow

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QCan you figure out the IPA representation of my alias?

J/k Sorry, that's not my real question, but it is phonetic.

I was really wondering the following:
Are real, actual insane people capable of having more or less stress than sane people, on average? If so, how much difference is there? Does it differ much from one insane person to another?

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ADear you,

I had some trouble understanding exactly what you meant by your question, and the Supershrink said that werf did, too. If I missed your point, you have my sincere apologies.

First problem: what exactly do you mean by "insane"? That's not a term that the mental health community uses...ever. It's full of rather nasty and untrue connotations and stereotypes, it isn't politically correct, and it's pretty vague. I thought you meant people who suffered from delusions and hallucinations while the Supershrink thought you meant anyone who suffered with a diagnosable mental illness. (Also, a note: especially if you did indeed mean something like what the Supershrink thought you meant, please be a little more careful about your wording, as us real, actual insane people don't really like to be talked about like a critter on the Crocodile Hunter. [Crikey! A real, actual insane person! They're pretty rare, so let's see what happens when I poke it with this stick!]) For the purposes of this answer, I'm adopting the Supershrink's interpretation of "insane." The Supershrink and I also decided that by "capable of having more or less stress," you meant their ability to deal with outside stressors, though mental illness is in itself a major stressor that can even cause trauma to the people experiencing it.

The other problem that both the Supershrink and I saw when we saw your question is that we don't really know how to research it. Stress is a huge topic in psychology, but neither of us knew how to research how stressors affect people with different disorders and to what extent. It's a very broad question. To answer the last part of your question first, it varies very much among individuals who have the same diagnosis and individuals who have different diagnoses. So, all that being said, I'm going to take a whack at the rest of your question.

I guess one way to address which disorders are characterized by a lesser ability to handle outside stressors is to rate them by patients' functionality. This doesn't account for whether the stressors are caused by the disorder itself or by normal life and the person just doesn't have the ability to cope with them as well as an average person, but it gives you some idea of how they are dealing with life in general. Impaired functioning is a part of what makes a disorder a disorder, so unimpaired or "sane" people would generally be on one end of the functionality continuum, while people with severe schizophrenia or dissociative fugue might be considered to be on the other end. People with certain personality disorders would typically be toward the "healthy" end of the continuum, as would people with certain anxiety disorders and high-functioning people with certain depression diagnoses, while many people with bipolar disorder and PTSD would be more toward the "unhealthy" end. However, some people would have low functionality without the appearance of a disorder, and some disordered people would seem to be quite high-functioning even if they are in quite a lot of psychological distress.

Another problem with looking at how well people with different diagnoses handle stress is that so many disorders are all about how a person deals with stress. For instance, a person with panic disorder has panic attacks because of their own physiological response to stress and their worry that it will cause them to have a panic attack or a serious physical problem. However, if stress does not trigger the physiological symptoms they are worried about, they could potentially handle a great deal of stress with no ill effects. That kind of thing is typical with other anxiety disorders, too. For example, some people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have a very high (perhaps even higher than average) ability to function through their stress, but they feel a great deal of anxiety about their anxiety. Of course, this is not always the case, as some people's anxiety disorders are triggered if they attempt to outstrip themselves. Still others' responses to stress are not nearly as predictable, so sometimes a person with social anxiety, for example, may function perfectly well in social situations, but all of a sudden, even if the stress is no greater or less than before, they are completely unable to function. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder find certain stressors completely intolerable, and so they perform certain activities to make themselves able to deal with that situation. If they live according to their compulsions, they may be able to deal with a very high level of stress, or they may not. People with dissociative disorders (like the famous dissociative identity or "multiple personality" disorder) take their trauma or inordinate amount of stress and remove it from themselves in order to allow themselves to function. The more severe dissociative disorders are debilitating, but the less severe ones may allow people who suffer with them to function, more or less.

