Comments on: Test Your Gullibility, installment #4731! http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/ the blog that is not dansdata.com Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:34:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha by: Stark http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2171 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:54:26 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2171 Oh, and yes, the lab had excellent ventilation so we never had any issues with the excessive amounts of nitrogen we released. The ethyl mercaptan bottle that broke in the direct-to-atmosphere hood (no filtering) was a different story though... fire department evacuated the whole block on that one. Oops. Oh, and yes, the lab had excellent ventilation so we never had any issues with the excessive amounts of nitrogen we released. The ethyl mercaptan bottle that broke in the direct-to-atmosphere hood (no filtering) was a different story though… fire department evacuated the whole block on that one. Oops.

]]> by: Stark http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2170 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:48:49 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2170 In the realm of interesting floor cleaners (talk about wandering off topic) I have to put liquid nitrogen out there as an excellent one. I used to work in a lab where we had lots and lots of liquid nitrogen (running 12 gas chromatographs uses a bit of nitrogen you see) and, being the lazy bunch of folks we were, we didn't like to sweep up at the end of the day. One of the fellows dropped a 2 liter Dewar of liquid nitrogen one morning (lucky for him he was wearing pants that day - shorts were common fare around there) and we noticed that the nitrogen picked up much of the broken glass and fair amount of dirt as it headed downhill for the floor sump. So... we ran a test. We sprayed a 10 or 12 liters of nitrogen around the floor of the lab and what we ended up with was nice cool feet and pile of frozen dirt at the floor drain. We also found 2 dead mice but that was just a side effect. This became our regular cleaning regimen and worked pretty well... though you did have to be sure to warn anybody wearing sandles to pick their feet up off the floor and it was, eventually, somewhat hard on the plastic wheels of the chairs. In the realm of interesting floor cleaners (talk about wandering off topic) I have to put liquid nitrogen out there as an excellent one. I used to work in a lab where we had lots and lots of liquid nitrogen (running 12 gas chromatographs uses a bit of nitrogen you see) and, being the lazy bunch of folks we were, we didn’t like to sweep up at the end of the day. One of the fellows dropped a 2 liter Dewar of liquid nitrogen one morning (lucky for him he was wearing pants that day - shorts were common fare around there) and we noticed that the nitrogen picked up much of the broken glass and fair amount of dirt as it headed downhill for the floor sump. So… we ran a test. We sprayed a 10 or 12 liters of nitrogen around the floor of the lab and what we ended up with was nice cool feet and pile of frozen dirt at the floor drain. We also found 2 dead mice but that was just a side effect. This became our regular cleaning regimen and worked pretty well… though you did have to be sure to warn anybody wearing sandles to pick their feet up off the floor and it was, eventually, somewhat hard on the plastic wheels of the chairs.

]]> by: Alex Whiteside http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2169 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:52:20 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2169 I was always suspcious of the same thing with Clearasil rub (the alcoholish stuff, not a cream), but alas I never tested it. You always get a black spot of grime on the pad afterwards, and from experience the grease on my skin doesn't make anything else go black. I was always suspcious of the same thing with Clearasil rub (the alcoholish stuff, not a cream), but alas I never tested it. You always get a black spot of grime on the pad afterwards, and from experience the grease on my skin doesn’t make anything else go black.

]]> by: Daniel Rutter http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2168 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:09:08 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2168 As long as you don't manage to mix <a href="http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=790712" rel="nofollow">ammonia and bleach</a>, mad scientist tricks with household cleaners are unlikely to cause any problems. As long as you don’t manage to mix ammonia and bleach, mad scientist tricks with household cleaners are unlikely to cause any problems.

