thegreatbeyond

Couldn't you use an external light source to see it, though? Something doesn't have to generate it's own light :/

What is a white hole? (As opposed to a black hole.)

What does SOCOM stand for?

These are answered in reverse order because I wanted to save the hard question for last.

SOCOM is short for Special Operations COMmand, a branch of the military.

A white hole is the opposite of a black hole. Where a black hole sucks in all objects in its reach, a white hole will spew out random matter. Unfortunetly, they are only a mathematical construct and cannot exist in the universe because they violate the conservation of energy. Source: http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/schww.html

The traditional definition of a perpetual motion machine is a machine that produces "free" energy from nothing. According to the laws of thermodynamics, this kind of machine is impossible. However, it might be possible to construct a machine that, once provided energy, uses that energy to make its own which fuels itself and nothing else. You could add energy to the system (like shining a light on it) so long as, by doing so, the machine doesn't produce extra energy, just releases it or uses it (by giving off light). This is all theory, because in practice, it's next to impossible to get the conditions right (no friction, perfect energy transfer, etc...) to make it work.

If pez's comp is using 1667391840% of 512 ram, how much ram is it using?

Windows is famously bad at math in some of it's applications. When Dither once transferred a file to my computer that, in reality, only took 30 seconds, when the Windows time calculation reported that it would take another 5 weeks to finish transferring.

How does a septic system work?

First of all, here's an image that should help in the explanation:


There are 3 different ways for a home to dispose of waste: a non-connected septic tank (useful for rural areas), a connected septic tank (useful for more urban areas, but not for cities), and a sewer system.

In the sewer system, the waste products from the home (from toilets, showers, sinks, etc...) are just dumped into a sewer line which is connected to a waste treatment plant.

In both of the septic tank systems, waste products are stored in a septic tank, which is away from the house and underground. The only difference is that, in a connected tank, the waste liquids in the tank flow out through a pipe to a absorption field. The tank still holds all the solids and gasses in the waste. In both of these systems, a truck needs to drive out and empty the tank every so often, though it's not as often for a connected tank since liquids make up the bulk of household waste.

It's possible to add special chemicals into the waste stream to help with the septic system, like organic enzymes that dissolve organic waste and make gasses, which are more easily compressed.

what are the origins of
St Patrick's Day, Valentines Day, and Groundhog Day?
I know the history of the other holidays, but not theese three

If I, hypothetically, ran over the septic pipe that sticks out of the ground, allowing the septic people to empty it, and the lid cracked a tiny bit, is that a bad thing?

Yeah, he 'hypothetically' hit a bush, too. Er...I mean, this is all make believe, of course...

St. Patrick's Day started on March 17, 1762 in the United States as a way to help Irish soldiers in the English military connect with their Irish roots. As you may know, the holiday was named after the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick, who helped spread Christianity on Ireland in the fifth century. Source: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/ ... y/history/

In 498 AD, Pope Gelasius declared Febuary 14th as Saint Valentine's Day in an attempt to "Christianize" the Roman holiday of Lupercalia, a day of cleansing and fertility. Though the church recognizes three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, no one is quite sure which one the holiday is named after, nor what each one has to do with the holiday. Source: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/ ... tory2.html

Groundhog day actually started as Candlemas, the 40th day after the birth of Christ when the virgin Mary was considered "clean" after childbirth. Old folklore stated that, if the weather was cloudy on Candlemas, winter was over, but if it was sunny on Candlemas, winter would be around for another 6 weeks. This tradition spread from the Romans to the Teutons (the ancient Germans) who adapted the tradition to animals seeing their shadows. Some of the first settlers of the Americas were German in origin, so they brought the tradition with them, adapting it to the closest animal they could find that matched the tradition, a groundhog. Source: http://www.groundhog.org/history/tradition.shtml

It shouldn't be too bad. That pipe exists for septic tank technicians to flush the system, so a small crack won't really matter.

All hypothetical of course. Yes...

Do sumo wrestlers need special toilets?

Is it possible to describe a color without actually using other colors to describe it?

Aww, my 666 posts are gone

why do they say that if your temperature gets up to 108(Fahrenheit) that it will more then likely cause brain damage and possibly kill someone?