You've probably heard of examples of artists and other creative people who functioned incredibly well and turned out masterpieces and dealt with the requisite stress during semi-manic states, but then fell into periods of depression during which they did not function well at all. Manic people can deal with amounts of stress that healthy people would find insurmountable, but once the mania is over, so is their super-coping. Similarly, people with eating disorders may be incredibly high-functioning and may channel all of their anxiety into starvation or binging and purging. If you gave those people additional stress, they would probably continue to be just as high functioning, but their disorder would grow increasingly worse.

Some people with psychological disorders simply do not deal with stress in normal ways, instead acting out like people with borderline personality disorder, turning it into physical symptoms like people with somatization disorders, or being despondent like people with depression. Amp up the stress on people exhibiting these responses and the responses will often become stronger. Then, of course, there are our delusional friends with disorders like schizophrenia, whose symptoms may similarly increase if they are continuously exposed to high levels of stress, as will those of people with post-traumatic stress disorder. For people with these more severe disorders, additional stress will probably never be handled well and will probably always cause a negative response.

I hope somewhere in there I answered your question.

- The Black Sheep

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QDear Skilled Fact Checkers of the 100 Hour Board,

I read a post on a discussion board that during Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration, Americans were taxed at 91% for income above $400,000 per year. True of False?

- My Name Here

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ADear Your Name There,

True. Scroll down to the years of Eisenhower's presidency (though, notice the difference between filing jointly and individually, as well as head of household) and take a gander.

Oh, he served from 1953-1961, if you didn't know.

Huzzah fact checking! Huzzah Google!

- Commander Keen

ADear Name-

Should 9% appear too small, be grateful I don't take it all.

Ah ah, Mr. Heath!

-the Taxman

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

While registering for classes, I realized that planning to take a swim class in the future may not be a good idea because of the rumors that I've heard about the time-consuming RB pool renovations that are overdue. I found some information on Board Question #50576, and it was informative to know WHY they were talking about it, so thank you, Sky Bones and random lifeguard. What is the update on those plans? I am trying to decide if I should take that class sooner instead of later.

- soon-to-be beached whale

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ADear soon-to-be,

The person I asked said that construction won't be happening any sooner than April; however, it could conceivably start at any point after that. Apparently there are still some approvals they haven't gotten yet. If you're planning on a swimming class, I'm thinking that sooner (e.g., next semester) would be a better idea than waiting. Once construction actually starts, the pool will be out of commission for roughly a year.

—Laser Jock

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

Is there a specific reason that the nicer restaurants on campus are only open during lunchtime? Like the Skyroom and the MOA Cafe? I would love to eat there, but it's really hard to fit it in my schedule when they're only open for three hours or less. It seems like dinner would be more profitable, anyway.

-Hungry

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ADear Hungry,

The MOA cafe and The Skyroom offer meals that are more expensive to prepare and have to be made in advance. They have to guess how much food and staff they need before anyone even steps into the restaurant. They are riskier gambles than Legend's Grill or the Cannon Center because they aren't immediately next to kitchen-less freshmen or the Smith Fieldhouse gym. And it's bad business to offer competition for the already small on-campus dinner crowd. In the case of The Skyroom, in addition to lunch it's regularly booked for ward parties, school functions, and wedding receptions or dinners in the evening. These events yield booking and catering fee royalties and are therefore more profitable than offering a regular dinner each night.

-Ineffable

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

I am in the process of trying to select a pair of warm winter boots. Ever since I went to Canada last Christmas, warm means different things to me now. So I'm looking at a pair of boots rated to -10 degrees F and I couldn't help but wonder, how are these tested? Who tests them? Do they throw someone out in -10 degrees and say, "Hey Joe, your feet still warm?" How does it work? And what kind of socks do they put them in? Thin? Average? Thick wool socks? I'd like to know a) because I'm curious, and b) because I want to know if I can boost the temperature rating by wearing thicker socks. Help me, Board!

P.S. If it helps, here's what I'm looking at:
http://www.target.com/C9-Champ...

But I've seen others from places like Payless who claim -20 degrees, etc.