]]> by: Jax184 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2167 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:35:18 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2167 That reminds me of something I did when I was working for a local computer shop. The owner of the place was thrifty, to use a kind word, so we often had to make do with whatever we had laying around. One day I went into the bath/storage room, gathered up all of the nearly empty bottles of weak off brand cleaners and mixed anything that didn't look especially explosive together. The result was a bottle of "soup" which successfully removed printer ink from a cement floor, among other things. Well it seems that a shoddy salesman came into the store with some wondergunk that promised to clean, sanitise, whiten, degrime and restore any surface. He sprayed some on one of our used monitors and rattled off a few more verbs as he scrubbed away. It did an okay job. Then the store owner went into the back and grabbed my "soup." One spray, a quick swipe with a rag and it left a clean streak that outdid the miracle in a bottle. The salesman didn't have much to say after that. I have no idea what went into that "soup," but I wouldn't be surprised if a few more sprays of it would have melted the monitor's case. That reminds me of something I did when I was working for a local computer shop. The owner of the place was thrifty, to use a kind word, so we often had to make do with whatever we had laying around. One day I went into the bath/storage room, gathered up all of the nearly empty bottles of weak off brand cleaners and mixed anything that didn’t look especially explosive together. The result was a bottle of “soup” which successfully removed printer ink from a cement floor, among other things.

Well it seems that a shoddy salesman came into the store with some wondergunk that promised to clean, sanitise, whiten, degrime and restore any surface. He sprayed some on one of our used monitors and rattled off a few more verbs as he scrubbed away. It did an okay job. Then the store owner went into the back and grabbed my “soup.” One spray, a quick swipe with a rag and it left a clean streak that outdid the miracle in a bottle. The salesman didn’t have much to say after that.

I have no idea what went into that “soup,” but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few more sprays of it would have melted the monitor’s case.

]]> by: corinoco http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2165 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:01:26 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2165 The 'brown and yucky' comments remind me of my job that got me through my university years - cleaning a dentist's surgery. I'm an architect, go figure. Oh, yeah, access to nitrous :-) Anywaaay.... Cleaning the floors initially involved a Leading Commercial Product that claimed to "strip dirt off floors!". It definitely stripped the polish off the vinyl, but I was always suspicious of the amount of dirt that seemed to end up in the bucket. It was as if I was cleaning a builders site shed, not a dentist surgery. I did a test - clean bucket, hot water (as directed), cleaning product, then I just left it for about 30 mins. Magically, as the water cooled, it turned grey, murky, then the usual brownish-black with gritty scrudge precipitating out of it. I figured that what you were paying for was magic powder that went brown, rather than cleaned your floors. Hot water cleaned better without the cleaning product in it! I boggle at the sheer cost of developing and marketing a product that does nothing. I suppose it's common enough, though, maybe it's just some industrial by-product from making sports shoes and selling it as cleaning stuff is cheaper than dumping it. By an odd coincidence, the best floor cleaner I found was acetic acid - white vinegar, which cleaned darn near anything (yes, including blood) off the vinyl, and didn't remove the polish! Don't use vinegar on tiles though, it will eat the grout out. The ‘brown and yucky’ comments remind me of my job that got me through my university years - cleaning a dentist’s surgery. I’m an architect, go figure. Oh, yeah, access to nitrous :-) Anywaaay….

Cleaning the floors initially involved a Leading Commercial Product that claimed to “strip dirt off floors!”. It definitely stripped the polish off the vinyl, but I was always suspicious of the amount of dirt that seemed to end up in the bucket. It was as if I was cleaning a builders site shed, not a dentist surgery. I did a test - clean bucket, hot water (as directed), cleaning product, then I just left it for about 30 mins. Magically, as the water cooled, it turned grey, murky, then the usual brownish-black with gritty scrudge precipitating out of it. I figured that what you were paying for was magic powder that went brown, rather than cleaned your floors. Hot water cleaned better without the cleaning product in it!

I boggle at the sheer cost of developing and marketing a product that does nothing. I suppose it’s common enough, though, maybe it’s just some industrial by-product from making sports shoes and selling it as cleaning stuff is cheaper than dumping it.

By an odd coincidence, the best floor cleaner I found was acetic acid - white vinegar, which cleaned darn near anything (yes, including blood) off the vinyl, and didn’t remove the polish! Don’t use vinegar on tiles though, it will eat the grout out.

]]> by: Alan http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2164 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:09:34 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2008/02/25/test-your-gullibility-installment-4731/#comment-2164 Is the magic ingredient (ie wishful thinking) the same as that in the fuel additives? Can you squeeze a few drops of black sweat from the pad, and put them in your fuel tank? It puts a new spin on the concept of biofuel. Is the magic ingredient (ie wishful thinking) the same as that in the fuel additives? Can you squeeze a few drops of black sweat from the pad, and put them in your fuel tank?

It puts a new spin on the concept of biofuel.

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