thegreatbeyond

[drekikona]

how is cow milk good for people if we can't naturally digest it?

[chromus]

Phred, are you referring to the Guest account on Windows? Respond with more explanation so I can get you an answer.

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot so quickly about my own suggestion. The reason I suggest you enable both Guest accounts on both computers is because it makes filesharing much easier. Without it, shared files are restricted to the user who shared the files. Here's a guide I found online that should help. Follow the instructions and tell us how it works out:
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/filesharing.htm

First of all, (most) milk has calcium and protein that can supplement the vitamins and minerals the body needs to function. Some people, however, don't make lactase, the enzyme which breaks down lactose in milk, after two years of life. This is brought up as an argument against milk; that humans don't naturally process it, therefore it is an unnatural food. This argument falls apart, however, considering European history. Europeans (and by association, people who live in the USA and Canada) have been drinking milk for centuries and have adapted by continuing to produce the lactase enzyme well into adulthood.

The health effects of drinking milk, however, are not well understood. Some studies say it increases the risk of osteoporosis, some say it decreases it. Some studies say drinking milk increases the risk of cancer, some say the risk is negligible. The world will have to wait until scientists can agree.

EDIT: I found some links for those who want to research the issue themselves. The first two seem to have a balanced approach, listing both pros and cons of milk consumption. The third link is to an article written by a scientist against milk, and the fourth link is to an article written by a group for milk. Perhaps these will help everyone make better decisions:
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/0577.html
http://www.jyi.org/volumes/volume6/issue3/features/lee_and_wei.html
http://www.notmilk.com/kradjian.html
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Milk_the_facts_and_fallacies?OpenDocument

[Zornak]

are eggs good or bad for you? The FDA keeps changing its mind >_>

[drekikona]

what does it mean if I'm able to get my pinkie finger and thumb to meet around my wrist?

[chromus]

The FDA is a body of (mostly) respected scientists who evaluate food and drugs (hence the name) in terms of health. If they can't decide on how healthy eggs are, I don't have a chance in giving you the right answer. We'll just have to wait and see how this debate works out.

EDIT: I did a bunch of research on eggs, and it turns out that the FDA thinks eggs are healthy, so long as they are stored, transported, and prepared carefully, just like meat or dairy products. The FDA's statement on shell eggs, the eggs that you can buy in stores, as of February 2003 contains, "Eggs are among the most nutritious foods on earth and can be part of a healthy diet." You can view the statement online:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/shelleggs.htm

Here are some more websites that detail the health benefits of eggs and why people once thought that eggs caused high cholesterol and heart attacks:
http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_60/66_eating_well.html
http://www.bawarchi.com/health/egg.html
http://www.aeb.org/food/eggs-health.html

Being able to encircle your wrist with your pinky and thumb doesn't mean too much, except that you may have a slightly larger hand or slightly thinner wrist than normal. In fact, I'd guess this feat is pretty common in non-American countries, where people tend to be thinner overall.

EDIT: This reminds me of a presentation I attended in high school about how aid workers do the hard work of actually dispensing and administering aid (as opposed to the easy work of just donating money) in disaster situations. One tool the aid workers used was a simple plastic strip with a slit at one end. Both sides of the strip had a measurement and a color code. Aid workers would quickly slip this around a person�s upper arm to measure how badly that person needed aid. If the measurement was too small, the edge of the strip fell within the red zone of the strip and that person was in need of aid immediately. The strip had red, orange, yellow, green, and blue zones, representing extreme, high, medium, low, and no need of aid, respectively. I can�t find any reference to this online, however, so the best you�ll have is my description.

[Zornak]

which wrist? the same wrist that the fingers are on or the opposite wrist than those said fingers are on?

[drekikona]

opposite

[Pez-Man]

Putting your pinky and thumb around the wrist of the hand they were on, now that'd be impressive.

What makes the monkey dance?

[chromus]

The fire.

[Dither]

How was hail measured before golf balls were invented?

[Zornak]

Who invented golf balls?

and

Is it true that Al Gore invented the internet?

[Chewi]

Didn't he already answer the Al Gore and the internet question?

[Zornak]

what exactly is a "luncheon"? Is it the original version of the word 'lunch' and then we just cut off the end?

[chromus]

The NWS (National Weather Service for those of us in the USA) has always measured hail in inches. However, they make reference to a table to estimate hail size, since it's very difficult to accurately measure hail while it's falling. Here is a publication put out in January 6, 2003 which presents the table on page 15:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/directives/010/archive/pd01016005a.pdf

In addition, world records on hail are also kept in inches, like the heaviest hailstone measured had a radius of 5.7 inches, while the largest hailstone measured had a radius of 7 inches. Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailstone

Unfortunately, the game of golf has its roots in many countries around the world, so no one inventor of the golf ball can be given. Early golf balls were simple spheres of wood or rocks hit around with sticks. Feather-stuffed leather balls were used in Rome and later in Scotland. In 1848, Reverend Adam Paterson introduced the Gutta Percha ball, also known as the Guttie, which was made of the sap of the tropical Gutta tree. In the years to come, a solid rubber core would be introduced along with dimples to increase control, speed, and distance. Sources:
http://www.golfeurope.com/almanac/history/golf_ball.htm
http://www.dave-and-maggie-world-of-golf-handicap.com/golf-history.html

I haven�t mentioned Al Gore and the internet on these forums, but other people have. To find out whom, click search up at the top, type in �Al Gore� in the keywords box, and change the �Display results as� option to �Posts�, so you can see exactly who said it.

Actually, it�s just a myth that Al Gore claims to have invented the internet. His exact quote was:
�During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.� (CNN)
Though clumsy wording, he never claimed to invent the internet. He claims to have helped the development of the internet through politics, though this can be contested as he became a senator in 1977, after the major parts of the internet were already in place. Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/09/president.2000/transcript.gore/index.html
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.htm

According to The American Heritage Dictionary, luncheon is probably an alliteration of nuncheon ( Middle English word meaning �light snack�) based on the word lunch. Source:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=luncheon

By the way, I�d like to apologize for the incredibly long delay in my answering questions. Recently, I lost my laptop and have spent the past few weeks getting a temporary computer to work the way I want it to. I�ll eventually have to give up this computer, as I�m loaning it from a friend, so I�m in the process now of finding a new computer for myself. To read the full story about my computer, check out my journal:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/chromus/19523.html

Also, it was pointed out that the last few questions I answered weren't very researched, so I went back and added links and more information for those of you who are interested.

EDIT: A note on the URL BBCode: don't have a space right after the opening tag, and keep the URL one one line. Would have helped if I had known before writing this out.

[Zornak]

I don't think you have to put the url tags in with the links

http://www.thegreatbeyond.net

[url] http://www.thegreatbeyond.net [/url]