- Glowstick girl

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ADear Glowstick girl,

From Mountain Equipment Co-op:

Quote:

There is no industry standard testing method, but MEC ratings are often more conservative than manufacturers' ratings. Our ratings assume you're actively walking or snowshoeing. When you're idle, the effective warmth of any footwear will drop.

From Cabela's:

Quote:

Boots are rated much like sleeping bags, and it is hard to say how your individual feet will stand different temperatures. The rating has a lot to do with activity level, health and diet and socks worn. What the rating really does for you is allow you to compare the different boots against each other.

If these two sources are to be trusted and it is similar to sleeping bag testing, then it is in fact Joe and a few of his friends testing different boots while standing in an ice box. Yes, it appears you can boost the temperature rating of your boots by wearing thick socks, as well as staying active while you're in said boots. Just be warned that the temperature ratings on the box are a little arbitrary and you're best off subtracting a few degrees before you begin to factor in woolen socks.

-Ineffable

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

I'm really good at flips and tricks and when i get cuts blue stuff comes out, so i was wondering how i could become cosmo?

Love,
Tarp

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ADear Tarp,

Becoming Cosmo the Cougar begins with your athletic abilities. The tryouts are quite rigorous and involve a test of skill in such areas as acrobatics, improv, dancing, and character presence; you will be required to perform a skit as well. Keep in mind also that the judges are looking for people that are motivated, creative, acrobatic, hard-working, athletic, and teachable. If you feel up to the challenge, keep an eye out for the tryouts at the end of the school year in April. They are advertised in Cougar Mails, on byucougars.com, and in the Daily Universe. After the preliminary tryout is held, the hopefuls are trained during the course of the summer and the final cuts are made right before school begins in the fall.

Information was kindly provided by David Eberhard of BYU Athletic Marketing. If you have any further questions as you seek to become the greatest cougar on earth, you may contact him at david_eberhard@byu.edu, or 801/422-2880.

I hope you do a great job, should you choose to try out. You sound like a very dedicated fan!

Marzipan

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

Hi, I have been divorced for 3 years now, I'm 28 year old female, and stuck in Provo, well I don't really have a question, just seeking some uplifting, encouraging responses from anyone who feels like they know how I feel or might be going through the same situation as me. I feel like I will never get remarried or have kids, like I'm cursed, I havn't had a boyfriend since and I never get asked out and I consider myself beautiful, people tell me I am. It seems like everyone I know is married and they are younger than me! or is in a relationship, like there is no one for me! I know there are times to be alone. But its been 3 years and I feel like I'm destined to be alone forever:These are the cards that were dealt to me, my trial...but don't trials end? There is that scripture: something about no trial is greater than you can endure (I can't think right now) I'm depressed and miserable and Heavenly Father is pushing me to the edge. I'd rather die than be alone, so I'm kinda suicidal I don't think I will do it, but this hope is killing me that there is someone for me, but he just won't manifest himself to me. Does anyone relate?
LonelyGirl.

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ADear LonelyGirl,

I'm not in your situation, and so I can't fully understand the pain you're going through. I do know that God knows, and part of the beauty of that scripture, 1 Cor. 10:13, is that it shows that not only can we handle our hardships, but we don't suffer them alone.

Quote:

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

You are only tempted with what is common to man, nothing that hasn't been defeated before. I also know that it's hard to learn your limits when they're greater than you ever imagined. You're proving yourself to be so strong, but you don't want to be strong anymore. It's like Amulek before the fire. He knew that God could save those women and children. He lacked in nothing. He had the authority, the worthiness, the faith, and he still had to bear the screams of pain from the innocent. He had to tolerate their murderers' delight and exaltation without saying a word of rage. I'm sure Amulek never dreamed he was strong enough for that, and I think he didn't want to be able to endure it. But he did and the glory of God was manifest through him, preaching the news that Christ would come. Hold on. You're going to be okay. Watch Elder Uchtdorf's fireside. Talk to your bishop. Trust in God's love- you can't be miserable without His knowledge. I don't know who you are, but I'm rooting for you.

Keep the faith,
Ineffable

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QDear 100 Hour Board,

Are there 100 Hour Boards at other colleges/universities? Maybe not an exact board like BYU's, but an online forum sponsored by the college/university where people can ask random questions and get answers?

- doodle dandy

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ADear doodle dandy,

There are. For the few that we know of, see Board Question #51674. (And readers, if you know of any others we didn't include but which fit the asker's criteria, feel free to add them.)

—Laser Jock

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ADear Chewy Banana,

Imagine a basketball. Assume you have a string wrapped around the diameter of the basketball. Now assume that instead of being directly on the surface of the basketball, you'd actually like the string to hover 2 inches above the surface of the basketball. (Ignore, for a moment, the technical feasibility of making a string hover.) How much extra string do you need? A little bit of math here:

Amount of extra string needed = New circumference - old circumference
= 2 π r_new - 2 π r_old
= 2 π (r_new - r_old)
= 2 π ( (2" + radiusOfBasketball) - radiusOfBasketball)
= 2 π (2")
= 4 π inches
= roughly 12.57 inches

I suspect your mind is not being blown quite yet.

But now, let's say we had a string around the entire earth. (Assume, for a moment, that the earth is perfectly spherical.) And let's say we actually wanted to have a long string of people all the way around the world that would all pick up that string to keep it 2 inches above the earth. How much extra string would we need to have to make the ends still meet?

Amount of extra string needed = New circumference - old circumference
= 2 π r_new - 2 π r_old
= 2 π (r_new - r_old)
= 2 π ( (2" + radiusOfEarth) - radiusOfEarth)
= 2 π (2")
= 4 π inches
= roughly 12.57 inches

It's exactly the same amount. In fact, if we did the same around an infinitely small point of radius 0, we'd find that it's exactly the same amount of string that we'd need to make a simple circle with a radius of 2 inches. And, of course, 2 inches is an entirely arbitrary amount. If you had a fence around the entire (perfectly spherical) universe, and you wanted to expand it out a mile in each direction, you'd only need enough fence to make a 1-mile-radius circle. 6.28 miles of fence would be enough to expand that universe-wide fence 1 mile in each direction. The fence that's around the entire known universe.

Okay, so I know that's just simple math, but sometimes, it's the simple things that astound.

And yes, I'm a nerd.

-Yellow

ADear banana,

I remember the day well. It was the day that my sweet, sweet roomie from last year told me that once a month, an amazing and slightly scary man comes to the hospital and makes the most delicious omelets on the planet. Weird? Yes. Worth it? Holy canola, yes.

Why is this mind-blowing?...Well, you obviously haven't devoured one, have you?

Marzipan

ADear Chewy Banana,

I hope it's not a cop-out that I can't actually tell you what it is that I learned, but if you're endowed then you'll understand: the things I learned in the temple my first time through blew my mind. They changed the way I'd always felt about and related to God, Jesus, and the gospel.

If you haven't been, I totally recommend it.

Love,
Waldorf and Sauron

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CDear 100 Hour Board,

Regarding board Board Question #54297, about the number of DU copies taken each day:

I work for the Daily Universe, and I have done for over 30 years. I have no idea where this unnamed editor that was quoted got his/her statistics. The facts as I know them are these:

Some locations "sell out" every day, others have returns every day; when we find such a trend, we try to adjust the numbers.

Some days of the week have stronger readership than others.

Many copies of the DU are read by multiple people (ever read a DU left on a table in the Wilk? How about one left in a bathroom stall?).

Some topics on the front page have stronger readership than others: reports of GA devotionals, sports stories, LDS-themed issues are among them; all these topics provoke a higher readership than other days.

Days when the "letters to the editor" runs have higher readership.

Days when "police beat" runs also trend higher.

Since the variables are so widespread, we don't have any precise numbers of the sort that was quoted by this student editor, who probably just guessed anyway. Our market studies say that over 90% of the student body reads the DU at least once a week.

Since we pay for every paper that's printed, we don't want to just throw them away; we want them to be read, and try and print material that people will want to read. That said, we know there will be returns, and all returns are sent for recycling.

- Daryl Gibson

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